According to the gossip, the new Guild Wars 2 maps are empty of players due to a measure ArenaNet put in place to ensure the End of Dragons launch went smoothly. The belief is that the developers significantly reduced the player cap per map.
If true, this is a clever solution to the problem of a massive surge in players when the expansion launched. Presumably they will start lifting the player cap, which means you should enjoy the empty maps while you’ve got them. And don’t worry about trying to do group events. Save those for later.
In the meantime, it still seems remarkable to see another player. Last night I only saw one other player the entire time I was online.
At the time, I was busy getting my ass thoroughly kicked by a group of Aetherblades and a few angry hermit crabs.
“Oh good,” I thought, as I saw the player running down the beach toward me.
“Okay bye,” I thought, as they noped right past me and kept running.
Then I died.
It happens.
Next I decided to try fishing, which is one of my top anticipated features of the expansion pack.
I picked a nearby fishing hole and cast my bobber, but I couldn’t figure out how to set the hook. The skills bar never changed.
After quite a lot of aggravation, including complaining to guild members on Discord, checking the wiki, and looking up tutorials online, I gave up. Maybe my fishing rod was bugged.
Out of sheer frustration, I turned 90 degrees to the right and threw my bobber out at random. And it worked!
Turns out I was trying to fish in the one place I couldn’t, because I haven’t unlocked the fishing hole mastery. Who knew.