Wired: World of Warcraft Has Lost Its Cool

[Taihaku347]

This article doesn't really go into the negatives of the game but instead focuses on WoW's decline as more of a cultural shift. It seems as though its his opinion that regardless of the quality of the game, WoW just will not retain its former glory for subs.

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/09/mists-of-pandaria

[dokhidamo]

Willing to bet they think GW2 will kill WoW as well.

The bias among the gaming media toward GW2 is almost as obvious as the mainstream media bias...

[Taihaku347]

Article doesn't mention GW2

[Roflifier]

WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT.

So because South Park and the Simpsons didn't make an episode about Mists, WoW is failing?

So because WoW had 9.1 million subs almost a full quarter before Mists came out, their subs are dropping?

Instead this article should be titled, "We interviewed a 42 year old who doesn't play WoW anymore."

They have data, no information, no facts. They have a chart that shows nothing new and doesn't reflect on the release of Mists. To that I say, "FUCK YOU, Wired. You're retarded."

[mysticx]

Ooh, a bunch of anecdotes from people i never heard of, then it must be the truth!!!

[MasterHamster]

Yup, WoW is old.

[Golden Yak]

Hah! Joke's on them - WoW was never cool.

[Awe]

The truth is, at this point its a big unknown what will happen with WoW's subs in the next year+. So both people claiming that "WOW IS DEAD!" and "WOW 15 MILION SUBS NEXT MONTH OTHER GAMES SHIT!" are equally moronic.

[Frozencpu]

Cataclysm killed it...its a shame, but blizzard will never run out of ideas just out of people....

[Daetur]

Yes, of course, WoW still has the largest subscriber base of any MMO, doesn't it? Clearly dead. R.I.P.

I'll be honest, I'm FAR past the point of caring at all what other people think of this game. I am still enjoying it immensely, and that's really all that matters.

Hell, I just made a new friend at work because we both play.

[Gibzombie]

I don't know if I'd ever say it was "cool", but it definitely became very popular for a bit. They're basically just stating that it's going to die eventually, which is inevitable. They didn't say GW2 was going to kill WoW, they said f2p games are going to hurt it. Time is the WoW killer. I would say it's hit its peak, but it's a long decline from there still.

[Awe]

Yes, of course, WoW still has the largest subscriber base of any MMO, doesn't it? Clearly dead. R.I.P.

I'll be honest, I'm FAR past the point of caring at all what other people think of this game. I am still enjoying it immensely, and that's really all that matters.

Hell, I just made a new friend at work because we both play.

That depends from how you define "dead". Of course WoW is not dead and wont be for the long long time. However what I find annoying is how some players still perceive WoW with its subs base as the ONLY way. Almost like with the crowd mentality - "only the game with most subs counts and rest is s*** and not worth playing". Perhaps at some point few years back the MMO market was -close- to such state. But I think this is no longer the case. And this is what some people can name as downfall of WoW. Even if after this "downfall" WoW still will remain by far a game with largest subsciber base.

[MyCorpse]

The article is accurate, and is something I have been saying for a while.

I'm not bashing WoW, infact I've been playing off and on since Dec 2004 and have upgraded both my accounts to MoP, and still enjoy the game a lot.

What the article is saying is that a few years ago especially is that the game was a cultural trend. There were tons of people who got into the game simply because it was the "In thing" at the time. Many of these people never played an MMO prior and some may not even have been into video games before WoW. They simply played because everyone else was talking about the game and they wanted to be included. Even for the past year or 2 I rarely hear people talking about it in public, on TV etc anymore.

So it's no longer a trend and most people still playing are doing so because they actually enjoy it and not because "everyone else is". And retaining the player base that they have goes to show the strength of the game.

[Daetur]

That depends from how you define "dead". Of course WoW is not dead and wont be for the long long time. However what I find annoying is how some players still perceive WoW with its subs base as the ONLY way. Almost like with the crowd mentality - "only the game with most subs counts and rest is s*** and not worth playing". Perhaps at some point few years back the MMO market was -close- to such state. But I think this is no longer the case. And this is what some people can name as downfall of WoW. Even if after this "downfall" WoW still will remain by far a game with largest subsciber base.

My comment was mostly tongue-in-cheek, since most people who make these sorts of posts tend to base their arguments heavily on sub numbers.

That said... maybe it's because I've been back in school and working hard, but I just don't have the energy to argue opinions with people here. I enjoy the game, and as long as Blizzard is producing content that I enjoy, I will be playing.

That said, I don't think it's false to say that WoW's not the "in-thing" anymore. It's had its time, and it doesn't reflect on its quality at all. Twilight was in for a while. /shudder

[Quacko]

Willing to bet they think GW2 will kill WoW as well.

The bias among the gaming media toward GW2 is almost as obvious as the mainstream media bias...

Amen to that, GW2 was boring, the levelling experience was god awful, basically 1 quest per level and aside from that you were to run the exact same scenario's around the area 5 times just to level, oh....and exploring.

I loved the graph on this site, omg look mop is at the lowest subs in however long. It's been out 3 days now...On top of that, who the hell are these two people they've interviewed? You mean to say a 30 and 40 year old got bored of a video game? It wouldn't be because they're moving to a point in their lives were perhaps video games aren't at the top of the list anymore, of course that wouldn't be it.

edit: F2P games have nothing to do with hurting wow's subscriber base. People will play a game because they like it, price is irrelevant. You're not going to play a mediocre game for free when there is a more enjoyable game you can pay for.

[Awe]

edit: F2P games have nothing to do with hurting wow's subscriber base. People will play a game because they like it, price is irrelevant. You're not going to play a mediocre game for free when there is a more enjoyable game you can pay for.

For the hardcore fans of one title, sure. But I think for a certain crowd of casual gamers F2P thing might be some sort of an argument. And casuals are potential customers paying same monthly fee as everyone else.

[Tempestozaur]

Willing to bet they think GW2 will kill WoW as well.

The bias among the gaming media toward GW2 is almost as obvious as the mainstream media bias...

Yes, because every time someone does not agree with you... they must be GW2 fans... damn commies

[Healarious]

Since when was playing video games cool?...

I love video games as much as the next person but I'm not gonna delude myself into thinking its cool lol.

[xizzu]

Keep blaming gw2 or gw2 fanboys, even when the article dosent even compare it gw2, seriously guys. If someone has a negative opinion of wow is either because hes a hater or gw2 fanboy geez.

[Chrno]

This article actually has some real valid points on why the writer thinks the game wont become booming ever again, and why the playerbase wont go back up to 12 milion ever again. It's simply not in the picture anymore like it was when i started playing (2005).

People were constandly talking about it back then, the first year of release i refused to pay 15euro a month and was happy with GW1 but eventually i gave in and tried the game simply because you heard so many people talking about it.

It's now very different