Constant Stream of Dots exiting both Ran Musu & Tsumei Village most of the weekend - Guild Wars Guru archive powered by Guild Wars Legacy

doomfodder

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jan 2007

farm

R/

06 Feb 2012 at 17:20 - 1

SO MANY players on for CNY

Ironic how I see oodles of posts about GW being a dead game. When an event like CNY comes around, there are DOZENS (over 100 in AM server alone) of districts for an event that rewards lucky/unlucky, a new mini pet, some sweets/booze/party items, summon stones, & an old festival hat...

I didn't count the hosted districts, but it was REAL easy to find one. Clearly thousands of players were on this weekend...

twas still unfortunate that many of the lunar token quests are/were run solo or with heros instead of human teams tho.... but I still enjoyed seeing the Constant Stream of Dots exiting both Ran Musu & Tsumei Village most of the weekend

enter_the_zone

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Nov 2007

R/

06 Feb 2012 at 18:22 - 2

Yeah, the problem is that these are the only time they are on and a lot of them are simply being used by people whose friends no longer play.

On the plus side, it's great to see so many guilds actively hosting.

Mayh3m

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Feb 2006

Montreal

Mind H A C K [OMG]

W/

06 Feb 2012 at 18:55 - 3

It was great weekend, the game really felt alive.

Venganza

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Feb 2011

Fire

06 Feb 2012 at 19:19 - 4

Quote:

Originally Posted by doomfodder

Clearly thousands of players were on this weekend...

Which is nothing.

Back in the day, there were craploads of districts in LA and most other towns perpetually.

Nowdays most outposts are barren, hell no groups forming in DOA even now, which speaks volumes.

KZaske

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Jun 2006

Boise Idaho

Druids Of Old (DOO)

R/Mo

06 Feb 2012 at 19:43 - 5

I don't think the game is "dead" it's just that most of those that want to play have nothing left to do. Unless of course you want to run yet another alt up to 30/50. It was very nice to see so many districts full of people and the number of districts that were being hosted.
This is the first year I and my wife chose not to host a district for our guild, I and my wife were the only members of our guild online the entire weekend.

Spiritz

Forge Runner

Join Date: Apr 2007

DMFC

06 Feb 2012 at 20:30 - 6

Quote:

Originally Posted by doomfodder

twas still unfortunate that many of the lunar token quests are/were run solo or with heros instead of human teams tho

The sad reason why - so many players when LFG BB ( as example ) were laughed at buy other players and rather than go thru all of that abuse they did solo.Quite a few times in ran masu i felt like telling those ppl to sod off and stop making comments and leave those ppl alone so they can form groups.Its no wonder players are reluctant to pug and some places now seem dead.

StormDragonZ

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jan 2008

New York

W/R

06 Feb 2012 at 21:33 - 7

Let's be honest.

THAT'S how many bots ravage GW right now.

/sarcasm

fireflyry

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Jan 2007

New Zealand

A/D

06 Feb 2012 at 21:55 - 8

It's a pity they don't do similar events on a more regular basis as opposed to <insert weekend bonus> over and over again.

Kind of shows how strong and populated this game could still be if a little more effort was made and such an event were held more often.

turbo234

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Sep 2006

WI

Mo/

06 Feb 2012 at 23:22 - 9

it is a dead game. people logging on for a holiday weekend doesn't change this.

nuclear_herring

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jun 2007

New Zealand

Impus Jaenellus (Imp)

R/Mo

07 Feb 2012 at 02:02 - 10

GW isn't dead, but it is in its death throes. It is to be expected and I for one have reached the end of the line as far as serious play is concerned. Don't get me wrong, I have played GW for the last 5 1/2 years (and I've never done that with any other game) but I would agree that a sudden influx of people loggin on for a long weekend doesn't prove much.
I farmed fortunes until I got my dragon. Then I stopped and gave the mini to my daughter, who was very grateful.

joea64

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Mar 2008

Northern VA, USA

Above and Beyond Duty (Duty)

Rt/Mo

07 Feb 2012 at 03:00 - 11

I've got to admit that most people who still play - and there's still a hard core of active players in my guild - are really now just building up their GW2 HoM scores for when the game finally, whenever, wherever, gets released. It's testament to how good this game is that it's still rumbling onward nearly 7 years after it was first released.

Raven Wing

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Nov 2005

The Imperial Guards of Istan [TIGI]

N/

07 Feb 2012 at 10:56 - 12

Dead game, definitely no. Less active than earlier, that is obvious. Simple as that.

drkn

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jan 2009

Wroc??aw, Poland

Midnight Mayhem

Me/

07 Feb 2012 at 11:00 - 13

It's quite worth noting that GW1 is, in fact, experiecing a surge of newcomers. It's not a big phenomenon, taken objectively, but given how old GW1 is, it's still noteworthy. Just take a look at the Q&A Guru threads, how many newcomers we have lately, especially when compared to 15-20 months ago. And, mind you, not every new player comes to Guru, not to mention registration and writing something.
The playerbase is not as big as during the first two years of GW's lifetime, but it's still big and active, and it still gets newcomers. Given GW is nearly seven years old, it's quite an achievement on its own.
Then again, it's not really the problem of small playerbase, but of its fragmentation. Loads of people just choose not to group with others and complete everything with heroes. More so, the division of the game onto PvE and PvP 'hurts' the playerbase when it comes to seeing a lot of people in one spot.

MithranArkanere

Underworld Spelunker

Join Date: Nov 2006

wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigo

Heraldos de la Llama Oscura [HLO]

E/

08 Feb 2012 at 00:44 - 14

Digital distribution keeps a very small but steady flow of new players.

Some are attracted by GW2, others just by sale prices. Every singly week there's a new post in Steam forums asking about the Trilogy or Eye of the North packages sold there, and every time it's on sale on Steam, Ascalon, Shing Jea and Kamadan gets quite some newbies asking all sorts of stuff.

GW may be a red dwarf now, but that's still a star.

Hanok Odbrook

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2005

Tyria

Real Millennium Group

Mo/N

08 Feb 2012 at 15:43 - 15

Quote:

Originally Posted by drkn

The playerbase is not as big as during the first two years of GW's lifetime, but it's still big and active, and it still gets newcomers. Given GW is nearly seven years old, it's quite an achievement on its own.
Then again, it's not really the problem of small playerbase, but of its fragmentation. Loads of people just choose not to group with others and complete everything with heroes. More so, the division of the game onto PvE and PvP 'hurts' the playerbase when it comes to seeing a lot of people in one spot.

Right - it didn't take long to figure out that Anet's original business plan wouldn't hold up, as the playerbase would reach an eventual plateau and be spread very thin. Just imagine if they stuck with it and we had 14 campaigns to play in right now!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by MithranArkanere

Digital distribution keeps a very small but steady flow of new players.

Some are attracted by GW2, others just by sale prices. Every singly week there's a new post in Steam forums asking about the Trilogy or Eye of the North packages sold there, and every time it's on sale on Steam, Ascalon, Shing Jea and Kamadan gets quite some newbies asking all sorts of stuff.

GW may be a red dwarf now, but that's still a star.

That pretty much sums it up. I don't follow too many other MMOs, but I know there are still a bunch out there that have been going as long or longer than GW because they have that dedicated core playerbase. This is what we are seeing in GW now - the dedicated core playerbase that plays regularly, then the supplementals that return for the special events. I seriously doubt any players in those other MMOs consider their game dead - no reason why we should either.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Venganza

Nowdays most outposts are barren, hell no groups forming in DOA even now, which speaks volumes.

That's only because they nerfed UB.

Hanok

Rhunex

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2005

Dark Nightmare

E/

11 Feb 2012 at 16:09 - 16

Quote:

Originally Posted by drkn

Loads of people just choose not to group with others and complete everything with heroes.

I think this has a lot to do with it. I'm one of the people who's soloing everything. I got tired of being rejected from 'elite' guilds for not having done the elite areas, and being accepted into guilds that will teach SCs and then they can't even clear the area with their core team of teachers. Finding competent people who are genuinely nice is time consuming, and I've been playing GW in bursts over the last couple of years(so, not a lot of time to waste). At one point I wanted to do all the elite areas, and now I have Urgoz and FoW completed, but for the one time I completed Urgoz, I was in at least 5 groups that failed miserably after being in the area for hours, and I did FoW solo as a SoS and with heroes because no one does a balanced FoW anymore(because it's so 'hard'?).

Right now I'm on my last burst of GW play. I'm going to use the CCs I have, top off my sweet, party, and alcohol tracks and then I'm done. I'll have GWAMM and 50/50 then. I'm done trying to find decent people who just want to do DoA, The Deep, or UW without being elitist snobs.

Kunder

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Nov 2010

11 Feb 2012 at 16:24 - 17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hanok Odbrook

Right - it didn't take long to figure out that Anet's original business plan wouldn't hold up, as the playerbase would reach an eventual plateau and be spread very thin. Just imagine if they stuck with it and we had 14 campaigns to play in right now!!

It wouldn't be a problem if it had been handled better (well, 14 campaigns would be a bit much, but another 5 wouldn't be impossible). The problem is that the separate campaign lines diverge into completely separate areas. Had the campaigns been interwoven (ala a super WiK/WoC addon), the player base would be much better concentrated. Also a global party search is/was desperately needed.

MithranArkanere

Underworld Spelunker

Join Date: Nov 2006

wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigo

Heraldos de la Llama Oscura [HLO]

E/

11 Feb 2012 at 23:35 - 18

Yeah. There's a lot of unused space in Prophecies in already existing areas.

And there's a lot of unused world map space in all 3 campaigns.

I really don't mind DLC systems in which you buy small extra portions of the content, like many Indie games have, as packs with new storylines, new sets of items, new armors and such.

What I don't like is having to pay for game content individually (e.g.: A single armor, a single weapon, a consumable, access to a single area) or by fees.

Eightace

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Feb 2012

16 Feb 2012 at 17:12 - 19

I'm just one of many who have returned to the game recently.
I played the game soon after release and got to level 19 but a m8 conned me into playing warcraft and i've only just been able to cancel.
I did install the game in the summer and played it for a few days but then something happened and i couldn't get back online with my login details.
Finally got the urge to get that sorted and bought factions,eotn etc.
It seems a lot busier than it was about august time.So i think yeah GW2 has got people excited.
To be fair i think its not doing badly considering how long its been out and it doesn't constantly change the same way warcraft does.