This game still worth playing?

Hello all,

I used to be a very avid fan of Guild Wars back in the day, and I stopped playing a little more than 2 years ago. It's all a bit fuzzy, but I mained a warrior in PvE using some Dragonslash SY! build with triple necro, and played mesmer in PvP.

Anyway, I was watching some GW2 trailers and got super excited, and thought I might want to dabble in GW1 again. What has changed in the last 2 years? I remember ANet implementing the daily Zaishen challenges or something before I quit, anything since then? Has the community in the game gone to hell and are people only using heroes now, or is PuG-ing still possible? Are there still active PvE and/or PvP guilds?

And somewhat on topic, I bought an Everlasting Yuletide Tonic right before I quit, is that worth like a bajillion ectos now? Or nothing at all? :P

Thanks

A quick browse of the Q&A forums would pretty much answer most of your questions, but quickly:
* They added a slew of content in Tyria called the War in Kryta (and the solo-only followup, Hearts of the North). It's challenging and rewarding and definitely worth playing.
* They're just about to give us the next batch of free GW:Beyond content in Winds of Change, either this week (hopefully) or next, it is speculated. This one will be in Cantha, and it'll be bigger than the WiK apparently.
* We still have the Zaishen bounties; they've added daily Vanquish bounties too.
* They added a "meet-up" zone called Embark Beach that gets some use for PUG formation. It's better than it used to be, at least, but don't expect to be able to grab a PUG whenever you want for anything. Guilds and friends are still the best bet for playing with other players consistently. There are still tons of active guilds, some recruiting on this forum.
* They gave us 7 heros, finally. Amazingly, some people still PUG, most still use the AI, just as it was before the 7 hero update. Also: mercenary heroes if you want even more customization (for $$).
* We've gotten a bit of new content for some holidays, though not all. Halloween in particular got a bunch of new quests.

To sum up: the biggest content patches have been the free GW:Beyond stuff, and you're coming in right when they're about to release the third installment. Luckily you don't need to play the first two to play the third, so you can play WoC with everyone else (and there WILL be tons of PUG-ing when this content is released, I guarantee it) and then go back and do the WiK stuff later. They're apparently only tenuously connected story-wise.

Only if you like solo play. It's no longer an MMO anymore. It's much easier to hero up and get on than to wait hours trying to find another human in the desolate outposts.

Even so, I still like playing.

No, the game is dead.
Like above, you will only play with heroes and henchies and your guild if they are even willing.

Thanks to heros playing with other people is almost impossible. So now the game is more like an Online-RPG. It can still be fun, if you like playing by yourself, if you like playing with real people it is now very frustrating.

FFS, I sometimes played with henchies only back in Prophecies, frequently at the start of Factions, and almost exclusively by the time Nightfall came around. Why does this inane belief that heroes caused the decline of PUGs persist?

To the OP: note two things. First, whether or not you PUG it, the WiK content is still fun and challenging, and it's still new for you. Second, like I said in my original post (because I knew this "the game is dead!" BS would crop up), I guarantee you that PUGing will be strong for the new Winds of Change content for at least the first week after release, and quite possible to do if you're so inclined for weeks afterwards. That's how it was with WiK.

It's amazing how alive this "dead" game will get whenever even the slightest new content is added (see: Halloween quests last year). A pseudo-expansion worth of content? People will be flooding back, I assure you.

Of course! Winds of Change is coming, and I have no problem finding a group, it's just that sometimes you can't trust other people, I rarely use heroes and henchmen!

Zaishen quests are pretty active for grouping. They're basically daily PvP, mission, vanquish, dungeon, and boss killing quests.

Some professions had some changes...mesmers and dervish.

The War in Kryta quests were quite active for months, but have died down quite a bit. People were doing them hard mode and the foes had some really amusing and diverse builds.

There are definitely some active guilds.

General PUGs still exist, however they're unlikely to be full groups unless it's an elite area.

The Mirror Of Reason [SNOW] is still around.

The game is still fun, but u will have trouble finding other people to adventure with. I did most of the game with henchmen years ago and continue to do it today with heroes. The new content is nice, but some parts are annoying (they are setting the stage for GW2 so there is a lot of long storytelling dialog going on). I didn't see anyone mention the Hall of Monuments which will give u items in GW2. This alone may give you incentive to play more of GW1 to work on titles and other things.