The reason for sub losses; Players used to easy content after WotLK?

[JeeroyLenkins]

I see a lot of threads here on the forums suggesting that WoW's recent 3 million subscriber loss is due to content being too easy. From this quite popular video (that's been posted a million times) http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...nd-the-problem! to threads like these: http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...sade-Mentality
People seem to suggest that if end-game content (raids, etc) were harder and less accessible, that would draw people back again. I have a counter theory which I will lay out below.

Let's be honest, most of Blizz's 9 million subscribers are casuals. They like easier content. This didn't used to be a problem back during BC days (when the game really took off, up to 10 mil subs) because only the hardcore 1% of the population were seeing the really end game stuff, but the casuals didn't notice or care, cause' they were just joining the game and getting their feet wet leveling and becoming accustomed with friends (this is what they spent most of their time on). When WotLK dropped, most of those casuals had hit the level cap and wanted to see some end-game content. And there it was, easy as can be and ready for all. The heroics were easy, the raids were all easy that any random PUG group could do them. The casuals played, enjoyed, and loved it. They became accustomed to this. They referred others, the game continued to grow (up to 12 million subs). Then Cata came out. All of the casuals was expecting the same end-game experience. But instead, only disappointment followed. Cata has been one of the hardest expansions to date. The heroics were hard (on release at least), and the raid content was un-PUGable. It lies in stark contrast to WotLK, which had much easier heroics and raids which were easy to PUG. Casuals became frustrated, unable to play and progress, and many stopped playing. I personally believe that is the reason for WoW's recent sub loss.

A lot of those casual 12 million people haven't played an MMO before, and they buy the game expecting a 40-hour adventure RPG, similar to Dragon's Age or Baldur's Gate. They expect to reach end-game content without having to slave away at the game for hundreds of hours before hand. They got their casual-friendly (RPG style) adventure in WotLK, with it's accessible content. They were happy with it. So, to have their world turned upside down with Cata is something many of them couldn't understand. "Why is this so damn hard? Why do I have to dedicate my life to the game just to see the last raid boss?". Now, old-school hardcore MMO regulars were used to the harder content (after all, they had already been through vanilla and BC days), but it was a big turn-off for casuals. After enjoying and becoming used to the user-friendly content of WotLK, you can't just go back to the hardcore vanilla/BC style of game without pissing off a lot of people. Blizz themselves even admitted Cata was too hard: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...ewed-interview

Yet, people here still seem to suggest that subs are dropping because the game is too easy and too accessible. I don't understand that argument.

[Sussex]

It's not just casuals who are quitting. Hardcore nerd raiders are a dying breed.

My server use to have 6 25man guilds in TBC in top 100 world, with a few of them top 30. Now those 6 guilds over the years slowly merged into 1 guild over the years. And even that 1 guild is struggling to find reliable raiders in Cata.

There just isn't any real reward for putting in that extra effort.

My old Skull of Gul'dan trinket wouldn't have been anywhere near as precious to me if there was some 2nd or 3rd version just 10% lesser ilevel of the same trinket on some easier mode being looted by other people who did the same boss on easy mode.

It's not just about loot though. A lot of old raiders have moved on, they aren't willing to keep putting in the hardwork while people do the same bosses on easy modes with a dungeon guidelog book to tell them everything about the encounter. Gone are the days you went into the zone and had to figure out everything for yourself.

[Keyur]

No, easy or average content is the only reason for rest of 9 million customers

[Crazyjoe]

It's not just casuals who are quitting. Hardcore nerd raiders are a dying breed.

My server use to have 6 25man guilds in TBC in top 100 world, with a few of them top 30. Now those 6 guilds over the years slowly merged into 1 guild over the years. And even that 1 guild is struggling to find reliable raiders in Cata.

There just isn't any real reward for putting in that extra effort.

My old Skull of Gul'dan trinket wouldn't have been anywhere near as precious to me if there was some 2nd or 3rd version just 10% lesser ilevel of the same trinket on some easier mode being looted by other people who did the same boss on easy mode.

It's not just about loot though. A lot of old raiders have moved on, they aren't willing to keep putting in the hardwork while people do the same bosses on easy modes with a dungeon guidelog book to tell them everything about the encounter. Gone are the days you went into the zone and had to figure out everything for yourself.

This is very true, I really believe you may aswell unsub once you have cleared the content on lfr and normal as there is just no point doing HM anymore. The rewards don't match the effort.

25 man guild died for the exact same reason, because the rewards didnt equal the effort for running a 25 man guild and yet you will still get people arguing it's because they prefer 10man. Nothing to do with players but the people who run the guilds.

[Flaks]

There are many reasons for the decline. I personally think that catering to a fickle playerbase is the biggest one of them. "Casual" players are ones that like hopping into a game, enjoying it for a bit, and dropping out for a while or indefinitely. The hardcore playerbase is the one that is there to stay for as long as the game is active.

The problem here is that if they try to shift the paradigm back to how it used to be, they'll actually lose a lot more players because the cyclical addition/subtraction of "casual" players is the vast majority of the game's playerbase now.

[kendro1200]

I'm not sticking around, Blizzard has made it painfully clear that they aren't interested in giving hardcore raiders anything for their time or effort, essentially using them as a QA team that pays to test content. When you think about it, with all of the subsequent nerfs and what not to all content, anyone who sees the content in the first handful of months is just playing the role of QA, because that content doesn't stay that way, it might get slightly adjusted, and then will get a 30 to 50% nerf in a handful of months. The concept is pretty sad actually >:

[bajskorv]

Gone are the days you went into the zone and had to figure out everything for yourself.

When were those days here champ? It's funny to imagine the special snowflakes who got their tactics from the web being upset at the dungeon guidelog book.

[BenBos]

No, easy or average content is the only reason for rest of 9 million customers

There is no simple explanantion and MANY things contribute to changing subscription numbers, but "in game content" is hardly one of them.

More like:

- Everything else turned free to play with a garbage cash shop.
- People have seen it and want some other games after playing it for 5 years in a row.
- A video game as such has only such a limited playing time that even 5 years is an incredible achievement.
- Economic crisis. If in Spain 50% of all young adults no longer have a job, they'll cut expenses in games that need to be paid to play them.

Voila, far more elements to think about.

And as a side note: another Blizzard game came out in the last 3 months and sold ... 10.000.000+ copies. People played that one too.

[Gibzombie]

While different levels of difficulty can make the game more challenging, it doesn't make it more interesting. In BC I was pretty casual. I knew I probably wouldn't see BT for a long time if at all, but I didn't care. What kept the game interesting, was the journey. People will say "rose-tinted glasses" and "you just got bored", but it wasn't the length of time I played that got me bored. WotLK was a pretty big let down. I quit off and on but came back because I hoped I would love the game again. When cata came out and I experienced the difficulty it started to get me excited again. I was having a pretty good time playing. It was when they started nerfing content and I realized the gear I had worked fairly hard for would mean essentially nothing once firelands was out, that I realized it was just more of the same. I think the most depressing part is that now they have set the tone for MMORPGs. They will all have to follow this model, or die out.

[Seriss]

I realized the gear I had worked fairly hard for would mean essentially nothing once firelands was out, that I realized it was just more of the same.

Happens every new tier. Gear is a means to an end. You just need it to advance and tackle the new current content.

Gear means nothing. It's just a tool.

[Gibzombie]

Happens every new tier. Gear is a means to an end. You just need it to advance and tackle the new current content.

Gear means nothing. It's just a tool.

I don't know if you understand what I'm saying. Yes gear is a tool to progress in content. I'm saying that every 4-6 months this gear I had worked for will be freely given out makes it lose value to me. To the point where I just got a "why bother" feeling for raiding in general.

[Pelz]

Let's be honest, most of Blizz's 9 million subscribers are casuals. They like easier content.

Stopped reading after this broad assumption. If this is what your theory is based on, nothing useful can come out of it.

[geekx]

The teir to teir gear reset is fine in my opinion(and maybe to others) but i don't find myself to be attached to my gear as much these days. I have the same gear for all of a week at some points in the game but when i started raiding you would keep the same gear for months.

[Shamanic]

I see a lot of threads here on the forums suggesting that WoW's recent 3 million subscriber loss is due to content being too easy.

It really would be better if you added your post into one of those existing threads, rather than start yet another thread on it.