I popped back in over the weekend for a quick wing stretch... Mostly because I had gotten another letter from Virtrium that the person who has the master plot in the community where my lair is has gone missing.

This is the second time this has happened since October... And now the guild's web site has gone missing...

I briefly pondered deconstruction just so I'd have the novians, but as I flew over the once bustling collection of guild towns which are now mostly vacant plots, I became aware of just how futile the whole thing is...

A big lair full of high tech tools is only useful if you either have people using those tools or if you yourself have things that need building, or if someone other than you ever sets foot into the place just to say "wow, that's a crazy amount of work"... With the guild essentially gone there is little point in me logging in and spending hours building more stuff no one will use, or even see.

It seems to me that Istaria's 'end game' for Dragons is lair shaping - and as Gifted we live essentially forever... So I'm looking at an eternity of hauling rocks?

In this regard I have to ask, what have the folks who have played pretty much non-stop for so many years *do* in Istaria? I realize Istaria is mostly a social game at this point, but folks have to be doing something other than sitting around discussing the unchanging virtual weather right?

In that 'other' MMO they dealt with the level cap by creating an almost infinite number of money sinks in the form of a zillion different 'things' that one can purchase (trinkets, mounts, fluff items, gear, etc.), which of course costs money and which of course keeps one doing daily quests or some other grindy thing to keep the cash flowing (time sinks). They keep the players so busy window shopping that they don't notice they're on a treadmill and not really getting anywhere.

Maybe two years ago (you know how the memory is after sleeping for six months) I sold a very rare, very powerful crystal for what I figure was something near the GDP of the Order shard... And with the way Istaria is with money, I'll not have to work again for the rest of my life, and those of several alts. So the acquisition of money isn't something I see myself doing... In fact, I've tried to spread some of my wealth around by posting very generous commissions for building things, but rarely does anyone take up the offer... Few are in a position to need money, so bribery does little to get work done.

Then there's the ultimate guild sport - raiding... I've been playing around in Istaria on and off since the box hit the shelves, but this is something I've never done in Istaria. I read about people lamenting the lack of 'hunting parties' for top-tier named critters these days... Is this the same sort of raid deal, just with an Istarian twist? If so, I might try my hand at it - are Dragons of the Helian persuasion still combat gimped? If so, I'll have to reallocate my points into melee first...

In short, I'd love to come back and play some more, but I just have to find a different tack for my sails - I've killed countless numbers of same model but bigger flora and fauna to reach level 98 adventure, I've hauled literal mountains from point A to point B to reach 90-something crafting, and I think I've invested as much time as I want to in lairshaping unless someone needs to use the tools I have available.

My current year of account time is up in a week or two... I've subscribed to the game in yearly increments since VI took over, even though I only play for a few months out of the year typically... I'm a believer in the design ideals of the original Istaria and I hope that my yearly contribution inches things closer to those ideals, but I have limits on the repetition I can handle - so I take extended breaks...

I guess what I'm looking for is a reason to keep logging back in occasionally, if only to justify the subscription. What keeps the other circa 2004 players playing?