I just joined the game and server (another thread on the board about that). I am curious how well the game is doing population wise. I had to purchase it online as none of the stores in the area (wal-mart, best buy, target, eb, game stop etc) carried it. There seems to be no advertising. Is there new blood coming in? Is the retention of higher levels decent?
I am just hoping I dont get totally immersed in the game just to find the server deserted a few months later.
Well, I'm seeing new blood every time I turn around. It gives me hope.
I'm also seeing a lot of people returning from whatever hiatus they were on, and that too gives me hope.
Population wise? The newbie areas are empty as a church confessional during Mardi Gras (now after is a different story), but once you get into your 20's you should be finding plenty of people around Gludin and Dion.
I frequently (well, at least once per weekend) scour the newbie areas for real new players and have very little luck finding any. Even though from reading this forum and watching the masses at Dion they are clearly flocking in on a steady base. The problem in locating them in the starter towns seems to be that even if they are not getting twinked by other helpful veterans, the starter quests and resulting shot rewards plus the newbie buffs make their stay in those areas rather brief.
New player influx and high level retention seem to be sufficient to cover the whole planned lifecycle of L2 at this time.