NA WvW world/server population

[Avengedeath.4671]

Links started in 2016. 

 

Currently we have 2 full servers

1 very high

9 high

12 medium

 

Weren't there more full servers before links?  or even since links?

 

I know our host server had a huge guild xfer because they didn't want to play in tier 1.  so they went from high status to medium.

 

it seems to me that people used to xfer to the link of the full servers but maybe that is not the case anymore?  the two full servers still have medium links

 

maybe they are waiting for the next links?

 

I guess my question is are fewer people playing wvw?  maybe this is a "duh" question

 

but if that is the case, is it time to merge some servers?  

 

I know i will get hate mail for suggesting this "no, there will be higher queues" "i dont want to lose my server name" etc

 

it seems like something needs to change and alliances are not happening

 

the problem has been made worse since the no participation progress for defending change.  I see more people just standing at spawn waiting for a tag of decent size and just taking the closest camp over and over until a tag comes along.  

 

no one wants to try taking on the 2 full servers we are up against.  

 

maybe my memory is totally wrong about the population decline.  let me know in comments

[Kate.3679]

maguuma/blackgate have always artificially lowered the populations of the servers they are facing. against them people would rather transfer than play that week and it gets worse if you're stuck in the same tier as one or both of them for multiple weeks. it's not even a numbers problem (at least for maguuma) because when maguuma was t4 people would still refuse to play against them

 

also, population is determined by how active your server is relative to the most active server (in this case it's almost certainly maguuma). blackgate is the only other server with comparable activity to maguuma but throughout the years they've been thoroughly whipped by mag to the point that the entire server just gives up before the match even starts leaving the 3rd t1 server out to dry

Edited March 17, 2023 by Ruru.1302

[Chaba.5410]

1 hour ago, Avengedeath.4671 said:

Links started in 2016. 

 

Currently we have 2 full servers

1 very high

9 high

12 medium

 

Weren't there more full servers before links?  or even since links?

Has Full/Very High/High/Medium remained the same since 2016?  Do you recall when links were first introduced that the host servers were all marked as Full so that people could only transfer to the linked server?

Edited March 17, 2023 by Chaba.5410

[Dayra.7405]

4 minutes ago, Chaba.5410 said:

Has Full/Very High/High/Medium remained the same since 2016? 

I think, it is never the same, but a percentage of the average population of all server, and that is always on a flux, e.g. full could be something like 130% of average.

[Riba.3271]

Server status is based on the most stacked server. It just means the weeks Maguuma and Blackgate are playing, they have double the numbers of other servers.

And are still open for transfers via link 🐒

 

You cannot really get balanced matchmaking with linking system due to dormant players and permanent transfers. Even if other servers doubled their population, more mag/bg players would just log in due to increased activity.

Edited March 17, 2023 by Riba.3271

[TheGrimm.5624]

3 hours ago, Avengedeath.4671 said:

I guess my question is are fewer people playing wvw?  maybe this is a "duh" question

7 years after the point you raise and with lack of changes, before some recently, even with normal population decay yes its safe to say we have less players.

 

3 hours ago, Avengedeath.4671 said:

but if that is the case, is it time to merge some servers?  

Before the start of the WR project yes. Now we might as well wait to see what the WR project produces since servers will be moot after that.

[joneirikb.7506]

Population will never be equal in a game mode like WvW, because of the way the game mode works. When people are free to play as the like 24/7 and come and go as they have fun or is bored, it's quite obvious what will happen.

* People flock in when they hear their friends/guildmembers etc have fun.
* People go away when they no longer have fun (getting beaten typically does that).

So no matter how they try to balance the teams/servers/links etc, every player will always feel that the game is unbalanced, because that is what they experience in the moments they play. ANet can sit with numbers that shows/tell quite clearly that a match up might be entirely balanced, same PPT, same participation/activity over a week, etc. And players will refuse to believe it, because:

* "There was no enemies when I played for 2 hours yesterday!"
* "The enemy server outnumbers us 14-1 all of the 2 hours I had time to play yesterday!"

The sad fact is that the kind of balancing the majority of WvW players actually want, is named EotM. 2 Hours, collapse, new servers, balance numbers out decently close. And it takes at least an hour or so until people realise it's hopeless and give up.

---

Population per server is actually down from when linking was introduced. If ANet made a similar chart to the one they showed us (with no names) back then, but updated with todays numbers, it would look very different.

Constantly locking the highest servers, moving links around, making people transfer to links, and then closing off the top servers again, has spread players out more than ever before.