Curse

fenix · May 29, 2007, 02:33 PM // 14:33

There's also the fact that Hard Mode introduced Guardian and Vanquisher. So most likely, a lot of players are in missions doing Guardian, or in zones Vanquishing stuff. And considering there's 100 or so zones in the 3 chapters, there's a LOT of places for people to be.

reetkever · May 29, 2007, 02:33 PM // 14:33

What, you didn't think reducing the available freedom that once was in the game to zero would lead to more people playing the game?

I've predicted that this would happen from the moment Nightfall came out. People who liked to chest run? Most left. People who liked to do 5-man SF? Most left. People who liked to farm? Most left. People played the story for like 16 times? Most left.

Just see Guild Wars as an amusement park: The longer you're in it, and the more attractions you ride, the more boring it gets. However, A-Net is even fastening up this process by removing alot of attractions.

A theme park with 40 attractions doesn't get boring as fast as a theme park with 2 attractions.

And everytime A-Net nerfs something to death, another attraction is removed. Sure, the existing attractions sometimes get updated to seem more fun on the outside, but even when updated, you don't want to ride it all day long.

Ouchie · May 29, 2007, 03:06 PM // 15:06

I would have to say it's a different crowd playing, most of my friend's list and guild/alliance was active at the begining of HM but now barely log on, even lost hubby to LotR (I prefer GW myself) He only logs on once in awhile now if I bug him enough (sigh). However, the districts do seem to have more people in them than before, especially the Canthan elite missions.

Griff Mon · May 29, 2007, 03:18 PM // 15:18

It has changed. I got into several PUGs trying to get past one of the missions after you go into the Vortex in Nightfall. I am amazed these people got that far. No concept of aggro, party wipes both times as soon as we got into the mission. I could progress much further with Heros and Henchies. So, yea, people that know what they are doing or are capable of playing as a group have gone by the wayside, or at least seriously degraded.

Also, there are a lot of people in pre-searing going for the LDOA title. Pre-searing Ascalon has as many as 4 or 5 districts at a time. One guy on the presearing forum told the group he got banned and Anet told him it was because he was on-line too much (21 Hours average per day) and therefore had to be a bot.

He was putting in service tickets, and complaining hoping to get his account back. But if this is true, it would be kind of odd that Anet comes up with the LDOA title which can only be obtained by extended periods of AFK to allow for deathleveling times, and then banning you for attempting to get the title.

Theus · May 29, 2007, 03:26 PM // 15:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenix

Starcraft 2 = Death of GW/GW2 (depending on release). Lots of people will stop GW to play SC2 I imagine. Even so, GvG will be almost done shortly, unless things change, so people will want another form of Player vs Player game.

No.GuildWars was killed by Nightfall.

The Introduction of Heroes completely killed pugging, not to mention the skills introduced completely broke PvP.

Nightfall in general had a negative impact on GuildWars.

Etta · May 29, 2007, 03:49 PM // 15:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Theus

The Introduction of Heroes completely killed pugging,

And what so bad about it? Are you sure it was heroes and not idiot players that killed pug?

Brianna · May 29, 2007, 03:53 PM // 15:53

The problem is, people don't have to pug so they don't, if it was the only option people would do it more and *might* be better at it? who knows, people always Shun noobs but they should really adopt them and turn them into monsters, sharing experience is always a good thing, And personally i agree NF had a negative impact on the game in alot of ways, but also had a positive one in alot of ways to, it's kinda 50/50 for me.

apocalypse_xx · May 29, 2007, 04:10 PM // 16:10

I can't say for sure if there are less players, it sure feels that way anyways. One thing for sure is...most players seem to use HM for farming only as finding groups for any of the missions on any continent, is very tough to do...at any time of the day. I certainly don't blame heroes for the lack of groups either, since HM requires that you have at least finished the game once before when you do get into pugs they usually have far less trouble in HM as heroes do. IMHO

One other thing I can say is this, many of my ingame friends seem far less excited about GW:EN since we all know that in a way it is all for nothing, with GW2 on the horizon.

rista blodorn · May 29, 2007, 04:19 PM // 16:19

Still see plenty of people on but it's always hard to tell if there are actually more or less people then have played in the past. But I do agree with the comments that it's natural over time for people to get tired of a game and move on to other things. I can't think of any other game that I have played this much of for over a year and half so good job to ANET for creating such an interesting, complex beast. But ANET's future challenge will be to keep more people joining the game so that the player population base stays even with the rate of attrition. I would encourage them to spend more efforts on signing up new players.

MoldyRiceFrenzy · May 29, 2007, 04:33 PM // 16:33

i think most of the veteran players are getting bored and switching to other games since they've pretty much experienced everything. Alot of my friends have left guildwars already, possibly to return later when new content comes out or for good. I've been playing since the betas, but the only reason i keep playing is to hang with friends, im poor, and my internet sucks so i actually havn't experienced everything..(sigh).

fntmx1 · May 29, 2007, 04:44 PM // 16:44

I can't speak for everyone here, but I know why my girlfriend and I quit this game. I come back to check news, forums and updates, in hope that what made me quit has been fixed, removed, or something has been done to address it. I do this because I honestly loved playing this game. It -was- fun for me.

For my girlfriend, who dragged me into this game in the first place, she stopped playing because of the SR nerf. That isn't to say she didn't wait for the alleged fix that is "coming soon". It just hasn't come in time to salvage her interest in this game. She is also an avid farmer, because, let's be honest here, GW is a game of flashy things. Why have so many things that basically does the same thing, but look so much better than others? She didn't like the changes, so she stopped playing.

I too like to farm and buy pretty things, but with the economy going downhill, it's kind of hard to do, such that if I don't put in endless hours a week on trying to get money, I can't buy these things. But for the most part, I have what I want; 3 sets of FoW armor, bunch of highly desired skinned weapons, and things of the like. That having been said, there's very little to do in GW now. DOA? Urgoz? The Deep? HM? PvP? A lot of these areas are filled with either elitist asshole players who yells "NOOB" at any chance they get and just whine and bitch at any opportunity that presents itself, or on the opposite side of the spectrum, firestorm rangers whose builds are utter crap which makes you wonder how they made it that far in the first place. There's little in-between, and that gap in the player base is astounding. I see little effort, which is different than saying there is no effort, made to bridge this gap. Add that in with the heroes, and you have even less people to group with to do something.

I'm not trying to blame one side or another, ANet or the players, elitists or "noobs". I'm merely stating that this is what I've observed, what I've personally experienced. I'm speaking for no one but myself (and a bit for my girlfriend I suppose), but I would suggest to who aren't content with the game to move on. Complaining won't help bring ANet any closer to solutions, but on the other hand, players shouldn't play something that doesn't bring them happiness. It's a game after all. With that philosophy in mind, I've stopped playing Guild Wars in hope that some day I can return. And if not, well there's always other games to fall back on.

lyra_song · May 29, 2007, 04:57 PM // 16:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by reetkever

I've predicted that this would happen from the moment Nightfall came out. People who liked to chest run? Most left. People who liked to do 5-man SF? Most left. People who liked to farm? Most left. People played the story for like 16 times? Most left.

I call shenanigans. :P

Speak for yourself, or at least document that this is from people you know or first hand experience.

You speak as if you are telling facts.

Silly Warrior · May 29, 2007, 08:30 PM // 20:30

I haven't really noticed a change much. Its just logical to think that more people are going to be on Saturday afternoon than Sunday at 3 AM. I frequently play long into the night when I'm not busy, and yes, people log out because its late.

I'd say that if anything, the population of active players is going to GROW during this summer, and of course with the release of GW:EN. Don't fret about it, all games have their ups- and downs, perhaps this is the time.

uxxmall · May 29, 2007, 08:58 PM // 20:58

HA sucks so bad , GVG sucks , RA suck TA suck , PVE sucks , Elite mission suck.....this game sucks

WARPATh · May 29, 2007, 09:59 PM // 21:59

People is tired of the same content and the grinding, its a PVP game that lack of style and new content. The only "big improvements" since the release are :

Big Storage + Material Storage
Heros
Double Faction Weekends
Events

Droniac · May 29, 2007, 10:56 PM // 22:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by lyra_song

GvG is a fine pvp gametype, but yes i do agree we need more PvP gametypes.
We need something in lines of "Assault" mode in UT2004....
Maybe escort/ambush type matches.

Oh yes - Fort Koga (E3 Event players will know what I'm talking about) ftw! Just reintroducing that kind of map would greatly boost PvP fun to be honest, it was a great concept. Ok so it's not exactly like UT2004 Assault, but it had the same kind of atmosphere going for it. Some genuine objective-based PvP challenges would be cool too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WARPATh

People is tired of the same content and the grinding, its a PVP game that lack of style and new content. The only "big improvements" since the release are :

Big Storage + Material Storage
Heros
Double Faction Weekends
Events

You mention Double Faction Weekends, but neglect to mention faction itself!? Definitely the best change since release has been the introduction of faction points. Countless players - including myself - were left sorely disappointed after release when we were forced into PvE farming for skills to be able to participate in PvP properly. Faction points changed all that.

As for fewer people playing Guild Wars nowadays... I have no idea. Up until about a week ago I hadn't really bothered with Guild Wars since, oh... Summer 2006? I finally booted up Nightfall and got back to playing now.

Bryant Again · May 29, 2007, 11:17 PM // 23:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Theus

No.GuildWars was killed by Nightfall.

The Introduction of Heroes completely killed pugging, not to mention the skills introduced completely broke PvP.

Nightfall in general had a negative impact on GuildWars.

While I agree with you on everything else, it was PUGs that killed PUGs.

adderworks · May 29, 2007, 11:28 PM // 23:28

It could be hand me down accounts... New players trying the game while older players move on to other games?

Age · May 30, 2007, 12:23 AM // 00:23

This the time of year gaming take down time when spring and summer come to the Northern part of the world.There will be less if don't anything else to do.

Omega X · May 30, 2007, 01:55 AM // 01:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by sindex

I have a “friends list” of over 35 people (been cut back a bit, but has always changed over time) and it’s been down to 5 people, who are on one day out of a week. I think it’s just the flux of people leaving after they have their fill of GW, that just playing sucks. It all has to do with personal preference I guess. I have to agree once EotN comes out; they will all be back hopefully.

On an average I think there is a fountain of new people still filtering in, but they never really want to stay as long (like some of us do). At least I still have my good friends in the guild to count on, for having some interesting times with good ol’ GW.

I agree.

Logging in to the game and visiting a lot of hot spot areas will often bring 1 or 2 districts compared to the 5-7 districts most areas get. Not to mention that there was supposed to be a new Chapter released, but that never happened. Eye Of the North is a little out of reach for now so those who are looking for their adventure fix won't find it in GW again until its released. Obviously, those types of players won't care about Hard Mode so their options are clearly other games.

In addition to that, WoW just got a major addition, EQ2 just got a huge addition, Lot's of new and popular games came out. Also Summer Vacations, Graduations, Weddings, all happen around this time of year too.

So, I'm hard pressed to believe that "login counts are up", unless they are just logging in just to see what's going on and leave shortly after.