No one in LFG or these pvp maps?

[cgx.8962]

Hey just got the game. I have only played to level 49, on Gate of Madness realm. I have unlocked a couple of dungeons for the story it seems? I don't understand how these work. I check LFG about every hour and no one is ever recruiting for these. Is this dead content? Not really sure it I am using this correctly. 

 

I also got to Lions Rest and definitely felt overwhelmed with all of the portals. I started going through some of them. Taking me to The Grove and The Asura city. There are some portals that seem to take me to a giant contested pvp map with objectives but there is no one else there.....? 

 

I also tried the toy extravaganza thing for wintersday. No one there. 

 

What am I doing wrong? is this just a bunch of dead content? How am I going to enjoy/play these parts of the game if no one is even playing them? Thankfully I only spent the $15 for the two expansions. I'm having fun with the open world, but I would love to see what else the game has to offer. Unlocking hearts and completing maps can be repetitive. Any help would be awesome, I don't have any contacts or friends in-game. 

[Debesyla.7102]

Hey, welcome to the game!

I will try to write this in short form, but feel free to ask for more info if needed:

1. The world (server, Gate of Madness) matters only for WvW game mode - everyone else plays in one giant mega-server (either NA or EU)
2. LFG is known to be more rarely used in NA, it's more active in EU, yes
3. But the way it works is that you can just create your group yourself - don't worry! There will surely be other people who are waiting for someone else to create a group, so it should fill up pretty quickly. LFG is mostly empty because groups just fill up so quickly 🙂
4. Dungeons are not as popular as they were in the past (now there are way more content, people are more spread out), but they are still active, just may take 5-10min to fill up a group, depending on the time of the day
5. Yes, feel free to explore the other maps! You can also just waypoint to the starting zones of other races - the starting waypoint is already unlocked for you
6. The pvp map was one of WvW game mode maps. There are 4 of those and it's activity depends on the time of the day. Usually WvW is busyiest friday evenings for EU and saturday for NA
7. If you would just wait a minute, the toy group would fill up too - you can also even do it solo, other people are nice, but not needed.

So, yeah, maybe you were on at some unusual time for the megaserver (like, you are playing on NA server, but you are playing it during the time when it's night in NA), but the game is active enough at any time of the day. It's just not instant as there are lots of stuff to do, groups fill up quickly 😄 

Edited December 23, 2022 by Debesyla.7102

[LSD.4673]

Dungeons were abandoned when the game released 10 years ago. A few yeara ago you could still find a group easily in LFG for the better dungeons, but these days they're dead to all but the few "learner" groups helping noobs out.

 

The game has two forms of PvP: structured PvP and World vs World (vs World). Both are neglected game modes, but both have dedicated playerbases. For WvW, it often feels like a deadland, but at peak hours there's typically at least one public group per server. But WvW really isn't a place to be until you're at 80 and confident with the game.

 

Unfortunately the repetition of levelling will remain until you hit the cap. Once you've seen level 1-15, you've seen it all for the core open world.

 

Keep trying with dungeon LFG. Make your own group, label it "all welcome", and carry on playing open world till the group fills up. The xp rewards from dungeons get you a good 1.5-2 levels per run.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Welcome to Tyria.  Here are some resources you may find helpful:

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/new-player-guide

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Extended_Online_Manual

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Main_Page (also available in-game by typing /Wiki [topic of choice] in chat)

As we are in the middle of a Festival (Wintersday) some content may be less populated than usual.  Many rewards to earn in the Wintersday Festival.  Check your Hero Panel's Festival Achievements and the Daily Achievements.

Good luck. 

[Cuks.8241]

Dungeons are still done but not as often as other modes. Newer formats were introduced which are more popular like 5 man fractals and 10 man formats.

I would recommend if you want to explore a dungeon that you create your own LFG group and explain in the description that you are there for the exploring. Players usually put in something like "new player, story mode, watch all cut scenes", because speed runners skip everything they can.

You dont need to wait for the group to fill to full. You can just enter and start exploring (and die but thats fine) and others will join. Depending on the dungeon you might be surprised, some fill very fast.

Some info. Dungeons have story mode and explorable modes. Story mode is what you will do while leveling, that is why its good if you put it in lfg description. Explorable modes are for max lvls and usually people will put in something like p1, p2, p3 and speed run it. This means "path 1", "path2", "path 3".

As for the pvp maps. You have spvp (5v5, 3v3, 2v2) and wvw (server vs server). Both modes are alive and played. I would recommend you are lvl 80 before you enter even though you can enter them before that. Why lvl 80? because you will be more familiar with the game and its systems. Players dont use portals to enter those modes, you can enter directly from the UI (top left buttons). There are some maps (like Edge of the mists) which are rarely played so maybe you entered that map or you entered a lobby map or you just entered a wvw map which was not very active at the time.

If you are interested in pvp or wvw (both are actually quite good and active, yes veterans might be frustrated, because they are playing them for 10 years but a lot of fun to be had for new players) I would recommend watching a beginner guide on youtube because there are a lot of nuances before you start. 

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

Its likely your playing time. The game is most active in and around reset (Options->Game Clock->Server Time, 12AM), the rest of the time people are generally at work or school although it varies by time zone.

 

If your region isn't active during your playing time you may need to swap regions (NA to EU or vice versa). Swapping servers does nothing, as they're not used in PvE. You can also join guilds dedicated to "late night" content, for example a North American player who is most active during graveyard hours would be best off joining an OCX/Australian guild, then you do that content mainly with your guildmates. Most instanced content is done this way.

 

This is especially important in WvW (the "PvP" map you entered), which is a guild-based game mode.

 

This game has hundreds of thousands of active players, and often entire maps will fill up within minutes. You just have to know when and where. Since you're level 49, most of it isn't even worth worrying about, just enjoy levelling in the open-world and doing story. From game start to max level isn't even 10% of the game, and as you get into more recent content you'll encounter hundreds of players at a time.

 

You can join in for world-bosses and other meta events, just get there a bit early (10-15mins):

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Event_timers

 

If you want to do the dungeons for the story mode and experience, just put "story chill+cutscenes" in the LFG tool yourself, and start playing it on your own. It may be a while before anyone joins in, though.

 

Again, like I said, your best bet is to join an active guild. It's Guild Wars.

Edited December 26, 2022 by Mariyuuna.6508