Ok, so everybody knows there are some balance issues within the current ranking system that have given some servers huge advantages. That’s not really up for argument anymore.
The most pressing issue seems to be the “night capping”. It’s difficult to say how many match ups are currently experiencing this, but there are at least a few. The idea behind this is that some servers have a 24 hr presence on WvW, which greatly outnumbers at least 1 of the servers with which they’re matched. This often causes a huge swing in map control overnight, causing morale to drop drastically on the servers that lost everything.
The most obvious solution to this is to switch servers. It’s free, and you can do it as many times as you like. But this also compounds the issue, with people transferring to the “higher” ranked servers so they can be part of the “winning” team. Not really a solution.
The other solution is try to recruit more “off-peak” players. So for those of us on US servers, recruit EU/Aus players/guilds to fill your night-time with active players. Sounds simple, right? Not really… We have an Aussie presence here on IoJ. From what i understand, there is even an alliance between them to help with the WvW. I don’t know what goes on at night, as i’m sleeping, but our Aussie presence hasn’t really helped us much. Maybe we just don’t have enough? Not really sure. We’d need somebody who’s on at night to let us know. But, it’s hard to try to recruit players to a server that is constantly losing at night. Especially when you’re tying to recruit players to come in and get slaughtered at night.
Here’s the only solution I can see that will actually work. Population Caps. Hold on, stop slamming your fingers into keyboard, and continue reading before you tell me i’m wrong. I will try to highlight my points quickly and concisely if i can.
1. This is a game. In order for a game to work, there needs to be constant balance. Period. Otherwise it is not a game. Population balance is controlled in every game. Sports, board games, and yes.. video games. In order to achieve balance in gameplay, you need to ensure that all sides are on equal footing. By simply stating “You can recruit off-peak players too”, you show you have no concept of what a “game” is supposed to be. Show me one successful game that has no population control amongst its competitive side. Shooters have it (8-12 per side), RTS have it (200 max supply), sports games have it (5v5 for hockey/basketball).
2. This is not war. It is a War Simulation Game at best. You want to say it’s War? Go join the army. Learn to shoot a gun. Go to drill practice, PT, Tactics classes, etc. This is not war. It will use war-like tactics, but it is still a game. See point 1.
3. If Anet knew that WvW was going to be a 24hrs a day, why did they split servers up between NA and EU? The smart thing to do would have been to have no distinction between them.
4. Queues don’t deter people. Obviously, having 2hr+ queues hasn’t deterred anybody from waiting on the top servers. Once again, i’m not on at night, or on any of the top servers, so it’s difficult for me to say. But, i would think that if there are huge population imbalances at night, it’s because more people are getting into the maps on one side, while there are no enough to even have close to a balance on the others. Maybe if only part of the “night group” could get in, the larger “groups/Guilds” waiting to get all their people in will move to different servers so they can actually play together.
I’m not saying “Go make Population ratio Caps now!!!”. I’m trying to get a constructive
brainstorming session with those who want WvW to succeed. Please, don’t come on and say “We got 15 guild together and we’re not moving!” That’s not helping the situation. We’re really glad you are happy with the situation. You won’t be so happy in a month or two when WvW is a niche thing, where you’ll be fighting the same 2 servers week in and week out with 5+ hr queues at all times during the day.
As the player population, we are just as at fault over this issue as Anet is. It’s unfair to expect the large guilds or alliance to move servers, just because the coattail riders showed up on their server. But, it’s also up to us to help fix the problem.