Has Blizzard given up on customer retention?

[MechaCThun]

Most likely it was just Blizzard accumulating data over the course of "X" amount of years just to establish trends.

Many companies do this. It's not so much they care about your reason as much as they care if the same reason is being used for hundreds or thousands of un-subbing people in a short window of time, or even longer.

[Segus1992]

To be honest, it wasn't considered a good tool, I believe. I have my theory that hardly anyone used it for feedback.

Must be a fascinating theory. You must be some kind of epic level of genius to have such a 'theory'.

Also, "to be honest" followed by "I believe" makes no sense.

[Deleted]

I imagine they quit asking when it was clear that whatever feedback they were getting from that survey they offered at the end wasn't telling them anything useful.

For years now they've infrequently commented that what's important is that when people leave they know they are always welcome to come back.

Back when there used to be huge arguments about subscribers there was this hidden assumption that people were staying subscribed all the time. I never thought that was true and still don't. If anyone knows about this it's Blizzard and they've been very relaxed in public about the fact that people come and go.

Hazzikostas once made a remark about the cyclical nature of the game population. There was a lot of criticism of that (and sometimes still is) as some excuse for their failure. Yet the cyclical nature of the game population was a perfectly obvious fact starting in Cataclysm and going on thereafter. People subscribe when there's something new and leave soon thereafter when they've finished up with whatever interests them. It's inevitable that after some period of time this is going to happen with just about any game that has an extended life. But the longer things to the more predictable they get.

Subscription numbers climb and fall based more on how many new players are signing up than returnees. They could game that number a little (and did) by releasing patches ahead of quarterly measuring points but there was no real point to it then or now since their metrics have changed from something that no one else reported to a metric that nearly everyone reports. But that new-signup thing is largely over now. There's no upcoming flood of new gamers that are by nature going to pay $180 a year to play a game on their PC. So cycles and the obvious acknowledgement that people go. Undoubtedly Blizzard has a business plan that assumes X number of accounts signed up for 12 months, another number signed up for lesser periods of time and probably a very large number of accounts that return for new expansions and stay for a month or two. That would be smart business and certainly doesn't require that everyone fill out a survey when they take off.

So why bother to ask. I imagine that if they saw something as a business trend that they thought was highly unusual they would start it up again if for no other reason to get a sense of what their customers are thinking. But as long as the business has settled into being somewhat predictable why take a million surveys a year and collate data that they already know. That said, they probably do sample.

I must disagree about the cyclical nature, as I did in the forums when Ian said that back then. The issue is that the game became very focused on a DOTA style of playing instead of staying a true MMO to attract new customers. And that was its failure. It became so anti-social that it could not get its old people to stay (we lost our friends and guilds and it was a nightmare to start over) and it could not attract new people even the DOTA people or more. It tried to be more than it was, forgetting its roots.

I tried to let my wife play the game a little with a new sub. She played a retri paladin to level up and I started teaching her about healing to join me in Dungeons and TW. She was doing fine when I was tanking, being relaxed knowing we can overpower the game (she does not have heirlooms mind you), but when she was going alone without me, people were going too fast she just could not keep up and they started being too rude for her taste and eventually quit.

In the old days there was a little bit more patience. Every player, even a new one did matter because it was hard to assemble a new group without LFG. 50% of the time when you enter a LFG dungeon, when I say "please mind our healer she is a new player and she is still learning" the toxicity and the insults we get is unimaginable. And that 50% is more usually, I just do not want to be too dramatic about it.

The game suffers on its Multiplayer level. It has nothing to do with people getting on with their lives, getting married having children etc. I am one of those that I started in 2004 and here I am now, still wanting to play the game. But have you tried creating a new guild from scratch? Have you asked a friend that has no idea of the game to play? Can you even comprehend how hard it is to start anew at this game now, as it stands? There is no incentive like it used to be.

Sometime I only logged in to talk to my guildies or have fun in trade chat or even getting pre-mades for BGs. The pre-made tool is useful but it needs to be much more obvious in the interface and to be honest it should be the default option. So maybe some starters could take some initiative and ask for help without asking for 930+ ilvl for nighthold raid... But as it is now, why bother even.

Legion is great. So far I had fun. But socially the damage done from WoD garrisons is still there. I never seen so many people without guilds during an expansion before, and if myself I do not find a guild soon, then I will not have a reason to log-in until the next expansion or maybe another 3 years again like I did when I gave up in ToT, logged in for PTR beta testing on WoD and gave up.

In the end that survey does not serve any purpose. I believe the forums are better for people to express their "grief" before finally deciding to quit the game.

Apologies for the long reply.

[potis]

snip

But the problem you are talking about started because of people like your wife, yourself in his older years, friend A that has a kid, etc etc, hell even myself at the mood i am usually where -i do not have the time-.

Not insulting or blaming, my point is that LFG/LFR, any sort of LF is added for the convenience of people that no longer "Have the time".

Only problem is that it makes people that should never meet, meet up forcefully and you get that effect.

Most WoW problems started from the casuals and its affecting the casuals the most because there is forced interaction and nothing can be done about it.

Also, there was never patience, you just were not met with people very much "above" your playstyle.

Also, all the weird requirements is simply because people -can- request them.

People tend to forget usually at evening/nights there can be up to ~500k or even more players online at the same time on either US or EU.

WoW is far from dead, but because people believe "OMG, BLIZZARD ANNOUNCED SUBS ARE BETTER THAN WOD SO THEY MUST BE ABOVE 6MIL OR SO" that its somehow a small number, and "WoW is dead".

The pool of players is massive, hence the requirements can be retarded because of that.

WoW has reached a point were it became as it is because of all the requests of the majority, and then the minority of the majority that caused the problem, cry dear murder.

You either learn quickly and get better, or your blame others.

And i have seen people learning quickly and getting better with some push from others, (Friends GF, my own GF) in Legion, and i have seen others, older players from the guild i joined, quitting the game and blaming it, when they are at fault.

[Kazuchika]

Simple question:

I just cancelled my sub and there was no questions asked why. That's a first for me ever and I've been playing on and off since
2005. Anyone else have a similar experience?

Weird or good? What do you think?

Because just like us they don't care why.

[Zyky]

Nobody was "asking" actively. It was just a menue that popped up every time you started cancelling. Apparently they have removed this menue.

It has not been removed. There's 3 main factors when you're canceling your account: 1) Is it working hours for Customer Support, 2) How many times have canceled your sub, and 3) How long your account has been active this latest sub cycle. As somebody above mentioned if you sub and unsub frequently/often it doesn't pop up.

[Deleted]

But the problem you are talking about started because of people like your wife, yourself in his older years, friend A that has a kid, etc etc, hell even myself at the mood i am usually where -i do not have the time-.

Not insulting or blaming, my point is that LFG/LFR, any sort of LF is added for the convenience of people that no longer "Have the time".

Only problem is that it makes people that should never meet, meet up forcefully and you get that effect.

Most WoW problems started from the casuals and its affecting the casuals the most because there is forced interaction and nothing can be done about it.

Also, there was never patience, you just were not met with people very much "above" your playstyle.

Also, all the weird requirements is simply because people -can- request them.

People tend to forget usually at evening/nights there can be up to ~500k or even more players online at the same time on either US or EU.

WoW is far from dead, but because people believe "OMG, BLIZZARD ANNOUNCED SUBS ARE BETTER THAN WOD SO THEY MUST BE ABOVE 6MIL OR SO" that its somehow a small number, and "WoW is dead".

The pool of players is massive, hence the requirements can be retarded because of that.

WoW has reached a point were it became as it is because of all the requests of the majority, and then the minority of the majority that caused the problem, cry dear murder.

You either learn quickly and get better, or your blame others.

And i have seen people learning quickly and getting better with some push from others, (Friends GF, my own GF) in Legion, and i have seen others, older players from the guild i joined, quitting the game and blaming it, when they are at fault.

There was patience, especially in the pre-LFG days and pug-raids days. The reason, it was a nightmare to find a new dungeon group member or a raid-pug, especially when you were saved and locked in a raid with downed bosses...

I do not believe it is also the problem the "casuals" if you mean the beginners. Instead I believe the MOBA-style players thought that WoW is a HoTS 10+ player version, and this is where the game is at, atm. Even if those style of players try to go on a higher difficulty most of them they are the kind of staying on top of the damage meters, as long as the healers save their ass. And if they wipe the raid, it is the raid leaders fault.

My only point is, that the new people, the beginners, the starters are suffering. And that is the problem with WoW. Find friends and let them alone to play WoW, without your help. I do not think the time availability will be the real problem, but they will suffer from boredom, while leveling (there is absolutely no thrill or feel of danger) or when they use the casual dungeons/LFR they again overpower them most of the times and they think they done the game.

That survey was useless to recognize the root of the problem of how anti-social and solo-game this MMO has become.

[draynay]

Only one time did I get a response from Blizzard over a 'reason for leaving' survey, and that was because I put "Real ID" as my reason for cancelling. Unless there is some epidemic of cancellations for the same reason its just white noise to them.

[ablib]

Things that annoy me:

1. People who start threads with, "simple question" or " as the title says" or "title says it all".

2. People who think useless surveys are equated with customer retention.

3. This thread.

[mondoduece]

To be honest, it wasn't considered a good tool, I believe. I have my theory that hardly anyone used it for Constructive feedback.

fixt for you

[MrExcelion]

Every time I've cancelled my current sub there's been a field for the reason

[chazus]

I've worked in a few different customer retention programs for various companies. It's pretty known in the industry that retention questionnaires are usually not very useful. It's good data collection but nothing more. And often it's things that can't be implemented any time soon, further reducing it's relevance.

I've found that most often customer retention requires active engagement. Something like "Would you like a CS person to contact you in the next 5 minutes before you unsubscribe?"

Either just talking to someone, or offering some kind of retention bonus (Free month, free transfer, etc) would work, I imagine... But the cost/retention ratio might not be worth.

[xcitng]

When i canceled one of my 3 WoW license subscriptions last April or May, I immediately received a GM call-chat window. When i explained my reasons and stated i planned to cancel the other two as well, the GM offered to do it for me. Noted down my complaints and said he hoped i'd return. I never did and never will.

They probably think it's the mid expansion lull and people will return anyway. And some will for a month or two. Not me.

- - - Updated - - -



Wrong. Read above.

So you watch the forums of a game you'll never play again? interesting use of life I guess

[Kazuchika]

So you watch the forums of a game you'll never play again? interesting use of life I guess

I mean to be fair when you're a miserable human being probably with zero friends or family who can stand being around you it's all you have.

[Barnabas]

Simple question:

I just cancelled my sub and there was no questions asked why. That's a first for me ever and I've been playing on and off since
2005. Anyone else have a similar experience?

Weird or good? What do you think?

Because time spent is a superior metric to sub numbers? What matters today is how much and what quality of content is required to keep the time spent numbers high. They can care less if you enjoy it. They care if you play it or not. Plus many subscribers just pay for it with gold. So it's not exactly 15 per month for the buyer or seller anymore.

[ThePallyRanger]

They care enough that they actually have GMs message you at times when you cancel your subscription.
So no, you're wrong.

This actually happens?

[Sylvaeres]

Simple question:

I just cancelled my sub and there was no questions asked why. That's a first for me ever and I've been playing on and off since
2005. Anyone else have a similar experience?

Weird or good? What do you think?

You quit, and wonder why they're not pestering you? Hmmm

[Pull My Finger]

I guess they gave up on reading all the bullshit and tragic personal stories people write into those comment boxes.
Looking at the many personal blog posts on this site, I woulnd't know what to make out of their frustrations and quitting reasons either. It's random dumb shit.

[Sylvaeres]

When i canceled one of my 3 WoW license subscriptions last April or May, I immediately received a GM call-chat window. When i explained my reasons and stated i planned to cancel the other two as well, the GM offered to do it for me. Noted down my complaints and said he hoped i'd return. I never did and never will.

They probably think it's the mid expansion lull and people will return anyway. And some will for a month or two. Not me.

- - - Updated - - -



Wrong. Read above.

yet here you are, on a wow forum, hanging around like a bitter ex girlfriend

[Deleted]

Simple question:

I just cancelled my sub and there was no questions asked why. That's a first for me ever and I've been playing on and off since
2005. Anyone else have a similar experience?

Weird or good? What do you think?

I cancelled recently and got shuffled through the exit poll and the "talk to a GM"-button (you can bypass that though).
*shrug*