Returning players

[SirCowdog]

Blizzard should just do Megaservers at this point. But of course won't net them money from transfers.

It should be a simple toggle:

• 1) Connect to Megaserver. This option makes use of CRZ and connects ALL servers. If crowding is an issue to performance, maybe have 2 or 3 megaservers.
• 2) Disable CRZ. This option limits you to ONLY your individual server.

These two options would be mutually exclusive and would toggle like War Mode: requiring you to travel to the capital city to change. Meaning that if you had CRZ disabled, you would not be able to see or interact or group with anyone that had Megaserver toggled on. Including things like LFG and LFR.

Effectively giving people the opportunity to choose between the anonymous convenience, while also allowing for individual server communities to grow and re-establish.

But Blizzard will never do it because it would impact their realm xfer revenue stream. Or would it? I'm not so sure, now that I stop to think about it. If individual server communities started to flourish, it could promote transfers to realms where there was a healthy community, while also causing migrations away from toxic or dying servers.

[Eleccybubb]

I honestly think its sad. The level of delusion is so godamn high, they just dont even realise how absolutely ridiculous they sound. I still play. Not anywhere near as much as i did, but weekly. I am on a "full" server, although you can still create characters, and there hasnt been a single queue since launch. Blizzard activate the queue whenever they need to for various reasons - server issues being the most common motivator. People on absolute ghost town servers have posted comments about having queues.

People as delusional as some of these "everything is fine" crew will find "proof" wherever they can, and ignore proof that doesnt fit their agenda. For example, not once did i say the only people playing the game are 10+ hour a day ppl with no jobs. Look how quickly this kid tried to screw my words around and create a strawman. What i said is that the NICHE part of the community who play long hours and have friends in a similar situation are far less likely to notice the reduced play count, because their ultra casual community is still happy with the game from what i have seen mostly.

But look how quickly this guy tried to twist that around and screw it into something he could disprove. Amazing really.

Eh not gonna go down the road of namecalling personally mate. Those who aren't interested in discussion or I don't want to discuss with I just move on. Saves a lot of time and effort.

[yoma]

The state of WoW in BFA hurts my soul because I love the franchise. What can I say, I've been around since vanilla and absolutely no expansion has ever made me unsub until now. Does that mean every other expansion was golden and perfect? Certainly not, but it does mean that I've never seen an expansion as bad as this one, and it seems I am definitely not alone in that sentiment.

I sincerely and truly hope Blizzard turns things around because I'm not sure WoW can survive two failed expansions in a row this late in its life.

[arkanon]

And again the funniest part is it's BLIZZARDS data.

People who were critical used to get called out for their sources all the time on this forum.

But it's ironic now because with sources from Blizzard people are like "nah fam it's still wrong".

I won't lie. I find it amusing how these days even facts are considered wrong.

look at the comment below yours. This one person STILL denies that Blizzards own data could POSSIBLY line up with what many are saying - people are leaving the game, and those that remain are playing less. The forums are FULL of ppl providing anecdotal evidence of empty friends lists, guilds falling apart, difficulties maintaining rosters and getting forming raids. Blizzard release data backing this anecdotal evidence up, and ppl still put their blinkers on and scream "lalalalalal not happening its the other games not wow lalalalalalalala"

[Queen of Hamsters]

*snip of nonsense

And look how quickly you resort to petty namecalling and circle jerking people agreeing with you instead of providing any sorts of facts to back up your grand statements.

How very unusual...

[GreenJesus]

Then players like me, waiting until sometime after 8.2 or 8.3. Sub runs out in June tho (had six month recurring), so I might do the Dazar'alor LFR or something to keep.... relatively gear relevant. My Azerite level is 27 or 28 if I recall. With the knowledge catch-up, that probably won't hurt... too bad.

"keeping gear relevant".. You know that in 2-3 months world quests will probably give gear better than what is currently mythic right? Why "stay relevant" when catch up mechanics make everything you did before pointless every couple months? Never before have blizzard done catch up mechanics so often and so heavy handed.

[Eleccybubb]

look at the comment below yours. This one person STILL denies that Blizzards own data could POSSIBLY line up with what many are saying - people are leaving the game, and those that remain are playing less. The forums are FULL of ppl providing anecdotal evidence of empty friends lists, guilds falling apart, difficulties maintaining rosters and getting forming raids. Blizzard release data backing this anecdotal evidence up, and ppl still put their blinkers on and scream "lalalalalal not happening its the other games not wow lalalalalalalala"

/shrug. As I said above mate I just don't respond and move on.

Anyway enough of that. The MAU count being down and the state of WoW are definitely connected.

Not to mention other games of the genre have reported huge influx of players. And one if I recall is having server issues due to that influx and is having to get new hardware.

[arkanon]

And look how quickly you resort to petty namecalling and circle jerking people agreeing with you instead of providing any sorts of facts to back up your grand statements.

How very unusual...

i provided you the data. BLIZZARD provided you with the data. You are choosing to ignore it.

How very unusual

[Queen of Hamsters]

look at the comment below yours. This one person STILL denies that Blizzards own data could POSSIBLY line up with what many are saying - people are leaving the game, and those that remain are playing less. The forums are FULL of ppl providing anecdotal evidence of empty friends lists, guilds falling apart, difficulties maintaining rosters and getting forming raids. Blizzard release data backing this anecdotal evidence up, and ppl still put their blinkers on and scream "lalalalalal not happening its the other games not wow lalalalalalalala"

Anecdotal evidence that the game is dead/dying has been around and was even aplenty when we knew the game to have 12 million, 10 million, 8 million and so on.

But you've already established that you don't place much value on facts and figures.

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i provided you the data. BLIZZARD provided you with the data. You are choosing to ignore it.

How very unusual

Where, exactly, did you provide the data?

[Eleccybubb]

"keeping gear relevant".. You know that in 2-3 months world quests will probably give gear better than what is currently mythic right? Why "stay relevant" when catch up mechanics make everything you did before pointless every couple months? Never before have blizzard done catch up mechanics so often and so heavy handed.

Catch up mechanics right now are a joke.

Catchup should only be a thing though imo at the end of an expansion. The fact they are having to do it really hard now in 8.2 (see the Azsharan gear and upgrading it) says they really need something to lure players back in chasing that carrot.

[Mightytasty]

When someone's need to believe something becomes so fierce that they make fun of the idea that people will request official data to back up ones statements.

Says all that needs to be said, for sure. But you have the chance, provide citation for your statement about server labeling, and real life stats for currently active WoW players.

Google WoW Realm pop. Cross reference with Blizzard’s realm selection screen. Realize that realms with half the population of others are still listed as “Full”.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Catch up mechanics right now are a joke.

Catchup should only be a thing though imo at the end of an expansion. The fact they are having to do it really hard now in 8.2 (see the Azsharan gear and upgrading it) says they really need something to lure players back in chasing that carrot.

It was the same way at 7.2, in the expansion that you happened to love.

But it's already well established that you make things up as you see fit and depending on how you feel about things.

[arkanon]

Google WoW Realm pop. Cross reference with Blizzard’s realm selection screen. Realize that realms with half the population of others are still listed as “Full”.

It wont work. They have established themselves as someone who only believes data provided by Blizzard, common sense has no place here. Well, they usually believe Blizzard, accept when it goes against their agenda, then the data is wrong.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Google WoW Realm pop. Cross reference with Blizzard’s realm selection screen. Realize that realms with half the population of others are still listed as “Full”.

WoW realm pop has been debunked plenty of times, so try something else.
I actually login to the servers and have a look.

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It wont work. They have established themselves as someone who only believes data provided by Blizzard, common sense has no place here. Well, they usually believe Blizzard, accept when it goes against their agenda, then the data is wrong.

Yes, how very damning to value official data (which isn't given outside of MAUs across titles) and official sources on how the game works more than anecdotal evidence, people with an agenda and 3rd party sources.

You people don't even realize how deluded you've grown.

[arkanon]

WoW realm pop has been debunked plenty of times, so try something else.
I actually login to the servers and have a look.

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Yes, how very damning to value official data (which isn't given outside of MAUs across titles) and official sources on how the game works more than anecdotal evidence, people with an agenda and 3rd party sources.

You people don't even realize how deluded you've grown.

"i dont believe anecdotal evidence"

"I actually login to the servers and have a look"

haha, good times.

[Queen of Hamsters]

"i dont believe anecdotal evidence"

"I actually login to the servers and have a look"

haha, good times.

I don't use myself seeing a healthy amount of people + a healthy economy as anything but a personal gauge for whether I want a character on the server or not though. So far the servers I've visited listed as Full/High, seem just as active (I check on off hours) as my own, and I shall setup AH-characters aplenty.

You keep deflecting via ad hominem rather than providing the sources you claim to be sitting on. Not that I expected anything more, but it's rather predictable how the discussions pan out and have been panning out for 15 years by now in relation to this game and its constant state of "dying/being dead" based on the feels of individuals.

[SirCowdog]

When someone's need to believe something becomes so fierce that they make fun of the idea that people will request official data to back up ones statements.

Says all that needs to be said, for sure. But you have the chance, provide citation for your statement about server labeling, and real life stats for currently active WoW players.

https://www.mmo-champion.com/content...houghts?page=3

While there's no way to know exactly where that drop in MAUs originated, we can make some educated guesses. I highly recommend taking a quick look at Bellular's overview of the situation starting at the 7:40 mark. Basically it looks like Overwatch caused the lion's share of an increase starting in 2016 which has dropped down to the report we see today, with a total drop of 5-million MAUs over the past 6 months across blizzard as a whole.

However, it would be silly to ignore the fact that the largest drop in MAUs happened in the last 6 months, which is nearly the exact same time frame as the launch of BfA. Again, we have no way of knowing the exact figures, but it seems likely that the lukewarm reception of BfA is a significant contributing factor to that decline in MAUs and overall player numbers.

Whether that's reflected in people's personal experiences during the specific hours they play....who knows. That's not a metric I'd care to use, since primetimes and individual server populations could easily cause the entire range of experiences.

[Mightytasty]

Again with the “your data is wrong” argument. No matter what I say your response is “the data isn’t from Blizzard, therefore it’s wrong!!” even though it’s all correlated. I’m done arguing with you dude, I’ll let the lurkers reading this forum decide for themselves.

[Queen of Hamsters]

https://www.mmo-champion.com/content...houghts?page=3

While there's no way to know exactly where that drop in MAUs originated, we can make some educated guesses. I highly recommend taking a quick look at Bellular's overview of the situation starting at the 7:40 mark. Basically it looks like Overwatch caused the lion's share of an increase starting in 2016 which has dropped down to the report we see today, with a total drop of 5-million MAUs over the past 6 months across blizzard as a whole.

However, it would be silly to ignore the fact that the largest drop in MAUs happened in the last 6 months, which is nearly the exact same time frame as the launch of BfA. Again, we have no way of knowing the exact figures, but it seems likely that the lukewarm reception of BfA is a significant contributing factor to that decline in MAUs and overall player numbers.

I'm well aware of the MAU and Quarterly report, as I've mentioned numerous times throughout the thread.

Still waiting on the source telling us that Blizzard haphazardly change the labels on servers for... reasons, rather than the servers (as stated by a blue) adapting the label based on number of characters logged in.

I know my experience playing the game already and, same as through all doom and gloom the last 10 years, there's people around me, queues for content are short, the guild is raiding and there's always people interested in doing content. That's not something to bring up as some sort of proof for X or Y though, unlike what others do (and have always been doing).

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Again with the “your data is wrong” argument. No matter what I say your response is “the data isn’t from Blizzard, therefore it’s wrong!!” even though it’s all correlated. I’m done arguing with you dude, I’ll let the lurkers reading this forum decide for themselves.

I'll take valuing official data and facts over whatever source someone with an opinion conjures up to support his/her agenda.

The closest thing is the Quarterly report, and even that doesn't give us exact numbers. It shows MAU is down across titles, but that's it. And this game has had many such moments, through all manner of content (yes, including content that the current doomsayers enjoyed), so forgive me if I ain't jumping the sky is falling bandwagon now when I didn't do it any of those other dozens of quarters.

[arkanon]

I'll take valuing official data and facts over whatever source someone with an opinion conjures up to support his/her agenda.

The closest thing is the Quarterly report, and even that doesn't give us exact numbers. It shows MAU is down across titles, but that's it. And this game has had many such moments, through all manner of content (yes, including content that the current doomsayers enjoyed), so forgive me if I ain't jumping the sky is falling bandwagon now when I didn't do it any of those other dozens of quarters.

Interesting how you add that little "across titles" comment in, when Blizzard themselves say some games have INCREASED, and you provide absolutely no data whatsoever to back up your "across titles" claim.

Which i find very funny when related to your own comment just a few moments earlier about people conjuring things up to support their agenda. Do you accept that the data could show exactly what the community is saying? Do you accept that it is possible that there has been a dramatic reduction in playtime in wow for a lot of people?

You say the data doesnt definitively prove it, but do you at least accept it is perfectly plausible that if a full breakdown was shown, it could show a massive reduction in wow player engagement?