WoW stabilizes over 10M subscribers, down 100k in Q4 2011

Originally Posted by Wartide_ysera

And almost all parts feel the same with one/two different little things between platforms, and in the end is just a kill adds press a button burn boss, not really difficult just pulling big numbers out and you win.

And dont even tell me about wiping at last phase, 13 min of the same thing all over again, at least LK was different everytime with valkyrs grabing random ppl, defile on random ppl, frostmourne room etc.

PS: Anyone who fought LK heroic back in its days know you can't compare it with madness.

Most of the heroic versions of fights in general just don't have the same luster to them. I've always felt heroic is much more fun than normal, generally speaking, but less so with DS. Lich King is a perfect example of a really good fight in normal mode that escalates to amazing with heroic. Lots of ICC fights did that, except for Sindragosa which is just bad all the time.

Indeed, most people rationale will realise the game is in a downward spiral.

No, most rational people will compare the results of the previous quarters, other factors and involved and then come to an educated guess-conclusion like, 'Considering that they've slowed down the loss of subscriptions by 700k world-wide in a time of holidays and the release of ToR and other great titles like Skyrim that are easily as time-intensive as WoW, it looks like the curve has reached another stagnation point like it did last year in Q2 and can be categorized as such until we see this year's Q1 results, which we can then form new educated opinions on.'

If you look at the charts for subs and how they point to the earth, most investors would run.

No, they really wouldn't. Seriously, don't bring up basic investment and economics if you haven't even taken a high school course in economics or business. Any investor would be full-bore retarded to jump ship on World of Warcraft because the game is still generating the income to massively outweigh the overhead required to produce the game, meaning the profit margin is still incredibly large. As for the charts, I'll again point you to the basic graph reading skills that are taught pre-high school which indicate that, at this point in time, we have hit a stagnation point, or (in calculus terms) the local minimum.

Does no one remember how Activision-Blizzard made commercials about their millions sold? They gained subs then, they hemorrhaged them now. Again, not doomsaying here, but realistically speaking, that is not good.

Of course it isn't, but it's not to the point where it's definitively bad, which is one of the causes of the uproar. People continue to forget that Wrath also had a cyclical nature of gaining subs then losing them, like how people un-subbed after Naxx 2.0 but then re-subbed for Ulduar. It wasn't of the magnitude with Cataclysm, but that's not the point. The point is that this downward trend isn't a first for the game, nor is it something that will inevitably continue (compared Q3 results with Q4). But, instead of applying the same amount of logic as an average sixth-grader to this entire situation, people would rather just verbally punch each other in the face with buzz words that they don't even know the definitions of while having idiotic pissing contests until it degrades into, 'Well, you're wrong because you don't agree with me, so nyaahhh!' Sure bodes well for the next generation of humans.

I also love how anyone who says anything about WoW is infracted, but people can say crap about TOR all the time and nothing happens.

I also love how people heap immense amounts of praise on ToR and Rift and GW2 (even though it hasn't come out yet) for being 'revolutionary' and 'revitalizing' and offering 'superior gameplay' despite the fact that none of these have brought anything new to the MMO table. I'm not saying don't praise the games, because they do deserve accolades for being games that don't fundamentally suck (i.e. they're actually playable and well-established mechanics) and adding more robust names to the MMO scene, but don't praise them for 'changing the face of the MMO industry' because they haven't done that in any way, shape or form. Good games? Definitely. Revolutionary? Not a shot in hell.

Seriously, the reason it's "stable" over 10m are all the peeps that (no offence) stupidly locked themselves with the annual ripoff-diablo-package

I know it's overly nitpicky, but 'peeps', seriously? Is people really that hard to type out and try to sound educated or did we all suddenly time-travel back to 2002 when AIM was super cool and so wuz TyPInG LiEk DiZ l0l.That aside, I'm still amazed by how many people don't understand the simple concept that the people signing up for the annual pass are people that weren't going to quit the game for a good period of time anyway. Only a full-blown idiot would sign up for the pass when s/he plans to play for another month, and for being that incredibly stupid, paying for an extra eleven months is a pretty good punishment. I signed up for it because I know I'll be playing World of Warcraft until time constraints keep me from doing so, I'll definitely be playing D3 and I'd like to finally get in on a beta test.

looks like the Diablo scheme was a hit

I think they're still gonna be the most popular MMORPG until their graphics and gameplay are gonna be too outdated (about 5 years imo, since they update them often)

There sure are a lot of people who don't like WoW on a website that primarily delivers WoW related news...

Originally Posted by javen

I guess I should call again, then. You can cancel online and when I tried over the phone the rep said I was locked in and they couldn't do anything about it and if I cancelled the card or anything my credit would take a hit. Maybe she just lied because she didn't want to get in trouble or something.

If you get that answer again ask to talk to their supervisor because not only is it wrong but the threat of attacking your credit rating is completely uncalled for and unprofessional.

The fact they still bled 100k subs during a content patch is a pretty telling sign of a game on a downhill slope. I'm sure the numbers will turn up again for yet another expansion but the game is on its way out.

Originally Posted by errosync

words

I realize that it isn't definitively bad, and I also realize that WoW has a cyclical nature, as any healthy business would. My point though, was that two million subs lost is not cyclical anymore, it is their biggest hit yet. Is that doomsaying? No, it is looking at things realistically. Despite WoW being a supposed "giant", this is bad from a business standpoint. I am sure they can come back, but this is still WoW's biggest hit yet, considering how much the game grew in the past. Only time will tell whether or not this was just a big dip, or portents of things to come.

Also, I hope you are not looping me in with the malcontents. I too find disdain in the people who praise TOR and Rift for things they don't have, but I feel the same towards the people who praise WoW as well. All are good games, but they have done nothing revolutionary; it is all hype and fluff, WoW is just the best at it due to the subscriber base. Quite honestly, the problem lies at the markets heart itself, not the individual games.

My whole point is this; while WoW is still an incredible game and going strong, you cannot simply shrug off the fact they have taken their biggest dip yet. The upcoming year and their subsequent quarters will be trying times for Activision-Blizzard.

By that time, the game will be 13 years old, running on a very dated game engine

Why do people still say that. You think that WoW you're playing is the same WoW from 2004? It isn't. In fact, the WoW engine is now one of the most advanced gaming platforms available with DX11 and 64 bit support. What other games offer either? Much less both? (here's a hint, 2 MMO's support DX11 and none support 64 bit currently)

WoW isn't some 7 year old thing that people keep playing for nostalgia, it's COMPLETELY different. Not only in content and mechanics, but nuts and bolts of the code. It's heavily demanding on high end gaming systems but able to support a wide range of hardware. It's pretty amazing, even if it's content has become boring and unoriginal.

That number is actually horrible, considering the annual pass, 4.3, and winter would all cause subscriber spikes. I expect it to tank again in Q1 2012.

Luph that pertains to what i was gonna say next. + 10.2 million DKP

Originally Posted by MikeyDD

The game will never die. Look at Ultima Online, it's still around.

But games do get stale and get bad. WoW has reached that point.

I predict Q1 of this year will be about a 215k loss, Q2 210k, Q3 400k and Q4 625k.

We're going to see some 'soft declines' like we just did with only 100k, but then some big hits too. MoP isn't going to save anything.

Up until recently we have never seen the sub numbers published until a milestone was reached. We have no idea whether this flux in sub loss is the norm. Think about the length between them announcing 11million and then the 12 million milestone. There was 2 years between them. Please stop jumping to conclusions unless you have all 28+ quarterly reports to get an accurate read on whether it's dying or just fluxing as usual. Anecdotal evidence, ie my server is dying, is not real proof, because if you log into high pop servers its still alive...which would mean according to the "my server is dying, so wow is dying" argument, Wow would be insanely popular.

Originally Posted by Luph

There sure are a lot of people who don't like WoW on a website that primarily delivers WoW related news...

Perhaps it is possible they like the people in the game and play for them while disliking the game :O One of many reasons why people who dislike WoW are on this website.

Well it is nice to see that WoW still has a lot of subs and is going strong despite being 7 years old. However all you saw last year was a decline of subs, best hope that MoP somehow brings in more people. It would suck to see them just losing subs more subs than they are gaining

Originally Posted by mrwingtipshoes

A PVP focused F2p game is going to hurt a PVE/PVP sub based game? Really? REALLY?

Why pay subscription, when you get better entertainment for free ?

So, Diablo is delayed again, and now players shouldn't expect Mists and SCII (one or the other) this year either? Seems like the annual pass was a scheme to retain people before letting people know their release expectations were really much farther behind schedule. Can we expect another year-round raid in DS like we had for ICC? As for sub-numbers, the numbers are still great. It's a huge loss percentage due to Cataclysm's poor content, philosophy and broken promises. Still, the continued loss in people have further imbalanced and endangeared servers that were hurting already. RIFT does free server transfers, WoW ought to do it as well. It's automated, we're not paying someone to manually change our characters around. Then again, the microtransactions have helped dull some of the pain from subscription losses, why would they change now?

Originally Posted by Sephiracle

The fact they still bled 100k subs during a content patch is a pretty telling sign of a game on a downhill slope. I'm sure the numbers will turn up again for yet another expansion but the game is on its way out.

Considering SWTOR came out around the same time, I tend to disagree

Originally Posted by topfer

small tidbit of information left out of the front page post

http://www.gamespot.com/news/diablo-...-again-6350086

"Activision pushes action RPG to April-June quarter; company not expecting to ship both Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm and WOW: Mists of Pandaria this year."

"Additionally, Activision today said it is expecting only one other title from Blizzard this year. The company has a number of announced projects, including Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm and World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria."

Deathwing is gonna be real stale by the time 2013 rolls around...

But thats what happen - And we will not be talking 100k sub looses by then. We will be talking millions. Cause MOP is about as bland and boring as any expansion ever made. So BLizzard can not hype this up expecting ppl to gome back after 1 year of dead time. Simply will not happen.

Originally Posted by Duster505

But thats what happen - And we will not be talking 100k sub looses by then. We will be talking millions. Cause MOP is about as bland and boring as any expansion ever made. So BLizzard can not hype this up expecting ppl to gome back after 1 year of dead time. Simply will not happen.

I'm not a big supporter of MoP.

But you are assuming that MoP is the most bland and boring expansion ever made, and the beta has not even been released yet.

Not to be a fanboy, but does that sound a little bit over the top doomsayerish?

Originally Posted by Repefe

Why pay subscription, when you get better entertainment for free ?

Because the supposed better product is in a stage of speculation, while the thing you pay for is an already available product, that yo probably are satisfied with due to its baseline of quality still being superior to many of its supposed successors, in addition, access to it requiring you to pay.

Lets discuss about how GW2 is better, after it proves itself to offer something more hence, proving itself to hold a figure of merit for comparison, and "but Vanilla was like it too" does not count, as you are releasing the game as a form of business that should be able to hold its ground in the competition. For comparison criteria, time is of the essence, and what matters is the present, neither the past nor the future.

---------- Post added 2012-02-10 at 01:17 AM ----------

Originally Posted by spirits330

So, Diablo is delayed again, and now players shouldn't expect Mists and SCII (one or the other) this year either? Seems like the annual pass was a scheme to retain people before letting people know their release expectations were really much farther behind schedule. Can we expect another year-round raid in DS like we had for ICC? As for sub-numbers, the numbers are still great. It's a huge loss percentage due to Cataclysm's poor content, philosophy and broken promises. Still, the continued loss in people have further imbalanced and endangeared servers that were hurting already. RIFT does free server transfers, WoW ought to do it as well. It's automated, we're not paying someone to manually change our characters around. Then again, the microtransactions have helped dull some of the pain from subscription losses, why would they change now?

You assume it is automated, while there's a poor oompa-loompa behind the server interface handling it. In addition, RIFT has a poputlation, 10% of WoW's, simply put it indicates 10 times work-load assuming same amount of servers and character/player.

Originally Posted by Desdonde

Considering SWTOR came out around the same time, I tend to disagree

Not sure what you're meaning, that the numbers will turn back around, or the game is on its way out?