WoW subscription numbers

[Deleted]

No one cares if all the baddies are quitting. If anything I am sure sub numbers went up as its getting more and more popular in the east.

[Fluttershy]

Honestly, one thing that baffeles me is that, say my druid is about 25k world achivement ranked according to worldofprogress, witch should be pretty accurate considering any people with 15k achivements or more have for sure raided inn w/e guild and got ranked at some point etc.

So only 25k more players than me out of 10 damn millions, got more points than me? Dont tell me that the most addictive MMO, with the largest playerbase only got like 50k players with any real ammount of achivement points.

Also, taking a look at atleast EU realms are sad. If I was inn charge Id merge/close down about 70-80% of all servers, barely any high pop imo.

Blizz merging servers(as much as they should) would give insane negative press

>wow is dying!
>server merge!
>it's over, wildstar will kill wow!

They'd rather make technology to allow ghost town servers to play with people, with CRZ/LFR/cross realm rated BG/etc. Now it's a question of potential income vs people quitting if they actually allow cross realm raiding of current content and arena.

[Ayonel]

The economy excuse is old. Wrath of the Lich King was released on November 13, 2008 the economy was the worst in 2008 and 2009 but blizzard had RECORD SUBS.

That isn't exactly correct, and doesn't make the point less valid. At the end of 2008, the financial crisis was starting, but most people hadn't felt the effects yet. In 2009, the economy was pretty bad, but if you hadn't lost your job, again, you were still okay. Four years later, many people are still out of work. Bonuses are down, salaries are down, and the economic indicators showing improvement largely don't reflect increased wealth, just the need to spend based on pent up demand.

If anything, discretionary income is lower now than it was back then, when people had no idea how bad things would get.

[Beefhammer]

Can someone in this thread who uses logic and actually not "lol i hate Blizzard" idealism or "lol Blizzard is always right" logic explain to me why Sub numbers matter so much if in no way they affect how you play or why you play.

Seriously.

Someone, please explain it to me.

They don't matter at all. Haters believe it means the nail in the coffin if they drop. Paranoid believers think it brings them relevance if they go up.

---------- Post added 2012-12-18 at 12:41 PM ----------

Less subs = less money and could very easy lead to less content and less development.

Also a decline in subs would usually be followed by in game changes to keep subs for declining

Not true. As subs fell revenues and profits went up. In general it makes sense to think that. Hell with 2M less subs I would think that but their revenues and profits still go up. Part of the reason for that is the ban waves of Asian accounts and the Asian markets are the ones that have seen the biggest decline in subs. They also py by the hour and generate the lowest amount of revenue out of any region WoW is in.

---------- Post added 2012-12-18 at 12:46 PM ----------

Hey now. Throwing this at someone isn't really fair. The person you are bitching at said they don't like what MoP has to offer. Implying that their dislike isn't correct because they haven't gone out and done absolutely everything available is just awful.

It's really a dick move to throw this at people who say they don't like the content. They don't have to prove anything to you. A first impression is all that is needed to make a determination.

Sure, those of us who enjoy the game would hope that a person, who says they don't like the content, would have at least tried it. However, calling them out for not trying it and yet making a judgement (that only affects them) is pathetic.

Boil it down here people... It's not that hard. There are always going to be people who don't like WoW and want it to go away. There are always going to be people who love WoW no matter what it is. What anyone thinks about the game has NO, I repeat NO bearing on your enjoyment, or lack thereof, of WoW. It's funny, the longer these kinds of threads go, the more people devolve into babbling piles of goo. This applies to both sides of the argument.

If you enjoy the game, cool... go enjoy the game. If you hate the game, cool... continue to hate the game. If someone says "SUB NUMBERS SUCK!!! WOW WILL DIE!" okay fine. You don't need to try to tell them they are wrong. Let Blizzard's numbers do that for you. On the other side of that coin. If someone comes in and defends Blizzard, cool. Let it happen. There is no need for the community to go full on stupid over something as trivial as sub numbers.

No but it helps us to understand what this person actually has a beef with or if this person is just making claims to fit his argument. If a person dislikes MoP but offers no reason, one can assume many things including that he is just saying that for no rime or reason. However if he has examples of what he dislikes others can empathize and not think hes just full of it.

[Ayonel]

That is a misnomer. The economy has grown each month over the last 20 months, Unemployment is at a 5 year low. Business profits are higher than they ever have been. Some areas my be slower to see these improvements but overall the people and the economy are doing much much better than during Cata when that excuse was being tossed around like salad.

You need to look into the numbers more. You portray the growth as if this means the economy is good, but 2% is effectively 0 growth if inflation is higher. With respect to unemployment, the rate isn't down because more people are working, it's down because people have stopped looking for work.

When the unemployment rate is down, and it is mostly due to people leaving the job market, not because new jobs are created, that isn't cause for celebration.

Currently, I'm having a hard time reconciling the numbers that show the economy improving with what I see around me. The job market is moribund, salary guidance is down significantly for the 4th year in a row, and most of the people I know are continuing to hunker down, because their outlook isnt great. This could certainly be an outlier.

[Navitas]

The economy is still bad because everyone's her arguing about subs when they should be working! :P

[Drungan]

find me a far cry 3 sale please <3

You should pay attention to steam december 20 to jan. 7.

[ripponesan]

Why should anyone who is not a shareholder of blizzard be interested in the sub number?

[Anjerith]

Their numbers haven't changed since they announced they were back up to 10-11 million (can't recall which it was) per the last A-B quarterly update.


As for not posting it recently, sadly Financial Quarters only occur at preset intervals during the year - you can't summon accurate fiscal reports on a whim.

[Deleted]

If you ask me, there is like 6 million players active. (3mio from EU and US, and 3mio from Asia).
Not even close to 10 millions.

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

If you ask me, there is like 6 million players active. (3mio from EU and US, and 3mio from Asia).
Not even close to 10 millions.

May I ask where is your source for this? Or are you just hoping the numbers are like this?

[mosely]

Pray tell me, what evidence do you have that "indications point to another fall in subs"? Please don't use any anecdotal evidence like "my friends stopped playing"

Excuse me, but what is wrong with discussing anecdotal evidence? His claim was that "indications point to" sub decline. This is not a wild and unsupportable claim. Many people feel as though their server populations are thinning out. Sub decline is not a phenomena that needs to be proven in order for people to feel its effects.

Compare the original claim to something along the lines of "Mope caused an increase in subscription numbers, beyond the initial influx at expansion release." That would be a startling fact if shown to be true. If you make a claim that runs counter to public opinion, you'd better believe that your reasoning will be challenged. Or if you claim that "Mope drove away veterans and replaced them with kids by luring them in with karate pandas and pokemon." There's no real evidence to support the claim that the population demographics are changing, and Blizzard is not likely to ever release that kind of information. Any discussion on that topic is unsupportable and clearly meant to be inflammatory.

Also note that anecdotal evidence such as "Mope is great, I have so many fun things to do" never comes under attack by moderators.

[tibe]

Or you know they could just actually be listening to their playerbase. But of course the evil masterminds at Blizzard would never do something like that. Well that is according to the people who bitch and moan the loudest here.

You'd think they'd have done something to make reputation grinding more alt-friendly by now, according to your logic.

See what I did there?

Look at it this way: your girlfriend/boyfriend asks you to bring out the trash every week and you never listen. On the other hand, you know he/she will never dump you for something so frivolous. Would you magically start bringing out the trash one day, because you feel it's the right thing to do?

When money's involved, the stakes are even higher; why invest time/effort ergo money into changing a system that people might not like, but you know they will abide to regardless because of that inherent spirit of competition living inside all of us.

Granted, some have adopted the "fuck you" attitude towards doing dailies from the get-go, but I believe those people are a minority.

[Deleted]

The real question is....who gives a shit?

Why do you care what the subscription numbers are? Are you going to quit if 'only' 9 million people are playing? Are you going to resub if it's 10 million?

I don't understand the point of these threads outside of trolling / flamewars.

Unless the decline is INSANE like if they went down to 5 million subs over a few months I don't see how this information is important or even wanted. Even if a million people quit I guarantee you, you would maybe know like 2 of them.

Can't believe it took to the end of page 4 for someone to say this.

Really...

If you like playing play, if you don't like playing don't.

Posts like these just start fanboi v hater flame wars.

[mosely]

Granted, some have adopted the "fuck you" attitude towards doing dailies from the get-go, but I believe those people are a minority.

I've actively avoided all daily quest content since TBC. Only since September 25, 2012 has this posed any problem.

[Ryme]

Can't believe it took to the end of page 4 for someone to say this.

Really...

If you like playing play, if you don't like playing don't.

Posts like these just start fanboi v hater flame wars.

Some people care about how well their game of choice, or any game, really, is doing. Let them discuss it, report flame wars and discussion is fine.

[Darsithis]

My point is Ferrari never has a sale because they are so good people will buy them regardless or whether or not it's on sale. Saying MoP is on sale because it's doing well is the opposite.

That's ridiculous. Ferrai is a luxury car maker that specializes in the top-of-the-line, limited-edition cars. To own one is prestige. A sale is something that could never be useful to them because they're outside of the price range of 95% of the world.

World of Warcraft is something you can't even come close to comparing. Your point is invalid and moot.

You want evidence? How 'bout the fact the game is 8 years old and for the past 4 years has had a trend of spiking on major content release, then declining gradually during dry period, like right now.

You don't need evidence for something that can be explained with common sense. If blizzard was still noticeably gaining subs we'd hear about it because it's something you WANT people to know, it's a sign of success that the new content as a whole is bringing tons more players into the game.

That would be the outlier. The game playerbase declining when new content hasn't been added within the month is just normal and expected.

You wouldn't hear it. You wouldn't hear a thing until the numbers are released! No one knows yet. We don't know if they've gained and we don't know if they lost.

I'm all for trying to guess (probably lost) but I hate it when people try to pass off their guesses as absolute fact that can't be verified.

[Racia]

What are you talking about? In my guild, I've seen only one player quit the game, and it's not because he was unhappy with it, it's because he got a job.

LOL, quit because he got a job. How do people play this game if you cant have a job and play wow at the same time.

OT: I personally think its declining, i had to transfer away from the server i was on simply because it was dead. Another thing i've noticed is that chats have gone way quiet, when i do bg's or LFR etc. people hardly every write in chat. I know most probably is in voice chats or like, but im convinced that the number is declining, also because MoP have very little to offer besides daily quest grind, when thats over there's little to do.

[Cybran]

The game is under 9 million subscribers by now. There are plenty of hints pointing in that direction and we all know that:

http://i.redsnapperverytasty.com/gra...plete-data.jpg

[Darsithis]

Excuse me, but what is wrong with discussing anecdotal evidence? His claim was that "indications point to" sub decline. This is not a wild and unsupportable claim. Many people feel as though their server populations are thinning out. Sub decline is not a phenomena that needs to be proven in order for people to feel its effects.

Compare the original claim to something along the lines of "Mope caused an increase in subscription numbers, beyond the initial influx at expansion release." That would be a startling fact if shown to be true. If you make a claim that runs counter to public opinion, you'd better believe that your reasoning will be challenged. Or if you claim that "Mope drove away veterans and replaced them with kids by luring them in with karate pandas and pokemon." There's no real evidence to support the claim that the population demographics are changing, and Blizzard is not likely to ever release that kind of information. Any discussion on that topic is unsupportable and clearly meant to be inflammatory.

Also note that anecdotal evidence such as "Mope is great, I have so many fun things to do" never comes under attack by moderators.

Nothing is wrong with anecdotal evidence, except in my experience people like to throw out that experience as fact. You can't argue fake facts.