Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

How bad is the "dead mid-level zones" problem?

2456

Comments

  • botrytisbotrytis Member RarePosts: 3,363
    Originally posted by Corehaven
    Originally posted by mmoski
    Originally posted by Quizzical
    Are most of the dynamic events doable solo if you happen to be the only one there?  Do there tend to be a few people there doing whichever events are active, but just not nearly as many as launch?  Or are you faced with having to skip most of the content if you don't go form your own group manually?

    No most of them are not soloable, (slightly more when your a lvl 80 fully geared kicked down).

    In the higher level zones you can find players doing the most rewarding DE's, most of the time, its dependent on the time of day really. The lower zones are pretty much dead, you will occasionally team up with players to do a DE, but generally its not going to happen, which means yeah you have to skip content really, or you could just stand around hoping players will turn up.

    Hopefully they will incentivise players back to other zones.

     

    Nope.  Most are soloable. 

     

    Why?  Because I don't play on a heavily populated server.  And I have soloed most of them.  They do scale down, and yea, one player can complete them.  Especially below 80. 

     

    Some you can "fail".  Sometimes that happens to me, but I don't die.  Usually most all are soloable and able to be completed that way. 

    If it is a champion event then it is not solo-able period. Try the swamp boss in Queensdale - you cannot solo him even leveled down from 80. Some are and some aren't - it depends - people who say they are all soloable are not speaking the truth.

     

    I am on US, Crystal Desert server and I always see players in zones doing events, it is not hard to find someone.


  • grimalgrimal Member UncommonPosts: 2,935

    For me, there is nothing that worsens an MMO experience more than zero population.

    Once my reached a certain population low, I was pretty much done with the game.  But it's ultimately up to you.  Some people it doesn't bother as much. 

  • Trudge34Trudge34 Member UncommonPosts: 392
    I'm on Tarnished Coast and have been playing with my girlfriend on a new character I started not even two weeks ago. We just hit level 30 last night and have been hunting in Kessex Hills and Gendarran Fields mostly the last few days. While we can go a bit doing hearts and stuff without seeing anyone really, it seems wherever a DE is that's where people in the area flock to. Any tougher DE we've had there's been no shortage of people at all. We've started them alone, but we've always has people join as they progress. The Nebo Terrace event from what I saw last night had at least 10 people defending. I know when we move north to Hirathi Hinterlands it'll be similar with that awesome chain on the northern part of the zone too.

    Played: EQ1 (10 Years), Guild Wars, Rift, TERA
    Tried: EQ2, Vanguard, Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Runes of Magic and countless others...
    Currently Playing: GW2

    Nytlok Sylas
    80 Sylvari Ranger

  • KuppaKuppa Member UncommonPosts: 3,292
    Sigh.... The story of this thread, just like many others around asking for opinions is very simple. People that like the game see tons of people and people that don't like the game see no one. I suggest you check it out for yourself.

    image


    image

  • botrytisbotrytis Member RarePosts: 3,363
    Originally posted by ennymith

    The measure I use to judge zone population is how long does the prime time thing last.

    When there were lots of people playing back in September and October (the release rush), I could log in at around 7 pm weeknights, and see plenty of people on any map and this would last until around 11 pm, so 3 hours tops.

    Nowdays, when I log in at 7, and go to any zone, I will see people about for about an hour. If I don't get done what I wanted by 9 pm, well there is always the next evening. 

    There are still times when you can find plenty of people in any zone, but those prime time periods are getting shorter, which indicates to me there are far fewer players overall now.   It does not help that the trend is clearly downward.

    3 million copies pretty much codifies that Anet failed to unthrone WOW like they claimed they would.  They got a small market share, it's a niche game.

    If I had to sum it up for noobs, GW2 is the limited appeal jumping puzzle MMO.

    Actually - your off base - Rift had as many jumping puzzles too. It is not an Asian grinder - that is Archage. A.Net is in Seattle, WA.

     

    People rused to 80 based on what they knew from other games, not what was known about GW2. I see people from 6PM EST to 10-11 PM EST when I log off..

     

    No one is trying to 'unthrone' WoW - Blizzard is doing that all by themselves (and that is a subject for another thread). What I think A.Net really wants is players invested for the long term, just like people did in GW1.


  • KalestonKaleston Member Posts: 173
    Originally posted by Dzone

    Wouldn't it bring back peaple to lower levels if all the de's and reward drops where given depending what level you where? Meaning if you where level 80 you would get your max xp per event no mater what level the zone is. Same with gear, every zone should drop your current level's gear. Or does it do that alrdy?

    Oh and also all the merchants should sell stuff acording to your level.

    See this is the problem. Downscaling is not perfect and level 80 character in exotics can destroy pretty much any low level DE very easily. People would just change destination and instead of farming Orr, they would farm zones 1-15. It's not bad idea, but it got some issues and it could pretty much end up in scenario, where population only shifts to different zones, other zones would still be deserted (or not so populated anyway).

  • Eir_SEir_S Member UncommonPosts: 4,440
    Originally posted by jpnz
    Originally posted by Eir_S
     

    /snip

    As for the "deserted zones" and "dead game", it's just hot air.  Sure, at times there aren't people at an event, but there are thousands of events... no one's going to be waiting for one to start.  I almost always find people to do things with even then.  If no one's around, I just whisper a guildie and we two man it if it's not something like the Champion Megalodon (which is definitely not soloable)

    Just because it doesn't happen to you doesn't mean it doesn't happen for someone else.

    What server are you on? As far as I can tell, only two servers are relatively 'okay' in the mid-level zones and the others are wasteland.

    My guardian that just hit 80? Crafting from 40-60, then personal story / WvW till 70.

    Cause the 30-40 were just awful.

    If you want proof, look at ANet and how they dedicated (and create a whole new game design) half of their '2013 plan' on getting people back into the world.

    I fail to see how it's any different than WoW.  Using such a popular game as a comparison, there is virtually no difference in the amount of people I see per night wandering around mid level zones in GW2.  I played WoW on at least 5 different servers for a number of years... it was the same thing in BC, Wrath, and Cata (I don't know what zones are like now).  Even then, I was playing against other people, not with them.  I guess if you wanted proof, you could say Blizz redesigned the 1-60 leveling so people wouldn't just endlessly queue for dungeons?

    And remember how packed new zones in WoW were when an expansion first released?  Borean Tundra, for example.  When they were no longer packed, no one said the game was dying.  No one called the zones wastelands.  Do you know why?  Because it's hyperbole, like most things on these forums.

    Some of you act like every other MMO out there has tons of people in mid level zones, when that's rarely been the case.  Even in WoW at its prime on the fullest servers (ie: Tichondrius), I didn't see that many people running around.  You act like GW2 is dying when people are just doing different things than you are.

    I'm on Northern Shiverpeaks.  The only time I see hardly anyone is at 4 AM, and even then, last night I did a few boss events.  I only had to skip one when no one responded.

  • Eir_SEir_S Member UncommonPosts: 4,440
    Originally posted by Kuppa
    Sigh.... The story of this thread, just like many others around asking for opinions is very simple. People that like the game see tons of people and people that don't like the game see no one. I suggest you check it out for yourself.

    Not necessarily.  I love the game, but I don't see "tons" of people.  I didn't see "tons" of people in WoW mid zones either.  I see enough people to have fun with.  I'm not like the guy who waited 10 minutes for a rez... if there's no one responding I party up with a friend or do my own thing... you know, kind of like every single other MMO in existence so far.

  • KuppaKuppa Member UncommonPosts: 3,292
    Originally posted by Eir_S
    Originally posted by Kuppa
    Sigh.... The story of this thread, just like many others around asking for opinions is very simple. People that like the game see tons of people and people that don't like the game see no one. I suggest you check it out for yourself.

    Not necessarily.  I love the game, but I don't see "tons" of people.  I didn't see "tons" of people in WoW mid zones either.  I see enough people to have fun with.  I'm not like the guy who waited 10 minutes for a rez... if there's no one responding I party up with a friend or do my own thing... you know, kind of like every single other MMO in existence so far.

    I can change tons to some or a none or a few. The point isn't in the details it's in the fact that the OP won't really get a good idea unless he plays it because even though many are saying what it really is others are blinded by their zealousness to either defend or condemn the game.

    image


    image

  • Dream_ChaserDream_Chaser Member Posts: 1,043

    On the vast majority of servers it's really, really bad. As in from between 30-80 you're going to have to skip most of the dynamic events, and good luck doing anything in Orr. They really need to merge the servers down to just 2 or 3 going on current game population; but sadly, they're still trying to make the game look super-populated. It's a nice scam, but it's not helpful to the existing or new players. If they were to merge the servers down to 2 or 3, then there'd actually be enough of a population to fill out the zones. Right now, there isn't.

    The population on most servers is abysmal. Most people will tell you that, hey, there are plenty of other ways to level. You can do renown thingies, gathering, and PvP. All of this is true. But if you'd had your heart set on doing things like defeating the Shatterer? You can forget about that.

  • pedrostrikpedrostrik Member UncommonPosts: 396
    they should introduce fractal of the mists in a diferent city (anyone ), not in Lions Arch, that and the lost shores fiasco its their biggest failures.
  • VolkonVolkon Member UncommonPosts: 3,748
    Originally posted by Dream_Chaser

    On the vast majority of servers it's really, really bad. As in from between 30-80 you're going to have to skip most of the dynamic events, and good luck doing anything in Orr. They really need to merge the servers down to just 2 or 3 going on current game population; but sadly, they're still trying to make the game look super-populated. It's a nice scam, but it's not helpful to the existing or new players. If they were to merge the servers down to 2 or 3, then there'd actually be enough of a population to fill out the zones. Right now, there isn't.

    The population on most servers is abysmal. Most people will tell you that, hey, there are plenty of other ways to level. You can do renown thingies, gathering, and PvP. All of this is true. But if you'd had your heart set on doing things like defeating the Shatterer? You can forget about that.

     

    Wow, you had to dig deep to pull that out of your... kitten... didn't you? Most dynamic events scale well to even a single person, but I've yet to run into an event in any zone that didn't ultimately have more people show up. My necro that I'm levelling right now is in the low 50s and still there's always someone around. Megaevents like the Shatterer you mention usually have a group of people there waiting on it. They do the initial events in the chain to lead up to it then others join as the event kicks off regularly.

     

    The issue with Orr is simple... the main reason to do things there is access to the exotics vendors. However, there are plenty of other ways to get exotics, so a lot of people don't bother putting in the effort. That needs to be enhanced... more reasons to visit Orr beyond those vendors. Sounds like they're working on that though with the enhanced rewards system they'll be implementing soon. 

    Oderint, dum metuant.

  • VolkonVolkon Member UncommonPosts: 3,748
    Originally posted by pedrostrik
    they should introduce fractal of the mists in a diferent city (anyone ), not in Lions Arch, that and the lost shores fiasco its their biggest failures.

     

    Lost Shores being a failure is a bit of a misconception... the problem is that they haven't finished with Southsun by any means. The whole idea of the initial event was to open the land for people to go to, then in the future they'll be adding content to that land primarily for the level 80 crowd. It's this downtime waiting for Southsun content that makes it feel like it wasn't successful even though the reality is that we've only seen the first act towards thier ultimate goal. 

     

    There are more tourists at the camps there now than there were initially, so like the fountain in L.A. we're seeing a slow (very) build up as permanent world changes are trickled in.

    Oderint, dum metuant.

  • Dream_ChaserDream_Chaser Member Posts: 1,043

    @Volkon

    I know you're a supporter, but you don't need to resort to personal attacks.

    All I'm doing is sharing my personal experiences with the game, thus far, as I've had them. Most zones are absolute ghost towns anywhere between 30 and 80. And Orr is always empty. Log into your server, right now, and tell me that almost all (if not all) of the Orr waypoints on your server aren't contested. I want a screenshot, too, just to make sure you're not fibbing. The thing is is that I'm not. I was a GW2 believer, but I'm also a realist and a pragmatist. I'm going to tell people things as I've experienced them, not as I want them to be.

    If you can prove me wrong, then prove me wrong. But personal attacks aren't going to help your case. All they're going to do is make you look like the overzealous sort of fan that ought to be ignored, as everything they're going to say about the game is going to be super-rosy, anyway.

  • evilastroevilastro Member Posts: 4,270
    Originally posted by Gorwe

    And, no. Most of the content is NOT soloable(for an average build). OMG WTF BBQ??? But it is Herp-Derp! No it is not. Wanna know why? Because devs are sadists-they put anywhere between 2-4 creeps per Square meter and they give WAAAY too High damage to them AND boring, oneshot abilities(Ice Troll's freeze anyone?) AND they give ridiculous respawn times to those same creatures. Ever tried doing the Molengrad event by yourself(that event where you have to collapse four Dredge mine shafts near the end of Snowden)? How do you intend to solo 3-5 Dredge+1-2 Dredge Turrets at the same time. And that is not labeled as "Group Event". And if you are on Piken or such servers, you can have such privilege as either skipping 50% content or spam rezzing yourselff.

     Umm yeah, I dont want to be one of 'those guys' but all 6 of my character classes are capable of soloing champs and group events:

    Mesmer, Guardian, Elementalist, Thief, Ranger and Engineer by the way.

    Will probably unlock Warrior and Necro later, although I know for a fact they dont have issues either.

    If you are mobile and aware of what is happening in the fight, there is very little that you cant mitigate.

  • jtcgsjtcgs Member Posts: 1,777
    I seem to be on one of the servers not having this problem, every time ive gone to help low level guildies there have always been people around the mid level zones. But, it also helps to be in a large guild that moves from game to game so nobody ever plays alone unless they WANT to.

    “I hope we shall crush...in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." ~Thomes Jefferson

  • Gaia_HunterGaia_Hunter Member UncommonPosts: 3,066
    Originally posted by Dream_Chaser

    @Volkon

    I know you're a supporter, but you don't need to resort to personal attacks.

    All I'm doing is sharing my personal experiences with the game, thus far, as I've had them. Most zones are absolute ghost towns anywhere between 30 and 80. And Orr is always empty. Log into your server, right now, and tell me that almost all (if not all) of the Orr waypoints on your server aren't contested. I want a screenshot, too, just to make sure you're not fibbing. The thing is is that I'm not. I was a GW2 believer, but I'm also a realist and a pragmatist. I'm going to tell people things as I've experienced them, not as I want them to be.

    If you can prove me wrong, then prove me wrong. But personal attacks aren't going to help your case. All they're going to do is make you look like the overzealous sort of fan that ought to be ignored, as everything they're going to say about the game is going to be super-rosy, anyway.

    image

    Malchor's Leap.

    And it is a good thing there are contested areas in any map.

    I remember that during the betas and the first weeks the enemies were all beaten back.

    At least now there is always stuff to do - which is pretty good for guild groups - "hey dudes, lets go and overrun Orr".

    Currently playing: GW2
    Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders

  • Eir_SEir_S Member UncommonPosts: 4,440
    Originally posted by Dream_Chaser

    On the vast majority of servers it's really, really bad. As in from between 30-80 you're going to have to skip most of the dynamic events, and good luck doing anything in Orr. They really need to merge the servers down to just 2 or 3 going on current game population; but sadly, they're still trying to make the game look super-populated. It's a nice scam, but it's not helpful to the existing or new players. If they were to merge the servers down to 2 or 3, then there'd actually be enough of a population to fill out the zones. Right now, there isn't.

    The population on most servers is abysmal. Most people will tell you that, hey, there are plenty of other ways to level. You can do renown thingies, gathering, and PvP. All of this is true. But if you'd had your heart set on doing things like defeating the Shatterer? You can forget about that.

    You say you'll only tell people things as you experienced them, not as you want them to be.  Then you say all the stuff in red.

    I can understand that you're bitter about the game not being what you hyped yourself up for, but your comments reak of bias and are not at all truthful.  You can't experience things you either don't know or might affect others differently...

    A.) I'm sure you haven't been to the mid zones of "the vast majority of servers".  And who is "Most people"?

    B.) The scam comment has no proof to go with it.

    C.) I've never had to skip anywhere close to "most" of the DE's on any server I've been on.  At any level.

  • Bastian_StarBastian_Star Member Posts: 36
    Originally posted by Kuppa
    Sigh.... The story of this thread, just like many others around asking for opinions is very simple. People that like the game see tons of people and people that don't like the game see no one. I suggest you check it out for yourself.

    Well put image...also, I think the way life tends to work in general lol

  • SiugSiug Member UncommonPosts: 1,257
    Originally posted by Kuppa
    Sigh.... The story of this thread, just like many others around asking for opinions is very simple. People that like the game see tons of people and people that don't like the game see no one. I suggest you check it out for yourself.

    I don't like GW2 but as it happened I played this game tonight after a while. Have no idea what the zone's name was because they all look the same but it was level 55-60+ (had a level 62 story quest there). My point is I saw exactly ONE other player there during an hour or two I played. Was an EU server, Shiverpeak or sth. Maybe there are people in Orr but the rest of the server is bloody dead.

  • Bad.dogBad.dog Member UncommonPosts: 1,131
    Originally posted by Dream_Chaser

    On the vast majority of servers it's really, really bad. As in from between 30-80 you're going to have to skip most of the dynamic events, and good luck doing anything in Orr. They really need to merge the servers down to just 2 or 3 going on current game population; but sadly, they're still trying to make the game look super-populated. It's a nice scam, but it's not helpful to the existing or new players. If they were to merge the servers down to 2 or 3, then there'd actually be enough of a population to fill out the zones. Right now, there isn't.

    The population on most servers is abysmal. Most people will tell you that, hey, there are plenty of other ways to level. You can do renown thingies, gathering, and PvP. All of this is true. But if you'd had your heart set on doing things like defeating the Shatterer? You can forget about that.

    not even close ....no-way you even play making this statement

  • KuppaKuppa Member UncommonPosts: 3,292
    Originally posted by Piiritus
    Originally posted by Kuppa
    Sigh.... The story of this thread, just like many others around asking for opinions is very simple. People that like the game see tons of people and people that don't like the game see no one. I suggest you check it out for yourself.

    I don't like GW2 but as it happened I played this game tonight after a while. Have no idea what the zone's name was because they all look the same but it was level 55-60+ (had a level 62 story quest there). My point is I saw exactly ONE other player there during an hour or two I played. Was an EU server, Shiverpeak or sth. Maybe there are people in Orr but the rest of the server is bloody dead.

    So your one night experience in one zone in one server firmly establishes that the "rest of the server is bloody dead"? or to a greater degree all mid-level zones in all servers is a bad problem like you are trying to allude to since it's the topic of the thread?

    image


    image

  • PivotelitePivotelite Member UncommonPosts: 2,145

    It's pretty bad, tried logging in the other day and messing around on my 30 character, couldn't do it, was just completely alone.

     

    Also the loading screens just really erked me after a short period.

    image

  • jtcgsjtcgs Member Posts: 1,777
    Originally posted by Kuppa
    Originally posted by Piiritus
    Originally posted by Kuppa
    Sigh.... The story of this thread, just like many others around asking for opinions is very simple. People that like the game see tons of people and people that don't like the game see no one. I suggest you check it out for yourself.

    I don't like GW2 but as it happened I played this game tonight after a while. Have no idea what the zone's name was because they all look the same but it was level 55-60+ (had a level 62 story quest there). My point is I saw exactly ONE other player there during an hour or two I played. Was an EU server, Shiverpeak or sth. Maybe there are people in Orr but the rest of the server is bloody dead.

    So your one night experience in one zone in one server firmly establishes that the "rest of the server is bloody dead"? or to a greater degree all mid-level zones in all servers is a bad problem like you are trying to allude to since it's the topic of the thread?

    Pretty much what he said, which is why he is not to be believed. No one in their right mind believes that ONE NIGHT in ONE ZONE is proof a server is dead.

    “I hope we shall crush...in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." ~Thomes Jefferson

  • PivotelitePivotelite Member UncommonPosts: 2,145
    Originally posted by Bad.dog
    Originally posted by Kuppa
    Originally posted by Piiritus
    Originally posted by Kuppa
    Sigh.... The story of this thread, just like many others around asking for opinions is very simple. People that like the game see tons of people and people that don't like the game see no one. I suggest you check it out for yourself.

    I don't like GW2 but as it happened I played this game tonight after a while. Have no idea what the zone's name was because they all look the same but it was level 55-60+ (had a level 62 story quest there). My point is I saw exactly ONE other player there during an hour or two I played. Was an EU server, Shiverpeak or sth. Maybe there are people in Orr but the rest of the server is bloody dead.

    So your one night experience in one zone in one server firmly establishes that the "rest of the server is bloody dead"? or to a greater degree all mid-level zones in all servers is a bad problem like you are trying to allude to since it's the topic of the thread?

    [mod edit]

     Deny it all you want, but most zones are absolutely dead while leveling up, it's actually concerning how rare it is to see another player.

    image

Sign In or Register to comment.