As the old guard leaves...

[Aamer Khan]

As each day goes by, more and more of the "Old Guard" seem to be leaving. Many players that have been here for 2 and 3 years are calling it quits for a variety of reasons.

But what happens next?

As they leave, can we expect more new players to take their place? I sure hope so!

My only fear is that there will not be enough to offset the loss. Is there going to be more advertisement? More client improvents? More content?

As such, Horizons never got an elder game. The "Old Guard" has run out of things to do, and purpose is lacking. I suppose that with enough new players the game can afford the loss of the long term players, but I really believe this will change the feel and community of the game. Depending on what it changes to, will determine if there will be many new players, or HZ will quietly fade away.

Please consider carefully your next steps EII.

[LaughingOtter]

The "Old Guard" has run out of things to do, and purpose is lacking.

Not at all, as far as I'm concerned. I invested a great deal of time and effort into the game because I believed it had a future and I wanted to find out how it would grow and evolve.

I stopped logging in because I do not see any indication that EI has the desire or ability to continue adding to and growing the game. Live events run by WMs are not content. I see no reason to continue to invest time or money in a stagnant game.

I'm open to be convinced that EI does have the desire and ability to add content & grow the game; simply tell us how many people have been training at Tulga, learning to use the tools and operate the systems needed to add content to the game. What are their names and what game development backgrounds do they have? How many years of experience? Would it be possible to have a developer chat so we can get to know them?

If I wanted to buy pizza for the team at the Tulga offices, as some players did in the past for the Tulga team, how many would I need to order for?

[Theolaerynn]

To some extent The Old Guard cannot be replaced, and this is more so for Horizons than almost any other game due to the way Lore is handled. In most games Lore can be found through quests, books, and NPC chat. In Horizons much of it was handed down verbally from the developers, and passed from player to player. Quite a bit of it was never written down, and some is undoubtably lost forever already.

I have also seen minor differences in the goals of new players. There was a time when folks of a particular playing style entered the game, and did exhaustive research on every aspect of whatever they enjoyed. For instance, 12 and I used to compare notes on the best build out for Dragons, depending upon your intentions. It wasn't enough for us to know which (if either) method was better, but why, and could we possibly prove otherwise.

The knowledge gained by these folks seems to leave with them. Unlike Lore, it can be rediscovered, but I find that few of the new players are willing to test it. They pretty much take the popular opinion as gospel.

So I think that implying that The Old Guard can be replaced, while technically correct, is over simplifying the situation.

[Peaches]

Changes take place, with the staff, the turnover is the same in any other online game, reguardless of the game. The way I see it, is , its a revolving door, yes, its sad to see friends leave, but keeping in touch with them, lessens the sadness, new people come in, and that means new friends, Any online game, has a revolving door.

[Fratricide]

It is without a doubt that the game will lose, and has lost, some of the greater community assets in its players. I dont have the time or the patience to name all the players that I have met in my 3 years of playing this game. It is truly a sad day when those who have been here long enough to know what it was like to be able to stack a CD inside a CD and have virtually unlimited cargo capacity. Or what it was like before Saytr's and Dryad's were freed. Or perhaps even what it was like before Dragons could fly... Many now days, cant even recall not having a Laircrafting class.

While these are just a few of the changes that have transpired since I started playing, the ones who truly knew the game in and out, aside from the programming staff, have gone and the knowledge and their desire to assist the game in progression has gone with them, perhaps never to be seen again.

I do understand that all games are riddled with turnover in staff and players. The problem therin lies within just that. Just how much turnover is actually turnover, and how much fleeing from a situation that is seemingly unrecoverable. How do you help those that truly want the game to survive to stay? How do you help those that are hurting the game... out that very same revolving door that doesnt seem to be sucking the slag out fast enough?

Since all games are riddled with loss, how do you help to ensure those that have the most dedication and enthusiasm to assist those new adds to the game the proper footing as they step into the unknown? Quality people is what every game needs, keeping those quality people is what truly is lacking in the current atmosphere that has been presented before us.

<edit> I deleted my own text here for Brevity and because it was starting to cut too much into other topics and not this one.

[Death-knell]

While peaches is correct about every game having turnover I don't believe this is simple turnover. Its really sad seeing so many friends leaving in droves.

EI needs to do something and fast. So far they have not shown even a little interest in keeping this game going. Just words don't cut it something needs to be DONE!

[Peaches]

when the servers were merged. Or were you not there when it happened?

[Spartikus]

I was there peaches.. and the game never really recovered from the server merge.. It cut the playerbase by more than half.

I mean common.. There are only 40-50 people online a night now on chaos.

[Altar]

I was there then, think this maybe a little different back then the client was so bad the lag made the game unplayable for many. I could be wrong but that is what I remember.

[Chioxin]

I was there peaches.. and the game never really recovered from the server merge.. It cut the playerbase by more than half.

I mean common.. There are only 40-50 people online a night now on chaos.

That are "visible"

I know plenty of people who stay invisible for their own reasons. They also do not join "market" ... I thought the /who thing wasn't really reliable anyhow?

[Peaches]

I was there peaches.. and the game never really recovered from the server merge.. It cut the playerbase by more than half.

I mean common.. There are only 40-50 people online a night now on chaos.

It did increase to before it was sold, subscrxiption wise. Yes, prob not the same as it was, but then, I don't ever expect that, this way, I will be pleasantly surprised when it does reach that point.

[MadDwarf]

a smart who search works fine. You use the various level filters and you can come up exactly with how many people are visible atm.

Take his 40 to 50 number and add about the same number for invis to get the population of Chaos at that time. Which is really low compared to this time last year.

Probably a transition issue. When EII demonstrates an ability to lead this game somewhere those numbers will go up. I know of plenty of people who are still paying but not playing waiting for just such an occurance. If they renew when their sub comes up is another issue all together.

[BKBanzai]

I mean common.. There are only 40-50 people online a night now on chaos.

62 on currently in Marketplace alone. I usually see around 89 during peak.

[Uther Blade]

I was there peaches.. and the game never really recovered from the server merge.. It cut the playerbase by more than half.

I mean common.. There are only 40-50 people online a night now on chaos.

I was there as well.. lots are coming back now and what matters is that the game didn't die after merge.

Yes, Elder players are important.. but if you go to any MMO.. only a part of the core subs for any MMO don't bounce in and out.. churn is the nature of the business, or any business for that fact.

Folks cancel their accts for scores of reasons, from dissatisfaction, natural disaster and even passing to a better place than Istaria .

Come on folks play!!! That is what kept the game afloat after merge. Its all that will keep it up now.. it is that simple.

[Fratricide]

Yes... I was there during the Server merge, but I was more involved in my schooling then I was in being able to play Horizons, so I usually leave that one out, since it did not directly affect me as I was barely around anyway. Thats what happens when your taking Statistics, Physics, and Calculus all at the same time (Im still regretting doing that by the way).

Yes, The server merge was actually what I would consider the Second major point in this games history since I started playing it... The first would be the release that was pushed for by Atari well before the game was truly ready to be pushed out the door. And this recent purchase being the third such major history point, since Ive played it.

[Kulamata]

I've noticed the falloff in the players who evaluated game mechanics; afaik it started quite a while ago, perhaps a bit before the merge.

I miss those folks; working out resistance vs. ward effectiveness, making charts of which spells could be used by which schools, having Istaria's ancient lore memorized....

After the loss of Tazoon.com, those players were the institutional memory; the devs were, in most cases, too busy to immerse themselves in the lore, and too many of them were gone too soon.

[Vlisson]

if nothing happens the next 3-6 month there wont be much elders left in HZ

everyone needs a goal and i hope EII will give us some

we need a living world which is growing and changing.

a lot of players (including me) wait what will happen

the time is running

[HAG]

Strange thing, but i have to agree with you, Vlisson.

I cancelled my sub after 2 1/2 years constant playing because i was so fed up with not getting anything that brought us Unitarians further. I left because i didn't like floating in free air, not knowing if we were falling or rising.

But ... before that i also had reached a point where i didn't have that motivation to defend istaria like i used to. Fafnirr being Ancient, 70 Mio exp beyond lvl 100, sitting on 35 mio of hoard - Hagen having nearly all wanted schools up, plot built, all wanted valkor-/Reklar-Items acquired ... it's hard to find something to aim for ...

Please EII, consider giving us Vet's something to dream of, so we can be there in Istaria, leading the new ones and having fun ourselves!

[Theros Ironfeld]

Dont hold your breath HAG
ya cant buy a factory , sack all the workers and then open up on Monday Morning expecting it to fill customer orders.

[BKBanzai]

As I recall, a number of people got laid off in the month or month+ prior to the sale.

Regarding advertisements, perhaps some special promotion could be offered, or might already be available to SE subscribers. Although, I'm not sure that would be a good thing to entice customers from one game into another one.

Interesting idea.