8 Full servers on NA

[hunkamania.7561]

Is the gamemode really this populated ATM? From what i'm experiencing it's not yet, there's 8 full servers on NA. Is there a problem with the population calculating method that needs to be fixed or did they just lower the cap?

[Strider Pj.2193]

I think I can safely answer Yes to all of your questions above.

‘Full’ doesn’t equate to queues. Matter of fact, it’s not uncommon to see outnumbered on my server multiple maps in NA prime and we are full.

Theoretically? Alliances will help with this.

[SkyShroud.2865]

I hope they would just cut the cap by half, this will save the other servers for others' sinful desires.

[Israel.7056]

They're not actually measuring population per se. They're measuring hours played. Their metrics also don't seem to consider coverage and/or competence, the two most important values in my view.

[Caliburn.1845]

They changed some of the ways population are calculated in the past few weeks to make it more responsive to people moving. I'd guess that the "full" population threshold was lowered significantly as part of those changes.

[geist.4126]

They should just set the map caps to 75% of the actual ones and wait to sort it out. People seem to love to transfer around and Anet should give them that option.

[Strider Pj.2193]

@"Caliburn.1845" said:They changed some of the ways population are calculated in the past few weeks to make it more responsive to people moving. I'd guess that the "full" population threshold was lowered significantly as part of those changes.

Good to know. I hadn’t seen that announced but am glad to see it.

[DeWolfe.2174]

@"hunkamania.7561" said:Is the gamemode really this populated ATM?

No, it's a small fraction of what it used to be. What's considered full is likely half or less of what it used to be at launch. The dev's have been squeezing down the populations for the past 3 years to try and "force" balance. In the end, all it's done is squeeze people into leaving the mode all together.

[hunkamania.7561]

I mean, some servers that are closed have 2 links and some servers that are closed have 0 links so this system surely is a mess in terms of balance and I think something needs to be tweaked asap until the alliance system comes into play or some of these full servers will have to deal with this(way too many people or not enough people) for the next few months(until re links). People will say "just transfer" you can do that but the same problem will arise no matter what so it's a waste of gold.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

People keep forgetting that "full" doesn't mean there's no room; it means ANet has blocked migration to the server. Being at capacity is only one of the reasons they might do that. They might also lock a world whenever one (or more worlds) ends up hard to balance against opponents, which includes linked worlds.

In other words, think of it as "locked for balance reasons" and not as "full."

Imagine six worlds, A-F, with populations as follows:

• A at 50% capacity
• B at 30%
• C 90%
• D 60%
• E 60%

A & E would link with roughly 110% capacity. C would be on its own. And B & D would link for 90%. Under that weird scenario, C, D, & E might be locked, even though two of those worlds aren't anywhere near capacity... because it gives ANet two months to find a better way of matching up the teams so everyone is fielding about the same size crowds.

[sostronk.8167]

Should probably open up Blackgate then.

[Serkit.7836]

I had a theory on this a few weeks or months ago when a certain server opened up and then closed shortly after. I believe the full threshold was changed that day to be below the opened server's calculated value at that point in time.

[LetoII.3782]

@"hunkamania.7561" said:People will say "just transfer" you can do that but the same problem will arise no matter what so it's a waste of gold.Being on the wrong server is a waste of time. I suppose it's a matter of which is more important to the individual.

[SkyShroud.2865]

@"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:People keep forgetting that "full" doesn't mean there's no room; it means ANet has blocked migration to the server. Being at capacity is only one of the reasons they might do that. They might also lock a world whenever one (or more worlds) ends up hard to balance against opponents, which includes linked worlds.

In other words, think of it as "locked for balance reasons" and not as "full."

Imagine six worlds, A-F, with populations as follows:

• A at 50% capacity
• B at 30%
• C 90%
• D 60%
• E 60%

A & E would link with roughly 110% capacity. C would be on its own. And B & D would link for 90%. Under that weird scenario, C, D, & E might be locked, even though two of those worlds aren't anywhere near capacity... because it gives ANet two months to find a better way of matching up the teams so everyone is fielding about the same size crowds.

So, you basically saying anet manually locked the servers?But op is suggesting that the cap is reduced which I find more logical sound since in practice, wvw is indeed smaller than past years.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@SkyShroud.2865 said:So, you basically saying anet manually locked the servers?I'm saying that locking has always had manual component, based on how they've phrased comments about it. It's likely a combination of a system that locks automatically and frequent reviews of the data.

But op is suggesting that the cap is reduced which I find more logical sound since in practice, wvw is indeed smaller than past years.Both can be true. They can set an automated threshold and manually adjust to fit the current needs for arranging the match-ups.

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All of the above is another good reason to restructure. The number of contortions ANet needs to make to get static-worlds to fit neatly together reduces the time they cna spend looking at other issues.

[Rampage.7145]

Please open blackgate so we can transfer there to carry them and stay perma locked in T1, i am sure SoS is really fun to fight lots of guilds and people on that server, dream fight tier matchup bois

[Rampage.7145]

Lowest activity ever in WvW yet every server is full on NA LMAO funny joke anet, u gotta make the game look good for those investors eh? 8 servers overflowing with players more than we ever had in the past 6 years!!!!!