Thread: Did Nidor's Memorial Represent The Closing Of An Era Of PvP On BW?

Seems kind of fitting to me.

He was there in the beginning...

He was there in spirit in the end...

Nidor's Memorial represented all that was good about the Brandywine Community (both PvE and PvP'ers, but especially the tight-knit group of PvP'ers) and showed how much respect everyone had for eachother and the person we came to honor. Before the memorial, we had one of the most active forums where we would taunt, harass, call out, congradulate, anger, and laugh with people we had come to respect or despise. All those emotions have been replaced with apathy and silence.

I know I had some computer issues and missed a good 3-4 weeks of playtime soon after our get together on Nidor Rock. At that point I came back with a new comp, I like many others had Beta'ed an upcoming game. To go from playing that and trying to come back to play the PvMP I have played for the better part of 4+ years was a complete shock. I felt like I was in slow motion and flickering in and out of lag all throughout the Moors. I expected the community the players outside of my kin (one of the main reasons I have stayed for this long) to help draw my interest back in, but it just isn't there anymore.

Everyone is resigned to their fate in the moors. The unchanging region we have memorized like the back of our hand, with many of us know every nook and cranny of it. I know you can close your eyes and visualize where 90% of the NPC's are out there, you can visualize the places where you can slide down the embankments to not break your legs, and I know you can remember where we freeps and creeps have had epic battles. People are resigned because those epic battles just don't happen anymore.

The gap between the "vets" and the "new blood" out there is vast. Not in skill or ability so much as in motivation. That is sad in my estimation and one for the reasons why I believe the feeling of Community here on Brandywine came to an end on that amazing evening. Friends and strangers, those who had not met in years and those who had never met mingled together inspiring eachother and reminding all why we have come to love this game. But the the battle atop Nidor Rock and the ring around the base ended and everyone went their seperate ways emotionally spent leaving a hole in Brandywine. I don't know if one man even the likes of Bruce "Nidor" Rosenberg could have been the one filling that hole the entire time, but it sure seems like he was.

I am a lifer and I will be on here and there until Frodo drops the ring in Mount Doom and they shut down the servers, I just hope I am given a reason to come back to PvMP with my friends who were in turn given a reason to come back out and PvMP with me, which in turn recreates the feeling of Community and the beginning of a new era for Brandywine.

This is not a post of disgust or distain, but one of hope.

/salute to the Brandywine Community

I can speak from past experience (and in no way am I trying to derail your thread) but on my old server Vilya, we lost the tribe leader a couple years back from a head on collision from a drunk driver. Long story short the moors was NEVER the same. While yes it did continue, the pvp was and still is forever affected by losing one of the servers most influential and respected people out there. Things do start to go uphill again after some time, but like you said, there is that hole that just can't be filled in the community.

Regardless of Turbine responding on Nidors rock name change, the thing that the community can do it honor the rock itself. Make sure everyone knows where Nidors rock is, starting using it as a reference to where people are so that is becomes just a normal to hear Nidors Rock as it does EC/Stab. That way people will never forget him, and the new generations of freeps and creeps will learn who he was.

/bow Well said, as always, Winter.

I haven't been able to be as active in the Moors as I'd like because of work demands, so I'm probably not even "named" out there, really. But I share the same feelings whenever I try to hop out to G.V. now, after spending a dazed weekend of PvP Bliss in the Eternal Battlegrounds' vast, amazing playground...

It's my hope that the Sea of Sorrows server will become the new Brandywine in the GW2 Universe.

It would be excellent if as many of us as possible were to gather there and recreate the Brandywine spirit in a new cosmos.

I am trying to steer I.B. there (I think I have Arrik and Nim convinced: haven't stopped raving about it in Kinchat heh), hope your Kin and Alliance are also headed our way.

/toast, and hope to fight with you or against you on my Charr Necromancer (a caster TANK! LOL) someday...

Winter, everything about Nidor and his story is the reason my for my sparse playtime. life is so short and you just dont know when things can change but they can in the blink of an eye. So i been trying to balance family and real life with the game. haven't quite got the knack yet as i either play all the time or not at all.

That being said, I was very unhappy that the brandywine community didnt even get a blue name to post something so simple like..."we know"....and that made me think some too..like why am I wasting so much time playing a computor generated image and so much loyalty for a gaming company that doesn't even care. it used to be because it was fun to me...its not fun anymore. i come here and hang out in grams or galtrev and talk to freinds.

Nidor taught me something though as did the rest of Brandywine that night.

I forgot how much I missed RL been gone a week now and who knows if ill be back lol. Hope you guys are having fun

Originally Posted by Skullflayer

Winter, everything about Nidor and his story is the reason my for my sparse playtime. life is so short and you just dont know when things can change but they can in the blink of an eye. So i been trying to balance family and real life with the game. haven't quite got the knack yet as i either play all the time or not at all.

That being said, I was very unhappy that the brandywine community didnt even get a blue name to post something so simple like..."we know"....and that made me think some too..like why am I wasting so much time playing a computor generated image and so much loyalty for a gaming company that doesn't even care. it used to be because it was fun to me...its not fun anymore. i come here and hang out in grams or galtrev and talk to freinds.

Nidor taught me something though as did the rest of Brandywine that night.

It affected me in the same way. There is a reason why my comp remained broken for so long...i was in no hurry to fix it. I was and still am spending more time with my little ones. Really the BWE was my reason for going and getting a computer. I have always had sports activities outside of gaming to balance me, but now gaming is falling a little further back.

Two people actually asked my last night why I don't go out anymore. For me it's just my new job and bumping up my number of school hours to half time. Working all day and then going to school at night wears me out and makes gaming hard to do even though it's one of my favorite pastimes. Of course, I enjoy the PVE world quite a bit myself so I can find other things to do if the Moors isn't happening.

Like Skully, I try to find a good balance between all of my activities and, sometimes, I just come up short on time as well. When it comes down to it though, if I had the time I would be out there more. Especially after taking a break I always have fun going back out there and seeing what's new. The players in LOTRO are awesome and I don't really think I could give up on this game because of that and the fact that I am a geek that loves Tolkien.

There is zero chance I buy GW2. Just not interested. On the topic of a new PVMP map I would love it but I actually don't see it as a necessity. I would rather see some other new additions like a new creep class or two, freep maps, hardware/performance upgrades and tweaks to audacity that differentiate between freeps and creeps because of the non-mirrored classes. In my experience, all PVP games seem to have balance problems and fights tend to happen in the same places all the time anyway so I think PVMP is still fun but I feel for my brethren that are burnt out. I want everyone to have fun out there so I know my opinion isn't the only one that matters.

Really, discussions like this is what makes our community great. We can argue, debate and even get mad but, at the end of the day, you all are just a pretty cool group of people and as long as that doesn't change I have lots of hope for the Moors.

I've thoroughly enjoyed the community of Brandywine since I've come to this server but noticed the continuing decline as well in my short time. I wish I had been around during the peak days and got to know some of the members that were spoken so fondly of.

But there's been a decline overall in the game and across the servers I've been on. I've seen kins die out, smaller servers struggle with getting enough people for content or raids, and good people leave (by choice or face). Those that have made an impact with me I'll still think of and remember during my time gaming as they've impacted how I've played - made me a better person on the community and kept me interested in this game for over four years now.

And I want to add that Nidor's memorial was probably one of the most profound experiences I've had. I've been a part of the philosophy of treating people as if they were sitting across from me and while I may not always adhere to those morals (on the Internet? Yes! You too can have them!) I do appreciate seeing humanity come forth through the virtual world in honor of a very open, very kind individual.

I've not logged on since Nidor's memorial. I have found that I have better things to do as well.

Recently I've purchased 2 acres of land with a cabin on it. I'm seriously considering naming the camp Nidor's Rock as a tribute to Bruce in my own way. Even if I don't name the camp that, there is a huge boulder on the land I will name it in that way, just to keep his spirit alive in my own way.

It did for me while I was in the middle of a break anyway Nidor's struggle made me think. Lifes short a person should make the most out of their life and that includes not playing a video game all day.I played Swtor for a few months then just took a break from mmo's in general.

When a mans gone his legacy is all that remains and I have decided that I play way too many games and mmo's are designed to waste your time.So im talking a loooong break from mmo's I will return to lotro one day.More for the fine folks i have meet over the years than the game itself.

I'm done with Swtor its end game is as shallow as a mud puddle at least lotro has a great community and that's worth returning too one day.

My point is enjoy life and love your family they want always be around only guarantees in life is death and taxes.So instead of pointlessly spending everyday at a pc screen take breaks and enjoy your family or if you don't have one ....go make one!!(or friends) When im gone I want my son to remember me as being there for him not spending half my life playing a game.

Obi~

I unlocked the warg specifically for the memorial, and haven't logged in a single time since. Have zero interest in it and the game is not even installed anymore. As long as Turblind thinks it's brilliant business sense to keep crapping on creeps to pimp TP (which will be all the way until the game shuts down), I'm done. Nidor's memorial was the last time Turbine will ever get money from me.

Definitely. Commendations, lack of new pvp map & overhaul have been a real turn off for me.

I logged off during the Nidor event and haven't returned. But I wanted, in however a trivial and unworthy way, to thank the people who gave me so many good memories I will always remember and that transcend that of a simple 'game'.

To the Freeps, who I started with: home sweet home.



To the Creeps, who took me in and gave me my identity in Middle Earth: home sweet home forever!



To the ghost wargs who inspired me, including but not limited to: legendary Fuzzybritches, incomparable Stylen, the beautiful Wargprancer, Grulz, Muzfuz, Khal, Roky (who always reminded me of Adam Corolla), Luggy, Badmoonrising, to name a few.



To the warleaders who saved me so often, again including but not limited to: Mere, Skullflayer (a truly good man and a truly good friend), Aggro (what a fun guy to play with), Zam (who bubbled me as a pitiful rank 3 warg and forever earned my gratitude), Healz (thank you for your rl service man), the outstanding OoFS WL stable

To the wargies who went so much further than me and who humbled me: Snoop of TOJ, and Bun, Goat, and X, in fact also, as a whole, the infamous but really quite decent TvT (and especially Rhaerhae)



To the weavers: Spinnray who set up such a moving event and made all other MMOs seem trivial and pointless to me, Nidor the Spidor, the lovely lady spiders of BW, Notworth, starry Silessa, Silk, Dolch, Des (one of the nicest guys I met in game), and anyone who played a class that was always this side of ### broken.



To Prancey and the OOFs crew



To the heart and soul of creeside: the reavers.

To the BAs, Titan, Black, Anno, Gin, the OoFS DPS dealers generally, and all who stuck with a class that was laughably weaksauce back in the day,



And once more the reavers.



To everyone I killed and who killed me: Nutty of SoA and Bk6, and to Decc and Bread



To the OoFs

To all of us who lived and died at the accursed bridge.



And a salute to the wonderful women of Brandywine, the best kept secret in MMOs.



To Zam's house and the center of our universe for so long.



And to Gal and Whispers. Thanks guys.

And finally, to everyone, good luck as you climb to the mountain top.

No, lag is the big killer to the Moors right now. I've tried to play a few times since the last update, but yoyoing around the Moors is not fun when other games I play don't have the problem. And I know it isn't my rig or connection that is the problem.

Nice touch Nutty. If you ever happen to be in the Western NY area, look me up. Come spend a day out on my land and have a drink.

This game's PvMP hasnt been good since 2008. Coming to Brandywine lead to some fun battles and cool moments but the game just isnt what it used to be. Same map and same skills and 3 whole years with no real PvMP development. (we got more in 2008 than in 2009, 2010, and 2011 combined) I havent been excited about an update or expansion in years. I unsubbed in September and wish I had unsubbed before that.

Its just so boring now. I log in for 5 minutes then just shut my computer off and do something else because I get so bored

I hope that Guild Wars 2 is as good as it looks

It's everything and more, like that new Honda you bought that actually turned out to be a mega-spy car with caltrops oils pools and laser beams.
Sogood.

Winter I believe you are right an era was lost that night, a time when playing creep or freep was fun because battles werent so one-sided, a time when hiding in a keep or one shots with a raid was considered cowardly, a time when you could solo and run into a solo, a time when the zerg was only an idea not a daily way of fighting and an era where we all still believed Turbine cared for its members and our community. It is always sad to see the end of something and those of us who still play from time to time will continue on but not without the sense of loss, the sense of better days gone by. See you all out there on the field when I am not living real life.

Nutty!!!! you made me tear up! That was beautiful! If you are ever near Arkansas give me a hollar I will always have a place for you my friend at my table!

Lug, Itz, I'd be more than happy to

I wanted to add a few more from my collection since who knows when the opportunity to share them with old friends may happen again.

We may come and go...Rockwithers grazes on forever.

Awesome Pics Nutty!


I had a blast with this game for longer then I have any other mmo, so thats probably why I played it and stuck around as long as I did. Life is too short, or so they tell me lol. Ive been playing sports again and i havent really missed gaming, Swtor Sucking certainly helped that.

But I'll always have fond memories or the moors, as some of the best times ive had gaming since Mario Kart 64.
Started in Raids with Trueshots, Sabador, Scuffgrim, Winterfell, Jmez, Brodster, Linlass, Eps, Prancey, Diception, Bop, and a #### ton of others from Bots and other guilds.

Then I made the transition to creep side during MoM with Eatmybread, Nutty and others. Some of the most frustrating yet fun times Ive had in the moors hahaha. Wether it was Bread cursing to follow the Sun and getting destroyed by hunters or me and Nutty running like cowards to protect those stars.

Then after that i was pretty much always a freep on either my Burg or Mini, TvT was around and like it or not they gave the community someone to hate or cheer for.

All in all it was a blast, but complete lack of anything new or balanced in the moors sucks, then the spend money to win concept all but killed it for me, but it was fun while it lasted.

Cheers!

Deccimus/Laughs/CowardCreep/Hegotaway

lol Decc I will always remember-and curse not recording it-Bread's raging monologue as he was chased down and killed yet again...'#$&^ these ^%$#...wait maybe I can....%$#@....no wait I think...#$%$!!!'

The Old Guard



Camping with Shane, SoM



With Gala



Supergirl

Originally Posted by shgual

Cheers!

Deccimus/Laughs/CowardCreep/Hegotaway

The last pics I'll throw up are for you...

Aww. Awesome pictures, Nutty. I unfortunately have none of my old ones to share, since I lost them all .

SoA was the best time, though. I remember Decc always DFing and waiting a whole 30 minutes for it to come back, LOL. Too bad Brandywine PvMP isn't the same anymore, and probably won't ever be the same again as sad as that is.

And you are right, Winter. Ever since the memorial, I haven't really felt like playing anymore. Like playing as actively as I used to. The game has completely lost its charm for me. Now I just get on creepside, and sit in Grams and chat lol. Game is just not the same anymore :/.

Originally Posted by Nutty_Warg

The last pics I'll throw up are for you...

LOL

God seeing a bruin Logo still hurts my heart. You have the football and baseball championships Nutty, Give me at least Hockey!!!!!!! QQ

Its ok I represented my teams in Lotro well, Average at Best and Choke when it counts Hahaha

Originally Posted by shgual

LOL

God seeing a bruin Logo still hurts my heart. You have the football and baseball championships Nutty, Give me at least Hockey!!!!!!! QQ

Its ok I represented my teams in Lotro well, Average at Best and Choke when it counts Hahaha

But remember who linked you the article confirming that the Seahawks got robbed in the Super Bowl? That's right... Super Emi.

But, seriously... I'm pretty much out too. I've been awol almost a year, came back for a few months to hit rank 11, and now I'm caput. Sure, family issues caused me to leave, but now that those are settled, I'm still not feeling it. Too much reknown to grind for a horse that Turbine will just reskin onto a rep horse in the next mod.

SoA was the peak for me. Had some fun in MoM. But, the magic isn't there anymore. And, no Slowshots, Deccimus, Nutty, Drezze, et al...

And, I'm no Sabador. That guy was a hell of a captain.

Emi-rocking it out of here.

Think winter hit it on the head.

Such a shame seeing what was a great server that thrived on such a community dwindle into, well....this.

Never forget those times decc. Small group running around with not a care in the world. I laughed more times then we killed (even though it was aimed at me). Then as time went on, I converted and the good times rolled on with OFS. And still do.

I for one just dont feel the urge to want to play knowing how much its changed and the people that picked that slack up are no longer here, or hardly log on. Think most are in the same boat.

The only push to log in now is to keep making videos

A message from the Iron Rangers:

Dear creeps of BW,

The Iron Rangers can relate to what you are feeling on BW nowadays. We went through the same thing on Vilya, up to and including losing a highly esteemed player to a personal tragedy to find that his absence left a gaping hole in our pvp community.

We left Vilya, in a not very organized manner, when most of our players went to SWTOR. While we have a number of high ranked freep pvp’ers in kin, our migration to Brandy was for PVE reasons, not PVP and it surprises us to this day how our kin has reconstituted itself as that was never the plan originally.

Originally there were only about five IR that came to BW, refugees from a kinship that we thought had died; and when we got here, wandered out to the ‘moors because we really didn’t know what else to do.

What we found was an amazing community of players both Freep and Creep and a level of warfare that we hadn’t seen in a number of years. So we can understand how you are feeling. We felt it last year.

Now, we don’t know all the ins and outs of your great community, we don’t know the history and the relationships. But we do understand how when those relationships fade, due to players not logging in because the enjoyment of the game is waning because Turbine is at best apathetic toward pvp and incompetent at worst. We can also respect how a large influx of new players (transfers) dilutes your tight knit community and if we are playing a role in BW not feeling the same, we apologize. Trust me, it was forces outside of our control (Turbine’s lackluster ROI content) and how those forces affected a smaller server, that brought us to your shores.

TL;DR, I know..

What all of this means though is, if the remaining creeps on Brandy are looking for opponents; you have them. If RvR isn’t working for you, you have in IR an opponent who is looking for small group fighting. In IR you have an opponent that will not raid up to zerg an outnumbered force just because we lost. We’ll keep trying until we win. And you have in IR a group who doesn’t take this game personally. Win or Lose, whether it’s Oofs, TWKSL, COTRL, Elites of Mordor, Flying Fury bags of Fury, or any of the other great tribes on BW, you have our respect and gratitude.

You’ve seen us out there running around in our kin groups; we may’ve ganked you when you were out solo, but this ganking isn’t our goal. It’s to pick a fight. We want that OOC call out. We realize sometimes that brings numbers we can’t handle and we write that off as such is life but generally what we’re trying to do is pick an even fight. Maybe that means equal numbers maybe it means creeps have slightly more, hey maybe it means we have slightly more (we don’t consider ourselves the gods of pvp, and while we recognize creeps are underpowered right now, we’ve seen the players on BW and the high level of play they are capable of). We’ll do the same thing at grams, step on a greenie’s neck until he squeals, not for the easy points, but hopefully for the quality fight that may come from his OOC call out.

Generally we only raid up when there is a raid hunting us (/wave @ gazrah) or if the RvR that is going on is pulling all creeps into it leaving us without a chance for group fighting. Our kin groups will grow though sometimes because Snow has a kin rule that says any IR that wants to join us can. So if we do have a 6 v 6 going and suddenly IR have 7 or 8, it’s because of that rule, so we hope the creeps grow to match us.

Way TL;DR now.

To put a waaaaay too long story succinctly, we feel you, Brandy. Our old sever went through this too. If you want to change your approach from RvR into something smaller just as a change of pace if nothing else, you have an opponent that will fight you in that manner.

Much respect and /salute,

The Iron Rangers.

It was fun while it lasted, friends. See some of you later in Guild Wars 2, and the rest in real life .

i like to dress my character in fancy hats.

Ahw this thread is depressing. Just because one era ends doesn't mean another can't begin. There are still so many cool people that play the game; plus there is still so much of Middle-earth to see. That's not to say that I wouldn't love to see a new PVMP area myself but I also realize that Turbine has a pretty broad fan base to cater to. I just can't accept that PVMP is dying out forever. There is still much I need to do like get rank 12 on my guard and my warg's rating to 0.

New job = more dedication to my field of work. I'll be on some lonely drunk nights though babbling on about food.

I've definetly noticed a decline in vets from SoA/MoM to the current, look at how many new players are on though and server transfers. Not having some of the vets in moors where you could just sit down next to a warg and there would no action from creeps if you were just hanging out, miss those days.

Originally Posted by mornon

New job = more dedication to my field of work. I'll be on some lonely drunk nights though babbling on about food.

I've definetly noticed a decline in vets from SoA/MoM to the current, look at how many new players are on though and server transfers. Not having some of the vets in moors where you could just sit down next to a warg and there would no action from creeps if you were just hanging out, miss those days.

You can always have that moment if you see me. Usually any creep will pay attention if you emote to them instead of stealthing and stabbing.. and the stealing! Evil burgses.

People come and go all the time, especially here and considering the garbage balance status quo that is the only thing turbine ever managed consistently to deliver... I don't really see "era's" since the retention rate for PvP'ers in this game is horrendous but it's mostly just entire kins quitting at once, and the quality suffering as a result.

Tl;dr I'm logging in after gw2 just to see how many people are left and occasionally to lol at them.