Interest in WoW declining over time - Google Trends

[Dald]

Muhfuckas always trying to sow discord

[Phookah]

https://trends.google.co.uk/trends/e...=all&q=WoWhead
https://trends.google.co.uk/trends/e...q=MMO-Champion

There you go. Same decline. A certain % of players googles WoW-related content. If number of those people drops, it means the number of players in total is also dropping.

Except it doesn't. I don't think I've googled anything for wow in a decade, since Thotbot and crap was standard. I just know what sites to go to now and do so.

You should probably understand how web traffic works before trying to start a discussion based on it.

[McNeil]

I just use common sense to know whether WoW is declining or not. I don't need a vague google search to know its declining, just taking in some factors like its age and popularity in the current era.

[Pronto787]

Do you think Blizzard keep making WoW for the remaining playerbase or focus on a WoW 2 project to get to those crazy high sub numbers again?

I really think people who think there will be a WoW 2 are completely delusional. There will NEVER be a WoW 2 and I can confidently say that because they couldn't even finish titan. They would have nothing to go off of and they are already trying to design new story content as they go. WoW will die and they will move on simple as that. MMOs are way too costly and time consuming to create and it immediately flop. It just makes me laugh hearing people suggest WoW 2 like it will save the genre when we would be right back to square one.

[yoma]

False equivalency. Just because people aren't googling "warcraft" as much means nothing compared to the the games popularity or subs. It means, if anything, people have become more familiar and it's more of a common term. Not to mention most people already know how to find info about the game via more direct means, like visiting battle.net or wowhead or mmo-champ.

[tyrlaan]

So what's the quota for posts signaling the end of WoW? Are we really behind to hit that number or something?

[Darsithis]

People who deny that WoW is hemorrhaging subs like crazy right now probably aren't even subscribed.

I am subscribed

A few hours spent doing group content reveal the extent to which the subscription have dropped. Dungeon, BG queues are going up. Takes hours to find partners for arena. Barely anyone doing anything outside of M+ and normal / heroic Antorus farming. Recruiting on most realms is plain impossible. But of course there will always be people that think there's still 12 mil subs.

This is a real cause for concern because the game is still being designed like it has a lot of subs. It doesn't.

I haven't seen this. Granted, I don't recruit, and thanks to work I can no longer raid, but when I am playing I have no issue finding groups. The wait time seems no different than it ever did, from when I started playing 8 years ago to today. It takes 5 to 10 mins for a DPS, nearly instant for a tank or healer for most content.

There will be times when this varies, of course, people tend to sleep at night and work during the day during the week, but it sounds like you're taking some bad personal experiences and trying to correlate that with...nothing...to make a specious statement with no evidence to back it up.

[OreoLover]

Do you think Blizzard keep making WoW for the remaining playerbase or focus on a WoW 2 project to get to those crazy high sub numbers again?

I think Blizzard is focused elsewhere entirely, with the former for years to come, and the latter...maybe eventually. More likely something a little different, again? Seems far off.

[Varvara Spiros Gelashvili]

Even WoW 2 won't save it.

MMOs in general are a dying breed. There hasn't been any new innovations in a long time - People try, but they just don't catch anyone's attention anymore.

WoW gets it's sub boost every time a new expansion comes out, because people hope that it'll be better this time, but it's just the same old grind. It will eventually die, but it will die simply out of age moreso than any changes made to the game.

Innovation isn't always necessary wow is an example of that it pretty much every way possible. The last of us one was successful and changed nothing about it's genre whatsoever. If you want to be successful make a good game and have good marketing that's it.

[Anufis]

Here is more statistics. WoW is in the top 10 games on twitch by viewer count, and who wants to watch like some dude plays wow?

[Lorgar Aurelian]

why google the game when i could be playing it?

[Varvara Spiros Gelashvili]

Here is more statistics. WoW is in the top 10 games on twitch by viewer count, and who wants to watch like some dude plays wow?

I use to watch pvp streamers because a good player can push there class to the limit and show you new things. It's probably the same for pve.

Pros and even amateur athletes in other sports watch other peoples games to learn from them are catch mistakes. Why does this suddenly change for video games to the point of being used as an insult.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

https://trends.google.co.uk/trends/e...=all&q=WoWhead
https://trends.google.co.uk/trends/e...q=MMO-Champion

There you go. Same decline. A certain % of players googles WoW-related content. If number of those people drops, it means the number of players in total is also dropping.

it doesn't work that way.

[Killeyedascope]

I think that WoD damaged the game more than many want to admit. Or maybe it just speeeded up an already ongoing process

Correct. MoP started the process by the amount of damage that did. Two filler/bad xpacks in a row damaged the brand. Legion was great, but so much of WoW is really outdated and I very much believe that the core of the game needs to be modernized in some way.

[Deleted]

LoL i'm rofling at the people claiming that everyone has bookmarks for WoWhead and MMO-C
That is such a poor excuse of a save its funny

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it doesn't work that way.

How does it work? Does this data mean nothing? Why?

[Varvara Spiros Gelashvili]

LoL i'm rofling at the people claiming that everyone has bookmarks for WoWhead and MMO-C
That is such a poor excuse of a save its funny

- - - Updated - - -



How does it work? Does this data mean nothing? Why?

It's data but it doesn't control for any other factors. Without controls it's pointless for a conclusion.

[Khaza-R]

The game is declining. That’s natural.

I was 15 when I first started WoW. I’m 29 now. Life has happened and I simply don’t have time for the game like I used too. I’m sure many are in the same boat.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

LoL i'm rofling at the people claiming that everyone has bookmarks for WoWhead and MMO-C
That is such a poor excuse of a save its funny

- - - Updated - - -



How does it work? Does this data mean nothing? Why?

if x% of people do y then y is taken out and x% unsub that does not mean the over all % of people playing the game will reflect the x% leaving. if say 100% of 40 man raiders left going into tbc that would not mean that the game lost 100% of players.

[OreoLover]

LoL i'm rofling at the people claiming that everyone has bookmarks for WoWhead and MMO-C
That is such a poor excuse of a save its funny

How does it work? Does this data mean nothing? Why?

We also have history-enabled browsers where typing "mm..." begets this site. We don't have to Google sites we go often.

The data means something, it just doesn't mean what it was used to imply.

[Varvara Spiros Gelashvili]

https://trends.google.com/trends/exp...20of%20legends

League of legends is in decline accept riot makes more and more each year and the lead developer says the amount of people playing grows each year.