Originally Posted by
Thunderclese
The older large more hardcore guilds are in the positions they are in because of the way players housed within said guilds treated newer/lesser skilled players.
There are still several guilds with healthy populations, even if a part of those populations are learners.
While progression guilds scorned these players, other guilds welcomed new blood and trained them. Some stayed, some didn't. It is natural in any game, but to say across the board the community is shrinking at anything other than an average rate is silly.
Also account for time of year, when ALL aging games such as AoC slows down.
The raid nerfs were needed, but they for sure went overboard on a few of the encounters.