Been away for awhile, how is the state of the game?

Hey everyone, I have been away from Guild Wars since around August of last year. Real life things just kept coming up so I decided to take some time off. Since everything has more or less stabalized, I was wondering what I would be coming back to. How has the game changed? Since Nightfall are the other chapters pretty much deserted? How is pvp? Is there still the same about of players playing or has it diminished? Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks everyone!

There are still plenty of people still in the other chapters, some areas are dead in prophecies though since everyone makes their characters in factions to level them quickly.

HA is pretty much a ghost town anymore, I cannot really comment on much else since I do not pvp as much as I would like to. (Never enough guildies on to do much pvp and I wont join a PUG)

There are still about the same amount of players, they are just spread out over 3 chapters now, and with the introduction of heros not a lot of people play in PUGs anymore.

Well, strangely enough, the announcement of Guild Wars 2 has actually increased the time I play. I'm now (slowly) working on getting Titles, and trying to collect mini-pets as well.

Nightfall is still a strong as one can expect with Heroes. I haven't played Factions recently, and Prophecy, at least pre-searing, is still active.

Heh yeah, I just happen to log into HA last night and got a blind invite into a party of 5 rangers and 3 monks. They wanted beastspike...
it was fun, but I was surprised we got 4 kills in first map (2 of the monks quit once our time to clear went over 1:15). Not alot of action there in HA, and the fact that that team (1 monk, 5 rangers with uncoordinated pet builds, ele and warrior hench) got kills pretty much says it.
pve wise- NF has completely changed the game. There are folks pugging in every mission (either for masters or not). The ones who arent trying to clear up masters in my experience are the ones who cant manage to complete the mission using hero/henchway and are thus VERY frustrated and impatient....
Masters group i dunno as I haven't done any pugs for that.

ugh... I hate people who randomly invite in HA. Seriously, if I wanted to join your group, I would let you know. If I don't don't f'n invite me. Anyway, the game is inching its way closer towards balance, but there are still several flawed elements. PvE sucks because there are still masses of stupid people with idiotic bars and lack of player ability in the game. Thankfully, with heroes, at least half your party can have skills and builds almost as good as yours

*bump*
Anyone else with a little imput?

Other than the recent April updates and all the new builds people seem to uncover, there is really not much new. Some places in prophecies campaign are pretty much well deserted (simply cause you can level way faster in Factions and it is way easier). Even at that most people bring their characters from NF to Prophecies anyways. PvP is still around and probably won't end.

Well I'm in EU server so I'll speak from my point of view. It's still the same as before, well mostly. People still playing CH1 & 2. If any towns were empty then it's still empty now. PUGs in pve still going as well, all the pvp stuff still there also. Just have a go and see for yourself.

Check guildwiki.org for the changes brought by NF to weapon mods (inscriptions) and armor (insignia), and to refresh your knowledge of skills (new/buffs/nerfs), PvP options and titles.

You can also check out all the game upgrade reports. Other than that, it's still Guild Wars and it's still popular and growing.