So in January of this year I start playing L2. I love the game.
I'm picked up in a clan of slightly whacky folks, a couple of whom were borderline psychotic imo, that I enjoy playing with.
They all sort of drift away from L2 6 weeks later after playing for over a year each.
I make new in-game friends and these folks are experienced mmorpg'ers. They have a clan which I can actually help level, we join alliances, and this group plays MORE than I do--woohoo!
Now, they are all leaving L2 as well (mostly personal/work/lifestyle reasons). Clan #2 dissolving.
First time it was no big deal. This time? This is like losing a good friend in RL! Man!
We IM'd each other, we have TeamSpeak, we've done all stuff together for 4-5 months, we formed our own alliance, had personal clan/ally tags an artist in the group made, accomplished stuff together--supported 1 another in getting gear n stuff, and now....phfftt...going to be alone again.
Except for 2 of us clan is going away now--and some clan folks haven't even logged on to say goodbye.
I didn't expect to feel this crappy playing this game with these people who I really really like.
If any1 on Lionna can use a not-very-talented tank in training who is generally a smart-aleck, give me a shout sometime.
I can't think of anything else to do but to try to find a new group and go through this bonding and loss process all over again--that's L2 after all.
My apologies for the post to those who could care less--I just wanted to vent a bit. This actually hurts...I think I've become a serious sissy!
You know, it's hard, but after a while you get used to it. Think of it sort of like high school or college. At some point it ends and you move on. In some cases you take friends with you and in others you sometimes never see them again.
Also, as I told some ingame friends the first time our clan dissolved: it's not like we will never see each other again and might even be in the same clan again.
When you are talking about the type of game that is meant to be played over the scope of several years, anything can happen.
As it turned out, I later rejoined some of my ingame friends again.
So its possible your friends might come back again. It's more painful when you try to hold on to a situation that wants to change. Just allow the change and change with it. Good luck.
Yeah, it was hard when my first clan all went to WoW. It was harder when my second clan leader sold his accounts and forced the clan to break up. It hurt A LOT when I was kicked out of my fourth clan (long story). But saying all that I would have never had such good times and memories with 2 and 4 if I didn't move on to begin with.
I played Online games somewhat serious for about 3 years, during that time I've met 4 people that I would consider real friends, and 1 of those I've went to see in person.
this is out of loads and loads of diffrent very friendly encounters, not easy to find those that are "real".
It will get easier the more it happens. I was in the same clan for over a year and a half, and left about half a year ago, was hard because I played with all those people for so long, some came with me but some didn't. Now I'm at war with that clan.
Most of my clanmates have suspended L2 play to go quickly to WoW while they await Vanguard's release.
I doubt I'll face them in a seige some day (if I do I'll kill them with the best of intentions :))
They're really great folks though--we had some fabulous playing time together.
I've run across other folks on my server who have been really cool too so I'm sure there will be another clan.....<jesus! this sounds like a country and western song!!?> lmao.
I am still somewhat surprised at the sense of loss--I didn't expect that. This game should come with an emotional disclaimer "warning, you may be so consumed by playing with the same people that you'll miss them when they leave..."
my first clan lasted about a year. After i left it me and some of the former members of that clan made Wretchedoutkasts. Its now almost 18 months old and is becoming one of the older clans on the server from simply outliving all the rest.
Clan has to have a strong leader that wants to keep playing and constantly building. If the leader or leaders do not want to build no more it will end quickly. There has been a few times my clan has been at 40 members with a waiting list and 20 members trying to find people to join.
Its a rollercoaster its like a baseball team or football team whatever. You lose players all the time for various reasons but you always constantly building or replacing people. When the owner gets tired he sells the team.
I lead probably the oldest active clan still playing on the Lionna. Some of my members in the first iteration of SD are still with me, people that I've been friends with since beta and prelude or early C1. Sometimes people go about their own way and it can be emotional for me as well; two plus years of talking on vent, interacting with one another on the message boards, rubbing elbows, sharing real life grief, helping one another through tough times in game and out... despite the physical contact with these individuals they are no less friends to me than somebody in my everyday life.
I've been in the same clan since I came to Lionna almost two years ago, but we've gone through three different versions as, for whatever reasons, clan leaders had to leave the game.
Even now, with being the clan leader myself, I am often saddened to see people leaving the game.
These aren't just names and pixels, these are people you see day in and day out, people you share experiences with. They become an extended family.
As far as looking for a new home, you may want to consider OrB. They are good people, and I am proud to stand at their side in an alliance.
I've been through several clans, though I feel only a few have been my real homes. It saddens me when people leave, but its natural. All things must come to an end, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't try for fear of things ending. The good times far outway the bad times of the "final days."
We have kinda the reverse, a clan thats stuck around since beta, but lost so many good people over the years instead :( Some to other MMORPGs (mostly WoW) or simply better clans (well, at least they're still playing and we still talk).
part of the game im afraid, which i think is the reason wy im so addicted to this game.
You meet great ppl, make friends, hunt together, for clans/alliances together then things disolve.
Since i started on OB, it as happened to me 5 times. Every time it happens its sad, but you do get over it eventually.
I've found gaming clans that encompass more than a single game can allow you to stay in touch with people. I'm part of theoldergamers group, which plays dozens of games. Its always nice to run into someone you played L2 with in WoW or BF2 or something else. Of course, there's not a TOG clan in L2 anymore, but we all do still keep in touch. I've seen other gaming groups that have done this as well. So it may be worth finding one of those (or even starting one perhaps).
on devianne i began a clan with a good leveller way back in prelude/c1 sometime. and we played until mid c2. i dissappeared for a while, and after a year or so, came back. i missed c3 completely! he was long gone, and toons all deleted, so i started with my lowbie toons from scratch again. i got into one clan with a lot of folks over 40, and recruiting more and more. named reborn. the leader kicked me out after 4 weeks because when i joined i was 26, and after 4 weeks i wasnt 40+. he clan didnt bother to help me and furthermore taxed me out of my equipment.
so i joined legacy. made a lot of friends, and got heavily into levelling multiple toons at a time. i got 4 toons to 36 in a short time cause my clan helped me. legacy disbanded, and i joined D!E.
D!E was the only clan i ever knew who had a lvl 75 and that WANTED war. we threw ourselves at thousands of bots and i amassed a good 3 PK counts on my bishop (lost count after plain old winstriking them to death. all in DE territory, and the clan made enough equipment off the drops from them to equip a couple of us in top C.
then they got hacked.
i was safe, and i left the clan (being on only 2-3 hrs per week too, so nobody really ever saw me, and outlevelled me).
i then joined Truth (head of Justice alliance) and levelled with them for a bit, but after i failed to take lvl 52 after a few weeks on my bishop, i was left with bupkiss to play with at my level. bye justice.
rerolled, no clan, and a lowbie looking mystic approaches my Sorc to ask for buffs.
i gave him what i had, and went off to raid. he follows me afar off, and watched. when the raiders saw him, some of them flagged on him, and one (having gone red moments earlier on another raid watcher) began pounding on him.
i thought he was lowbie :(
so i grabbed 5pvp and slew my whole raid party. turns out they never did more than 1 dmg to him. he was a 72 proph just foolin around. we've been good friends ever since.
better to have clanned and disbanded then never to have clanned at all? it really is sad when clans disband especially if they are leaders of an alliance, its just not the same after that.
It is sad :(. I think there's only one person left playing from the original members of the first clan I was in. That clan didn't die off quickly though, we went through 3 clan leaders, and slowly but surely members just left for other things, until there were only 4 active players left. It was a really, really sad day when I finally disbanded that clan :(. There were a lot of good times in that clan though even if it ended badly, and they're worth remembering.
I was lucky enough to find some other great people to play with though. We've even met in real life, and so I guess that'll just make things even worse when the clan/alliance dies :(. Not really looking forward to that day, but it's best just to enjoy the time you have with the wonderful people you meet in this game.
Nothing lasts forever, not matter how much I'd want it to :).
Hey, you have a new friend DrakkosIV :cool:
If you want i can work on a healer and then we can help each other. Just let me know what healer type you prefer... KenVu
I just started this game but i have wanted and seeked long for a game where i can have some friends on there to play with and hopefully be good friends in RL as well and hopefully move on to other games as better game releases... It is kind of hard though. I tried many: UO, DAOC, EQ, EQ2, AO, DDO, and recently i just tried WoW and L2. I like wow because it is difference but i like L2 more because it's not only difference but it fun and nice people like Drakkos makes the game so enjoyable.
Thanks Drakkos
quit my wow clan this week, after being a member, and play with the same people, for 2 years
(well out of the original odd 40, about 15 are still active players)
was a bit tired of the constant chase mose of the members had for the next instance to raid (sorta like drug addicts) and raiding was no longer fun
Kinda regret it though, half of the time in L2 i sit on my *** doing nothing cuz there are no teams, or im in crappy teams with half the team pulling constant small AFKs, or getting killed due to clan war etc (been online 12h a day the last 4 days to level, and gotten 30% in lvl 56....)
maybe i should just take a mmo break and wait for a completely new mmo hehe
I switched servers to join a clan. When that clan broke up I **** near quit the game. However, I tried several different toons. Made new friends and reaquainted myself with some old ones. Finally, I joined another clan. My latest clan is diametrically opposed to my other one but I'm still having a great time. It's different (i.e, most of the members are psychotic) but still great.