Eladiun wrote on Feb 26
th, 2013 at 4:53pm:
Not true... two years of no development forced people to leave and never return.
I think this was before that... the death penalty got removed before they stopped developing for it.
There were many reasons for people leaving, but I think the very punishing nature of the game when it was released made many people leave. Until I found a guild and people to group with, I languished in trying to solo or duo content... and if you died while just trying to look at a new quest you never entered, and lost a lot of XP... well, that was a big downer.
yeah, it's an MMO and you are supposed to group, but many people don't like grouping or can't find a good group of people to join with early on.
Of course, it has gone way too far the other way now. What used to be Normal in quests is now the equivalent of what Elite is. Elite was just brutal back then. Especially without a properly balanced party.
The game was too much: "Play the exact way I, the maker of the game, want you to play it and don't try any other way or you'll be punished".
heck, if I started a rogue, bard, wizard, or sorcerer, you had a good chance of not being able to finish the first quest in Baudry's basement that you let get out of his tavern.