what does "guest" mean when choosing server?

[notoriousace.1385]

how restricted is it? can you open up more character slots on your "homeworld"?

[BunjiKugashira.9754]

Once upon a time PvE players were separated by their chosen server. If you wanted to play with someone who was on a different server (but still in the same region, NA or EU), you had to "guest" to that server. With the introduction of the megaserver system this feature lost its only purpose. It's still there because apparently no one bothered to remove it.

 

Nowadays your server identity only determines your WvW team. And guesting has no influence on that.

[Haleydawn.3764]

Guesting is a relic from the time before Megaservers were implemented. It no longer serves a purpose.

[Astralporing.1957]

It's also used as one of considerations when selecting a map instance, but it's neither the only nor the main one (and, obviously, has no meaning if there's only one instance available).

[mercury ranique.2170]

As explained by others, guesting was a thing when there where seperate worlds for open world PvE. Nowadays the game uses mega servers with so called shards. So a world and the one you choose is of no real consequences. Guesting means you guest to another homeworld, but as your homeworld is of no real consequence, guesting is even less.

 

Homeworlds do two things nowadays.

1: WvW. The homeworld decides what world you fight for. Guesting doesn't change this.

2: What shard to go on.When there are multiple versions of the map, the game attempts to put you in the same map alongside your friends, guildmates, and members of the same world; in the EU region, priority is also given to those using the same supported language, i.e. English, French, German, or Spanish. So the world makes a lil bit of sense to what map you are placed on, guesting changes this. But as it doesnt garantuee to come on a more desired copy, it has almost no function.

 

 

 

[Danikat.8537]

As other people have said it doesn't really mean anything any more. Your server choice only matters in World vs. World, for everything else all servers in a region share maps and everyone can play together, so there's no need to guest to another server to meet up with a friend.

 

Oh, and all your characters are always on the same server. If you choose to move then you move all your characters (and everything else on the account) together. If you want more than 5 characters you need to buy additional character slots from the gem store.

 

> @"Astralporing.1957" said:

> It's also used as one of considerations when selecting a map instance, but it's neither the only nor the main one (and, obviously, has no meaning if there's only one instance available).

 

This can, very _very_ occasionally, come in useful.

 

For example when I was trying to do the Dreamer collection I needed to do the event where you cleanse the Temple of Dwayna in Malchor's Leap (and yes, it had to be that event, I did the defense events several times and they didn't work). I tried using LFG to find a map where the temple was corrupted, I tried switching guilds to see if that would put me into a different map instance. It may be a coincidence of course but the only thing which worked - and it worked first time - was guesting to a lower population server. That dropped me into a different version of the map where the Temple was still corrupted, and luckily it wasn't long before the event to cleanse it started.

[Linken.6345]

> @"Danikat.8537" said:

> As other people have said it doesn't really mean anything any more. Your server choice only matters in World vs. World, for everything else all servers in a region share maps and everyone can play together, so there's no need to guest to another server to meet up with a friend.

>

> Oh, and all your characters are always on the same server. If you choose to move then you move all your characters (and everything else on the account) together. If you want more than 5 characters you need to buy additional character slots from the gem store.

>

> > @"Astralporing.1957" said:

> > It's also used as one of considerations when selecting a map instance, but it's neither the only nor the main one (and, obviously, has no meaning if there's only one instance available).

>

> This can, very _very_ occasionally, come in useful.

>

> For example when I was trying to do the Dreamer collection I needed to do the event where you cleanse the Temple of Dwayna in Malchor's Leap (and yes, it had to be that event, I did the defense events several times and they didn't work). I tried using LFG to find a map where the temple was corrupted, I tried switching guilds to see if that would put me into a different map instance. It may be a coincidence of course but the only thing which worked - and it worked first time - was guesting to a lower population server. That dropped me into a different version of the map where the Temple was still corrupted, and luckily it wasn't long before the event to cleanse it started.

 

I usualy trie to guest to german or french servers in the eu cluster if the event or hero point Im trying to do is stalled.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

I probably use the _Guesting_ feature 2-3x/month, to find a different instance of the map, typically to work-around a bug

>! (e.g. Weyandt's revenge JP chest in Lion's Arch won't open right after reset if you already opened it shortly before reset, unless you get in a new instance).

Typically, I sort by 'population' and choose one of the top 3 "full" worlds.

 

* In 2017, I estimated that I was 90% successful getting a new NA instance: I often made the attempt, even for minor issues and usually succeeded in "popular" or recent maps (e.g. LA or the most recent Living World map). Typically, I'd choose BG and only rarely did I need to make a second attempt.

* In 2018, my success rate dropped, in part because I was working on legendary collections that involved lower-popularity maps. Successes also required two guesting attempts more often.

* In 2019, _Guesting_ has been less useful. Maybe the first two weeks after each Living World map goes live, LA usually, and hardly ever with any other map.

 

Given how I use the feature, I'd say it's absolutely useful (although far less useful than it used to be).

[Bigpapasmurf.5623]

Ahhhh I remember those days...great for WvW and World Bosses