old play wanting to come back

Hey guys I bought guild wars when it first launched and played up until gw2 came out l. My account got hacked along with my email address which is with Microsoft. I cannot remember the security question for the email so there is no way of getting it back. I truly loved this game with a passion and never got bored of it! I heard rumors that it had crumbled and is a baron wasteland of a game. But part of me thinks that there must be other people out there who love the game as much as I do to keep the community thriving. The question I have for you guys is whether I should buy the game again. Its around £30 for all the expansions including EOTN. I really want to play this game again and I know it wont be like it was in its hay day but is it still active enough to still do speedclears, working economy, bustling alliances and etc. I don't have a big gaming rig just a standard mid range laptop that I know will run guild wars seeing as the laptop I had before when I played guildwars was a 7 year price of crap that ran on diesel! Hopefully I get some positive feedback

You may be able to recover your account if you contact support. Anet aren't interested in putting much effort into GW1 these days but account recovery is one area they (apparently) prioritise. If all you're missing is the security question (character name) then all you'll probably need are your CD keys and some personal info.

If that doesn't work out and you're interested in playing (and you don't have other interests competing for that 30 pounds), then buying a new account I think is worthwhile. Do realise though, that the only people that still frequent GW1 fansites are hardcore fans, so yes is probably the only answer you're going to get. As far as activity goes, you generally won't find people looking to do random bits of content. Instead, people tend to be focused on certain things - there are daily missions and such, trading centers (Kamadan), etc, which focus the playerbase. It's recommended to join a guild that suits your needs so that even if there's no one interested in doing what you're doing, there's still a presence. Having said that, GW runs just fine as a single player game. Anet have made changes to ensure that declining activity won't compromise peoples ability to play the game. For example, being able to use seven heroes means that the game is easier and has a much greater capacity for creating builds. In any case, stick to the american districts. Most people are there.

I disagree about only hardcore fans playing. I see new players all the time in the game. And casual players too.

Since you can now use 7 heroes the last couple of years instead of just 3 in your party slots a lot of people play solo now. So there are still quite a few left in the game. Just not wandering around in outposts looking for PUGs like the old days. Which is why it might appear on the surface that there are so few "playing". But in fact they are playing, just not standing around.

I have the slowest and oldest computer in the world and still get by in this game somehow. Takes forever to spawn anywhere for me but otherwise okay enough. That's the beauty of GW1.

As you know, join a guild and also add to friends list. A decent guild or alliance plus a good friends list is all you need in the game anyway and you have more than enough people to play with socially. More friends + less annoying jerks standing around in towns acting out = a better game now imho.

American zones of Kamadan and pre-searing Ascalon are best places to look for guilds. Kamadan American Zone is the regular game hub for trading and other stuff now. Embark Beach you may still find some old-fashioned PUGs forming based on the Z Mission of the day etc. And also a place to ask about guilds as well.

Good luck to you. You definitely get your money's worth with this game even now.

Thanks for the insights guys I really appreciate the help ������!! I have one more question for you, is there still any hardcore speedclear alliances out there? I used to love speed clearing and creating and optimizing farming builds. Also I think its put the question but I used to have a map running business on the game but I think that will be out the question seeing as everyone will be in missions ect. Oh and I've found the game cases but no cards at all :S

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Thanks for the insights guys I really appreciate the help

I've never been into speed clearing but I do hear that there are still alliances out there doing it. I have an in game friend that likes to guild hop and occasionally hops into various speed clearing guilds now and again when he feels the need to faction farm or farm certain dungeons. So I know they are still around.

Go to Kamadan and ask about it maybe? Or maybe someone reading here will see your post. Check out some old posts -- but not ultra old -- in the Guild/Alliance recruitment section of this forum too. Sometimes speed clearing guilds recruit that way here. Or you can post there as well.

If you want to run people you could also advertise that service in Kamadan maybe. If not new people there are probably older players who don't want to take the time to run their 23rd character around EotN outposts to open them up themselves.