If EQ is still going, what makes anyone think WoW would EVER end?

[Thage]

Beacuse I can only by bashing WoW let out my sexual frustration.

See?! This is what the Puritanical demonization of masturbation has led to. (jkjk)

On-topic: Much like EQ, WoW will one day cede its throne to either one or multiple successors that revolutionize the MMORPG industry the way WoW did and continues to try to. It will eventually dwindle to a dedicated core of fans and hop-in-hop-out casuals, if only due to attachment to the time invested into their characters and the game as a whole, and if the day comes where WoW transitions to a free-play business model, that might inject some new life into it like free-play Steam releases tend to do for older MMORPGs.

That's just the nature of the beast in the game industry. No king rules forever, and WoW's had and continues to have an impressive run that crushed any expectations Blizz or the industry at large had on the outset. I highly doubt a day will come where the WoW servers are permanently shut down any more than the EQ servers; it's simply had too much of an impact on the gaming industry as a whole and spent too much time as a household name that there won't be a dedicated core audience and curious newcomers checking out the old relic years down the road.

[Armourboy]

See?! This is what the Puritanical demonization of masturbation has led to. (jkjk)

On-topic: Much like EQ, WoW will one day cede its throne to either one or multiple successors that revolutionize the MMORPG industry the way WoW did and continues to try to. It will eventually dwindle to a dedicated core of fans and hop-in-hop-out casuals, if only due to attachment to the time invested into their characters and the game as a whole, and if the day comes where WoW transitions to a free-play business model, that might inject some new life into it like free-play Steam releases tend to do for older MMORPGs.

That's just the nature of the beast in the game industry. No king rules forever, and WoW's had and continues to have an impressive run that crushed any expectations Blizz or the industry at large had on the outset. I highly doubt a day will come where the WoW servers are permanently shut down any more than the EQ servers; it's simply had too much of an impact on the gaming industry as a whole and spent too much time as a household name that there won't be a dedicated core audience and curious newcomers checking out the old relic years down the road.

Exactly, but in the end once that point is reached it's basically in the realm of " dead ". Dead generally doesn't mean the servers are shut down, it just means the game has lost all relevance for the larger market and is basically running on fumes. People can fight it all the want, but WoW is dying, and has been for years. When you are no where near your peak and that audience just keeps slowly dwindling, well that's dying.

Thing is an MMO dying is more like an old tree dying, it takes years and years for it to happen, a limb here, a limb there. You don't just walk out one day and thing is dead, heck even ones hit by lightning can go on for several years ( SWG I'm pointing at you ). People can cover their eyes all they want, but the fact is WoW is dying a slow death. It doesn't mean the product is bad always, it just means that it's old and people are slowly moving on. It's been 12-13 years for some of us, it's going to happen.

[Huntaer]

Everything and everyone ends at some point, Jaylock

[Logwyn]

I meant video games, and I meant by the same people.

You can play chess, go, and tic-tac-toe as a video game!!!

[Crysth]

Indeed. The graphical style of WoW is one of it's selling points IMO. "Realistic" looking games stop looking quite as realistic a year or two after release when the newest "realistic" games come out. But WoW always retains it's own style and continues to look good year after year.

You can keep a less realistic art style while updating the graphic. Make things like trees look better and buildings and such.

[xanzul]

Everquest might still be going, but it's still dead.

Companies aren't in the habit of supporting products that are "dead".

- - - Updated - - -

Because its being run into the ground and less people are playing every day

And? I seem to recall a certain Wow dev saying Everquest would die if his concerns weren't addressed and yet Everquest is still around more than a decade later.

- - - Updated - - -

https://www.polygon.com/2015/2/11/80...pany-everquest
https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming...or-to-release/

Not sure catering to an ever dwindling player base counts as "going strong".

First Sony sells them. (Which isn't uncommon Sony is/are (a) dick(s)) But then they cancel the sequel. It just doesn't paint the picture you are trying to sell.

When Daybreak Games bought SOE, they shuttered numerous titles with one exception: Everquest. If Everquest weren't profitable it would have been gone along with the rest of those other former SOE games and Everquest Next has absolutely no bearing on that whatsoever.

- - - Updated - - -

It depends. COULD they support WoW with, say, 500k subs? Sure. Not at the level of now, but sure. 500k $50 boxes is $25m. At an average sub price of $13 it's $6.5m/month or $78m per year. You're not going to support the current team size with that, though so either expansions are much smaller or have fewer features or are ever 3-4 years.

At some point, though, I think they'll shut it down if it gets too low. It will be a team no one wants to be on (who wants on the dead project with no career options?) so it will have the new people on it and those who can't cut it on other teams. If they feel the team is too talented for that, they're better off taking that team and making something like HotS, Overwatch, Hearthstone etc which can make as much or more and expand their available IP. Or, of course, moving Warcraft to another kind of game (Warcraft 4 RTS, etc).

Now, will they hit ~500k or something soon? Can't know. If they left WoD with 5m subs and they have, say, 4m now the decline will take years. IF they have 2m now? Not the long. We can't really know.

I seem to recall you and others crowing about how Cata's massive subscription loss would mean smaller expansions with less content only for Mop to release with tons of content every patch and many subscribers came back. There is also the fact that multiple features players had been asking for (transmog, LFR, cross realm heirlooms) were implented during this expansion.


In short: every single last one of you doomsayers has been proven wrong over and over.

[A dot Ham]

When Daybreak Games bought SOE, they shuttered numerous titles with one exception: Everquest. If Everquest weren't profitable it would have been gone along with the rest of those other former SOE games and Everquest Next has absolutely no bearing on that whatsoever.

Says you.

But you really don't have any information to back that up.

Correlation does not imply causation. But it is interesting. People don't typically sell off something that is bringing in substantial revenue.

If Daybreak felt they could continue to make money off of Everquest, more power to them.

But since Daybreak is a privately held company you are unlikely to find any information that would really paint a picture of their financial health.

I'm not sure I would ever have referred to Everquest as "going strong". It has a loyal fan base that forms a symbiotic relationship its kind of like an old mom and pop bakery. Its never going to make enough to grow, but the local community patronizes it enough to keep the lights on and for mom and pop to live comfortably.

[hexify]

You're dying in about 2-5 years from suicide.

Qft .

[Thetruth1400]

- Everquest and its first 18 expansions are completely free to play.
- Everquest has no monthly sub unless you want a little bonus.
- Everquest looks extremely dated.
- Everquest just piles things on top of their last expansions, they don't really take the time to spit and polish them.

- WoW isn't free; in fact each expansion is still pulling in near retail price for a full game.
- WoW has a sub.
- WoW has it's own art style, but it keeps up to a standard of expectation.
- WOW constantly modifies things, adding and getting rid of things that do / don't make sense and "polishes" their content.


So sure, WoW may never "die" per se, but it sure isn't going to live a great life either with less and less subs. When WoW isn't profitable to Blizzard, we will see it dip to Everquest levels of not really caring before the cost to keep it running eventually outweighs the revenue they bring in, at which point they'll close it down.

[corebit]

Even if WoW dwindled to several hundred thousand players after a decade or so, so fucking what? It's already one of the longer-lasting MMOs, and it may yet surpass EQ in longevity too.

With video games lasting barely months nowadays and the popularity of MMOs are on the decline, it's already a great achievement that WoW is still relevant in the gaming scene.

[prwraith]

everquest lore puts wow to shame, it sucks that a modern version never really took off :/

[Kakera]

Qft .

Yep. Rather true.

[Noomz]

Ever Quest has been out for 18 years and is still going strong. Their latest expansion is the 23rd in the series, and was released November 16, 2016.

Even if this game has a very niche playerbase, they continue to make content and release expansions for it.

Given this, what makes ANYONE think that WoW would EVER end?

WoW will continue to be expanded on for years and years to come. There is so much lore and so many things they can do to create new and refreshing content that im just surprised that anyone could actually believe that the game is dying or would end in the forseeable future.

But...WoW is dying? WoW is evil? Blizzard sucks?