REQUIRED READ: Where Do We Want to GO?? POLL ENCLOSED

The game is dropping off a lot in attendance, and not just in our guild. High traffic areas are at about half of what it was not so long ago, and Guilds that have been around since the start, are calling it quits and folding enmasse.

About 10 days ago it was announced that GW2 would not be released until possibly 2011 or later. What that means is that we are in a long term dying game. I think this was an intentional announcement so that Arenanet/NCSoft could cut costs of maintenance by basically driving GW players away. The game is not bringing them revenue so why maintain a large player base.

So we, as a Guild, need to decide how we want to proceed. I see a few options that we can consider. Here is what I see as possibilities.

1: Stay the course and just keep playing as is with possibly decreasing numbers.

2. Find other games we can expand into. Probably other free MMO's or one time fee games. This would require us to utilize ventrillo a lot more to keep in contact across games and organize parties wherever.

3. Find one other game for us to migrate too like the upcoming Aion or some other game. the issue of whether it would be a monthly fee game comes into question then and if we can find one game we all want to try together. I won't do a monthly pay game again, but many of you may be willing.

4. Try to recruit strongly for any people new to the game. this is true to what we have been doing all along but it really offers little for our high end players other then staying in a game they have finished and basically becoming a teacher since many high end players are migrating away.

If we decide to go to other games, I feel very strongly that we should stay in the same genre as GW, since we are all here for a Sword & Sorcery interest. Some of the free games that we have researched already are....

2 Moons: 2moons.acclaim.com

Archlord: http://www.archlordgame.com/

Rappelz: http://rappelz.gpotato.com/download/index.php

NOT FREE BUT MAY REQUIRE ONLY ONE TIME FEE: Aion: www.aiononline.com

So I am putting up this poll for everyone to vote which direction they would like to see us go in

PS: With all of the above choices, we will still be maintaining a presence in Guild Wars. We won't be leaving it behind until such time as no one comes in anymore.

Pampered

It comes to this: I will continue to play Guildwars until I a) complete it or b) Guildwars 2 comes out.

I play Guildwars because I don't have to play each month. If Aion isn't pay as you go, chances are I will pick it up. If not, then no.

Runes of Magic is some new free Mahmorpagah that people are buzzing about. I'm really not a fan of free games online, it is usually people just grinding away for pretty things, then forcing some sort of in game store in order to progress. More often than not they severly lack balance, or something real basic like a) an ingame map or b) a quest log or c) anything to keep my interest.

So, I'm voting for stay the course. Things that have been will continue to be. Those that play will play, those that don't will move on. If everyone starts playing some other Mahmorpagah that doesn't suck, I may join up, but for now I am staying.

Scion

As of right now I can't give a proper answer to this question as I need more thought on it. However, I would like to say that if we end up moving to another game, I will not be joining in if we choose Aion. It is obvious what direction NCSoft is leaning towards when it comes to their revenue vs. their players. When GW2 does finally come out, they will most likely drop support and production of Aion. For this reason, I will no longer be bothering with anything else NCSoft is offering due to the widespread disappointment they've caused and the obvious disregard they had for their fans (or at this point, I'm sure it's safe to say ex-fans).

I'd also like to say that I'm not a big fan of MMO's that feature item shops (unfortunately, that eliminates a lot of options for me). From my personal experience, item shops create a large amount of imbalance within games and competition is more focused on who has more real-life money to spend rather than who is more skilled at the game. Also, I hate grinding. I will not play a game that rewards its players for the amount of hours they've wasted doing the same thing over and over rather than rewarding them on actually being a good player. I guess that really narrows it down even more.

Voting for broadening our horizons, since there are opportunities for us to find something we all like. Like Franc, I ain't gonna move to or try Aion since NCSoft has their little "agenda" with income. I'm already trying out 2Moons, and I'm amazed at the number of high-level players just sitting around with their personal shops open.

Might try at least one of the other recommended free MMOs in a month or so.

Aion will probably have a monthly fee.

Aion FAQ

Read the fourth question.

I am downloading 2moons as I type, never let it be said that I won't try new things, (grin)

hi,

1) 'Attendance' has been dropping since the festive season back in Dec last year & it didn't pick up after that. The news on GW2 release date didn't help things too. I still log in weekly but playing time has dropped & find it hard to motivate myself sometimes. I am also resting more (lying on my bed either sleeping, reading + listening to music or watching tv) during weekends as I m putting in more hours at work

2) Gunter & Adrian had heard me 'complaining' about the nprotect software that 2moons installed to prevent you from hacking or doing any funny stuff :p. I m just paranoid here i guess. But I am not saying I will not give it another go

3) I visited my local game shop last week but sad to say that none of the game (age of conan, warhammer, lotro or other rpg) really attract me enough to make me wanna take out my wallet...

4) Guess i will just wait & see

cheers

Well, my 2 cents is i am not going. GW2 will come out when I expected it. Many people were wishfull thinking it was coming out sooner. Since I am still newish to the game I still have lots of stuff to do. I also think we will see more people coming in as the no fee is a big draw with the economy the way it is right now. Also Aion also has no release date from what it says on the website so who knows when that will come out.

If so many guilds are going out it is a good time to pick up new members for ours. So doing some active recruiting is a good idea and not just new people coming in but those that maybe only play certain times or days.

Things are slow now for so much is happening for many on the home front. People are cutting back on alot of things and game time in many games has drop way back. Fee based games will not make it as that is a luxury like going to the gym and will be cut by those doing it to save money. Some will come here to GW and some to other no fee based games. So I say wait it out and recruit new people.

I never found the enjoyment in GW, that I had in my previous MMO, which was EQ2. I would have never switched if it weren't for finical problems. Most likely, now that those problems are no longer worries, I'm probably going to switch back to either EQ2 or WoW.

I've never been a fan of WoW or Blizzard. I've always felt that I got exactly what I paid for with EQ2, and I was never really able to replace it. I came close with this guild, but GW doesn't adapt. I mean, GW doesn't try to adapt. I've always felt that in the long run, the only MMO's you can trust with anything, is the ones you have to pay for.

I'm pretty sure that once I get my new computer built and running, my GW attendance will drop even more. I'll be able to replay CS:S, L4D, and BF2. As well as, a better MMO.

Personally, I don't think migrating will work, nor will sitting here hoping for change. Call it a catch 22, but when the developers give up on you, there's not much you can do about it.

I, will most likely contact a few buddies and see if their still playing WoW. However, I will still stay in contact with this guild as well as GW until Judgment Day.

Ok, so, it's been awhile since I've logged into GW. I miss you all so much, honestly, but I just cant' bring myself to log in..not really sure why. I've been playing WoW and so far, I'm not completely bored..but I don't play near as much as I used to. I think that when I hit a level cap (and 20 is a low level cap to hit), I kinda get bored.

I don't know what's going to happen to the guild or to GW in general, but I do know that I read the forums daily just to see how everyone is. I don't think that it was the game that held me to GW as long as it did...it was you guys.

If you all want to move on to another game, I'm willing to give it a shot, but honestly, I think I may have ADD, because I get bored with games very easily. I haven't finished GW. There's still a lot that I haven't done, but I can't bring myself to log back in right now.

I have not made any decisions as of yet and am appreciative of the responses so far.

My thoughts and reasons for this thread were, and are, to determine if we will remain GW only community or whether we will expand ourselves into other avenues.

Many groups exist that play over several different games and maintain their community existence through ventrilo or Team Speak. I was thinking that was what we may shoot for but so far I have not seen enough indication that our group is close enough to do that.

We already have a lot of fragmentation of the group into other games individually, paired up with a sharp drop off and disinterest in GW.

Some are dead set against any future NCSoft games and others are dead set against free games and others against any changes at all. It is hard to find a common ground for us all.

We have a broad range of financial abilities as well....we have kids and students who could not afford pay monthly games. We have people that already pay for other games and probably do not want to add more pay games. And then we have people that have plenty of funds and can go anywhere they want.

This post will hopefully remain active with more input and suggestions. For now things will remain status quo. I am considering doing a game of the week event in the relatively near future where, with several weeks prewarning, we will have anyone interested, download and install a free game or trial game. This will enable some of us to just spend time together learning and playing something different. Something different for a change and a break from GW woes ^^

I'm sure there won't be a lot of response at first attempts, but maybe it will help keep some of us close and interacting, which is happening less and less in GW

Pampered

Would you guys believe that the starting clothing for the females in 2Moons is...almost nothing??? I hate to play with my kids home because my son keeps telling me what a "cute bottom" my toon has...>.> 2Moons seems somewhat similar to GW to me..

Well I came across a new one the other day. Runes of Magic is in their open beta that started in late December,beta and it will stay free...they say. The reviews look good. Has anyone played it? As far as 2 moons, my graphics seem to be jumping all over. Don't know why....maybe its the wireless. Anyway, just thought I would ask about this other game that I came across on MMORPG that is getting an 8 plus. Probably one of those games that if you want to do add anything you have to dish out moola. Well im not one much anyway...should just concentrate on Guild Wars.

Well not playing 2moons...and I will commit to trying to play GW and getting my toons through.

As sad of an announcement as it was that ANET decided to push back GW2 It is kind of a relief. There still seems to be a steady flow of new people to the game. Even as old as it is. And Even though I my self am new to the guild. My opinion would be to ride it out, and see how things go. If it comes to a point that they quit supporting GW then I will find a new game hopefully one that everyone in the guild is playing but as for right now I am sticking with GW. I can't see my self paying for another pay to play game after what I had seen in WoW. I like the fact that GW is For the most part F2P. And I really don't think that ANET will stop supporting GW. When some of the notes are talking about some major updates in April. I.e. Bigger storage space and bag space. (But we shall see).

Ok...so, because I apparently have MMO ADHD, Ive tried Runes of Magic. I'm liking it quite a bit. It's somewhat similar to WoW, but F2P, and at the moment, there's not millions of people playing, so not too much lag. Once you figure out what to do and how to do it, it's pretty easy to level and there are a lot of really nice people (some jerks, but that's in every game). They give you a lot of choices in character customization, and you end up with 2 different classes (such as my toon who is a mage/priest). You have to level each class seperately, but there's plenty of quests to allow you to do that. Just thought I'd throw in my 2cents in on the game since Lady asked.

Oh..and on the dishing out moolah...it's more for extra comforts that you would buy "diamonds" to use in game. I haven't dished out a dime yet and i'm still enjoying the game.

Runes of Magic is due out for gold release on the 19th of this month. Since they claim to want to stay as a Free2Play, I might try it out. I may even recommend it if I like it a lot. But the nearly 4gig download would just KILL my internet usage to an overload. So I have no qualms on waiting for the retail disk.

I don't think porting over to another game is feasible as already we have a list of bunches of different games. Its hard enough to keep communications going between the guilds in the alliance let alone having different games added in. I really think the focus is what to do with the GW atmosphere. As putting in other games will only make this game weaker. Lets get things back to the way they were. I understand that the counts are down. And with summer on the way it will only add to the problem at hand. There is still a lot of ppl playing the game. Yes i understand that the game is on its last leg. But Ive seen a lot of other games like Battlefield 2, Americas Army, Ghost Recon and others that have pulled through it. So the game will not die just be a little less crowded. So does that mean we need to abandon ship and only make the problem worse? As far as another game is concerned, going to a subscription based isn't going to help keep us together. As I myself am not going to pay out another bill each month. And I am sure that there are others that feel the same way. I also am not willing to go to another free based game to start all over again. I will remain here. So lets work on the problem at hand. If it gets to the point where not a soul can be found in LA, Kamadan, or Kineing than options need to be considered. Check around the web. People are still buying the game. And those people need to be our focus. Those are the next generation. Putting the idea of another game is only going to make people port over and leave this game behind further adding to the problem.

Well, as much as I'd love to attend an alliance meeting and see what everyone is deciding on (everyone's opinions will vary, and what may be good for one person isn't going to be good for all), I won't be able to make it as it's my son's birthday. So, let me know how it goes.

And on the topic of moving or staying...it's not the game that matters, to be honest..it's the people you play with. You guys are the only reason I still read the forums. I would love to log in and play with you guys, but since i play mostly during the day (and not really playing much at all lately) and not many people are ever on, I just don't bother logging in.

I hope that no matter what happens in game (or in a bizillion other games), the people that I've met through GW and the friendships I've developed will stay with me. That's what keeps me coming back to the forums. I know that most of you still check them, so I keep coming back..to hear word of my friends, and to talk to them.

When talking about subscription games...I thought we were looking mostly at F2P games...even if the inital start does cost. No, I will not play another subscription game, since I do play WoW already and I refuse to pay out another fee to support my already horrible gaming addiction.

When talking about other games, moving to another game came up 2nd in the polls here, so I am simply trying out different games and posting my experiences here for you all to read..whether you go or not, is up to you..just giving anyone who wants information, some kind of reference point to start from.

So, anywho...