Guild Wars 2

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/introducing-the-megaserver-system/

This is a really massive change and it sounds like it’s going to have an impact on guilds and WvW too. I’m pretty stoked to see what’s planned.

Doesn’t have anything to do with wvw it seems

Very interesting indeed. And it was published on the 2nd of April, not on April’s Fool’s Day.

But I wonder how are Temple Events then handled? Currently one just needs to glance web sites like this:
http://www.gw2state.com/temples.html

And then choose a world, where the temple is open. Does the mega server system allow to change between the “overflows” or is one forced to do the temple event with whatever people on that map?

For WvWvW this would be a drastic change indeed. I guess we would see factions or alliances instead. I don’t think it will have anytime soon for WvWvW. They will first test it with pve and then fine tune it and maybe later implement for WvWvW. Most likely the will introduce redesigned maps at the same time. I just hope the old WvWvW maps will not be replaced by a EotM concept. EotM = boredom maximized and really a pve map.

Natronix.9827:

Doesn’t have anything to do with wvw it seems

I disagree:

What about World Bosses, Guilds, and WvW?

Later this week, we’ll be discussing how our transition to the megaserver system will affect the timing of world bosses and some changes we’re making to support this. We’ll also be discussing the long-term plan for guilds and WvW in relation to our megaserver system, so check back each day this week for more information!

From the bottom of article.

They are covering its effect on WvW in a future blog…sometime in the next few days…

I have a bad feeling EotM is foreshadowing what a megaserver will do to WvW. I have so many problems with EotM. I don’t want to fight in big battles with a bunch of random players against a bunch of random players, I want to fight with my server’s guilds against another server’s guilds. When I kill someone roaming I want them to know it was from Fort Aspenwood, not from “green”.

I hope I’m reading too much in to this.

Random teams ala EotM could be one outcome (bad) but player build Alliance of Guilds vs Alliance of Guilds (with random teams only for the ones to lazy to join/build an alliance) another (good).

ANet showed a tendency to pick bad alternatives in the past, but we will see.

I wonder what effect this will have on “Guesting.” Maybe that was addressed in the article. I just skimmed it quickly, but didn’t read too closely since I’m sitting in class and should be listening to a lecture on 18th century literature. I’m sure the professor would understand though, this is important stuff that was announced today!

Fluffball.8307:

I have a bad feeling EotM is foreshadowing what a megaserver will do to WvW. I have so many problems with EotM. I don’t want to fight in big battles with a bunch of random players against a bunch of random players, I want to fight with my server’s guilds against another server’s guilds. When I kill someone roaming I want them to know it was from Fort Aspenwood, not from “green”.

I hope I’m reading too much in to this.

I know we don’t really speak well of the CDIs at times, but they did make a post addressing how they understand the World Identity is too important based on player feedback, so I don’t know that they would change something in that direction. Of course all we can do for now is speculate.

So this is how they want to solve problem with wvw coverage. And it will obviously kill wvw for me and for many others. I need a clear membership (i need to represent my server) to have fun otherwise fight will become meaningless…
There is no way that they will do it right by gathering guilds together in some way on some set rules. So looking forward what they want bring to us, to kill server pride.

Style.1092:

So this is how they want to solve problem with wvw coverage. And it will obviously kill wvw for me and for many others. I need a clear membership (i need to represent my server) to have fun otherwise fight will become meaningless…
There is no way that they will do it right by gathering guilds together in some way on some set rules. So looking forward what they want bring to us, to kill server pride.

If they prioritize your team based on

1. Guild
2. World
3. Language
4. Time of Day

You’d still likely play with the same people you already do. Key word is likely.

Please leave WvW alone…some of us chose to play on a lower ranked server for a reason. Forcing everyone to play on a permanently full map will only lead to even more mindless (or mindful for al i care, zerg is zerg) zerging and effectively renders solo players useless.

This could be very big news. I guess I can’t say too much until they release more information. It’s possible that this would better solve population imbalance and then unfortunately for many it could possibly diminish server pride. EoTM I think already more or less uses a similar version of the megaserver concept and has even worse population imbalance than wvw in the matchups so it will have to be different than that if it’s going to happen. I personally have never had server pride-I just play for fun and don’t consider my server better or more honorable than other servers as a result of randomly deciding to pick it and not knowing anything about other servers. Tons of people are big on server pride, though, so if this does harm server pride then that is going to be a very big problem overall.

My hope remains with this because many times in the post, even for PvE, they kept stating how home worlds will still exist. I don’t think they’re going to toss everyone in the same map. Home worlds don’t serve a whole lot of purpose in the new system, at least not for PvE, but that is not the only game mode so we’ll see what happens.

A few things necessary to make this exciting:

1) I get to play with my guild members with almost no exceptions
2) I see the same enemies and friends in other guilds (nothing like a good friend or enemy to make you loyal to the slaughter)
3) Population doesn’t become TOO massive. There has to be some room for small skirmishes. This can be done by adjusting the size of each map I suppose.
4) I have to feel “grounded” in my map because that is where my team, my guild, my friends and even my “enemies” are.

Overall, I like the idea. It’s the implementation that scares me.

DaMikenatr.7041:

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/introducing-the-megaserver-system/

This is a really massive change and it sounds like it’s going to have an impact on guilds and WvW too. I’m pretty stoked to see what’s planned.

I am personally terrified.

For PvE I like the idea, I’ll see hot it works.

But since I’m mainly a WvW player: DO NOT MERGE SERVERS. I repeat if I wasn’t clear enough DO NOT MERGE SERVERS

I’ll wait the next 2 blog post on the matter, but DO NOT MERGE SERVERS

I’ll lose all the matchups because of nightcapping and people leaving for higher tier server, but DO NOT MERGE SERVERS

I also think that that as the gw2 population lessens as the game starts to become outdated (nothing unexpected or not normal) there’s going to be a point in time where the amount of servers would have to be reduced or something at least must be done to fix the maps from being dead. That’s exactly what this megaserver system appears to be addressing. It may not be quite as important or needed for WvW at this time but they do appear to say that their intention is to first do this for pve and then put it in WvW a lot later which, who knows, could be 1, 2, or even more years from now. I don’t think players can necessarily guess what WvW and the WvW population will be like a long time from now so I think it’s very possible that this could be a good idea and very fitting in the distant future, regardless of whether or not it currently seems like it’d fit in today’s WvW right now.

This sounds very similar to ESO’s system of alliances if that is what they are going after, I really hope they don’t do this. Leave WvW alone!

It’s terrible news for WvW. So many of us go to LA or Gendarran Fields to ask for help in WvW when it’s needed. Just going to screw a lot of PvE heavy servers over

Reverence.6915:

It’s terrible news for WvW. So many of us go to LA or Gendarran Fields to ask for help in WvW when it’s needed. Just going to screw a lot of PvE heavy servers over

So true. At least you are less likely to encounter food trolls on portals I guess…

Immediate impact of this news for WvW.
Where will we make “come join us in WvW” messages in PvE maps?

That usually got us many players out of prime time…

And I’m also afraid of the 41% same language people… I chose a french server, even if it meant not being in my timezone, to play in French, and want to keep doing so.
Writing in french in EoTM to people I play with already gets me “use english” messages…
I hate the implications of it, even if we’ll have to “wait and see”.

Plus, some servers have great communities, and I find a 5 or 6 percent chance to join the map with people from my guild or server is way too low to allow for great communities as we had…

I’m really afraid to see what they’ll do to WvW with that change…
Don’t want to make an other EoTM out of it : (

Hey guys, why not look at the obvious from this instead of looking directly at the possible negative:

1: Anet just reduced the PVE server load by a gigantic amount. Instead of 30 copies of say, Hoelbrek, there will be say…3.

Assuming Anet owns said servers and is not re-purposing them to another game, Anet now has a HUGE amount of excess server power to dedicate to…WVW.

There is a possible Platinum lining to this for us WvW players.

Now, that said, if the removal of the matchup Forum was because we wont have matchups anymore, I have absolutely no interest in playing this game.

I have no interest as a Bronze player in the exciting new world of now my 20 man is fighting with 140 anonymous guys from X and against 160 “Red” from Y.

As a borderlands player I have no interest in always “Full” maps.

I have no interest in not being able to help my friends in EB because well, they happen to be the minority on that map and the majority of GOM is on a different EB so oh well.

BUT that is in both cases just guessing. One thing is for sure, this will absolutely free up a heck of a lot of processing power for use somewhere. This could instead of being a bad thing be a very very good thing.

As for Spamming LA or Gend, that shouldnt change because they are using your SERVER as the base point for which map you land in in the megaserver system, therefor you will go to the map where the majority of the people you want to talk to are in.

The only negative being there may also be in a majority HOD LA some people from Kaineg.

It also sounds like we will be persistantly “matched” with players from certain other servers.

So, if your GOM maybe you also will be matched to say AR persistantly.

Now, if this sort of forced server balancing were done and It was the same in WvW where We were fighting persistantly with the same guilds under the flag “Matchup 2704” or something…I dont think I have a problem with that. Do you really?

Big servers would basically see no change.

Small servers would get matched with a mid sized server…persistantly, meaning always, meaning you can create a new community based on your 2 already existant communities.

And then its Lg server force Vs Lg mixed force. That will be rough when it starts because Lg server force is a community and Mixed server force isnt yet, but the truth is we make our friends during the fights dont we?

As long as the system keeps working that way, x server loses people, but it gets mixed with YZ server group from above, so now its XYZ persistant server group….It shouldnt be terrible. The only thing I see wrong with this is if 2 groups that just plain cannot get along get persistantly matched up, but even that is fixable by simply keeping the transfer option in place.

If they did implement this into WvW in the future (i did say if), personally I would guess they would need to change it to a color scheme like EoTM. However, you would still get to play with the people your playing with on ur current server due to the prioritizing of Guild/World/Language etc but if your world has a low WvW population at any time of day u would get the overflow of the same color from a different world on your maps. Just a wild guess, but who knows? just have to wait and see. I am all for server pride winning or losing, the color scheme is probably my most hated part of EoTM’s, i hate joining a map full of randoms/unfamiliar’s no offence.

I’m really scared of the impact this is going to have on WvW and server pride. I play on a lower tier server for a reason. I hate mindless zerging, and WvW is mainly what keeps me in this game since I view it as good end game content. I like the EotM maps, but I hate the mega server zerg mode of it.

Best solution in my mind is to leave the major cities/non combat zones out of this addition, and only have it take place in the open world.

eleshazar.6902:

I’m really scared of the impact this is going to have on WvW and server pride. I play on a lower tier server for a reason. I hate mindless zerging, and WvW is mainly what keeps me in this game since I view it as good end game content. I like the EotM maps, but I hate the mega server zerg mode of it.

Best solution in my mind is to leave the major cities/non combat zones out of this addition, and only have it take place in the open world.

ANet: “Tune in tomorrow to see how we plan to potentially ruin your favorite game-mode!”

My guess would be some kind of alliance system akin to EoTM, but in a varying degree. Most likely something aimed at dying/falling servers, or just the population imbalance issues in general…I may be being too optimistic though.

For what it is worth I hate EoTM, I would rather see them tweak the scoring system than physically alter who we play with or where we play.

I was massively surprised when GW2 announced servers. That isn’t a concept in GW and the “server” design is tired and worn out. Create character, log in, game puts player in optimized instance. This system works best for optimal game enjoyment by most people.

WvW isn’t much different. Players should select a primary guild and guilds should be able to duke it out. If they use a similar weighting system, they can solve almost every substantial lopsided match problem WvW currently has.

At any rate, it is GREAT to see ANet pouring a ton of development work into the usability aspects of the game.

Maybe it’s possible that the megaservers for WvW will not all be the same exact structure in that some will be for lesser populated matchups and some will be for more populated matchups and they allow you to request which type you want idk

I loved math in school, specifically geometry and proofs. When I see a post like the Megaserver System my mind auto starts processing/predicting future progress/pros/cons/effectiveness etc. And I have a few predictions as to the progression of this thought process.

1. Servers for PvE and PvP will basically no longer exist.
2. Therefore servers will mostly be tied to the wvw community only.
3. Currently there is a HUGE gap in the wvw skill lvl of servers, causing good ones to get over populated and vice versa.
4. Solution: merge the entire wvw community into 3, more balanced equal sides…
5. …similarly to how edge of the mist is…

My prediction is that the wvw battle will simple be blue/green/red with a lot of instances, and the megaserver tech will pick one for you, the same as it would for pve. No more queue, ever. I think server rankings will determine which color a server is on. So people won’t need to hop servers for wvw because each server will be fighting with the help of 1/3 of the servers.

So, am I a genius or just crazy?

TL;DR WvW matchups will be like EotM.

Beorn Saxon.4762:

I loved math in school, specifically geometry and proofs. When I see a post like the Megaserver System my mind auto starts processing/predicting future progress/pros/cons/effectiveness etc. And I have a few predictions as to the progression of this thought process.

1. Servers for PvE and PvP will basically no longer exist.
2. Therefore servers will mostly be tied to the wvw community only.
3. Currently there is a HUGE gap in the wvw skill lvl of servers, causing good ones to get over populated and vice versa.
4. Solution: merge the entire wvw community into 3, more balanced equal sides…
5. …similarly to how edge of the mist is…

My prediction is that the wvw battle will simple be blue/green/red with a lot of overflows. No more queue, ever. I think server rankings will determine which color a server is on. So people won’t need to hop servers for wvw because each server will be fighting with the help of 1/3 of the servers.

So, am I a genius or just crazy?

TL;DR WvW matchups will be like EotM.

Do not want.

Flytrap.8075:

Do not want.

I’m not asking if it’s wanted. Im stating a simple prediction off of the current changes. If the megaserver fixes under populated pve maps, It’s reasonable to draw the conclusion that anet would use the same tech to help under/over populated wvw servers while unifying the overall community.

The next two blog posts may shed some light.

It’s also quite possible that since PvE can now be fixed freely and not relying on guesting any longer, maybe servers will finally have a split WvW population that can be appropriately balanced. Hopeful, I know, but we’ll find out for sure within the next 2 days.

As far as WvW goes… DO NOT MERGE SERVERS

I’d love server alliances.
Something like – if you’re green, you can go help other servers with the same color.
And calculate the score combining all scores together of the same color.

Easterbunny.6170:

<snip>

Assuming Anet owns said servers and is not re-purposing them to another game, Anet now has a HUGE amount of excess server power to dedicate to…WVW.

There is a possible Platinum lining to this for us WvW players.

<snip>

No. Anet leases their server capacity. This whole thing has only one motivation and that is cost saving by reducing lease costs – there will be no “excess power” for WvW.

Nick.6972:

I’d love server alliances.
Something like – if you’re green, you can go help other servers with the same color.
And calculate the score combining all scores together of the same color.

You must love karma trains.

Beorn Saxon.4762:

I loved math in school, specifically geometry and proofs. When I see a post like the Megaserver System my mind auto starts processing/predicting future progress/pros/cons/effectiveness etc. And I have a few predictions as to the progression of this thought process.

1. Servers for PvE and PvP will basically no longer exist.
2. Therefore servers will mostly be tied to the wvw community only.
3. Currently there is a HUGE gap in the wvw skill lvl of servers, causing good ones to get over populated and vice versa.
4. Solution: merge the entire wvw community into 3, more balanced equal sides…
5. …similarly to how edge of the mist is…

My prediction is that the wvw battle will simple be blue/green/red with a lot of instances, and the megaserver tech will pick one for you, the same as it would for pve. No more queue, ever. I think server rankings will determine which color a server is on. So people won’t need to hop servers for wvw because each server will be fighting with the help of 1/3 of the servers.

So, am I a genius or just crazy?

TL;DR WvW matchups will be like EotM.

As I said in another thread prior to this post, I feel as though the EoTM concept will be ANET’s eventual answer to the PPT/Population/Dying Server issues within WvW….I do not think they will merge all servers into 3 colors though. Mainly because I think they understand that “server identity” (or Community) is something people have gotten used to.

I think it will be some variation of EoTM, basically taking the idea of incorporating servers into larger alliances but still keeping their singular identities at least somewhat.

This megaserver change sounds pretty bad. It seems like its going to ruin world boss event hopping. Also they still have EU vs US restrictions bad bad bad. Also, guilds still have to build influence and upgrades on only one server.

I don’t see this working well for world vs world either. As someone mentioned earlier, you can’t hop in Lion’s Arch/Gendarren Fields anymore to ask for help because everyone will be in the megaserver instead of your home world. They should leave the 5 main cities alone. Good thing their initial rollout is only restricted to the level 1-15 zones.

Wait to draw conclusion. I had the same thought (and fear) but consider these 2 points

1) Tournament wouldn’t have any sense with only 3 servers.
2) No more servers = no more transfers = less money to Anet. I guess this is important to them.

But we have to wait 2 more days to know that.

@ King Amadaeus.8619

I agree and I think we are thinking the same thing. Server identity is huge and should remain. I’m hinting at the weekly match up changing to an alliance match up, as you would call it. So when you hop into wvw it’s your servers instance, unless that instance is full, in that case the mega tech would start putting ppl from your server on an under populated instance etc.

And maybe twice a year this could pause for the normal tournys.

I will be quitting GW2 if they do anything to how the servers work in wvw.

So most people hate the population imbalance issue (aka Nightcapping, Nightwatch). Yet most people also hate any proposed solution to the issue.

So which do you think will cause the most QQ and the most people to quit over the next year:

Switch to Megaserver and the end of Server vs. Server vs. Server?
Or
Leave it the way it is with the population imbalance issues?

If they make WvW like EotM it will completely destroy communities, and will probably lead to the mass exodus of several big WvW guilds, with as Anet will soon be competing with other MMO’s coming out this year, it would not make sense to do this.

WvW should be left tied to a server, leave the mega server to PvE/sPvP ( if its needed )

I DO NOT want the borderlands and EB to end up like Eotm. EotM isn’t WvW, it is just a 95% karma train. eotm is a PVE map. I still want to fight for my server. I would not want to be a “green” or “overgrowth” and fight against “blue” “red”. if this happens. then wvw will most likely be ruined…

Johje Holan.4607:

So most people hate the population imbalance issue (aka Nightcapping, Nightwatch). Yet most people also hate any proposed solution to the issue.

So which do you think will cause the most QQ and the most people to quit over the next year:

Switch to Megaserver and the end of Server vs. Server vs. Server?
Or
Leave it the way it is with the population imbalance issues?

Or they could just change how PPT works.

For instance, making it so you get points for capping a structure rather than holding one would help alleviate the huge PPT gap created by coverage issues.

Nevertheless, I definitely do not want WvW matchups to be like EotM in any way whatsoever.

Johje Holan.4607:

So most people hate the population imbalance issue (aka Nightcapping, Nightwatch). Yet most people also hate any proposed solution to the issue.

Leave it the way it is with the population imbalance issues?

Edge of the mists is still awfully unbalanced and it uses a system similar to that of a megaserver. Your argument is invalid.

The megaserver concept seems to have been inspired by unsaid MMO about to launch. That MMO also has only 3 wvw teams(alliances). Not saying it’s good or bad. Just stating observations.

Beorn Saxon.4762:

The megaserver concept seems to have been inspired by unsaid MMO about to launch. That MMO also has only 3 wvw teams(alliances). Not saying it’s good or bad. Just stating observations.

Thank you Captain Obvious.

Johje Holan.4607:

So most people hate the population imbalance issue (aka Nightcapping, Nightwatch). Yet most people also hate any proposed solution to the issue.

So which do you think will cause the most QQ and the most people to quit over the next year:

Switch to Megaserver and the end of Server vs. Server vs. Server?
Or
Leave it the way it is with the population imbalance issues?

Well, unless they persistantly match an NA and EU server together in WvW (which would be AWESOME) this wouldnt fix night capping, because the only reason we do not like night capping is that we want “Our Team” to win on “its merits” and you wouldnt have a team to give a crap about anymore.

Anonymous group I happened to be in X wins! yay.

And if its persistantly capturing about the same people from the same servers and placing those servers together as a team, then their night issues would move with them, so night capping wouldnt be “fixed” really.

Thats why I really just want to see what the actual solution is before freaking out completely and throwing a tantrum. The different paths this could take from one small paragraph at the end of how PVE content will be handled are infinite.

The total removal of the matchup threads is the one crumb thats worrying me here. I do not think Anet really understands just how important community is in WvW, including a competitive atmosphere with the other side. Thats the one thing sitting in the pit of my stomach, but getting crazy on the forums with nothing to work with except those 2 microscopic crumbs doesnt do any good.