Guild Wars 2

Folie.7980:

Server transfers are what happens in WvW, they are a now a vital part of it and that’s a fact. Complaining that it’s “not fair” will not get you anything. If it’s THAT important too you to not get destroyed in lower tiers by server transfers, then you should transfer to a server that’s not in the lowest tiers.

If a day ever comes were your server gets a massive/many transfers, I doubt you’ll be complaining that it’s “unfair”

Most of the people in this thread aren’t complaining – in fact, far from it. Were still having fun in the match and looking forward to the challenges that come with being the perpetual underdog, the way we always do. It’ll take alot more than yet another lopsided match to get our spirits down.

And remember, there was a time – not long ago – when we were the big server on the block (that “day ever comes” that you’re talking about) – we’ve seen both sides of the coin (there was a smiling face on both sides. btw) – and those who stayed somehow manage to find fun in the game week in and week out. They are an especially resilient group of players – and alot of fun to play alongside.

Addition – We also have alot of respect for the underdog servers like Kaineng, Sorrows Embrace, ET and even Gates of Madness. Despite any hardships, they’ve managed to field strong (albeit often small) challenges just like us – and the negative forum comments from these servers have been few and very far between (really classy bunch). It has always felt like a mutual respect both in and out of the game.

You should feel lucky.

It is one of the more challenging fractals. With the practice you are getting in, you will be a real pro when you get to the higher levels

(of course – Murphy’s Law – you will probably never get it then).

Jashoa.9652:

So, shall GoM and HoD come to an agreement of alliance? XD

Nah.

On HoD, we will do what we always do. Fight tooth and nail with the resources we do have – and keep our spirits high through the hard times and through the hard fought tactical victories – even if we don’t really have a shot at winning the week.

In fact, it probably wouldn’t feel like a real fight for us if we weren’t severely outnumbered. It’s kinda our thing.

Good luck to everyone this week – and remember to have fun out there.

Just want to add my voice to those saying -

No way. No how. No. No. No.

To damage meters.

We all know how they can be useful and how they could be used – but we also know how they WOULD BE used if they were there, and we dont need that in this game.

One thing I would like to see, however, is a death log in PVE similar to the one we see in sPvP. Knowing what killed me would be an extremely useful tool.

Alarox.4590:

Blaeys.3102:

Alarox.4590:

The OP raises some good points about the implementation of the Glicko system.

Blaeys.3102:

While skill and coordination can play a role, most will agree that WvW matches are usually determined by sheer numbers and how much coverage you can spread over a weeks time.

Not anyone who plays WvW more than casually and doesn’t get caught up in making excuses for their losses.

Tell that to JQ who is about to kick us out of first place, not because they have coverage advantage, but because they played better than us this week. JQ, SBI, BG, and SoS all have roughly the same amount of coverage, the winners are determined by who plays better.

Dont be insulting and keep the discussion meaningful. It isnt about excuses.

It’s why I used words like usually. Yes, they may be knocking you out of first place, but the brackets are still staying rather static – and the reason for that is that the three or four top populated servers as a whole draw in more people across more times of the day. When compared to servers further down, the first – and MOST IMPORTANT – difference is numbers – its impossible to know where the better players are because the severe number imbalance trumps everything else. Ive played on Henge of Denravi since the first beta weekend in May, so Ive seen this from both sides of the coin.

The original topic was about what caused the problem of static brackets. My opinion – it is a self perpetuating vicious cycle that feeds the higher population servers and widens the divide significantly as time progresses. It is just basic human nature.

The glicko system would work if a larger number of servers were more even. Then, the differences between servers WOULD be based on skill and organization. That is what we all should be striving for.

1.) My post was never meant to be insulting, as yours wasn’t either. However, the line of your post is basically an insult to anyone who believes that their server earns their wins. No hard feelings over anything, just pointing it out.

2.) As for the supposed issue of population imbalance, the idea of spreading all of the players out is more or less spreading the misery. Unless everyone is happy, nobody can be happy. That isn’t your intention in suggesting it, but I believe that’s the reality of it. In the higher tier servers, your server actually earns the win rather than coverage or other factors being out of the players control. That’s why people that truly love WvW flock to the higher tiers. Spreading all of the players out means everyone suffers from the coverage gaps and the lack of constant competition, rather than just the lower tier servers.

At the moment, the higher tier servers are generally more of what WvW players want. At the moment, the higher tier servers are also the ones that have most of the WvW population. Therefore, at the moment, most of the WvW population is in a situation where it’s what they want. Spreading them out generally harms most of the WvW players rather than helping them.

My only intention was to explain why the brackets are as static as they are. Changing the ranking system so that teams moved brackets more than they do would only serve to create mismatched fights, which no one would enjoy.

the population issue is systemic – infecting both WvW and PVE – and not one that can simply be pushed aside (which, I dont think you are doing, but it still needed saying). People on all servers should have access to a fun experience – not just the one’s lucky (?) enough to cram into the golden 3 at the top.

Outside of server merges, not sure what the solution to that particular problem is – I just believe that the ranking system isnt to blame for the issue at hand – good or bad, it comes back to numbers. Until that issue is addressed, anything else will just create more painful scenarios, not better ones.

Dantos.1065:

Kuruptz.4782:

Dantos.1065:

ReginaBuenaobra.6953:

The number of accounts terminated as a result of this exploitative activity is actually very small—fewer than 200. However, these people are the very worst offenders, and engaged in this exploit to egregious levels—hundreds and even thousands of times. They knew exactly what they were doing and they knew that their activities would damage the economy.

As a reminder, when we dealt with the karma exploit incident in September, we said that we would show some leniency for that particular incident. However, we made it clear that future exploits would be dealt with more firmly. As a result, we have terminated the accounts of the worst offenders in this most recent incident.

As always, if you have an exploit to report, please email exploits@arena.net.

Thank you.

I’m sorry, I do not believe this for one second, my guild alone saw ~10-15 people banned, I seriously doubt that we had ~ 10% of ALL exploiters game wide. We have many members, but a smaller number of very active ones.

As a result of this my guild is now without leadership and according to your support we have no way of making anyone else leader.

Our only recourse, for all the members who did NOT get banned and are players is good standing is to leave our guild, which had all guild options built up, and start all over again.

actully ive seen several in my guild who did this a little and did not get banned

it might be more than 200 i dont know maybe he is saying different number but what i am more sure that they actully banned the ones that profit most

And Every SINGLE Mofo knew about what they were doing and every SINGLE ONE Deserves A BAN RIGHT IN THEIR FACE

While other have it 30232343255r23532253354% harder to get gold

Or buy gold with gems, because manipulating the economy is ok as long as Areanet gets their cut.

Actually, it’s okay as long as ArenaNet regulates the exchange rates.

It doesnt take much to understand that infinite or near infinite perpetual gold making machines are horrible for the economy. They devalue the gold that others gain legitimately (including through controlled methods such as trading gems for gold at the regulated exchange rate).

Im not debating the validity of permanent bans (the developers have made themselves clear enough on that) – simply pointing out that anyone who does this has to know they are severely inflating the game’s economy for their personal gain. Regardless of your stance on the appropriate punitive action, you cannot debate the fact that this shouldnt be allowed to happen in the game.

Alarox.4590:

The OP raises some good points about the implementation of the Glicko system.

Blaeys.3102:

While skill and coordination can play a role, most will agree that WvW matches are usually determined by sheer numbers and how much coverage you can spread over a weeks time.

Not anyone who plays WvW more than casually and doesn’t get caught up in making excuses for their losses.

Tell that to JQ who is about to kick us out of first place, not because they have coverage advantage, but because they played better than us this week. JQ, SBI, BG, and SoS all have roughly the same amount of coverage, the winners are determined by who plays better.

Dont be insulting and keep the discussion meaningful. It isnt about excuses.

It’s why I used words like usually. Yes, they may be knocking you out of first place, but the brackets are still staying rather static – and the reason for that is that the three or four top populated servers as a whole draw in more people across more times of the day. When compared to servers further down, the first – and MOST IMPORTANT – difference is numbers – its impossible to know where the better players are because the severe number imbalance trumps everything else. Ive played on Henge of Denravi since the first beta weekend in May, so Ive seen this from both sides of the coin.

The original topic was about what caused the problem of static brackets. My opinion – it is a self perpetuating vicious cycle that feeds the higher population servers and widens the divide significantly as time progresses. It is just basic human nature.

The glicko system would work if a larger number of servers were more even. Then, the differences between servers WOULD be based on skill and organization. That is what we all should be striving for.

Wrong science – it is more a function of the population and human nature than mathematics.

Free server transfers combined with the natural tendency of most people to transfer to the top X percent servers has created an segmented landscape that continually pushes the larger numbers to a smaller and smaller number of servers – which creates buckets based on population/coverage that manifests as static/stagnant rankings.

While skill and coordination can play a role, most will agree that WvW matches are usually determined by sheer numbers and how much coverage you can spread over a weeks time.

In short, the population created this issue by top loading servers. If people want to “fix” the issue – the answer is simple — be open to moving (or better yet, moving your guild) to a lower ranked server.

The pre events can be five manned (or even 4-manned). I just consider them part of the dungeon.

Do agree that there needs to be a reliable way to start the event chain.

Well deserved award. Definitely my 2012 game of the year.

Jason King.2647:

Can anyone who’s experienced this bug provide us with more details on how you got it to occur? We haven’t been able to reproduce this bug ourselves, so any additional details or steps to do so would help.

Thank you!

It happened to a group I was in twice about a week and a half ago. Basically, we finished the part where you put up the shields to defend against the giants throwing things at the ship. Then there was a cutscene. Following the cutscene, we were told to board the chopper. The problem was the chopper was still well ahead of the ship (the ship didnt seem to fly far enough – it looked like we still needed to fly another 30-40 virtual yards). We ran all over the ship, including way out on the forward mast, but the chopper remained too far away.

First time, no one skipped the cutscene – the second time, everyone skipped the cutscene (in case that was the issue). We definitely didnt try any shortcuts or anything (dont see how any would be possible at that point).

That is all I remember. Hope that helps.

HawkMeister.4758:

ColinJohanson.2394:

Also, there will be no new race, profession, or new region with these larger Feb/March releases. One of our major goals with these releases is making our existing world as strong as possible, ensuring there are reasons to go to all the locations in the world we’ve already built, and strengthening the core game we’ve provided.

Y E S !
That´s exactly what´s needed right now!

Awesome.
Still hope for implementation of the “Underflow Server” to gather deserted maps from all servers into one, for fun´s sake. Basically the opposite of our current Overflow Servers.

This is my single biggest desire for January/Q1 as well. Love everything they’ve done, but it is time to proactively make sure the world’s stay full, population wise.

My biggest desire is to hopefully hear something about how they plan to ensure populations across all servers – not just those listed as full – remain viable, whether it be through server merges or some other kind of mechanic.

Ive been having a blast since day one and I trust the new content will not disappoint. My only concern is that some servers may end up being left behind as everyone flocks to the top 1/3 of servers and we lose some to natural MMO attrition. We need the people around to enjoy the content.

I love the dredge, even though I rely on blinds alot and have to adjust whenever facing them.

Something that can help in facing dredge is focus targeting, CCs and boon removal on disaggregators. A single disaggregator (i think those are the ones with the gongs) can spread protection, regeneration, might, retaliation, etc. to HUGE numbers of dredge (this definitely happens in SE and the dredge fractal). Single out and burn/interrupt/cc the dissaggregators and use any utilities that remove/convert/etc, boons on enemies (mesmer null fields and necro wells are awesome at this) and they become easier.

As far as other mobs that cause me issues – the new drakes in Southsun that do the AOE confusion and massive condition damage are a real challenge (really fun though).

Of course I will – and my guess is 95% of the people saying no in this thread will to when the time comes.

Nayru.4537:

Karizee.8076:

Nayru.4537:

Reaver.9256:

Game is going to be around for years to come! Big updates already with huge ones to come shortly. My server is packed to the rim with people. From the low zones to the high. Game keeps getting better and better and it seems more and more people are coming.

Big updates already? Which ones? Holiday events don’t count as they are only around for a couple weeks if that.

Both The Shadow of the Mad King patch and the Lost Shores patch brought new permanent content to the game outside of holiday activities.

The January and February patch together will be an expac worth of content. Free I might add.

Mad King is halloween.

And permanent is permanent (eg, lasting longer than Halloween).

This is assuming ArenaNet doesnt take some kind of action – vis a vis server merges or (what most people want) creative use of the overflow system to keep zones as full as possible.

I do think it is time for them to do something. The game has been out a few months, so were seeing some of the natural attrition that comes with these games. The worlds definitely dont feel as full as they should be like they did in the month following launch.

I dont think its a marker for the end though – just an indication that its time for the developer to take proactive measures to ensure the game stays populated for everyone.

As far as gameplay itself, there are plenty of people who still find it compelling and really fun – including myself (been playing since first beta weekend). We just have too many servers right now for the number of active players. Its a problem all MMOs face after the early rush – but it isnt one that is unsolvable.

This is a direct result of people and guilds bandwagoning to the same 3-5 servers. Severely imbalanced populations are bad for every aspect of the game – from PVE to WvW.

Its just a targeting bug that they said they plan to fix (cant find the post, but positive I saw it).

You can target and attack the wall if you click at just the right spot at the base of the wall in the center.

Imo, though, the bombs are, by far, the best way to take the wall down. They do a ton of damage and running them through the ice of death (while dealing with fear, falling shards, the knockback wave and the timer on the bombs themselves) can be pretty exciting.

I think it is important to remember that the game is supposed to be fun for everyone – not just for those on extremely full servers like Tarnished Coast.

The breakout event was put in place to help those servers that dont have the numbers and 24/7 coverage – not to keep them from losing but to actually give them something to do when they dont have the numbers on to face off against an entire server worth of defenders.

It is an interesting addition and helps keeps things a little more exciting – but if you are on a full or nearly full server, then please understand that this wasnt really designed for your server or match experience to begin with.

Wilow.3061:

shakes fist at HoD

You stole our SM! Good fight, but you had the numbers on us. Poor GoM, your castle didn’t stand a chance vs 2 servers attacking you

Edit: wish they would do something about that horrid ability lag. 5-10 secs to use abilities just isn’t fun

Its okay. Im sure GoM will take it back – and then SF will take it back – and then we’ll take it back – and then you’ll take it back – and then … . In other words, should be another really exciting match this week.

Its why I love this match up so much and and am glad we are paired up again.

Valenna Tiefling.5806:

I know it’s really early but can I get a score update? I have to miss the first few days of this and I’m already getting antsy about it.

GOM: 4479 (plus 230)
HoD: 3861 (plus 250)
SF: 3300 (plus 215)

It would make the game even more epic. I really hope this is something they are considering for the near future.

Sunspots.9861:

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say his question was rhetorical and that he was really just recruiting for HoD. Not judging though, we recruit too, just laughing a bit to myself that people are really trying to answer the question.

This is a fair synopsis, but I will add to it.

It was originally rhetorical (even though it is interesting to see the responses) and I would love to see more people play on HoD, but it was really as much about any lower ranked server. In the past few weeks, we’ve been matched against servers such as Eredon Terrace, Sorrow’s Furnace and a few others that have the same level of participation, population and ranking. Based on the sportsmanship and way those servers played during those matches, I have as much respect for them as I do for my own server (even though mine’s better- ).

It goes back to the original premise – dont judge the potential fun of WvW solely on the ranking of the server. There are great players across all servers and the system in place makes it easy to enjoy the WvW aspect of the game on any of them.

snacktime.1082:

I disagree, brackets and ratings can matter a lot depending on what kind of play you want. If you think the lower rated servers are just as good and offer the same variety, then I’m guessing you haven’t played recently in T1/T2. The fact is that T1/T2 attract the best pvp guilds, and that has an impact.

On T2/T1 servers you have highly organized, competitive guilds that simply do not exist on lower brackets. Guilds like HB from Blackgate for instance. That level of play you won’t find on lower tiers.

My server was Tier 1 for a long time and I have to say that this most definitely isnt the case. The people/guilds we have now are just as good as those we had when we were tier one.

You could just as easily (in fact it is more compelling) make the argument that the top tier servers attract the bandwagoners and people who want the easy wins as much as they attract more competitive individuals/guilds. In fact, those guilds looking for more competitive play are more likely to look for servers where their efforts are more likely to make a difference. I know we have several like that still on HoD (and to Raincrow’s point – they NEVER give up -even in the weeks we were way behind).

I dont mean that as disparaging toward top tier servers. Im sure they deserve the spots they are in. The point is, you will find many of those same kinds of competitive guilds and people in the lower tiers as well – they just have to work alot harder to be noticed.

yea. since Christmas Day, there have been a large number of new players on.

Its fun (and nice) to go to the new areas and say hi. Most will tell you they are new to the game as a result of getting it for Christmas.

The thing I’ve learned since the game launched is that WvW can be extremely fun regardless of which bracket you are in or how “successful” your server is in relation to others around the world. In fact, Im finding the lower brackets much more enjoyable and competitive. Communities seem to be tighter and more helpful and you see far fewer primadonnas and elitists trying to run over everyone in chat to force their opinion or leadership.

As background, Im on Henge of Denravi and have been since the first beta weekend back in May. Some will understand the significance of that. Ive been there when Henge was winning every week by huge margins and, after a large alliance chose to leave the server, Ive been there when Henge was losing by huge margins every week. Currently, we’ve settled into a couple of brackets where the score remains really tight (1st to 3rd is only a few 1000 points difference as I type this -and all three servers have led for about equal chunks of the week – a real back and forth dogfight).

Don’t worry so much about brackets and WvW rankings when you are trying to pick a server. Find a community that you enjoy being a part of and that supports the things you want out of the game.

And, for those looking – Henge is a great server with a great community and you should definitely check out our community’s web site – www.hengeofdenravi.com. There are fewer numbers (less zergs) in WvW, but the groups are usually organized and the battles are really fun. The same can be said of most PVE zones. Map chat in Lion’s Arch is extremely helpful and you almost never see “noob” or “look it up yourself” style comments (and when you do, others shut them down pretty fast).

The issue isnt the difficulty of the fight – its that the difficulty and enjoyability of the fight is currently dependent upon the active population of your server.

It is time for either server merges of lower pop servers or implementation of some kind of “underflow” (or, just as good, unrestricted guesting between servers – eg, not dependent on where your friends have accounts) to give people on ALL servers the ability to bring enough people to the fight.

I have been on Henge of Denravi since the beta. It is now a smaller community than those in the top tier of WvW, but the people here are amazing and very open/helpful to new players.

Currently, you should find an amazing experience on any server you choose. I would pick one that isnt full, as that will make it easier to play with friends (both new and old who join the game) and, if you pick a server like Henge, I know the players will make you feel at home.

Additionally, we need people to spread out more and stop trying to cram into the top 5-6 servers. It isnt good for the competitive landscape in WvW and could potentially harm the future of the game. I know from a personal perspective, this may not seem as important, but think of it this way – on a growing server, you can be a more integral part of the community. I know we would welcome you on Henge.

Welcome to all the new players.

As far as full vs very high or even high, you will probably find amazing communities on any server, so I wouldnt worry as much about that. In fact, you would be doing the future of the game a favor by not trying to cram into an already packed server. I have been on Henge of Denravi (www.hengeofdenravi.com), one of the “not-full” servers, since beta and the people there are extremely helpful and friendly. We’ve had to pull together and stick together to remain competitive and involved. We may have a harder time with activites that involve really large numbers, but this has created an atmosphere that is extremely open and friendly to new players.

Anyone is welcome here.

And Nooga – we are currently paired against SF in WvW (as well as GoM). Its an awesome (and very close) match. You picked a good server as well.

Instead of pining for increased server caps, people need to be looking at it from a different perspective. For every full server, there are several that are very high and some that still list at high – meaning there is plenty of room for both you and your friends there.

Increasing or opening server caps on the full realms will only serve to make those that aren’t full eventually feel very empty. That shouldn’t be acceptable to anyone who cares about the long term health of PVE in the game or the competitive landscape of WvW.

Rather than increased server caps, we need new ways to balance populations across servers or new ways for people to play across servers – regardless of where their friends are. Until we see something like that, the only real solution is stricter server caps to encourage more population spread. These are the things we need to be asking of developers.

In the meantime, If you want to play with your friends – do yourself and the game a favor and move with them to a lower populated realm.

Asilithiel.7928:

This is not to call out HOD in general.

The title of your post is “Henge of Denravi Exploiting …”

You may not have meant to, but there is only one way to read that – especially considering many may just see the title of the post and not read the content.

There is a process in place for this kind of reporting.

Some of us have alot of pride for Henge. It includes some of the best and most dedicated players in the game (many of us have stayed through alot of ups and downs). Like every server, we may end up with one or two who dont really belong. Were sorry for that, but it doesn’t warrant this kind of post, any more than any of the others do.

Report the player – leave the server out of it, especially in post titles.

Getting multiple of threads on this same topic -

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Any-chance-of-raising-server-population/first#post1083463

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Servers-are-filling-again/page/2#post1083442

Makes it really hard to have a solid discussion. Strongly recommend people post in the same thread so that all voices and reasoning are heard.

I really hope that, if someone did cheat, they are punished accordingly, but I really don’t think a public forum is the right place for this kind of post. Use the game’s report function.

Calling out an entire server for the actions a few is petty and misplaced.

Most of the players on HoD work really hard for the progress we make. So far this week, it has been an amazing match that we have all enjoyed. Let’s keep this kind of pettiness out of it.

Latorn.4209:

Blaeys.3102:

There is a clear definable risk to raising the server caps. While raising the cap would make it easier for people to create a character on a full server, it would also hurt those servers that are on the other side of the scale. There are a handful of servers that need more people.

Filling full servers and allowing transfers/new player to the fullest servers only serves to unbalance the experience further than it is now. The cap is necessary to balance populations – to enrich the PVE experience and create a more competitive WvW landscape.

With that in mind, the solution to “wanting to play alongside friends” needs to be convincing all of those friends to move to one of the lesser populated servers. I know that seems like a hassle and people don’t want to give up spots on the top tier WvW servers, but it is the healthiest solution for the game as a whole.

As it stands, there is very little incentive to roll on a less populated server. The cap is the only thing keep populations in check across the board.

Aye, the only problem would be is that I rolled on Tarnished Coast due to it being the unofficial RP server XD Also I’ve had a guild since launch on TC that has attained a few upgrades and influence that I would lose when transferring.

Definitely respect that point of view and really wish there were a better solution to the issue.

Unfortunately, I think the harm of opening transfers and upping caps outweighs any potential positives. The reality is there have to be people around to enjoy the game with. If 80 percent of the population is crammed into 30 percent of the servers, the remaining servers will suffer tremendously and needlessly.

I think one thing that may help is if the RP community designated one of the currently lower pop servers as a secondary RP server in North America. It wouldnt solve the influence issue when transferring a guild (even though partnering with existing guilds already on those servers may), but it would give RPers another option.

There is a clear definable risk to raising the server caps. While raising the cap would make it easier for people to create a character on a full server, it would also hurt those servers that are on the other side of the scale. There are a handful of servers that need more people.

Filling full servers and allowing transfers/new player to the fullest servers only serves to unbalance the experience further than it is now. The cap is necessary to balance populations – to enrich the PVE experience and create a more competitive WvW landscape.

With that in mind, the solution to “wanting to play alongside friends” needs to be convincing all of those friends to move to one of the lesser populated servers. I know that seems like a hassle and people don’t want to give up spots on the top tier WvW servers, but it is the healthiest solution for the game as a whole.

As it stands, there is very little incentive to roll on a less populated server. The cap is the only thing keep populations in check across the board.

Sometimes the price of things change. Gas flucuates in price based on speculation. You drive a new car off the lot and it is suddenly worth less than it was 20 seconds ago. The same model of computer may drop in price a week after you buy it. There are millions of other examples.

All markets fluctuate and the price of items change for many different reasons. To expect a refund or reimbursement every time it happens is unrealistic and would be counter to an adapting marketplace.

Merry Christmas to ArenaNet and all my new player friends in GW2.

Turning out to be the most epic match ive ever seen in WvW. I think each server has led at several points throughout the past weekend -

[img]http://imageshack.us/a/img72/8169/wvwscore.jpg[/img]

Im sorry, but I disagree.

Giving the control and flexiblity to the players is a really good step to take – and it will really help guilds who play together often, but worry about leaving people behind.

Most of the people who rage quit or belittle others because of their performance in fractals will do so regardless of the grouping system in place. They do it now. Most of us realize it is usually more about their own egos and self important attitudes than it is about anything anyone else does (e.g., if you are the kind of person that yells at others in ANY video game for ANY reason, you have deeper personality issues and should probably find another pastime).

This change gives us more tools to work with – more ways to form groups – and more ways to bring people in guilds/regular groups closer together. I realize it may highlight issues with pugs, but as I note above, those issues will exist regardless.

If people are jerks or you identify someone you dont want to run future game content with, simply add them to your ignore list – problem solved.

I welcome these changes wholeheartedly. The people in my guild doing fractals are a pretty loyal bunch. We’ve been trying to schedule so that we all remain around the same level – so that no one is left out as we advance.

This change allows the more active players in the guild to advance without having to worry about leaving anyone behind.

It will also allow players with alts a way to bring their other characters without having to ask that the group repeat starting levels.

Outstanding change.

This is a pie in the sky type suggestion of something I would love to see implemented into the game.

World and meta events display their status in the upper right hand corner now (e.g. “the volcano lies dormant”) regardless of their status.

Implement a system that allows us to right click on that status and select “looking for active group.” When enough players (keeping parties together if possible) from the region (NA or Europe) enter the queue for said world or meta event, give us the option to “travel to overflow” where the particular event chain then begins.

This would give us more control over our game experience and allow everyone – even those on lower population servers or those with limited play time – the chance to experience the many group dynamic events in the game. It could also potentially be used as a tool to give larger guilds a way to tackle large scale events together.

Not sure if this even a technical possibility – just something I think would make the great gameplay in this game even more fun and dynamic.

For me, it isn’t about “winning” the meta-game, its about the smaller wins – things like:

- Clearing the tougher dungeons with no deaths (and no repair bill) – taking it a step further and doing the same with no group deaths
- Finishing a session in WvW with the server holding more points than when I started
- Making my character look as awesome as possible
- Capturing a temple in Orr
- Winning an award in sPvP for most kills/points taken/etc.
- Finally finishing a tough jumping puzzle

Rather than the game predetermining what winning means, I am able to define it for myself based on the elements that are most important to me. It’s one of the things I really love about the game.

Cant something just be fun? Why does every little tiny thing have to have virtual rewards- cant the event itself be a reward at least part of the time?

I think people get to caught up in what they get at the end and forget the journey. Not everything has to drop loot (even though this event actually does).

Just enjoy it for what it is.

This would be fun to do as a guild or with one or two other friends in a larger random group.

As far as the event itself – its just silly fun, exactly as it should be. Love it.

OP – this happens to just about everyone their first one or two times in the GW2 dungeons – especially if they are acclimated to games with tank/healer/dps makeups.

I would recommend going back and not giving up on it. A couple of tips:

- make sure your gear is up to your current level (if you are level 30, dont try going into AC story with half your gear at lvl 22).

- If you are a glass cannon build, you have to play almost “perfectly” to survive and may still die even then. It is a good practice for every player to take at least a few defensive stat points.

- Condition removal and control is crucial, especially in Ascalonian Catacombs. Every player either needs a way to remove conditions or need a REALLY GOOD support player with AOE cleanses.

- Dodge is extremely important, but it isnt the only way to negate damage to yourself. Remember to use blocks, shadowsteps, distortions, etc., as well. Likewise, pay attention to your boons – especially regeneration and protection.

- Fight positioning is important. Dont fight packs of AOE casting mobs in a tight hallway. Fight on your terms – not theirs.

- While most bosses cannot be crowd controlled effectively, their damage can be reduced or shut down through weaknesses, blinds and chills. They can also usually be effectively slowed with cripples. Keeping cripple on the lovers in AC story, for example, makes it harder for them to meet up and wipe the group.

And, to those saying you have to be lvl 80 for explorables, that isnt the case. The big issue is that your gear still has to be up to your level. A lvl 35 character wearing even a couple of lvl 29 pieces of gear will have issues. Most people dont think as much about their gear pre-80. If you do, then explorables are still challenging, but definitely doable.

Free transfers should be limited to people moving to lower population servers only – with transfers to higher pop servers, even when they arent full, costing a significant number of gems. It would encourage a better spread across servers and stop the steady bleed that is making the strong stronger and weak weaker (which is not good for the competitive field across the game).

This has affected 3 of my guild’s Fractal runs in the past two days.

I’m sure they are working hard on a fix, but until then, I think it is important that people continue to report incidents in this thread.

marianitten.1247:

there are no Dead servers. People are dispersed. Lion’s arch right now always is in overflow. It’s logical that that fewer people is playing in the middle zones…

Anyway… where do you hear that they are going to merge servers? That is absurd.

Unless you play on every single server, there is no way to know this.

I have seen overflow in Lion’s Arch, at most, 3 times in the past two months on my server, and those three times were all associated with holiday events. The problem is, the servers that are full, are extremely full – and the servers that are empty are extremely empty. This is mainly a result of everyone server hopping for WvW.

Bottom line, there are servers that are in dire need of help when it comes to numbers right now. It is time to merge the lower population servers. As for the issues in the OP, these are challenges, but ones Im sure Anet could come up with solutions for.

If you are seeing overflow constantly in Lion’s Arch, then chances are this isnt a topic that would really apply to you.

Really small change that Im sure many people would appreciate, so I definitely dont see it as a stupid idea.