I'm posting this to several places as I wanted to play all 3 games in PvP mode at various times over the weekend, on PC, on NA East and then post about the experience. All games were in G&G (GW1) or TT mode (GW2 and BfN), as these are the most reliable modes to get games on PC.
BfN: I haven't played multiplayer since they announced the end of content last September but jumped into the portal A few times. On Saturday in the after noon and early evening, I was able to get matches that only had a few bots (6 max). This was a pleasant surprise but I also crashed to desktop at the end of a match, although was able to get back in and get past the podiums later. On Sunday, the lobby was only a few players, a max of 6, the rest bots. Got kicked out of the portal at random 3 times so gave up. I don't remember the BfN multiplayer games being this buggy before; it did happen but not so often!
BfN verdict: When it isn't kicking/crashing it can still be fun when the matches have a decent number of actual players and only a few bots. The maps still feel too linear and lack flank approaches compared to GW1 and GW2. Not having hackers helps, but when the matches are dominated by bots, they just aren't as fun.
GW2: Played this the most of the 3 as usual. I had a quest Saturday to vanquish 25 actual players so went into the portal in the morning and got a match right away. The 1st match was great fun and I got heal master on my Sun Pharaoh, although we lost at the last point on Zombopolis (to the zombie team, great defense there, we only got the battery down once). The 2nd match as zombies defending, I left in irritation at the 2nd point when someone on my team summoned 2 gargantuars. I'd rather lose than win via cheats and had my 25 vanquishes so left for a bit. I came back later on in the day and again, the match popped fast, the lobby was full/near full the entire time, and even though we had a hacker again, they either left early or gave up on the hacking as they had summoned 2 drake mechs on the plant side and they one of them was attacking our teleporter after using it, but causing no damage. Once this stopped, the match went pretty well. I didn't get the weird issue where it just spits you out of the portal for no apparent reason but this has happened before.
GW2 verdict: The matches are generally 8+ per side (usually full or only down 1 or 2 players) at all 3 times I played (morning, early afternoon, early evening). The games are generally fun and I see a lot of new players with a few of us max rank and near max rank players still around. If they did something about the hackers, the game would be even better than it is, and it's a joy to play to this day.
GW1: Out of the 3 games, this was the one where the population was smallest, but was able to get a couple matches Saturday where they ranged from 6v6 to 10v10. Sunday morning we had one that was 3v5 so I didn't stick around. I was unable to get a multiplayer Ops here (the only game of the 3 I tried to do so as I miss a lot of the smaller maps and can only get G&G on PC consistently). It kept finding games but would find a match with people and then fail to connect every time so soloed a round (and got Garden Center from choosing 'any' it's kind of cool to see the old map after seeing Aqua Center just a bit before in GW2). Playing on Driftwood Shores, Main Street, and Cactus Canyon were great times as even though Wall-Nut Hills won that poll for GW2, it's my least favorite of the original G&G maps (although I don't dislike it).
GW1 verdict: While it was disappointing to be unable to get a multiplayer Ops (some kind of bug or connection issue as it would find matches with at least one other player but then fail to connect), the G&G games were great fun when the matches had at least 6v6 and remind me of why many of us want these old maps in a new game. I was pleasantly surprised to not see tons of Super Commandos like usual here. Had great fun here on the fuller matches as always, and it reminds me of why we got a sequel in the first place.
Overall: All 3 games were fun, although my own personal preference for GW2 was reinforced here, even with the hackers. Seeing the old GW1 maps and the custom victory screens with the statues landing on the points (as opposed to GW2 and BfN which use that generic match result screen) was a treat. As far as I know, PC has the lowest player count, and some of the matches in BfN and GW1 were lacking players, but even then they were fun to play. It was nice to see that even GW1 at least had some folks playing in 2021 on PC, and I liked seeing all those consumables like the barrel pirates and laser bean pots that we lost in GW2 and BfN.
