Update - Thursday, March 25, 2010

Try dis 1 when your doing a screenshot

What irritates me most of all is going to Deadlore Shrine ( <Not a typo) now, at what used to be the busiest time of day, seeing only one Am Eng d1, with a mind-blowing 23 players in it. I started to worry.

I then went around to all of the other haunts that folk frequent, and they haven't really changed at all. You may ask, "How do you know that the people aren't there?" to which I would just reply that I knew the majority of the runners that used to frequent Deadlore, and a great many of the frequent flyers(Customers) as well. I've seen a couple of both here and there, but as far as I can see, most of them are MIA.

What I would like to know is, if they aren't in Deadlore, and they aren't in any of the other popular places, then where the hell did they go? Obviously we'll probably never know, but I for one would dearly love to get my hands on a list of player numbers both pre and post-nerf, just to see how badly (or not) the recent nerf-fest has impacted the playerbase.

Anyone else just the slightest bit curious?

ANet would not release such numbers unless they either showed an increase or could be spun in such a fashion as to indicate an increase. Therefore, even if the numbers were published we could not guarantee they were the truth.

Not publishing the numbers also cannot be taken as admission that levels have dropped either.

I too am curious, but we just won't know 'officially'.

Everyone who hasn't quit the game is obviously playing by themselves (more profit) instead of sitting around spamming for runners. Which is where the majority of GW has always been, and it's silly to draw generalizations about the population at large when the miniscule running pop is hit by a running nerf.

DoA has become more populated lately.

Simple, when Anet swung the nerf bat at SF sins and missed and hit 600 monks instead, places like Deadlore Shrine (great name!) and other eotn towns became vacant. Now all those 600's quit or switched over to SF sins and joined speedclearing groups in TOA or DOA or Frog runs or Shards runs or {you name it speed clearing runs} because SF is still the best way to make the big money in sc guilds/groups. 600's and the people that enjoyed socializing, as their gaming experience, while being run are the only ones who suffered. Hence ghost towns like Deadlore Shrine. Ha ha... the name still kills me.

Mostly by guild groups that switched over from UWSC, since difficulty does not apply to them DoASC is now the best option for guilds to earn the most $$$.

When it comes to pug areas however, I haven't been able to get a decent group going since the nerf. I was able to get some average groups and stumble through UW, but it was not worth it to get 2-3 ectos for 4hrs+ runs, so I avoid the area now.

The only thing I do now in GW is solo farm, Z quests, and occasionally a high end clear with guild/alliance. (I already vanquished every area with over 6 characters, so no f**king thx)

The problem is ecto's are still too high. It will take a while before ecto prices start rising again, if at all. (Because I heard it's barely nerfed)

After a couple of months, ecto's could/should rise to 7-10K in value, then UW becomes a more viable farm.

Actually, DOA will be overfarmed, leading to armbraces for 20e. Everyone then runs to UW since DOA became worthless.