Hi,
I have the strong feeling there is a change in the guild wars community going on. More and more people are quiting the game due to the fact there is less things which are worth doing nowdays which have good rewards.
In my dutch guild we have seen a decrease of 150 to now 80 players. More casual players then dedicated players. 150, because we have 2 guilds.
Therefor i was wondering if more guilds experience the retirement of players and having a (large) decrease in guild activity.
Maybe the side operators can start some polls to give some insight in this matter.
An example of a poll could be:
1. Playing with more fun nowdays
2. Missing the good old (profitable) days, thinking of quiting
3. Nothing changed
Another poll could be:
1. Decrease in guild members due to people quiting
2. No in- or decrease of players in the guild
3. Increase of players in the guild
Let the community speak!
Are a large number of players retiring?
didis
Agent Mold3r
well my guild has gone down from about 80 active members to 25 inactives within the course of 3-4 months
as for me, i log in maybe once a week, try to help out guildies, as there is nothing else to do.
most of my guild went to silkroad, WoW, back to the real life, ect
as for me, i log in maybe once a week, try to help out guildies, as there is nothing else to do.
most of my guild went to silkroad, WoW, back to the real life, ect
Captain Gerome
I can tell you my guild used to have about 450members over 5 guilds of the same name. Now we have about 150-200 members over 3 guilds. We delete people who have been inactive for more than 60days. We don’t get too many leavers. Read into that what you will but I think it has to do dodgy amateur neglectarino behaviour of Anet to its community over the past 6months.
didis
That's why i miss such thing as a poll in which we can stand up and give some statistic information from out of the community. Something for which Guru could really help.
Yes we keep a 30 days inactivity or someone should have mentioned his absence on the forum
Yes we keep a 30 days inactivity or someone should have mentioned his absence on the forum
Bryant Again
Been in three past guilds, all died due to inactivity. Also had to remake my friend's list twice, due to inactivity (all but 3 people are offline more than a month these days).
zamial
oddly enough our guild/ alliance is at an all time high.
warren_kn
The guild I'm in just decided to enlarge and do stuff together as a group. As such We have gone from a dozen members to just under fifty, most of which have just started playing the game. My point being, stories from people about their guilds are a poor indication as to the number of players in the game. Posts like this spring up every so often, they mean nothing. The numbers are gonna drop off now that we know GW:EN is the final part of Guild Wars. We don't need "statistics" from people on a forum to tell us that, only common sence. Check back when GW2 comes out.
freaky naughty
I used to be a guild hopper till I found one I liked, I stayed there for a year, then all the cool people started playing less and all the ones who were nerds and had no life started playing more so I got all my cool friends and told the others to leave, they left but took a lot with them so in the end my guild died.
Edited by Malice Black - Keep the tone friendly and non offensive, please.
Edited by Malice Black - Keep the tone friendly and non offensive, please.
didis
Quote:
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Originally Posted by warren_kn
My point being, stories from people about their guilds are a poor indication as to the number of players in the game.
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by warren_kn
Posts like this spring up every so often, they mean nothing.
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by warren_kn
The numbers are gonna drop off now that we know GW:EN is the final part of Guild Wars. We don't need "statistics" from people on a forum to tell us that, only common sence.
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Divinus Stella
Not noticed it as much recently but about 8 months ago people were quitting everywhere, the main reason i can think for people not playing is that there isnt any long term goals in GW apart from a the odd grind title.
wilebill
Well, I think the number of players might be decreasing. We see a lot of newer players going inactive in our guild. But our guild is far from dead.
"the fact there is less things which are worth doing nowdays which have good rewards" said didis.
Well, is this really true? I have not run into anybody who said they were leaving because they were broke. But on the other hand, I have heard grumbles about spending an hour and a half in a dungeon, getting nothing at the end nor from chests. Average explorable loot from GW:EN seems less than that from Nightfall, but certainly more than that from Factions.
"the fact there is less things which are worth doing nowdays which have good rewards" said didis.
Well, is this really true? I have not run into anybody who said they were leaving because they were broke. But on the other hand, I have heard grumbles about spending an hour and a half in a dungeon, getting nothing at the end nor from chests. Average explorable loot from GW:EN seems less than that from Nightfall, but certainly more than that from Factions.
Zahr Dalsk
Staying here for the community and for friends in game.
But, with a 40K MMO on the horizon... we'll see.
But, with a 40K MMO on the horizon... we'll see.
Thunder79
It's probably a natural downturn in players who have beat GW:EN...got a little bored and went to play some of the recently released games or another mmo. Guild Wars is different from most mmo's in that there's nothing stopping them from returning. With other mmo's they have to decide whether or not to pay that monthly fee. Nothing like that stopping them from playing Guild Wars again.
I've done this several times...Guild Wars is like any game you buy that doesn't have a monthly fee...so you can set it down and come back when you feel like it.
Sure there are probably a few leaving for good...but I bet the majority are just taking a break until either GW2 or when new stuff is introduced to Guild Wars. Remember we still have the mission pack in November...and Hard Mode for GW:EN. I also doubt those will be the only additions to the game between now and GW2...
I've done this several times...Guild Wars is like any game you buy that doesn't have a monthly fee...so you can set it down and come back when you feel like it.
Sure there are probably a few leaving for good...but I bet the majority are just taking a break until either GW2 or when new stuff is introduced to Guild Wars. Remember we still have the mission pack in November...and Hard Mode for GW:EN. I also doubt those will be the only additions to the game between now and GW2...
Jamison0071
My guild is going quite well right now and my alliance is also still very active. Things seem fine on my end...
Crom The Pale
The number of players in any game are highest when it is first released or when some large change/event takes place.
These numbers tend to fall after the game has been established for a few years and the content is no longer new.
Those that played the orriginal Prophicies over and over again before Factions was released are likely still playing. Many people quite before factions came out just becasue they beat the PvE storyline and did not like PvP so they felt there was nothing to do. Some came back with the release of Factions but I would guess over all we recieved new players with Factions and Nightfall.
Now that we know no knew content is coming for GW once you complete GW:EN you have 3 choices. PvP, titles or redue everything with a new class or guildies. Since most have already been through 3 chapters with multiple chars not many chose to take more than 1-2 into GW:EN.
These numbers tend to fall after the game has been established for a few years and the content is no longer new.
Those that played the orriginal Prophicies over and over again before Factions was released are likely still playing. Many people quite before factions came out just becasue they beat the PvE storyline and did not like PvP so they felt there was nothing to do. Some came back with the release of Factions but I would guess over all we recieved new players with Factions and Nightfall.
Now that we know no knew content is coming for GW once you complete GW:EN you have 3 choices. PvP, titles or redue everything with a new class or guildies. Since most have already been through 3 chapters with multiple chars not many chose to take more than 1-2 into GW:EN.
Molock
My friend list is rather dead nowadays.. I used to see everybody on it at least three time a week.. now I only see two of them maybe once a week. So ya, the more experienced players are leaving.. some of them anyway. There just isn't anything to do now.
BoredJoe
Personally I think it will be good if players play less or take a big break before GW2. The last thing GW2 needs is a large number of jaded players from GW who've spent 2 years title grinding, bitching and moaning in GW2 from day 1.
Angelic Upstart
My guild went from 25 to 3 members within a month of Factions being released, they have pretty much all defected to WoW, but there are still three of us keeping the faith. 
Also as mentioned earlier my freinds list is decimated i hardly see any one on it playing now.
Also as mentioned earlier my freinds list is decimated i hardly see any one on it playing now.
Matfei
40k MMO? Never heard a scratch of that.
Warhammer FANTASY MMO yes, now that I'm looking forward too (we'll see how much subscription costs...)
As for GW. It's extremely boring lately and has been since three months after factions IMO.
Only log in to it now to talk to friends who I dont have on IM. Might give Tabula Rasa a go...
Warhammer FANTASY MMO yes, now that I'm looking forward too (we'll see how much subscription costs...)
As for GW. It's extremely boring lately and has been since three months after factions IMO.
Only log in to it now to talk to friends who I dont have on IM. Might give Tabula Rasa a go...
Hyper.nl
Hm, our guild was vandalised yet again and continues on now with less members and less faction than we used to have. Some real-life issues may be involved as well. But as relatively new player (1 year) there is still a lot to do for me, like the high-end area's.
Racthoh
My PvE guild is being populated with PvPers recently, says something about the state of the competitive aspect of the game huh? 
glountz
Guilds die. That's their final destiny.
I have been in 4 different guilds in two years until I settle mine. People will leave it is obligatory. The thing is that if you don't recruit to replace people quitting your guild will dying. There's no "oh now we're 150, no worry about recruitment".
You have to recruit always and recruit reliable people.
I have been in 4 different guilds in two years until I settle mine. People will leave it is obligatory. The thing is that if you don't recruit to replace people quitting your guild will dying. There's no "oh now we're 150, no worry about recruitment".
You have to recruit always and recruit reliable people.
Dr Strangelove
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Matfei
Might give Tabula Rasa a go...
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As for Guild Wars, my current guild and alliance seem to be growing at a steady rate, while every guild I was in before struggled to keep a few people online at a time. There actually are a surprising number of new players coming in, and not all of them starting with prophecies either. A lot of the reason it feels like a ghost town now is that everyone uses heroes and henchies. It's just not worth the trouble to PuG most of the time.
garethporlest18
Some people from my Flist actually came back so that was cool. I play sometimes, but I'm happy to have other games to play cause Guild Wars gets really boring. Especially doing the same content with 10 chars, I don't even bother.
Str0b0
Well without a monthly fee people don't feel compelled to play as often or as much. that's one great feature of Guild Wars. If you don't feel like playing you can just put it down without feeling like you're getting shafted because you paid for a month already. At this point in the game a lot of the players who have been playing since it went live are just at a loss for things to do. they have likely made one of each character type,played through multiple campaigns with one or more of those characters and well the only other things left are titles and the like which requires a lot of grinding, which keeps some people interested but I know I find it tedious. I grind for titles only when I'm really really bored.
I know it is not at all uncommon for me to put the game down for a month or more and then come back to it. I don't think this is anything to be overly concerned about.
I know it is not at all uncommon for me to put the game down for a month or more and then come back to it. I don't think this is anything to be overly concerned about.
Shuuda
All games die, no matter how good they are, they get boring sooner or later. Nothing lasts forever, that's the end of the story really.
Etta
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Shuuda
All games die, no matter how good they are, they get boring sooner or later. Nothing lasts forever, that's the end of the story really.
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You can't play just 1 game forever. Unless it's one of those stupidity addictive games on DS. There are load of great games coming out as well, both for PC and consoles.
I'm still playing GW and enjoying it but I put in less ans less time now. When I'm happy with the HOM for my ranger and paragon I'll stop, or maybe if I can be arse maxing out another 4 titles for that rainbow bird thing.
Abedeus
My alliance is almost dead (just like 2 old alliances), good that my guild has reborned. Few weeks ago there was 1 leader, 3 offs (me ;p) and 15 members, few inactive (maybe 5 of them). Now we have about 27 members, so online there are usually 6-8 people. Too bad that only Vanquishing is left for me in Guild Wars, because this is the only thing where skill > time is still alive...
If I will finish vanquishing, I'm off to Quake Wars again.
If I will finish vanquishing, I'm off to Quake Wars again.
odly
I feel there is a decline as well.
I think that's why Anet joined the american and european communities.
These threads won't tell us wether or not it's real though.
Anet however should know.
They never published statistics about concurrent online users. It would be interesting to see graphs about that and the impact of milestones on it. (new chapters, the advent of HM, etc..)
But I don't expect them to release numbers. 3-4-5-... million copies sold, thats nice for them, but it might well be the same players each time. It says nothing about the number of players. I have 2 accounts, 5 chapters in total + eotn on one. So I'm probably worth 6 copies sold or something like that. I have several extra character slots as well as the Goty upgrade and pre-releases of factions, nightfall and eotn.
What would be interesting is to know how many people actually play.
-concurrent players
-total ammount of hours played by all players weekly,monthly
Anyway, yes I know some people who left, because after essentially playing one game for 2 years they wanted to do something else. I've been feeling like that myself as well. Maybe one of these days I'll take a prolongued break.
I think that's why Anet joined the american and european communities.
These threads won't tell us wether or not it's real though.
Anet however should know.
They never published statistics about concurrent online users. It would be interesting to see graphs about that and the impact of milestones on it. (new chapters, the advent of HM, etc..)
But I don't expect them to release numbers. 3-4-5-... million copies sold, thats nice for them, but it might well be the same players each time. It says nothing about the number of players. I have 2 accounts, 5 chapters in total + eotn on one. So I'm probably worth 6 copies sold or something like that. I have several extra character slots as well as the Goty upgrade and pre-releases of factions, nightfall and eotn.
What would be interesting is to know how many people actually play.
-concurrent players
-total ammount of hours played by all players weekly,monthly
Anyway, yes I know some people who left, because after essentially playing one game for 2 years they wanted to do something else. I've been feeling like that myself as well. Maybe one of these days I'll take a prolongued break.
Abbel Calima
My friendlist seems rather dead, they never seem to be online anymore.. As for the alliance, it's still very active but our total guild members dropped from 100 tot 70 due to inactivity by some members. 
Roo Ella
I have been in a few guilds over the years that either died from poor running or other things
last guild i was in had around 65 to 70 members at it's peek and was well run but it also died
about a month ago from inactive players.
Now I'm just in a guild of 1
last guild i was in had around 65 to 70 members at it's peek and was well run but it also died
about a month ago from inactive players.
Now I'm just in a guild of 1
Longasc
Reasons for a decline in player activity?
1.) GW is an old game
We already played GW for years by now. We just did everything already. See also 3.), some might not be willing to collect weapons and titles for their HoM till 2009.
2.) Other games
Other mothers have pretty daughters, too
3.) Game design changes
We got many improvements, but some were not for the better. GW nowadays is a lot more about title hunt and focusing on one char than it ever was. The issue is, while all those titles keep me going to some degree, GW is by far no longer as casual as it was. This might make people say "why not play a standard mmo" when focus on one char gives you benefits and playing this char for a long time gives more and better skills.
4.) No more content expected
GW2 has been announced, the "all devs are working hard on GW2" card is often played and besides the mission bonus pack we will not get much more new content. Basically, we got not really much content with GW:EN, basically what was leftover from the originally planned Chapter IV. A lot of unfinished business and vast empty areas on the Tyria map. I find this quite heartbreaking!
But no worries, many people will at least try out GW2 when it is released. And GW was meant to be a "casual" game, which is not really is anymore IMO, so people are not expected to play nonstop 24/7 till they finally quit. The idea was people quit, come back, quit, come back ... the problem might be, not all will come back. But as ANet does not collect monthly fees, it does not matter to them until the playerbase gets alarmingly thin.
1.) GW is an old game
We already played GW for years by now. We just did everything already. See also 3.), some might not be willing to collect weapons and titles for their HoM till 2009.
2.) Other games
Other mothers have pretty daughters, too
3.) Game design changes
We got many improvements, but some were not for the better. GW nowadays is a lot more about title hunt and focusing on one char than it ever was. The issue is, while all those titles keep me going to some degree, GW is by far no longer as casual as it was. This might make people say "why not play a standard mmo" when focus on one char gives you benefits and playing this char for a long time gives more and better skills.
4.) No more content expected
GW2 has been announced, the "all devs are working hard on GW2" card is often played and besides the mission bonus pack we will not get much more new content. Basically, we got not really much content with GW:EN, basically what was leftover from the originally planned Chapter IV. A lot of unfinished business and vast empty areas on the Tyria map. I find this quite heartbreaking!
But no worries, many people will at least try out GW2 when it is released. And GW was meant to be a "casual" game, which is not really is anymore IMO, so people are not expected to play nonstop 24/7 till they finally quit. The idea was people quit, come back, quit, come back ... the problem might be, not all will come back. But as ANet does not collect monthly fees, it does not matter to them until the playerbase gets alarmingly thin.
-Loki-
You can't play a game forever, you eventually lose interest. People are losing interest and leaving regularly. But there's nothing to wow the crowds and bring new people in. So the population is shrinking from old players leaving, but not growing from new players joining.
roperratt
When I started playing 2 years ago there were 10 guys from where I work playing the game. I am the last one standing.
Antheus
Quote:
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Originally Posted by -Loki-
You can't play a game forever, you eventually lose interest. People are losing interest and leaving regularly. But there's nothing to wow the crowds and bring new people in. So the population is shrinking from old players leaving, but not growing from new players joining.
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I mean, really new - those who bought the Prophecies for the first time two days ago.
They'll be at end of campaign in a month, perhaps.
That's why they don't get noticed. It'll be months before some of them will be noticed.
Keithark
Most people I know stopped playing as much when they put in the loot scaling, that was a big deal that alotof people in my old guild didn't like. It is also what took me from PvE to PvP. I still will go to PvE if I want a skin like a green or something but other than that I stay away. I am going to have to find some way to et some gold though because now in a new guild and we need some npc's
wilebill
I just saw a "Is WoW Dying" thread over on the official WoW forums. Same symptoms reported, guilds shrinking, friends lists going inactive, etc.
So, maybe it is partly the time of year. Nice weather.
As Christmas approaches, I'll bet both GW and WoW see an upswing in people online.
So, maybe it is partly the time of year. Nice weather.
As Christmas approaches, I'll bet both GW and WoW see an upswing in people online.
Kusandaa
I thought about quitting or taking long breaks a few times; starting to lack goals. I've always been PVE so I might start PVPing... the problem is that I don't have a lot of friends that can get me in groups, so starting will be hard. I can always try to get my main character I'm Very Important and up but I never feel like mapping and I wish my friends would finally start to do Nightfall HM.
I guess I'm slowly losing interest, which is a bit sad but understandable. I'm saying this and in a week I'll be deciding to get some expensive items and will be back into farming like nuts, or deciding to get UAX or start HA... but until then I'm going to get my monk through Nightfall I think. I get bored of doing campaigns over and over. =_=.
I guess I'm slowly losing interest, which is a bit sad but understandable. I'm saying this and in a week I'll be deciding to get some expensive items and will be back into farming like nuts, or deciding to get UAX or start HA... but until then I'm going to get my monk through Nightfall I think. I get bored of doing campaigns over and over. =_=.
Big_Iron
I've noticed a steady decline in people actually playing in my Alliance. Virtually no one on my friend's list logs on anymore. I, myself, don't play anywhere near as much. Really, for me, it's just the "been there, done that" mentality. With the previous campaigns, I'd play through them over and over again with all my chars. With GW:EN I played though it once and just kind of feel "done." I don't have a desire to play through it again with my other characters. I'll log in with the char I completed it with and maybe do a dungeon or farm points for a little while, but it just doesn't hold my interest like it used to. And with Orange Box coming out tomorrow and UT3 coming out in November, I'll probably log on even less than I do now.
fireflyry
The cause and effect of technological advancement at it's most simple.
We are in limbo before the next wave of installments in the world of MMO.
Analogy:How many people play PSOne or NES consoles anymore?
Decline in numbers is inevitable as no game is infinite in terms of enjoyment and longevity.I have also found many guildies were just to gutted with GWEN and left in disgust.
Oh well.
We are in limbo before the next wave of installments in the world of MMO.
Analogy:How many people play PSOne or NES consoles anymore?
Decline in numbers is inevitable as no game is infinite in terms of enjoyment and longevity.I have also found many guildies were just to gutted with GWEN and left in disgust.
Oh well.