Hello people,
Some of you may know me, and some of you may not. I have played in GoM since BWE3 (Frost Gate BWE2, Maguuma BWE1) and plan to keep my guild [TMGT] on this server regardless of what happens to GoM. I know that things are not looking great in WvW as a server, so I am going to explain what I believe is our server’s current situation and talk about a possible solution.
Observations:
-GoM started out as a very strong server with a strong/high population
-GoM won many of the single-day battles
-Due to Orb-hacking incidents, many guilds/players/alliances have left
-Even without those guilds, GoM always has a strong showing on Day1 of every weekly match-up (Will have multiple times a point lead or very close to point lead)
-If by end of 36hour period GoM is behind by a substantial number, 90% of players stop playing
-If by end of 36hour period GoM is winning or very close, GoM has very high odds of winning
-Timeline of GoM’s history is playing out just like I predicted (Hackers will make people leave, Server will keep falling in ranks as we are underpopulated, we will eventually need to rebuilt the server from ground up)
Analysis:
GoM still has a solid (Not super high, but good number) of players that still like to WvW. Either due to time conflicts or many other reasons, the server cannot have presence in WvW 24 hours a day. Even with low/medium numbers, GoM has “strong” players relative to many of the zergs/mobs I have seen on other servers. Due to the 36 hour time indicator of victory or loss, it can be fair to say that 50~95% of the GoM WvW community are “fair-weather” players; meaning they will only play if they think they can/will win, but will quit immediately at any signs of weakness.
Overall Problem: A majority players on GoM only play WvW if they think they will win, they don’t seem to feel any connection to server pride, enjoyment in WvW, etc.
Solution/Thoughts:
I am going to explain a little bit about my guild to give you a frame of reference: I run a very small guild, where my members work, go to school, have families, or sometimes just feel like farming for their legendary; but the thing is whenever I call my guildees to go into battle they are always up for it. The reason for it is because they enjoy WvW, regardless of the score. My members LOVE it when we have nothing in the map, we enjoy when we have OUTMANNED bonus, because it allows my players to move around and do better guerrilla tactics while gaining tons of kills, tons of karma, and most importantly tons of fun. My guild will Cap supply points/towers at random times of the day in random places of the map regardless of the score or odds against us; with my primary group of 5 I have been able to easily take on odds of 3:1 players up to 5:1 ratios; and due to the knowledge of the annoyance we cause some servers we enjoy WvW.
As a GL, I have personally turned tens of players from PvE only players into those that enjoy WvW, and I feel that is the best way for us to rebuild our server strength. I believe the solution to our current predicament is to make players that only play WvW for WINS turn into players that play WvW for FUN. This will inevitably make our server WIN more, making good players return to WvW and most importantly encourage our fair-weather players to come out the the party.
To sum it up, if you want GoM to make WvW fun again or at least go back up to medium level ranking, we need to make more players play WvW. The easiest way to do that is for Guild Leaders to encourage players to WvW and have a fun time.
Also on a sidenote, PRO or TCMM leaving isn’t a bad thing. Though I know they meant well, and I am trying to say this with all due respect; many (not all) of their commanders did not know how to organize, coordinate, or plan well enough to make an impact. I personally have a strong belief in small but coordinated 3~10 man groups are more impactful in WvW than huge-uncoordinated zergs. Multiple coordinated groups could have the same power as a zerg because the could quickly mob together to strike towers/keeps and then disperse after the objective is complete.
tl;dr: GL’s-Make your players find the joy in WVW; the more people we get, the higher odds of us winning, or at least giving our enemies a fight
Players/Lone-wolves- Find a guild you enjoy and make fun in WvW