What's the main reason for the dropping WoW subs?

[wych]

Most of the MMORPG market has played it and it's getting old.

That is without doubt the main reason, every product has a life cycle and Blizzard definitely knew that eventually they'd start to drop subs.

Some people on here act like every quarter Blizzard run around like headless chickens crying in fear as the subs drop and they don't know why

[ravenmoon]

From what ive seen, my guess would be that the games changed drastically from what it once was, which has led to the loss of a lot of core players, the games in the transition of evening out these losses with new core players, however the games a lot more casual now, so people dip in and out of subscriptions which can make the sub gains and losses look like ripples in a pond.

it may have done, but I just got tired of Wow, every expansion was better than the previous imo, when you say TBC was the best expansion, to me it means, TBC made the biggest improvements. Wotlk was better than TBC, but it didn't improve the game as much as TBC did. MoP made a bigger improvement than Cataclysm did for the elder game, but Cata revamped the original game too.

still it just gets old, and if it wasn't for such great expansions, many would have left a lot sooner. How many people keep on playing a video game? i mean subscribing for 10 years? isn't that unheard off? how many people did EQ keep? look at all the MMOs shutting down !! AoC, Warhammer etc etc, they don't have a long shelf life - and mark my words, wow will switch to an F2P and micro transaction model, which keeps a game raking in cash when it's spiralled, like SWTOR. But with no new product, they'd be in serious trouble, they don't have the game portfolio the likes of Bioware have- blizz games are essentially only Warcraft, Diablo and Starcraft. So for them, wow means a lot more on this world platform they rose too.

otherwise it's back to making RTS as a small games studio.

[Zogarth]

"No reason to continue playing if you can beat all the pve content in less than a week" - A friend of mine who played those 7 days free some weeks ago.

[Synstir]

I think we should not only look at it from an angle in which we see players leaving, hence subs dropping, but also from a lack of new joiners point of view.
Yeah players are leaving but that can be perceived as normal, since the game is around for 9 years and people eventually will get bored with it.
Every xpac we do the same thing: leveling, hc's, raiding and then we start with leveling again in a new xpac. it is a circle which will get boring at some point.....
So i think it is normal that after a few years some players will leave, not all but some.

At the same time if wow is not able to attract new players, we will see a drop of subs. And I think here is where the old looks come into play.
For existing players it doesn't matter, it is what they played, are used too and even love. If i am in doubt if it attracts new players.

And when a new players starts he/she has to level quite a bit before reaching end game. I don't find leveling much fun as it is so maybe the leveling for new players is long enough for them to decide not to proceed.

besides keeping players, wow should do more to attract new ones and the upgrade of the models will help in this regard, imo.

[ravenmoon]

I can give you the reasons I've quit: Bored with it. I don't see myself ever doing anything beyond LFR or random BGs with what the game offers. I enjoy the game a deal, but I just couldn't see myself keeping to that, and it remaining fun, so I bowed out while I was ahead. If it were free to play, or something, I'd probably go back. Or I may even pick it up again, eventually. Who knows! I don't hate the game or anything, it's more of a "Welp, this is it. Had my fun." type vibe.

For the record, though, with the introduction of LFR, that was the longest I had ever stayed subscribed in one term. (about 18 months or so, versus 2-4 month bursts). Without that, I probably would of quit a month into MoP, and not of re-subscribed during Dragon Soul. Also, I've played since late BC.

got a point here, MMO elder games' inability to make full use of their world, players at the end game have limited meaningful existence to a handful of zones for a long period of time. surpirsed it's not been radcially rethought

either people go through content way too fast and they have to slow it down, or they have to find a way to recycle its usage for the 2 years you wait till a new expansion comes.

for e.g. at end game you have stuff to do in every zone in the world, maybe new quests that progress the story line and a meaningful way of progression that relis on it, but now you're max level, you can considerably slow down the progression rate, but it still means something that does require you going about doing stuff. who knows.

[zerocarbs]

You know, WoW cartoonish game styled graphics is the reason i keep playing, it's in my opinion better then any MMORPG. (personal opinion)

You're confusing graphics with aesthetics. You can like WoW's art style but there is no denying that in 2013 the graphics suck.

OP want's a WoW 2. I think we're more likely to get a new engine before we get WoW 2. But I don't even know how feasible an engine overhaul would be.

[ravenmoon]

I think we should not only look at it from an angle in which we see players leaving, hence subs dropping, but also from a lack of new joiners point of view.
Yeah players are leaving but that can be perceived as normal, since the game is around for 9 years and people eventually will get bored with it.
Every xpac we do the same thing: leveling, hc's, raiding and then we start with leveling again in a new xpac. it is a circle which will get boring at some point.....
So i think it is normal that after a few years some players will leave, not all but some.

At the same time if wow is not able to attract new players, we will see a drop of subs. And I think here is where the old looks come into play.
For existing players it doesn't matter, it is what they played, are used too and even love. If i am in doubt if it attracts new players.

And when a new players starts he/she has to level quite a bit before reaching end game. I don't find leveling much fun as it is so maybe the leveling for new players is long enough for them to decide not to proceed.

besides keeping players, wow should do more to attract new ones and the upgrade of the models will help in this regard, imo.

but some people do, and it's the elder game they find meaningless... your only motivated for the elder game if you were hooked sufficiently in the levelling process, because you want to achieve more and experience more even though you've capped out. So it's not lack of end game content that is hitting new subs, boring elder game affects old players considerably.

New players, well, it's perception and how the first few levels go. New models, SPEECHED quests etc, interactive action. This game doesn't have conversations like SWTOR to which makes for an incredible movie like experience every time you make important progress on a quest.

WoW you're thrown into ugly models almost every game has better - it's not just the 2 pixels, yeah, you're animation cartoon style is fine, but there's almost no expression, it just feels dated, then you start playing.. and as easy as it is get into it, you have to READ everything to get an idea of what's going on? Not fun for a lot of your playstation/x-box CoD, CS type junkies - especially in a roleplaying game, that hinges on a story to get into the role

[Deleted]

No game engine is upgradeable forever, there eventually comes a time when a new engine would be required but currently that does not seem to be a problem, a blue post a while back said tell us what you wanted in WoW 2 for example and they could most likely do it in the current engine.

They have upgraded this engine a hell of a lot from Vanilla WoW.

[Fullmetal89]

I've been playing for 10 or so years, I stopped caring about Raids and competitive PVP towards the end of Wotlk. So for me this game has just gotten boring, I always come back for the first couple of months at the beginning of an expansion then leave again. I have to say, although I was very excited for Mists this has been the most boring expansion to date. They made the game an unbearable grind at max level, its like it regressed back to BC days. Which were fine back then, but now it feels like a cheap way to say you "add more content per patch." When in reality its padding, the worst kind of padding. Unless the theme for the next expansion is very attractive I doubt I'll come back this time. I have absolutely no interest in this game at the moment, even doing old raids for transmog. Which was about 90% of the reason I played Cataclysm for as long as I did. However if the next expansion really is about Azshara and they have some zones like Vashir (which I loved) then I'll come back; at least for the lore and leveling experience.

[vindicatorx]

The game has reached that stage in a game's lifespan where it is on it's decline and will continue to decline

[ravenmoon]

You're confusing graphics with aesthetics. You can like WoW's art style but there is no denying that in 2013 the graphics suck.

OP want's a WoW 2. I think we're more likely to get a new engine before we get WoW 2. But I don't even know how feasible an engine overhaul would be.

I don't know either, I think WoW 2 would be a good call, [it's not what I want persay, I hardly care tbh, it is an intersting problem though, and problems I care about]. The engine could definitely use a overhaul doubt that's feasible though, probably easier to build a brand new game. which maybe what it'd take, - but they seem okay with declining subs.. and still feel grudgingly about new models - a clasic example of being too far up your own arse to see clearly.

any mother and her baby could tell you by taking one look at character creation or starting zones and the character you control and see, that ALL the models needed proper updating, especially the one you play.. no one finds it quaint coming to this game from any title newer than 2003 that the models are so bad. What are they thinking? THey looked dated at release, what do they look now?

[grimsanta]

So many reasons!

1. Content is easy to see now - heroics are a complete joke, LFR allows you to see all of the content, and even the legendary is accessable to anyone who wishes to have it. In essense, it does not take as much time to play now to see the content as it once did.

2. The Lich King is dead - This was the story that everyone was looking forward to. After WotLK, anyone playing to see how WC3 would end did not have a lot of reason to play anymore. Many did stick around for Cata, but staying for two expansions after the story for Warcraft essentially ended is asking a lot.

3. The game is getting old, and model is old - This game is older than the 9 years that we say it's been out. It's been around since everquest. The Tank/DPS/Heals trinity is getting dull, and while they continue to be somewhat creative with boss mechanics, many of them are just rehashed in different combinations.

4. The social links that brought people together stopped with LFD and the equalization of 10 and 25 man - Before cross realm play, if you wanted to get into a dungeon, you had to find a group. Knowing people and making friends and having a wide social bond with lots of players was very important and kept people playing just to come back and play with friends every night. But now days it seems that most people only talk to those in their guilds. Most casual players no longer have to even participate in any kind of social play at all. Flex and HScen helps this a bit, but it's too little, too late.

[Deleted]

Its a hard game to get into and easy to leave after getting pissed at it.

[Deleted]

Actaul competition now; for a long time WoWs only competition was EQ2 and GW (in the west) and on a lot of points it was just better. That changed around mid-end wrath and beyond with Tera, Rift, GW2, SWtoR etc., which had different focus and themes which some people prefered more than WoW.

I think that is one of the biggest reasons for WoWs subscriber loss.

[Deleted]

probably burnout for a lot of people, lotsa have been playing this game for years, and just get bored, theres no changed blizzard can make to get the subs back to 12million. also many people started playing the game while they were in school im betting, now nearly 10years later they are grown up, have job/family not as much time to play, people are just bored after 10years. i dont think the issue is with the content, as we have more content, faster updates now than ever before.

[ZeroWashu]

A lot more games out there than in WOW's big days. Competition has stepped up their game and there are diversions not related to MMOs that are good. For my play the best days were BC and WOTLK. Cata killed so many guilds that I had friends in that many who left didn't come back even in MOP. Hopefully Blizzard has learned a lesson there.

Graphics wise I have no problems with the game. Hell even Wildstar looks similar and its NEW!

I think the best reason I can come up with is, its time for the 14.99 model to die. 9.99 is where it needs to be now. Either that or give us expansions for free

[Mace]

2 fold...

looking old turns off new players
feeling dated turns off old players.

[geewhiz80]

So many reasons!
2. The Lich King is dead - This was the story that everyone was looking forward to. After WotLK, anyone playing to see how WC3 would end did not have a lot of reason to play anymore. Many did stick around for Cata, but staying for two expansions after the story for Warcraft essentially ended is asking a lot.

I don't buy the "Ending of WC3" at all. Since WoW hasn't touched on Sargeras at all, and barely scraped the surface for Azshara and Kil'jaeden, all 3 of whom were major antagonists in WC3. If you had said an ending to WC3:TFT I might be able to agree to that one, but there are still a few loose ends from WC3 that they would have to tie up before saying that they completed the story arcs there.

I believe if/when they do the burning legion expac it'll bring back a substantial number of players to the game if only for a short time, so they can see the conclusions of those character's stories. However, if you ask me it just comes down to the game being old, and people who have been playing for nearly a decade are looking for something new to catch their eye.

[Mace]

Anyways. Fair enough, but like I pointed out above: Ask 20 ppl and get 20 opinions. You actually gave 4 reasons - so it is probably: Ask 20 ppl get 40 opinions

won't that make 80 opinions?

[melodramocracy]

I'd guess that the main reason for dropping subs in MoP is that the overall theme was a turnoff.

It's highly unlikely that raiding played a major role in drops, as more people left than were raiding to begin with.