Guild Wars 2

I know there has been a lot of complaints about how free transfers are ruining WvW, and I tend to agree.

But what this post is about is trying to understand the WHY for the transfers.

It can’t be to push a server into another tier, because once balance is restored and transfers cost money, that will all balance out and go away, and if you can’t hack it as a server in the higher tiers, exploiting your way to the “top” is a waste of time… not to mention anyone could just transfer over to that top tier server anyway.

It can’t be for fun because once one side owns 95% of a map, there’s almost nothing to do for either side.

It can’t be for the bonuses, I wouldn’t think, because they’re so small and insubstantial.

I guess there are minor gains for things like camping jump puzzles for designs… but those aren’t hard to get at, even if on the loosing end of a crush match (I’ve been on both sides, and both are equally boring).

so… what is it? anyone have a theory? anyone who actually does this regularly have a personal explanation?

Other than just wanting to win? I don’t see any other reason. Personally I like being crushed to having nothing, and then come back. Sense of accomplishment.

A few want 100% map completion. But that doesn’t account for all of it. Some move for friends.

I can understand a few people here or there transferring to play with friends, but I don’t think that explains when massive zerg guilds, or even multiple zerg guilds use it as a tactic to fake-rank a tier

Katsumoto.9452:

A few want 100% map completion. But that doesn’t account for all of it. Some move for friends.

Then why do those friends move?

The only why to explain these numbers are that there is a group of people (including commanders) that just want to win at something.

It would be easy to solve by Anet, just don’t allow tranferred people to WWW for -say- 48 hours. I’m not sure why they don’t do that, it would make the system alot more fair.

I don’t think you can bunch it into one reason or another. I have watched many guilds move from my current server over the last few weeks and they gave numerous reasons. I will list a few that may be in play for them.

1. They get annoyed taking a map and spending alot of resources building it up only to have it nightcapped while sleeping. Therefore, they look to transfer to a server that has a stronger population during their off-hours.

2. Competition. A guild gets tired of losing each week and doesn’t think it will improve, they look for another server they feel will give them a better chance to win.

3. Friends/Allied guilds. Other guilds in their alliance or that they are friendly with either moves or started on another server. They move to hang with their friends.

4. Poor community. They feel the server they are currently on provides a very poor community.. ie. its just not fun. Or there is a guild/alliance on their current server that they are simply sick of dealing with and would rather fight them than help them.

Bottom line, guilds move because the players in the guild are looking for something they do not think their current server either provides or will provide in the future. Whatever that might be. This issue is real, because it is something that is strong enough to make them move and start over with their influence.

As an aside, currently the only penalty to a guild for moving in the loss of influence. Sadly, it is the large guilds moving that have the dramatic impact on Wv3, yet the large guilds are the ones really not impacted by the influence loss very much.

Anyway.. that’s my take on the whys.

Good insight Wulfe,

For me it was community and queue times. I actually went in the opposite direction though and went to the bottom matchup.

Found more fun than I dreamed

I really like the 4 choice setup upon entering WvW. Commander that you do not like running with in one BL….move along to another.

Not a fan of xp trains, it should be about the server not Karma/Leveling.

Totally agree with Wulfe, the “overnight presence” sticks out like a sore thumb when you are thinking about fortifying a keep.

In addition, some servers were really tight with siege for quite a while when gold was scarce. Also, particular servers in the really low tiers were unlikely have any decent WvW guilds or coordinated strategy at all in the first month or so after release. These things solve themselves over time – I think with some fine tuning from ANet and about six months we should have 9 – 12 very competitive servers vying for the top spot.

I have a sneaking suspicion a lot of the transfers are just morons who want to bask in the glory of a win. Funny thing is, you actually earn less karma / badges / XP that way.

You have 2 options on a low pop server: Recruit, or Transfer.

Spacelord, I know of a few guilds that have transferred to lower population servers and there is something to be said of that. Queue times are not an issue, and in the bottom tiers the other servers aren’t exactly fielding zergs 24/7 either. Another option to consider is becoming someone else’s night time crew. Some guilds have moved to EU servers where they can (A.) compete on a top tier server and (B.) not deal with any queues since everyone else is sleeping.

I honestly am not sure how it will settle out. I get your thinking that in 6 months or a year things will even up more, however ‘gamers’ are a very fickle lot especially in a fairly narrow focused game. You don’t know what the overall player population is going to look like in 6 months or a year and that will have an impact on the viability of multiple servers from a purely competitive standpoint.

For me personally, the single largest frustration today was having a guild member buy the game and try to create a character only to find that our server is full. Yes… the same server that cannot consistently fill even one borderland in Wv3. THAT is very frustrating to me. I keep thinking that since the only real endgame in GW2 is Wv3 (really how many times can you run the same event/instance over and over) that the PvE hordes we have would turn to Wv3 and fill the ranks, but it still hasn’t happened. Its the same few core people everyday.. and often now using alts due to boredom. So now our forces are often undermanned and very squishy. Trust me, being the commander of a group of 17 total people with maybe 5 that are actually 80 can make you wish you could sell the book back sometimes. I will hop off my personal soapbox and head to bed before I QQ too much though.

Have a great time out there all,

Most big guilds that transfer will say it is because they are looking for a server where they can fit a timeslot that allows them to create a server that has a 24h coverage, more or less. And even though that sounds like a proper reason, as of now it mostly means you will be playing PvDoor.

A good example of it are the EU servers, we have 3 servers with a reasonable night presence (Vizunah Square, Arborstone, Elonah Reach). Ofcourse they are skilled but having a nightpresence vs most servers without a nightpresence means they dominate in T2 and are quite equal in T1.
As of 2/3 weeks now RUIN gaming made Desolation EU their new home. I don’t know how many people are in RUIN their GW2 department but I’ve heard people talk about them being able to fill up 5 guilds. They are mostly Americans and thus fill a timeslot on EU servers that is practically untouched in T2 and down and has little resistance throughout the week but rather heavy resistance during the weekends in T1.
I understand their reasoning looking for a server to create a 24 hour force however it doesn’t work out at all. I believe that in the current matchup Vizunah and Arborstone still have the lead on Desolation but last night Desolation managed to pretty much cap everything.

With that all said I honestly hope RUIN their intentions were pure and they were in fact looking to create a trend where servers started to actively become a 24 hour force. However what they most likely forgot is that they actually created a trend of just transferring your guild to the server with the best 24 hour force there is to bask in its glory and wave your kitten around.
I don’t blame RUIN at all, they should however have thought it through a bit more imo.

As of now I don’t think any other EU server will get a big guild/gaming community from overseas anytime soon so either Desolation will become T1 champ with an astounding lead every week or Vizunah and Arbor will become insomniacs.

What is there to understand? People want to win, and that’s it. It’s the reason people make cookie cutter builds. Its’ the reason people flock to the latest balance issues.(thieves >_>) It’s the reason people don’t WvW when they are losing. It’s the reason people whine when they are challenged. It’s the reason people transfer.

To most people, the destination is more important than the journey.

I just read a post somewhere around here that said losing isn’t fun. I honestly disagree. Losing means there is room for improvement. There’s a chance to progress, to become better. There’s a goal to work towards. I’ve played games before that I Never lose, and I get bored of them. My server has dominated WvW with 600+ all week, and has been crushed -20 all week. The later is much more tolerable.