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  1. #261
    Deleted
    Two main reasons the sub numbers went up:
    1) 5$ battlechests - a lot of people bought those just to check the game out, but even more than that, the addicts were buying 5 of these to get some stupid collector pets or some other shit (new RAF system). And as you know, every battlechest comes with a free month = another subscriber added in Q4.
    2) people who don't like how Blizzard is handling the game are still playing it regardless. you wish for Blizzard to lose subscribers to "teach them a lesson" but you won't quit yourself? get real.

    Q1 "should" show a big loss, but you can never predict it with Blizzard. They will do something similar to what they did in Cata - give everybody free MoP, free level 85, free game time, just so the numbers stay somewhat stable so all of you can continue pretending that this game is still doing great.
    Last edited by mmoc2cfe61b4f1; 2014-02-07 at 05:13 PM.

  2. #262
    Quote Originally Posted by Fool View Post
    2) people who don't like how Blizzard is handling the game are still playing it regardless. you wish for Blizzard to lose subscribers to "teach them a lesson" but you won't quit yourself? get real.
    Yep. Put your money where your mouths are, folks.
    "There is a pervasive myth that making content hard will induce players to rise to the occasion. We find the opposite. " -- Ghostcrawler
    "The bit about hardcore players not always caring about the long term interests of the game is spot on." -- Ghostcrawler
    "Do you want a game with no casuals so about 500 players?"

  3. #263
    Quote Originally Posted by Fool View Post
    Two main reasons the sub numbers went up:
    1) 5$ battlechests - a lot of people bought those just to check the game out, but even more than that, the addicts were buying 5 of these to get some stupid collector pets or some other shit (new RAF system). And as you know, every battlechest comes with a free month = another subscriber added in Q4.
    2) people who don't like how Blizzard is handling the game are still playing it regardless. you wish for Blizzard to lose subscribers to "teach them a lesson" but you won't quit yourself? get real.

    Q1 "should" show a big loss, but you can never predict it with Blizzard. They will do something similar to what they did in Cata - give everybody free MoP, free level 85, free game time, just so the number stay somewhat stable and they you all can continue pretending that this game is still doing great.
    Every word that comes out of your mouth is tinged with hateraid, I've seen a lot of guildies return to the game mostly because their friends told them the game was fun again, mostly for flex, and that the expansion was well recieved.

    When it comes right down to it guys like you use to get a chemical reaction in your brain to wow but eventually the chemical stopped having the same effect and you found things to get angry about because you were burned out on it. The pathetic thing is that you spend the rest of your days returning to burn the game to the ground instead of moving on and finding something worthwhile to do and not bothering the rest of us who still enjoy the game. People who don't like where the game is going and yet stay subscribed is because they are obviously still at a point where they still enjoy the game.

    You can spend the rest of your days haunting these boards wailing about how you were wronged or you can find something that actually makes you happy and move on. If you were really unhappy with how the world of warcraft was going you wouldn't be here anymore bitching about it. I use to play Warhammer, I belonged to what would be the wow equivalent of a world first guild for tourneys, we won 85% of all the trophies in any tourney we went to but eventually I got angry about where they were taking the game. You know what I did? Did I bitch and wail like a banshee on the forums? Nope, I quit buying models, I quit playing the game, I quit visiting the forums and I moved on to Warcraft. When I burn out on Warcraft I will move on to some other game but I won't be wasting my time bitching and wailing like a forum ghost to every player who still enjoys the game. I'm not going to waste my time on something I don't enjoy anymore. I suggest you follow suit.
    Last edited by DeadmanWalking; 2014-02-07 at 05:22 PM.

  4. #264
    I resubbed for SoO and I guess many other players did as well. With the addition of flex, the grind upwards is also significantly longer for casual players and puggers so I'm not all that surprised that people are sticking around longer than they were in ICC, where hard modes were being pugged quite regularly after a few months.

  5. #265
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Superman-BladesEdge View Post
    6.5M active and profits are up.

    - - - Updated - - -



    Never understood people who deliberately wished ill-will on anyone. It's bad Karma.
    Jealousy.

    (10 chars)

  6. #266
    Immortal Tharkkun's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fool View Post
    Two main reasons the sub numbers went up:
    1) 5$ battlechests - a lot of people bought those just to check the game out, but even more than that, the addicts were buying 5 of these to get some stupid collector pets or some other shit (new RAF system). And as you know, every battlechest comes with a free month = another subscriber added in Q4.
    2) people who don't like how Blizzard is handling the game are still playing it regardless. you wish for Blizzard to lose subscribers to "teach them a lesson" but you won't quit yourself? get real.

    Q1 "should" show a big loss, but you can never predict it with Blizzard. They will do something similar to what they did in Cata - give everybody free MoP, free level 85, free game time, just so the numbers stay somewhat stable so all of you can continue pretending that this game is still doing great.
    Sorry but 7.8 million paying subs is absolutely destroying any other game including F2P. So yeah, WoW is doing great. It may not be hitting 13 million subs but it's light years ahead of other MMO's in popularity and I guarantee you every single one of the MMO's who went F2P would kill for 7 million players.

  7. #267
    Does anybody know what metric they use to count subs? An increase seems surprising to me, but good for Blizz. I thought they would be down another 1M or so!

  8. #268
    Herald of the Titans Vintersol's Avatar
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    You can spend the rest of your days haunting these boards wailing about how you were wronged or you can find something that actually makes you happy and move on.
    And you are one of the persons on this board who has nothing to do than outrage about everything that could damage your tiny fluffy epic world of warcraft.

  9. #269
    Quote Originally Posted by calanos View Post
    Does anybody know what metric they use to count subs?
    It's in a footnote in each quarterly report.

    http://investor.activision.com/commo...ith_tables.pdf

    Subscriber Definition: World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have
    an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their
    free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also
    counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or
    cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees' territories are defined along the same
    rules.
    The sub number they gave was as of Dec. 31, 2013, the last day of the quarter. So, if you sub expired Dec. 30, you wouldn't have been counted, even if you had been active for all the rest of the quarter. Conversely, if you activated your account Dec. 31, you would be counted.
    "There is a pervasive myth that making content hard will induce players to rise to the occasion. We find the opposite. " -- Ghostcrawler
    "The bit about hardcore players not always caring about the long term interests of the game is spot on." -- Ghostcrawler
    "Do you want a game with no casuals so about 500 players?"

  10. #270
    Quote Originally Posted by Thyr View Post
    And you are one of the persons on this board who has nothing to do than outrage about everything that could damage your tiny fluffy epic world of warcraft.
    I think you take yourself too seriously if you think you can do damage to the world of warcraft. The english language? Yes, the world of warcraft? No. Not a chance.

  11. #271
    Quote Originally Posted by eillas View Post
    It would be suicide to hold it beyond 2014
    This generation amazes me. Games used to go three years between sequels with no additional content released in the interim, yet they somehow survived and even flourished. Now a game goes more than a year without releasing additional content and its demise is suddenly imminent. While I understand that the majority of MMO-C users probably burn through new patch content within a couple of weeks, it's not unusual for the typical user to spend months or even 1+ years consuming each new patch release. SOO has been out since September and I'm still seeing players hitting SOO LFR for their first time. I expect that I'll continue to see this until WoD releases sometime in the next year or two.
    Quote Originally Posted by CandyCotton Marshmallows View Post
    People need to get over the gear color (and themselves). It doesn't matter, and it shouldn't matter what other players have either. Worry about your damn self. Live your life by that. If you want to concern yourself with someone else, then worry about HELPING them, not putting them down or making sure you stand out as better than them.
    Maybe the game would be better with more low DPS nice guys and fewer high DPS jerks? -- Ghostcrawler, Twitter, 6/29/13

  12. #272
    Banned -Superman-'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by lolalola View Post
    Jealousy.

    (10 chars)
    I suppose that is certainly one explanation

  13. #273
    We can all speculate on why subs went up or down. The truth is that none of us know. That having been said,

    Quote Originally Posted by Fool View Post
    1) 5$ battlechests - a lot of people bought those just to check the game out, but even more than that, the addicts were buying 5 of these to get some stupid collector pets or some other shit (new RAF system). And as you know, every battlechest comes with a free month = another subscriber added in Q4.
    This is my pet theory too. I was tempted to buy a new account myself, to be honest, but I resisted. The next quarter subs will drop again and all the naysayers will be back to claiming that LFR is killing the game, that the game needs to go F2P, and that the level 90 boost is turning everyone off and destroying the game. Personally I think it'll just be that players have exhausted the content and are taking a break from the game until WoD comes out. Expect subs to spike again about a month before the WoD release. Regardless of what happens, I predict that Blizzard will still be making far more money than any other MMO and that their execs will continue to sleep soundly on mattresses padded with cash.
    Quote Originally Posted by CandyCotton Marshmallows View Post
    People need to get over the gear color (and themselves). It doesn't matter, and it shouldn't matter what other players have either. Worry about your damn self. Live your life by that. If you want to concern yourself with someone else, then worry about HELPING them, not putting them down or making sure you stand out as better than them.
    Maybe the game would be better with more low DPS nice guys and fewer high DPS jerks? -- Ghostcrawler, Twitter, 6/29/13

  14. #274
    Scarab Lord Lime's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fool View Post
    Two main reasons the sub numbers went up:
    1) 5$ battlechests - a lot of people bought those just to check the game out, but even more than that, the addicts were buying 5 of these to get some stupid collector pets or some other shit (new RAF system). And as you know, every battlechest comes with a free month = another subscriber added in Q4.
    I hadn't even thought about that. It's certainly possible. Interesting.

  15. #275
    Quote Originally Posted by Fool View Post
    Two main reasons the sub numbers went up:
    1) 5$ battlechests - a lot of people bought those just to check the game out, but even more than that, the addicts were buying 5 of these to get some stupid collector pets or some other shit (new RAF system). And as you know, every battlechest comes with a free month = another subscriber added in Q4.
    2) people who don't like how Blizzard is handling the game are still playing it regardless. you wish for Blizzard to lose subscribers to "teach them a lesson" but you won't quit yourself? get real.

    Q1 "should" show a big loss, but you can never predict it with Blizzard. They will do something similar to what they did in Cata - give everybody free MoP, free level 85, free game time, just so the numbers stay somewhat stable so all of you can continue pretending that this game is still doing great.
    I gotta listen to the call again, but RAF was one of the reasons given for the sub increase along with strong hype for WoD and winter. Winter historically has had better numbers across the industry and for WoW. Blizzard did indicate that the long term plan that they view is necessary to keeping subs is faster content, but for the first quarter hopes are on WoD preorder with free 90 as an added attempt to get players to jump back in prior to WoD.

    At least from the quarterly call it seems praise and excitement for WoD is overwhelmingly high and the developers are capitalizing on it.
    Last edited by nekobaka; 2014-02-07 at 11:25 PM.

  16. #276
    Quote Originally Posted by melodramocracy View Post
    Most players were still very busy with SoO, which was released less than a month before the start of the 4th quarter. Add to that the hype created by Blizzcon for the generally well received WoD during that quarter, and you see why a sub increase makes sense (but is a pleasant surprise nonetheless).

    I'm just glad the 'it's just old' crowd needs to find a new excuse next time subs drop off.
    Uh it is still old, it is gonna hit 10 years. Some people will leave because it is a old game, this is a fact as it is a fact that some people leave because the game is too easy, too hard, LFR, etc. It is wrong to say IMO that subs decreased due to this one reason alone. WoW subs go down due to not one, but many reasons. Saying people left because the game is old is a valid reason, just not by itself or the biggest reason at of the list of reasons. I can point out that just because there was a sub gain, that doesn't mean the millions who left don't find the game old. I could easily say the sub gains were because the game got cheap, RAF etc and they never found the game old. The thing is we will never know what the biggest reason why people left nor why the biggest reason why there was a sub gain. You shouldn't write off "it's just old".

  17. #277
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by melodramocracy View Post
    Most players were still very busy with SoO, which was released less than a month before the start of the 4th quarter.
    What does that have to do with the price of fish?

    The sub number is from the 31st of December, just under 4 months after SoO was released.

  18. #278
    Quote Originally Posted by Ronduwil View Post
    Games used to go three years between sequels with no additional content released in the interim, yet they somehow survived and even flourished.
    There also used to simply be less games. After your billionth Diablo run, what did you go play? Well... nothing. There weren't many good Diablo clones to fill that niche. Today we have many. After you trained a bunch of gnolls to Freeport, what did you go play? A MUD, maybe? Stop by UO? There just wasn't much out there in the MMO space. Today, you can find close-to-WoW quality clones - and even more, some are free, or sans subscription, or whatever. Same for every other genre of game out there (heck, look at all the minecraft clones coming out!).

    What keeps people involved? New content. You have to keep them invested _here_, before they wander off somewhere else. Even if the clone isn't quite as good as WoW, some people will be fine with 80% as good, for 80% less cost. Yes, some of it is today's instant gratification, but it is also the abundance of what's available.

  19. #279
    I think it should be said of WoW's longevity that not only is it a game that's survived with 7m+ subs over 10yrs, but it did so as a $15/m game without having ever dropped its subscription price. That is astounding in today's market.

  20. #280
    Orcboi NatePsy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ronduwil View Post
    This generation amazes me. Games used to go three years between sequels with no additional content released in the interim, yet they somehow survived and even flourished.
    Gaming scene has changed, it's not the way it was years ago, so there's that and people are becoming better and quicker at completing content.

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