what will become of factions?

Markaedw

Markaedw

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Nov 2005

N/

Get NF and get the heros, my necro did Sorrows Furnace with the heros, I may try them out on Shiro.

Paperfly

Paperfly

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jun 2006

Heck, I took my Assassin through Factions exclusively with henchies at the time, it can't be any worse with the availability of Heroes.

I've just started a new Canthan ranger, just so I could get a clean-shaven look. I've rushed my way through to Arborstone so far (after a couple of quick detours past Kaineng so I could pick up the initial heroes) and wouldn't have had problems getting a group if (a) I wasn't henching everything for speed's sake and (b) I didn't mention I was playing Beast Mastery! Plenty of people around up to that point, in other words.

The areas past the split have always felt lonely. It's worse now, but not a lot worse.

ElinoraNeSangre

ElinoraNeSangre

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Mar 2006

Near Seattle, WA

Talionis De Cineris [EXUR]

N/Me

People can say what they want in terms of where Factions is at, and they might even be right.

But I maintain my opinion: you'll be pulling it out of my cold dead hands. I love Factions. And I love the fact that I don't feel like Factions takes FOREVER - I like the split because it gives me a chance to feel like I've made it through without it consuming my life, and still have content to explore!

Reks

Reks

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Nov 2005

R/P

As it stands, there really isn't much incentive to get another character through Factions once you've already done so once or twice. Nightfall on the other hand has those free treasure chests scattered throughout Elona, ready for the taking. And that's enough for me to take more toons through.

RTSFirebat

RTSFirebat

The Humanoid Typhoon

Join Date: May 2005

UK

Servants of Fortuna [SoF]

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Reks
As it stands, there really isn't much incentive to get another character through Factions once you've already done so once or twice. Nightfall on the other hand has those free treasure chests scattered throughout Elona, ready for the taking. And that's enough for me to take more toons through.
Those will be remove once the Winterday event is patched out.

Arkantos

Arkantos

The Greatest

Join Date: Feb 2006

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by RTSFirebat
Those will be remove once the Winterday event is patched out.
I thought they were staying for good?

Quid Pro Quo

Quid Pro Quo

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jul 2005

Oh yeah.. I totally forgot about factions..

Wasn't that the asian themed campeign or somthing? Ah well back to Nightfall or Prophecies.

Unlucky Slayer

Unlucky Slayer

RAGE INCARNATE

Join Date: Apr 2006

Sitting at The Guild Hall 2, being happy.

Nerd Clan [NK]

R/

I'm actually taking a monk through Factions now. Only to get 1.5k kurizick, but thats beside the point.

I got up to Gates of Pain with my mesmer in NF and lost interest. No real urge to take another character even through the nub island for NF as shown by my lvl 8 Dervish.

Shuuda

Shuuda

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jul 2006

Guildless

Me/

Vizunah is my fav mission ever, I went there yesterday to test out a Necro FoC build (which worked nicly) I think factions was just a great as the others.
Vizunah is just warzone.

Perynne

Perynne

Site Contributor

Join Date: Oct 2006

Finland

Runners of the Rose [RR]

R/

I love Factions. It's my favourite campaign by far and I've already taken 3 Factions characters through it. It is sad to see how lots of the mission places are emptying of players, but at least I will always try to stick around and help others.

Nightfall, on the other hand... well, I'm up to Gates of Pain too, and slowly gathering up enough interest to go further. The only reason I played up to there was to get Ancient Armor, after which I played a bit further just to see if I could dredge up enough energy to get through the game. I couldn't.

atkafighter

atkafighter

Academy Page

Join Date: Oct 2006

Factions is dying I'll admit that, but people are still playing it. Me, and a guildie started fresh Canthan chars and we are playing through it with henchies. If it gets too tough we grab a pug, and get through it.
I played Nightfall all the way through, and it was pretty fun, but aside from some loot, and getting some titles I'm not as motivated to go back through it.
I played a Mesmer through it, and my Dervish is still in Istan. Don't get me wrong I loved Nightfall. When I started playing it I immediately noticed that it felt like you were really kicking ass. In Tyria, and Cantha it always seemed like you were getting your ass handed to you, but in Elona you were blowing stuff up, taking down huge groups, and dying less(Survivor in Cantha would be so hard now that I think about it). I remember The Docks mission where you just kept killing and killing. It was pretty satisfying. It reminded me of Diablo paced gameplay. Using the wurms was fun too, but the first part of that mission was hell for the pugs I worked with.
I got survivor on my Elonian char along the way, however, near the end it took a sharp turn toward "elite" status as I started failing missions over, and over (and freezing my title track). It got pretty frustrating. Not sure I would enjoy doing it again. Also, I was disapointed that the skills had to be bought again. I'm no much of a build maker, but I didn't find many of the NF skills to be too much superior to F, or Proph.
On the other hand I've been through Factions several times. Even though it has some annoying properties (Insanely strong Rit bosses, and 10k faction comes to mind). To me its rewarding enough to pick up the armor skins, and cap pets, because I prefer them to Elonian armors (and they are way cheaper), and Elonian critters (although I would like a hyena or a hippo if they were implemented). The same can be said about Tyria, but a few of my chars are stuck on the last few missions. -_-
My opinion may change when more guildies get NF, and ask me for help. Maybe I played through it too early. Anyway I have a laundry list of things to do in Elona, but can't bring myself to do it yet.
Thats just my $0.02

Fallen Hunter

Fallen Hunter

I Saw That

Join Date: Mar 2006

The bushes

D/R

Quote:
Originally Posted by wilebill
Prophecies is very much alive. Factions is too, although to a lesser extent.

ANet needs some cross chapter quests, I think. Something to make the other chapters more attractive to those who only have Nightfall.
Just thought I would point out, there is one cross chapter quest - in crystal overlook there is a quest given that requires you to go to the crystal desert.

Quote:
Originally Posted by RTSFirebat
Those will be remove once the Winterday event is patched out.
If my memory serves me right, there are numerous quotes by gaile gray scattered across these forums saying that the treasure chests are there for good.

Now, back on topic - I haven't played factions pve for a while apart from a bit of farming, but I can say that ab is still going strong - I have never had any trouble getting a group there. I don't think factions will die, i don't think any campaign will ever fully die. There will always be a small player base remaining firmly loyal to a particular chapter. However, as more chapters come out, it is inevitable that the older ones will begin to empty. That's where heroes come in. Heroes are the best replacement for the good old pug, and in many cases surpass random human players. Perhaps the hero system was a deliberate move by anet to make it easier to get through empty missions?

I also think that the nightfall missions are by far the most innovative and interesting, but I must admit they do become very hard near the end. Many of the factions missions are uninteresting. For example, I rushed through to finish nightfall relatively quickly before going back to explore. However, I played factions through to raisu palace and then went back to prophecies. It was a month or two before i could be bothered to finish that mission, and I ended up doing it with guildies as the european side was perpetually empty.

freekedoutfish

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2006

E/

You could say exactly the same thing about Prophercies when Factions was released. Players will always sway towards playing the most recent version or add on for a game.

Then they eventually trickel down to playing the original, and then any other expansions.

Both prophercies and factions are suffering from adding campaigns, as the player count is spread thinner and thinner accross more games. Not that I dislike adding campaigns.

But try finding people to do the Titan Quests in Prophercies anymore. Its near impossible.

I doubt they will add anything new to factions now. Just as they left Prophercies alone to gather dust, they will do the same with factions.

BrotherKurupt

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jul 2006

Toronto

In Soviet Russia Altar Caps You [CCCP]

Mo/Me

Well, there is still AB. I absolutely love AB. Whenever I want a break from competitive pvp, I go into AB and invite the whole district then enter mission with a random team and a fun build. Don't care if I lose or win, the faction gain is basically the same. 12v12? pure awesome. If you think AB isn't fun, you haven't played:

A backfire spammer
A trapper
A touch ranger (lmao this is a hilarious build to try)
A monk with spell breaker
A gank assassin
A crip shot ranger

... and so many more ...

I hope AB never dies. Long live suxons? HAHAHAHAH.

SiLKy

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Feb 2006

uk

D/Me

I really hope factions isnt dead. I started playing Prophecies when it first came out along side world of warcraft but had to stop playing to pursue raiding in borecraft, now that I have finally got that crap out of my system I have returned to guild wars (and so happy I did, I totally forgot how cool GW is!) So I picked up Nightfall the other day and have been leveling my Dervish until now, she's lvl 19 at the moment. I really wanted to make an assasin as they look cool so I bought factions, thinking it would just unlock the assasin and ritualist professions on my char selection screen and I would be able to make an elonian assasin, but alas all it does is allow me to create an assasin in Factions and select those professions as my secondary (and I presume lvl it there and move her to Elona at some point ? to do the high lvl stuff over here ?) I dont quite know how the 'inter-chapter' thing works. Will be gutted though if I have to lvl a char up literally on my own

freekedoutfish

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2006

E/

Quote:
Originally Posted by RTSFirebat
Those will be remove once the Winterday event is patched out.
Those are perminant from what I read. It was just a coincidence they were added at the same time as wintersday. I expect it was easier to role them out them out at the same time as everything else.

The treasure chests Im referring too if you dont realise.

RTSFirebat

RTSFirebat

The Humanoid Typhoon

Join Date: May 2005

UK

Servants of Fortuna [SoF]

R/

I'm only going by the information I'm aware of. If they are prenament then great

bungusmaximus

bungusmaximus

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jul 2006

Guild Of Handicrafted Products [MaSS]

W/Mo

I love factions and every new char I make is starting there, my only tyria born character is my ranger actually. Getting a character through tyria once is bad enough as it is, I was just a little too late with buying that episode I'm afraid. If I PUG for a crystal desert mission people try to run them in 90% of the cases and fail miserably at it. That is really counter-productive and no fun. The rest is pure grinding IMO, if I ever see another Jade Scarab I will bite someone.

I hardly PUG lately anyways, since the addition of heroes I make a team with 3 guildies and heroes most of the time. I tried Raisu Palace for over a hundred times with PUG's with mostly miserable results while I finished it yesterday with a guildie that still needed masters+heroes in 14:30. I finished Prophecies with heroes/hench and killed mr. Lich without too much trouble. A PUG really isn't gonna take the builds to pull that off since that would require teamwork, my heroes all had winter+mantra of frost .

Not that I hate PUG's, when I started to play i was more or less dependent on PUGing, and if people kept it civil i found it quite enjoyable (henchies don't crack funny jokes), but heroes are much better/faster then the average player. I can recommend everyone having trouble to find groups nowadays to skip to Nightfall and level up some heroes to fill up groups with. I finish Factions nowadays with the following recipe:

Myself
hero monk
hero SF nuker
hero MM + blood ritual
hench monk
hench fighter
hench fighter
hench whatever

It's really surprising that heroes with the right setup WTFPWN almost every PUG, it's like cutting through butter with a hot knife. Even henchies are quite managable since the flag system was implemented. I'm not going to bother anymore when I can't find people to play with, i PUG every now and then mostly for fun or to help a team (happens quite often since I play a solid monk) but it's no requirement to pass a mission anymore.

Bottom line: Don't complain the game is dead, you can still play with people and add heroes for empty spots. The quality of the game in general has only improved drastically, since most heroes outperform most players. People having trouble finding groups should really join a nice PVE guild anyway, it will improve the gaming experience drastically.

ainkami

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jan 2007

Quote:
Factions are dead for a good reason:

- Past Maatu, the storyline splits into two, the next hurdle is 10k faction limit. That completely dillutes the population
- Henchies are horrible. Sister Tai just loves to use sig of devotion to counter spike damage, lack of protection, henchies change in just about every area
- Faction related aspects apeal to grinders. Not farming style grinders, but WoW style grinders.
- Gated content. Enough said.
- Past Cavalon/HzH, there's insane ammount of territory that serves no real purpose, except skill capping. No reason for anyone to be there. And those that are, only push far enough to get the armor.
- No loot. Items aren't inscribable.
- Fort Aspenwood. A decent casual pvp area destroyed by leechers and bugs.
- JQ. Dead on arrival due to PvE requirements, by the time PvP characters could get there it was forgotten already.
- No rewards. Amulets are worthless, so are most of the greens. Those that aren't, are solo farmed.
- AB. Too many issues, to high requirements for team play, too exploitable by solo builds. Those two conflict each other. Also, being put in with 2 other teams you have no control makes team play a lesson in futility.
- Useless skills. For most part, factions skills just aren't worth it. There's some exceptions for PvP, but for PvE you can do without, especially in light of NF skills which simply wipe the floor.
- Timed missions. Yea, let's rush through the content. That will help with grouping.
- Jade and amber are Factions specific materials. So unlike ectos, they are forgotten.

And last thing is simply, Factions require much greater population that GW has. Between casual Prophecies, and somewhat balanced NF (PvE-wise), Factions simply doesn't offer anything.

Factions works somewhat better with heroes, but even then henchies you need to fill in are mostly useless. There simply is nothing there that would warrant all the hassle, and pvp is too closely tied to faction grind.

On another note, recently I went to cap shadow form in Vizunah square, and I had to do it 4 or 5 times in order to get the boss to spawn. The only time I got masters was when other team full hench. In all other cases, I missed it by several minutes easily.
Antheus more or less covered it. Gated content is horrible. Most of the area aren't running friendly either. This forces you to fight monster groups over and over. Drops are lousy because of the antifarming code and drops aren't inscribable either. Very few people in mission outposts, even during US primetime. Heroes, which requires Nightfall, are a must for missions. Except for the beginner areas, rest of the factions' area is very dead.

Alleji

Alleji

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jan 2006

I hate factions with a passion because of the locked gates and the horrid city.

Sure, NF has locked gates as well, but they aren't as annoying as factions because the scenery is pleasant and the gameplay is better - you're not constantly being swarmed by the flood... er, I mean "afflicted" and other sewage. Echovald and Jade Sea are both great, but Kaineng is the first area and the first impression simply ruins the game. Also, Kaineng is mandatory, whereas you choose to do either of the two other areas.

I recently went through factions with my mesmer to cap Psychic Distraction, Expel Hexes and get 15k Canthan armor. So now all my characters have all the skills they need from factions and I can't see myself going back there ever again.

Muk Utep

Muk Utep

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Dec 2006

I played through Factions once and I'll never do it again. You might love it, good for you, personal preference is what counts. Looks like you're a minority, though - 90% of the outposts are empty or have 2-3 people standing around. I think the numbers speak clearly about the quality of this campaign.

Edit:
Oh, and one more thing. Is it just me, or does Faction put a much bigger toll on your computer? It's probably not noticeable for those of you who can run the game perfectly at the highest graphic settings, but I normally have an average FPS of 20-25 pretty much everywhere, except for Factions where I always have 10-15.

Former Ruling

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Oct 2005

Cedartown, Georgia

R/

Quote:
You could say exactly the same thing about Prophercies when Factions was released. Players will always sway towards playing the most recent version or add on for a game.
Actually, liked said on page one, Chapter 1 has kept a surprisingly high population even after 2 new chapter releases now.

Anyway, Factions has an advantage that keeps it alive for me:

Its great to start PvE characters in (then of course move them to other chapters )

The newbie island is quick, straight forward, and simple. You can leave it in an afternoon and be lvl17-18, then pick up the final levels on any of the simple "talk to this guy" quests in Kaineng that give like 5million exp per quest. Ascending for the propose of FoW and UW is quite early in the story and painless to get (2 mainland missions and some quests). After reaching Senji's Corner, its easy to move to another continent and play your PvE through them.

After that point...Factions kind of breaks down. PvE was not a strong point for Factions. Alot of who is going through it now are just gritting their teeth and pushing through the story for the sake of capping a Factions only skill or getting some armor they like.

Age

Age

Hall Hero

Join Date: Jul 2005

California Canada/BC

STG Administrator

Mo/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bai
You can tell that Factions is not dying yet from the players still on Shing Jea Island. Some of them may be mules, but I bet you that the other 50% are players that want to complete Factions.

On the other hand, these characters might be just making asian-looking characters for their looks, and just rushing off to Kaineng Center to head off into another chapter.

I don't think Factions will die anytime soon, because (IMO) I think alot of the armor there is much more better than the ones in Elona and people are still striving to get the armor.
Yeah nothing beat good Kurzick armour well except certian Tyrian armour and you can only get that at the HZH and the Vasbourg Armoury.I been trying to get a few motre char through and end up getting to far I really hated looking after the NPC in those missions as a Monk but playing something different I don't know?Maybe some special weekends agian over there or just make them last the week.The same could be done for Tyria.

reetkever

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Dec 2005

Mo/E

Factions is DEAD?


Was it ever alive for starters? I have yet to see full districts in most missions and outposts (there are some exceptions, but the most busy places in factions are Kaineng (cause the prevorious market was there, now the 'market' is Lion's Arch/Kamadan), and Senji's Corner was rather busy (vermin farming and profession change).

For the rest... most outposts in and after the luxon/kurzick had a population of 3 or 4 people, and because of this, missions are hard to do, and alot of people don't even bother. (90% of the people in my guild or friends list hasn't done factions more than 1 time)

Even now, both the places in Tyria and Elona have more population than the ones in factions.

I really liked Shing Jea island, but that was just because my newly made characters could nearly go to Tyria/Elona. For the rest, Cantha was a pain to play in.

Oh, and I didn't even talk about:
-exploring got killed cause of closed gates
-quests are boooooooring ('You go to the other side of the continent to talk to a person, and another person who lives another 5000 miles further will give you 8000 EXP points ')
-Some areas are a pain, cause they are a friggin maze
-sucky henchmen
-few farming spots
-sucky and over-powered enemies
-crap environment (I hated the city :S)
-timed bonus
-no cool events (except dragon event)
-PvP-ness in the PvE
-grind for faction
-elite missions where nobody can get
-outposts that are shut down cause your 'side' lost in PvP
-free 'power levelling' in about the only area in the game where people do NOT want it
-little/no reward for quests
-half of the game cannot be done unless you change to the other army...



I can't understand what is appealing people to play factions... Except the Jade Sea which I actually enjoyed, but was too boring to get to, and of course farm places (vermins and Shiro'Ken), which got nerfed...

Rebirther

Rebirther

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Aug 2005

England, UK

Clan Dethryche

Mo/Me

look its a common trait "out with the old, in with the new".
The original title always survives simply because future games are built around it's base code, so it's always appealing to the newcomers and existing players that prophercies will always remain a playable title, simply because of the orginality.
I am not simply a fan of factions simply because its boring and it "forces" your characters to play through the game properly in order to access key areas- don't get me wrong I like to play through the game but not every time for all the characters I got, for most of them I would like to just have to access to the outposts so in the event a guild member needs help or if i feel the urge to farm/ elite hunt I dont have to go through a tideous task of doing the story again- factions has many flaws among its glamour, and it is simply a love or hate thing.
It is great in the sense of environment, and scale but storywise and re-play ability it doesn't score too high! (*i have sent all 6 of my pve through factions btw! and i found it a chore the 3rd time around)- but as for nightfall which addresses these problems, i.e access to outposts but not core missions until certain achievement is obtained.. now thats what were talking about. Im currently on my 4th char through NF and still enjoying it.
Safe to say I will not be taking any of my NF created chars back through factions simply because its boring and tideous.

valid points from everyone here in regards to the favour for factions, but look at it in the long run, nf and original title have a lot more to offer than what factions have, and although many still play it.. short term wise.... but look at the bigger picture... even though each title is created by the same company- and that each game isnt really considered to be expansions, you got to think beyond the box- and that is... that each title will IS competing with each other for players.

Ask yourself this, if you lost your account details and was unrecoverable and had to rebuy all the chapters - which would you buy first?
I bet the vast majority would reply would either be the original, or nightfall.. now what is that telling you?

False Truth

False Truth

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jan 2007

[Reap]

Mo/Me

The thing is, most people in this thread who say "I still play factions, etc etc", are the ones who usually never get into a PuG, and bring mainly heroes/henchmen. So while I definitely agree that there still are a lot of people playing factions, it doesn't really matter if they rarely/don't group with other players.

MerLock

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2005

I love factions. The reason I'm not playing there much is because the PvE was fast. I've done it all with all the professions. I think most people are in that situation.

Rok

Rok

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Dec 2005

Guild Wars

Quote:
Originally Posted by False Truth
The thing is, most people in this thread who say "I still play factions, etc etc", are the ones who usually never get into a PuG, and bring mainly heroes/henchmen. So while I definitely agree that there still are a lot of people playing factions, it doesn't really matter if they rarely/don't group with other players.
And why doesn't it matter ... The questions was if people still play, not who plays in groups.

There could be million players farming in Factions and you wouldn't know because they are done with the game and don't do the missions. The only ones who know how many people are playing is Anet.

Factions will remain as long as people continue to play, until GW shuts down all the games.

Toutatis

Toutatis

Walking Wiki

Join Date: Nov 2006

Isle of Medication

Visitors from Aranna [VFA]

Me/E

I still play Factions. And it's still my favourite chapter - Prophecies moves way too slowly, and from what I've seen of Nightfall so far the speed is still on the slow side. I found that Factions pushed me to react in combat and expand the skill repertoire and build efficiency much faster, and that's why it's so great to me. And for the exact same reasons, Factions makes the best PvP primer IMO

realoddsman

Academy Page

Join Date: May 2005

Bitch bitch bitch.

6 months from now people will be crying of how prophs, factions and NF are dead cause everyone has weened into chapter 4.

Now whether Anet continues to support factions is highly unlikely after a certain point (prophs hasnt seen an update in ages).

They will make schedualed changes to the 2 elite missions and the appropriate gates in factions after nightfall spam has settles down further, but otherwise if people choose to hop into Cantha for a quicky then good for them.

Anet doesn't care cause Cantha is done and production continues for future revenue from future chapters which will die in the future.

Moa Bird Cultist

Moa Bird Cultist

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jan 2006

Hastings (UK) / Latham (USA)

Freedom Fanatical Scots [FFS]

E/W

Hmmm, what to make of this...?

I guess it depends entirely on how you would define a game as 'dead' or 'dying,' wouldn't it? Broadly speaking, people say it is dead because there are few people playing it at any one time.

So are there no people in any given Factions outpost? Put simply, the answer is yes and no. Yes, because there are some areas where there are few people available, most notably during the split, and No, because everything up to the split and even the missions after the split are heavily populated. Theyre not as bustling as they were when GWF first came out, but it's not like theres nobody there either.

As for the effect this has on grouping, I personally like it the way it is now - heroes are a godsend and the players that are still there tend to be of a much higher calibre. Hence, missions that were once seemingly impossible, are now a walk in the park.

Laenavesse

Laenavesse

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Nov 2006

The Shadow Tower

A/

Well, and i haven't read all of these posts so if any of this stuff has been said..um...heehee? ;; And note, I started Guild Wars this past summer so this is before Nightfall.

Anyway, Factions is sort of the middle child now. Prophecies was first so there's a chance that people might get that first to sorta see how it's like and stuff. Nightfall is newest so that's the next thing they would try. New players will either go for the very first campaign or the very latest. THEN they'll go for whatever is inbetween.

I know I went to Prophecies first because I wanted to see how it generally played. Plus it was cheaper xD Well that and the guy misinformed us that we had to have Prophecies before we had to play the other games.

Not my fault << My boyfriend was getting it and he had thought differently but..who can question the guy who sits with video games most of the day?

Prophecies was a pretty good introduction to the whole Guild Wars community..and having the skills as part of the rewards in quests was nice <_< That was definitely missed in Factions (and Nightfall) but not having to buy skills immediately as your first experience kinna helped. You can always adjust after that.

Factions is my absolute FAVORITE. I don't know what it is, maybe because of the whole orientalness or the colors or the characters (I do love my assassin and my ritualist >.>) but I just found it a lot more enjoyable. I made like 4 characters in it for crying out loud. I also like the armor a whole lot more (Luxon armor zomg <3). It wasn't as tedious at the other either. Prophecies seemed a lot slower paced to me, and the island in Nightfall..oh my god someone shoot me >_>

Before Nightfall there were definitely a lot of people in Factions. I don't know how Prophecies was when Factions came out, but I'm sure it had a hit similar to Factions.

The next chapter will undoubtly decrease the population more, unless they made it more interactive, like a continuation of the story would be to go to factions (so if the next chapter was pre-Shiro or had something to do with Kurzick and Luxon territory or something I don't know it's 5:30 in the morning >_>! i know it's not going to happen but you get my point >_o some sort of connectedness!) people would be more inclined to go back. Same thing with any other mission.

Nightfall has been out for like 2 months now so i think it's still early to say that Factions is dead. You see a lot of people in the outposts, it's just the missions that can be kinna hard to find people.

I had to hench Unwaking Waters with heroes on my Monk and I managed to do it on the first try (the corrupted dragon scales were quite..evil though >_>).

Eternal Grove has also had a hit, same with Gyala Hatchery. Arborstone and Boreas weren't so bad though, but yeah, the split does kinna NOT help the whole population xD I remember when Cavalon at least had 3 districts <_<;

I know I'll take all of my characters through Factions. I just love it. I also kinna liked the whole Masters timed thing. Sure it could be sooooo aggravating ("OMFG I WAS OFF BY 5 SECONDS RAAAAH") but hey, another round through, more loot and money for me. Plus it sorta gave a challenge and if you manage to get a PUG that was decent and they want to go through with it again, more power to you because surely this second time you should have at least gotten some bearing on how each other works.

I think I'd call Factions in a sorta of listless state rather than actually dead. I think it needs more time for the Nightfall kick to come out. People would have originally made another character in Factions probably made it in Nightfall instead since it's new.

(Oh, I also seem to find more greens that are better for me in Factions...but that could just be me)

Rusty Deth

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jul 2005

Woodland Realm

Mo/N

I liked Factions cause it was harder than Prophecies. After playing Factions for a couple months, Prophecies became way too easy.

I only hang around in 2 places in Prophecies, Tombs and Sorrows Furnace.

i love Factions cause the mobs have a good mix of classes in them.

And I love Nightfall cause it takes the best of Factions and Prophecies and combines them.

But Prophecies is an overall snoozefest compare to chapters 2 and 3.

Jetdoc

Jetdoc

Hell's Protector

Join Date: Jul 2005

The Eyes of Texas [BEVO]

D/A

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rok
And why doesn't it matter ... The questions was if people still play, not who plays in groups.
Why would anyone care how many people play in Factions if it is not to group with them?

pug_ster

pug_ster

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: May 2006

I dunno

N/Me

We can argue on how Factions is great and all that stuff but the fact is that ever since Nightfall came out, most of the towns past cavalon/hzh are virtual ghosttowns. I did a few bonuses back in prophecies and I still see a lot of people looking for group, even in the Ring of fire islands.

The dev team who made Factions are probably making chapter 4 now and you probably won't see alot of updates to Factions anytime soon. My guess is that they are going to Bundle Prophecies and Factions together and make it some kind of platinum edition for $50 to entice people to buy Factions.

I personally don't like the time constraint factor in most of the Factions and a good amount of Nightfall missions to get masters. Why can't they make missions like Prophecies where the bonus objective is usually much different than the main objective?

ainkami

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jan 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by pug_ster
I personally don't like the time constraint factor in most of the Factions and a good amount of Nightfall missions to get masters. Why can't they make missions like Prophecies where the bonus objective is usually much different than the main objective?
Because making the bonus different takes time. When game developers have a deadline to meet, it is easier to make bonus time dependent and reuse exploration maps, then to create new content for the bonus.

Sir Skullcrasher

Sir Skullcrasher

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2005

California

15 over 50 [Rare]

W/Mo

I don't know, Factions is slowly losing players so does Tyria. Most peoples are in Nightfall right now. I do agree that to keep peoples interested in Factions, A-Net should update the maps for AB and maybe do some kind of special events for those players.

Ninna

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2005

Northeast USA

Guilded Rose

Me/

Factions (Fort Aspenwood) is what I'm playing until Chapter 4 is released

Neo Nugget

Neo Nugget

Site Contributor

Join Date: Jan 2006

R/

im taking my warr through it to get the kurzick armor and to have some fun

Age

Age

Hall Hero

Join Date: Jul 2005

California Canada/BC

STG Administrator

Mo/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Moa Bird Cultist
Hmmm, what to make of this...?

I guess it depends entirely on how you would define a game as 'dead' or 'dying,' wouldn't it? Broadly speaking, people say it is dead because there are few people playing it at any one time.

So are there no people in any given Factions outpost? Put simply, the answer is yes and no. Yes, because there are some areas where there are few people available, most notably during the split, and No, because everything up to the split and even the missions after the split are heavily populated. Theyre not as bustling as they were when GWF first came out, but it's not like theres nobody there either.

As for the effect this has on grouping, I personally like it the way it is now - heroes are a godsend and the players that are still there tend to be of a much higher calibre. Hence, missions that were once seemingly impossible, are now a walk in the park.
Those heros might be Godsend but you can only get them if you have NightFall.Those that don't those missions do tend to become to be hard as to keeping NPCS alive especially if you don't play Monk or Ritualist.it would be nice though if there were alternate routes instead of haveing to do the missions as it is in Prophecies.