February 7: Blizzard Conference Call

[Enosh]

so ???
hmm down from last years ????

:P

edit: in case anyone doesn't get it, referring to the placeholder thread/news article thingy for this topic on mmo-c

[Nerraw]

HOWEVER, they did accomplish in making epics certainly feel Epic again for me, personally.

Indeed they did. I was fine with them too in general. The problem stemmed from the absolute lack of alternatives. If you weren't good enough for the dungeons, you simply didn't have anything to do. And as always, the lack of things to do made a lot of people leave.

[papaz]

I predict a small decline. MoP got some good reviews and Blizzard has been fast with patches this time around.

But there is still going to be a decline. Maybe right below 10 mill.

[But I Hate You All]

Where can i listen to the conference call?

http://investor.activision.com/events.cfm

[Leonard McCoy]

Indeed they did. I was fine with them too in general. The problem stemmed from the absolute lack of alternatives. If you weren't good enough for the dungeons, you simply didn't have anything to do. And as always, the lack of things to do made a lot of people leave.

Untrue and furthermore if you can't do the dungeons you probably aren't raiding anyway so why do you need the gear? Like I get told by people all the time if I'm not raiding I don't need the fuckign dialy gear. Their was LOTS you could hjave don in cataclysm you just weren't compelled or chose not to. Theirs a list of dailies a mile long you could have done in cataclysm.

[Mawnix]

I predict a small decline. MoP got some good reviews and Blizzard has been fast with patches this time around.

But there is still going to be a decline. Maybe right below 10 mill.

Actually someone posted numbers between expansions and everything, and Mists is currently the fastest patched and expansion out for Blizz.

I'm happy they're doing a fantastic job so far with this expansion.

[RoKPaNda]

They were for people who had never experienced anything other than the Wrath dungeons.

This sums it up. Cata instances were hard for people that started in Wrath. People who did 5-mans in Vanilla or Heroic 5-mans in TBC probably didn't find them hard. I know I didn't. I was actually a little disappointed because I was expecting Heroic Mana Tombs or Blood Furnace and instead I got Heroic Underbog. =) (For the people who started during WLK, what I mean to say is, Cata heroics were about on par with the easiest of BC heroics.)

Similarly when I first stepped into a BC heroic I was a little underwhelmed because it was about the same difficulty of one of the vanilla 5 mans (after the vanilla 5 mans had been nerfed) but much shorter.

Times change though, and so do people's tastes. While I miss the old instances that took an hour (A 45-minute run through Stratholme was actually an objective for an epic item, and a lot of groups couldn't accomplish it until they overgeared it.) I do appreciate the faster runs of modern WoW.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Just a word for all:

Do not turn this into a CRZ thread.

While I don't have a problem with someone mentioning it as a possible reason for good or bad results the very last thing I want to see in this thread is all of the complaints and benefits re-litigated again. There are other threads for that where you can yell at one another about it to your heart's content (within the forum rules of course). This isn't one of them.

Personally I would lock this thread as soon as the numbers are out. Because there's going to be a flood of threads at that point regarding what caused the rise/drop, and pointing them all to this old thread will probably just inflame what will be a volatile situation.

[Mawnix]

Untrue and furthermore if you can't do the dungeons you probably aren't raiding anyway so why do you need the gear? Like I get told by people all the time if I'm not raiding I don't need the fuckign dialy gear. Their was LOTS you could hjave don in cataclysm you just weren't compelled or chose not to. Theirs a list of dailies a mile long you could have done in cataclysm.

Name what you could do in Cata aside from Raid, Dungeons, BGs, level Arch/Professions, and dailies for the 2 factions that had them.

[Leonard McCoy]

Correction, you don't want dailies as content, and if your in a raiding guild you're probably surrounded by people who share the same opinion as you. However, there are far more players who don't raid then do, though it's getting closer with LFR "raiding" and guess what, they don't want raids as content they want fun engaging and rewarding dailies which Sheildwall hit perfectly. IT's funny while I've kept my main in raiding guilds I've always had alts in casual guilds to hang out with RL friends and people I've met in game and enjoy doing dumb stuff with. Guess which guilds are by far bigger.

Actually my raiding guild fell apart in MoP. Their are far more players who want progression but they don't want dailies as progression. They wanted DUNGEONS, not hard heroics but heroics they could farm like in Wrath. NOT FUCKING DAILIES. Why? BECAUSE DAILIES LIMIT THEIR FUCKING PROGRESS TO ALMOST NOTHING.

[Arbs]

Actually someone posted numbers between expansions and everything, and Mists is currently the fastest patched and expansion out for Blizz.

I'm happy they're doing a fantastic job so far with this expansion.

As am I & agree with you

[Leonard McCoy]

Name what you could do in Cata aside from Raid, Dungeons, BGs, level Arch/Professions, and dailies for the 2 factions that had them.

Why only 2 factions? Did you have EVERY DAILY FACTION MAXED OUT? Go ahead and look at your list. Let me see how many your exalted with. I'll wait right here.

[Mawnix]

Actually my raiding guild fell apart in MoP. Their are far more players who want progression but they don't want dailies as progression. They wanted DUNGEONS, not hard heroics but heroics they could farm like in Wrath. NOT FUCKING DAILIES. Why? BECAUSE DAILIES LIMIT THEIR FUCKING PROGRESS TO ALMOST NOTHING.

..Christ man calm down. It's just a friendly debate. No need to rage about dailies. 0_o

[hyphnos]

Correction, you don't want dailies as content, and if your in a raiding guild you're probably surrounded by people who share the same opinion as you. However, there are far more players who don't raid then do, though it's getting closer with LFR "raiding" and guess what, they don't want raids as content they want fun engaging and rewarding dailies which Sheildwall hit perfectly. IT's funny while I've kept my main in raiding guilds I've always had alts in casual guilds to hang out with RL friends and people I've met in game and enjoy doing dumb stuff with. Guess which guilds are by far bigger.

So you're shocked that raiding guilds, which are put together to do content requiring either 10 or 25 people are smaller than casual guilds that invite any and everyone because they don't have structural limits on how many can participate?

I despise raiding and every bit of development time that goes into it, but that doesn't mean I find dailies "engaging" at all. I am all for having dailies in the game for people who prefer a means of progressing outside group required content, but at the same time, I don't agree with making them a secondary gate for gear bought with currency earned in a variety of content types and certainly think putting bonus rolls for RAIDS on them is just plain stupid.

You should agree since lesser charms are useless to anyone who doesn't do raiding in any form.

On topic: i expect them to have lost NA/EU subs and probably gloss it over with their december handout and chinese sub numbers. They won't have a better quarter in Mists so even if they hold the Sept numbers, they won't going forward.

[Mawnix]

Why only 2 factions? Did you have EVERY DAILY FACTION MAXED OUT? Go ahead and look at your list. Let me see how many your exalted with. I'll wait right here.

I have Golden Lotus, Klaxxi, Dominance Offensive (really liked this one), Cloud Serpents, and I think that's it.

For Cata I just did the factions I needed the Shoulder or Head enchants from.

I would do Dailies whenever I'd feel like it in Cata AND Mists cuz Im in no rush to get to Exalted.

If I felt like doing them for some extra gold and something else to do aside from everything else, I'd do them.

If not, I didn't.

I didn't feel like I wasn't meeting my maximum potential by not doing them.

[Leonard McCoy]

..Christ man calm down. It's just a friendly debate. No need to rage about dailies. 0_o

I'm tired of these arguments though. Even the developers have abandoned dailies. Look at that in 5l.2 you get REP IN DUNGEONS and still I have clods telling me that hey man everyone wants dailies. The writing is on the fuckign wall. I'm not saying they should have dailies, by all fucking means go ahead. It's just frustrating to have people tell you your wrong, suck it up accept dailies. It's the same shit that happened in cataclysm to and instead of listening the developers have players to hide behind. It's fucking frustrating, I wanted to like mists honest.

[Deleted]

I predict a small decline. MoP got some good reviews and Blizzard has been fast with patches this time around.

But there is still going to be a decline. Maybe right below 10 mill.

I think this is the most honest and common sense reply to this thread.

Ill bet my house that it hasnt gone up. I mean how many people do u know who have started to play Wow within the past 6months (new subs) and how many do u know who have stopped playing (lost subs)?

That acid test alone should prove the true situation to the blinkered.

the only way possible to make Wow subs go up is if the Asian market has expanded. The only press releases from Asia show its been in decline as the Asians go back to their favs of Aion etc. (Aions latest 'big thing' addition has been player housing btw, and thats pulled players back)

[Leonard McCoy]

I have Golden Lotus, Klaxxi, Dominance Offensive (really liked this one), Cloud Serpents, and I think that's it.

For Cata I just did the factions I needed the Shoulder or Head enchants from.

I would do Dailies whenever I'd feel like it in Cata AND Mists cuz Im in no rush to get to Exalted.

If I felt like doing them for some extra gold and something else to do aside from everything else, I'd do them.

If not, I didn't.

I didn't feel like I wasn't meeting my maximum potential by not doing them.

So in cata you only did those two factions? What about going back for those other factions? Like the old school wrath and tbc factions? I mean is the only thing you consider CONTENT stuff that gives you some potential advantage.

[Alewen]

No Ghostcrawler doesn't need to be fired. Calling for someone to be fired is low. He did go with a fresh start. He started in Wrath and things went up hill. Just because you don't like him and his answers doesn't mean who you quoted is right. Blizzard is far from perfect but they aren't horrible.

Yeah I'm not calling for him to be fired. I think just a re-thinking of his ideology is in order. I am just hoping if the subscriptions are down, as I believe they will be, that he will start actually listening to the community a bit more.

My prediction:

Lost 2million

Reasons:

-CRZ, dallies caused quits
- General Polarazation of player base
- Weak Xpac sales out the gate
- Worldwide launch (a first) no asian bounce at 1st quarter bounce
- Yearly passes are up
- Lack of posts on official/unofficial forums meaning players gave up complaining

Hell, im just hoping the dividends are up on the stock i own.....

My theory isn't going to be that high. My estimate is MoP sales will be good. But subscriptions took a significant dip, mostly due to dailies and the stance on CRZ. I been a long time supporter of Blizzard up until recently with some of their decisions. So the only reason I am hoping for a drop in subs, is so that they can reverse gears and return to a state they were before now. I don't want WoW to die, nor do I wish to see anyone fired. But I think a shift in direction is required.

Just a word for all:

Do not turn this into a CRZ thread.

While I don't have a problem with someone mentioning it as a possible reason for good or bad results the very last thing I want to see in this thread is all of the complaints and benefits re-litigated again. There are other threads for that where you can yell at one another about it to your heart's content (within the forum rules of course). This isn't one of them.

Yes sir, no problem.

[Mawnix]

I'm tired of these arguments though. Even the developers have abandoned dailies. Look at that in 5l.2 you get REP IN DUNGEONS and still I have clods telling me that hey man everyone wants dailies. The writing is on the fuckign wall. I'm not saying they should have dailies, by all fucking means go ahead. It's just frustrating to have people tell you your wrong, suck it up accept dailies. It's the same shit that happened in cataclysm to and instead of listening the developers have players to hide behind. It's fucking frustrating, I wanted to like mists honest.

Then stop arguing it. I've seen you do this dance 100 times over and it's not changing anything.

You can't move nor talk to a brick wall.

I have barely done my dailies. I just got to exalted with Golden Lotus.

I personally just find it's not that big a deal.

It has no impact on my raiding ability, nor do i REEEEALLLYYYYY need the Valor Gear.