Guild Wars 2

I want to tell you a story about our server, where it’s at right now, where we want to go, and how we plan to do it.

First of all, yes, this paid transfer situation couldn’t have come at a worse time for our server. Just as some other servers hit the jackpot and scored dozens upon dozens of new guilds, the opposite has been true of us. Starting with WM abandoning us a month or so ago, other guilds have been leaving, and we have been losing pretty hard and virtually every week since. Then the paid transfer announcement came, and countless of our remaining guilds saw us losing and jumped ship in order to be on other servers that would stay in the T1/T2 region. I don’t blame them for that, as much as it personally bothers me. Even countless of my personal friends have abandoned the server for others. Things have been looking grim for us, and we can scarcely field a major fighting zerg anymore. Entire BL maps go unmanned and EB has not had a queue in ages.

And yet, we still manage to get points, we have not been removed totally from the board, and the community is tighter than ever. Those who have stayed with us have expressed their loyalty to the server through thick and thin, and have made the experience of WvWing that much better. We have commanders that lead us in assaults against impossible odds, and, much to our enemy’s surprise, sometimes we win and wipe them entirely. Our numbers are not superior, not any longer, but we have a lot of good players and a lot of spirit, and we’re not going to give up.

This is not a recruitment post (though if anyone wants to join the underdog-of-the-year in WvW, that’d be awesome), instead it is a rallying post to those last few guilds on our server thinking about leaving for greener pastures. Please reconsider. We are not broken, and we are not failing; we are a product of the people who make us up. Every last one of us makes a difference, and even if you don’t WvW religiously but only casually, now you have the ability to make a real difference on our server. We have no major alliances, but we have fun, we can make a difference, and we are about as dedicated a lot as you can find. We still have skilled players and commanders who have learned and plied their skills in the top tiers of WvW combat, and we are still a fighting force in small-scale combat, we just need to consolidate what we have and pull together in these last days before paid transfers go live. Please, if you’re thinking of leaving our server, I implore you to have faith, be proactive, and be a part of our rebuilding efforts instead.

Thank you for reading, Godspeed, and hopefully I’ll see you on the battlefield.

While I wish you guys the best of luck on the rebuilding / rallying, I’d like to point out that your reasoning for those guild who have recently left is not entirely accurate to say the least. Certainly not from those guilds’ point of view.

Anyway.. let’s let that rest… and good luck to SBI for the future endeavors

I understand that it’s to stay in the competitive game or, in some cases, to start a new competitive regime on a lower server; why else would a WvW server leave? I’d be happy to amend the post if you want to provide more details.

i’ll PM you, that’s probably the best option

First off I would like to say SBI is just fine. If I had to pick a server as “under dog of the year” in WvW it would be IoJ. They have suffered a lot bigger loss than SBI. As an example we held a meeting last Sunday to see if there was still any interest in WvW. Over 40 guilds showed up. We are still in WvW and still racking up points.

The difference in SBI now and a week ago is most, if not all, the dedicated WvW guilds left. I have nothing against them leaving. It has been apparent for some time that SBI is not a dedicated WvW server. Most of the guilds that remain on SBI are PvX. Meaning they enjoy playing all aspects of GW2. Score and tier have never really mattered to us. Which can be quite frustrating to someone who is dedicated to WvW only. SBI started with many competitive PvP guilds from GW1. If sPvP had been implemented correctly from the beginning a lot of those guilds would probably still be on SBI. Unfortunately that hasn’t been the case to date. So, the short version is they needed to go where ever they could participate in dedicated PvP and have fun. Without worrying about trying to make their server competitive and ruining the fun for themselves in the process.

The situation is much healthier for all concerned now. No one feels the need to carry SBI and put in insane hours to keep it competitive while burning themselves out in the process. We that remain will continue to WvW, but only for the fun of it. If Anet decides to make it unfun, or to make some other aspect of the game more fun than WvW not many will be around. If Anet decides to show WvW some love and make it just as much fun and rewarding as other aspects of the game you will see more players participating. Any blame for what SBI is now as a WvW server isn’t with the people who transferred or staid.

Outside of WvW SBI is still the same server it always was. It is just now more fun for everyone concerned. If your on SBI and want something more than you are seeing in WvW you might want to join the community at http://www.stormbluffisle.com/index.php/forum/wvw and work with the other people trying to improve SBIs WvW performance. It will be more productive there than posting here.

SBI isn’t dead by any means of the word but our success has nothing to do with Commanders leading us to victory. The only Commanders remaining are new ones who have no idea as to what they are doing. That being said, it’s small havoc squads that are keeping SBI alive and kicking. My guild, From Zil, for example is destroying SoR and TC players who think they are better because they run in a mindless zerg.

Last night a guildmate and I started out double thieving around supply camps and between the two of us we brought our tick up from 45 to 90. Once we got the guild on we ran a 5 man train on supply camps, continually killing the Guild Claiming while stealthing in and out and dealing with 15+ SoR zergs. We baited zergs and destroyed them with hilarious arrow cart placements and even ninja’d Bluebriar and set up trebuchet to ninja their Bay.

SBI isn’t dead and I’m not concerned one bit. The only reason SBI isn’t in T1 anymore is because we have zero oceanic guilds to take map control in the dead of night while NA sleeps. SoR has about 5. What we do have, however, is seriously skilled and quality players. Quality is better than quantity in my book.

hoschi.8693:

i’ll PM you, that’s probably the best option

I appreciate that.

Notrub.6925:

Outside of WvW SBI is still the same server it always was. It is just now more fun for everyone concerned. If your on SBI and want something more than you are seeing in WvW you might want to join the community at http://www.stormbluffisle.com/index.php/forum/wvw and work with the other people trying to improve SBIs WvW performance. It will be more productive there than posting here.

While I agree that posting there is definitely better for the internal community, I think it also needs to be said to the general WvW populace that we’re not the sinking ship that every other thread calls us. I don’t want other servers viewing us as crashing and burning and forever the place to runaway from or shy away from. It’s important that it be communicated to everyone. Regardless, count on further input being said at the appropriate website as well.

Otherwise, I agree with the sentiment of the rest of your post. Outside of WvW, nothing has changed. I only wrote the OP in the context of WvW, however, so hopefully my understanding of that goes without saying. I certainly hope my OP didn’t come off as blaming any of the guilds that left for where we are; I understand their logic, and wish them well in their travels. That said, numbers of skilled WvW players factor into WvW success a great deal, so there is, regardless, a direct correlation (and, indeed, causation) between players leaving the server and our inability to field the players necessary to win in PPT and weekly.

@ Too Frisky : it’s a bit more complex than that, but that’s aside the point.

Notrub nailed it down pretty good. SBI turned out to not be a hardcore WvW server, which makes it difficult for those dedicated guilds which naturally would have to carry the weight. It wasn’t planed like that from the start, but a steady shift in focus of the servevrs community.

Our “mistake” was to not realize this sooner…

Is Grundlebad still on SBI?

Yes, so is the rest of [KT].

So a non-hardcore server stayed in tier 1 all that time?

Wow. Imagine if they all called themselves hardcore.

SBI was and has been an absolute powerhouse in WvW up until about a month ago because we lost War Machine, an important Oceanic guild. No one had an issue with this until JQ got a massive pop influx, including several Oceanic guilds. The issue here isn’t dedicated WvW guilds becoming tired of “carrying” the server, it’s that they got tired of not being able to do anything.

Oceanic guilds on NA servers are what honestly ruin the balance of WvW because NA players are living out their real lives when Oceanic guilds are ready to log on, leaving SBI completely defenseless. This is precisely why you see SoR owning everything when you wake up each day.

@OP This all being said I have no idea what you’re getting at with this post. Are you trying to rally around a complaint?

@Porky,
As I said SBI started with a lot of competitive PvP guilds from GW1. They should be proud of what they accomplished on SBI. I am sure once they get some time on their new servers and get rested and back to playing for fun they will continue to make a name for themselves.

The recent exodus has been good for the server. The small group play we have now is very reminiscent of DAoC. Our guild fields a small group of people every night and this recent change in the server dynamic has resulted in more WvW participation than we’ve had since release. The reason is we’re not having to run with and dodge massive zergs, we are free to just head out and kill people. We still have to deal with zergs from time to time but they’re nothing compared to what we dealt with in Tier 1 and that frees us up to break off and do our own thing.

Having spent most of our DAoC time on Mordred, we’ve been craving small, roaming, dynamic group fights for years and now we’re starting to see that. It’s honestly been the best two weeks since release for us.

Too Frisky.9165:

This all being said I have no idea what you’re getting at with this post. Are you trying to rally around a complaint?

I’m not sure which post this is directed at; are you talking to me (OP) or Porky?

Rising Dusk.2408:

Too Frisky.9165:

This all being said I have no idea what you’re getting at with this post. Are you trying to rally around a complaint?

I’m not sure which post this is directed at; are you talking to me (OP) or Porky?

I meant that at the OP my bad. I should have specified.

As that is thus directed at me, then I must say no, I’m not trying to complain at all. I’m trying to pull people together in these last days before server transfers become paid. I want our community to maintain what we have, and I want the other WvW servers to know that we cherish what we have and will fight ferociously to stay in the upper tiers. There isn’t a single complaint in the OP, there are only comments regarding the reality of where we’re at and what we can yet do if we keep together. We are smaller than we once were, and we have lost people; these are facts that we must deal with, not complaints, and I want us all to be there together in dealing with it.

I had to smile at your self titled “underdog-of-the-year.” I’ve been on Eredon Terrace from T1 to T8. If you are the “under-dog-of-the-year” then Eredon Terrace at the bottom of the WvW rankings is “under-dog-of-the-century.”

I wish you and your server the best of luck. If we ever rise up aboveT8 or if you drop down to T8, I look forward to fun and epic battles.

I might be unusual but I rather enjoy T8 WvW. It’s much more relaxed and a smaller group can make a much bigger impact.

Rising Dusk.2408:

As that is thus directed at me, then I must say no, I’m not trying to complain at all. I’m trying to pull people together in these last days before server transfers become paid. I want our community to maintain what we have, and I want the other WvW servers to know that we cherish what we have and will fight ferociously to stay in the upper tiers. There isn’t a single complaint in the OP, there are only comments regarding the reality of where we’re at and what we can yet do if we keep together. We are smaller than we once were, and we have lost people; these are facts that we must deal with, not complaints, and I want us all to be there together in dealing with it.

Well your OP is less “Hey come join SBI and help rebuild an awesome server…” and more like “Hey, we’re in some serious population trouble, come help us…”.

I personally don’t want a population influx coming to SBI. I haven’t had this much fun in WvW since, pretty much ever. It’s nice not having to run into zerg after zerg after zerg and let’s face it, that’s all T1 is nowadays. T2 stinks just because we don’t have Oceanic guilds to help with map coverage and, as you said, we are missing a few hardcore WvW guilds.

I think it would benefit your message more to simply advertise that you were hoping to gather more quality players.

As far as respect goes I think it’s still well known that T1 and T2 servers respect us quite a lot. We’d still be in T1 if SoS and JQ hadn’t blatantly allied. Let’s wait for T3 and assess that before we start assuming things are going poorly.

Note how the OP specifically says “this is not a recruitment post”. I wouldn’t mind fresh blood that we can help get trained and situated, but that’s not the goal. The goal is to rally who we have and let the other servers know that we’re not a sinking ship. Part of the way the OP is presented is that “this is what happened to us, and while it sucks, we need to stick together now more than ever”. Losing WvW players is bad no matter how you slice it, and there isn’t a shred of desperate recruitment happening in the OP. If the specific wording bothers you, well, okay, I apologize.

Rising Dusk.2408:

This is not a recruitment post (though if anyone wants to join the underdog-of-the-year in WvW, that’d be awesome)

“Underdog of the year”?

A server from Tier 1 being the underdog? What the heck man.

Maybe you should go chat with Ferguson Crossing. If there was to be a server who was the underdog in pretty much every match up they had, it would be them. kitten the higher tier they got since release is tier 7.

I always saw SBI as a powerhouse. Not an “underdog”

Besetment.9187:

Is Grundlebad still on SBI?

Yes. I see him on eb every afternoon.

Avatar of Belle.9623:

I had to smile at your self titled “underdog-of-the-year.” I’ve been on Eredon Terrace from T1 to T8. If you are the “under-dog-of-the-year” then Eredon Terrace at the bottom of the WvW rankings is “under-dog-of-the-century.”

Kardiamond.6952:

Rising Dusk.2408:

This is not a recruitment post (though if anyone wants to join the underdog-of-the-year in WvW, that’d be awesome)

“Underdog of the year”?

A server from Tier 1 being the underdog? What the heck man.

Haha! Yeah, I was trying to think of something appropriate, considering what happened to HoD and ET in 2012, and figured “year” was acceptable given that 2013 just started and that’s really when we started dropping. Underdog of the month might’ve been better, but really it was just meant as a sarcastic remark to lighten the mood.

We’re T2 and definitely dropping, but I think we may be able to hold out in T3 / T4 depending on how these next few weeks play out for us, and also depending on how many people we can retain during the transfer epidemic before paid transfers go live. We will have to wait and see! I’m positive it’ll play out well enough.

Too Frisky.9165:

We’d still be in T1 if SoS and JQ hadn’t blatantly allied.

Uhm. Hate to break your bubble, but they didn’t. As one of those guilds who was actually out there fighting, we should know. JQ was very good at playing the opportunistic game, I agree, but there has never been an alliance between them and SoS.

SBI would still be in T1 if a lot of guilds had actually shown up for the fight.

That statement I could sign…

I was on SBI until about two weeks ago. Didnt transfer off for WvW reasons…but because I couldn’t find a small/medium sized guild that I gelled with, that is PVX.

With that said, I think SBI is fine and will settle into T3-T5 comfortably, and will have some good fights.

Personally, I consider coming back before the paid transfer… but I would need reason to.

Rising Dusk.2408:

Yes, so is the rest of [KT].

Then SBI is in good shape. I remember Grundlebad was a regular in the euro timeslot of death, usually fighting with outmanned buff (or pretty close to it). One of the few I remember seeing who regularly did the dirty but necessary work of WvW like walking yaks home. Its good to see hes still a pillar of the community now that one is needed more than ever.

Honestly, you have players like that, you got nothing to worry about. Hopefully some day when I pony up the cash, I’ll run with Grundle again for a week.