Where is the returning player Hype?

[Demandred]

Well on my server (Turalyon) it's definately got busier. SW and Dalaran are both packed causing me to actually lag which hasn't been the case for some time

[JustRob]

I mean, it's not like we'll ever know for sure how many people came back, as Blizzard decided to no longer share subscriber numbers.

[Svad]

The Price of the Eu token has dropped almost 20k, so something is happening here.

[Deja Thoris]

The Price of the Eu token has dropped almost 20k, so something is happening here.

No it hasnt. Unless you want to pretend it peaked at 97k

[blankfaced]

I'm waiting till the expansion rolls out to resub, i'm too far behind with WoD to return right now and have any fun.

It's obvious to anyone who played alpha and beta that Legion won't revive the game. Zones are the same quality as before (good), class design is worse than ever, and just about nothing else is changing in the game except additions of more RNG. Legion will keep the same people that played WoD for the first 6 months, but then it'll slip into a peaceful death.

I said it already back in January this is the last WoW expansion in the current subscription model. The game won't disappear of course, but it'll be in full maintenance mode. The scaling dungeons (and later probably raids) from Diablo is already the beginning of it. You won't get anything new anymore, so they'll just make it so you can grind the old stuff forever.

That's a very pessimistic way of looking at things, and I highly doubt this will be the last expansion with the sub model. It's still turning enough of a profit to keep subs going. And it isn't obvious to anyone but you really, your opinion on the matter isn't the end all be all.

[JustRob]

I dunno, Legion does feel like a suitable expansion to wrap up WoW. After we've beaten the Legion, what's left? Yeah okay, maybe the Void Lords, but nothing can really kill them. I think if we see Sargeras as a final boss this expansion, there's a good chance it's the last one.

[Wingspan]

I mean, it's not like we'll ever know for sure how many people came back, as Blizzard decided to no longer share subscriber numbers.

I was thinking the other day that this is one of the first expansions in a while where Blizzard didn't release info on the number of pre-sales (both to brag and to advertise).

I might have just missed it, but if they haven't done such an announcement, then that by itself might suggest a relatively poor turnout for Legion.

[Holofernes]

What i like in Legion is that with artifact stuff and world quests, u always have an ability to do something that actually increases your character in some way.

In WOD i was desperate to find anything useful to do. every rep was done in like 2 months. every mount that could be organized in a non nightlong camping way got achieved. Legendary quest was like nothing special, normal raiding and you got it per default.
there is just nothing to grind, (and no i have no fucking idea wth i should do with 350 k apexis i got from NOT DOING ANYTHING exept the reps IN FUCKING TANAN)
yeah the saberstalker mounts. that was like a week or so of solo grinding for all the claws. Grouping up for this actually mad it too slow, what fucking design is it to make a group content done as a group worse than soloing it?

I am spending much time farming some drop mounts from older content. Nothing else to do, besides mythic raiding with one char, and running som casual fun hc with the other.

Oh yeah i coudl do the pepe achievments. well. FUCK that. No i wont kill 50 bosses with a fucking bird on my hat, only to get a toy and 15 achievment points. i have no idea what kind of rl / popculture reference pepe is, but it has to be something with mongoloid lgbt people that got severely traumatized by beiing abused in some feministic Sado-Maso porn.

Ashran is like wtf as someone who plays a melee, i especially lvld a ranged (shaman) to do the ashran achievment and nemesis quests. But jesus ashran was BAD at the beginning of wod, it became a little better to actually playable in like 6.2 or so.

Legion actually looks like players are actually able to do something for char progression on their own, and i kind of like it.

[JustRob]

I was thinking the other day that this is one of the first expansions in a while where Blizzard didn't release info on the number of pre-sales (both to brag and to advertise).

I might have just missed it, but if they haven't done such an announcement, then that by itself might suggest a relatively poor turnout for Legion.

I guess we'll see how busy Dalaran is in Legion. Since both the Horde and the Alliance are there, it should give us a hint as to how many people are playing. I remember during WotLK, I had a shitty PC and I literally had to point my camera straight at the ground in order to even be able to move in Dalaran. I had like 5 fps at most.

[Eggroll]

Usually when pre-patch is about to hit the hype train starts and people start flooding back to WoW. We have less than a week till pre-patch and I don't see any signs of people returning in droves like usual. Makes me wonder how big Legion will actually be.

Did WoD really turn people off this much? This is first time I've ever seen pre-patch not be super hyped up.

I know I'm not returning, the things I've seen in Alpha and Beta, the dumbing down, the way they deal with the community, all this did nothing to restore my faith after the disappointment of WoD.

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I dunno, Legion does feel like a suitable expansion to wrap up WoW. After we've beaten the Legion, what's left? Yeah okay, maybe the Void Lords, but nothing can really kill them. I think if we see Sargeras as a final boss this expansion, there's a good chance it's the last one.

That would beg the question why they would make all these grave changes to the game if they are going to wrap it up after that one.

[Deleted]

Legion launch will matter a lot (I think).
People who "quit" wow often keep updated on what happens - you don't have to look further than mmo-c.
If people likes Legion, and there is a positive vibe, more will come back and give it another go.
If it is a lag hell like WOD launch, then people might not be as positive.

[Romoreas]

Returning after a year b/c I didnt want to farm Mythic HFC for 1 year!!! HYPE

[Auxora]

2 things. First, you're basing whether people are coming back in droves just on your own experience, which is a very small sample size. I've seen plenty of people coming back in our guild, as well as just in random dungeons. I'm getting a lot of "sorry I'm just back and haven't played in a while", etc. So there are folks coming back even if you haven't personally noticed.

And more importantly, #2 it's still early for people to come back. The time when people start returning is when the pre-event starts and that really doesn't start until August 9th. I wouldn't call the 7.03 patch alone enough for most players to come back. If I were unsubbed, I wouldn't sub for 3 weeks just to see class changes and xmog. I'd wait until the actual pre-event starts (invasions, DH, Broken Shore, pre-event questlines) and do it all then. Even people coming back then still have weeks to try out the class changes, and especially people coming back for Demon Hunters don't benefit by coming back now when they can't roll them yet.

Also, keep in mind we're coming off what is by the vast majority of people viewed as the worst expansion in wow history. So it's understandable if some of the hype is subdued. Another factor is the Summer release. Just naturally people are busy with vacations, travel, outdoor activities, etc. and so hype will be a bit more tame for that reason than some of the other expansions released in say November in the midst of videogame "season". I know quite a few people that don't play videogames at all during the Summer months.

[Henako]

WoW used to be a game where you made friends. The way it was designed just catalyzed the creation of very strong social groups and friendships. When I played WoW I didn't have a single friend real life friend that played it, but through the game I made dozens of friends that I also met in real life.

Today's WoW design is just the opposite. They are systematically removing everything that causes players to depend on each other (from micro-level mechanics like threat, to macro-level tools like LFR). They have also removed the need to stick with the game over a longer term, so many people just come to see the new patch content and then just leave the game until the next content patch.

On top of all this, the thing that really kills me is the loss of server communities. Cross-realm everything kinda takes the magic away, and makes it impossible to build a reputation.

[Svad]

No it hasnt. Unless you want to pretend it peaked at 97k

It was @ 95k when it was highest about a month ago, and I did say "Almost" ;-)

[Aehl]

Basically there isnt any hype because most people are by now well aware that what Blizzard says they will do can be taken with a grain of salt the size of Gibraltar.

When you wont promise, commit, be held to your word that you never give, when anything and everything is subject to change on a whim and without any notice eg Ordos and the cloak, you kinda find it hard..if not impossible..to trust them. They burned a huge slew of the playerbase and a large percentage of those are NEVER coming back. Anyone that thinks that Legion will reverse or bring back the five MILLION that walked out the door needs help.

The multi part meta for flight with "wait and see" at the end of all the hoops they want us to jump through..yeah no thanks...thats what killed it for me.

One of the things that they have done is this...for the last two expacs it has been a case of what they have TAKEN AWAY from players.

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Legion, like WoD, looks amazing on... and will provide 2 months of entertainment due to the new zones, questlines and dungeons/raids. But there is nothing about the endgame compelling or rewarding... After a couple months of max level people will be right back in the same boat as WoD. Professions are dead ended, and endgame is nothing but level the weapon.

Blizzard sticking people on the ground for over a year will slowly and seriously piss people off.

[ElDoorO]

From what I can tell people are very cautious and untrusting. I bet we'll see a lot return but if the content isn't amazing -- it's going to be a rough ride for Blizzard.
Legion seems neat but WoD had a lot of features that we were supposed to have. I don't mean "Here is what you MIGHT be doing" -- I mean they said "In Warlords of Draenor you will be...". That's a promise or a strong link. Garrisons were going to be cool as fuck. Then they weren't.
I know a lot of people that aren't hyped because they feel like the developers are disconnected from what is fun. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't.

Personally, I'm still butt hurt over every last raid / patch takes for fucking ever and what they show us at Blizzcon for "what we will be doing in the next expansion" has let me down more times than I can count. The flying issue was a big deal. They lacked the testicales to say "We're not doing it this expansion or ever again" but instead lead people on. They lied about how you'd get it too. It was supposed to be a "really cool quest to make you feel like you earned it". It wasn't.

t;dr: I don't know many people that trust them.

I have a lot of things I'd do differently but that's for another topic and another day.

[grexly75]

Well until recently I had not pre purchased Legion, but after playing a fair bit of the beta, I went yeah for sure and upgraded my account.. I am having fun with my Enhancement Shaman which will be my main in Legion.. The world quests are fun and varied the world bosses are fun, Withered J'im being a rather nasty fellow.. I am a fair way into the Suramar quest chain but not doing anymore since everything will be wiped soon..

And gold is not hard to get in Legion made 15+k just from quests and vendoring either way 30th August can't come soon enough.. lol

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Blizzard sticking people on the ground for over a year will slowly and seriously piss people off.

And yet we were stuck to the ground from 2004 to 2007 with Vanilla, and until Level 70 in TBC before you got flying and again could only fly in Outland..

You also have all these people who want legacy servers and they will forever be confined to the ground..

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On top of all this, the thing that really kills me is the loss of server communities. Cross-realm everything kinda takes the magic away, and makes it impossible to build a reputation.

You can still build a reputation on your server, not really that hard though in most cases it tends to be a bad rep..

[ElDoorO]

And yet we were stuck to the ground from 2004 to 2007 with Vanilla, and until Level 70 in TBC before you got flying and again could only fly in Outland..

You also have all these people who want legacy servers and they will forever be confined to the ground..

I'm pretty confident that is not the current majority of the users. The people who play now are not the same people who played during Vanilla.
The community and expectations are vastly different.
All you sound like is the old person who went to school both ways uphill. Sure, that's great and all -- but very few would tolerate that now.
You can prove this by going to the previous flying thread and the current one. It matters a great deal to many people -- that's undeniable.
At some point people will say fuck it and leave if traveling is too slow. The fact that I can take a flight path and be AFK'ed by the time I land speaks volumes for the failure to update the transportation mechanism.

If you want to roll everything back to vanilla / bc times -- you aren't going to keep very many people.

[Mad_Murdock]

And yet we were stuck to the ground from 2004 to 2007 with Vanilla, and until Level 70 in TBC before you got flying and again could only fly in Outland..

You also have all these people who want legacy servers and they will forever be confined to the ground..

Yes, but once you give something it's really hard to take it back. Look at how empty many of the specs feel now that took out stuff we had gotten used to having. Not to mention, a healthy chunk of players are like me, BC and later. I've never known the game without flying and when I play another MMO that doesn't have flying all I can think is "Man, this would be a lot more fun if I could fly"

How much does it hurt the game is hard to tell, since WoD gave people many reasons to leave.