wow subs at 7.7m

[Deleted]

server population action has to be offset vs. historical revenue and expected loss of revenue from transfers by such action, not just on the servers impacted, but on others where people will wait to xfer due to hope of more mergers.

this is likely a major factor in why it has never been done eu.na, the other being concern about perception of such mergers as confirming what anyone who took math knows, the western player population is notably declining.

Someone missed the VR patch 5.4 note.

[Darsithis]

How far will this have to go before the delusional of these fanboys ends? Unless the next expansion is better than TBC/WOTLK combined the pattern is going to continue until theres only a few hundred thousand subs left which is going to be pretty dark days for this game considering how slow/bad content is at 10mill players...imagine it with only 500k players? the dev teams will basically give the fuck up. I'd hate to see the quality of content at <1million subs...when it was already sub-par at 10mill.

You're not happy. I am. So what would you expect I do?

I personally don't care how many subscribers Blizzard has as long as the content they're making makes me happy. I don't care about you or anyone else beyond my friends and my guildmates. You're welcome to rant, rage, scream, and cry in frustration, but that has no effect on me.

[xenogear3]

Since LFR, subs drop every quarter !

People don't understand. Less subs = less new content

[Darsithis]

Since LFR, subs drop every quarter !

The decline started before LFR.

[Deleted]

How far will this have to go before the delusional of these fanboys ends? Unless the next expansion is better than TBC/WOTLK combined the pattern is going to continue until theres only a few hundred thousand subs left which is going to be pretty dark days for this game considering how slow/bad content is at 10mill players...imagine it with only 500k players? the dev teams will basically give the fuck up. I'd hate to see the quality of content at <1million subs...when it was already sub-par at 10mill.

As long as WOW = X million subscriptions and the rest goes to 0, I think the situation looks brighter and brighter. Only EVE still standing in subs.

The rest is at ZERO subs boss.

Good work Mike, now let's add F2P stuff like Hearthstone around the subs and we'll have even better revenue.

[Sussex]

Yea I play Tera, it's f2p and it is a whole lot more fun than WoW is to me. I still think WoW is alright but I completely agree with you that the game is fucking old and really stale this Xpac. They didn't innovate anything and it's a dayum shame too because the raids are so well made. All you need to do is do LFR to see the content and you can quit because there's nothing new or special about the game that you're missing out on once you've done LFR.

Yeah I'll say the only thing I have done in WoW in 2013 is log on for LFR and kill the final boss of the current highest LFR tier and then thats it.

My account ran out a few days ago and I'll keep it inactive until 5.4.

That said most people aren't like me...most people wouldn't be sub'd just to kill 1 boss a week in LFR...and most wouldn't resub to a game in thats all they did...but im an old player with lots of history in the game so thats my only reason to resub....most other people wouldn't give 2 shits to come back after experiencing that.

All of the people I got into WoW quit shortly after hitting max level, let alone raiding or pvping

[yjmark]

http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/02...second-decade/

EVE is a subscription based game too by the way.

That is pretty awesome for them. Gratz. Of course, their entire sub base is about the size of the noise in WoW's sub base numbers, so you can't really call it a "market trend" yet. But it is nice to see it steadily growing. It would be interesting to see if more games like this are what the next generation of MMOs will truly be.

[Robert3620]

Someone missed the VR patch 5.4 note.

No one missed anything. They have said they are going to do vr but no details means no ability to plan or know what to expect. Why would anyone come back for a empty plan?

[Vlad Morbius]

How far will this have to go before the delusional of these fanboys ends? Unless the next expansion is better than TBC/WOTLK combined the pattern is going to continue until theres only a few hundred thousand subs left which is going to be pretty dark days for this game considering how slow/bad content is at 10mill players...imagine it with only 500k players? the dev teams will basically give the fuck up. I'd hate to see the quality of content at <1million subs...when it was already sub-par at 10mill.

Like I've said, who's been at the helm since the game began it's downward slide? Who's visions have these last few expansions been? You want to fix the problem, get rid of the one guy who has consistently run the ship his way or the highway and maybe then you'll get some change. Go back and read some of his posts pre-Cata and so on and see how he has tried to save face over time but at the end of the day it's still the same old same old, his rules his decisions, his failure, end of story.

[therayeffect]

As long as WOW = X million subscriptions and the rest goes to 0, I think the situation looks brighter and brighter. Onlly EVE still sntanding in subs.

The rest is at ZERO subs boss.

Good work Mike, now let's add F2P stuff like Hearthstone around the subs.

"My arm is cut off but that other guy is dead over there so I'm fine!" That's basically what you just said. You're (WoW) is 'bleeding out' and yet EVERYTHING IS FINE MAN! No worries! You can't honestly be serious. The game is old and boring and stagnating and the sub numbers are showing it.

[Deleted]

But it's all speculation, we have no idea, all we know is that patches are coming quicker, the next expansion will land quicker than previous ones and unless there's some major backtracking soon, sub losses or not, they seem to be happy with things.

Ok so your post is made with a solid vain in trusting Blizzard implicitly in whats happened in the past and whats gonna hapen in the future... i can live with that.

But this point is purely opinion.

We do know why players r unsubbing, a significantly large section of those who unsubbed r still on these forums. They continue to post and happily explain the exact reasons they unsubbed. Sadly, most people on the forums who r still subbed ignore or ridicule this section of posters. There is a good thread recently called something like "Why did u unsub from Wow?" and that thread has around 30+ pages of posts from those of us who have left the game and r kind enough to post our reasons for leaving.

Now, im pretty sure u dont have to be a business genius to use this data to see trends and commonalities in why players r unsubbing. Its there for u in black and white.

That said, i agree with u that Blizzard are working harder and faster for the new content, we only disagree in the backdrop which frames their sudden 'bullet up the ass' attitude.

I think its cos theyre finally in panic-mode and u think its simply business as usual.

EDIT: Plus, you people must see that they will NEVER tell the truth regarding why players are leaving. Do you really expect them to tell the world that they lost 37% of players because the game is not fun? Really? Talk about a game-suicide...

This is kinda apt too.

[Sussex]

Like I've said, who's been at the helm since the game began it's downward slide? Who's visions have these last few expansions been? You want to fix the problem, get rid of the one guy who has consistently run the ship his way or the highway and maybe then you'll get some change. Go back and read some of his posts pre-Cata and so on and see how he has tried to save face over time but at the end of the day it's still the same old same old, his rules his decisions, his failure, end of story.

I don't even know what to say anymore man.

WoW is like a dying grandfather to me. I still love it but it's becoming weaker and weaker as time goes on and as much as you hate to think about it you know it wont get any better and it's time to move on enjoy other things.

That said I wish it wasn't like this and I wish the game was still as strong as it was in the TBC/WOTLK era.

[Dabrix32]

Theres an obvious difference in the quality of the game when you compare TBC and Wrath to Cata and MoP. Why can we see this yet the people at Blizzard cant?

[therayeffect]

Yeah I'll say the only thing I have done in WoW in 2013 is log on for LFR and kill the final boss of the current highest LFR tier and then thats it.

My account ran out a few days ago and I'll keep it inactive until 5.4.

That said most people aren't like me...most people wouldn't be sub'd just to kill 1 boss a week in LFR...and most wouldn't resub to a game in thats all they did...but im an old player with lots of history in the game so thats my only reason to resub....most other people wouldn't give 2 shits to come back after experiencing that.

All of the people I got into WoW quit shortly after hitting max level, let alone raiding or pvping

Yea like I said I quit awhile ago. It turns out I think it was actually early May. I can't quite remember. My biggest problems and reasons for quitting were that my guild sucked and my server was worse than them so we couldn't replace the bad players. I mean realistically the game is fine. They just need to innovate and do something new and fun to refresh it to justify paying 15 bucks a month with all of these f2p games out there and fix the damn servers. 5.4 won't really do that. I honestly doubt the next Xpac will even do that. At the direction the game is going, I could definitely see WoW hitting 5M subs. I think the saddest thing is that as vulnerable as WoW is, it's probably top 5 at LEAST of the MMOs out there right now. No other companies seem to want to innovate and it's annoying. I want a fun new MMO to play (although I do like Tera) that is really complete when it releases and not some skeleton of a game that just drives away it's players. Oh well, the video game industry sucks ass right now.

[Sturmbringe]

So in the face of sub losses, you think Blizzard would spend more money on segregating people away from World of Warcraft?

Yeah...no. That's one thing I'm 100% confident is never, ever happening. Ever.

Blizzard would do anything that would produce revenue. It's what companies do. They are just not that desperate yet to run Legacy Servers. We will discuss this again in the aftermath of the disastrous Q3 results which are on the way.

It is also worth noting that Legacy Servers would be primarily addressed to Veteran Players like me who quit WoW long ago and will never return to play so-called "WoW" under any circumstances. So, Blizzard won't be segregating people, instead, they will be bringing Veteran Players back to the fold.

[Robert3620]

I wonder if it would be possible for people just doing lfr and that wanted to kill Garrosh to do it for free without a sub. Wait till Blizzard gives out a free week, come back and do lfr. You finished the expansion and then can take off again.

[Baine]

Yay, we're down towards TBC like numbers. All of the douches and bads are gone, pretty much.

Or the so-called elitists who think MoP is too easy.

[yjmark]

Blizzard would do anything that would produce revenue. It's what companies do. They are just not that desperate yet to run Legacy Servers. We will discuss this again in the aftermath of the disastrous Q3 results which are on the way.

I thought that WoW was going to die before Q3 was over.....

Do you really think that Legacy servers would be a money maker for Blizz? I do agree that if it made financial sense, then they will do it. I'm just not 100% sure if they would make financial sense.

[Deleted]

So it's a pretty safe bet to claim that the 'quality' of the subscribers also has dropped the past few years, along with the quantity. Obviously depending on what measurements you use to determine quality, but for me it pretty much can be summed up objectively in player- and group-activity.

Again how do you work out player or group activity to determine quality?

Even if you do drop in and out of an expansion, are those people making up the difference in cost with mounts / helms / pets?

It's been said a lot but this expansion isn't very alt friendly, people seem to (in my experience at least) have stuck with one / two toons instead of the 4 or 5 well geared ones they've had in previous expansions (when there were quick and easy catch up dungeons), that would effect activity but have little to no impact on the bottom line.

Also the game doesn't require guilds to see content, and that'll only get more so in the future (with flex) is it fair to compare "you must be in a guild to raid" to a time in the games life where LFR exists and Flex is coming?

[Darsithis]

Blizzard would do anything that would produce revenue. It's what companies do. They are just not that desperate yet to run Legacy Servers. We will discuss this again in the aftermath of the disastrous Q3 results which are on the way.

The cost of starting up legacy servers...long since ruled out by Blizzard, many many times. Imagine having to separate up your servers (or purchase new ones), new space, re-engineer the game and databases for multiple versions, train staff for those specific versions of the game, all to watch people play for a few months and then dwindle down all the while losing revenue on the main World of Warcraft as people leave it to try out the legacy servers.

That'd be a horrible design decision.