Blizz no longer cares about WoW.

[King of Games]

Man, I hear you loud and clear. That's the reason why I quit this game in the middle of MoP. Blizzard has become fat and happy doing just the bare minimum amount of work. They stopped innovating and just copy everything. All the best looking items (mounts, pets, armor) are headed to the cash shop, and instead of fixing the broken parts of the game (leveling), they'd rather come up with services they can charge an arm and a leg for (boost to 90).

Blizzard is charging people $15/month for a F2P experience. Is it any wonder why the numbers continue to drop outside of expansion reveals?

[McNeil]

They never cared about WoW... they care about the money that it makes

[zoomgpally]

Simple facts:
People have been complaining that the level process (especially pandaria) wasn't any good.
> They launch the p2w feature of 90 skippable levels
> They won't work towards making the leveling experience any better.

pay to win that really isnt winning?

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U think MOP is better than cata then you must have not played cataclysm, even tho during cata people say it sucks it was way better than mists of pandaria.

in mop pvp most classes have only 1 spec thats good for PVP example warriors can only be arms in pvp other speccs suck

I played both cata and mop, i prefer mop...

[Bosen]

I disagree. I think they care about it a lot. They choose their battles when it comes to what they put out as a company and in the game itself. The quality is there. I think they have only gotten better as time has gone on. They only have so much time and resources. Whatever they release, it'll always feel like it's not enough because their stuff is so good it's addicting.

[Ronduwil]

says the person who thinks wow has lost 93% of its playerbase when it has 7.7 million subscribers and it peaked at 12 million

Blizzard themselves reported that over 100 million players had played WoW at some point. Just because that peak was at 12 million doesn't mean that only 12 million players ever played WoW. For example, if a different set of 12 million players plays every month that's 144 million total subs for the year and Blizzard will have lost 92% of its players in one year despite constantly being at 12 million subs. That's why percentages are so tricky. They are completely contextual. Every time you see a percent the first question you should ask is, "Percent of what?"

[Llunai]

Just starting off by saying, I've always defended WoW's actions.

I stopped reading the moment I saw that you don't even know the name of the company who makes this game. Pro tip: "WoW" is a product, not a company.

[shoc]

I stopped reading the moment I saw that you don't even know the name of the company who makes this game. Pro tip: "WoW" is a product, not a company.

Though it would be more accurate to say "The WoW Teams" actions, as corporate Activision-Blizzard encompasses everything from WoW to D3 to Hearthstone to Destiny to Call of Duty to Guitar Hero.

[coldrain]

It was the final nail in the coffin when they made level 1s no longer start with free tshirts

[Tharkkun]

Tell me, is it really worth to get so worked up over a video game? If the people like the product, let them have their fun. Your definition of what a quality game is isn't fact and how you experience the game isn't the same other people experience it.
And the response that you should go and move on if you don't like is actually quite accurate. I mean, why would someone willingly stick to something they dislike, it's not healthy.

Or spend their energy trying to convince people that the game is terrible when they don't play it themselves. It's kind of sad how the negative nancy's can't just let go. Wow had such an impact on their life that even years later their still following it.

[Zenotetsuken]

Just starting off by saying, I've always defended WoW's actions. More so than most people I know. I've stood by them and have had reasons for just about any of their questionable decisions. But, I can't do it anymore. I can't care about something that the devs themselves don't care about.

Those behind WoW are putting in the most bare minimum of work; the game is now comparable to a facebook microtransaction game. They don't care much about what you think of the game, so long as they can get the most money out of it.

Examples abound of this: they are putting bare minimum work into player housing (Garrisons), something requested since launch. No customization, forced tier upgrades, you are building an effective base, not the one you want.

Mounts, we've seen about as many new mounts models from 5.1 on in the cash shop, as we have in the actual game, including one that's been wanted since launch: a bat mount. This is inexcusable, especially since many of the new mounts are very unique, while some of the in game ones (like the two SoO mounts) are not at all. Cash mounts are fine, so long as you can get something comparable in game: which you can't.

Re-adding stuff thats been formally taken away and acting like its the best thing ever (skirmishes).

Re-doing the player models, but not offering a player re-customization

Even little things stick out, like the stupid restrictions placed on mog (Oh, want to mog your 2 hand sword into a polearm? haha, no.). Or how they couldn't just go and recolor the elite pvp for a new season. Heck, they changed the chat client for the sheer sake of screwing over a popular addon, so people would use their own (poorly made) version of the addon (they killed oque).

WoD is a prime example. What's new with WoD? A bare bones player housing? Updated player models with zero new customization (that wont be done for all races)? Other expansions gave you reason to want them outside of "new raid tier and new armor!". WoD is essentially a raid patch with a few extra zones tacked on. And they'll charge you just as much as former expansions (potentially more, if the survey's they sent out a few weeks ago are any indication).

People shouldn't stand by this. People should expect MORE out of blizzard, rather than LESS. Each new batch of content is getting lazier than the last. Don't support this: don't buy from their item shop. Even if you're getting WoD, don't pre-order, let them sweat out their less than expected preorder amounts. Let people know you're dissatisfied and make it clear -WHY- you are. Pose questions to dev twitters about real issues in the game, and don't let up just because they don't answer.

I know what people will say: its a business, they should be allowed to make money. And yes, this is true. But they shouldn't be making it at the expense of their players. They shouldn't get away with bare minimum. The "They are a company" excuse gets us crap like Bioware releasing important story characters as day 1 DLC. Or Diablo 3 having a money shop. Or EA.... being EA.

I agree with you man, but GL around here stating an opinion that doesn't unquestioningly worship the ground Blizzard pisses on.

[Lime]

Be level 42, a level 60 guy comes down and gank you. Now you go and buy your boost to 90, go back to find this guy and gank him.

How is that not fucking PAY to WIN? It does not matter how much you win, if you win then it is a win

So I guess you think buying expansions is pay2win with that mentality? To spell it out for you:

Player A refuses to buy a new expansion. Player A progresses through dungeons and raids to further power his character.
Player B buys the new expansion. Player B not only gets a far superior progression rate, but can also go far beyond what Player A can ever achieve, through gear and levels.

So there you have it. With that mentality, buying expansions is pay2win because Player B paid money and easily surpassed Player A who didn't spend any.

That's precisely why people don't use the term literally because anyone could argue that anything bought with real life money is p2w.

[Radio]

Love all of the people who come in complaining about baseless fanboy retorts without actually contending any of the counter-arguments to the OP made by people who disagree.

He means they dont give a shit about players anymore. They need to make some final cash before the entire bunch moves to Titan/Teso/EQN/etc/etc/etc. My guess is they care greatly for making that last grab (the 60 buck 90 is a hint to that)

Charging 60 bucks for a level 90 boost is a fucking terrible business decision. Why? Because it is not a justifiable expense for the majority of the playerbase. Blizzard would make WAY more money if they brought it down to an accessible value like 10-20 bucks, but they instead decided to restrict the demographic to people who can drop 60 bucks for a boost that lets you skip the part of the game that doesn't matter.

There's no way that such an insignificant benefit costed at such a high rate is a cash grab, it's a fucking luxury offering.

[Hey Zeus]

It's actually a brilliant business strategy. Make the worst xpac ever (MoP) about kung fu panda and feeding carrots to bunnies, and then charge people to NOT play it.

you are fucking brilliant.

i laughed so hard when i read this. also, i agree.

ive been away from the game for the majority of MoP, came back for each tier of content, cleared it on normal w/ the guild after about 3-4 weeks of raiding, and had no desire to smash my face with my palm just to do the same content repeatedly for the next 4-5 months so i could get a tiny lil epeen and feel cool with full heroic gear. why would i care? its all getting replaced as soon as WoD drops anyways.

arena, which was always really fun for me, was absolutely ruined when the play style of rogues changed from a mobile, target switching, caster kicking, whirlwind stunning ball of badassery. personally i felt the playstyle was perfect. i got my 2200 before the whole "oh gg heroic daggers" patch even came out, but the WAY that rogues played was very fun. now that theyve been dumbed down to another rotation class where you have 4 CDs but do tons of burst, instead of a major (or minor) nuisance that could change the tide of a battle with a few while timed kicks or a shadow dance... i find them... insanely boring.

i hope to god that this shit gets fixed. id be satisfied with deleting MoP entirely and going back to cata style gameplay. i hate that im saying that, now i feel like one of those whiny nostalgic bitches that talks constantly about vanilla and BC. but its the play STYLE i miss, not the whole "oh qq, give everyone everything". i just miss a time when playing well meant making a difference. now playing well means you just... are mashing buttons... or spamming a macro...

cheers.

[Souflikar]

I know what people will say: its a business, they should be allowed to make money. And yes, this is true. But they shouldn't be making it at the expense of their players.

So if Blizzard shouldn't be making money at the expense of their players, then who the heck should they be making money from?

[Zenotetsuken]

So if Blizzard shouldn't be making money at the expense of their players, then who the heck should they be making money from?

He said "at the expense of", not "making from".

Example- You get Wool from shearing a Sheep, you get Mutton at the expense of a Sheep.

[chrisfover87]

They care about wow, they just dont care about YOU.

[Souflikar]

He said "at the expense of", not "making from".

Example- You get Wool from shearing a Sheep, you get Mutton at the expense of a Sheep.

Ah...ok. I was scratching my head trying to understand your first response. Now I see where you're coming from.
Good point. I misinterpreted what the op was expressing.

[Ronduwil]

Charging 60 bucks for a level 90 boost is a fucking terrible business decision. Why? Because it is not a justifiable expense for the majority of the playerbase. Blizzard would make WAY more money if they brought it down to an accessible value like 10-20 bucks, but they instead decided to restrict the demographic to people who can drop 60 bucks for a boost that lets you skip the part of the game that doesn't matter.

I'm assuming they made the business decision because they figure it takes the average person who doesn't know all the tricks to optimizing their levelling experience and can't afford to binge play for 72 hours straight about four months to level a character to 90. That's why they're charging 60 bucks: 4 months * $15 = $60. I think you vastly overestimate the number of players who will actually pay money for a boost to 90, regardless of the cost.

There's no way that such an insignificant benefit costed at such a high rate is a cash grab, it's a fucking luxury offering.

It's both. Luxury offerings are typically cash grabs, and that's why they're so expensive. The rabid fan base that will drop any amount of cash for something as silly as a level boost will probably drop $60 just as readily as it would drop $20. Plus your pricing suggestion is insane. Why would anyone pay for a $25 server transfer when they could just roll on that server and drop $10 on a boost to 90? If you don't think the boost to 90 is worth it (and I wouldn't blame you because I don't think it's worth it either) just don't buy it.

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but its the play STYLE i miss, not the whole "oh qq, give everyone everything". i just miss a time when playing well meant making a difference. now playing well means you just... are mashing buttons... or spamming a macro...

Not that their intentions have meant anything before, but Blizzard is claiming to be tuning mythic raiding to 20 players so they can shift back to this style again. They said that lots of the homogenization was due to the demands of 10-man raiding. With only 10 people in the raid it was hard to come up with a raid composition that would cover all the mechanics so they just gave everyone the same skills. Now they're going to put those mechanics in 20-man raids so they can go back to making each class into its own niche again.

[Zamfix]

It's almost like you have believe you have a fundamental right to World of Warcraft...

Blizzard with "get away" with exactly what their customers let them. That said, I think they're doing a fine job and care very much about WoW.

[Dadwen]

not sure if you can say they don't care about it, but it does seem like they've lost a lot of the passion they used to have when it first came out, guessing a company "growing" up can have that effect on them though.