Don't know what ya got til it's gone

SagaBoy

Well as of late I've been playing Guild Wars to bide my time.  Wasn't really interested in AoC and still a toss-up on the whole WAR thing, so here I sit playing guild wars.  To begin with I'll state outright that Guild Wars isn't all that fun for me and that's kinda why I play it.  After putting in the time I use to put into WoW I pretty much refuse to ever put that much time into any video game, not because it's unhealthy or any other socially shun reason, but just because of the stress that was involved.  It's been about 3 years with no WoW and during that time I've slid from Ragnarok Online (you think you know a grind?) to DaOC, over to Planetside for a decent portion of time, then CoV, only to then go cold turkey with no MMO for about 6 months, then finally end up playing Guild Wars.

In Guild Wars I was often asked by my guildmates, how I liked the game thus far.  My usual honest was reply was, "It's good but it feels like something is missing."  They'd of course ask what exactly that something was, to which I couldn't give a clear answer.  I mean Guild Wars had what I thought were all the necessary components to an MMO; however, I couldn't fight this feeling that there was just something out of place.  It's like when you walk into a foreign house and something, some intangible something nags at you so.

Well, I've since grown tired of Guild Wars, I mean it's an excellent game, but from what I can see it is just the same ole same ole.  Not that, that is a bad thing but nowadays I just require true motivation to keep me playing MMO's  (I know I know....I'm getting to the point)

Well I really got to thinking about it and the thing that I noticed, or rather that I found lacking in Guild Wars was that no matter where you were, or what group of people you were with - you just kinda felt alone.  Sounds idiotic but there was no real sense of dependence on another player to accomplish x,y, and z.  I know this doesn't much hold true in Hard Mode but I still hold to the statement.

As much of a headache as WoW was, the sense of a bond, of a community, I experienced in my guild during my time there was pretty awesome.  It's something that I actually thought more of an annoyance than a blessing during my time in the game but reflecting on it all makes me appreciate it all the more.  Raiding was tedious and boring, but raiding for the sake of an in-game friend really did give new polish to the antique chester.  I mean I vividly remember times where I was happy (while exhausted) to have another go at a raid boss with the unselfish desire to see X, Y, and Z guild mate get a piece of gear.

Another aspect of WoW that I'm now seeing I actually enjoyed was the massive groups of people that gather in the major cities for auctions and the like.  Now, when I was playing I told myself I hated it, referring to Lag-Forge  and umm (I really can't think of any other major WoW city name other than Ironforge!).  It was nice to come into Ironforge and just see the globs of people idling around.  On a similar note, the transition zones between cities and major raid points were also a blast.  Having to group up as a guild of 40 people and simultaneously fly to a gripphon point to engage a horde presence that was blocking entrance into Blackwing's Lair etc.  It was all just good times.

I have no intentions of going back to WoW, but there were some things they just did right.  True, there are other games with similar atmospheres, but none brought me in as much as WoW did.  I guess I'm just saying that the thing I miss now that I didn't realize I would miss was just being around other large gatherings of people in a virtual world.  Not saying it doesn't happen in Guild Wars but it really just isn't the same.  And so it goes, you don't really know what ya got til it's gone or in this case no longer readily accessible.

Terranah

I used to hate the buff lines in precu swg.  Just to be competitive you had to wait in line to get all buffed up.  But looking back, I met some cool characters waiting in line.  And sometimes something interesting happened like a fight would break out and then there would be chaos.  Other times I would just strike up a conversation with someone and get their rp story or the latest news on the war. 

 

Another nice memory was our cantina.  I had a male character and every once in awhile when things got slow I would strip down to my red panties and dance around.  Everyone got a kick out of it.  I'd even duel in them...heck they were magic panties!  We had lots of duels and joked around and it was like a real cantina with the musicians and dancers and everyone just goofing around. 

 

Another fond memory was when I was terrorizing this little town for couple weeks, and one day they set up an ambush and the town members came out and tried to kill me.  LOL. 

 

I have so many memories from those days.  I took lots of screenshots, but unfortunately in the heat of battle I was focusing on fighting not taking pics.  Most of my screenies are of me next to trophies, or friends or standing next to my dog, Lucky.

Cavadus

I'm with Terranah.  I loved SWg's forced interdependence through needing docs and entertainers for buffs before combat and then needing them afterwards to remove wounds and battle fatigue.

I enjoyed the cantinas where tons of people met.  Hell, I even liked waiting in line for image designers outside of the salons so I could get my stats migrated.  I liked the lines and downtime for the shuttle waits.  I met... basically everyone that wasn't in my guild this way.  I became friends with a bunch of people in an entertainer guild and was immersed in what they did.  They would put on concerts and plays.

I loved roaming Tatooine or Dantooine or anywhere else and coming across a camp of players in the wilderness.  Rebel, Imperial, it didn't matter.  The mobs surrounding us were so difficult in the beginning that you'd be so relieved to see people.

I loved grouping up at the Mining OP on Dath and then making a run for the Imperial Prison and being slaughtered on the banks of that river about half way there by Nightsisters.

I too now play Guild Wars.  It's okay.  I don't like the fact that I spend 99% of my PvE time running with NPCs rather than people because it's much more convenient (and sadly, the NPCs are often much more responsive to what I'm targeting and my movement so in many situations they're actually better than players).