Guild Wars 2

When is it happening?

Where was it even announced that one was happening at all? I missed that

We do not know what changes Anet has planned for WvW April update. There is suppose to be live beta test so once it goes alive we will see if/what population balance system is there.

Abandon all hope ye who enters WvW! Enter the siegewars, disappointment awaits! Abandon all hope ye who enters here, for this where all massive open world RvR pvp’ers get left behind.

:P

They are not going to merge server, yet. Merging will NOT deal with the unbalance that currently exists in WvW populations. It will only make it worse.

A.net first needs to figure out how to balance the populations for 24 hrs a day, then server mergers can be talked about.

i hope the live beta test is a real one and not speech trick again that you can see the beta live on twitch^^

Arenanet should fix and/or balance things like guild banners, elites, professions, skills, removing DBL and adding back Alpine map, removing HoT gimmicks in WvWvW, etc first before they think about merging servers.

Merging servers should be the last thing that Anet needs to worry about at this moment in time.

Warcry.1596:

Where was it even announced that one was happening at all? I missed that

Yea, I keep hearing this but nobody has said it’s been confirmed which leads me to believe it’s just speculation.

Merged servers is frankly be the worst possible way to handle the WvW population issue as it only solves symptoms and not the actual underlying problems.

Current situation in tier 6-7 servers is worrisome.
Eternal battleground is empty all the time and basically one server will cap everything and hold for whole week. It used to be more alive place 2-3 months ago.
So far only eotm is ok but i am worried about it as well.

I really doubt servers merge could be done on a beta test, so I think they have planned something else for April update regarding population.

Bandini.6185:

I really doubt servers merge could be done on a beta test, so I think they have planned something else for April update regarding population.

It could, because its really nothing more complicated than rerouting server X WvW to server Y WvW for a week or two.

We know from previous… lets say “mistake”… that regular WvW is already interconnected. Anyone can join any server in WvW.

DeceiverX.8361:

Merged servers is frankly be the worst possible way to handle the WvW population issue as it only solves symptoms and not the actual underlying problems.

It does not have to be “merge”, could be some other way, but number of servers HAS to be reduced dramatically. And I am in one of the dead servers, which I always love and will never transfer away, but it’s still dead. Sure there are other stuff that needs to be fixed too, but the last servers were dying even before HoT.

Merging servers are inevitable, it has to be done. Anet has to find a way for WvW to work hand in hand with their megaserver system which caused segregation. Furthermore, you can’t solve population unbalance without consolidating the population together in the first place. Additionally, anyone who correlate population balancing as score balancing need to get their logic checked.

FogLeg.9354:

DeceiverX.8361:

Merged servers is frankly be the worst possible way to handle the WvW population issue as it only solves symptoms and not the actual underlying problems.

It does not have to be “merge”, could be some other way, but number of servers HAS to be reduced dramatically. And I am in one of the dead servers, which I always love and will never transfer away, but it’s still dead. Sure there are other stuff that needs to be fixed too, but the last servers were dying even before HoT.

I find this to be a very odd statement. You love your server and would never leave but you want to see it destroyed?

Puck.9612:

FogLeg.9354:

DeceiverX.8361:

Merged servers is frankly be the worst possible way to handle the WvW population issue as it only solves symptoms and not the actual underlying problems.

It does not have to be “merge”, could be some other way, but number of servers HAS to be reduced dramatically. And I am in one of the dead servers, which I always love and will never transfer away, but it’s still dead. Sure there are other stuff that needs to be fixed too, but the last servers were dying even before HoT.

I find this to be a very odd statement. You love your server and would never leave but you want to see it destroyed?

He just means that he will accept whatever happen to the server system despite how much love he has for the server system. He has prepared to face reality.

SkyShroud.2865:

Puck.9612:

FogLeg.9354:

DeceiverX.8361:

Merged servers is frankly be the worst possible way to handle the WvW population issue as it only solves symptoms and not the actual underlying problems.

It does not have to be “merge”, could be some other way, but number of servers HAS to be reduced dramatically. And I am in one of the dead servers, which I always love and will never transfer away, but it’s still dead. Sure there are other stuff that needs to be fixed too, but the last servers were dying even before HoT.

I find this to be a very odd statement. You love your server and would never leave but you want to see it destroyed?

He just means that he will accept whatever happen to the server system despite how much love he has for the server system. He has prepared to face reality.

Reality is server merges would go over terribly and drive even more people away from the game, especially since all the things that have been killing the game haven’t been addressed yet.
If the OP isn’t having fun on his server and his friends have already left then he should move. He can even park a free account on his server so he can keep playing with them from time to time.

Isis.3841:

So far only eotm is ok but i am worried about it as well.

Is it? Or is the megaserver system they’re using for it just hiding the problem behind smoke and mirrors? That is, afterall, the reason it was introduced in PvE. To hide the fact that the playerbase had shrunk to the point where world events just plain couldn’t be done on a lot of servers. Cause people will see the 80 other people around them, and not realize that’s only a small portion of how many there used to be. It’s noticeable with regular servers, but with megaservers the problem is easily swept under the rug and ignored.

Dawdler.8521:

Bandini.6185:

I really doubt servers merge could be done on a beta test, so I think they have planned something else for April update regarding population.

It could, because its really nothing more complicated than rerouting server X WvW to server Y WvW for a week or two.

I was not speaking on the technical, but human, point of view. Merging servers would mean merging people and communities.

FogLeg.9354:

DeceiverX.8361:

Merged servers is frankly be the worst possible way to handle the WvW population issue as it only solves symptoms and not the actual underlying problems.

It does not have to be “merge”, could be some other way, but number of servers HAS to be reduced dramatically. And I am in one of the dead servers, which I always love and will never transfer away, but it’s still dead. Sure there are other stuff that needs to be fixed too, but the last servers were dying even before HoT.

You need to ask yourself why the server is dead, however. For about a year after release every map had a queue 24/7 on almost all tiers. Can we really expect the same exact number of players to be interested across all servers as they are now, despite dramatic format changes/pace changes and guilds potentially being overshadowed by other foreign guilds?

I’m not saying that any kind of population mingling is a bad idea, no. Frankly, I’ve supported complex developments of smart systems for dynamically resolving population and scoring imbalances between weeks and have suggested means of doing so several times, but this also maintained the integrity of each individual server.

Simply merging the servers will just cause a very short-term boost in population but historically in every competitive game which has done this, it has resulted in repetitions of history and ultimately net player losses across the board.

It’s a simple solution which few games have done successfully overall, and is potentially more disastrous for the health of the game and format than doing nothing.

Bandini.6185:

Dawdler.8521:

Bandini.6185:

I really doubt servers merge could be done on a beta test, so I think they have planned something else for April update regarding population.

It could, because its really nothing more complicated than rerouting server X WvW to server Y WvW for a week or two.

I was not speaking on the technical, but human, point of view. Merging servers would mean merging people and communities.

Does say T7-9 honestly have such sizable communities that they would cry out in horror over being absorbed into T4-6?

Look its real simple:
- Announce officially and far ahead of time that tier X will be removed. Lets say 2-4 weeks.
- Specify that server Y will be automaticly transfered to server Z at that point, giving any possible community leaders a chance to sit down together and organize things.
- After the merge, all transfered players have a grace period where they get one free transfer to a server of choice within the tiers that was initialy available for all servers.

If this simple idea of concentrating the communities really isnt agreeable, the WvW server and competetive system need to be remade from scratch because it wont hold in the long run. Eventually servers will thin out and die. Players will leave the game. Players that higher tiers could have used, but that Anet in their glorious wisdom decided to hide behind a transfer paywall.

At some point, WvW will only be able to sustain a single tier anyway, leaving us with the inevitable WvW megaserver even if Anet doesnt even program it, lol.

Puck.9612:

SkyShroud.2865:

Puck.9612:

FogLeg.9354:

DeceiverX.8361:

Merged servers is frankly be the worst possible way to handle the WvW population issue as it only solves symptoms and not the actual underlying problems.

It does not have to be “merge”, could be some other way, but number of servers HAS to be reduced dramatically. And I am in one of the dead servers, which I always love and will never transfer away, but it’s still dead. Sure there are other stuff that needs to be fixed too, but the last servers were dying even before HoT.

I find this to be a very odd statement. You love your server and would never leave but you want to see it destroyed?

He just means that he will accept whatever happen to the server system despite how much love he has for the server system. He has prepared to face reality.

Reality is server merges would go over terribly and drive even more people away from the game, especially since all the things that have been killing the game haven’t been addressed yet.
If the OP isn’t having fun on his server and his friends have already left then he should move. He can even park a free account on his server so he can keep playing with them from time to time.

Game will decline as time passes, that is a reality, a reality people refuse to accept. Many people has this pipe dream that population will not decline, people will not quit to move on to a newer game. But people will quit, people will move on as time passes. The amount of new blood that will replace those who left will not be enough, it will never be enough.

Anet has to produce contents worth retaining population but to create such content has always been proven difficult in MMORPGs. Of course, anet did produce certain changes that accelerate people to quit earlier than later but correcting these changes will not magically recover the losses. You cannot regain what is lost.

While people are contemplating what to do, new bloods continue to flow in and join the many servers, servers which can be low in WvW activity, these players then join PvE guilds that don’t do WvW at all. This further lower the amount of new blood entering WvW. PvX guilds nowadays hardly function as a mean to bring PvE players into WvW any more, ever since megaserver. While at the same time, servers continue to decline. FA has already fallen into medium pop, is not hard to know which server will be next.

By merging the servers, you give the new bloods a chance to be interested in WvW. You allow the PvX guilds to do their part to convert PvE players into PvX players. You get the WvW maps populated again, giving people a chance to experience liveliness it once had, rejuvenating the feelings people once had when they first see WvW.

I can understand that you are worried about people’s resistance to changes, especially changes as big as mergers or anything similiar while not resolving issues like big complicated borderland map. Merger is still inevitable as resolving any issues will not magically have the population return to previous height.

I worked for a game company that did a merge of six servers to two, and added a new server for people looking for a fresh start. They all had massive (expected) spikes in activity per server initially. After six months, populations on each server were the same as they were before the merge. And this was a game in which transferring wasn’t allowed and the community voted for who to get paired with (there was no inter-server conflict, either, so this was strictly just a population boost). Two years later, they merged the new and the old again, because the population across all three never improved.

Merging servers fixes only symptoms of the greater problem. I know people want improved numbers, but merges typically don’t do anything except help the immediate future, and often make the extended future worse. There’s no reason to merge until after these problems get fixed, however, because the populations are still almost guaranteed to die down as a result.

What you described is simply a game that dies off, like I said, game dying is a natural thing. It is really up to the company to create and maintain a environment worthy enough to attract and retain population. Out of the hundreds MMOs, not many can do that.

However, while they have to look at the long term perspective. They too have to take care of the short term problems, like the current population. Like I said, regardless if merge or not merge, the WvW will continue to decline, servers will continue to drop dead one by one.

The thing is, merger is quick bandage, to stop some of the bleeding while giving them more time to work on the long term solutions. Otherwise, do you prefer the new blood to bleed off immediately from the existing wounds?

Whoever merges with yaks bend will win every week lol

Ask Mal from ONS given he appears to know something and ONS/TW/WHOA have moved/are moving to TC as a result.

TC is now the stacked server. The alliance of guilds that went YB to push t1 now reside there, coming from bg/Jq/YB – they must know something about what is coming or why pay to transfer at this point…… Which of course leads to what is worse – not knowing what is coming or only SOME people knowing what is coming……

Liston.9708:

TC is now the stacked server. The alliance of guilds that went YB to push t1 now reside there, coming from bg/Jq/YB – they must know something about what is coming or why pay to transfer at this point…… Which of course leads to what is worse – not knowing what is coming or only SOME people knowing what is coming……

They have no clue. You are giving those egomaniacs too much credit. They want TC to come up and JQ or BG to fall. That is all

I want TC to go up too – YB and TC on the same tier? 2 siege humping servers that run from fights? Should be Exciting……

Puck.9612:

FogLeg.9354:

DeceiverX.8361:

Merged servers is frankly be the worst possible way to handle the WvW population issue as it only solves symptoms and not the actual underlying problems.

It does not have to be “merge”, could be some other way, but number of servers HAS to be reduced dramatically. And I am in one of the dead servers, which I always love and will never transfer away, but it’s still dead. Sure there are other stuff that needs to be fixed too, but the last servers were dying even before HoT.

I find this to be a very odd statement. You love your server and would never leave but you want to see it destroyed?

Like I said, it does not have to be “merge”. I would accept many other solutions too (guild vs guild system, splitting high tier servers, reducing number of maps in matchups, all 27 servers fighting in single match etc). What I was trying to say, was that number of servers available should be tied to the overall number players playing GW2. Only part of them will play WvW, but if GW2 has lost 50% of players it can not stick to the same number of WvW servers.

I would prefer more players playing GW2 and so more people playing WvW so more servers are filled with people all the time. But it does not look realistic.

I do not think exact number of WvW servers is good idea to start with. At the GW2 launch too many players wanted to join WvW at peak hours, so we got queues and people complaining and EotM. Now there is not enough players, people complain again. The whole system is clearly not working and should be changed, not just patched by merging/removing some servers.

Dusty Moon.4382:

Liston.9708:

TC is now the stacked server. The alliance of guilds that went YB to push t1 now reside there, coming from bg/Jq/YB – they must know something about what is coming or why pay to transfer at this point…… Which of course leads to what is worse – not knowing what is coming or only SOME people knowing what is coming……

They have no clue. You are giving those egomaniacs too much credit. They want TC to come up and JQ or BG to fall. That is all

I want TC to go up too – YB and TC on the same tier? 2 siege humping servers that run from fights? Should be Exciting……

A lot of TC players are every upset by the notion and don’t want the “help”. We’ve already lost several guilds just from this, and it is expected the incoming stacking is intended to cause the server to rise to T1 and then immediately fail it, letting it fail completely.

Many players are not interested in T1, especially fighting YB. I joined for middle-of-the-pack action and good coverage for T2 which is what I got for the past several months. I know if it pushes to T1 I’ll certainly also be abandoning ship if the push efforts are legitimate. If not, and the abandonment does happen, I’ll stick around for the non-T1 play I came to the server for.

What’s ridiculous is this alliance of guilds is ruining t2. They made it so unbalanced with fa and db not being able to touch their coverage combined. I don’t understand t1 guilds leaving kitten come to t2 to raise a server to t1. Just stay on t1. Thanks for ruining t2 with your t1 crap

jrambo.8467:

What’s ridiculous is this alliance of guilds is ruining t2. They made it so unbalanced with fa and db not being able to touch their coverage combined. I don’t understand t1 guilds leaving kitten come to t2 to raise a server to t1. Just stay on t1. Thanks for ruining t2 with your t1 crap

Happened because nobody likes fighting YB.

I said this before when I was in T6 against YB before they got stacked and people were joking about elevating them to T1: If you raise YB to T1, there will be massive consequences by the very nature of how they play in the format. Those are beginning to emerge with YB not being able to be removed from their position.

And here we are. Some are fleeing for better fights (which DB/TC has provided), some are probably trying to dump the next potential contender into oblivion with a failed attempt/troll push to T1 with a mass exodus. T1 players should have minded their own business, and frankly, based on a lot of people I’ve talked to about the ordeal trying to figure out what’s going on, people would have preferred it if we could have kept them out.

EremiteAngel.9765:

When is it happening?

Soon hopefully.

It seems like 90% of WvW players are now in the top 3 tiers. Population crisis averted… Thanx anet!

Merging NA servers is one thing.

Trying to merge EU servers which have dedicated language servers, is a much harder task! Or are Anet just gonna get rid of separate language servers?

The Ventari Ele.5812:

Trying to merge EU servers which have dedicated language servers, is a much harder task! Or are Anet just gonna get rid of separate language servers?

Why it’s harder?

We currently have 1 SP, 7 DE, 5 FR and 14 EU = 27 servers
These can be easily merged to 1 SP, 4 DE, 3 FR and 7 EU = 15 servers
Or even down to 12 if needed (1+3+2+6)

You just merge highest population FR server with lowest population FR server, highest population DE server with lowest population DE server, high population international server with low population international server etc etc. Eventually they all end up with fairly same population or at least with populations capable fighting each other.

Getting rid of non-english servers would be fairly stupid move. If anything, they should create more of them, for example Russian or Polish players would easily fill their own separate server.

I’m glad server merging is possibly happening!

DeceiverX.8361:

Warcry.1596:

Where was it even announced that one was happening at all? I missed that

Yea, I keep hearing this but nobody has said it’s been confirmed which leads me to believe it’s just speculation.

Merged servers is frankly be the worst possible way to handle the WvW population issue as it only solves symptoms and not the actual underlying problems.

Some “fake” patch notes are leaked – http://pastebin.com/BsKpc7HY

DeceiverX.8361:

jrambo.8467:

What’s ridiculous is this alliance of guilds is ruining t2. They made it so unbalanced with fa and db not being able to touch their coverage combined. I don’t understand t1 guilds leaving kitten come to t2 to raise a server to t1. Just stay on t1. Thanks for ruining t2 with your t1 crap

Happened because nobody likes fighting YB.

I said this before when I was in T6 against YB before they got stacked and people were joking about elevating them to T1: If you raise YB to T1, there will be massive consequences by the very nature of how they play in the format. Those are beginning to emerge with YB not being able to be removed from their position.

And here we are. Some are fleeing for better fights (which DB/TC has provided), some are probably trying to dump the next potential contender into oblivion with a failed attempt/troll push to T1 with a mass exodus. T1 players should have minded their own business, and frankly, based on a lot of people I’ve talked to about the ordeal trying to figure out what’s going on, people would have preferred it if we could have kept them out.

Why would Anet keep them out when Anet’s main source of income from WvW players are server transfers, which you have to then do some critical thinking and ask your selves who does the “leaking” of the information truely serves. It sure don’t serve the T1 try hards/trolls, as one my my ex commanders said “In most cases if you want to get to the root of the issue/s, just follow the money.” So ask yourselves who has the most to gain from the leak?

Kasteros.9847:

DeceiverX.8361:

Warcry.1596:

Where was it even announced that one was happening at all? I missed that

Yea, I keep hearing this but nobody has said it’s been confirmed which leads me to believe it’s just speculation.

Merged servers is frankly be the worst possible way to handle the WvW population issue as it only solves symptoms and not the actual underlying problems.

Some “fake” patch notes are leaked – http://pastebin.com/BsKpc7HY

How do you know these are fake? I know it’s not that probable they would leak it, but it’s happened before.

Sirendor.1394:

Kasteros.9847:

DeceiverX.8361:

Warcry.1596:

Where was it even announced that one was happening at all? I missed that

Yea, I keep hearing this but nobody has said it’s been confirmed which leads me to believe it’s just speculation.

Merged servers is frankly be the worst possible way to handle the WvW population issue as it only solves symptoms and not the actual underlying problems.

Some “fake” patch notes are leaked – http://pastebin.com/BsKpc7HY

How do you know these are fake? I know it’s not that probable they would leak it, but it’s happened before.

They must be fake because the very first change listed is one I have posted about a couple of times.

I am never right.

I mean of course I am right, but it never makes it ingame. You get what I mean.

Dawdler.8521:

Sirendor.1394:

Kasteros.9847:

DeceiverX.8361:

Warcry.1596:

Where was it even announced that one was happening at all? I missed that

Yea, I keep hearing this but nobody has said it’s been confirmed which leads me to believe it’s just speculation.

Merged servers is frankly be the worst possible way to handle the WvW population issue as it only solves symptoms and not the actual underlying problems.

Some “fake” patch notes are leaked – http://pastebin.com/BsKpc7HY

How do you know these are fake? I know it’s not that probable they would leak it, but it’s happened before.

They must be fake because the very first change listed is one I have posted about a couple of times.

I am never right.

I mean of course I am right, but it never makes it ingame. You get what I mean.

No. Please explain more.

If True is a Bad Idea.
Lets say for a second that all the other WVW changes they are planning work out. Then WVW is a place people want to come back to. Now there is no where to go but over populated servers no one can get on. Bad Idea.

The way to fix the population problem isn’t by making fewer servers but by making WVW a place people want to check out.

Bring back Old Maps, Increase rewards and bring back WVW for map completion(or some other thing from Pve) so there is a pipeline of new players.

JCKinz.2305:

If True is a Bad Idea.
Lets say for a second that all the other WVW changes they are planning work out. Then WVW is a place people want to come back to. Now there is no where to go but over populated servers no one can get on. Bad Idea.

The way to fix the population problem isn’t by making fewer servers but by making WVW a place people want to check out.

Bring back Old Maps, Increase rewards and bring back WVW for map completion(or some other thing from Pve) so there is a pipeline of new players.

It isnt a full server merge. from what it looks like its only in WvW

and we most definitely need it we are spread out too thin and have been for a very long time.

Squishy.3806:

It isnt a full server merge. from what it looks like its only in WvW

WvW is the only place were the concept of “servers” is even relevant. Servers everywhere else were merged long ago with the “megaserver” system.

We gonna merge like Voltron.

mcarswell.3768:

WvW is the only place were the concept of “servers” is even relevant. Servers everywhere else were merged long ago with the “megaserver” system.

The “server” concept is out dated and a hold over from an older generation of MMOs. It should never have been in the GW2 design and wasn’t even in GW1. Why they thought it was a good idea is beyond me and why some players cling to it is even more baffling. The entire system is arbitrary.

So is this going to be a flexible weekly “server alliance” or straight up merger (deleting half of the servers)?

MaximillianVonSchatten.6278:

So is this going to be a flexible weekly “server alliance” or straight up merger (deleting half of the servers)?

Again, we can not be sure completely until it actually happens or Anet has official list of changes. However, from the list of changes that cannot be mentioned in this forum without being deleted, it is possible it will be straight merger where half the servers get deleted.

They need to Merge the servers together there is no question about it. The bottom half of the WvW ladder is dead lets face it!

I think merging the bottom half with the top half is a great idea it brings WvW back to life, more fights more population, Isn’t that what people have been moaning about in the past! now if it does happen i understand people will be frustrated that they will loose there servers reputation and name etc etc but look forward to building your new servers and make WvW great again. I have been on Yaks Bend since day one, and as much as everyone hates us i will welcome whatever server may it be that joins us with open arms because that’s who we are.

um, you know, I doubt Tier 1 servers will notice anything after merge. The last tiers are so completely empty, even adding whole server from last tiers won’t make any difference for top servers. It WILL be big deal for those players who have stayed on those empty servers, pretty much whole WvW as they know it will be gone.