Guild Wars 2

I am a long time member of FC, and much like players from other smaller servers this merge has left a foul taste in my mouth in regards to what was once my favorite mode of GW2.

I Would prefer things to revert to how they were before this merge, but I don’t honestly expect that to happen, but I do have an idea that would be much more appealing to both sides of this argument.

Many people do prefer smaller servers, and making all servers into large servers is not ideal for them. At the same time some do wish they had more people, just not quite as many extra people as we were given.

There were once 8 Tiers in WvW, but Anet cut the number in half instead of just reducing it. I think if we were to have possibly 6 tiers instead of 4 it would make this much more comfortable and satisfactory for everyone involved. The extra two tiers leave room for servers who want a smaller population while still making a move to close the gap in populations between all the tiers. Not every tier would be high volume, but at the same time there will not be as many servers with an excessively low population.

This will not only solve the population problem, but it will also allow us to maintain the communities we value so much since we wont be completely overloaded with people. It will also minimize the difference in playstyles players from the smaller servers have to adjust to from this merger. Sending the smallest servers into tier one ruins what they enjoy about WvW completely instead of changing it for the better.

This will still mean servers would have to be combined, and if this happens both servers should have input into what they want their new server to be called so no one is left out.

This definitely seems like a reasonable compromise. While there is a part of me that feels a compromise should not be necessary, I think most players understand that solutions need to be found that benefit as many players as possible. I hope arenanet is considering a number of options, and not just limiting themselves to “Linking is good” and “Linking is bad”. The poll options will probably tell us a lot in that regard. In the meantime, it is good to see players offering suggestions and input that reflect the variety of play styles.

- Fates

Given this is a beta, the next iteration may be several servers with no mergers and other servers with more than two. My guess is they will try another arrangement next time to see how it works in comparison to this one.

If you truly want the extra two tiers to be low population then Anet will have to force that hand. They can do that by having a lower map cap.

They should also provide free transfers off those servers so people who did like the taste of high pop play don’t have to stay and suffer in low pop life.

I think two extra tiers is too much though. What is T4 like now population wise? They’re completely walled off now by Glicko. 100% chance of staying the same. So maybe they’re the new low pop tier.

Tier 4 right now is still quite high volume.

But as to the low population needing to be forced it is very unlikely. Until now people had the same option to transfer to low population servers. I don’t see a reason for that to change

It couldn’t be worse than it is now! Would much prefer it just to go back to how it was, and if Anet wants people to move to low population servers (so they don’t get smashed every week) then give some incentive to do so!

This switch has been hell. I chose a small server because i have a home a family and many other responsibilities that keep me from being able to afford a top of the line pc to be able to play high population wvw. As it is at this moment if i want to play wvw i cant follow a tag because my pc starts breathing fire. Ive played guild wars since 1 hyear after launch of guild wars one and havent played any other games for pc it has definitely been awesome but this may be what kills it for me.

I don’t know many people who are happy with the way this link turned out, but I would be foolish if I didn’t acknowledge that it was an attempt to fix a problem I’ve heard people complaining about for years. I would rather go back to the way things were as well, but I know that many servers were struggling and I don’t feel that it is right to ignore that. The more reasonable 6 tiers fits the needs of all people much better than either option in my opinion.

I do agree with your point. It seems like a good middleground. I am not really happy with the linking. I went from being on a low pop. server in a lower tier to one of the lower end servers in a high tier. All this change has done for me is having me getting smashed by a bigger group then before.
I don’t think the way it was before is optimal, but this isn’t working out great either. Anet, hopefully with our help, needs to figure out what works. I hope to see the link stay, but be changed. Be it 2 more tiers or having some servers linked, maybe more than 2, and some servers have no links. I hope to see a different iteration of the link after this beta.

Population fix: go outside and socialize until the next big game comes out. You save yourself the frustration of trying to fix something that is not designed to be fixed and you make more friends. Once you free yourself of this WvW mess you find it difficult to find a reason to come back.

Sweet Sanity.8593:

This will still mean servers would have to be combined, and if this happens both servers should have input into what they want their new server to be called so no one is left out.

What if you still carried your server name, regardless of who you were paired with?

It wouldn’t be too confusing in WvW, simply because red = enemy. And still allow all servers to retain their unique identity.