I have been playing for a few years off and on
Originally I was a hartstone tailor
then I was what ever the druid in the glom is called
then serengaurd
and I started playing again as a serengaurd but earlier today took back up hartstone
cause I missed it
only on the 6th circle and I have advanced totems and nature too the point I can't advance them before advancing in the guild
and can create lingerie with tailoring(I know I shouldn't have but I plan too get some more credits on payday anyways)
I just have a new name, face, act differently, and have a different story about how my character got threw the portal
this time I'm winging it and building my character up originally he was untrusting of magic users but is gaining more memories like that he and his best friend were magic users (too explain the change too druid)

I remember old demesnes! I also remember Aiakon roleplaying when they got downsized. And his frequent insanity. Good old Aiakon.

I remember Magnagora going off to raid the Supernals and running into Morgfyre disguised as Hajamin and demanding essence from us. That was a good event.

Haha, I'm sad I missed that. I do however now remember a time when the Supernals actually were taken out and we had to work to raise them again.

It's kinda funny that that happening at all is an "I remember" event. That used to happen every couple of days.

I remember Ashteru!

Ashteru needs to come back.

TAINTED FAE!

And I miss Serenguard Malicia she gave more hugs.....

On a more recent note:

I remember when Taraj stuck a cat in the Opal Sphere and the city almost blew up.

I remember "defending" on Nexus, with no system at all or even really good skills. I still had blast. I'd go up, die in like 20 seconds or less after engaging and keep going back up until it was over.

Some of my favorite memories.

The old amusement of the Magnagoran's with my initial introduction.
My time with Isune and her return.
Getting all the commodities and kicking off the first Aethership event with Ialie.
Yelling at Kethuru and getting him upset.
Coming back after an absence and having some ephemeral spook me when I cleaned the silent cathedral. (He didn't mean it as illusion, but when I detected it he slashed me and yelled at me "how dare you call this an illusion").
Kidaen...do people remember him? The original bard.
Offering a good sum of gold for pictures of all twelve types of astral beasts, Shorlen getting me some, while Viravain contributed her own, then hanging all the paintings in Tosha and getting a compliment from it.
The Xion event and the fun we had--watching Aiakon and Balizar escape, helping Marina through her trauma and getting surprised by Elostian.
And too many more to mention...

Switch back to the original subject.

I guess the reason for turnover is mostly the age of the playerbase. Assuming they were High school and college age, most likely move on as more responsibilities hit their lives. I notice after players retire they hang out on the forums for maybe another year or so...then eventually fade from that...(Gwylifar quit shortly after I joined yet I think he was still active on the forums for 1-2 years).

He's not gone, by the way. Just hanging out on a different forum account. He used the two to try and keep some separation on the forums until he posted as Gwylifar something he meant to post as the other, then just stuck with the other after that.

I think Acrune might be a better example, but that does seem to be quite common with online games; keep up to date a bit by reading the forums, without dealing with your character / things that you would 'have to do' if you logged on. A gradual easing away from the game, I guess.

Some of us are still around for whatever reason.

I remember when there were far less skills.

When there was more than one way to use your skills to take someone down.

When people logged in to walk around and RP instead of "Oops, it's xxxx-day, time to login for 10 minutes to get my OOC free stuff."

When enemy statuses weren't handed out because "idontliku"

When things weren't so convoluted... so many things have been added to "fix" problems that I'm amazed the First World hasn't imploded from its own gravity.

Everiine is on the right.

I remember being Sojiro!

Sometimes I think Casilu's mind possesses all knowledge of the internet at all times in order to find these things.

Edit: The George Washington picture in Tweets supports this thesis.

few of the comments were hilarious too

I remember when Eventru said :censor: on Celest's channel

Just remembered when you died and lost all of your gold you were holding. The backpack was a beautiful thing.

Something I discovered last night...

I remember when the Aetherplex wasn't affected by Peace and all the combats that used to take place there.