Guild Wars 2

Weird posting bug….

Whiteside Ridge had people leaving a lot before free transfers. So, in that sense, it didn’t really affect us, we’re still losing about 1 very important person / day.
How many transfers we’ve gotten? I could probably count on one hand.

I’m currently spending the week on Gandara, just because I decided to check out another server, since it’s free anyways, and it is pain. I’ve gotten back into PvE because WvW on Gandara has suicided. It’s just so much that if you want to play there’s at least a 2h queue to every map. 96 man EB queue today, and it peaks higher every day. When you get in, the server dominates everything due to the ridicoulus amount of incoming people.

I hope to get back to T8 as soon as possible. Winning by numbers isn’t fun. Nor is it an achievement.

daydream.2938:

Borlis pass lost 2 of our 3 biggest wvwvw guilds to t1/2. so your not alone, its worth mention ur beating us in our current match up.

Yes, i noticed, and it surprised me, and it’s sad to see BP in such a state. You may notice that you are facing what is called “Militia” from YB, without any larger organized guild among them.

Straegen.2938:

Good to see several of the lower tier servers seeing some positive population growth. I was a bit afraid that BP was a sign of general attrition in the bottom tiers but it appears to be a time for a single server restructuring that other servers have experienced instead.

Seems like you are facing a situation YB had some weeks/months ago – and is working to overcome. YB did survive, we did not implode despite losing guilds. I am sure BP can do the same.
The free transfers cause some restructuring that otherwise would probably not have happened, but the general trend seems to be to transfer up to T1/2.

Cantur Soulfyre.5409:

Rumor has it HoD is getting stacked by transfers so they can win Silver from the bottom.

All I know is the bandwagon players who jump just for a new season are really not that good anyways, they need numbers to win which is why they are jumping. The people that jump servers for seasons have zero integrity or else they would stay on their home world and do their own work to make it a good server. Honestly, I would not want those types of folks on my server, as soon as the season ends they will leave and try to take more people with them than they came with.

HoD has no chance to beat FA, Mag, or DB (whichever ends up 7th). They might beat us (SBI) to get 2nd, but, even with the people who transfered there, they have no hope at 1st in silver.

almost all the major wvw guilds left.

Metemer.6382:

Whiteside Ridge had people leaving a lot before free transfers. So, in that sense, it didn’t really affect us, we’re still losing about 1 very important person / day.
How many transfers we’ve gotten? I could probably count on one hand.

I’m currently spending the week on Gandara, just because I decided to check out another server, since it’s free anyways, and it is pain. I’ve gotten back into PvE because WvW on Gandara has suicided. It’s just so much that if you want to play there’s at least a 2h queue to every map. 96 man EB queue today, and it peaks higher every day. When you get in, the server dominates everything due to the ridicoulus amount of incoming people.

I hope to get back to T8 as soon as possible. Winning by numbers isn’t fun. Nor is it an achievement.

Sounds like gandara would win tier 1 easily. Anet system seems to work fine.

Devona’s Rest just gained Eredon Terrace’s main OCX/SEA Guild [BoM] now rep’d as [DmD]. 325+ Members if I recall correctly. On top of that, we have gotten [Zs] which is a smaller OCX/SEA Guild as well, can’t remember from where though. Our OCX/SEA crew is going to be monstrous. Our North American presence is already solid and we have pulled small guilds and roamers; keep seeing new faces every single day. It is awesome. Now if only I could convince [TBT] of AR to hop on board this freight train and come stomp faces with us. If not, oh well, I will keep trying at AR’s other smaller Guilds as well as other ET and Kaineng.

By the way. Free Transfers to DR. We now have 24/7 Coverage and are ready to roll through anything. Hop on board while the tickets are free! A move you will not regret.

Polyamorous Firefly.4071:

Devona’s Rest just gained Eredon Terrace’s main OCX/SEA Guild [BoM] now rep’d as [DmD]. 325+ Members if I recall correctly. On top of that, we have gotten [Zs] which is a smaller OCX/SEA Guild as well, can’t remember from where though. Our OCX/SEA crew is going to be monstrous. Our North American presence is already solid and we have pulled small guilds and roamers; keep seeing new faces every single day. It is awesome. Now if only I could convince [TBT] of AR to hop on board this freight train and come stomp faces with us. If not, oh well, I will keep trying at AR’s other smaller Guilds as well as other ET and Kaineng.

By the way. Free Transfers to DR. We now have 24/7 Coverage and are ready to roll through anything. Hop on board while the tickets are free! A move you will not regret.

Clearly a good use of the free transfers. Kill/hurt every t6 or lower server save for maybe 2 of said servers, and those turn into bandwagons (by bronze standards). I know Dh imploded, SF isn’t looking great, AR has lost and gained some, DR apparently gained a ton, ET imploded, Ebay hasn’t gone anywhere… Meanwhile pretty much every server lost tons to HoD. Lol. Good job anet, you hurt most servers but at least 3 or so of them are better off!

Transfers to CD have been great. PPT wise it may not look great, but what can you do when you’re up against the bandwagon of season 2. /shrug

All in all, we gained what we were hoping to achieve. Server stability and enough numbers to make a push to tier 4, and hopefully tier 3 in the future.

Devonas also had gains from higher tier servers. The world recruiting thread from Henge of Denravi about " don’t come here" and having a 96 player que on EB is what the lower tiers are for. Come to DR! Come to a lower tier free transfer server and avoid the long waits to play. Enjoy some freedom on a well organized and effective server. Become part of our community and spend more time playing and less time waiting.

96 player queue on HoD? T2 will eagerly wait to make their acquaintance in the post-season. you have almost 3 months to make sure you bring clean underwear LOL

Phlogus.2371:

Devonas also had gains from higher tier servers. The world recruiting thread from Henge of Denravi about " don’t come here" and having a 96 player que on EB is what the lower tiers are for. Come to DR! Come to a lower tier free transfer server and avoid the long waits to play. Enjoy some freedom on a well organized and effective server. Become part of our community and spend more time playing and less time waiting.

What are the “dead times” on your server?

FA is daytime weekdays and it’s awful.

Chris.3290:

96 player queue on HoD? T2 will eagerly wait to make their acquaintance in the post-season. you have almost 3 months to make sure you bring clean underwear LOL

Its misleading as there appears to be no more than 10 people on their BL while the queue is that high. Or that many people on whatever the other BL was that I went to. But that was my very limited experience so maybe just an issue with 9pm EST on a Sunday.

As a member of DmD that just transferred to DR from ET, I have to say I couldn’t be happier.

We haven’t been on the server long, but it has been a blast, and the transfers being free really helped make the ordeal a lot less stressful. Almost all of our active members have moved over now, so I very much appreciate that anet helped make that possible.

That being said, we aren’t the first major wvw guild to leave ET, and it was a tough decision to make. At the end of the day though, it wasn’t the right home for our guild, and even if the transfers were not free, I can say with certainty we would have moved.

I believe that the other major guilds that have left (DI, AKD, and Basic off the top of my head) were much the same.

Guilds will move if they feel the need to, and I think that anet making lower tier servers potential targets by being free is ultimately a good thing.

The free transfers have effectively killed ET, I have been here since the server was created and I will likely transfer off by the time the league starts. Apparently we have had one guild transfer over but we have lost 3 or 4 of our main WvW guilds.

I will have a hard to motivating myself to run in EB or a borderland with maybe 2 other people knowing that the other servers karma training around the map are going to get much better rewards for 1/10th the effort. Anet devs should really spend a week or two in the bottom few servers to see what life is like in a ghost town during leagues.

I’m going to make my last push for Anvil Rock here since xfers end in two days. Many people are a bit shy about picking bronze they hear the fights aren’t the same or the servers are empty, but I can tell you that the opposite is true. While there isn’t a real GvG scene, the open field and numbers for the lower tier servers aren’t bad at all. I see enemy zergs in EB ranging from 40-60 players during Na prime as well as (depending on who you fight) a healthy Ocx population.
A big draw for potential guild leaders is the fact that there is definite room to grow a guild down here. Take for instance the guild I currently run. I came down to Anvil rock with 5 people and now there’s 80-90 logging in daily. It’s also a roamer’s paradise with several roaming guilds on the server as well as throughout bronze (so you always get those fights). So why pick AR over the other bronze tier servers? It’s on an upswing. The server has really gotten together and has begun to generate serious momentum. New TS (streamlined), new site, and new contact lists. Out with the old and in with the new. There are a lot of players who really care about the server that have been here through thick and thin. So, if you’re tired of players/guilds lording over you or those annoying map trolls, come down to AR and improve your gaming experience. We’re accepting like minded players and you know we won’t fold like a cheap lawn chair when the odds are against us or when living story comes out. We’ve risen 2-3 ranks without any transfers and done remarkably against much more populated servers. Give us a shot for leagues and have fun again.
If you do come to AR be prepared to have a fight on your hands
Good luck wherever you end up (and remember if you moved early in the week you can move again for free to AR) and see you in wvw
http://www.anvilrockserver.com/
#grubmander2014

Ohbe.9761:

Transfers to CD have been great. PPT wise it may not look great, but what can you do when you’re up against the bandwagon of season 2. /shrug

All in all, we gained what we were hoping to achieve. Server stability and enough numbers to make a push to tier 4, and hopefully tier 3 in the future.

This for sure. We lost one big guild that seemed to be a problem for over a year. In return we got so many great new guilds and players with great attitudes. Obviously we are in the honeymoon stage but this is some of the most fun i’ve had on Crystal Desert since the games launch.

Stealth server merger……

Basket of Boxes.1976:

The free transfers have effectively killed ET, I have been here since the server was created and I will likely transfer off by the time the league starts. Apparently we have had one guild transfer over but we have lost 3 or 4 of our main WvW guilds.

I will have a hard to motivating myself to run in EB or a borderland with maybe 2 other people knowing that the other servers karma training around the map are going to get much better rewards for 1/10th the effort. Anet devs should really spend a week or two in the bottom few servers to see what life is like in a ghost town during leagues.

Well at least you got a guild. As far as I know, we’ve only lost guilds and haven’t gained any at all. Stupid gem costs…

skullmount.1758:

Basket of Boxes.1976:

The free transfers have effectively killed ET, I have been here since the server was created and I will likely transfer off by the time the league starts. Apparently we have had one guild transfer over but we have lost 3 or 4 of our main WvW guilds.

I will have a hard to motivating myself to run in EB or a borderland with maybe 2 other people knowing that the other servers karma training around the map are going to get much better rewards for 1/10th the effort. Anet devs should really spend a week or two in the bottom few servers to see what life is like in a ghost town during leagues.

Well at least you got a guild. As far as I know, we’ve only lost guilds and haven’t gained any at all. Stupid gem costs…

you gained a quaggan from us.

the woodfist.6972:

skullmount.1758:

Basket of Boxes.1976:

The free transfers have effectively killed ET, I have been here since the server was created and I will likely transfer off by the time the league starts. Apparently we have had one guild transfer over but we have lost 3 or 4 of our main WvW guilds.

I will have a hard to motivating myself to run in EB or a borderland with maybe 2 other people knowing that the other servers karma training around the map are going to get much better rewards for 1/10th the effort. Anet devs should really spend a week or two in the bottom few servers to see what life is like in a ghost town during leagues.

Well at least you got a guild. As far as I know, we’ve only lost guilds and haven’t gained any at all. Stupid gem costs…

you gained a quaggan from us.

SF is in the exact same position last league. We lost a guild and got another. When leagues start, our swarms of PvE will unguest Blackgate and blot out the sun like the start of last season.

Why anyone or any guild would transfer to T1 is beyond me, given I am from BG, but if you like running with 75+ man JQ and TC zergs, knock yourself out. The next time you spot a 60+ man BG zerg, screenshot it cause it is near instantaneously dwarfed by most 75+ man JQ and TC zerg(s) these days…..getting pretty sick and tired of this T1 zerg-mindset garbage (of late) for sure.

Rigel.3092:

Why anyone or any guild would transfer to T1 is beyond me, given I am from BG, but if you like running with 75+ man JQ and TC zergs, knock yourself out. The next time you spot a 60+ man BG zerg, screenshot it cause it is near instantaneously dwarfed by most 75+ man JQ and TC zerg(s) these days…..getting pretty sick and tired of this T1 zerg-mindset garbage (of late) for sure.

There is literally not one post on this page talking about transferring to T1.

The title has LOWER TIERS in it.

Were you complaining during Blackgate’s domination streak? Has your server not destroyed others with superior numbers in the entire history of its being? Sometimes other servers have more people and you get run over. Sometimes you do it to others. Get over it.

In my opinion (being from a server that doesn’t get free transfers) all bronze should have free transfers and that’s it, if you wanna go to silver or gold you should have to pay more than if you were going to a bronze server. The transfers have broken my servers current match-up, and will break the bronze season.

people arent transfering just for wvw, they’re also transfering for pve

its rather frustrating for players when you cant do world bosses since no one is there to do it with

so yeah my guild transferred to HoD for pve and some wvw

atheria.2837:

Phlogus.2371:

Devonas also had gains from higher tier servers. The world recruiting thread from Henge of Denravi about " don’t come here" and having a 96 player que on EB is what the lower tiers are for. Come to DR! Come to a lower tier free transfer server and avoid the long waits to play. Enjoy some freedom on a well organized and effective server. Become part of our community and spend more time playing and less time waiting.

What are the “dead times” on your server?

FA is daytime weekdays and it’s awful.

Devonas had a gap in the 6 am to 2 pm window. We have had two key leaders Theodon Warstar and Flint Iron Fist work hard to bring the population together during that window. We had a guild from TC transfer down PF Primal Fury that also has a provided coverage in that window. We could use another 20-40 in that window so we could make larger pushes on the enemy. We have leader teams and population to cover 24 hours it is just a matter of having the population to do more in the AM. I have been very proud and appreciative of the efforts of the Devonas Rest WvW faithful that are fighting in that window and keeping our maps solid, sieged and upgraded. The last three weeks our opponents have made a persistent push every day to take advantage of the day shift and we have held firm. If you are part of the morning crew grab a cup of coffee, make the move to DR and join our team in the fight. I can’t speak highly enough of our day crew!

Andrew Clear.1750:

Cantur Soulfyre.5409:

Rumor has it HoD is getting stacked by transfers so they can win Silver from the bottom.

All I know is the bandwagon players who jump just for a new season are really not that good anyways, they need numbers to win which is why they are jumping. The people that jump servers for seasons have zero integrity or else they would stay on their home world and do their own work to make it a good server. Honestly, I would not want those types of folks on my server, as soon as the season ends they will leave and try to take more people with them than they came with.

HoD has no chance to beat FA, Mag, or DB (whichever ends up 7th). They might beat us (SBI) to get 2nd, but, even with the people who transfered there, they have no hope at 1st in silver.

You can expect a SoR type meltdown from FA starting in the next few days as guilds that prefer T2 fights to silver league domination leave.

[vT] recently transferred from BP to Ferguson’s Crossing.

Being a small-man guild, we were basically tired of the nonstop 50-70+ zergs that had nothing better to do than chase us around every time we stepped foot in a camp.

[Krew], [EmP] and [d0] also all transferred to FC (it was Krew’s idea for us to transfer with them, I admit, the other two guilds came a couple days later unexpectedly, which was cool).

Having gotten to fight the NSP groups, Darkhaven groups, Devona’s groups and Anvil Rock groups in the past two weeks, I’d like to say personally that this is the best choice we’ve made for our guild in quite some time. We were dubious that there wouldn’t be any fights to have, and uh, that’s just not true. There’s been fights any time of the day that we want, and that’s awesome.

There’s plenty of skilled roaming groups that we’ve come across, which is a nice change from the unskilled nature of most small groups in the higher tiers. DR, in particular, seems to have quite some solid groups that we’ve never gotten a chance to see before.

PS. We killed an ANet Mesmer on NSP the first night we were on FC. My battlecry was “I gotta go get ’em! To avenge the D/D Ele!” ;]

Zutha.5091:

Stealth server merger……

what server are they shutting down? none? not the same then

Agriope.4523:

[vT] recently transferred from BP to Ferguson’s Crossing.

Being a small-man guild, we were basically tired of the nonstop 50-70+ zergs that had nothing better to do than chase us around every time we stepped foot in a camp.

[Krew], [EmP] and [d0] also all transferred to FC (it was Krew’s idea for us to transfer with them, I admit, the other two guilds came a couple days later unexpectedly, which was cool).

Having gotten to fight the NSP groups, Darkhaven groups, Devona’s groups and Anvil Rock groups in the past two weeks, I’d like to say personally that this is the best choice we’ve made for our guild in quite some time. We were dubious that there wouldn’t be any fights to have, and uh, that’s just not true. There’s been fights any time of the day that we want, and that’s awesome.

There’s plenty of skilled roaming groups that we’ve come across, which is a nice change from the unskilled nature of most small groups in the higher tiers. DR, in particular, seems to have quite some solid groups that we’ve never gotten a chance to see before.

PS. We killed an ANet Mesmer on NSP the first night we were on FC. My battlecry was “I gotta go get ’em! To avenge the D/D Ele!” ;]

Welcome to FC! I saw Krew guys on last night, prob you others too (im AoE guild leader, we WvW a good bit). Yes we have many skilled roaming groups/guilds on FC and the lower tier servers allow these small fights to happen pretty often. Not sure id even play WvW if it was non-stop zerg all the time. again welcome!

Agriope,
Welcome to bronze. Hope to face you on the field!

I’ll get to fight Krew again? Well, this is going to take me back. FC seems like it’s gettin busy.

PF are also very cool guys, I hope they like it on DR =)

Torady.3907:

people arent transfering just for wvw, they’re also transfering for pve

its rather frustrating for players when you cant do world bosses since no one is there to do it with

so yeah my guild transferred to HoD for pve and some wvw

I understand a random dude transferring for PvE to find a nice PvE home. But a guild ? You need 5 person to do a train, even assuming no one joins in.
Hell, even one dude is enough to launch things. Players have gw2stuff, waiting for an event to be near completion. And you don’t need a zerg to do that.

Indeed Krew is back in the bronze tier. Good ole days of BP sitting in t8/t7. Having been on FC for the last 2 weeks has been great. We have been able to push ourselves to the limits finding fights at every corner of the map we went. I was actually very surprised how active the lower tier servers are in WvW. Some of the guild grps we have seen have had some very large numbers [Os] of NSp and [TBT] of AR to name a few. Its been alot of fun though fighting all the guild grps. Shoutout to [ZERO] on AR and [BRL] on DR for the fun fights this week!! having [vT] come with us has been just tht much better. It would have sucked leaving our lil brother on BP!!!

Basket of Boxes.1976:

The free transfers have effectively killed ET, I have been here since the server was created and I will likely transfer off by the time the league starts. Apparently we have had one guild transfer over but we have lost 3 or 4 of our main WvW guilds.

I will have a hard to motivating myself to run in EB or a borderland with maybe 2 other people knowing that the other servers karma training around the map are going to get much better rewards for 1/10th the effort. Anet devs should really spend a week or two in the bottom few servers to see what life is like in a ghost town during leagues.

It is unfortunate to see some servers turning into ghost towns but in ETs case this is just not true. As previously stated, dmd would of left regardless of cost. As someone formally in IOM as well, I’m pretty sure they’d say the same thing.

Im not out to flame war, but guilds leaving ET had plenty of reason to do so. A net just saved us money.

Hadan.2841:

Indeed Krew is back in the bronze tier. Good ole days of BP sitting in t8/t7. Having been on FC for the last 2 weeks has been great. We have been able to push ourselves to the limits finding fights at every corner of the map we went. I was actually very surprised how active the lower tier servers are in WvW. Some of the guild grps we have seen have had some very large numbers [Os] of NSp and [TBT] of AR to name a few. Its been alot of fun though fighting all the guild grps. Shoutout to [ZERO] on AR and [BRL] on DR for the fun fights this week!! having [vT] come with us has been just tht much better. It would have sucked leaving our lil brother on BP!!!

We actually only run 20-25 a night idk if that’s big by most peoples’ standards

Mostly popped smoke this match up because we’re out getting our kitten kicked by experienced gvg guilds like NS- hard to get into the game type when you’ve not really done it before but any practice is good practice and it’s quite a shock to see how different open field is from gvg

Hopefully we see you guys more later during the week or maybe during leagues

Dragothien.4210:

Basket of Boxes.1976:

The free transfers have effectively killed ET, I have been here since the server was created and I will likely transfer off by the time the league starts. Apparently we have had one guild transfer over but we have lost 3 or 4 of our main WvW guilds.

I will have a hard to motivating myself to run in EB or a borderland with maybe 2 other people knowing that the other servers karma training around the map are going to get much better rewards for 1/10th the effort. Anet devs should really spend a week or two in the bottom few servers to see what life is like in a ghost town during leagues.

It is unfortunate to see some servers turning into ghost towns but in ETs case this is just not true. As previously stated, dmd would of left regardless of cost. As someone formally in IOM as well, I’m pretty sure they’d say the same thing.

Im not out to flame war, but guilds leaving ET had plenty of reason to do so. A net just saved us money.

The guilds that left ET spent a lot of time recruiting in WvW picking up many of the pugs, which is a good thing as it keeps them organised. However, when these guilds left they not only took their WvW hardcores but many of the casuals.

If the transfers were not free there is no way the amount of people that left would have left because many of them wouldn’t have been able to afford the gold cost or couldn’t be bothered to spend real money on it. Even if guilds left for specific reasons, the amount of people they took with them would not have been this large if the transfers were not free.

If there was no league I would gladly stay on ET even if I was the only out there, which has happened before during our initial fall from T1. But if bandwagoners and stackers are going to be rewarded with skins I certainly won’t be out there flipping objectives for them to take back with a force 5 times the size.

Transfer costs should have been determined on a per current persons server basis. If you’re moving down the cheaper it would have gotten (to the point of free for maybe the bottom 4 servers?), and if you were moving up the more expensive it would have gotten (max 2400 like they did, for T1 servers). This would have given better reason to move down instead of people moving up.

skullmount.1758:

Transfer costs should have been determined on a per current persons server basis. If you’re moving down the cheaper it would have gotten (to the point of free for maybe the bottom 4 servers?), and if you were moving up the more expensive it would have gotten (max 2400 like they did, for T1 servers). This would have given better reason to move down instead of people moving up.

+1

When free transfers opened up and our guild started discussing transfers, some of our guild mates decided to avoid Bronze because of the fewer fight rumors. Hopefully responses like the ones above will change the general perception of many players that Bronze is a great place to find solid fights.

We ultimately decided to stay in Silver but glad to hear Bronze is stable. I am still not happy with ANet making T4 an extremely expensive transfer because it hurt at least two servers, but seems Free Transfers might be redistributing the populations in a positive manner.

skullmount.1758:

Transfer costs should have been determined on a per current persons server basis. If you’re moving down the cheaper it would have gotten (to the point of free for maybe the bottom 4 servers?), and if you were moving up the more expensive it would have gotten (max 2400 like they did, for T1 servers). This would have given better reason to move down instead of people moving up.

QFT. It’s stupid that Dh’s ultimate implosion was due to people transferring up, not down. We needed people more than HoD, yet HoD gets all of our people. That’s just not right… it’s good maybe for leagues, but not for WvW.

I really wish a 3rd bronze server implode completely… So we can have a deserted matchup between ET, EBay and the 3rd unfortunate server…

jeknar I’ve gamed with you before. Bring your sexy kitten to AR stop “going down with the ship” bro it’s a lot better out here

it’s like when ET was doing well just w/o the egos or drama

Jeknar.6184:

I really wish a 3rd bronze server implode completely… So we can have a deserted matchup between ET, EBay and the 3rd unfortunate server…

This would actually be pretty hilarious and it would truly illustrate the problem with the leagues. It could happen halfway through the league as I don’t think Kain is doing much better at the moment, if they get matched up with servers other than Ebay and ET I see them getting smashed and lots of them losing hope.

SniffyCube.6107:

jeknar I’ve gamed with you before. Bring your sexy kitten to AR stop “going down with the ship” bro it’s a lot better out here

it’s like when ET was doing well just w/o the egos or drama

How can you say AR is not full of egos, there are people on AR still complaining about a match up from about a month ago where you guys blew a weekend lead and lost after claiming the match up was already over and we should just have fun fights because it would take a miracle for ET to come back and win.

You may have got what you wanted with ET having a mass exodus but most of those guilds and players you always complain about are still in bronze league and they are still going to pvdoor their way to victory over AR, hell half of ET went to DR and is doing it to you right now.

Good thing we went to DR, AR wasn’t even a choice after his months of trolling.

Arius.7031:

Good job anet, you hurt most servers but at least 3 or so of them are better off!

To be honest, just about every change I’ve seen recently from ANet seems to do the exact opposite of what they say they want and some of them show a profound lack of understanding about how the rest of the world handles issues like this. They need to look up “handicapping” and how the rest of the world handles it in games, sports, and so on:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_handicap
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handicapping
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golf_handicap
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spread_betting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_handicap

In fact, ANet should read the section on this page titled “Precursor and rationale”, which describes exactly the sort of problem ANet is facing here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Football_League_draft

Basket of Boxes.1976:

The free transfers have effectively killed ET, I have been here since the server was created and I will likely transfer off by the time the league starts. Apparently we have had one guild transfer over but we have lost 3 or 4 of our main WvW guilds.

We lost two of those three guilds before the free transfers. And despite that, and to my amazement to some degree, I don’t think we’re dead. When I first started WvW on ET, we were lucky if we could hold one tower on the Eternal Battlegrounds for 15 minutes… after our opponents got bored and stopped spawn camping us. We were at the bottom of the rankings and stayed there week after week. This Sunday, after the last big transfer, I had one of the better experiences I’ve had in a while. Not only did we push attackers out who had broken through our Garrison’s inner gates but our float team went on a Keep-taking tour of our opponent’s Borderlands, including a T3 Hills. I think we also took SMC at one point. And while Ehmry Bay has been fighting us for second place, we’ve been in second place every time I’ve looked.

Yes, I’ve gotten discouraged when we’ve been put up against opponents that greatly outnumber us, but that happened when we were higher up in the rankings, too, and in my experience, it eventually passes and opportunities open up.

Basket of Boxes.1976:

I will have a hard to motivating myself to run in EB or a borderland with maybe 2 other people knowing that the other servers karma training around the map are going to get much better rewards for 1/10th the effort. Anet devs should really spend a week or two in the bottom few servers to see what life is like in a ghost town during leagues.

It seems like they play Warriors… on higher tiered servers… which may explain a great deal about the decisions they’ve been making. They should try doing Tequatl on ET, too. I used to do Tequatl and Claw of Jormag regularly on ET before they put the difficulty of those events beyond the capacity of our server. Or the recent Living Story events (the first time I’ve ever guested on other servers was for the Lion’s Arch living stories). I’ve never seen an ANet player on ET and they seem to be balancing and scaling everything for the top.

As for karma trains, we had some very nice karma trains going this Sunday, so that can depend on when you play.

All of that said, if I leave ET, it’s going to be for TESO, not DR or any other server on GW2. So far, my experience this Sunday, watching ET pull together and even go on the offensive despite our losses, has made me decide to stay put for now.

All the lower tier servers who get transfers seem to rise a few tiers and then stall. Then the transfers get unhappy and find another server to transfer to. It’s happened to ET. It’s happened and is happening to other servers. I don’t have any reason to believe this round of transfers is going to be any different. And until ANet fixes their scoring and reward system to reward effort and skill rather than numbers and coverage, the way way to win will be to stack on the server with the most people and best coverage. It needs to give people incentives to disperse and play for the underdog, not incentives to stack and play for the sure winner.

Since free transfers kicked in EBay has lost 2 more guilds and another has disbanded.

Free transfers will only work for T8 servers when they’re the only options that are free.

Grav.3568:

Since free transfers kicked in EBay has lost 2 more guilds and another has disbanded.

Free transfers will only work for T8 servers when they’re the only options that are free.

Sorry to see the once mighty EBay in the bottom. In the current system I guess someone has to be down there but the nice part is moving to more populated servers is still free.

Grav.3568:

Since free transfers kicked in EBay has lost 2 more guilds and another has disbanded.

Free transfers will only work for T8 servers when they’re the only options that are free.

Its funny how they didn’t learned that the first time they openned free transfers to ET/FC (T8) and HoD (T7)… Everyone just left ET/FC for HoD, and they were forced to increase the T8 ratings to finally move SF out…

Ah, the old glicko ghetto…

Cantur Soulfyre.5409:

Straegen.2938:

Cantur Soulfyre.5409:

All I know is the bandwagon players who jump just for a new season are really not that good anyways, they need numbers to win which is why they are jumping. The people that jump servers for seasons have zero integrity or else they would stay on their home world and do their own work to make it a good server. Honestly, I would not want those types of folks on my server, as soon as the season ends they will leave and try to take more people with them than they came with.

There is absolutely no reason to be “loyal” to a server. None… zip. The us/them team concept in GW2 is a false dichotomy. If a player isn’t having fun on their server or would have more fun somewhere else, they should move. Staying put and having less fun is just silly. This is a GAME and we play this GAME to have FUN.

Save words like integrity for the important things in life such as family and friends. Oh and before we do some false equivalency between out of game friend loyalty and in-game friend loyalty, we are ALL GW2 players and we can find friends on any server as well as remain friends with players on the servers we leave. If anything a person opens themselves up to making more friends and having a more enjoyable game experience by migrating frequently.

First, I am not talking about those that actually jump servers because they do not get along with others, or whatever, I am strictly those that jump to get a better reward, etc.

And, you can put your spin on it, but personal integrity does mean something even if it doesn’t mean anything to you. And just because you call it “false equivalency” does not make it false. Stop putting your own personal thoughts down as facts.

You can excuse seasonal world jumpers all you want, and I am sure it makes them feel better about themselves.

When you agree to stump up the box price to pay all those players you believe have bandwagoned just for rewards then I am sure they will only be too happy to do what you say… .. however, until you do I am pretty sure it has nothing to do with you what another players motivations are, whether it be better loot reward, better fights, more activity, guild movements, escaping attitudes or just plain wanting a change.
Who are you to assume why anyone leaves a server and who are you to think its right to name call just because players xfer.

Personally I think you are taking it all a bit too serious.. and yes, as another poster has already said – it’s a game save your big words for RL stuff that genuinely have a place and can make an actual difference

Fact is the situation with many low tier servers is appalling, but blaming the players for migrating within a EU/ NA wide community is plain dumb.. .. blame ANET for allowing the game to get into this shambles and doing nothing about it except make disparity worse.