Active people

Yes I know, Guildwars has sold X,X million copies. But I really wonder, how many of those people are still actively playing?

All the people in my friend list, who played the game, all the people from old guilds I have been in, they've all quit.
And as I read the forum, and look around in-game, I see that they are not the only ones.

So is there any figure on how many people have logged in during, say, this month? Because frankly I think that there is an imaginary 'wall', of how long this game can be played before it gets boring. And I belief that this wall has already been hit, quite a while ago.

Anet will never release such numbers, because they are not dumb.

If they are bad, they would make situation even worse (zomg, leave teh dying gamzor!), Any fluctuation would read to flamefest threads and only help competition.

If they are good, well, good is subjective and they still can look very bad (100k people still playing can be decent population and when compared to 3 mil sold copies they use to boast, it would look like most people hate what they bought and quit game asap.).

Gaile stated recently that the logs show an increase in numbers actually playing.

the E3 video stated that soon Anet would announce another milestone sales figure

i spend a lot of time in presear answerig newb questions and the number of new players is going up not down.

so no it is not dying people are taking a break or other things as there is no monthly fee to worry about.

Well, let's put it this way.
I know my guild was once 200 persons (probably alliance, before I joined them) and got back to our current around 50 members, of which about 5 have not logged in in the past month.
A lot of the 'old' clan moved to other online games, most notably BF2.
I know a lot of people still play the game from time to time, but not as main game anymore.
I also see a lot of new players lately.

The playability depends on so many factors.
When you play 8 hours/day, you are going to get bored faster compared to when you play 2 hours/week.
Furtermore, when you have a nice active friends-list or guild, playablity is longer.
The extra titles and personal goals add some time, but not as much as daily playtime and active friends/guild.

I think one of the great things about GW is that it's easy to stop playing once you get bored, and just as easy to come back to it. I, and most people I know usually stop playing for a few months, and then eventually come back to it. Where as with other MMO's I've played, I've never bothered getting back into after leaving, because it's just too much hastle.

Almost everyone on my friendslist still plays. Some as active as allways, some less active then they were. For everyone that quit guild wars another has taken his spot on my friendslist, except for a few who log on for a chat.

well, i tried to get into Kamadan last night...dist 1 and 2 were both full on the american servers. I think the major problem is player distribution. There are just some many places for people to hang out that it appears that there aren't many on. when in fact i think there are as many or maybe even more than was...just harder to find...and friends list are a fluid thing...i have replaced mine almost completely 2 times or maybe even 3...there are very few people on my friends list...that were in the original friends listings.

I think your numbers are a little suspect as Guilds can only have a maximum of 100 members, so unless your guild had sister guilds, 200 is just a little bit high

If so many people were leaving the game, there wouldn't be so many bots and gold-sellers.

Maybe they are taking a break before the new expansion pack is released. Personally I have not noticed much of a difference

Gold sellers are independent of the amount of people in game. They still sell gold in even some of the much older MMOs with much less player base.

Up until yesterday I haven't logged into the game for about over a month. Just taking a break until GW:EN gets here. After 2 years of playing there is only so much one can do in GW as it is now. The game just has its limits.
Anet needs to change the philosophy. They need to find a way to keep their people rather then tell the world they sold x.x amout of boxes. Thats why I am hoping Guild Wars 2 will be a start of that. I have great hopes for Guild Wars 2 ! If your not striving to be the best in gaming then whats the point ?
It is like the NFL season, if you are not in it to win the Superbowl then why play ?

I believe Anet counts the numbers of active people being up by looking monthly. That being the case, the number of people logging in at least once and a while would bee quite high. The reality I sense is numbers online often for decent hours is down, especially compared to GW peak which I'd estimate right around Factions release.

That shouldnt be surprising though: its summer, there are outdoors things to do, its been a long time since any new content, many PvP players are unhappy with skill balances not addressed yet and are on hiatus, a good number of PvE players are unhappy with economic concerns. Population will come back up with GWEN's release, though probably not as high as during the first month or two of Factions.

I guess you are slightly naive. With games as with the NFL, everyone is there for the money. If they make a better product, they will sell more yes, but they are there for the money, that's it.

What makes you say this? Has Anet ever said how they measure the number of active players? I would think that they would have statistics on a number of usage metrics besides just monthly logins. If I was running Anet I'd sure want to know more than just that.

Friend of mine just bought the game last week, so that's at least a +1 sales for them.

Stupid titles... they won't let me get bored. Just found that last .3% in Elona last night for Grand Master Cartographer... now it's off to finish Vanquishing Cantha!

We need a Vanquishers thread/forum for parties to meet up. Sigh...

Absolutely. There'll always be opinions about whether a game is failing. You only have to go onto MMORPG.com, every game has a thread either saying this game is dead, dying, or will nopt survive when it comes out. And when a game posts a good number of subscribers like WoW, someone will say numbers don't make it a great game. Can't win.

After a while it always seems like there are fewer and fewer players for a couple of reasons:

1. More players have discovered more towns. Unlike the beginning, where everyone is cramped up in Kamadan.
2. They're waiting for EotN, and is taking a break from Nightfall.

The same applies everytime something is about to come out, or when a chapter has gone on for a prolonged period.... like Nightfall. Other than that, everytime I log on, it still feels just as busy, the same jerks are still there trying to sell their stash of ectos and unid golds... same folks are still there begging for 50g to open their storage...

Unlike other MMOs, when people are absent in guild wars, it's not permanent, they're usually just taking a break.

Not being like 95% of game development studios that go bankrupt before even releasing the game?

Not launching a buggy incomplete game when you run out of funds?

Not launching a best rated, critically acclaimed game, only to see it's not getting sold, and you go bankrupt since you can't recover development investment?

Not making a game, only to see it's mediocre success, won't cover the costs, and is shutdown 3 months after launch?

Not being bought out by one of the Big Ones, and sold by pieces for quarterly profit?

Game industry isn't about being best. Each and every *best* game has failed and destroyed the studio that made it. Games that reach the masses are the ones that succeed. If GW2 is best, it'll be a disaster. If it's good at extending WoW, then it'll be a success.

Of course, only if everyone isn't so fed up of WoW by then that they'll want anything but.

gee it wouldn't happen to be the 4 million copies sold now would it.

No but it's slowly heading that way. Buying content online only crap isn't far off.