I took a month off from GW2 to play a bit of XCOM and just came back in the last couple of days. I feel I left a great party to grab a burger and came back to an empty house.

I have spent probably 4-5 hours and have literally came across 2 people yesterday and 2 people this morning.  Starting zones and 70+ zones.  I know Lion's Reach will have some folks but I was a little surprised by the lack of randoms running around.

Maybe I am unlucky on the times I'm playing but has anyone else come across this?

MIght be server specific.  Just was reading a thread where some posters said they found their game worlds pretty devoid of other players, while still others said the population was just fine, even at the lower levels.

My son is about to start playing GW2 and I'd be interested in knowing what US timezone servers are most populated right now.

Originally posted by chryses

I took a month off from GW2 to play a bit of XCOM and just came back in the last couple of days. I feel I left a great party to grab a burger and came back to an empty house.

I have spent probably 4-5 hours and have literally came across 2 people yesterday and 2 people this morning.  Starting zones and 70+ zones.  I know Lion's Reach will have some folks but I was a little surprised by the lack of randoms running around.

Maybe I am unlucky on the times I'm playing but has anyone else come across this?

 

server hoppers who want to be on the wining server + people who dont  exp[lode and retread old ground

It mostly depends on the time when I play, but yes, there is a lot less people wandering around the world now...

Tho, fractal of the mists is now in LA so people mostly hang there... But Wintersday is coming soon so we'll be seeing alot more people again. :)

Quit playing for a while, Far Cry 3 in my case and noticed it before I left.

GW2 pulled a stupid move with Ascended gear, which was for a while concentrating everyone into grinding that gear set and that left normal quest areas empty.

It is an ancient problem with level/gear based MMO's. Add a new level cap and that is where everyone is, grinding away, presenting a barren world to everyone else.

It is the reason Ascended gear was so protested against. Doing this kinda stuff never helped make a game more lively, accesible or even just plain fun.

Lotro was the same, pre-moria people were playing through all areas, post-moria 99% was locked up in moria grinding hope gear.

Soccer clubs spend a LOT of time on their junior teams because they know that you need new blood to survive. MMO's put any new player in lonely world with an ever bigger level gap to cross and wonder why they die out.

Usually, I'm accompanied by 1-3 people in every DE. Some areas are more desolate than others, though. For example, usually there's no one in Lornar's Pass on my server, because it's pretty bad gameplay wise.

It's mostly about population spreading out. I don't think there's a big difference between now and a month after launch. Of course, during launch, there were zergs everywhere, but that's because people were all packed in the same low-level areas and playing for 6+ hours a day.

FotM didn't affect lvl 1-70 areas much, IMO. Dungeons and Orr are the places that took a hit because of it and the loot patch that made playing in lvl 65+ areas more desirable as a lvl 80.

What is happening with GW2 is that since they added fractals, many players have been just running the dungeons to get the gear that drops there. So you won't see them in the open world.

Im playing on Desolation and open world has failed for 2 months now nobody is doing events or just exploring only few gathering mats and occasinal passing player helps with event but thats rare.

Myself i refuse FotM or any dungeon run GW2 suppose to be mainly WvWvW AND open world PVE but it failed misrable now they all is doing instance farming 24/7 and traidmill for ascended gear/items instance only.

Im very dissapointed with GW2 thats why i don't spent a dime in gemshop and will not buy any expansion.

I'll keep playing becouse bought CE but this is not what i thought GW2 would be also goldbuyers and cheaters ruined alot:(

But im started with Dishonered(PC)great game) and soon Farcry 3(PC) so soon im done with mmo's im again to a all time low with mmo's.

Wow, you've been playing xcom for a month? I was done with that ater 2 days.

Yeh, population is lower now. What else could have happened though? The launch was so successful that it could only go down instead of up. Find the right server for the times that you play.

Xfire also shows new lows for gw2 - the game dipped below 9000 hours for the first time ever.

i know meaningless Xfire numbers - but the trend is clear.

peace.

Originally posted by Scalpless

It's mostly about population spreading out. I don't think there's a big difference between now and a month after launch.

I would have to strongly disagree with you there, looking at the forums, much less posts than month after release, deserted zones, this is pretty normal for most Mmos, you have the initial high numbers of players and then more and more players leave. 

To me it's pretty obvious that the shiny has worn off for many and players have simply moved on and are playing less.

I bought the game  in the hope of great WvW. Tiny maps,ques and zergs that negate any achievement in minutes have taken away  any motivation  . I wish it weren't so. I love competing in faction vs faction games.

Elder Scrolls online is the only shining light on the horizon for me.

To be expected, it is a party only game and players are having trouble getting in to a party!

If they would just get rid of the pathetic idea of lowering the lvl of the player! The player has fought hard to gain levels and deserves the right to be able to go to lower levels and kick ass, rather than have a lvl 80 char killed by ow level shit!

Originally posted by DMKano

Originally posted by Scalpless

It's mostly about population spreading out. I don't think there's a big difference between now and a month after launch.

I would have to strongly disagree with you there, looking at the forums, much less posts than month after release, deserted zones, this is pretty normal for most Mmos, you have the initial high numbers of players and then more and more players leave. 

To me it's pretty obvious that the shiny has worn off for many and players have simply moved on and are playing less.

But talking about GW2 the drop is huge and fast, and people dont even come back to play the new updates. My server also say full 24/7 but when u logon is pretty much empty and is a big deal when u try to level up new toons and there is just not enough people to do DE.

Originally posted by Shadanwolf

I bought the game  in the hope of great WvW. Tiny maps,ques and zergs that negate any achievement in minutes have taken away  any motivation  . I wish it weren't so. I love competing in faction vs faction games.

Elder Scrolls online is the only shining light on the horizon for me.

 

Originally posted by Rimmersman

Originally posted by Shadanwolf

I bought the game  in the hope of great WvW. Tiny maps,ques and zergs that negate any achievement in minutes have taken away  any motivation  . I wish it weren't so. I love competing in faction vs faction games.

Elder Scrolls online is the only shining light on the horizon for me.

 

 

No it isn't, Age Of Wushu is epic FFA faction PvP with some features never seen in any MMO lol.

Agreed about Wushu. That game was a real wake up for me. It really made me wonder wtf are western devs doing. from a tech and content standpoint.

i dont know about US servers but in EU underworld server its still people on world maps, but usually starter zones from silvari or charrs have much less people, and north maps either. people are concentrated between LA and Orr.

Anyway its better to play with 5-10 players around than 30+ as on the begining.