2 Million Purchasers of Factions? Where are they then?

According to the links, and AN, they have sold over 2 million copies of factions (and chapter 1). Ok, that is just great for them, etc. But as I am standing in say, jade quarry, or gyala hatchery, trying to get a group for the mission, or watching the countdown timer cycle endlessly.. I have to wonder.. where-tf are these 2 million people...Oh wait.. they must all be farming.

I hear people complaining about the lack of motivation, or people in the chapter 1 districts trying to find groups for missions, and with factions only having been out a little while, and it's already like this.. what is it going to be like when the next chapter comes out?

The upcoming dragon event is a sign of arena nets lack of interest as far as it comes to keeping people interested in pve content that already exists in the game. Yay, a dragon mask, cute, and sure, I'll go after a few for my characters, but in all honesty.. I didn't pay 50 dollars for chapter one, and 70 dollars for chapter two for flipping masks and a 6 day farming festival for the next 'candy canes' or 'spiked eggnog'

It is funny that the only districts that are ever full or occupied, are the trading districts. Too bad I can't gather a party for the jade quarry or aspenwood there.

I can't wait until nwn2 comes out X.X

Because all 2 million accounts will be on the same time.

Because time zones don't exist either.

Because people play GW 24/7/365 and live off IV's.

Because all areas are so active that you never have to wait for a group.

Wait...

This is reality. Scratch the afore mentioned stuff.

Well, I bought three copies of Factions for myself and family members, but for whatever reason, we just can't seem to get into it like we did Prophesies.

Just because 2 million have been sold dosen't mean those 2 million still play the game...wowo, people Stop playing ya know?

Hmm. I have one character completed the game, another closing in on it... but those damned ABs keep pulling me from what I'm trying to do...

Only really seen problems in Jade Quarry as far as people. For some reason people are avoiding a really fun environ.

As for where is everyone? Well, last night at the Monastery there were some 15 districts populated about 11PM Pacific time, so there's a small bunch there, not counting the rest of the continent and Tyria.

Consider that multiple purchases by an individual count as individual units as well. I've only purchased one Prophecies and one Factions... that's two units sold there.

People are playing, just not necessarily where you are. Been to ToA lately? How's the crowd there? (I haven't been back since Factions started...)

dont forget europe, japan, korea etc, theyre at different districts in their area. (they dont have american districts) and add america.. boom 2 million yay


PS: Jade Quarry has no 1 in it try aspenwood

I think the above poster was talking about the alliance battles u get from the guy in your guild hall where you seemd to be talking about aspeenwood/jade quarry. I know i personaly don't play aspeenwood/jade quarry as i find it alot more fun teaming up with 3other friends in AB then i do getting paird up with a bunch of random ppl. As for missions ill always take henchies over ppl as henchies move at your pace they don't rush/whine/bitch/etc like some pugs. Only time i actually get in a grp is for quests(somtimes) or if a friend/guildie wants to come along.

It's funny you should ask.. I happened to meander through TOA the other day to buy ectos and it was 5 districts with 1-3 full. I thought, 'wow, we must have favour' wrong. It was a ton of people literally standing around waiting for favour. I couldn't believe it. Turns out, america was 3 wins away and this was all these people had to do....

Firstly, thank you.. and I agree that it is very difficult to see all this game has to offer, due to lack of participation. I haven't even gotten to do Jade Quarry on any of my characters and frankly, it dissapoints me as well, because I have fun doing fort aspenwood when available, and I hear jade is supposed to be better >.<

Jade Quarry is dead because they made Fort Aspenwood give an unbalanced'ly higher faction reward for the time.

Other point: Not all Avid PvErs are in an XoO guild - because I'm not

back to the main point: the total sold number is alittle misleading. The online game Runescape has over 6million accounts, and at the height of the day maybe 150,000 at most is on - 90% of which are in the "popular" areas and farming - just like Guild Wars.

Elona Reach ID1

Consider yourself lucky to not be able to play those things...
Aspenwood itself for example, Kurzick can't win. I have the numbers, the observations and theories and everything. But I never posted them on any forums because I expected replies like the ones you got.

I'll just put it here and hide...

After 45 Aspenwood battles, the win loss:

Both teams have an equal amount of players
Kurzick wins: 0
Luxon wins: 15


The Luxon team has more leeches or leavers than the Kurzick team(Minimum 2 player difference)
Kurzick wins: 14
Luxon wins: 5


The Kurzick team has more leeches or leavers than the Luxon team (Minimum 2 player difference like 4 vs 6 or 6 vs 8)
Kurzick wins: 0
Luxon wins: 8

Inconclusive: I didn't know exactly who was where and what was going on.. too much confusion and inablity to figure out who has less people.
Kurzick wins: 1
Luxon wins: 2



Notes:
- I don't care if one side has 1 guy less than the other side. The difference usually isn't that big then. However, with 2 people less, you see a major change in gameplay. When there are leeches on the Luxon side.. with 2 people less, Luxon still wins. With 3 people less, I still saw luxon win.

- With 8 vs 8, Kurzick NEVER wins.


... The reason i don't post this anywhere is because it proves that all those builds people posted so far.. are useless.
The numbers would piss people off. Think about it. Bonders on the gates.. who cares, you're losing anyway. The only times Kurzicks can win is when the Luxons don't show up.
This gives people the illusion that their builds kick ass while in fact, they're really just laming it.

When I play on Luxon side and inform the Kurzicks that we have 3 people less, they tell me to stfu and that I suck and the Luxons are Suxons. (I'm normally a Kurzick)
After the Kurzicks win, I map to the Kurzick fort aspenwood and see them cheering and sharing builds and talking about how effective they are and how much the Luxons suck.


The numbers prove that neither side sucks but the map itself is complete crap.
Wins are determined by how many people leech/leave. NOT by builds, NOT by skill.

This could be the reason why not many people play those areas. It doesn't matter what you do or how you do it. If luxons don't have leavers then Luxons cannot lose.
Also don't forget that PvP chars can't enter these missions. Only PvE chars. This results in people attempting to use farmingbuilds here.
You can't believe how many wammos have tried cyclone axing me to death... after they turned on mending and live vicariously... Do I look like a troll?

The gatebonders are an attempted farmingbuild too. Some guy made a thread about "Farming Aspenwood" and talked about strategies and crap...
Those threads are completely useless because it is all determined by 1 number: the amount of players on Luxon side.

Aspenwood and possibly jade quarry too, are inbalanced pvp intros for PvE players. You're frustrated that you can't enter it.. I'm frustrated that I can...

I go hide now..

Here's my mathematical equation:

2,000,000 purchasers = 1,000,000 factions + 1,000,000 prophecies


1,000,000 factions + 1,000,000 prophecies = Factions(500,000 bots + 500,000 ppl) + Prophecies(500,000 bots + 500,000 ppl)

Factions(500,000 bots + 500,000 ppl) + Prophecies(500,000 bots + 500,000 ppl) = Factions(500,000 bots + [250,000 ppl + 250,000 banned]) + Prophecies(500,000 bots + [250,000 ppl + 250,000 afk])

Therefore GW = 500,000 actual people, 250,000 banned, 250,000 afk, 1,000,000 bots.

The AFK's in AB is driving ppl away from AspenWood and Jade Quarry.

nice essay

nah congrats..you are 1 of the few ppl that posted something worth reading..

in euro winning aspenwood is quite common for kurzick, infact i've won it nearly everytime.

as for jade quarry, people are never there. theres about 1 run at a time atm
this is due to people going there seeing the no opposing party and then labeling it as abandoned and never returning

I also have never had a problem winning on the Kurzich side of Aspenwood ...at least twice a night and I only play 4 or 5 battles per night in Aspenwood.

But. I definitely agree that gyala and jade quarry are always empty when Im online. The only way I got my Rit through Gyala was using the bug and spending an hour pulling mobs. And I've still yet to play the Jade Quarry mission on either side....

The lack of any type of subscription fee makes people treat GW like its any other game. They play until they stop winning and then they put it on the shelf for awhile until they get bored with the latest FPS.

The lack of any type of subscription fee makes people treat GW like its any other game. They play until they stop winning and then they put it on the shelf for awhile until they get bored with the latest FPS.[/QUOTE]

got it in 1...the MMO for the "casual" gamer..things wont get better..prob get worse

This isn't another Factions sucks thread. This thread is actually interesting because in Aspenwood I have trouble finding opponents also. So where are they?

A lot of people probably bought the game and played it once or twice, then quit. Another bunch probably beat prophecies and stopped, and have no interest in buying Factions. The rest have exhausted GW:P and GW:F and are farming because everything else is boring to them.

For those who complain about no opposing party in Fort... you do know they only have a certain amount of games going on at once, right? I think it is about two matches, when one ends those who waited go in, and so on.

Luxons simply don't do Jade Quarry because their chances of winning are better in Ft. Aspenwood. In the few games I've played in Jade, Luxons have never even come close to winning a match (highest Luxon score was a 1, compared to Kurzick 10+). With all the leechers in Aspenwood, people would rather farm faction in AB or through repeatables.

1. people play at different times
2. people play in different parts of the world
3. not all of them play anymore
4. people go there when they need the mission, if nobody for some reason needs the mission,then nobodys there.

The upcoming dragon event is a sign of arena nets lack of interest as far as it comes to keeping people interested in pve content that already exists in the game.

Over the year GW has been online, they have added MANY things to the PVE world such as:

1. sorrows furnace/grenths footprint: introduction of green items
2. Kephket's Refugee, desert green.
3. Title system was introduced, titles like explorer lead people back to prophecies to go to places they had never been to.
4. contests for people to have their custom items put into the game
5. items put into areas previously unused except for a quest or 2 (EXAMPLE:the falls)

I dont know where you're getting your ideas that they dont care, because they add a lot of stuff. This isnt wow where they get a million dollars a month to keep adding quests and areas.

If you already have perfect gold weapon sets, 4 out of 5 of those are completely meaningless. For people who already went through Prophecies thoroughly, titles are also meaningless, except if you want to get drunkard or something (wow, what a complete waste of everything that is). If you've exhausted the PvE aspect of the game already, there's little else to do besides farming and PvP

greens were added to make the game more appealing to the "casual" weekend players...the greedy turned them into a market frenzy because lets face it no green is difficult to farm.

they all made 55 monks and are currently farming for money to sell on ebay

That is true...

That is true...

And more truth...

PvE people are treating these places as...well... PvE... When it really is mostly PvP, which PvP characters and PvE / PvP players will mostly win. Anet attempts to keep people into PvE and not just into farming or PvP... which also makes people post more how "god-like" skills can be when in PvE they're possibly only mediocre. Sorry you being in one of the largest guilds / alliances dosen't mean you want to play with them or shy of asking them to help you or play with affects your opinion. However, you may find fun in PuGs but not too many people will actually stay there, Anet also dosen't really own the money to give everything people want. You want more players, theres like HOW many servers and not to mention America, Europe, Korean are all differnt places which you can change to but only get so many limited to it.

I serriously don't know if I made any sense, it was those flames and the actual smart responses made me think and come up with something like this. Sorry if I flamed in your thread if I did. Just without that monthly fee Anet can't really give us everything we disire, like more people around the WORLD to play with you.

Deleted a boatload of flames/garbage to preserve the thread. Please, don't post garbage, express your anger on rubber squeeze toys.

You have to keep in mind that, only a certain amount of battles are allowed simutaneously for Aspenwood or AB.

"This is abosolutely ridiculous. I may not post on these forums a lot but I do however read through them everyday and i have realized something...and that is that people are constantly getting bashed for simply stating their observations. This usually comes from people either misreading the original posters commemts or sheer downright rudeness.

All shadowfell was doing was simply stating his observations and you all jumped all over him. He did no put down GW Chapter 1 or 2 in any way. All he stated was that he had concern that some areas seem to be devoid of many people and that he had concern for what the state of GW would be in the future regarding the number of players.

There was no reason to jump all over the post.

And yes, Shadowfell, to go back on topic, I agree with you 100%. It is frustrating that certain portions of the game that are new and interesting cant be played due simply to lack of players." -Courteous
How sadly true of the GWG community Courteous.

As for Demesis, DUDE YOU ROCK AT MATH! I'm proclaiming to all of the world that this equation be addressed as DEMESIS'S PHILOSOPHY OF GW for all of it's accurate detail =] Don Zardeone points out how gay AB is because of these stupid quitters and leeches. Shadowfell look, it's been stated that not everyone is on at the same time (time zones and also american vs euro vs korean dis) Also most people are basically farming or chest running (Naphui is NOTHING but chest runners im forced to do it with henchies) You just have to hope that you get a group and even that a GOOD group. Otherwise call up friends or do with henchies. OH BUT ANOTHER OPTION! Join my guild we're uber helpful =] (at least we're awfully active lol) But yes basically this is one of the reasons why i have not even tried to direct full focus on beating factions (the other half is b/c im so freakin lazy to wander through kurz or luxon territory with hench) With the different chapters coming out, players will be more and more spread out throughout the different chapters. All you can do is hope for the best. Well good luck lol

In response to "Where are the factions players":

I was going to post a new thread tonight to call out to the Guild Wars beta weekend event players. I'm curious about the numbers on factions play with this group of people, but I am quite positive a great majority of these original players have not put much effort into factions. It's got too much plot I believe. Very unenjoyable in the PvE aspect. The stuff that's been added to Guild wars from Sorrow's Furnace on they could have kept it all.

Well, I admitt, I was on of the people that took one look at Jade Quarry and labeled it abandoned. I guess now that I know the deal I will have to go back there and wait around 20 minutes to see if I can actually check it out. These days I have really been focusing on the explorer titles. I am doing Cantha first since it is smaller. Because of how people tend to treat the random person that will help with the quest or mission but needs to map the area, I would rather just use henchies.

Just because there are a few deserted areas does NOT mean there are a lack of players to account for some of the 2 million GW purchases.

I cant understand why you would talk about a deserted area such as Jade Quarry and use it as an example of how there's a lack of GW players. That's like someone living in a small town with a small population and saying that there's hardly anyone on the planet Earth.

As for complaining about not getting your money's worth from Factions...well that's your opinion. I guess if you prefer to pay a monthly fee to play something like WoW and feel like you're getting some value that's fine too. I honestly dont see why so many are so unhappy though...

And the people complaining about not winning Fort Aspenwood as a Kurzick? Wow. I thought the complaints would stop by now, especially with the high ratio of winning that I've experienced as a Kurzick on that map... And judging by the local chat, I'd say most agree that there is no problem winning as a Kurzick. No problem other than the AFK leechers of course.

Oh and this bears repeating: There are a limited amount of battles allowed in Fort Aspenwood/Alliance Battles. If you get a restart message it does not mean there is a lack of players!!!!!

You know what, you should start your own thread on your observation instead of posting that here.

Anyways, I can't agree with you more. I've spent a lot of time playing on both the Luxon and Kurzick side in Fort Aspenwood and the amount of time the Kurzicks got PWNED is just sad. They should fix this mission to make the Kurzick side stronger because it's definitely unbalanced right now.

Yes I know not everyone likes the titles, not everone likes the greens, they cant please everyone, you're missing my point which was they keep changing PVE.

For Your Information (FYI) 2 Million sold WORLDWIDE, including Japan, and Korea, and considering America to be big, and most populated I would say maybe 500K people bought it, and 1/2 them, quit because I started a guild and 95% of people gone for months, so decided to join another guild. So I would say, emmm, 100K still play, and about 25K on at once.

You know, i thought a bit about the Aspenwood and Quarry Situation. The reason for me to stay away from those are the folks leeching faction which at times can be just as much as 4 People. It's just not funny if you login and instantly notice 4 names and just know - they're afk.
And as long as there is nothing against this kind of behaviour in the EULA, people are free to keep on doing this. And honestly, they just do it. As long as nothing is done about afk leeching, people will leave Aspenwood/Quarry behind.

And another problem is the standard message you get "No opposing party". People normally just wait for 5 minutes and then get tired and leave. I guess if the message was a bit more precise than people would be waiting longer. Sort of like:

"There are 91 People on the Luxon Side waiting to enter, 52 on the Kurzick Side. You're number 19 and will get a team assigned in 3 matches."
"There are 89 People on the Luxon Side waiting to enter, 53 on the Kurzick Side. You're number 11 and will get a team assigned in 2 matches."
"The next starting team will be yours. The next match will start in xx seconds. Good luck and have fun."

Would really help to keep people interested in these kind of things.

Here is a smiple answer rpg players don't like to pvp! forced pvp on rpg player and nerfs to add on top of it! Pissed of players leave!

there are a vast amount of styles in regards to gameplay, GvG, HA, RA, TA, AB, Random AB, and then there's PvE Proph and PvE Factions, this is not taking into account the many other factors mentioned by the posters above.

I like your decision amity and truth, something like that would help considering the some sides in AB's consists of more active players than the other party at times, if they were to do something like that it should be a simple msg, that is just too much info, for example "You have joined the queue, position XX of XX"

Here's my take

2,000,000 purchasers started playing

-500,000 (people who think the prophecies expansion pack is terrible and left)
-200,000 (people who are bored)
-100,000 (people who have finished the game and realize there is nothing else to do)
-20,000 * number_of_nerfs (perople who leave each nerf)
-500 (people who have been banned)

-----------
100 (grand total amount of people playing at any given time)

There is no cap on how many battles can go on. I got this from a trusted source. As long as there is 8/12 people on your side and 8/12 people on their side you will be matched up!

(8/12 = FtAspenwood & Jade Quarry/AB)