Why Legion Failed

[SavvyCom]

I feel I can say this before it's released and time will prove me right. This is definitely not the place to voice such an opinion, fanboism aside. But for as long as I've been playing this game it has gone from bad to worse. Numbers don't lie and the fact of the matter is that WoW has peaked: it peaked during Wrath and has been going downhill ever since. I'm not talking about some subjective view about my personal preference, I'm talking about hard facts. Since WotLK, WoW lost approximately six million subs, equivalent to 50% of their player base. That's as far as we know, to be fair, since Blizzard decided that subscription numbers were irrelevant and stopped reporting them. How convenient.

So let's pretend for a second that evidence matters and draw appropriate conclusions: what happened at that point? What made this game grow the way it did, then fail the way it did?

I would argue that WoW failed when Blizzard decided to bend over backwards to accommodate all manners of complains. At its core, an MMO should be about progression and character customization, about overcoming challenges and having to learn the intricacies of your class in order to do so. But this is an MMO that does not cater to the MMO-audience, it attempts to cater to all. It has become easier and easier as time goes by, and as a consequence subscription numbers continued to drop. To deal with this, instead of upping the difficulty, polishing the content (old and new) and making sure classes are intricate and fun to play (and pvp is balanced, god fobid), WoW's development team has resorted to all manner of gimmicks: archeology, dailies, garrisons, pet battles... something new and shinny which could be marketed... DKs, DHs, Monks... and which would hopefully entice people to play... new abilities which are useless but new! and will lead to gutting... and WoW continued to deteriorate.

I've seen nothing to demonstrate otherwise. I recently resubbed prior to legion then unsubbed one month later. There is absolutely nothing in WoW at the moment that indicates, as far as I'm concerned, that the development team understands their own game and the appeal it can have if done properly. Long story short: Legion will fail, as has every expansion since WotLK (arguably TBC, as it saw greater growth than the former), because Blizzard does not understand what the MMO-target audience, or MMO player, is all about.

[Putin-Chan]

How has something that has not come out yet already failed.

[Vestig3]

Cool story bro!

[Duronos]

The game needs more cocaine like it used too.

[Poshadin]

because Blizzard does not understand what the MMO-target audience, or MMO player, is all about.

Yet they have the most successful MMO in history.

[Kithelle]

How has something that has not come out yet already failed.

Seems to be popular on these boards to call something a flop/failure before they even launch.

[Berndorf]

I don't agree though Legion may still not be a huge success in terms of retaining subs(that has yet to be seen and won't really be known since Bliz won't release actual sub numbers). imo this is the first expansion since wotlk that I feel like Bliz actually understands what most players want. Cata I felt went in a totally unnecessary direction and wasted way too many resources on revamps which weren't even well executed. MoP had some positives and wasn't bad but just didn't have anything in it which grabbed your attention(imo) and WoD felt like a trainwreck from the get go and didn't properly utilize what it was working with. Legion feels like a definite step in the right direction as of right now.

[Deleted]

Define 'fail'? More than enough players still playing to make it financially viable to continue the franchise.

[McNeil]

Unless the subs drop as fast as WoD, its to soon to call it a failure. Though its not like we're gonna know the subs anytime soon.

[Vynny]

"I recently resubbed to WoD, the worst xpac ever, and then unsubbed one month later, so I know that Legion will fail"

10/10 for logic and reasoning

[Saft]

The title would be a tiny bit relevant if Legion had been out for a little while for somebody like you to observe its failures.

[XDurionX]

Yeah of course time will prove you right because you will ignore everything that refutes your claim.

[AngryCoco]

Okay armchair developer.

[Deleted]

Let's wait until it's out before we call it a failure, shall we?

[justflayin]

I'll take the bait.

I'm not really sure how you decided it failed based off of a re-sub prior to the launch. Them trying to make the game more comfortable for a wider audience is kind of what any company who wants to make money does. Most of the things they added you touched on are completely dependent upon if you decide to do them (barring maybe the garrison, even still you didnt have to do it if you didn't want to. it was just essential to chracter progression at some points)

My response to posts like these have always been the same. Just don't play. I'm sure WoW will be fine with or w/o you.

[Deleted]

Well, now the important question, who won the elections? Trump or Hillary?

[Shadochi]

Yet they have the most successful MMO in history.

In history and at the moment too to be exact.

[Deleted]

well, I haven't played for 1,5years and picked up a month ago. WoD is still cancer, as expected.
But Legion makes so much improvements I am actually really hyped.
I love the mythic+ 5player exp, the change to pvp and the artefact progression stuff.
I also love a lot of the class changes.

apart from that, Legion can not fail because WoW in general never did.
still the mmo with the highest player base. by a lot. also there will be at least 10million+ players back in the game at the beginning of legion.
saying it will fail... that's bs...

[Shadochi]

Let's just keep in mind that Legion has a pretty good chance of peaking higher than Wrath too, since a few weeks back the pre order numbers were in line with WoD's, so we can expect at least 9-10 million subs, and with the recent 7.1 having actual content announcement, they got back some trust and probably more per orders.

If Sargeras or Azshara get announced for a patch, you can expect a bunch more people.

[Meiluy]

In history and at the moment too to be exact.

I laugh everytime someone uses the drop in subs as a reason why WoW has "failed". It still has a higher sub count than the next two MMOS combined, but it must be failing because some people have grown tired of it...

Everytime...