Quote (Fatal_Aquaintnc @ Dec 14 2019 02:12am)
Yeah but I imagine the player base was decimated at the same time. Myself and most people I knew quit the game.
Myself and most people I know came back to the game and enjoyed it until the end.
Your assumptions about the player base say pretty much everything of how you don't know what you're talking about...
The first two months the list of games was ALWAYS filled with a LOT of players playing until late at night. And it was just on the EU Hardcore side, it was even more on East.
Today ? We are barely a WEEK away from the ladder reset and the list is empty as hell. Not to mention the current state of the market on jsp, neither.
So yeah, I would say people who only enjoy the game through the lens of botting must be happy in 2019, hence why those people you know came back I suppose? And guess what, 90% of the people with whom I enjoyed this ''bot-less'' ladder don't even try the game again considering its current state, and their friends aswell. The 10% remaining ones started to bot (lol) and, as intended, you don't see them in public anymore.
So starting to claim the game would be dead without bots makes no sense, from this ladder experience.