muppet3901: The horizontal progression keeps me playing for a few months each year. I had a TBC wow warrior, who raided. I lent the character to a friend, and when I came back part way into WOTLK, my TBC raid gear was gone, which is of course completely normal. I came back to GW2 after a break of 5 years, and my fractal backpack was still the best I could get. That is a pure win for me.

OldManGaribubee: Honestly, I dont want GW2 to be TOO populated. Like if it had like 500000000 as an example, because one thing I love is seeing the same dude over and over again, doing the same thing. I know a guy who has been doing the same meta on the same map for the past 7 years, and another for longer. It's so cool, they are like living Yokai xD

bumgilligan: I need to come back. I had just unlocked my dragon mount thing like 8 months ago and then stopped.

VishnuPrimeX: I know you have literally said that in a video, but I believe it has to be emphasized more - I think we all underestimate how many people DO NOT participate in so called "community". Especially in a casual friendly game like GW2. Partially because they just don't care and partially due to a language barrier - for example in my country there is very little YT content in my native language and not many people know English well enough to watch content in English. So I think all data from "community" sources doesn't really matter.

mikereyes2269: Oh god another one of these videos. There isn’t a single MMO that doesn’t get one of these videos at least once a week.

clarencezer: 10:44 I really appreciate this point, thanks to the way Guild Wars 2 works, I like the organic and seamless way to co-op with other players in the open world by just simply being in the area or simply right click and join commander without feeling this join commitment vs being forced to type in chat in other traditional MMO's or looking for group instances. I mainly do the casual PvE content and maybe a few raids and T4 fractals once in a blue moon. Trying to work on the new Stella Radians legendary now!

Man how time flies, I remember my first days starting out in this game a decade ago and seeing where it is now is such a journey. Guild Wars 2 along with Warfame has been there for me during my ups and downs!

nancysan2151: My account is 9 years old and I have 13k hours played. It's a bit embarrassing actually how much i have played this game. I've taken a couple of breaks in there too. I play with a regular group 3-4 times a week. But I also play solo and pug in between. I play 4 classes regularly, depending on game mode. I like to try out new specs on all the classes when they come out and I have multiple of each class at the ready. I play PVE, WvW, Fractals, and Strikes. I've spent many hours decorating my homestead. And let's not forget the hours spent on fashion wars. :D Thanks for the video, Syrma!

johnyeet6442: One thing i can say about these players who spout bs and comparing shyts is, just play the game you want! No need for drama and attention-seeking.

graven2002: You landed right at the same population estimate I did: ~300k daily players.

Zaron_Gaming: This is a fantastic video for me who just joined the game 4 days ago. I'm currently a level 31 human necromancer having just left the divinity's reach area the day of writing this. From my point of view open world boss battles get around 5 people and my only world boss had easily 30-40. I have not experienced the social aspect of the game which is depressing as that's purely the reason I joined this but I guess as I haven't done fractals or any big event I can't expect to. I think I'm going to multi character but haven't figured out my second yet. Looking forward to trying WVW though I have never done PVP in any other MMORPG. I see a lot of people running around divinity's reach and the outskirts which is awesome but it's sooo quiet without a full world chat option

natsuds1: "... And walk into every AOE"

Hey, that's me!

DonVane17: I think i'm exactly what this video represents: a veteran player who logs in almost every day but mostly to farm currency and items in meta evens and world bosses. Sometimes does WvW, sometimes does PvP, sometimes pugs a strike or raid. Casually and slowly building up account value and enjoying the gameplay and world itself. Guild wars 2 feels well populated and i think your estimate is close. 100k-200k actually consistent players, and much more in those expansion spikes and event spike time frames.

llIllIlI: Been here since HoT. Never used Steam for GW2.

Squychy: the EU raid LFG during the thursday or friday evening was full of squads, like at least 15 squads ! It was so cool, it brought me back to the GW2 raids prime lol, the moment I started to raid x)

TheMaxxbiff: Been playing off and on since launch.

Play two to three different classes (thief, necro, warrior)

PvE all the way

I only WvW when I have to get some legendary items.

Honestly, a great MMO. Fantastic even. It should be #1 in the market but whatta u gonna do.

Its not over populated and its not underpopulated. Its just right.

QBG: I was never an MMO fan. GW2 is my first, and I only just started playing around a month ago. I can't compare it to other MMOs, but compared to the other online multiplayer games I was into, GTA Online and Path of Exile, GW2 feels vastly more "alive" even if the player base is smaller.

GTA suffers from a max lobby capacity of 32 players, a limit on which of those players can register as a boss to actually do most content, and the fact that the game literally encourages players to grief each other. The result is an "online" game where most players grind in private lobbies. Despite having millions of daily players, the world rarely feels "alive". Even a full lobby of 32 players rarely sees anyone engaging with anyone else except to pick a fight.

Path of Exile doesn't share the griefer problem, and it certainly has tons of active players, but the design of the game just isn't conducive to the world "alive". Imagine if the entirety of GW2 was a series of tiny city hubs, where the actual content is instanced and only playable solo or in a party. Yeah, I could see lots of people in PoE towns and chat with them and party up, but never organically, and never in a big group.

GW2, on the other hand, has been brimming with players in almost every area and mode, with few exceptions. The starting areas remain filled with new players and veterans leveling alts, meta events are always populated with massive groups, and even the endgame instanced content has plenty of veterans willing to slow down and help new players learn the ropes. The only times I've felt like a map has been "dead" is with older expansion content, since it's neither the new hotness nor the always-busy leveling grounds. Some older events can be hard to complete alone or with only a friend or two. Even then, though, it never this way. It's only a matter of time before Dailies or story quests or a meta event bring droves of players back.

So yeah, I don't know about other MMOs, but GW2 feels very much "alive" with tons of people to me.

bobjj6602: Im a new player

Put 150 hours on it, almost all mounts , full 4 elites on my toon, lvl 10 PvP wvw , 25 fractals so touch a bit to everything

For me the 2 best features are as well the weaknesses of the game

1/ the solo experience is amazing because we never really alone

But

It makes it very hard to actually bound with other players cos we always sort of cooperate but never really group and talk

2/ horizontal progression is awesome cos it makes fast to fe competitive

But

I feel a bit lost in what to do now , as I like feeling progression in my toon and m starting to not find it anymore , especially being by myself

And suggestion on that guys ?

wearecovenant2846: I'm an actual day 1 player who's been trying several other mmos over the years but not a single one could catch nor hold me the same way GW2 does.

I'd say i play 95% of the time PvE even tho i wish i'd find more enjoyment in WvW and PvP.

WvW i at this point only visit for my next Gift because i'm tired of spawncamping Thiefs and Mesmers teabagging you and whispering super vile stuff to you nonstop.

Some of them even sitting around one spot for several hours actively hunting you down nonstop just to be giga toxic.

PvP somewhat similar to WvW, each time there is another PvP Rush i give it a try again and every single time other PvPers whisperspam super vile stuff which really kills it for me every single time.

It is a super lovely game with an overall fantastic community but anything PvP seems to always attract the most vile and miserable kind of people and it's getting rather tiresome.

rayhoodoo847: Wait how did you estimate that only 5-10% of players play via Steam? Seems hard to believe

holgergothheart1296: I don't even know any player that uses steam

iraceruk: This is fascinating!

14th birthday soon!

For me, it seems as busy as ever, and I see TONS of new players all the time!

نادريوسف-م9ط: one of the things i love about gw2 is they are in steam now and i can buy the DLCs their i remember being free to play long time ago like 2016 and i hate it because i can not pay for the expunctions so i stop playing at the time and when it came to stream witch i did not see when it lunch at first i was randomly saw it on stream as recommendation and saw path of fire and heart of thorns 60% off and i give it a try and i love it ever since now waiting for the next sales so i can buy the rest :D and i play like 4 to 6 months ago witch its nice and still a lot of content to go through

bigburci: I play this game for 9 years. Never heard about magic found... I guess there are still things to learn.

FrycoN: I Play since release so its like14 years now. All my friends that get me into GW2 stopped playing even before first expansion but i keep on playing. Met few new friends, i get to know one in real life and we visit each other every few weeks, im the summer even often. 70% of the time i spend in WvW. One and only break from GW2 that was longer than a week was when the End of Dragon expansion was released and i back just before Vision of Eternity start.The burnout was real. I keep playing other games as well and i will be playing GW2 untill something better came out so GW3 i gess, but only if there will be WvW mode, othervise i will not move on.

trykitt5361: I started to play during the release of gw2 and stuck to it for like 8 years. Took a break until 2025.

I play WvW for 99% of the time (Daily IBS5).

Used to play in Guilds but I’m just running with an alliance now.

etceterax144: I started in september 2025, currently 900h in, haven't played anything else except loging into warframe for the dailies. Anyways, this is my first mmo rpg experience ever and the world really feels alive. Every map is full, every meta event, the world bosses, fractal incursions, etc. there are tons of people playing. I'm currently in lws4 and haven't had a single problem doing any of the metas. And I could count on my fingers how many times an event didn't have any commanders. The only piece of content that feels a bit "dead" was the dungeons, but even then, I still found people after a few minutes. I have a really good time playing it, lots of fun, amazing random encounters with other players, having deep conversations only to never meet again probably

nhimsim: Been here since BETA - Played the original GW before that - I mostly play WvW as a roamer - I have 300% magic find - I play solo or in a small group - I have played all the classes enough to know some of them are not for me. I have 4-5 classes I really enjoy playing

May 19 2026

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