What are the final days of an MMO like?

LoLoBooty

This is not about Vindictus.

Those that have played other MMO's that have died while you were still actively playing it. Tell me stories. What game? What were the final days, weeks, month like? Did the game creators let you know the game was shutting down? Or did it shut down without warning? What was the player population like?

Suhpreme

When Nexon hosted DFO, you could tell it was going to die months before it was going to shutdown, but it was blatantly obvious when the update posters were done in MS paint and they left in halloween dungeons or something like that and overall poor decisions on how to handle the community. DFOG is now being hosted under the developers of the game which is Neople, and it's alive and well.

other games I played were Lost Saga and Rumble fighter, these two games got passed around publishers like it was hot potato( not hot anymore because its just p2w garbage)

and then the last game I played that closed was called Hero Warz hosted by KOG, which hosts Elsword as well. Hero Warz NA was a big fk up, they strayed from the Korean design to make it more unique for NA, however all this created was a boring end-game and really reduced the potential of what the game could've been in North America. that said I played the Korean version to compare, and the KR version was just miles and miles better, it made the NA version look like a really stupid attempt at changing something that didn't need any changing.

the player population for these games were probably less than 5000, that's probably being generous since theyre all very niche games. and midway through their services they'd most likely average couple hundred active players.

the publishers usually announce a end of service for these games, maybe a month before closing and then they have all these events and freebies to let the players enjoy the game before it finally closes.

i think im pretty good at playing games that close down, all wasted potential anyway.

Order5

Lord of Vermilion Arena (LoVA)
Type: MOBA
Localization: Japanese only
Publisher: Square Enix

--About the Game--
LoVA was basically the ultimate weebo version of arena games like LoL, HotS, DotA... (2 teams, 3 lanes, 3 turrets in each lane, a main building to destroy, etc.). Regular games consist of 14 players (7 on each team), and each player controls their own personal avatar alongside up to 4 additional units, which can also be swapped among up to 3 alternatives. The flexibility and player skill involves swapping out the units you command; there are no item choices or ability-leveling choices to be made once a match has started. Prior to the start of the match, you can customize your personal avatar with equipment and change the units that will be available to you during matches.

--Final Days--
Several months before the servers were shut down, Square Enix sent emails to all players to thank and inform them that LoVA was being shut down to commit more resources to Lord of Vermilion Re:3. They also provided a couple of codes for LoV Re:3 and a couple of other games that could be redeemed for some stuff. The LoV Re:3 code unlocked the LoVA title screen music.

All units in the LoVA store were reduced to one in-game currency, and all players were given some ridiculously high amount of in-game currency to purchase anything and everything in the game. I wasn't online during the final hours of LoVA, but a friend told me a lot of dedicate players were on up until the servers shut down for good. There was a special thank you message tagged on to the usual "servers will be shutting down in X hours and Y minutes".

http://lova.jp/

Honestly, there is no excuse as to why this game should have been shut down. Simply making it global would have made it a huge hit, especially after LoL's retcon of 2014.

Final Fantasy XIV
Type: MMORPG
Localization: Global
Publisher: Square Enix

--About the Game--
Technically, this game was remade. However, I think it's still worth mentioning because the developers literally blew up the world to remake it. Those who are interested can read up on it.

--Final Days--
Emails, blogs, etc. There was a lot of talk about the game ending and getting remade. The in-game story involved a giant meteor that was going to crash into the planet, and during the final days of the original FFXIV, you could actually see the meteor in the sky, in-game, getting closer with each passing month. When the servers finally shutdown, there was a cinematic:

I don't play A Realm Reborn though because my toaster can't run it, and I lost interest in it once the world blew up...it seemed like a fitting end for my character.

john10

game server that shut down on me was "Zone 4" not many people play because "rumble fighter was more popular with teenagers. I think rumble fighter is still alive because the character looks like teenagers and zone 4 looks like adults.

john10

other one was "LOCO" or "Land Of Chaos Online"
its a mobo with a hot vixen "Foxlady"