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WvW Home Server Account Lock
HoiPoloi
Member UncommonPosts: 98
It appears as though GW2 accounts will be locked into one "home server" for WvW.
That is, all characters for one account are limited to their original server for WvW. You cannot reroll on another server to WvW for them. If you want to switch servers, you must pay to move your entire account.
From the official blog:
Some of our more astute fans asked about the complications involved with switching servers and how it would interact with world bonuses. Every account has a home server where your characters are created. You can only fight for your home world in WvW. You can visit other servers, and while you are visiting, you still get the world bonus from your home world instead of the bonus for the world you are visiting. If you switch your home server, you lose the bonus from your previous home world and are not eligible for the bonus for your new server at least until the beginning of the next battle for the Mists. We may extend this disqualification into the next match or possibly even longer to discourage people from switching servers right before a battle ends in order to get an awesome bonus. You will have to pay a fee to change your home server (price undetermined), and that will also discourage people from server hopping to chase world bonuses.
This is making me reconsider buying GW2. A good community is my bottom line for playing any game, more important than winning or losing. Not being able to reroll to find a good server is a serious flaw.
Rithwis, Righteous Golem of Camelot | Skritha, Orc Archer of Tamriel | Bloodwod, Sawbones of Auraxis | Thrumdi, Blue Norn of Tyria | Gwidwod, Spider of the Ettenmoors | Gideon Slack, Hunter of Alsius
Comments
Personally I am ok with this. Usually when a game comes out I have no idea what the server will be like. However, I play with friends and family and guild etc so we all go on the same server regardless. These are the people who I will be playing and interacting with in game. There is always going to be undesirables on any server and there are options to block them etc.
This is exactly the kind of system you want in place to ensure healthy WvW competition. It would be a complete mess if everyone could just easily switch the server they are fighting for. That's the entire point of a small fee. It will keep most people from switching willy nilly, but if it's important for you to switch servers for WvW, you can pay to switch. Given that there is no monthly fee, seems silly to complain about this.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
but you are allowed to re-roll. it's just not free. in fact it lets you switch servers for free (minus WvW) to see how you like the other community compared to your home server. so you arent just throwing money into the wind you can see what its like before you commit.
I've got the straight edge.
i thought it was a gloriously elegant solution to the problem. you can play with your friends if they're on different servers, but it doesn't ruin pvp. sounds good to me.
To each his own. I just wanted to point out that you can play those characters on any server you choose, even if your account is locked to another. This means you will never have to reroll to another server if you find you like a different one better. This also means that you can try multiple servers on the same toon to find that one that has the right mix of community & gameplay that you want. Sure, you will then have to pay the fee to bind to that server (thus getting the bonus'), but there's no monthly sub, so I'd say that kinda offsets it, wouldn't you?
The only thing I want to know is if World bonus' are tied to people playing on that server only, or if you're account is bound there, but are playing on another server, will you get those bonus' anyway?
By "fee" I hope they meant an in-game currency or an in-game alternative to real cash if that is where this is leading to. I'm fine with paying with real cash, because home server transfering will be uncommon for me, but it feels strange that this is directed towards WvW PvPers.
Yeah I thought it to be a rather elegant solution. In other games (the wow) you pay a monthly fee and still have 2 pay to transfer a char to another server. Here you can play on any server free, you just have to pay to play WvWvW on another. Furthermore you have to limit server transfers somehow or else there is no sense of loyalty to your server in WvWvW.
This will be a lucrative source of revenue for Anet! Will this lead to unbalanced servers because it will just make people transfer to the server that is kicking the most ass in WvW?
There should be a one time or very long cooldown transfer that is free, correct me if i'm wrong but you have to choose WvW server before you even log into the actual game/create your first character so you got absolutely no idea of how the server is, maybe it's so packed in WvW that you frequently get queues perhaps it's virtually dead and get crushed all the time or just utterly horrible.
Or maybe you just accidently picked the wrong server and now you can't WvW with your friends/guild unless you pay a fee ever.
That does sound a bit dumb to me.
Lol sure, and if transfer is free they won`t go there?
I think only a certain type of people will go to a successfull WvWvW server, and I doubt that there are enough people like that to really hurt the population of a server.
Really depends on how long the disqualification will be for benefits. So long as Anet makes the rewards for engaging in PvP desirable enough for players need to engage rather than sit back and let those that are the most skilled head in and kick ass then even if what you stated does happen it will only dilute those most "ass-kicking" servers with scrubs that want to ride the better players' coat-tails.
A few points.
According to the devs, they haven't decided yet if there will be a grace period of allowing people to move for a short time after launch.
Second, if you are on a server who is losing badly, you will be re-matched the next round against a similarly-performing server after two weeks.
And third, even if there weren't a grace period, this would be exactly the same as almost every MMO (save Rift) that charges you for changing servers; if you have a guild, you'll be planning out what server you all want to roll on anyway.
But again, I will re-iterate, we do not know whether or not there will be a grace period for changing servers.
You won't be able to get the benefits of your new server until the current round of WvW is over, and by the next round, due to the matching system, your server will be matched against a similarly-performing server against which they may not be doing as well.
To be clear, GW2's WvW account lock is not the same as other games.
In other games (except Rift) you have to pay to transfer an already created character to a different server.
In GW2, you will have to pay to create a new character (i.e. reroll) on a different server for WvW.
It is your entire account (all past and future characters) you are paying to transfer from server to server.
Rithwis, Righteous Golem of Camelot | Skritha, Orc Archer of Tamriel | Bloodwod, Sawbones of Auraxis | Thrumdi, Blue Norn of Tyria | Gwidwod, Spider of the Ettenmoors | Gideon Slack, Hunter of Alsius
We also don't know what kind of fee.
DO NOTE that the store description states that anything in the store can be earned via time. Ridiculous ToR fanboys have been trying to use it to state that every single cool item will be purchasable (which they're not, duh). But let's look at it from the way Arenanet have gone with moving transmutation stones into the game (which were originally store only!) as well:
It is very likely WvW home world changes will be an in game fee OR a store purchase. The in game fee will likely be punishing so that you simply wont make it back with the WvW bonuses for a couple of months.
You are incorrect. Since you are transferring your entire account to your new and different home server, you already have your leveled characters for WvW. This time around you'll be able to participate in WvW compared to being disqualified when visiting other servers.
That's exactly what I said. You transfer your past (leveled) characters when you pay to move your account. At that point, you can also create new (future) characters.
What you cannot do is reroll on a new server without paying to move your account to that server first.
Rithwis, Righteous Golem of Camelot | Skritha, Orc Archer of Tamriel | Bloodwod, Sawbones of Auraxis | Thrumdi, Blue Norn of Tyria | Gwidwod, Spider of the Ettenmoors | Gideon Slack, Hunter of Alsius
And the reason this is different from other MMOs is because no other MMO HAS WvWvW. For other MMOs you'd have to re-roll OR pay for a server transfer to play with friends on another server in any capacity (excepting Rift). In GW2, this is easily done by visiting your friends on whatever server you like - no cooldowns, no fee, no fuss, as long as it's just for PvE or structured PvP.
However, WvWvW, being a different beast entirely, is tied to your account (again, different from any other MMO which is why the procedure and solution is different). So, in another MMO you'd pay a fee OR re-reroll (and I can't imagine why you'd want to re-roll if you could avoid it) - in GW2 you only have to pay a fee, you NEVER have to re-roll.
Edit: And even further, we don't even know what that fee will be yet, whether or not there will be a grace period, or in what currency the fee will be (real money or in-game cash or ...?)
Then I don't understand the problem. You already have access to other server's PvE by visiting them for free without having to start all over. You should be rejoicing. Unless you want to grief and start spying on other servers for WvW then you are obviously in the wrong here. Anet is handling the issue of spying appropriately.
I'm really glad they wont allow switching for pvp. Free switch will destroy the WvW in few months. I'm even more happy they left PvE switching free. GJ guys.
I like ANet's solution. It looks like they've put a lot of thought into their pvp. Let's see how it works in reality, but the more I read about GW2, the more impressed I am.
But I am cynical and jaded from past hype-train explosions, so I won't get my hopes up too high. I will buy this game for sure, though.
You guys are dreaming if you think the cost to switch servers could be done with ingame currency. What game do you know of let's you switch your server with gold earned ingame? Just one example will do.
This isn't something that bothers me for exactly the reason they said. The game's PvP is mainly centered on server pride, you need to fight for your server, for better or worse. You don't get to jump ship just because the other guy did better one week, you work together to figure out how to do better the next time around. The only reason I'd even consider switching servers would be that I found mine filled with douche bags. Then we'll talk. But if they just suck at PvP, so what. That can be fixed with time and practice.
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
How can someone be in the wrong with wanting to play with friends on a different server? This is a basic reason for playing an MMO.
If spying is a problem, then a cooldown or quarantine is a better solution than making rerolls available only through $$.
As for GW2's PvE, it will be fun. But Dynamic Events aside, WvW is the real innovation. It is why I and many others are buying the game.
Rithwis, Righteous Golem of Camelot | Skritha, Orc Archer of Tamriel | Bloodwod, Sawbones of Auraxis | Thrumdi, Blue Norn of Tyria | Gwidwod, Spider of the Ettenmoors | Gideon Slack, Hunter of Alsius
Instead of server hoppping to find a community that you prefer so you can leech of it, how about starting or encouraging your own? Too much hard work for your cancerous ways?
Or if the server is empty