Most of the solutions I read so far are (in my opinion) either technically unfeasible or create more problems than they solve.
I am in favour of a more conservative solution: Let’s use what we already have.
The ranking mechanism takes quite good care of the problem “high population vs. low population”. But yes, I think WvW population and overall population are two different things and should be treated seperately. A metric for detemining the WvW population could be how many hours per day there is a queue for WvW. The length of the queue can probably not be determined as it doesn’t seem to be a real queue, right?
Anyway, the problem with the queues… I really don’t like to be waiting for hours to get on a map. In my opinion, an overflow system for WvW maps would be a good idea.
That said, it’s of course no use to play for a specific server on an overflow… that would mean the outnumbered-imbalance would be even worse on every overflow. Instead, just randomly assign each person to a team (red, green, blue), with the usual restrictions: party members get in the same team (maybe even guild members?), if a party is on two different overflows they can switch and play together, etc. Of course, on the overflow no points can be earned for any server. And it would not be any use to have more than one borderland, as the colors are assigned randomly.
This could solve a number of problems:
1.) JP-people: people doing the JPs can do it on the overflow, which is good for them, because they don’t have to wait to get through the queue and good for those on the real map, because fewer people are missing the action.
2.) Daily-people: People who just want to finish the dailies can do that on the overflow. Again, better for everybody and less rant against those poor fellows.
3.) Map-completion-people: Same thing. With the additional benefit that colors are assigned randomly, so you can complete it quicker by changing color.
I think the rest will sort itself out over time. “hardcore” players will always try to get on the real map to earn points and have a high-quality lead, while random people will try to get on the overflows: less stressful, you can do what you like and have a good time anyway. probably overflows can become an essential part of the WvW, when organised groups do their training on the overflow before they throw themselves into “real” battle.
This proposal is extendabel… for example: what if you could choose the color that you play on an overflow?
- map completion people would be happy
- groups larger than 5 can play together.
Of course, this could lead to an imbalance again, but i don’t think it will be bad. you could establish a limit, that one team may not be much bigger than another team, or just give the small teams outnumbered bonus, or provide other reasons why it is good to play on a small team.
I say: What could possibly ever go wrong?