Is it dying?

[bokiz333]

My server hasn't had a que for WvW in over 6 weeks...but we were losing that entire time. Now we finally dropped from Tier 2 to Tier 3 and few nights ago was the first time I encountered a que (albeit a very short one) so our WvW population is as strong if not stronger than it's been in the past 2 months. What a difference one win makes and people want to log back in.

[Jim Hunter]

Honestly, just saying stuff cause you're pissed at Anet is getting old.

Wow really? Well excuse the hell out of me.

[TitanBlade]

Yeah, considering that I logged on yesterday with my alt and got put into an overflow for Queensdale, I'd say its more likely the opposite of dying... its growing.

Game is not Growing, some servers are still busy 100% - It is retaining a small % of its sales as a dedicated player base.

[Lucread]

It is retaining a small % of its sales as a dedicated player base.

Provide a link with statistics to accompany such claims or GTFO.

[Fey]

The other day I was in Sparkfly Swamp and it felt like Orr. I couldn't figure out why. I was at an event with a pretty big zerg. Then the undead dragon showed up and I realized that's what everyone was waiting for. People are simply dispersed more. At launch, everyone was in the same five zones, and going through the game at roughly the same rate, so it seemed like tons of people were playing.

There are websites that track the timers of the 3 dragons and other random things on every server so people kind of jump between them when they happen.

[Vayne]

There are websites that track the timers of the 3 dragons and other random things on every server so people kind of jump between them when they happen.

Yes, I know that. I said so earlier in the thread. I just don't follow those sites, and I had never actually done Tequatl the Sunless so didn't realize he was nearby. As previously indicated those aren't my favorite types of events...though the rewards are good.3

- - - Updated - - -

Wow really? Well excuse the hell out of me.

Well, if you read the next four, five posts after the OP, you'd see a lot of evidence that the game isn't dying. So to contradict one person on one thing that may be true, with the implication that Anet might be deceving us, shows a definite bias on your part. In order for your post to really have meaning, it would have to first answer the other several posts before it. If then, the game isn't dying, what's the point of your post?

[J-Dawg]

From the huge increase of newbies from Christmas it's grown if anything.. Constantly queued for WvW, always overflowed in LA and Queensdale, it's gotten way bigger if anything. This game wasn't given GOTY by several gaming sites for nothing !

[cobaltcurse]

Well all the people I knew in RL that played it, aren't playing it now. If it does die, its from several reasons:

1)Lack of skills-The massive amount of skills in the 1st game, kept it exciting, with the challenge for exploring new areas for new skills, and enjoying something other than the same old skills over and over. Lets face is, only a few weapons are really used, based on the others being so much more effective (cough greatsword cough). So one of the arguments was gw1 had so many skills that alot of them were useless, what about now? Make some weapons better than others, and bam there goes half of the handful of skills is gw2. Also on the argument of traits, altering traits can be interesting, but still doesn't come close to the lack of totally new skills.

2)PVP is seriously lacking- I was big into pvp in the 1st game, this pvp just seems dumbed down and rushed. Heros Ascent, GvG, and Random arena....all taken away. Instead we get something that is like random arena hero battles with capture point, and alliance battles. There was so much strategic play involved in HA, and GvG, although with the lack of skills, spike abilities, creative variety...I don't think it will ever be what it once was even if it was added. Also the lack of ability to change weapon skill location felt very console like(probably for their update for console players) . The lack of skilled pvp content might be a result of gearing towards the casual player, just go in and smash stuff.

Those are just two of many issues id like to see worked on. I like the game, but wasn't what I was hoping for. It feels like they lost half the team that worked on the original. If gw2 doesn't come out with some major changes with the expansion, I don't see this game having longevity.

[Vayne]

Well all the people I knew in RL that played it, aren't playing it now. If it does die, its from several reasons:

1)Lack of skills-The massive amount of skills in the 1st game, kept it exciting, with the challenge for exploring new areas for new skills, and enjoying something other than the same old skills over and over. Lets face is, only a few weapons are really used, based on the others being so much more effective (cough greatsword cough). So one of the arguments was gw1 had so many skills that alot of them were useless, what about now? Make some weapons better than others, and bam there goes half of the handful of skills is gw2. Also on the argument of traits, altering traits can be interesting, but still doesn't come close to the lack of totally new skills.

2)PVP is seriously lacking- I was big into pvp in the 1st game, this pvp just seems dumbed down and rushed. Heros Ascent, GvG, and Random arena....all taken away. Instead we get something that is like random arena hero battles with capture point, and alliance battles. There was so much strategic play involved in HA, and GvG, although with the lack of skills, spike abilities, creative variety...I don't think it will ever be what it once was even if it was added. Also the lack of ability to change weapon skill location felt very console like(probably for their update for console players) . The lack of skilled pvp content might be a result of gearing towards the casual player, just go in and smash stuff.

Those are just two of many issues id like to see worked on. I like the game, but wasn't what I was hoping for. It feels like they lost half the team that worked on the original. If gw2 doesn't come out with some major changes with the expansion, I don't see this game having longevity.

If you ignore WvW you're completely right, but there are tons of people who play this game just for WvW. The thing is, when Guild Wars 1 first came out, most of the PvP types weren't in game yet and many were added over time. So you're compared PvP in an older game with PvP in a newer game. I think that more people probably enjoy WvW than GvG for example, by number.

Your point of view is from a Guild Wars 1 player. Some Guild Wars 1 PvPers (not all) are disappointed in Guild Wars 2. But I don't think you make up a significant portion of the playerbase. Certainly not enough to comment on its longevity.

Even Anet realized toward the end that their bread was really buttered on the PVe side, which is why they paid so much attention to it.

[hlindegar]

The game does appear to be growing to me. It must be that a lot of people got it for Christmas. Do you really expect every obscure zone in the game to always have people in it? I just logged off. I was playing on a Thursday morning, and every dynamic event I did had other players doing it. You can tell the game is active in many ways:

1. WvW zergs are huge.
2. gw2lfg.com ALWAYS has about ten or more queues that are less than one minute old.
3. Go to Lion's Arch and you are sent to overflow.
4. About half the zones in the game have an active map chat.
5. Go to Plains of Asford and type "LFG AC Explore all paths" and see how long it takes. Never more than 5 minutes for me.

People just want to be negative. To me it seems clear the game is very active and probably growing with time. Yeah the first two weeks were full of people zerging events in lowbie zones. Do you ever expect that to happen again? I don't, and it doesn't mean the game is dying.