Activision Blizzard Q3 2012 Earnings Call

[Kevyne-Shandris]

It's interesting that what you consider the game's zenith (Wrath), I consider it's nadir. I got bored with DS very quickly but outside of Ulduar, I hated Wrath, although I actually did like Northrend.

Because I don't jump on the bandwagon to "fit in" because XYZ thinks it's kewl. I'm not a kiddie that needs it.

I liked WotLK for many reasons beyond just raiding, especially like it being so much an environment for a paladin...zillions of undead and an evil antagonist that controls them to smite. Liked hearing the crunch of snow under the feet. Liked the cold breath. Liked the blue light filter (liked I liked the yellow/orange one in Sentinel Hill; like the red one in Firelands...sets a perfect mood). Most of all, to be that paladin to burn evil down.

So no bandwagons for me, I like the expansion for what it was for me, not others says it to be.

[Seranthor]

Casuals only do LFR and once they hit a "brickwall" they just quit.

I will keep playing until the game gets shut down and i will keep complaining and demanding a better service. This is the franchise i have loved since WC2. I want to see it improve, not turn in to an arcade game.



I seriously facepalmed after i read your email... You were writing tickets to complain about design decisions and they told you to go the forums... I have no words...

Actually, I was railing about repeatly having my passengers dismounted and falling to their fucking deaths while flying around Northrend... I was fucking railing about flying over WG and being dismounted myself and falling to my fucking death..... I was railing about a laundry list of shit that was fucking reported months ago in beta that never got fucking fixed and STILL isn't fucking FIXED on live....

And they fucking took offense about it.. it was NOT about a design decision...

Next.

[ZenX]

No you are absolutely entitled and have the entitlement mentality because you presume to tell him and others like him how they should play the game and what they need and they don't. I just can't wait for the changes to come to this game and come soon. The handful of you who will bitch and scream will reveal yourselves to be the true entitltement generation because you can brook no changes and accept nothing different because you have to have it your way. The rest of you will naturally just shift your positions along with Blizzards purely in line with the status quo.

Actually it is you and Kevyne as well as the likes of you who have entitlement issues. Right now you and him/her present "suggestions" t issues of your own which you also consider to be above the FoM "rendered" for such aspects.

Why else would you be posting here for such a long time now if you did not have an issue of entitlement.

A normal person would just let go if they had "this many" problems with the game...

Because I don't jump on the bandwagon to "fit in" because XYZ thinks it's kewl. I'm not a kiddie that needs it.

I liked WotLK for many reasons beyond just raiding, especially like it being so much an environment for a paladin...zillions of undead and an evil antagonist that controls them to smite. Liked hearing the crunch of snow under the feet. Liked the cold breath. Liked the blue light filter (liked I liked the yellow/orange one in Sentinel Hill; like the red one in Firelands...sets a perfect mood). Most of all, to be that paladin to burn evil down.

So no bandwagons for me, I like the expansion for what it was for me, not others says it to be.

Then why are you here, acting so immature?

Sorry to go over the line here but, your previous posts contradict you.
You are someone who went as far as to literally insult(not tease) someone you don't know because of a game that does not meet your expectations. So be it, not being able to play WoW is not the end of the world.


...and it is indeed pitiful of me to try to put some sense into the likes of you during my breaks that I normally take to chill between my cramped up schedule.

[Liliara]

IS the information out yet? i can't find it anywhere

[Haloswin]

Because I don't jump on the bandwagon to "fit in" because XYZ thinks it's kewl. I'm not a kiddie that needs it.

I liked WotLK for many reasons beyond just raiding, especially like it being so much an environment for a paladin...zillions of undead and an evil antagonist that controls them to smite. Liked hearing the crunch of snow under the feet. Liked the cold breath. Liked the blue light filter (liked I liked the yellow/orange one in Sentinel Hill; like the red one in Firelands...sets a perfect mood). Most of all, to be that paladin to burn evil down.

So no bandwagons for me, I like the expansion for what it was for me, not others says it to be.

So everyone that doesn't see things the way you do is on a "bandwagon" or incapable of making a choice for themselves? Are you really this full of yourself or have you just chosen to super glue a chip onto your shoulder and assume everyone that doesn't agree with you is automatically some kind of message board enemy?

I hated Wrath cause it was an AOE fest that required no effort at all and sorry but IMO healing in Wrath was faceroll -- that was my experience, my view of the state of the raiding game save for Ulduar heroic modes which I really enjoyed. To be perfectly frank I loved how you could trigger heroic modes in there, I wish they had kept that as the design instead of making us go back and do the same freaking thing all over again only now it hits harder and has a new ability. Like I said, I enjoyed Northrend itself -- I liked the look and feel and I liked the questing better there than in BC for instance.

I wasn't faulting you for liking Wrath, I was pointing out the difference in how people view things in hopes that people with some level of intelligence might actually understand that one man's trash is another man's treasure.

[ZenX]

IS the information out yet? i can't find it anywhere

http://files.shareholder.com/downloa...ase_Tables.pdf

[Darsithis]

This thread is about the sub numbers, not what you like or don't like in the game (looking at you people fighting about freakin' dailies). Keep it on topic or I will close it.

[McNeil]

There's news on the frontpage about a kitten... yet nothing about the sub numbers ?

[Gurbz]

There's news on the frontpage about a kitten... yet nothing about the sub numbers ?

That's because there really wasn't any news to report. The only thing they said about sub numbers was the exact same info we got shortly after MoP's release.

[Liliara]

That's because there really wasn't any news to report. The only thing they said about sub numbers was the exact same info we got shortly after MoP's release.

But there is still some time in between no? Usually they come with something like Q3 has lost X ammount of subs or has gained X ammount of subs. Even if its nearly the same im surprised i don't see it at all!
i was looking for it aswell but someone gave me a link of something i don't get

[Kevyne-Shandris]

Then why are you here, acting so immature?

Why are you trying to act mature?

I expressed it as I see it. Too many hop on a bandwagon because it's faddish or want to be part of a group...especially kids.

The vanilla and TBC stuff is just one example. The other is Ulduar. If Ulduar was soooooo popular there would be more raid callouts for it than BT even now. Saw more wanting to do ICC for transmorg again than doing Ulduar for achieves.

Seeing is believing.

[xanzul]

Your math is way way off, it's more like 200k total non-asia subs at max. And 59k of those 200k are second accounts of multiboxers. The advertisers who pay for an audience of 10 million actual people are getting screwed sideways. I hear there's a class action suit against Blizzard in the works due to this.

And yet again it has to be pointed out paying accounts are paying accounts regardless of who they are, where they are from, why they pay, how much they pay or how many accounts they have. The shareholders don't give a fuck about this nonsense you people continually bring up EVERY god damn quarter.

---------- Post added 2012-11-08 at 07:39 PM ----------

I like WoW, but still I want the subs to take a big hit.

Blizzard is best in the business but WoW being big all the time is not good for the market.

WoW needs to take a big hit, Titan needs to be brought forward and Valve needs to make an MMO.

That is for the best of all gamers out there.

Want to know what isn't good for the market? Other companies continually copying Wow and refusing to innovate anything. Stop blaming Blizzard for this.

---------- Post added 2012-11-08 at 07:42 PM ----------

Your family finances are private. Activision-Blizzard is a publicly traded corporation, and it's finances are available for all to view. It's due to people investing their private monies into it, and their right to know where and when it's spent to make sure it's not wasted.

For gamers it's an interest to see if it's worth to invest their time+effort+money in an IP that will last. To play MoP many had to fork over a heck of a lot of money per account to play, unlike other MMOs (like EQ2) that have all-in-one expansions for one expansion price.

It's called being...responsible...with your time+effort+money.

So are you going to complain when Rift charges for its expansion? Probably not because these other companies can do what they want but god forbid Blizzard try to make a profit. Here is a little hint for you since you seem unusually dense: Blizzard charges for expansions because people buy them.

---------- Post added 2012-11-08 at 07:44 PM ----------

Repeating your signature is got old ages ago. Don't you have anything else to say except "unsub"?

There is nothing else to say but unsub. If you aren't happy with the game Blizzard isn't going to change a god damn thing as long as you keep handing them money.

---------- Post added 2012-11-08 at 07:47 PM ----------

They're going obviously good with a lot of stuff stil coming, gaining back 900k subs was more than I personally expected.

And the haters are scrambling trying to come up with a way to spin that so it looks like the game is dying (again). It is pathetic.

---------- Post added 2012-11-08 at 07:49 PM ----------

So you don't want to:
1)Raid normal/heroic
2)Run LFR
3)Do dailies
4)Do PVP

And somewhat expect to get the best gear possible... doing what, precisely? Spamming LFD?

The people complaining about this nonsense just simply don't want to play the game anymore and for some reason expect Blizzard to make it a whole new different game just for them.

---------- Post added 2012-11-08 at 07:55 PM ----------

^^ This. ^^

We all want to play WoW for our own reasons. It's not "Let's kill off WoW!!!". It's that many of us liked playing WoW as it was, and like to return to how it was.

I can't speak for everyone, but I do know what I want, and have stated for years on the WoW forums and now here -- I want WotLK back, so I can enjoy playing my role again in an appropriate paladin-like setting.

It's not about buffs.

It's not about shinys.

It's about playing a game you want to love playing again!

And what of those of us who enjoy the game as it is now? Does what we want matter or are we mindless fanboys because we like something you don't?

---------- Post added 2012-11-08 at 07:56 PM ----------

I like to imagine everyone on mmo-champion forums is banned from the official forums..if you criticize blizzard or dont kiss ass...bye bye

Blizzard bans people who don't follow the forum code of conduct. If they banned people for being critical of them the forums would be empty.

---------- Post added 2012-11-08 at 08:00 PM ----------

About what happens.

And we're banned for the silliest reasons too, as the games they play are often the bait/report ones. So what they're doing at the WoW forums is sabotaging the game, and if Blizzard is worried by nay-sayers getting a toe-hold in trying to destroy the game, they gave them the keys to do so...as rabid fanbois who see any disagreement as evil.

I'm never about killing WoW (Why? I love my Holy paladin to pieces!). Spent all that time suggesting means to improve gameplay. But it only takes upseting a few niche players who want it their way, and there you have it...banned. It's this rat like community that hurts WoW, in their selfishness they want only things for themselves, they can't/won't see the bigger picture...to improve WoW for MORE players to enjoy it. How/when/why that is to be debated, but the goal is a collective to IMPROVE the game.

You were banned on the official forums for the same reasons you have been banned here. You post bullshit and when you get called out for it you post more bullshit. You have no interest in actual discussion and only want to get on your soapbox and tell us what we should and shouldn't like. It is unfortunate Blizzard delets post histories because if people saw the crap you did they wouldn't be terribly sympathetic to you.

---------- Post added 2012-11-08 at 08:02 PM ----------

I just found it weird they basically used the same numbers as last time (Over 10 million subscribers and approx. 2.7 million copies sold first week). Why wouldn't they update both numbers especially the number of copies sold? Kind of comes off as well we didn't lie but we just didn't want to tell the whole truth either.

Why on earth would they discuss Q4 numbers when that quarter isn't over yet? Stop with the spin doctoring. The meeting only covered Q3 and this is how every shareholder meeting has been done from the start.

---------- Post added 2012-11-08 at 08:04 PM ----------

Mike Morhaime was beating his chest that they are "happy more frequent content is being pushed"... but i'm not seeing it. No new raid in 5.1 and next tier will likely come with the next book around late April next year...

Dailies and the Brawler nonsense is not real content and they will figure that out when they hit 8 million subs in Q4.

The expansion has been out for all of what? Six weeks? 5.1 is already on the ptr and should be out by the end of the year if not the end of this month. Also not all of the raids have been released or even completed. Blizzard said they wanted to get patches out every 2 months and alternate between regular content and raid patches. If 5.1 isn't out this year then you can claim Blizzard lied but we aren't even at the 2 month mark yet so just stop it already.

---------- Post added 2012-11-08 at 08:07 PM ----------

Who are you to judge what I needed or not? You are not judge or jury.

I switched professions to Enchanting and I never got the Scryers BS recipes either (which were more Holy paladin like), so you bet I did it so I could clear up my missing recipe book.

For YOU you didn't need to do it, I did. Those are end-game pieces for level 70 twinks or trial users, and I got enough requests for TBC gear TO go after all world drops and more.

So YOU don't know what you're talking about "need".

There is a significant difference between need and want and we have every right to point that out to you but as usual nothing can penetrate yoru thick skull.

[Kevyne-Shandris]

Blizzard bans people who don't follow the forum code of conduct. If they banned people for being critical of them the forums would be empty.

So why aren't you banned yet, Xanzul? I mean your posts there (and this post) are the very example of what folks are complaining about what's wrong at the WoW forums. Pure nastiness of replies. You can't tell us replies like this are fine by the forum code of conduct, because people are banned for less than what you dumped here.

[Lazuli]

Why not just quit the shitty game instead of torturing yourselves?... I really don't get it.
If you think Blizz are going to suddenly change their point of view (like how they think pvp is "fine" right now lmao) then you are sadly mistaken. Just let it go, I did and I'm still here, alive and well.

OT: I am almost positive numbers will go down. Pandaland was a horrible idea. Legion expansion is where it will drag everyone in. Even I, who has developed a hatred no human should have the capability of mustering towards this game, or rather the tyrant that controls it, would consider coming back for a legion xpac. But then I get reminded how Blizz ruins everything good and tell myself "No, don't get let down again. Just stay away."

[MoanaLisa]

There really wasn't much in the way of news to begin with. Since the thread has degenerated largely into people discussing one another instead of the actual topic of the thread, I'm closing this.