WVW Population Balance Fix

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Posted by: Noob.5908

Noob.5908

This forum is a place to chat for sure just look at all the threads but… If NcSoft doesn’t fix the WVW population balance NOTHING mentioned here(there are plenty of good ideas) is really going to matter. NcSoft has lost so many WVW’ers because of population balance and frankly nothing is going to bring them back for any amount of time if this isn’t fixed. Forget bugs, future updates, forget xpacs, little green men, badge tweaks, rocket ships, fishing poles and underwater scuba gear and naked women… if population isn’t fixed first any new or returning WVW’ers will come play a couple weeks and leave again or quit permanently if this isn’t fixed.

Updated – Question Posed

Quote from Ulion.5476

Any idea of fixing the coverage issue will take awhile to implement and break up some wvw communities.

Didn’t start this thread for talking about how to fix it there are many ideas in forum on how to do this. It’s my opinion that as far back as a year after launch of GW’s when they implemented the server transfer thingy that population balance became more of a problem. My question to players is how do you feel about this do you think population balance is THE MOST IMPORTANT issue atm and if it was fixed do you think players would come back and play WVW and the retention of newer players would be longer?

(edited by Noob.5908)

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Posted by: Ulion.5476

Ulion.5476

Its not going to be fixed anytime soon. A-net is working mostly on WvW now but do not expect much from it. Before I was look forward to HoT expecting at least new rewards in wvw but only got wvw stuff from guild hall. Then I though maybe it would be shortly after HoT release but we got a spvp upgrade. Then I realized that they were not working any significant wvw improvements.

They have stated that most of their resources are working on the core issues of wvw now(assuming a server population revamp) but after having years to fix the issue do not expect anything spectacular. Based off of the previous updates to wvw and feedback given by wvwers testing those update it will be underwhelming. Their have been so many post on how to improve wvw over the years. Similar threads to the ones we have up now. A lot of good ideas but not much feedback from A-net.

Ele – Tarnished Coast
“Quoth the raven nevermore”
Platinum Scout: 300% MF

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Posted by: Dawdler.8521

Dawdler.8521

Ncsoft have nothing to do with GW2 anymore.

Also, “fixing” the population balance will require nothing short of a miracle. A miracle I seriously doubt is ever going to happen. Especially not without Raptor Jesus looking over us.

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Posted by: Noob.5908

Noob.5908

Ncsoft have nothing to do with GW2 anymore.

Also, “fixing” the population balance will require nothing short of a miracle. A miracle I seriously doubt is ever going to happen. Especially not without Raptor Jesus looking over us.

NcSoft still owns GW’s they have a lot to do with it. Anet just took over the publishing of GW’s but it is still owned by NcSoft and they still have a parents voice in anything that Anet does. I give ya it’s more complicated than that and I am sure NcSoft is trying to keep the Anet team happy and working but NcSoft still owns Anet.

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Posted by: BlueBoy.1236

BlueBoy.1236

How do u even fix population? Do you make bots so we can have artificial population balance?

You can nvr fix it when you have bandwagoners all over the place. I prefer to reduce the matchup tiers to 2-4 rather than having 8tiers like now.

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Posted by: Ulion.5476

Ulion.5476

Many suggestion have been tossed around about this. For me it would have to be something like choose a team for the month/season. Either your guild pick a team for you or your server picks one. Also you would have to select your primary playtime and limited the amount of guilds players for each timezone per team. We have to many servers and coverage times for a competitive wvw match-up. Any idea of fixing the coverage issue will take awhile to implement and break up some wvw communities.

Ele – Tarnished Coast
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Posted by: psizone.8437

psizone.8437

How do u even fix population? Do you make bots so we can have artificial population balance?

You can nvr fix it when you have bandwagoners all over the place. I prefer to reduce the matchup tiers to 2-4 rather than having 8tiers like now.

Easy enough to fix the population imbalance, it just takes a little effort from Anet and the playerbase.

Step 1: Close WvW for one week. (If possible, leave EoTM open and leave players on their previously assigned colours)

Step 2: Lower the amount of servers since we don’t have enough active players to fill them all.

Step 3: Allow players to assign themselves to a server in segments. For example, first and last place servers in the matchup list get to choose a server on day 1, second and second-last on day 2 and so on. If a server gets say 50 players ahead of the lowest population server, it’s closed until the other servers catch up. You don’t need to choose a server on day 1, but if you don’t you may lose your chance to stay with your server/guild mates.

Step 4: Reopen WvW after that week.

How to deal with server swaps and further population balancing:

1: Pay gems to swap servers immediately, only if the server is open to transfers.
2: If you’re inactive from WvW for 1-2 weeks (modifiable) then you’re removed from the server and transferred to a dummy server. You can freely transfer from this dummy server when you want to WvW again.
3: Perhaps once a year, swap the servers around again – adapting to the shift in population during the year.

It’s not perfect, but it would certainly deal with the population issues. Though it would cause a good amount of unrest and potentially kill server communities.

Brotherhood of Blub [blub]

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Posted by: Dawdler.8521

Dawdler.8521

It’s not perfect, but it would certainly deal with the population issues. Though it would cause a good amount of unrest and potentially kill server communities.

And it would also kill every guild there is, crushing the WvW population and making it pointless to even try to play.

Tbh I think I prefer just a direct translation of EoTM over WvW and call it quits. At least that could be fun for a while.

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Posted by: briggah.7910

briggah.7910

I’d rather see them open up free transfers for a bit and let players fix what other players created before any sort of merge/delete/alliance. I’m sure some people want to transfer but are not sure if it is even worth the gems right now. Going by what some people have said, entire servers could probably move up a few tiers.

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Posted by: FogLeg.9354

FogLeg.9354

Ncsoft have nothing to do with GW2 anymore.

Also, “fixing” the population balance will require nothing short of a miracle. A miracle I seriously doubt is ever going to happen. Especially not without Raptor Jesus looking over us.

NcSoft still owns GW’s they have a lot to do with it. Anet just took over the publishing of GW’s but it is still owned by NcSoft and they still have a parents voice in anything that Anet does. I give ya it’s more complicated than that and I am sure NcSoft is trying to keep the Anet team happy and working but NcSoft still owns Anet.

An yet, its more likely that NcSoft has no idea GW2 even has WvW. Just because one company owns another, does not mean they are actively engaging in every minor aspect of business they own. NcSoft is probably owned by some banks or investors, why not try to address those to get GW2 WvW population fixed?

Get over who owns who. GW2 is developed by Anet and if you want something done, you need to talk to Anet about it.

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Posted by: Noob.5908

Noob.5908

Just because one company owns another, does not mean they are actively engaging in every minor aspect of business they own.

Get over who owns who. GW2 is developed by Anet and if you want something done, you need to talk to Anet about it.

Why the hell you trying to defend NcSoft, you own some of their stock lol? If for a moment stock holders of NcSoft thought they were not diligently managing their assets NcSoft stock price would drop like a rock. I find it amusing the number of people that have been worried about the mere mention of NcSoft on these boards. Seems if u want to be heard just add NcSoft to your post somewhere and they come out of hiding heh! WVW is a minor aspect? LMFAO!

Maybe try actually voicing your opinion about the question posed in the post rather than defending NcSoft/Anet. I know this actually requires you to use your brain but its worth asking.

Furthermore is this not the GW2 WVW board? Seems to me I am addressing Anet otherwise I would have emailed NcSoft… /rollseyes

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Posted by: Dawdler.8521

Dawdler.8521

Furthermore is this not the GW2 WVW board? Seems to me I am addressing Anet otherwise I would have emailed NcSoft… /rollseyes

NCSoft is no longer the publisher of GW2. Anet is. NcSoft has nothing to do with GW2. Yes, on this forum you will be adressing Anet. If they want to listen, which I doubt. Pretty pointless to argue.

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Posted by: Noob.5908

Noob.5908

Furthermore is this not the GW2 WVW board? Seems to me I am addressing Anet otherwise I would have emailed NcSoft… /rollseyes

NCSoft is no longer the publisher of GW2. Anet is. NcSoft has nothing to do with GW2. Yes, on this forum you will be addressing Anet. If they want to listen, which I doubt. Pretty pointless to argue.

NcSoft isn’t the official publisher but they still own Anet period. I guess asking you to actually respond to the topic of the post is asking too much, you seem more worried about NcSoft.

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Posted by: FogLeg.9354

FogLeg.9354

Well, you keep bringing incorrect developer into this thread so obviously people keep correcting you. If you just want to discuss WvW population, why mention NcSoft? Are you suggesting WvW in GW2 has issues because Anet is owned by NcSoft? Or GW2 players should try to pressure NcSoft somehow to make WvW better?

You start the thread with

If NcSoft doesn’t fix the WVW population balance…

And thats incorrect. Looks like you are really obsessed with NcSoft, why else would you keep bringing them into thread which has nothing to do with the games they develop or publish.

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Posted by: Noob.5908

Noob.5908

Well, you keep bringing incorrect developer into this thread so obviously people keep correcting you. If you just want to discuss WvW population, why mention NcSoft? Are you suggesting WvW in GW2 has issues because Anet is owned by NcSoft? Or GW2 players should try to pressure NcSoft somehow to make WvW better?

You start the thread with

If NcSoft doesn’t fix the WVW population balance…

And thats incorrect. Looks like you are really obsessed with NcSoft, why else would you keep bringing them into thread which has nothing to do with the games they develop or publish.

Why not try to actually answer the question posed? FYI, again, if you think NcSoft has nothing to do with Anet you are sorely mistake. NcSoft is a publicly traded company and if stock holders felt for a moment that NcSoft wasn’t managing their assets with the utmost diligence their stock price would fall like a rock. This may be a game to you but to NcSoft it’s an investment and stock holders expect a return and growth.

I find it truly amazing the people that don’t understand business and how it works. Would you put your hard earned cash into stock of a company that doesn’t manage their assets diligently? NcSoft had a massive failure in the recent past with other games and the last thing they want is one of their main cash cows “GW2” to start faltering. I imagine Anet taking over the publishing of GW2 at least in a publicly viewed sense has much to do with damage control due to NcSoft’s failures in other games. Anet only took over the publishing because NcSoft wanted them to for reasons that protect and grow their asset.

kitten lets not talk about the real issues of WVW population balance and try to save face for making dumb statements and replies!

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Posted by: FogLeg.9354

FogLeg.9354

If you want to talk about WvW population balance why you keep dragging NcSoft back into this thread again and again?

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Posted by: Noob.5908

Noob.5908

If you want to talk about WvW population balance why you keep dragging NcSoft back into this thread again and again?

Why you keep posting to THE thread about stuff that has nothing to do with WVW and the topic at hand. Let me SPELL it out for you.

C A N Y O U A N S W E R T H E P O S T E D Q U E S T I O N

Sound it out and maybe it will sink in…

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Posted by: Swagger.1459

Swagger.1459

If you want to talk about WvW population balance why you keep dragging NcSoft back into this thread again and again?

Why you keep posting to THE thread about stuff that has nothing to do with WVW and the topic at hand. Let me SPELL it out for you.

C A N Y O U A N S W E R T H E P O S T E D Q U E S T I O N

Sound it out and maybe it will sink in…

Anet knows population balance is an issue, and of course they know it needs to be addressed. That’s why Colin said they are working on “population balance”… Most likely this “population balance” fix will come when the update drops.

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Posted by: Noob.5908

Noob.5908

Most likely this “population balance” fix will come when the update drops.

I hear ya, but NcSoft/Anet sometimes doesn’t seem to have very good priorities. I can see them continuing to ignore this issue which imho is the single most important issue that runs players off in WvW. Sure lots of other things are important but without population balance, retaining players isn’t gonna happen and I just wonder how big of an issue NcSoft/Anet’s views pop-balance. Recently(since HoT) I see threads about dead game mode and empty maps etc but very few people actually complaining about population balance. Furthermore if they implement it without player feedback and listening to them this time, I don’t feel good about any implementation addressing pop-balance coming down the pipe. This one single issue I think would satisfy many players if NcSoft/Anet would at least open a discussion with us about whats in the plans for this issue.

BTW, answering my own question, yes I have many friends that would come back and play WVW if it’s fixed and obviously I feel player retention would probably double if not triple over what it is atm.

How about your friends would they come back or would it take more than balancing population?

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Posted by: Yuffi.2430

Yuffi.2430

The problem is that while everyone agrees that population imbalance is a problem, it is one that has been caused by players migrating to certain servers rather than by WvW itself. Since the problem is caused by players how can Anet (or NCSoft) be expected to fix it?
I’ve read a lot of proposed solutions in these forums. They tend to be either “give us megaserver maps” or “merge lower tier servers into top tiers” with the implication that the lower tier players will then be happier.

I’d rather see the top tier servers closed and the population distributed among the lower tiers where the players can do some good. Before you flame me over this because this suggestion has annoyed you now stop and ask yourself why the same suggestion is considered ok for a low tier server but not the other way round… arbitrarily forcing ANY server to merge will upset players and is usually something that is suggested as being done to other people for that very reason.

I like the idea of resetting the servers every year – have suggested this myself – but it doesn’t fix the problem it just resets it to a starting position. Ultimately the best option is for us to fix this as players ourselves, but I’m not sure how we do this in practice.

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Posted by: briggah.7910

briggah.7910

The problem is that while everyone agrees that population imbalance is a problem, it is one that has been caused by players migrating to certain servers rather than by WvW itself. Since the problem is caused by players how can Anet (or NCSoft) be expected to fix it?
I’ve read a lot of proposed solutions in these forums. They tend to be either “give us megaserver maps” or “merge lower tier servers into top tiers” with the implication that the lower tier players will then be happier.

I’d rather see the top tier servers closed and the population distributed among the lower tiers where the players can do some good. Before you flame me over this because this suggestion has annoyed you now stop and ask yourself why the same suggestion is considered ok for a low tier server but not the other way round… arbitrarily forcing ANY server to merge will upset players and is usually something that is suggested as being done to other people for that very reason.

I like the idea of resetting the servers every year – have suggested this myself – but it doesn’t fix the problem it just resets it to a starting position. Ultimately the best option is for us to fix this as players ourselves, but I’m not sure how we do this in practice.

I see it the same way and that’s why I suggested opening up free transfers for a while to just to make it easier for the players to try and fix it. I don’t blame anyone for not wanted to spend gems to transfer with the shape wvw is in atm. What I do see though is a lot of people in lower tiers saying they have no one to fight and barely anyone is playing.

Well every server has been open up for quite some time now so I don’t see why people are not moving, besides not being able to afford it that. The thing is though is that they are choosing to just not play when they could actually do some pve to farm gold to move and they might just get what they are looking for again.

I had some regrets when I transferred but tbh there are couple of things I do not miss and I spent well over 9k hours in bronze.. Few things I do not miss are that no matter what time I login to play, there are always people around. Commanders still seem to be a needed thing but there are always players on the maps in t1. I also don’t miss losing a 30k lead over night, having morale destroyed and the rest of the week only the hardcore wvw are around lol

I really don’t know how to fix it tbh because I used to have server pride and always said don’t touch my server so I totally understand those players that still feel that way. I once said the only way to fix population is to bring more people into WvW and keep them there. Rewards could have been one thing to help keep players in WvW. It’s not an easy fix even though some think it is because it will effect players because we all play and have fun in different ways..

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Posted by: Swagger.1459

Swagger.1459

Most likely this “population balance” fix will come when the update drops.

I hear ya, but NcSoft/Anet sometimes doesn’t seem to have very good priorities. I can see them continuing to ignore this issue which imho is the single most important issue that runs players off in WvW. Sure lots of other things are important but without population balance, retaining players isn’t gonna happen and I just wonder how big of an issue NcSoft/Anet’s views pop-balance. Recently(since HoT) I see threads about dead game mode and empty maps etc but very few people actually complaining about population balance. Furthermore if they implement it without player feedback and listening to them this time, I don’t feel good about any implementation addressing pop-balance coming down the pipe. This one single issue I think would satisfy many players if NcSoft/Anet would at least open a discussion with us about whats in the plans for this issue.

BTW, answering my own question, yes I have many friends that would come back and play WVW if it’s fixed and obviously I feel player retention would probably double if not triple over what it is atm.

How about your friends would they come back or would it take more than balancing population?

I fully understand you.

Corporate policy to not talk about stuff is the norm, no amount of asking from all of us will change that unfortunately.

We will probably have to wait for the “beta” announcement to get anything.

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Posted by: briggah.7910

briggah.7910

We will probably have to wait for the “beta” announcement to get anything.

You’re probably right here and I would expect the same results we got from the desert BL beta.. Basically it will be too late for them to make any changes.. It might already be too late seeing as they have been working on it for over a year and we have no clue on what any of it is. Unless of course they scrapped it all and started over since all the negative feedback from the new bl so that may be why we have to still wait..

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Posted by: Tspatula.9086

Tspatula.9086

I used to be almost exclusive WvW player logging in almost every day. Now I just run Fractals to get ascended gear, can’t bear WvW in the state it’s in right now.

Edit* Beta? you mean Anet style beta where they trot out the finished product and ask for feedback, ignore all feedback, release product. done. Not beta, just a preview of disasters coming…

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Posted by: Chuck Zitto.2367

Chuck Zitto.2367

I want to enjoy wvw. I actually really even like some of the recent changes. The problem is there is only a handful of people in one boarderland on my server and the other 2 servers we face every week. Most of the time the 3 desert boarderlands are 100% completely empty.

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Posted by: BrickFurious.7169

BrickFurious.7169

Wow guys, you all clearly understood what the OP meant when he said NCSoft, no need to delve into semantic arguments.

To answer you OP: Yes, you’re right. Population balance is the most important core issue facing WvW right now. And old players are not going to return based on recent QoL fixes for WvW until this core issue is addressed.

That said, as a current (though less frequent of late) WvW player, I still appreciate the QoL fixes.

Also you seem to be unaware for some reason, population balance is a main component of Anet’s forthcoming WvW overhaul, John Corpening himself said this in the stickied thread at the top of the forum. We don’t know what their solution is yet, but they’ve very explicitly said that it will be part of the overhaul.

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Posted by: Ulion.5476

Ulion.5476

OP try not to quote a future post :P. Anyways for me its the reward system that needs to be improved. The new map gave me new terrain to test out but not having anything to work for, that has made me go to pve. Gratz you have 1000 wxp with nothing to spend it on. So why reward it? Balancing the match-ups would create a more competitive environment for better fights but without a new reward system it will not improve the overall state of wvw. It will not bring older players back or keep the attention any newer wvwer.

They can make a wvw converter that gives super siege daily or give a chest per unique cap. Unique siege skins, guild siege skins/tactics, any of those can be sold for gem. I would definitely make Nyan Cat air defense skin if A-net make that a guild reward (dropping rainbows). When I need gold I either do pve or mess with TP.

Why can not farm gold in the place I am having fun in? Karma training on EoTM is not wvw(helps your server win) or fun. The roaming aspect of EotM is just not the same as Alpine bl. Alpine Bl you had many objective for roamers in EotM its just a mindless zerg. Their are to few small objective for roamers in EotM.

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(edited by Ulion.5476)

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Posted by: Tspatula.9086

Tspatula.9086

Also you seem to be unaware for some reason, population balance is a main component of Anet’s forthcoming WvW overhaul, John Corpening himself said this in the stickied thread at the top of the forum. We don’t know what their solution is yet, but they’ve very explicitly said that it will be part of the overhaul.

So, what significant WvW update has been released since the beginning of this game that didn’t completely miss the mark and resulted in a negative impact on WvW in general? Answer: None of them, with the exception of the middle map ruins which I consider a net neutral…

These updates were all bad for WvW:
EtoM
Stability change
New Borderlands map
Elite specs

The seem to get QoL changes.. but all the major structural ones… Oh Boy. And if the overhaul gets released without ANY post-design feedback that has some impact on the final outcome, well my money is on “goodbye WvW”… I understand that some people remain optimistic, and I was optimistic about the new BLs when they first showed them to us, but now not so much….

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Posted by: BrickFurious.7169

BrickFurious.7169

Also you seem to be unaware for some reason, population balance is a main component of Anet’s forthcoming WvW overhaul, John Corpening himself said this in the stickied thread at the top of the forum. We don’t know what their solution is yet, but they’ve very explicitly said that it will be part of the overhaul.

So, what significant WvW update has been released since the beginning of this game that didn’t completely miss the mark and resulted in a negative impact on WvW in general? Answer: None of them, with the exception of the middle map ruins which I consider a net neutral…

These updates were all bad for WvW:
EtoM
Stability change
New Borderlands map
Elite specs

The seem to get QoL changes.. but all the major structural ones… Oh Boy. And if the overhaul gets released without ANY post-design feedback that has some impact on the final outcome, well my money is on “goodbye WvW”… I understand that some people remain optimistic, and I was optimistic about the new BLs when they first showed them to us, but now not so much….

I didn’t think my post indicated any kind of sunny disposition toward the update. I was merely stating for the OP that Anet has specifically said that fixing the population balance issues in WvW will be part of the overhaul of the game mode they release later this year.

You seem to have a laundry list of things you hate about WvW, why are you still playing?

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Posted by: interloper.6892

interloper.6892

ppl complain here to pass the time while they wait for EB queue to pop.

more fun than trying to play in deserted borderlands i guess…

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Posted by: Tspatula.9086

Tspatula.9086

You seem to have a laundry list of things you hate about WvW, why are you still playing?

Who says I am playing that much WvW. I used to run in WvW practically 7 days a week, now I mostly just run some fractal dailies and log… Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like to see the game mode fixed.

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Posted by: BrickFurious.7169

BrickFurious.7169

You seem to have a laundry list of things you hate about WvW, why are you still playing?

Who says I am playing that much WvW. I used to run in WvW practically 7 days a week, now I mostly just run some fractal dailies and log… Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like to see the game mode fixed.

And Anet is in the middle of a huge overhaul of the mode, aka trying to fix it. We know the broad strokes, but not the specific details yet. Given its current state it’s completely understandable that you wouldn’t want to play it, at least until the overhaul is released.

And yet you’re still here on the forums, interjecting your random pessimism about the unannounced changes into every single thread. Seriously. Do yourself a favor and just leave it alone. Until we know more about the specific changes they’re working on you’re just whining pointlessly, getting worked up about something that isn’t worth getting worked up about at all. We know they’re working on something, just chill and do something else until they announce what.

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Posted by: Swamurabi.7890

Swamurabi.7890

To answer the OP’s question about balance, I think that WvW can grow without having balance, but only if the rewards are high enough that players overlook being outmanned. Long time players play regardless of rewards or coverage, but when a player gets tired of the same thing night after night, well, we all know what happens. Let’s be realistic here. How can you have a 24/7 match that’s balanced whenever a player enters and leaves a map?

Replacing retiring players with more new players equals growth.

Balance is only one of several reasons why WvW doesn’t get new players. One of the biggest reasons why new players entered WvW was because of map completion. How many of us got on WvW for map completion and stayed because we liked WvW? No incentive, no new players. Tournaments added incentive but the transfers before the season started did more harm to WvW.

Another reason why WvW doesn’t get new players is that they’re on a server that’s outmanned or they are on a tier that has few players when they want to play. How many zerglings don’t play because they’re on a low population tier? How many roamers don’t play because they’re on a tier with few roamers?

Also there’s those players that would like to play WvW but they’ve read the forums and their main profession isn’t wanted. One of the reasons I’ve never played sPvP is that I mained a Necro and Necros were for the longest time not wanted on a team. Rangers have been to WvW like Necros were to sPvP, not wanted.

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Posted by: Noob.5908

Noob.5908

To answer the OP’s question about balance, I think that WvW can grow without having balance, but only if the rewards are high enough that players overlook being outmanned. Long time players play regardless of rewards or coverage, but when a player gets tired of the same thing night after night, well, we all know what happens. Let’s be realistic here. How can you have a 24/7 match that’s balanced whenever a player enters and leaves a map?

Replacing retiring players with more new players equals growth.

Balance is only one of several reasons why WvW doesn’t get new players. One of the biggest reasons why new players entered WvW was because of map completion. How many of us got on WvW for map completion and stayed because we liked WvW? No incentive, no new players. Tournaments added incentive but the transfers before the season started did more harm to WvW.

Another reason why WvW doesn’t get new players is that they’re on a server that’s outmanned or they are on a tier that has few players when they want to play. How many zerglings don’t play because they’re on a low population tier? How many roamers don’t play because they’re on a tier with few roamers?

Also there’s those players that would like to play WvW but they’ve read the forums and their main profession isn’t wanted. One of the reasons I’ve never played sPvP is that I mained a Necro and Necros were for the longest time not wanted on a team. Rangers have been to WvW like Necros were to sPvP, not wanted.

Lot of good stuff in this post and I agree completely. How many times I have thought…

(((Man if NcSoft(Anet) would just do some pop-balance fixes, it doesn’t have to be perfect just enough to hopefully deal with empty maps during off peak times. If they did this GW2 would own the world)))

But Swamurabi.7890 I never really thought about what brings them to WvW in the first place. Myself it was just a given, heck first thing into my little brain each morning when I wake up is, I wonder what WvW is going to be like today. I think some of us forget that many new players have never done WvW/PvP/RvR or whatever you call it. One of the things that always kittened me off in map chap is the ridiculing of new people in WvW when they asked what seems to be a silly question. The number of new players that I have befriended in hopes that I could help them get over the hump and become a regular WvW for our server is long.

Back to point… The one thing you said that really stuck with me is…

“One of the biggest reasons why new players entered WvW was because of map completion.”

Now that in of itself isn’t a revelation, but it does make one stop and think of all the reasons a WvW’er must enter pve land to get something done and why isn’t the opposite true for pve’ers.

That being said tho, I personally feel that if pop-balance isn’t in a reasonable state no amount of new players coming into WvW will make much difference. Give them a few weeks and they will give up on WvW like so many others.

The current state of WvW match-ups is they are decided as soon as they are put out each week. Everyone knows which server they will beat and which ones they will not beat, and that’s pathetic. Skill level isn’t the deciding factor is all about map coverage, aka “population balance”.

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Posted by: Swamurabi.7890

Swamurabi.7890

I would bring back map completion as a requirement for a lengendary weapon.

But in order to limit the cries of the PvE crowd, I’d also have another PvE way that can be done that can substitute for map completion. One that is similar to the way WvW players could unlock HoT Hero Points by only playing WvW.

Maybe convert massive rewards from Dungeons or Fractals or even World Events so the PvE player could unlock WvW map locations. At least make it something they would have to grind for or take the quick and easy route of actually going in WvW, or even a combination of both.

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Posted by: Hyper Cutter.9376

Hyper Cutter.9376

WvW map completion was removed for a kitten ed good reason, even aside from the fact that it should never have counted in the first place because it’s not even on the actual map.

The population balance in WvW is 100% a player-created problem, and there’s really only two solutions that will actually work: bring WvW into the loving arms of the megaserver or remove some servers and shuffle their inhabitants into the population of the rest. Neither is a very popular option, to say the least.

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Posted by: Vieux P.1238

Vieux P.1238

i said it before.. merge all servers. & have 2 factions fight vs each other like all other smart mmo’s does. 3 & more factions is to much & does not guaranty population balance

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Posted by: Noob.5908

Noob.5908

WvW map completion was removed for a kitten ed good reason, even aside from the fact that it should never have counted in the first place because it’s not even on the actual map.

The population balance in WvW is 100% a player-created problem, and there’s really only two solutions that will actually work: bring WvW into the loving arms of the megaserver or remove some servers and shuffle their inhabitants into the population of the rest. Neither is a very popular option, to say the least.

Didn’t really create this thread to discuss solutions to pop-balance but I have to disagree with you in that there are more than two viable solutions to solving this issue.

I also have to disagree with map completion being removed from WvW for good reasons. I think it’s a perfect example of NcSoft/Anet’s knee jerk, shallow thinking pattern they have display all too often. They could have easily reworked the vista, wp, poi requirements for WvW instead of completely removing it. Good example of this is the PvP side of the game. I had never done any PvP before HoT, was strictly a WvW player, but after the downfall of WvW and trying to find a way to still play and enjoy the game I eventually landed in the PvP zone and played it for a couple of weeks. The point being… the only reason I even tried PvP was I wanted the back piece skin, but during the process I learned about PvP and now do it every so often just for kicks, it gets boring really fast tho. Map completion was a way to expose most players to all areas of the game which was a good idea.

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Posted by: Tongku.5326

Tongku.5326

Most likely this “population balance” fix will come when the update drops.

I hear ya, but NcSoft/Anet sometimes doesn’t seem to have very good priorities. I can see them continuing to ignore this issue which imho is the single most important issue that runs players off in WvW. Sure lots of other things are important but without population balance, retaining players isn’t gonna happen and I just wonder how big of an issue NcSoft/Anet’s views pop-balance. Recently(since HoT) I see threads about dead game mode and empty maps etc but very few people actually complaining about population balance. Furthermore if they implement it without player feedback and listening to them this time, I don’t feel good about any implementation addressing pop-balance coming down the pipe. This one single issue I think would satisfy many players if NcSoft/Anet would at least open a discussion with us about whats in the plans for this issue.

BTW, answering my own question, yes I have many friends that would come back and play WVW if it’s fixed and obviously I feel player retention would probably double if not triple over what it is atm.

How about your friends would they come back or would it take more than balancing population?

For me it would take much more then that by now. This is my list of what I need for a full time return and game to be fun again:

1. Obviously population / nightcapping issues seriously improved since I don’t see them ever being perfectly balanced, but they can be far better then what they are now.

2. Improvements that make open field assymetrical warfare tactics viable again “a la hammertrains of the past”, but without the over the top stability that made people completely invulnreable to many builds and entire playstyles. No more profession exclusions as it was in the days of GWEN pls.

3. Condis need to be viable in organized and semi organized large scale combat. There is so much AOE and passive cleanse spam right now its stupid to play a condi build. And no, I dont really count roaming as a problem area here because while it is present and has a small role in WVW, the main purpose of existance of the game mode is large scale persistant battles, and therefore the balance of the game mode should be focused on that, not secondary or ternary or even further down the line stuff.

4. Obviously do something about the BL map, I just got of off our BL before I logged off, and its just utter crap to get to where the action is. Everywhere I got to the fight was over, and I’m not the only one.

5. Figure out a way to preserve as much of the community as possible. If the guilds I play with disappear due to this update then am as good as gone, completely and permamently.

6. Give my small guild a GOOD reason to exist and function again.

7. Make my time spent in WVW worthwhile, vs same amount of time spent in PVE.

8. Reduce blob sizes. Perhaps reduce map caps while providing positive incentives and rewards for splitting off, rather then running together in a single map que. Pick an optimal player target number for optimal rewards, for example 25 or 40, not the 80-100ish that is currently.

Heavy Deedz – COSA – SF

(edited by Tongku.5326)

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Posted by: Extreme.8350

Extreme.8350

i said it before.. merge all servers. & have 2 factions fight vs each other like all other smart mmo’s does. 3 & more factions is to much & does not guaranty population balance

Are you serious?? thats a horrible idea they might as well do 9v9 maps instead

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Posted by: Aeolus.3615

Aeolus.3615

i said it before.. merge all servers. & have 2 factions fight vs each other like all other smart mmo’s does. 3 & more factions is to much & does not guaranty population balance

Are you serious?? thats a horrible idea they might as well do 9v9 maps instead

why would megaserver be a bad ideia, i have alot of server pride, and i dont htink that would hurt, we would have less shards/istances of reapeated BL’s and EB, and we could start see a continent with several maps for guilds conquer valuable resources, instead of a reset model and repeat?

Something more likely progressive and lenient than an unmodernized model where players effort is temporary.
GW2 ended being way to much casual, WvW could be the other facet.

1st April joke, when gw2 receives a “balance” update.

(edited by Aeolus.3615)

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Posted by: Aezyr.5304

Aezyr.5304

i said it before.. merge all servers. & have 2 factions fight vs each other like all other smart mmo’s does. 3 & more factions is to much & does not guaranty population balance

Are you serious?? thats a horrible idea they might as well do 9v9 maps instead

why would megaserver be a bad ideia, i have alot of server pride, and i dont htink that would hurt, we would have less shards/istances of reapeated BL’s and EB, and we could start see a continent with several maps for guilds conquer valuable resources, instead of a reset model and repeat?

Megaserver doesn’t work. WvW player don’t want to play in an anonymous horde.
We want to play organized with our communities and with our commander on TeamSpeak.

The best example is EotM. 90% only karma and level-up trains. Most maps are lopsided because it always generates a new map when one colour fills the former map (usualy green but can vary now).

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Posted by: Americium.7182

Americium.7182

3. Condis need to be viable in organized and semi organized large scale combat. There is so much AOE and passive cleanse spam right now its stupid to play a condi build.

Aren’t they already? Condi reaper is the main trend for necros nowadays.

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Posted by: Noob.5908

Noob.5908

BTW, answering my own question, yes I have many friends that would come back and play WVW if pop-balance is fixed and obviously I feel player retention would probably double if not triple over what it is atm.

How about your friends would they come back or would it take more than balancing population?

For me it would take much more then that by now. This is my list of what I need for a full time return and game to be fun again:

5. Figure out a way to preserve as much of the community as possible. If the guilds I play with disappear due to this update then am as good as gone, completely and permanently.

6. Give my small guild a GOOD reason to exist and function again.

7. Make my time spent in WVW worthwhile, vs same amount of time spent in PVE.

8. Reduce blob sizes. Perhaps reduce map caps while providing positive incentives and rewards for splitting off, rather then running together in a single map que. Pick an optimal player target number for optimal rewards, for example 25 or 40, not the 80-100ish that is currently.

Tongku.5326 thanks for the feedback you have some good stuff in your post I hope Anet is listening. I do want to add some of my thoughts on a few of your comments.

as to #5.) This is a must for me also, if whatever solution they come up with breaks up my community of friends its game over me also.

as to #6). If the implementation of guild housing and they way upgrades to claimed structures doesn’t become more friendly to small and solo player guilds I can’t see myself ever getting into WvW like I was pre HoT

as to #7.) The forums are loaded with people asking for this and myself have posted about having more WvW toys to work towards in WvW without having to leave WvW. Surely NcSoft/Anet understands this now and will address it in upcoming updates.

as to #9.) This is an interesting problem and I am not one that favors reduction of map caps, I dislike any change that feels like a penalty to being able to get into the map you want to play on. Anet just a thought not sure if programming this is even feasible but I had posted a solution about solving Night Capping which is actually a scoring system problem. But the same sort of thing I talked about in “Night Capping pass the Popcorn” could be applied to blob fights? Why not implement a damage reduction during a fight when your fighting blobs that outnumber you by say 25% and 50% or more? Maybe implemented as a stepping factor, depending on whether your outnumbered by 25%(their damage reduced by 25%) or they outnumber you by 50%( their damage reduced by 50%). This would really need to be thought out tho because as it stands now we already have some small guilds that can kill blobs 3-4 times their size. It’s probably not a good idea and maybe someone else has a better idea on how to break up map blobs which honestly takes away from the game.

I still think that if pop-balance was fixed this would be less of an issue. Servers that tend to out-man their enemies seem to naturally develop into map blobs, at least that’s what I have observed.

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Posted by: erKo.9586

erKo.9586

Ncsoft have nothing to do with GW2 anymore.

Also, “fixing” the population balance will require nothing short of a miracle. A miracle I seriously doubt is ever going to happen. Especially not without Raptor Jesus looking over us.

NcSoft still owns GW’s they have a lot to do with it. Anet just took over the publishing of GW’s but it is still owned by NcSoft and they still have a parents voice in anything that Anet does. I give ya it’s more complicated than that and I am sure NcSoft is trying to keep the Anet team happy and working but NcSoft still owns Anet.

https://login.ncsoft.com/login

If you press games up there, i dont see Gw2?

[WvW] Thanks Anet for listening to your players during 2016.
Far Shiverpeaks – EU – Since release.

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Posted by: Noob.5908

Noob.5908

Whelp back to browsing the forum, SBI is so kittening out-manned atm its not even worth trying. Maybe I should try a nice game of checkers with my dog instead. At least he wags his tail when he beats me.