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  1. #1

    The real reason WoW is losing subs

    The real reason WoW is losing subs is simple.

    It's not because the game has gotten old.
    It's not because the game has gotten worse.
    It's not because the game has gotten easy.

    You can have an opinion on all these things. You can think the game is easier now, you can thnk the game was better in Vanilla. That's all a matter of perspective. But these are not the reasons why the game has lost so many subs.

    The reason why the game has lost so many subs is because the game has become less demanding. The game has moved away from trying to pin down players and keep them busy for months. The game has moved away from trying to force players into some kind of commitment, like into a guild, where they have to attend raids every week in order to even have a chance at seeing all the content.

    Casual playing and accessability are the key words here. Now this might not be news to anyone. But I think it's so obvious that these are the main factors why the game is losing subs. People can now play the game like a singleplayer game. You can start it up, play for a few hours, and if you do that every day, you're gonna have played through the game pretty much after a couple of days. There isn't really much more content in this game for more than a couple of hours anyway.

    And it wasn't any different in Vanilla. There was maybe a little bit more content than today, especially if you compare the content we get in patches, but it wasn't that much more to make a huge difference. A little bit more would've kept us busy a little bit longer in recent expansions.

    What really made so many more people subscribe for such a longer time in Vanilla compared to today is that the game was designed to be difficult to play while still maintaining a healthy real life outside of the game. It's no secret. Back in the day, tons of people were addicted to WoW, to the point where they needed to go into "rehab". People neglected their real life, their friends, their family. Even their kids. We've all heard of it.

    The game demanded you to structure your real life around the game, if you wanted to actually get somewhere in the game. And for many people, that might be what made the game great. People invested time, because they had to. People committed to guilds, because they had to. Not necessarily because they really wanted to.

    And the reason less people invest that amount of time and commitment is because the game doesn't demand it of them anymore. If you want to see the content, you can do LFR and LFG. If you are busy with stuff in real life, you can catch up, with things like catch-up raid gear and even level boosts. You don't depend on the community and your guild anymore and you can schedule the game around your real life, instead of the other way around.

    Some people might now be thinking that I'm trying to criticize the game for it's casualness and accessability. That I'm trying to say that this is why "the game is dying". But that's actually not what I'm trying to say. I'm actually wondering now if it isn't better this way.

    The game never had a justification for us to play it as much as so many of us did back in the day. There weren't that many quests in the zones in Vanilla. Leveling took so long because you had to run and fly back and forth so much. It took so long because the experience gain was tuned in such a way where you had to do all the quests available to you in every zone, plus dungeons and probably plus a little bit of extra grinding. Dungeons could be cleared once rather quickly, but the reason you spent so much time in there was because they gave you reasons to grind them over and over again. You needed to in order to advance to the next kind of content.

    Is that really fun? If you think about it, would you like to do that in a singleplayer game? If they told you to play through level 1 ten times before advancing to level 2, would that be fun to you? Or would you think it was a blatantly obvious attempt to stretch game time? They didn't make more content, they just forced you to repeat the same content again. And there are still instances of that in today's WoW, but Vanilla WoW was so much worse when it came to grinding. Because in today's WoW, at least you can see all the content without grinding anything. And I'm starting to think it's better that way. MMOs always relied on pointless grinding way too much anyway.
    Last edited by King of Gaming; 2016-05-23 at 11:08 AM.

  2. #2
    Quote Originally Posted by King of Gaming View Post
    The real reason WoW is losing subs is simple.

    It's not because the game has gotten easy.
    I'm not really sure why you'd include that line if you're going to proceed to write about how much easier it is to complete content...

  3. #3
    High Overlord quintpp's Avatar
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    Seems like everyone have their expert opinion on why wow seems to be failing.

  4. #4
    Deleted
    Casualization.

  5. #5
    In truth, I think it was that they messed up the reward structure in WOD and (also) they didn't add more dungeons after launch. They also thought that the WOD world (the zones) were more engrossing than they actually were.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by King of Gaming View Post
    The real reason WoW is losing subs is simple.

    It's not because the game has gotten old.
    Actually, it is.
    Quote Originally Posted by THE Bigzoman View Post
    Meant Wetback. That's what the guy from Home Depot called it anyway.
    ==================================
    If you say pls because it is shorter than please,
    I'll say no because it is shorter than yes.
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  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by DonChalk View Post
    I'm not really sure why you'd include that line if you're going to proceed to write about how much easier it is to complete content...
    Easy as in a boss being easy to defeat. That plays no role in whether people subscribe or not. I would even argue that an easy game is gonna attract more players, most people aren't looking for hard games. The only thing that has gotten "easier" is to access content.

  8. #8
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by ItachiZaku View Post
    Actually, it is.
    And how is that?

  9. #9
    Deleted
    The real reason WoW is losing subs is because it's barely accessible to new players, while old players will naturally give less of a fuck, or will get bored, or will have no time.

    You can construct any number of theories about how the game has grown too hard or too easy or too accessible or whatever, but the fact is, it's really hard for a 12 year old game that has so much inertia and bloat to draw in and keep a completely new player. Blizz knows this and tries to remedy this will things like level boosts, but it won't change that.

    EDIT: Also, I cringe hard when I see the word "casualisation". WoW was always a very very casual game. outside of bleeding edge raid progression it never punished players for anything and was perfectly fine when played 100% casually. Lack of proper content is not "casualisation".

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by quintpp View Post
    Seems like everyone have their expert opinion on why wow seems to be failing.
    I never said it's failing. I don't see losing subs as failing. Like I said the reason so many people subscribed for such a longer time was because the game forced them to waste a lot of time on stupid grinding. Getting rid of that is not a failure in my mind, it's a success. The game will not die anytime soon, just because the sub numbers are fluctuating more now.

  11. #11
    I only know that I like playing with friends. I think that's a big reason, that a lot of people don't play with other people as much as before (I mean, people you know). Multiple reasons for that.

    I think slow removal of the need to get to know people has had a pretty big impact.

  12. #12
    If WoW suddenly undid all of the things its players feel are the reason it sucks, it'd die. In a gaming environment where the modus operandi of successful developers is quicker, faster rewards for less effort, a game which demands nothing but time-consuming grinds would stick out like a sore thumb. Sure, the WoW purists will be happy but it would assuredly be the end of the game as we know it.

  13. #13
    Stood in the Fire Frinata's Avatar
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    Just because you have access to it doesn't mean you have it all presented to you on a silver platter.

    You have access to literally all the content and always had. How many mythics have you raced for, or perhaps raced for world first Kael?

    No? Thought so. The game hasn't shifted in it's accessibility, just the variety of how you can access it.

    /thread

    Awesome Sig/Avatar by the lovely Rivellana

  14. #14
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Alydael View Post
    In truth, I think it was that they messed up the reward structure in WOD and (also) they didn't add more dungeons after launch. They also thought that the WOD world (the zones) were more engrossing than they actually were.
    Rewards aren't content though. The issue with wod isn't that the garrison hands you freebies, it's the tiny amount of content post level 100.

    When BC was released there was like 1 year worth of content for an average mid core player. In wod you can proceed to level up and do all the dungeons and raids in normal in less than a week.

    BC had something like 16 dungeons and 9 raids, whereas WoD has 8 dungeons and 3 raids.
    Last edited by mmoc18e6a734ba; 2016-05-23 at 11:36 AM.

  15. #15
    The Lightbringer Cæli's Avatar
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    I don't know but if demanding is involved, I think it's more like the game is too demanding compared as before.
    Player pvp they realize they can't get glad+, they slowly quit.
    Player pve they realize they can't get in a mythic guild even, they slowly quit.
    Player is a completionist they realize they can't even complete half the collection (it was possible to complete everything for avg collectors until late wotlk), they slowly quit.

    There were no such pvp reward like before, it was pure grind and not skill. There were less feeling of being unable to reach a high end level in pve, all they needed to do is to get in a guild and kill the unique bosses, not progressing through a million difficulty types with redundant content. Average player is certainly not the hardcore type. And they don't have time anymore to play a game that you can never finish, so all is left is macdonalds content, aka LFR, first moments of a patch they kill the end boss, they consider the game done, only things missing is the staff roll.
    Last edited by Cæli; 2016-05-23 at 11:33 AM.

  16. #16
    Bloodsail Admiral Heeresman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by King of Gaming View Post
    snip
    Right.
    So firstly you inform us of opinions people have had of why WoW is losing subs and then, low and behold, you give us your opinion on why WoW is losing subs.
    And kindly inform us all that your opinion is in fact......fact.
    Those who do not stand with the Forsaken stand against them. And those who stand against the Forsaken will not stand long

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Cæli View Post
    I don't know but if demanding is involved, I think it's more like the game is too demanding compared as before.
    Player pvp they realize they can't get glad+, they slowly quit.
    Player pve they realize they can't get in a mythic guild even, they slowly quit.
    Player is a completionist they realize they can't even complete half the collection (it was possible to complete everything for avg collectors until late wotlk), they slowly quit.
    Well, that sounds to me like they are just not good enough. That problem is really their own then.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Heeresman View Post
    And kindly inform us all that your opinion is in fact......fact.
    Where did I say that?

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Stanelis View Post
    Rewards aren't content though. The issue with wod isn't that the garrison hand you freebies, it's the tiny amount of content post level 100.

    When BC was released there was like 1 year worth of content for an average mid core player.
    It is rewards though. There was content to do in WOD, but why leave your garrison to do it when your garrison missions gave you mythic gear?

  19. #19
    Has there been any recent update about Legacy Servers?

  20. #20
    Now that I know the real reason for WoWs inevitable and painful demise, I feel my life is finally complete.

    And hey, the intel came from the King of Gaming in person!

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