I just have one concern though. If there’s lets say 10 people in Queensdale on each server at this one point in time, and 5 of those people transfer to the underflow, then you’d have an even more underpopulated server map. Sure the underflow map would be booming with people, but it would keep some people from staying in their home server. This can give the impression to new players that the game has a giant margin between new player characters and high level veteran players as well as make them feel even more alone than before, which just gives more motivation to join the underflow map. Eventually everyone in those maps will always be in an underflow, and on each server those maps will always be near completely empty.
Well with the underflow system it would essentially replace the current server system, there would never really be an empty server. Again like I said earlier, I don’t have a lot of knowledge on how Anet designs server stuff. I just hope they would keep the system as un-intrusive as possbile. Or another solution to this issue would be a channel system you see in a lot of F2P mmo’s like Dragon’s Nest, Spiral Knights, and Vindictus to name a few. Is your zone underpopulated? Switch to a “busy” channel to get more players there. My main goal is just to have Anet see this idea and they can figure out the bugs and potential problems and possibly implement it.
This would be a very appreciated changed. Especially if combined with revamped events and champion loot. It would make the open world (in any zone) feel even more alive and engaging.
Yea this ^. This is the whole reason I came up with this idea, right now when I have a low level character and all I find myself doing to level him is clearing the starter zones then crafting to 80, is that how we should reach max level? IMO I feel that zones shouldn’t have been created if all we had to do was craft, but then this wouldn’t be Guild Wars 2 it would be, Happy Crafty Online Game. I love the different ways to level a toon in this game, but I feel that too much emphasis is placed on, go level using WvW or our new temporary content instead of the entire world that was crafted specifically for that purpose.
This is my idea to fix underpopulated zones without merging servers and I call it Underflow!
Basically we already have a system in place in the game that when a zone is overpopulated it puts people in an overflow server where they wait for a queue to join the “real” server. Since we don’t really see that these days, why not reverse-engineer that technology and create a system that takes all players in a zone from all the servers and puts them into an Underflow server. This will eliminate that empty zone problem that plagues areas outside of the starters, dragon events, and Frostgorge! Got a new friend wanting to play GW2 but can’t play with him all the time? He may get bored if he’s playing an MMO by himself so here comes more players courtesy of the Underflow system. I know nothing of game development but I can’t imagine that it would be too difficult to just reverse what the overflow system already does.
TL;DR?
*Create underflow system by reverse engineering overflow system
*Pulls players from all servers in a specific zone to populate it.
*Eliminates empty zones
*Re-invigorates area for new and old players alike!
*New idea: Use a channel system similar to other MMO’s like Dragon’s Nest
If you like this idea and want to see it, bump these threads and let the devs know how you feel!
EDIT
Found out I’m not the first person to think of this idea:
I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of seeing soo many beautiful zones neglected simply because they aren’t starter or endgame areas. Countless times I have gone through Blazeridge Steppes and (apart from the waypoint where the Shatterer spawns) the zone is completely vacant of life, it’s disappointing. However, the biggest zone that I have seen being neglected is the Straits of Devastation and the worst part is you actually need those temples for the karma vendors.
So I’ve prepared a list that I believe could help revitalize the zones between levels 35-75:
In particular with Orr, make all of the temples required to allow entrance to Arah. This will ensure that everyone who wants to run that dungeon will have to work together to capture all the temples. (may require tweaking of events to allow prolonged holding of temples)
All zone events NEED to be thoroughly re-examined (not reset) to alleviate multiple bugs that block progress. Stuck NPC’s, disappearing bosses, and events not even spawning at all are some of the issues that may cause some players to avoid a zone all-together.
Zone specific skins/items that are dropped from a huge meta event finale. As each zone has a particular motif, I feel that each one (as most do) should have a huge meta event chain that kinda ties the big conflict in the zone to a close. I feel that once this meta event is completed the chest that normally should drop, has a chance to give out a rare weapon/armor skin that fits the style of the zone.
So ends this semi-long list and I know you may or may not agree with me. I leave you with this one thought; focus on the core game before content expansions. The game is currently stable, yes, but the inter-workings of the event system need a severe cleansing to prevent progress from being blocked and there just isn’t enough reason for the average player to re-visit old zones apart from leveling and farming. If you have made it this far, I thank you for your time and feel free to add to my list but keep on the subject of zone improvement/revitalization.
I have noticed a few bugs in the Iron Marches area (see attachments for screenshots).
1) the “deafeat Bria…” event doesn’t spawn anyone to fight (unless the boss is inside the house that you cant get inside of) therefore blocking progress
2) “Raid the separatist camp with the warhound village veterans” has the 2 npc’s running into a wall, resetting and running into the same wall, the event has been going on for over an hour now; also there are no separatists to fight in the area at all (not sure if there should be) and I stayed in the “camp” for about 10 minutes still no enemies anywhere.
3) the escort braxa scalehunter to the waypoint near branded lake (dont have the name) has braxa intermittently stopping for a minute (not scripted ambush either) and it makes the event last longer than it should.
If I am able to, I will add to this list as I continue to level in the area and all bugs ive seen have been reported in game as well.
