After playing the game, do you agree with Blizzard's expected "steep drop-off"?

[Azerate]

Yes. And I'm already seeing said drop off happening. That is not to say the game is dying or something, but there's significantly less people around, and it's significantly harder to find a party for stuff. I also haven't seen a queue to my server for about 4 days now. My server is not the most populated one, but there were still some queues during peak time. Doesn't seem to be the case anymore, or maybe I was just lucky.

Personally I don't plan to raid in Classic, so for me it will probably be the end once I get 60, some secondary professions etc. The modern version of the game is still my main one.

What I see is people eager to group up but also to go their own ways right after a quest. To the most, including myself wow classic is a personal thing, or a thing with friends they already have. That shows a level of hesitation to commitment which in turn indicates a level of uncertainty about continuing the game.

And why is this weird? I have my own friends, don't need to try to befriend every random stranger I see. If I wanted new wow player friends, I would find a guild that suits me. When I help some random woman get her pram off the bus, I don't immediately ask for her number to be friends. I just say "have a good day" and leave.

[MoanaLisa]

What I see is people eager to group up but also to go their own ways right after a quest. To the most, including myself wow classic is a personal thing, or a thing with friends they already have. That shows a level of hesitation to commitment which in turn indicates a level of uncertainty about continuing the game.

That's how the game--Greater WoW if you will--is played these days. These are the equivalent of ad hoc mini-pugs out in the world. They were fairly common in BC when I started (never played Vanilla) and have become the norm in the years since.

There has been this huge argument about how content determines community behavior which I always thought was suspect. Drop 3000 players from 2019 into a design from 2005 and they will find ways to play it in the way they're used to. "Life finds a way" as Dr. Ian Malcolm was fond of saying.

It's true that some people leveling are being more helpful in Classic then they are in the other version of the game but that's only because they, as players, want to be more helpful. They don't have to be and if there are plenty of people around they don't need to be so they want to be. There's no personal reputation that's necessarily going to accrue because Player A helped Players B & C down Hogger. Most will just assemble what they need from whoever is around and then move on after they're done probably never to meet again that they know of. You can argue that that is social play but to me it's as social as most of what happens in BFA: strangers group up for a short time to do something and after it's done they depart still strangers. Content has nothing to do with it.

[Super Kami Dende]

lets be fair, anyone that didn't expect a steep drop off after a hyped up beginning for a 15 year old game was delusional.

[Lord Pebbleton]

I for one am enjoying it. It can be infuriating at times, but things are undoubtedly easier now than they were back in the days. Today I made a group for Stockades and completed it in 10 minutes. I remember back then I was AMAZED to find a group and we disbanded after the right wing.
I took it as a challenge to get to level 60, then we'll see if raids will be a thing or not.

[Musta]

Im a 22 priest right now and... the slow pace is really getting on my nerves now. But i intend to keep going.

[Hinastorm]

There will be a big drop-off, and mmo's aren't "mainstream" anymore. Both hard pills to swallow for someone like me, who has spent the lions share of his gaming time over the past 15-20 years on everquest and wow.

It's great that blizzard gave us this, but the future is not looking bright for PvE mmo enthusiasts. Although Pantheon is looking REALLY interesting, and I can't wait to sink my teeth into that if it ever comes out.

[Linkedblade]

I'd expect them to stagger classic phases and retail patches. So the relative population between the two may fluctuate, but total wow subs will remain afloat.

[Tarba]

Im a Classic fanboy and this game is for me the one and only game i will be playing for months to come.
And even though i used to get mad everytime i read Blizzard's "we expect a steep drop-off in interest"...after playing the game, i have to say i agree with them.

I dont think i need to repeat myself but this game is for me the best thing in videogame history, yet i think its only for incredibly patient people.
And do you think the majority of the current market is "incredibly patient"? In the age of "zoomers"? I dont think so...imo.

This is all a personal opinion after playing the game AND thinking to myself...there is no way the rest of the world enjoys the same things i do.
Even though im enjoying it like crazy, i dont believe todays market enjoys the things a 30y old me enjoys.

And im "ok" with this.
I dont need Classic to be a success to prove anything to others. I just want it to exist so i can play it with other people who also enjoy it.

What is your opinion after playing the game and CONSIDER in your opinion the current market of videogames?

I think this game was made for dumb people from private servers who only hope to be ahead of other people by abusing stupid outdated game mechanics.
The no change team completely fucked this game by letting it as shitty as it was. Many things would have made it better, like a simple revamp of underpowered classes ans specs. But that would go against what they wanted to do. The easy road of playing the Uber class/template.

So it's like playing retail with a communauty even worse than retail because it can't accept the idea that their class could not be overpowered compare to others.
In retail a new patch could balance classes, in classic you don't have choice. And it's because of a stupid communauty.

Classic could have been good without the #nochanges. But we ended up with that bad version of a 15 years old game. Without hope of improvement.
#nochange people should be seen as what they are. People who can't even understand what is good or bad. Or worse, people who clearly see it but want to abuse it.
And they were powered up by streamers. Who are basically like any extrême party in politic. People who just want to be seen no matter what they say. The worst the better.

[bmjclark]

It's already happening. The queues getting significantly smaller. It may take a month or so just because it'll take people a while to get 60 but they'll drop off.

[huehuehue]

It's already happening. The queues getting significantly smaller. It may take a month or so just because it'll take people a while to get 60 but they'll drop off.

free character migrations will do that

[Big Thanks]

ya there seems to have already been one every tie i log on i see less and less people, alot faster then i expected.

Not the case in Europe and on my server.
And i made a character on the new...new...NEW servers.

Just to give you an idea on how the zones are so full, i had to level up in Desolace by killing mobs

Im on the low level 30's and all other zones were full. I had to use my trump card of Desolace and still i saw there players...a lot at the end of the day, almost none when i had the idea. Seems like people arrived to the same conclusion as me.

Im level 34 now and im the highest level of my entire guild...the grind is real.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

It will decrease for sure. That is how games work. You play to the content cycle these days. Kind of like BFA in 8.2 had a massive spike. A month or two goes by and it slides off and will keep sliding until the next patch. Classic will be the same. Big spike at launch. Slide off until phase release. Spike up and slide off. This isn't rocket science. It isn't a sign of a games health or status. It just means its a game in 2019. People these days play for dopamine hits. Once a game doesn't give enough hits per hour they leave it until the drug deal resupplies.

End of the day you just play how you want and what you want. Who cares what everyone else is doing as long as your game isn't a grave yard. I have my doubts Classic or Retail will be a total grave yard anytime soon.

[Wyrt]

I went to fluff around in there for a bit, but it's honestly really boring. Having to drink after every 2-3 mobs is boring. Having to wand so I don't have to drink constantly is also boring.

It's also frustrating when other people are around because quests already take forever since 9/10 cats don't have fucking teeth. Yes, you can group up, but then completing the quest will take 2-5 times longer than just doing in on your own. "But you kill things faster!" Yeah, but that doesn't make them respawn any faster. It's an MMO where having other people around is a hinderance rather than a benefit, and that's just bad design.

Then once you get through the boring shitfest of leveling and you get stupidly easy raids with few mechanics and classes that spam 1 ability and it's just no.

So, yeah, I agree with Blizzard that there will be a steep drop off. I don't get the appeal of classic at all.

And before the attacks: I don't like BfA either. I resubscribed after a year away to try out classic and see if BfA was any better. They both suck.

[prwraith]

I briefly unsubbed during classic before TBC came out, why on earth would I stay the duration for it 15 years later?

[Big Thanks]

It will decrease for sure. That is how games work. You play to the content cycle these days. Kind of like BFA in 8.2 had a massive spike. A month or two goes by and it slides off and will keep sliding until the next patch. Classic will be the same. Big spike at launch. Slide off until phase release. Spike up and slide off. This isn't rocket science. It isn't a sign of a games health or status. It just means its a game in 2019. People these days play for dopamine hits. Once a game doesn't give enough hits per hour they leave it until the drug deal resupplies.

End of the day you just play how you want and what you want. Who cares what everyone else is doing as long as your game isn't a grave yard. I have my doubts Classic or Retail will be a total grave yard anytime soon.

I predict Phase 2 to be a total massacre to the casual community. And by that i mean it will be a massacre to 80% of players playing on PvP servers.
Honor system implemented without Battlegrounds?

Expect the entire casual community to experience the South Park episode maybe many will quit even. Not sure though

[BicycleMafioso]

I am not concerned with how others do it. Many of my friends have taken a more calm approach once launch hype settled. We all play, but its not a guaranteed thing to see everyone online at the same time anymore.
This is fine and what i expect of the general community. I think that when layering gets removed, the game will feel as full as it is again. Even on the one layer i play with at any given time seems full.

Do people stop playing? Yes. Sure. Does it matter in terms of game health? No, not really. That, I think, is the better question to ask.

Is Classic everything I hoped it would be? It’s getting better now that I see less of the clearly disinterested tourists. I don’t mean that as a bad thing, but I knew this was going to be a thing. Classic is the game for me. If I ever do get tired of it, I will take a break and go back to play some Diablo 3. Or finally try out Bioshock, since I’ve owned it since release.

People are dropping off or playing less intensely, yes. Game is not in a risk of ending up with an unhealthy population for a while to come.

I think once this soft start ends, and the PvP system and later again the BGs come back (ie, what I consider “the content at 60”), I think interest will pick up again.

Each phase will be a surge. Each re-roll server launch will be a small surge as well. If they get phases as well, all the better.

[Video Games]

Probably but for now, my guild on classic has around 50 on almost all times meanwhile my 6/8m guild on retail struggles with double digits on off nights

[Thelxi]

I'm noticing it by the day, both in server queues and in /lfg activity. It's only logical for people to give up on the game at one point or another. Getting to 60 will take the average player at least 150 hours of walking around and grinding, which is pretty hardcore for today's standards; I don't think a great many people will actually commit to this. And the people that do get to 60 will very, very quickly run out of things to do beside PvP. And once you get into PvP, faction imbalance will start being quite relevant for everyone.

So really unless you are someone who enjoys taking things slow and enjoys pvping, there is a pretty solid brick wall waiting for you sooner or later.

[sephrinx]

No, never did to begin with.

[clevin]

EDIT: Lest you think I'm crazy on older people playing videogames let me assure you that I'm not. There's a Facebook group for WoW targeted at those 55+ and older that has close to 2000 members. One for 35 and older that's closing on 10,000 members. That's just for WoW. That's replicated across any number of games and retro-gaming categories. Boomers when retiring need something to fill up a few hours a day and video games are just the thing for many of them. They are an important market now and will be more important over time.

Anecdote... A friend of mine was troubleshooting her mom's Mac and wanted to make sure Message was working correctly. She texted a friend of her Mom's. Her Mom had told her that this woman's son worked at Blizz... turns out he does (art department) so my friend teasingly asked "Hey, any room on the F&F server? That's..." And the woman said "Yeah, I know what it is, I get that request around here a lot..."

"Around here" is a 55+ senior community. My friend is 52... her mom is in her 70s as is this woman. So, yeah, don't assume WoW players or game players in general are 15-24. That may well be the case for some games, but not all.


On topic - I think we'll see a drop off over the first 6 months, then I think it will bounce around whatever figure it ends up at and that will happen in 3 rough stages... first month will be people who try it out and just don't like it for some reason. then we'll see people who get partway to 60 and bail either forever or decide to come back and play it here and there (the holidays might affect this). Then you'll see people who get to 60, play a bit, and then leave.