WoW Down to 8.3 Million Subscribers

Maybe they only have Cataclysm released in East ? That would explain it. Anyway ... I like what Blizz has done with WoW in MoP, so this is surprising.

Sad news indeed.

There has been less engagement by casual players.

Constant DAILY rep grinds.
Frustrating drop rates from LFR.

Sorry but giving a casual player that, by definition doesn't play on a schedule, DAILIES is just retarded beyond belief.
I have a casual friend. He sometimes plays 8hrs on a Saturday and then he doesn't do a thing for 2 weeks. He'd like to make progress in MoP but all he sees are friggin dailies he can do ... once .. per Saturday. Back in the day he would have put on a tabard and grinded dungeons like madman when he had the time.
Now, it'll take him the better part of a year to get even ONE faction to exalted

He ran a few LFRs and was severely frustrated by the constant gold bag + the knowledge that his chances for loot didn't even improve for the next time around. He literally said to me: "LFR is boring as a healer and with that terrible drop rate it just feels like I'm wasting my game time."

So, witnessing the effect of MoP on him I'm not surprised in the very least that lots of casuals just surrendered to the daily brick wall.

Originally Posted by Tommo

Does this mean they will finally merge servers so that World of No players within a 5000yard radius-craft will feel like an actual MMO ?

Nope.. Because the West & Euro isn't loosing number fast enough.. In peak times check how much medium and full servers there are, it outnumbers those that aren't medium or full... What they should do is address server in balance but i think that's too much work at this point with faction change etc..

My honest opinion? This bullshit doesn't need to be posted on the front page of MMO-Champion, one of the largest fansites of WoW ever. I mean, I understand some people are interested in how subs are doing, but all this really does is discourage the playerbase into thinking WoW is sinking or is in a terrible state, which it's NOT. MoP has been leaps and bounds better than Cataclysm is every single way it possibly could. This isn't gonna be another doomsday expansion, but anyone browsing your website sure would think otherwise.

Stop posting the subs on the front page!

old game, surprising it has held this many as long as it has, with the short attention span of most gamers.

Originally Posted by Leitka

Do not mistake 'global economy' for 'american economy.'

The global economy was affected by the drop in the American economy with aftershock effects felt globally *following* the American crash. Those aftershocks are still in effect, though there is improvement in certain locations. We're still in recovery-mode at the end of the day, economically.

Get your facts straight before you start bashing other people about their knowledge of the 'economy'

The U.S. economy was largely unaffected by what was and is currently going on around the world. The effects were reversed, and when it finally hit the U.S. it just made things that much worse for the world economy.

Because the U.S. tends to be more isolationist than most people care to admit what happens in the world effects us differently, but this day and age there really isn't such thing as separate economies anymore its just one world economy and its garbage right now.

Originally Posted by Servasus

My honest opinion? This bullshit doesn't need to be posted on the front page of MMO-Champion, one of the largest fansites of WoW ever. I mean, I understand some people are interested in how subs are doing, but all this really does is discourage the playerbase into thinking WoW is sinking or is in a terrible state, which it's NOT. MoP has been leaps and bounds better than Cataclysm is every single way it possibly could. This isn't gonna be another doomsday expansion, but anyone browsing your website sure would think otherwise.

Stop posting the subs on the front page!

I would agree to this, mainly because this isn't the sort of data the average player is equipped to properly interpret, and it snowballs very quickly.
It's important information, but it's not important information for speculation.

Originally Posted by mjolnir1122

Theres one huge point that I think all of the "WoW is too ez modes now" groupies are missing.

One of the main reasons I hear people have quit is because "Theres too many dailies!" or "It takes too long to hit 90!". Bullshit. Compared to Cata, they really raised the bar on difficulty. Regardless if you think dailies are boring, or if there are just too many of them, the point is you actually have to put in the work to get the reward. Don't hide behind the facade of it's not hard enough when the truth is you just don't want to put in the effort, you want everything to be handed to you like it was in Cata. Look at the special quest mobs too, you can't just walk in there and kill them anymore, for some you need to actually pop CD's and avoid certain mechanics. You can't just fly from one spot to another and avoid any possible danger on the way there.

I'm so tired of people pinning the blame on blizzard when they just gave you exactly what you all asked for. It may not have been in the way you were all used to, but the fact is that the challenge is there, you've just gotten so used to shit being so ridiculously easy that you don't want to admit it.

I know people who actually did quit because of dailies. Blizzard vastly underestimated the number of people who play this game and really dislike dailies...

a couple of those people already came back for 5.2, since dailies are no longer "required", but some are still off playing other games.

Originally Posted by Repefe

Maybe they only have Cataclysm released in East ? That would explain it. Anyway ... I like what Blizz has done with WoW in MoP, so this is surprising.

Not surprising when the Asian market has more f2p games releasing each month, plus those f2p games are starting to increase in quality.. What surprising is that this didn't happen sooner...

Originally Posted by Sky High Shark

which I'm fine with on both. I don't give a shit about Chinese dropping en mass. nor do I much care for the people who don't have the time/patience to grind to get the gear they want. if you want instant mindless satisfaction they have mobil games for that. and if you don't have the time sorry, but you have to deal with either less then stellar gear or just walk away.

Ok.. I get it.. instant mindless satisfaction... or... long mindless grind... gooood choice

Originally Posted by jazen

old game, surprising it has held this many as long as it has, with the short attention span of most gamers.

Finally someone gets it...

Originally Posted by Bilbo Baggins

Get your facts straight before you start bashing other people about their knowledge of the 'economy'

The U.S. economy was largely unaffected by what was and is currently going on around the world. The effects were reversed, and when it finally hit the U.S. it just made things that much worse for the world economy.

Because the U.S. tends to be more isolationist than most people care to admit what happens in the world effects us differently, but this day and age there really isn't such thing as separate economies anymore its just one world economy and its garbage right now.

I like how your closing sentiment completely echoed my original post, along with partially invalidating the initial sentiment of your own post in a marvelous display of doublespeak for rhetorical effect. Perhaps you should learn to contextualize the arguments you read.

Also? I've not bashed anyone to any degree, although your own tone is certainly rather inflammatory. I've been quite cordial in this thread, with this particular post being the most inflammatory; and it's quite tame.

Originally Posted by Caylis

Ok.. I get it.. instant mindless satisfaction... or... long mindless grind... gooood choice

way to take it to one end or the other. there needs to be a middle ground. gear should not fall from the sky nor should it take months to get ONE piece of gear. but since you seem to know what the answer is, tell it.

Originally Posted by Buck-Shot

Finally someone gets it...

i'm not sure how this even works. he's talking about long term short attention spans?

Originally Posted by jazen

old game, surprising it has held this many as long as it has, with the short attention span of most gamers.

"Lack of will to commit" would be a better word, but yes, that's the root of the problem.

Well, I knew the game was bleeding subs, but god, that many subs and not too long ago 5.2 released.

Merge servers and/or lower the monthly cost and I guarantee people will come back. Oh, and reduce the price on server transfers.

my impression is that Blizzard tried to make the game more accessible to casual players... obviously in doing that and the changes to the way wow is played is having the opposite affect in that it seems to be driving casual players further away... obviously there are other factors as well

Originally Posted by mimee

Of course they are losing subs..

1 hour long queues for LFR.
1 hour wasted killing bosses and all you get is bag of gold. *rinse - repeat next week same results*
Everything having a horrible drop rate... SPecially mounts.

pretty much this. 'casuals' don't wanna spebd monthas farming for that mount they think looks cool, nor to spends hpurs on queue to experience the latest LFR content. Therefore, 'casuals' havent engaged that much in this expansion.

I honestly though they'd loose more, i myself have been very unhappy with MoP since it was released, having quit for a good 2 months shortly after MoP's release, now i've done everything there is to do at my skill level, from dailies to raid finder...there's literally nothing for me to do and the stuff that i have done is shallow and rarther boring...infact 5.1 is the only patch i've even half-liked so far.