Considering returning = fresh start

Hello everybody...

I used to play the game for couple of months 5 years ago.
I am considering returning to the game and there are mainly two things I'd like to know.

a. Are there limitations for non-paying members still the same? i.e only human and 1 char on the account
if not - what are the new limitaions and how will they effect my game if I decied to return?
b. How did the community change through the last 5 years? did it dwindle or increase in playerbase?

I recall the community (while being rather small) was one of the friendliest community I've ever had the pleasure of knowing - I do hope it remained the same and I do thank you all in advance for any reply =]

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Palirond_Alias

a. Are there limitations for non-paying members still the same? i.e only human and 1 char on the account
if not - what are the new limitaions and how will they effect my game if I decied to return?

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They did change, but for the better in general. You can now have one character, any race, up to level 15 (dragons) or 10 (biped) in all schools before the game locks you out from gaining experience or doing quests. However, you can play forever. If you pay for 1 month and level up your single character then stop paying, you can also keep playing that character, but you cannot pick up quests or gain XP. That's all :)
You can also only have 1 character under this style, though archived (Stored) characters don't count to this total.

If you played a free forever human before, you still can play it in a grandfathered fashion, so you won't be affected if that was your choice.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Palirond_Alias

b. How did the community change through the last 5 years? did it dwindle or increase in playerbase?

I recall the community (while being rather small) was one of the friendliest community I've ever had the pleasure of knowing - I do hope it remained the same and I do thank you all in advance for any reply =]

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It definitely dwindled in playerbase :( Around now is one of the low points in Istaria's population, but in the summer and around the holidays it peaks up. Chaos' playerbase is what Order's was in 2010 (averaging 30-50 players online), while Order's is what Blight's was (averaging 10-25 players) and Blight is essentially empty. (0-5 players)

However, while the quantity might have dwindled, the quality did not :)

Welcome back if you do decide to rejoin the Istaria side of things!!

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Originally Posted by Racktor

It definitely dwindled in playerbase :( Around now is one of the low points in Istaria's population, but in the summer and around the holidays it peaks up.

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Unfortunately, I've seen worse. I played on Chaos back during the time when EI ran things. You were lucky to have more than 4-5 people online at times. Things are so much better now... Periodic updates, actual support, dev raids, times are good! :)

Oh wow, it was that bad during EI? I guess I have no rights to complain, wow

Then again, Palirond asked about compared to 5 years ago so it's a decline since then :P

It's hard to believe that was so long ago. Time flies :)