Is there any way to get things back under control?

I've noticed now, after a few months of Guild Wars being live, prices go through the roof, most monks are now smiters to farm UW/FoW, almost EVERYBODY is being runned to droknars leaving the poor new players with 3 options:

1: Try and solo through all the missions
2: Just get rushed to droknars like the rest of the people
3: Hope to find SOMEBODY that isn't being rushed and do missions with them

To top that off, remember months ago, when you could actually get a group for the ascalon missions? few months later:

*looks in the mission outposts, sees loads of lvl 17-20s RUSHING lowbies through the missions, NOBODY wants to group to do the mish unless theres a 17-20 W/Mo rushing them through the mission*

Im saying this in a bad way because: If all your doing is having someone rush you through a mission, you don't learn much strategy other than "RUSH IN AND WACK THINGS TILL DED!" *new players to the game* AND it leaves those that WANT to play the missions left out, black dye up in the 30-40k range, the rest are in the 1-10k range..Just got my E/Mo to ruins of surmia, district 1, saying "E/Mo8 LFG for mission" for atleast 15min *not spamming* And I didn't even get ONE reply, 99% of the people there were, you guessed it, 17-20 players rushing people through

Heres the fun part, right after you finish fort ranik, you end up in another outpost, one of the first things I see: "Running to Ruins of Surmia! 50g!"

Theres more runners/rushers than ever...Prices go up soo high new players can't buy anything, everyone is "RUSH 2 DROKNAR PLX!!!!!" Almost no monks, and any monks there are most likely Smiting monks hoping to get a run to droknar to get super armor and super skills to farm UW/FoW, leaving new players almost no chance..

Is this normal for these games? Will it die down and become "new player friendly" again? Or is this one of those "up for 2-4 months then community becomes non-new player friendly, no more reason to keep playing" games? I really hope it will die down and become friendly again, otherwise all the hype about GW and No monthly fees will go down the drain..

How did you come up with this? A couple days ago I decided to make a new character and take that character through the game normally. There are still plenty of people at every mission area standing around wanting to do each mission. All players can get groups just fine.

(An except goes for Riverside Province since 95% of the people there are not there for the mission)

Eh, uh, ever tried changing districts?

A cup of unrealistic thinking mixed with a dash of unsupported pessimism

Game's a mess, no one can deny that. Well except for maybe Gaile and some fanboys.

I remember seeing a level 14 Warrior in Ice Caves of Sorrow, James Swiftblade. He had run down there all by himself apparently (which is a good achievement in my eyes) however, this was his first time playing the game, he practically thought that you HAD to go down to Droknar's from Beacon's Perch thanks to all the runners.

He got knocked quite a bit from all the level 20's there, including me, but eventually I felt sorry for him and told him I'd meet him at Beacon's Perch. Helped him through to and past Gates of Kryta and he was on his merry way. Last week, I met him in the Desert with my Ranger and took him through to Dune's of Dispair, he had already completed Elona Reach.

So that's my story of showing a newbie the light. Maybe you guys can help them out too, those bloody runners are ruining a perfect game experience for everyone else >:

I help anyone who asks me to help them, when I am logged in on my 20 w/e. I will drop whatever I am doing, unless on an actual mission. If you need help, whisper me on one of the following names:

Sir Typhoid
Sir Decadence
Shivven Darkarrow

Huraw for helpers.. i have no idea why i quoted you.. no idea at all

I agree some people are lazy and i can't stand runners, but i don't think you should get mad at people trying to help new players, i love helping my guild mates same with the other people who tag along, its really all you can do once you have beat the game with your monk, however i refuse to run people, i only help with quests and missions free of charge

The reasons for rushing are 2 fold - experienced players who have completed the game at least once want to unlock skills for other professions - the missions which they may have attempted several times first time around are now "old" and "boring" (it's quite true that most of them are very repetative), and people making characters to farm.

When GW was new, there were more new players, this is obvious - everyone was a new player. This means that both the demand for people to be rushed through missions and the resource (high level players) making it possible was also low. Successful MMORPGs will all (in my opinion) follow the same trends - more players reaching highest level => rarest, best items become less rare => prices drop => more accessible to new players => newbies become uber powerful compared to their balanced opponents. IN GENERAL i think this reduces the overall average community skill level, making it hard in later missions to find a group that will actually have any idea of tactics and strategy.

As an example, with my necro character i was attempting to do the elona reach mission. With my previous 2 characters i had not had a problem and had completed this mission with the bonus first time around. I thought it was easy so decided to form a group (if you actually form one and invite anyone who says LFG then you'll most likely get one much faster than if you wait). First time i did the mission i failed - nobody knew how to call, assist, or what to target - i ended up calling all the time, as well as pretty much spamming in chat to attack the sage because he healed the others, but still, everyone else would attack the warriors - confused as to why it wasnt dying and they were. Next group i made i emphasised killing the sage first, ignored.

After at least 6 attempts, i took out the henchies. Completed it first time - they assist, though are otherwise dumb and aggroed several groups lots of times, but i just about made it through.

:/

I've got four characters to the desert and beyond between the betas and now and I've never had trouble with not enough people in missions, sure there are runners, but then I just get a few guildies to come allong or grab henchies.
The problem with PuG's, is it's all about luck. I've had plenty of groups that are absolutly teribble at everthing, they dont attack the target, they spam the map, they rush off in a multitude of directions, they aggro ever mob in sight, and of course, they take "that quest" (I think you all know which one I mean.) But I've also had groups that are amazing, the monk/s are so skilled you feel invincible, the eles seem to be able to single handedly destroy any mob surounding you, the rangers seem to do stupid amounts of damage from miles away, the necros have a permentant army that steam rolls all in its path. (Those are just eg's, im not saying all necros are minions masters etc.)
I think Anet should explain target calling and attacking in pre-searing, aswell as the importance of killing monks or whatever first.