"The biggest thing stopping players from coming back is leveling."...no no no no NO

[Deleted]

Blizz wants money, Blizz is still trying to keep face, so they come up with some sketchy excuses nobody is going to buy anyway. It's called PR.

[Daffan]

5 mans are so easy they are a grindz

[TooMuch]

Well, think about what's being said by Blizz themselves. Ever stopped playing and seen the reasons you can give why? I have stopped multiple times, but have never got a questionaire about why I am not starting again. Not even when a new expansion arrived. So basically you can question their information too.

[SideTracked]

People don't come back because the game is homogenized with no meaningful progression. Everyone is a winner, all your actions are irrelevant.

This, and bad ideas for expansions.

[Warlord Booty]

I was had the mindset that the game ended at max level. A lot less to do optimally.

[Nalam the Venom]

Diablo got a loot 2.0 why not make a leveling 2.0 for wow? Difficulty slider more xp the harder you put it.. And add ALOT more BoP blue/purple items that can drop from mobs,
Since everyone love diablo now i think this would stop the lvling rage

[TooMuch]

And boredom is part of it too. Except for starting areas, most quests for Horde and Alliance are the same. Add to that the linearity of questing. In Cataclysm this was very bad, in MoP there were more questhobs but most of them you couldn't access/do until you had completed a previous quest hub.

[xTH3ROCK]

Honestly, leveling has come such a long way and it is beyond easy to level. If you have at least 1 max level toon, you can purchase a full set of heirlooms and get to 90 within a few days of game time. You do not have to do a single quest after 15 to level. Just spam dungeons with a group of friends that want to level with you and you can get to 90 in no time. Don't even get me started leveling a monk with boas. The monk buff that you get every 10 levels completely boosts you so fast with heirlooms. By the time the first buff is over, you have gotten 10 levels and can get the next one. So no, leveling is not the issue making people not come back.

- - - Updated - - -

Please don't spread false information, the monk buff is a daily and you can get it once a day aswell as one every 10 levels (even if you alrdy did the daily)

You get Enlightenment every 10 levels after level 20, along with a new daily every day

[Mitak]

And that's like, your opinion. Others HAVE been able to see the Pandaren for what they are, and loved the lore of MoP.

Yes that is right, it is my opinion but apparently the opinion also of many other people since the subscriptions levels keep falling. If the pandas were that amazing and anticipated content we would not see a drop of 2 million subs from Cataclysm, but a raise or at least equal numbers. It is again my personal opinion that every expansion since Wotlk was with not very interesting lore wise, but interestingly enough, also the subscription levels of WOW seems to be in line with my personal opinion with Wotlk being the last expansion in which the game has had a steady growth of subscribers.

[Durandro]

Actually, yes.

Its also true of potential new players - I've asked my friends if they want to play, and their responce is basically "I don't want to have to spend 100+ hours before I get to even play the game properly". And I don't blame them at all for that viewpoint.

I do, however, also think that the leveling process needs to be improved again. Even something simple like increasing running speed slightly would help (though I'd only have this active out in the world), or having more Rested XP able to be stored up (its still only 1.5 levels worth, right? Should be unlimited, though you'd have to be logged out of a character for a long time to store enough to get to max level) or have food buffs give you the rested bonus during its duration (giving people a reason to level Cooking).

[Primernova]

People don't come back because they broke how the flow of the game, used to work. The EQ/AO/FFXI paradigm was awesome, but painfully time consuming. Vanilla and TBC WoW, made every step along the way, enjoyable and didn't take forever. It didn't used to matter how far you got, just that their was further to go. It was like life in a way, hard to be motivated if you have everything already. New WoW, is like your character is born, becomes age 5 and then is crowned king of Azaroth along with every other character...

That's boring and pointless.

Kings hate other kings.

And it shows.

Helping your friends become kings as they help you do the same, is what drives an MMO.

Gear and free content is dogshit compared to proper community.

[Durandro]

Diablo got a loot 2.0 why not make a leveling 2.0 for wow? Difficulty slider more xp the harder you put it.. And add ALOT more BoP blue/purple items that can drop from mobs,
Since everyone love diablo now i think this would stop the lvling rage

Not a bad idea, though it would have to work more like a debuff on the player since otherwise it would overcomplicated things. Having -20% damage and health in exchange for double XP is a decent idea, for example (numbers may need tweeking), and would encourage people to learn their class faster. Would also make Warlocks and Hunters even more OP though, potentially.

[xTH3ROCK]

Yes that is right, it is my opinion but apparently the opinion also of many other people since the subscriptions levels keep falling. If the pandas were that amazing and anticipated content we would not see a drop of 2 million subs from Cataclysm, but a raise or at least equal numbers. It is again my personal opinion that every expansion since Wotlk was with not very interesting lore wise, but interestingly enough, also the subscription levels of WOW seems to be in line with my personal opinion with Wotlk being the last expansion in which the game has had a steady growth of subscribers.

I completely agree with you. I think WoW was at it's peak in Wrath

[Durandro]

Gear and free content is dogshit compared to proper community.

I can't even work out what your point is, honestly...

[Delekii]

The thing stopping me from coming back is the ongoing crusade against flying. I like flying.

[Durandro]

I completely agree with you. I think WoW was at it's peak in Wrath

If MoP was the second expansion the subscription numbers would probably be very similar to Wrath's. It was the right time, not necessarily the right content.

[edmorte]

People don't come back because the game is homogenized with no meaningful progression. Everyone is a winner, all your actions are irrelevant.

Put that in the front page and call it /thread.

Can't be more right. The only ppl doing WoW are the loot junkies.

Not to mention the HUGE QQ threads nerf X class and some real class imbalances.

[Primernova]

I can't even work out what your point is, honestly...

I've spent years trying to explain, no one understands anymore.

It's literally like trying to teach the blind to see.

[xTH3ROCK]

If MoP was the second expansion the subscription numbers would probably be very similar to Wrath's. It was the right time, not necessarily the right content.

That could be the case but they gained more subs since the content looked awesome and looked fun to actually play and were not handing out gear because of little kids complaining that it was too hard to gear. In my opinion i loved the idea of WORKING for your gear and spending a few days/weeks doing heroics to get enough Emblems to buy gear to start raiding.

[ComputerNerd]

Blizzard have the data you do not.
I believe them over you without any hesitation.

That big rant is simply your own preferences made to look more important by trying to claim you are representative of a lot of players.
The fact is you aren't.
You are a nobody in wow terms.