Where have all the hivers gone?

[mattblowers]

Used to be that this was the place for all things tyranid. I've noticed that it has slowly fallen off over the years as forums fell out of use. The past year has seen a precipitous drop in the number of posts. Used to be that this was part of my daily routine. Now I check in 1-2 times a week and often nothing has happened in between. You used to be able to post a list and get a ton of feedback. People regularly posted pics of their painting and conversions. That's nearly ended. The last posting on GSC was last July.

So where has everyone gone? I don't social media, I find it a big time sink with way too much arguing, I just don't find it a good use of my time. The only discord I do is for a War of Rights group I have played with for 4 years. Are you on instagram, facebook? Or are Tyranids something that is dying out? No judgement, just curious.

[nidzy]

I think it’s probably the various discords that people stepped into during the pandemic. I know my group kind of tightened up around our regional scene during the pandemic and we all travelled to the places that were open.

I also think this is a symptom of the other technologies that exist now that didn’t exist when I started on this forum. A lot of these conversations now happen in discords, twitch streams and YouTube channels where folks are engaging in a more immediate way.

[killercroc]

Personally I do check the hive everyday, just don't comment or post much at all. For me I stopped playing during 9th ed cause I disliked the rules and how the game played, started playing 2nd ed instead. As it is for me I mostly play Battletech now, I play 40k once a week, just started in a 3 month campaign to get more games in. Had 5 games of 10th so far, won 4 of them but most times it isn't very fun I've found. Getting tabled just about every game isn't very fun even if I do score a win. So I'm kind of at a weird spot with 40k at the moment and am more interested in older editions or different games.

For more direct reasons why I don't post/respond to stuff. Lists: Only played a few games so still don't have the best grasp on what's good yet. I've mentioned before I was recovering after being in the hospital when 10th dropped so I missed the big rush of everyone getting into it and playing, I go to two different stores; one hardly has anyone playing, it use to have 10+ people every weekend now there are about 4 40k players and 6-8 Battletech players. The other store had a lot of people, easily 20+ playing. Both groups have their own pages for internal stuff, one uses Facebook and the other Discord. Discord is just way more popular these days, faster chat interactions and mobile friendly pushes forums out.

I don't really post pictures of models or painting because, with my medication I basically have constant tremors so building models, converting and painting are very difficult for me. I pretty much just paint with contrast paint now because how mush I shake layering and highlighting is impossible. Oh, that and I don't know how to upload pictures on the forum anymore! Ha.

I don't know about other people, there are lots of guests each day but not many users. Could be nobody wants to talk, all using Discord cause it's easier and the new thing. Could start a rant about how Instagram and TikTok has basically fried most peoples attention span and reading a few sentences is beyond most the people getting into 40k now but those people wouldn't have even read this far into the post so what's the point? Most the people I've seen gaming are either quite old or still kinda young. older folks are set in their way so wont get on a forum if they haven't been using it already for the past 20 years, younger people just have honestly better alternative sites to use over a forum. It's just kind of at a point where forums just aren't as popular or useful. Why go on a forum to ask questions or see lists when there are so many Youtubers or sites that tell you what is the best and how to play the army?

In the end, there are just a lot of little tiny things that really add up and explain when it's just not as popular as it use to be. Really what didn't help The Hive at all is we were constantly discouraged by Mods from making a FB page or using Chat tools to communicate. Site failed to grow with the times, no flow of traffic here vs BoLS, Lexicanum, Goonhammer, etc. etc. Google search Tyranids and The Hive doesn't show up til the 16th spot. That's all sort of why.

[gigasnail]

Heya matt! Wall of text incoming.

I check the hive nearly every day. I don't have a lot to say though. Im not qualified to comment much or give any sort of advice outside of modeling as I haven't played a single game of 10th, and I'm not sure I want to. I only played a handful of games in 9th as well.

This was partially due to covid, but also driven by the people I played with regularly not (ever, in any edition) bothering to know the rules, arguing over any point (even after showing them the rule and FAQ in writing), and calling me up when they were playing to get advice on a rule or interaction and THEN arguing for half an hour over it. Y'all know I love me a good argument but I play the game to get my kill on and hopefully have some fun pushing toy soldiers around with friends. It became utterly exhausting to even think about 40k, to the point I didn't even want to look at my models.

I'm also not really a fan of the state of the game and I haven't been for a long time. the constant invalidation of codexes (3 years is not long enough of an edition life when you have so many factions to churn out) and the trend towards dumbing down, not just the rules (still a mess, could use some serious work) but army and unit composition (Traitor Legions, we barely knew ye).

Also, stratagems as they exist are hot garbage and an abdication of design responsibility. Unit abilities should not be stratagems. I can't stress enough how much I loathe this feature.

This doesn't even touch on the giant time commitment 40k requires. I don't want to spend my time on something that makes me want to bang my head on the table most of the time. I've quit MMO's and barely play video games at all for the same reasons. I have a graphic novel in the works and it's not going to get made without me putting in the work.

I think that sums up why I don't play, and why I don't comment a lot.

The hive's a great place, new folk! Stick around.

[hivefleetkerrigan]

I'm on every day but it comes down to time to post something well thought out and useful plus me playing a bit less 40k recently. My wife graduated grad school last year, we had a kid in the late summer, and she's now back to work with some very long hours. All that means less gaming and hobby time, which means I have less to contribute and less questions.

Another unfortunate factor is that I'm not has happy with the tyranids book design compared to 8/9e. We play an incredible secondary game, but do not kill things well. A lot of competitive lists seem to be around battle shocking the opponent and blocking objectives and I'm less interested in this. Also, the detachments are built around specific synergies for nids so there's less room to find niche interesting builds, IMO. Assimilation swarm? Just spam tough infantry and assimilators. Vanguard invasion? Just run the vanguard organisms. It makes it easier to list build but less of a thought exercise. My list choices have dropped as a result of brainpower (I'm tied, boss!), what models I have (I don't have 3 exos), and what can actually kill/brawl (I didn't enjoy unending swarm).

For posting pictures, it comes down to time as well. I'm painting less and it's a chore to post from mobile (imgur doesn't allow you to get embedded links from mobile last I checked).

I've played GSC 3x andy opponents have been really frustrated each time. It seems like a bad design where it annoys casual players but competitive players have it figured out. Hoping their book fixes it.

I'm looking forward to the custodes codex dropping soon and have been playing a lot of kill team. However, those will not get much traction on a tyranid site.

[N.I.B.]

Yeah I've noticed the same thing and posted about it a couple of times, lamenting the death of the forum and blogs as a place for discussion. The Blood Keep, Warseer forum, The Warhammer Forum, Dakkadakka, Frontline Gaming. It's all gone. The Tyranid Hive is a stubborn remnant, but it too shall pass.
Personally I love this way of having thoughful slow discussions and social media can't replace it. Reddit has taken over some 40k traffic but I think most is just dead.

[broyston]

Not discounting anything anyone has said about social media, Discord etc, but hasn't it always been cyclical on here for many years, lots of chat about rumours before a new edition, chat after release on new builds, rules etc, then quiet until Tyranid codex rumours start and busy again for a few months after codes release. Then quiet again. Unless there is some supplemental book between now and 11th Edition I wouldn't be shocked if it is this quiet for 2 years. Maybe a bit of chatter around "balance" patches.  Or maybe it actually is worse this time round.......

[trashcan01]

Still checking in every day. And yes, I am also involved in Reddit, Discord and various FB pages, not to mention quite a few Youtube channels (Tyranid, competitive and lore content).
Most of the game knowledge comes from this site and I love tapping into it. The amount of insight and experience provided here can't be compared with other platforms.

Everyone being quiet is just, as I see it, a consequence of everything already being told. We are well aware how all the units work, what are the best combos and what's keeping us afloat. I tend to play less as well, because... well.. life.

[angelwing]

I drop by now and again. I don't really have a great deal to contribute as there are far more competent players here to give game or list advice. I was going to give a run down on my opinion of our current book, but everyone had said it already. I painted up all the new releases but I wasn't hugely enthusiastic for them and the painting felt like a chore so I wasn't fussed about posting pictures as such.
I dunno. I still play quite often but I'm just not as enthusiastic for it all right now. I don't suppose it helps that I really struggle to get the win with tyranids in 10th, haha. I think I have a win rate of something like 15%, but it's mostly self inflicted as I just grab some mini cases and make an army out of them rather than hone a list using the good stuff.
I suppose I get my hobby information / news fix from social media these days. I'll stop now as I'm just rambling and shaking my fist at the sky, haha.

[gigasnail]

I am fond of Discord as a casual way to talk to friends and share art or memes or whatever, and to stay up on news from creators or what have you.

It (along with reddit) are realllllly trash as far as being able to find information. Ok great here's a tactics channel. It's got thousands and thousands of posts. Good luck w/ that, search function is limited.

Granted forums had a similar problem but at least you can easily scan thread titles to find posts likely to be useful.

[Bot]

I turned into a workaholic, which is why I faded away. I haven't touched the hobby for a long time, but do I check in on the Hive once a solar eclipse to see what you're all up to.

But yeah, I don't think it is because Tyranids are "dying" that activity here has decreased in genereal. In fact, Warhammer 40K as a whole is more popular than ever. We even have celebrities now who aren't afraid of openly talking about their love for the hobby, (with Henry Cavill now leading an effort to produce a WH40K cinematic universe). WH40K has also exploded on the video game market, now being one of the best-earning IPs on the PC platform, with Space Marine 2 currently being the 13th most wish-listed game on Steam, (featuring Tyranids as the main big bad!).

As almost everyone here has already said, many other platforms are currently sucking up the traffic. Personally, I prefer a good old-fashioned forum like TTH where discussions are neatly organized and not drowned or derailed in seconds.

But, I do think in this day and age where there is such fierce competition between discourse platforms, that if you want to sustain a community, you've got to put some work into it (especially if your community is not on a "popular" platform). For that purpose, there is nothing quite like community events to bring the community together. It could be in the form of competitions in painting, art, fan-fiction, battle reports, list-building, you name it. Make it annual or bi-annual with rewards such as special forum names (Or something like that). The Tyranids Hive Discord does that semi-regularly, but I believe It's been quite a while since TTH did one, (correct me if I'm wrong).

Make an X Twitter account too and highlight people's contributions, (but most importantly, to let people know that this community exists so it can get some fresh biomass).

Also, is Yoritomo still 99% of the mod presence here? The Admin team should've given him all the keys a long time ago, IMO. Let him choose active community members that he trusts to join the team, (and preferably some that have the desire and energy to set some events into motion).

Anyway, that's just how I see it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But yeah, much love to all of you! <3 I shall now go back to become but a shadow in the warp, but I'll see you all in 6 months for the Hive's 20th anniversary!

[yoritomo]

I am not 99% of the mod presence. Coff still lurks around.

I’m still on here about twice a day. Got to keep the forum clear of spam bots. There’s been a surprising number of them lately.

Other than that I don’t have much to say. I passed all my knowledge down to the new generation of tyranid players back in 5th edition. I keep my finger on the pulse of 40K, but I’m not grinding enough to offer sound tactical advice. A few good pointers to the new guys, but that’s about it.

[purestrain]

For me it's just life is more, my kids are growing up and inflation in my country is getting out of hand so I'm being more and more handtied from doing my hobby by every angle.

Also, there's been a lull in basically every tyranid zone I look into.

Bugs got a c- codex and the game is actually kinda boring because of it.

Maybe it's just me?

[trashcan01]

It's not just you. Playing prmary deny/score game on top of (ab)using biovores for secondary isn't all that fun. At least not as fun as it used to be.
Detachment design forces you to take specific units, so all lists look very similar.

Yes, you can play narative, but it has always been very competitive in my group. Like, we really try to play our best. Friendly, but competitive.

[dkng]

Mar 14, 2024 16:02:11 GMT trashcan01 said:

It's not just you. Playing prmary deny/score game on top of (ab)using biovores for secondary isn't all that fun. At least not as fun as it used to be.
Detachment design forces you to take specific units, so all lists look very similar.

Yes, you can play narative, but it has always been very competitive in my group. Like, we really try to play our best. Friendly, but competitive.

Playing Nids in 10th is boring and not satisfactory.