How big is the community?

[Christonya]

Some thing I have always wondered... If you go looking around you can find that wow is sitting on a cushy 10m subs.... But how about GW2? How big is the population ? Is there any place / has Anet ever revealed just how many players log in each day to play the game?

[PACOX]

Its known as the fastest selling western MMO. Never seen a total though.

[Edge-]

No total population numbers.

Subjective/anecdotal evidence: I haven't had problems finding groups for things and regularly come across folks in the world in various zones and there are always plenty of sPvP matches running.

[Gourmandise]

How would you measure the population compared to a subscription mmo anyways? What's the cutoff time for activity in your mind? I bought gw2 but have not played it in a long time(looking to now tho :P )

[rhandric]

I'm just curious. Aside from a nebulous answer of "big enough", how does the size of the community have any impact on a players enjoyment?

[Christonya]

How would you measure the population compared to a subscription mmo anyways? What's the cutoff time for activity in your mind? I bought gw2 but have not played it in a long time(looking to now tho :P )

I would say any one that plays for more then an hour or two every other night is an active player. Some one logging in each day for an hour or two is pretty active.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm just curious. Aside from a nebulous answer of "big enough", how does the size of the community have any impact on a players enjoyment?

In mmos, the more people, the more activities and the easier it is to find groups. Spvp Qs seem to take a while, is my main reason for asking. That and sheer curiosity.

[PACOX]

Number of concurrent players is only one contributing factor of queue times.

[nevermore]

Personal experience:

Finding explorable groups through the LFG takes about a minute on average.
I constantly run into people in the world - everywhere.
There are organised champ trains and chest trains all the time.
Silverwastes still has a high activity.
WvWvW usually has a zerg going.

Conclusion: the community seems big enough to provide a good MMO experience.

[Karizee]

There are no official numbers published but it's pretty safe to say it's in the millions.


Here's some factoids for the west (NA + EU only):

137 million Trick or Treat bags were given to players in a little over a week during Halloween this year.

19 million Tiny Snowflakes were listed on the Trading Post during Wintersday. This does not count the possibly tens of billions of Tiny Snowflakes that are in circulation.

1.7 million players died in WvW alone during the week ending January 10th (the Sneak Attack event allowed us to see how many points for player deaths).


As for anecdotal evidence, unranked PvP matches take less than 2 minutes to form day or night, dungeon groups form instantly, need to fill a map for a breach or vinewrath event? Put up a listing on the LFG and instantly BOOM map full. I can place a buy order for stacks and stacks of just about anything on the trading post and it will be filled within minutes if not instantly. And I've pretty much stopped doing World Boss events, there's so many players it blocks out the sun.

[Christonya]

There are no official numbers published but it's pretty safe to say it's in the millions.


Here's some factoids for the west (NA + EU only):

137 million Trick or Treat bags were given to players in a little over a week during Halloween this year.

19 million Tiny Snowflakes were listed on the Trading Post during Wintersday. This does not count the possibly tens of billions of Tiny Snowflakes that are in circulation.

1.7 million players died in WvW alone during the week ending January 10th (the Sneak Attack event allowed us to see how many points for player deaths).


As for anecdotal evidence, unranked PvP matches take less than 2 minutes to form day or night, dungeon groups form instantly, need to fill a map for a breach or vinewrath event? Put up a listing on the LFG and instantly BOOM map full. I can place a buy order for stacks and stacks of just about anything on the trading post and it will be filled within minutes if not instantly. And I've pretty much stopped doing World Boss events, there's so many players it blocks out the sun.

I suppose this is about the best answer I could get, it seems there is no actual evidence to answer my question out right, which is unfortunate due to curiosity. But never the less, I do agree, more then enough people play, I never have issues doing... Well, any thing really.

[zed zebes]

I'm just curious. Aside from a nebulous answer of "big enough", how does the size of the community have any impact on a players enjoyment?

This has to do with having people around to actually play with. MMOs feel more alive and are generally more enjoyed with others around. When players are not around, there is sometimes less that you can do and the dropoff continues due to this.

This issue has been alleviated through a move away from servers by companies.

However, it's important to break down numbers to realize what you're dealing with. If WoW has 10m subs, and 6m are in China, then that's not 10m that you or I are playing with. Further, the 4m leftover are split between US and EU. Let's guess that the average American WoW player has 2,5m to play with.

If another game has 3.5m players, based solely on western markets, split between EU and NA, then the average American player has about the same amount of players to play with in that game as they do WoW.

This is further impacted by how server restrctions apply. A game with heavier server barriers will feel more barren than something with CRZ in WoW or GW2's megaserver system. Unless you have a game with only one server and that server is constantly maxed on players. Then it the game feels very alive, even if its overall population is much lower.

[Deleted]

From PVP perspective Que is under 2 minutes for Ranked match there is plenty things to do. PVE wise you have Megaserver so play all PVE except WvW with all servers so yup plenty people for everything. So ye you will never feel alone from last data I saw it has 2x more subscribers then Diablo 3/ more then Swtor etc.

[kelly008]

Its really big no count to tell you that how big is this. But I can still believe that it is really very big. There are so many members or users all over the world.

[Meledelion]

Depends on what you consider big, 4.5 mil copies sold over 3years isn't that big imo.

[NewportsDentarg]

I just started playing about 2 weeks ago and the games seems really populated. Every zone I have leveled it thus far is full of players. Granted I am only 36. I can only assume there are more in the up levels as the game should be somewhat top heavy by now.

I am able to get into the low level dungeon(s) no problem. I have not tried out PvP yet. Still getting a grasp on the mechanics a bit.

All in all I think the game is a blast. I was so tired of WoW and this fills it great.

[Valeron]

Depends on what you consider big, 4.5 mil copies sold over 3years isn't that big imo.

depends on what you are comparing it to

[Beazy]

/scratcheshead

I recently re installed GW2, (Sun night around 7pmish). decided I would start a new guy since its been so long and like 50 patches have been released since I played last. (The new trailer for the xpac looked so cool I had to reinstall).

I did not see a single human playing the game until level 28 when I joined WvW maps. What am I doing wrong? And how are we supposed to level in WvW maps? It seems like I played WvW last night for 2 hours solid and my exp bar didn't even move an inch.

Someone HALP MEH!

[Karizee]

GW2 needs an NPE on how to leave the tutorial instance

[Fencers]

/scratcheshead

I recently re installed GW2, (Sun night around 7pmish). decided I would start a new guy since its been so long and like 50 patches have been released since I played last. (The new trailer for the xpac looked so cool I had to reinstall).

I did not see a single human playing the game until level 28 when I joined WvW maps. What am I doing wrong? And how are we supposed to level in WvW maps? It seems like I played WvW last night for 2 hours solid and my exp bar didn't even move an inch.

Someone HALP MEH!

I have never visited any starter area at any time of day when it was not JAM PACKED. I often avoid the starter areas because of the congestion.

Going through levels 1 - 28 is a fair chunk of time. In all that time, given the auto grouping server tech, not running into another human is a tall order. Especially as that level advancement would take one over two zones at the least and one's major racial city- the latter also being jam freaking packed.

I am willing to believe that one could log on at a time of day in which player pop is low relative to prime hours. However, knowing the way the zones and servers function, the guesting ability and the the incredible liveliness of GW2 I find the claim of a level 1 to 28 experience sans another human to be incredulous.

[Christonya]

I have never visited any starter area at any time of day when it was not JAM PACKED. I often avoid the starter areas because of the congestion.

Going through levels 1 - 28 is a fair chunk of time. In all that time, given the auto grouping server tech, not running into another human is a tall order. Especially as that level advancement would take one over two zones at the least and one's major racial city- the latter also being jam freaking packed.

I am willing to believe that one could log on at a time of day in which player pop is low relative to prime hours. However, knowing the way the zones and servers function, the guesting ability and the the incredible liveliness of GW2 I find the claim of a level 1 to 28 experience sans another human to be incredulous.

Probably was during SB. So everyone was at him, and this guy was not. Its unlikely, but completely possible to level without seeing another player, normally I see people every where though.. Much better then my initial experience with the game, where everyone was running a train in queensdale but after I left the zone... I never saw another player again.