UPDATE 3: FINAL SHOOTOUT!!!!!! <-----CLICK THIS LINK!

In an effort to keep the Giant Bomb Community together, i think we should vote on a GiantBomb US Home server.

EU Poll: http://www.giantbomb.com/guild-wars-2/61-21223/giantbomb-eu-beta-serverworld-selection-poll/35-544518/#1

This is mainly for WvW, where having larger group of people helps.

We can still PVE with the EU Server/World.

More Info: http://www.arena.net/blog/choosing-and-transferring-worlds-in-guild-wars-2

Update:

So now accounting for the general populace on release, all the servers we expected will be packed. Yak's will be high but i don't think it will be jam-packed.

• REddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/srv6w/rguildwars2_world_survey_results/ DarkHaven
• Penny-Arcade: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/158641/gw2game-pps-are-now-up-april-bwe-27th-29th-pa-bwe-server-is-fort-aspenwood-with-se/p1 Fort Aspenwood
• SA: Threads Already buried somewhere.
• YogCast: I can't find any kind of organized effort towards Yak's Bend. There's multiple threads with no clear choice.
• GameTrailers: Is a bunch of people saying random servers they find cool. http://forums.gametrailers.com/thread/official-guild-wars-2-thread-v/1285110?page=9
• Guru: The same boat as YogCast/Game Trailers, there is no real consensus. People are starting to gravitate towards all the dark bad ass names like Underworld. http://www.guildwars2guru.com/forum/gw2guru-community-should-organize-in-t36831p7.html

So i think we should be good ^.^. Seems like Yak's Bend fever has been overblown, thanks to the Internets overreaction we should be fine.

Relax People.

Update 2:

We can make multiple polls between BWE's and even for actual release if people are unsatisfied with Server choices!!

So again relax people!

Thanks for making this.

*casts my vote for yak's bend*

If it isn't too much, could you make one for EU? (if you're not already :P )

@selfconfessedcynic: Done

Ah man, I just made one too. Guess I should delete it.

@Aronman789: Lol, sorry but i beat ya to the punch : D.

@Aronman789: That would be great Aron - sorry for the wasted effort dude.

@Beaudacious said:

@Aronman789: Lol, sorry but i beat ya to the punch : D.

That's twice I've been ninja'd today. Argh!

Yak's Bend because I'm a sheep.

Oh, man. There's so many choices, and this lore/nostalgia combination is pulling me in every direction.

@Dark_Lord_Spam: What happened to the Luxxon love? I even put Jade quarry higher up, since people seemed interested in that server.

I picked Steamspur Mountains. In honor of Garcia Hotspur.

Keep in mind that Yak's Bend is probably going to be the Reddit + GW2Guru server, from what I'm reading. SA was going to go there as well, but backed out after they found out both those two were going there.

@isnipeyoudie: Just vote for what you like, disregarding internet politics. I voted Yak's Bend cause i have fond memories of the first time i walked into town.

I totally didn't play on Yak's Bend in the last press beta, since it was the single best town in all of GW. It gets my vote just for that.

@Beaudacious: Well, it wasn't so much politics as server population caps. If both of them are going there, it's pretty likely that the server will be very populated.

Was anyone else a bit stunned to see so many servers to choose from in each region? 48 total? Wow.

@isnipeyoudie said:

Keep in mind that Yak's Bend is probably going to be the Reddit + GW2Guru server, from what I'm reading. SA was going to go there as well, but backed out after they found out both those two were going there.

That could either be good or bad. I wish they would tell us the population max on a server.. or have they?

Yak's Bend: Yogcast, Reddit, GW2Guru

Henge of Denravi: NeoGAF

Sorrow's Furnance: /v/

Sea of Sorrows: Something Aweful

I would probably avoid Yak's Bend. Sounds like it will be extremely crowded.

@isnipeyoudie: @gike987:

There are a couple of reasons I think your fears aren't entirely justified;

• First and foremost, remember that the beta is only for the people who pre-purchased the game - so even for sites with a large audience, that won't be TOO many people.
• For those larger sites (and here as well), a lot of the audience is international - so beyond the first day (where it could end up as a free for all), things will even out
• In the case of the wider Internet audience, people will more likely choose the names that sound cool (like sorrow's furnace) than those that are nostalgic to GW1 players (like henge and yak's)
• Being on a populated server has many advantages, the least of which is having people to play with at all times. Also you'd be having an experience in Beta which would be closer to how it'll likely be at release (where many more people overall would be playing than the few in this beta)

I'm pretty happy with sticking to Yak's Bend for now.

@selfconfessedcynic said:

@isnipeyoudie: @gike987:

There are a couple of reasons I think your fears aren't entirely justified;

• First and foremost, remember that the beta is only for the people who pre-purchased the game - so even for sites with a large audience, that won't be TOO many people.
• For those larger sites (and here as well), a lot of the audience is international - so beyond the first day (where it could end up as a free for all), things will even out
• In the case of the wider Internet audience, people will more likely choose the names that sound cool (like sorrow's furnace) than those that are nostalgic to GW1 players (like henge and yak's)
• Being on a populated server has many advantages, the least of which is having people to play with at all times, and having an experience in Beta which would be closer to how it'll likely be at release (where many more people overall would be playing than the few in this beta)

Yeah, but ArenaNet said you can switch region so most international people (like me) who are part of those communities will probably play on the US servers during the beta.

@gike987: Well, it's not that specifically - for example, I'm in Australia, but will be playing on the US servers for both the betas and the real game.

I meant that the international players across these communities would probably revert to their normal login-times after the first day (where people will be on at launch just so they can be part of the big deal). So things will probably even out in terms of server load after that point, so being over-crowded won't be too large an issue in my opinion.

@selfconfessedcynic: I wouldn't count out a bunch of people not picking GW1 names- plenty of people played GW1 and will have nostalgia for it! I guess we'll see what the populations are during the BWEs, and if we're allowed to change servers every BWE it won't be a problem in case something comes up.

There's only been 23 votes cast so far, if people want to play on a another server all you have to do is vote!

Argh! I bite the bullet and vote for JQ, and of course it's only tied for third. I get the Yak's nostalgia somewhat, but I don't understand it overpowering the memories of the outpost where this in-fucking-credible song plays. I just sat in Borlis Pass for hours sometimes, listening to that track and watching people advertising their Droknar's runs.

Unless it also plays at Yak's... In which case, never mind.

@Dark_Lord_Spam: I'm actually not a huge fan of that track. It's ok, I guess?

I was always a huge fan of the nightfall Factions (thanks dark) tracks - like Shing Jea Monastery and, even better, Age of the Dragon.

@isnipeyoudie: Yeah, we can just switch up for next beta if all goes to hell.

ED: and even during this one, as well

You know what, I'm kind of baffled now that I think about it. Does Anet anticipate needing that many servers for the BWE? Or is it just because "hey guys, all of the servers are ready so we'll let you use them all" type of thing? Seems to me like the participants could be spread thin on some servers.

And I totally overlooked Ferguson's Crossing. Had I seen that, name bias would have kicked in.

@selfconfessedcynic said:

@Dark_Lord_Spam: I'm actually not a huge fan of that track. It's ok, I guess?

I was always a huge fan of the nightfall tracks - like Shing Jea Monastery and, even better, Age of the Dragon.

Factions* (:P). And yeah, that's my favorite overall, but Prophecies still has the biggest and best standouts vs. Factions' melodies, Nightfall's rhythm and EotN's grandeur.

I picked Eternal Grove just because it sounds cool....BUT now that I see that all the internets are choosing to go with Yaks, I AM NOW SUPER HYPED FOR THE GUILD TO BE THERE. This weekend can't come soon enough. Time to rep dat bomb.

@Dark_Lord_Spam said:

@selfconfessedcynic said:

@Dark_Lord_Spam: I'm actually not a huge fan of that track. It's ok, I guess?

I was always a huge fan of the nightfall tracks - like Shing Jea Monastery and, even better, Age of the Dragon.

Factions* (:P). And yeah, that's my favorite overall, but Prophecies still has the biggest and best standouts vs. Factions' melodies, Nightfall's rhythm and EotN's grandeur.

EotN has always been my favorite GW soundtrack for its large scale as well as its diversity. Factions, though, has one of my favorite themes for any game ever, and the remix of it that was part of the OST as a bonus track is pretty awesome as well.

I had no idea so many others loved Yak's Bend so much. Like I said in the Guild topic when we were discussing it, it's definitely my first pick.. But if it's going to be so crowded, it really could be a problem. Having 3 major guilds will cause an overflow problem and make WvW difficult to participate in.

I guess we'll see how it goes for the beta, but my backup vote is for Borliss Pass.

@WinterSnowblind: Borlis pass was an SOB of a mission when I first did it.

That said, if there was a "Thunderhead Keep" here, I would pick that in an instant. Before the rebalances about 8 months after GW1's release, that was a fucking IMPOSSIBLE mission and incredibly fun challenge on my first character (took me like 4 attempts, each 1-1.5 hours long).

@selfconfessedcynic: Thunderhead Keep was an incredible mission, it was really tough unless you knew what you were doing. If you were in an uncoordinated group, with everyone just running around, you had no chance. Then again, I think most of my experiences in GW1 were of failing missions because of other players (or henchmen drawing too much agro). Good thing that shouldn't be a problem here.

But I think Borlis Pass has almost as much significance as Yak's, since it was just before you entered Kryta and it was the home of the infamous Draknar's run.

@WinterSnowblind: That's pretty much my recollection of the mission. I tried it with henchmen first, as I always did, just to get a scope of the missions. Then I tried many times with PUGs and we failed every time. Took me ages.

@Maystack: @WinterSnowblind:

Oh man. Henchmen. Don't remind me - even if you had 2 PCs and henchmen for thunderhead, you had barely a chance (though I think there was a couple of monk and ranger builds even close to release that could make the mission a breeze). My group of friends even have a fucking song dedicated to the... aptitude of Mhenlo in that mission.

It seems that we have a clear frontrunner for this weekend's beta.

If the fears of some do come to pass, though, I wouldn't mind seeing what emerges as second place so we have an alternative.

I wouldn't recommend Yak's Bend; Yogcast, GW2 Guru, GameTrailers, and Reddit are all going to be on this server. It will be packed.

@jacksmedulla said:

I wouldn't recommend Yak's Bend; Yogcast, GW2 Guru, GameTrailers, and Reddit are all going to be on this server. It will be packed.

Wait, now Yogscast AND GameTrailers are going there too? Damn. I guess we'll see how it goes this weekend...

There's a GameTrailers guild? That's a truly terrifying thought.

Ok Game-trailers is pushing it now......... I have a feeling there might be a need for a re-vote next beta, or choose second place....BUT I've also gone over all those forums, and there really doesn't seem to be any real consensus, other then on REddit.Secondly all this talk of Reddit, Yogcast, Guru rushing to the server is untrue since none of those discussions even reach 600 players. Its all 50 here 50 there, its not any sort of large numbers.Reddit has now also chosen Darkhaven, and it seems to be the case where each community has scared each other off. They've all gravitated to the "badass" names of Underworld, Ring of Fire etc...

So now accounting for the general populace on release, all the servers we expected will be packed. Yak's will be high but i don't think it will be jam-packed.

• REddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/srv6w/rguildwars2_world_survey_results/ DarkHaven
• Penny-Arcade: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/158641/gw2game-pps-are-now-up-april-bwe-27th-29th-pa-bwe-server-is-fort-aspenwood-with-se/p1 Fort Aspenwood
• SA: Threads Already buried somewhere.
• YogCast: I can't find any kind of organized effort towards Yak's Bend. There's multiple threads with no clear choice.
• GameTrailers: Is a bunch of people saying random servers they find cool. http://forums.gametrailers.com/thread/official-guild-wars-2-thread-v/1285110?page=9
• Guru: The same boat as YogCast/Game Trailers, there is no real consensus. People are starting to gravitate towards all the dark bad ass names like Underworld. http://www.guildwars2guru.com/forum/gw2guru-community-should-organize-in-t36831p7.html

So i think we should be good ^.^. Seems like Yak's Bend fever has been overblown, thanks to the Internets overreaction we should be fine.

Does server choice impact the game in any way? Like starting area or storyline? If not, I don't care. :P Looks like Yak's Bend should be the server to join if you want to be on the winning side in WvW.

The Euros definitely get cooler sounding servers (FoW is badass).

Anyway. I picked Crystal Desert because that was a cool area in GW1.

@UssjTrunks: It only impacts WvW teams.

So according to some posts on Something Aweful Yak's Bend will be the Brazilian server of choice.

And here is a list of all the servers communities.

Looking at that community list makes me think that the WvW queue for Yak's Bend may be absurd.

@Dark_Lord_Spam: That community list is just some random list made on old info, with a bunch of random guilds. People are reposting it, yet no one is bothering to read the actual forums. Internet journalism ftw.

Even though I want to play on Yak's (it was what I voted for) and a lot of others want to, it seems like it easily going to be the highest populated server. It is easy to understand why, seeing as it was the greatest single town in all of GW1. Anyway, I think it would be wise to maybe pick a different server this weekend so we don't have to deal with issues that might show up due to high amounts of traffic on that server.

I am not attached to any server name and would much rather have a good time.

Sea of Sorrow, because that's what the majority of the people are going to be in when playing this game. So it's a very apt server name.

Good luck getting into WvW on Yak's Bend! Almost every guild I'll be joining has picked a different world for this weekend, which is a bit of a bugger. I reckon I'll be staying on an EU server for this beta.

Okay, so votes are firmly pointing towards Yak's Bend at this moment with Sea of Sorrows a very distant second.

Due to all of the latent fear surrounding the potential crowdedness of Yak's Bend, what do y'all think of having a final shootout between these two? (and perhaps the others sitting at around 8%)

I especially wouldn't mind hearing your opinion, @Beaudacious, as I'm currently in agreement with you that the fears are a bit fanciful.

Obviously, @Dark_Lord_Spam and @RobbieMac are definitely others from whom I want to hear on this point.

I think it'd be prudent to make a new post with just the 2-4 options and state the facts of what we know and ask people for one final vote. Perhaps "Beta Server Final Shootout! [Poll]" or something along those lines?

@selfconfessedcynic: As someone from the EU who may be using a US server, I agree.