Guild Wars 2

Right now we have a serious issue with server population balance. Their are 4 full servers and if you are on a lesser population server in a match with one of these forget it. You will be lucky to win one or two skirmishes all week. Since there are only three slots per match this makes tier 2 very unpleasant. Look at this week – JQ has won all but 2 skirmishes. This morning EB was completely green for a while. SM has not flipped since reset. Total bullkitten balance.

It is this that is destroying WVW.

Locking these servers was a good first step. More steps are needed.

One of the things that I think should be done is to encourage transfers from full servers with fairly rich rewards. Like 2 gems per WVW rank to a medium population server and 4 gems to a low population server. Plus throw in some ascended armor chests. Once this offer is accepted no transfers to a higher or equal population server for several months.

Simply the full servers have to be drained.

Right now???

When was the last time T2 saw any kind of balance?

You’d have to go to the time before YB rose up to see any kind of balance in T2, which was well before HoT.

One problem with draining the “full” servers is that “full” isn’t anything like it used to be. Even a “full” server will rarely have a queue outside of reset. If every server was balanced then you’d have the population spread far too thin.

Balancing the tiers would be best to allow different types of matchups. Some players like blob match-ups and some like sparse match-ups. But this would be extremely difficult to achieve. If you think JQ has too many players…when JQ plays say BG or Maguuma then JQ gets run over. Right now we have a tier 1 (Mag, BG), tier 1.5 (TC, JQ), and then lots of tier 3 and 4s.

I play on one of the T3/4s. When in T3 or T4 have different types of play depending on the time of day and where you are on the maps. I really like it. The variety make for a lot of fun. And yes we often do get small queues even outside reset, typically evenings. The populations are there for large fights from time to time.

But if we get ‘selected’ for a T2 match – it’s a form of punishment. Then there is no variation in play. Every day all day consists of getting rolled by blobs. Result – no fun on WVW and I’m playing other game modes.

Simply there needs to be an end to the current extremes in server population imbalance. The extension of full status to 4 servers this week was a great idea.

The next step is needed – actually doing something affirmative to reduce the population of these 4 servers.

As far as some servers being empty – I am not against the idea of doing server merges to bring their population up to T3 and T4 levels.

Boysenberry.1869:

One problem with draining the “full” servers is that “full” isn’t anything like it used to be. Even a “full” server will rarely have a queue outside of reset. If every server was balanced then you’d have the population spread far too thin.

Someday NA players may finally admit to themselves that NA has the population, just doesn’t want to be on the third place server in a match. That day is not today.

No one has been able to build a server up to the levels like “it used to be” for almost two years now. FA was the example server with relatively even coverage across all timezones sitting between Full and Very High for most of that time. Other servers since then got bandwagoned links or had a single stacked timezone and poor coverage in another.

Rewarding players for transferring down as set out in the OP could be farmed by anyone over 800 rank, and would result in transient players gaining ascended gear while players loyal to the smaller servers get nothing (again).

It would be better to offer a decent reward simply for being on a smaller population server.

Glass Hand.7306:

Simply there needs to be an end to the current extremes in server population imbalance. The extension of full status to 4 servers this week was a great idea.

WvW in T2 has devolved into the old “like it used to be” servers and players still trying to make WvW “like it used to be” and still not recognizing that they cannot because they can’t run organized login blackouts.

Four years and still in great decline is GW2 WvW. I can’t hold on much longer waiting for a decent fix for WvW. I see no fun logging in to be farmed by a huge server and struggling to take a kitten tower back.
No I don’t think last place deserves a participation trophy, but come on this is just stupid and demoralizes the server. Anet I will give it to ya you sure know how to make people not want to play in WvW. I am starting to think your goal is to completely eliminate all of WvW from the game.

JQ will get run the heck over when we get to T1 again. Just the way it is. We have too much for T2, and not enough for T1. Locking these servers is not going to spread the pop to T3/4; the population moving is just going to land collectively with a thump onto a server that will make it to T2 (or 1 with a crazy roll), knocking someone else down to T3/4. There aren’t enough people still playing to have everyone getting what they want. Even if you gave incentives to move…. the prospect of missing out on good fights/being away from friends/shaking up your guild/potentially getting your guild split once anet senses the moves/etc. makes it not worth it. If you don’t think this is a concern, you don’t really understand that guilds need 1) people to play against and 2) guilds to run WITH on a map. Plonk too many onto a server with these super crappy ‘lower’ population caps, and guess what happens?

True. Guilds need people to play against and don’t need too many more other guilds to run with on a map (usually only need one other guild). I suggest servers stop buying those they are playing against, especially when it is so easy to go Full.

zhonnika.1784:

JQ will get run the heck over when we get to T1 again. Just the way it is. We have too much for T2, and not enough for T1. Locking these servers is not going to spread the pop to T3/4; the population moving is just going to land collectively with a thump onto a server that will make it to T2 (or 1 with a crazy roll), knocking someone else down to T3/4. There aren’t enough people still playing to have everyone getting what they want. Even if you gave incentives to move…. the prospect of missing out on good fights/being away from friends/shaking up your guild/potentially getting your guild split once anet senses the moves/etc. makes it not worth it. If you don’t think this is a concern, you don’t really understand that guilds need 1) people to play against and 2) guilds to run WITH on a map. Plonk too many onto a server with these super crappy ‘lower’ population caps, and guess what happens?

If you set the population cap to a reasonable level people will simply not be able to land with a thump on another server. Once enough go, it will close.

Once a server closes guilds will not be able to find new people. Some people will take advantage of the transfer offer and these guilds will shrink. Ultimately the guilds will have to move to stay viable. That move will be encouraged by rewards.

As far as bandwagoning linked servers it’s simple. Merge them to the point where their population is competitive and eliminate links.

Also there was a suggestion to reward people on low pop servers on a continuing basis. I think this is an interesting idea. A free transfer and then rewards ongoing.

The big issue is our great guilds from long ago are broken and are not coming back. The game has aged with anet arriving at the party too late. Let’s be serious, it’s been well over a year now with very entry level programming changes. Bring the big dogs in and you’d see major changes. It’s clear, the skill and programming talent is not present…..not to be rude.

We had an amazing crew of guilds, roamers, and players in general back then. These guys and gals have moved on. Legendary live streamers are no more and gvg is something of the past.

You can’t wait on anet forever guys. Though brave, we cannot fight this meta and I can’t blame guilds for going casual. There’s little to prove or do in this game mode these days.