Returning player NA WvW - where did the population go? Discussion

[Redmezz.2065]

Title.

I haven't played since HoT when ANet tried to replace alpine BL with desert BLs. Was also upset with no official GvG scene/ladder/etc., but that's another topic.

I've returned and I'm having fun, but the playerbase in NA seems much lower, and GvG seems like a term nobody even knows anymore. 

 

What happened to the big guilds (like OnS) and legendary commanders? What would ANet have to do to bring them back or spawn a new generation of fighting guilds? 

Edited July 13, 2022 by Redknot.1042

[Svarty.8019]

Population went where the dev effort went... raids!

(not really, probably to another game, tbh)

[Xenesis.6389]

8 hours ago, Redknot.1042 said:

Title.

I haven't played since HoT when ANet tried to replace alpine BL with desert BLs. Was also upset with no official GvG scene/ladder/etc., but that's another topic.

I've returned and I'm having fun, but the playerbase in NA seems much lower, and GvG seems like a term nobody even knows anymore. 

 

What happened to the big guilds (like OnS) and legendary commanders? What would ANet have to do to bring them back or spawn a new generation of fighting guilds? 

Well.... there hasn't been any real active development for wvw since like 2017 when they last brought out skirmish and rewards.

Most players still around were waiting on world restructuring/alliances, announced 4(yes four) years ago. We got a couple betas end of last year and now it's delayed to whenever again.

Meta has been the same for quite some time.

GvG's, well guilds got bored and left, some still happen I suppose if you ask the right guild, the not ppt one, or the not blob with boons ones.

No point asking what anet would have to do to bring them back, because they won't.

Wvw, the cornerstone to sell warclaw skins.

[TheGrimm.5624]

8 hours ago, Redknot.1042 said:

Title.

I haven't played since HoT when ANet tried to replace alpine BL with desert BLs. Was also upset with no official GvG scene/ladder/etc., but that's another topic.

I've returned and I'm having fun, but the playerbase in NA seems much lower, and GvG seems like a term nobody even knows anymore. 

 

What happened to the big guilds (like OnS) and legendary commanders? What would ANet have to do to bring them back or spawn a new generation of fighting guilds? 

 

Wow. So, I can't speak for others but ANet lost peeps I know because they took so long to replace a ABL and didn't introduce new maps. Welcome back but don't slow progress for others that stayed that still hope for more complex and dynamic maps. We should have had weekly rotating maps by now. -1 to stale content. No we need more complex and less flat maps.  I know more people that were lost to simple flat maps versus with others that offered more strategy. 

[EyzKold.8247]

If Anet wants new players in WVW, it might be a good idea to increase the amount of tickets / wk between 500 to 600.  Bonus tickets would also be a good idea after the last Diamond chest is finished for the week.  Each Diamond chest afterwards would reward players 20 + tickets / chest.  

New maps or subterranean maps below the current ones might be interesting.

Siege turtles !!! heh never gonna happen ...would be nice however . 

[iKeostuKen.2738]

Where did the population go? Oh where to begin. Theres honestly so much wrong that could explain why population dwindled.

- Lack of countering anything with a higher amount of numbers. This game is ridiculous when it comes to numbers advantage

- Stale and outdated mode design and meta. Still, blob to win, strategy doesn't matter, just have bodies.

- Poor class balancing.

- Lack of content outside of blobbing.

- Untested changes

- Warclaw (Idc what anyone says, this ruined the mode)

Edited July 14, 2022 by iKeostuKen.2738

[Chaba.5410]

I'm surprised no one yet asked this guy which server he's on. NA prime on my server is queuing all maps on even a Wednesday.

Edited July 14, 2022 by Chaba.5410

[Xenesis.6389]

9 minutes ago, Chaba.5410 said:

I'm surprised no one yet asked this guy which server he's on. NA prime on my server is queuing all maps on even a Wednesday.

FA the new BG!

[Redmezz.2065]

3 hours ago, Chaba.5410 said:

I'm surprised no one yet asked this guy which server he's on. NA prime on my server is queuing all maps on even a Wednesday.

 

I also have ques on all maps during prime time, but the servers are now combined whereas they used to never need that so that is kind of why I was wondering. Also seems like NA prime is the only active time to play WvW unless you enjoy roaming. 

Additionally, I had a very active FL of 30-40 WvW'ers and only 2-3 are active anymore. 

 

4 hours ago, iKeostuKen.2738 said:

Where did the population go? Oh where to begin. Theres honestly so much wrong that could explain why population dwindled.

- Lack of countering anything with a higher amount of numbers. This game is ridiculous when it comes to numbers advantage

- Stale and outdated mode design and meta. Still, blob to win, strategy doesn't matter, just have bodies.

- Poor class balancing.

- Lack of content outside of blobbing.

- Untested changes

- Warclaw (Idc what anyone says, this ruined the mode)

 

I do agree that numbers seems to be the main advantage. Quality of fight guilds is extremely low than what I remember. I played when "Zerg busting" was the common recruitment slogan; I don't see that very often anymore.

Edited July 14, 2022 by Redknot.1042

[TheGrimm.5624]

12 hours ago, Xenesis.6389 said:

FA the new BG!

 

Chaba, you FA? SBI here. /wave

[Dawdler.8521]

Once again, this surely can have nothing do with the yearly summer vacation slump thats happened for the last 10 years.

[displayname.8315]

Looks like all the population is busy getting last place inT4.. that's not good either..

 

But yeah it is summer so go ride your bike and kick the ded geam habit.

[LetoII.3782]

When I sit down at my computer and look at my desktop there's 3 long lines of entertainment software to choose from. Most are completed and polished, some are actively being improved with monthly tweaks and steady imput from developers.... Then, right next to the recycle bin sits Guild Wars 2, who've been blowing smoke up my kitten for most of a decade about what's coming soon and brushing aside previous claims of the same that proved false in what's become a closed loop of pure kitten.

[Redmezz.2065]

6 minutes ago, LetoII.3782 said:

When I sit down at my computer and look at my desktop there's 3 long lines of entertainment software to choose from. Most are completed and polished, some are actively being improved with monthly tweaks and steady imput from developers.... Then, right next to the recycle bin sits Guild Wars 2, who've been blowing smoke up my kitten for most of a decade about what's coming soon and brushing aside previous claims of the same that proved false in what's become a closed loop of pure kitten.

 

You're not alone in those thoughts.

The consensus that I've received about "where did people go?", even outside this forum post, has been lack of active development in WvW. 

An active development cycle would have added so much more to this game mode over 10 years. Strikes, new zones/stories, raids, etc. have taken their dev time and WvW has always lingered. This is why competition is important. Maybe other games will look into RvR and force ANets hand. 

Edited July 15, 2022 by Redknot.1042

[Mabi black.1824]

12 minutes ago, Redknot.1042 said:

Maybe other games will look into RvR and force ANets hand. 

it could be this in fact, until anet has real competition it could purposely put very little or nothing for development. in fact it could be smart for anet. why should I give you new and wonderful things now, I keep them in the drawer there and ready for when I see the flows decrease, if they ever see them decrease.

Edited July 15, 2022 by Mabi black.1824

[Xenesis.6389]

43 minutes ago, Redknot.1042 said:

You're not alone in those thoughts.

The consensus that I've received about "where did people go?", even outside this forum post, has been lack of active development in WvW. 

An active development cycle would have added so much more to this game mode over 10 years. Strikes, new zones/stories, raids, etc. have taken their dev time and WvW has always lingered. This is why competition is important. Maybe other games will look into RvR and force ANets hand. 

There are other rvr games. Unfortunately there isn't any that can match gw2 combat, it's the one glue that has held people to gw2 pvp for so long (a greater shame/frustration that gw2 has one of the best combat systems in mmos throws away it's pvp side). Nor can they match it's net coding, we don't get lag problems in gw2 very much anymore, but in other comparable games it's worse, although apparently ESO has been working on this problem lately and has made good progress. Also anet is happy to just feed the whales in pve, whether you're buying the game, an expansion, or gems, nothing else matters to them, there isn't actually any competition to them in their minds.

[gitssac.7302]

I think the saddest thing is we are all talking about a dead game mode for a ghost team of devs that will never read this forum post. It hurts but it's true.

 

D E A D   G A M E

[devastoscz.9851]

On 7/15/2022 at 11:46 AM, Xenesis.6389 said:

There are other rvr games. Unfortunately there isn't any that can match gw2 combat, it's the one glue that has held people to gw2 pvp for so long (a greater shame/frustration that gw2 has one of the best combat systems in mmos throws away it's pvp side). Nor can they match it's net coding, we don't get lag problems in gw2 very much anymore, but in other comparable games it's worse, although apparently ESO has been working on this problem lately and has made good progress. Also anet is happy to just feed the whales in pve, whether you're buying the game, an expansion, or gems, nothing else matters to them, there isn't actually any competition to them in their minds.

Agree on the combat. The net coding is a touchy subject though, the ping spikes when facing large groups are considerable and increase exponentially the further you are from the servers.  I have guildmates who live in New Jersey that have an average 18ms ping, their ping spikes go up to 60 (wow!) in large fights.  Now translate that to someone with a baseline 200 ping and have it go over triple to 600+. The game becomes unplayable at times. Ever since the last patch I've been getting very poor server response and lag spikes that go to 3k+ in large fights. Its gotten to a point where I can't tag up for my guild anymore and sometimes don't feel like playing altogether because of the rubber banding.

[Xenesis.6389]

10 minutes ago, devastoscz.9851 said:

Agree on the combat. The net coding is a touchy subject though, the ping spikes when facing large groups are considerable and increase exponentially the further you are from the servers.  I have guildmates who live in New Jersey that have an average 18ms ping, their ping spikes go up to 60 (wow!) in large fights.  Now translate that to someone with a baseline 200 ping and have it go over triple to 600+. The game becomes unplayable at times. Ever since the last patch I've been getting very poor server response and lag spikes that go to 3k+ in large fights. Its gotten to a point where I can't tag up for my guild anymore and sometimes don't feel like playing altogether because of the rubber banding.

Not to say gw2 doesn't have it's issues still, part of that might even be peoples internet providers, it's not always the game. I haven't had lag spikes in probably a month on a reset, and it rarely happens now at any other time, *knock on wood*. Last nights reset zerg fights was smooth for me, then again it also wasn't against BG who always lag me 🤭

Just imagine how much worse it is in other games that even run lesser numbers on maps...

 

Edited July 16, 2022 by Xenesis.6389

[Chaba.5410]

On 7/14/2022 at 11:42 AM, Redknot.1042 said:

I also have ques on all maps during prime time, but the servers are now combined whereas they used to never need that so that is kind of why I was wondering. Also seems like NA prime is the only active time to play WvW unless you enjoy roaming.

Ah ok.  Usually posts about population tend to be about not having anyone to play with during one's play time.  Practically speaking, maps feeling empty has the biggest impact on players' day-to-day choices than the number of tiers.

Regarding the context you are referring to though, why would a game not lose total population over time like that, especially one that hasn't been given much attention over those years?  Even before HoT the population had decreased compared to what it was in the first 2 years of the game.

Edited July 16, 2022 by Chaba.5410

[K THEN.5162]

Left the GW2 when the Warclaw hit the game mode in 2019. Initially kept in touch with the game by browsing the forums out of hope that things would have gotten better. Now, I check out the forums just to fuel a deep bitterness towards how anet has managed WvW. I laughed when they made terrible balance decision after terrible balance decision throughout 2020. I laughed when they went all in on expansion development and basically put the game on maintenance mode throughout 2021 (though apparently the expansion was well-received which I will give them credit for.). I laughed when their balance patches in 2022 had the quality of 2020 GW2 but occurred at the frequency of 2021 GW2. And, the recent fiasco caused by the Solar dev was just icing on the cake.

 

I am just dumbfounded that since I moved away from the game 3 years ago, nothing, absolutely nothing anet has done to WvW has been a step in the right direction. Not a single patch note release has made me say to myself "yeah, that looks cool". Balance patches reek of ignorance and lack of experience or passion, it's utterly tragic that it has been 4.5 years since Alliances was announced with no release date in sight, and the pr rats of anet have formally stated in 2020, 2021, and 2022 that WvW development would improve (cornerstone am I right), but things literally regress further shortly after these announcements.

 

In game management, there are bad decisions and there are tone-death decisions, but based on what has happened to gw2 WvW since 2019, I don't think anet even has ears at all.

[Virdo.1540]

The population is waiting for alliances. So anet better hurries up

[Riba.3271]

They ruined the 24/7 aspect of WvW. Siege balance is destroyed, objective fighting balance is ruiined, dueling is dead and scouting is uninfluential.. Thus guilds have nothing to do during weeks there are no open field opponents as fights for towers and keeps are just not fun anymore. You can't even try to only log in certain weeks when you are guaranteed to have fights because servers get restructured every 2 months. Fights are also kinda meh because superspeed forces everyone to stack and makes fields too easy to avoid..

 

Nerf claim buff (100->30 stats , 25% -> 10% ms), buff siege vs siege damage, increase upgrade times and reduce superspeed potency. This is a start to revive 24/7 WvW. Nobody wants to tag up to get fight clouds or wait enemy to show up open field.

Edited July 17, 2022 by Riba.3271

[Kori Jenkins.9017]

On 7/14/2022 at 9:49 AM, EyzKold.8247 said:

If Anet wants new players in WVW, it might be a good idea to increase the amount of tickets / wk between 500 to 600.  Bonus tickets would also be a good idea after the last Diamond chest is finished for the week.  Each Diamond chest afterwards would reward players 20 + tickets / chest.  

New maps or subterranean maps below the current ones might be interesting.

Siege turtles !!! heh never gonna happen ...would be nice however . 

Increasing the reward speed seems like a really obvious idea. It takes hours to finish reward tracks, and I assume most people only go into WvW at all for gifts of battle, then ditch it. 

[patton the great.7126]

Other games to be lied to and promised things all over again! We truly are a gullible group!