I would argue or the end of the good ol days

I got a good year of the old days as a newbie. Then the decline began. I remember 1000+ active, with 30-50 online all the time.

What do you attribute the decline to? I have a couple main things in mind, but would be interested to know what you think.

One was that he changed the way the game worked a few too many times, looking for an answer to every weakness in the game.

The other thing was he didn't make the game playable on iPhones, although I believe the reason he didn't port it was that Apple decided to not support Flash on iOS. There was no other way to show the maps at the time, although I think it may be possible now with HTML5.

Requiem had a family and made the wise decision to stop using his time here and focus on making a living with his skills. At one time, when he was in his early twenties and this was the best game on the web he hoped to make a living from it and I think he just missed out.

It is still an awfully fun game, although I liked larger camps, 10, 12, 20 players. I miss clan games, too.

Every scene has to end sometime. They seem infinite when you're in one.

And of course I miss my Sagey-cakes and Gutterfly.

Yep. I agree with all of those. I think one of the biggest that stops it from growing again even now, was the change in battles that allows movement through your own lines. Once that was in place, all strategy was lost and it became a matter of who got the first strike.

I also believe this game could have been a huge hit on Facebook. I have seen so many people playing worthless games on there where they build huge kingdoms to no purpose. The combat is a joke with no strategic skill at all. You might get to choose which type of troops to send and then just wait for a battle report. They are willing to sit around online for hours waiting for another chance to send an attack or build a building (similar to how things used to be in WoL) and spend money to buy a fancy castle with no impact on gameplay. I think Req could still do that if he wanted to and would make an absolute killing.

I will keep waiting and hoping until something happens or the server finally goes dark. This is still a great game!
Cheers,
H.

Yes, the thing about moving through troops did kill battles almost entirely and I used to be the most prolific battler, I miss it. You can still have fun in them if you choose "custom" since you won't know what the other guy has and can still effect some surprise.

I still haven't seen a free game that comes close to this one.

I wonder if TR kicked the bucket?

How old was he anyway? I bet a lot of the guys who played this were fairly old guys.

He was in his seventies. I'd love to hear his crotchety old moans again!

I'm 63, btw.

I am now 30!

That was another great thing about this game. We had players from low teens to their 60s and everyone loved it. (I think the youngest players that were around for a while were actually 7 or 8 years old at the time...and not bad players) A game has to be pretty special to appeal to that wide range of ages and interests.

The players were so helpful and welcoming in the forums and the games. And plenty of top strategists to keep anyone on their toes with a challenge in the various game types.

I still hope for a miracle that will bring it back...or that I find something else even remotely similar (no luck after looking for a decade +)