Goodbye Asrai.org

by **Naggie** » 18 Dec 2015, 19:55

Greetings, fellow hobby enthusiasts.

It is with some sadness that I'm writing this, but it has to be written nonetheless. As I'm rather sure many of you have noticed, the activity on this site has dropped remarkably the past year. I, personally, blame the death of our hobby. Games Workshop is no longer going to provide any interesting gaming situations for us who love the Warhammer Fantasy Battles setup, and as such this community has lost its use. fewer people play the game, fewer people want to discuss things, and it's not worth it to keep this site going any more.

Therefore, about half a year from now, the community of Asrai.org will be closed down. On June 30th 2016 the server will be shut down and the site deleted. Personally, I haven't played a game in almost 8 years now, and haven't painted a model in about 6 years. The site has still been like a group of good friends for me. I've come to know many of you, and I've shared ideas and laughter with many of you. But after the site closes down, I will not return to the hobby or any other communities.

Enjoy the last 6 months of our 11-year visit on the web.

Regards,
Naggie

by **Rork** » 19 Dec 2015, 00:42

It's a shame that GW has ended up doing so much damage to so many people's hobby and, by extension, the communities that serve them.

by **Calisson** » 23 Dec 2015, 06:16

Sorry to learn that Athel Loren is dying.

Is there any plan to preserve the past wisdom of the Asrai?
Is there anything that can be done, perhaps by joining force with Druchii.net?

by **Naggie** » 25 Dec 2015, 06:51

If no one else wants to carry the torch, I've gotten some leads on how to preserve the site's content in a read-only format. So the info may not be lost, but the site would not be open for new content. Still need to clear out a few things with my contacts.

If someone wants to keep the site up and fully operational, they can send me a mail or a PM.

~ Naggie

by **frogboy** » 25 Dec 2015, 14:34

Naggie wrote:If no one else wants to carry the torch, I've gotten some leads on how to preserve the site's content in a read-only format. So the info may not be lost, but the site would not be open for new content. Still need to clear out a few things with my contacts.

If someone wants to keep the site up and fully operational, they can send me a mail or a PM.

~ Naggie

Naggie there was some talk of this on the Druchii website in the admin area. It would be a shame to loose everything...

by **Naggie** » 31 Dec 2015, 21:54

I do not have access to the admin area of Druchii.net, so I don't know what has been said there. But I will let you know how things progress. Keep an eye on this thread.

~ Naggie

by **Cernunnos** » 31 Dec 2015, 22:46

Broken to read this. It's a great site! Although I too have not played in the last 3 years, I've kept up painting in hope! Maybe someone will take an acorn from here and make a new site :nod:

Thank you everyone for being a member of a great community.

by **Ricold** » 01 Jan 2016, 10:54

Naggie wrote:I do not have access to the admin area of Druchii.net, so I don't know what has been said there. But I will let you know how things progress. Keep an eye on this thread.

~ Naggie

I've asked for you to be added to that group with your d.net login

Edit - approved. If you log into d.net, you'll see the forum that the three elf site staff have been chatting on

by **knightlyknave** » 01 Jan 2016, 17:27

That's a shame. I play AoS about once ever two weeks. I got some war dancers for Christmas.
I think saying that nothing new is every going to happen isn't quite right although I agree that there's not much going on with the aelfs in the new fluff yet. The sylvaneth did get some stuff to do in the realm of life that was neat. I think eventually they will be releasing something for aelfs too. Probably something to do with Slaneesh too since Tyrion has him captured and he has all the aelf souls in his belly. I think it will be exciting times when that happens. But, there's no indication that will be in the next 6 months so this forum will probably be gone by the time that happens.
I'm sure there will be another place to talk about it if people still want to.

by **Ramesesis** » 10 Jan 2016, 17:21

I have shrinked back from my elves and from the woodlands too.

However, I started to write a story about my beloved Raimie so the soul will live on.

I understand your desicion, Naggie. It is so sad to see how our once fair and may I say civilized and gentleman site has faded. And a smaller army like ours was bound to take the hit.
We got our last army book so late I had not time to use properly. Yet I loved the details about the different realms in Loren, I loved so much in there it hurts to think I never got to play it out.
My friends are looking at KoW and 9th age but it will still not be the same, not at all. THIS was the fantasy world that I loved and I a hard time accepting another.

Will not say I will quit the hobby, things can change, but it makes me sad when I think about days past.

My modellen focus is now on Imperial Guard and some Tau.

But we had a really good site and community.

Sad days indeed.

by **Saniles** » 10 Jan 2016, 20:24

Do we have a Facebook site perhaps that we can turn to that may help?

by **Ricold** » 18 Jan 2016, 10:24

As Prince of Spires (Ulthuan head admin if you don't know him) has just pointed out to me, I probably should post with some degree of an update here.

As appears to be the wishes of the Asrai staff, I can currently assure Asrai's future for the time being. There is a discussion going on behind the scenes about how we're best going to implement this, but at the very least we will be looking to move Asrai as it stands onto either the Druchii server or the Ulthuan one. From the point of view of you as users, you will suffer a bit of downtime, probably around a week, as we make the changes and deal with the database, checking everything is up and working. After that (and potentially a few more days for the domain to catch up) the site will appear and work exactly as it does now. You will still request asrai.org from your browser, and you'll still get the same results. That you'll be sharing hard drive space with one of the other sites will make no difference to the workings of the site itself.

One other difference will be made, which is that you'll get a new technical admin looking after the site code, upgrades and the like. If Ulthuan takes it over that'll be me, if Druchii do it'll be one of their staff.

There are a few other possibilities in the mix, we're discussing a few other options.

by **Naggie** » 18 Jan 2016, 18:01

And I can only concur what Ricold just wrote. The site will live on. With some new technical staff.

~ Naggie

by **Isjiek** » 18 Jan 2016, 18:48

I Just read the response from the Ulthuan Admin:

As Prince of Spires (Ulthuan head admin if you don't know him) has just pointed out to me, I probably should post with some degree of an update here.

As appears to be the wishes of the Asrai staff, I can currently assure Asrai's future for the time being. There is a discussion going on behind the scenes about how we're best going to implement this, but at the very least we will be looking to move Asrai as it stands onto either the Druchii server or the Ulthuan one. From the point of view of you as users, you will suffer a bit of downtime, probably around a week, as we make the changes and deal with the database, checking everything is up and working. After that (and potentially a few more days for the domain to catch up) the site will appear and work exactly as it does now. You will still request asrai.org from your browser, and you'll still get the same results. That you'll be sharing hard drive space with one of the other sites will make no difference to the workings of the site itself.

One other difference will be made, which is that you'll get a new technical admin looking after the site code, upgrades and the like. If Ulthuan takes it over that'll be me, if Druchii do it'll be one of their staff.

There are a few other possibilities in the mix, we're discussing a few other options.

Since I am not authorised to respond in that announcement, I opened this thread to express my thanks to those keeping the site up!! Cheers!

Isjiek

by **Nicholas Nitro** » 18 Jan 2016, 23:35

Good news!

by **Naggie** » 19 Jan 2016, 19:19

I fixed that issue, Isjiek

~ Naggie

by **Cernunnos** » 19 Jan 2016, 19:43

Great news!!! I do hope the glades remain, as this is a valuable site, one I am proud to be a member of!

by **Ramesesis** » 20 Jan 2016, 07:57

Good news indeed!

by **Ricold** » 20 Jan 2016, 10:00

It's realising that there are still users dedicated enough to create a new topic (even now merged) to comment rather than just passing on the reply that makes the saving all worth while IMO.

We (The motley assorted Druchii and Ulthuan admin) will look after you.

Isjiek wrote:I Just read the response from the Ulthuan Admin:

As Prince of Spires (Ulthuan head admin if you don't know him) has just pointed out to me, I probably should post with some degree of an update here.

As appears to be the wishes of the Asrai staff, I can currently assure Asrai's future for the time being. There is a discussion going on behind the scenes about how we're best going to implement this, but at the very least we will be looking to move Asrai as it stands onto either the Druchii server or the Ulthuan one. From the point of view of you as users, you will suffer a bit of downtime, probably around a week, as we make the changes and deal with the database, checking everything is up and working. After that (and potentially a few more days for the domain to catch up) the site will appear and work exactly as it does now. You will still request asrai.org from your browser, and you'll still get the same results. That you'll be sharing hard drive space with one of the other sites will make no difference to the workings of the site itself.

One other difference will be made, which is that you'll get a new technical admin looking after the site code, upgrades and the like. If Ulthuan takes it over that'll be me, if Druchii do it'll be one of their staff.

There are a few other possibilities in the mix, we're discussing a few other options.

Since I am not authorised to respond in that announcement, I opened this thread to express my thanks to those keeping the site up!! Cheers!

Isjiek

by **Ramesesis** » 22 Jan 2016, 10:22

Which site will house us? I am already active on Ulthuan now and then, so I guess I could try and be a residing Ent grumbling on about lost fair Loren.

by **frogboy** » 11 Feb 2016, 20:59

Great news! Haven't been active anywhere other than TalkFantasyFootball recently. Glad to read this

by **Naggie** » 12 Feb 2016, 14:52

Ramesesis wrote:Which site will house us?

Too early to tell at this moment, Discussions are being held between all admins of the three major elven sites.

~ Naggie

by **Welshy** » 03 Mar 2016, 16:53

What sad state of affairs that a comunity of so many keen enthusiastic hobbyists have been let down by GW.
How could they have messed it up quite so badly? Was it us, buying from cheaper manufacturers and from ebay?
Asrai.org was where i was first able to really fall in love with the asrai, and where i found so many thousands of hours (it probably was thousands) reading and replying to interesting threads written by interesting people. Beithur and all the others, who had me in awe of the work they did here.
I rememeber logging on every april fools, and finding hello kitty designs and the like, and I found this a happy home away from the dross of real life.
It is a truly sad state of affairs that all this could be lost.
My hat goes off to the people trying to keep our beautiful glade alive.
And thank you to every single person who has contributed in whatever way over the years to this site. Thank you all.

by **Naggie** » 03 Mar 2016, 17:42

The site WILL NOT DISAPPEAR!

The site WILL live on.

~ Naggie

by **Gladelord Berenthor** » 12 Apr 2016, 02:23

Great to hear!
Just finished a 6K Wood Elves army and looking at playing a lot and discussing tactics.

Only 8th Edition though. Curse Age of Sigmar!
Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.