Congratulations to WoW Classic -- The Golden Joystick PC Game of the Year !

[Asrialol]

At least 300% more active actually. 300% more active players according to the realm population tracking sites we have available.

Classic only has 650.000 something active players:
Currently we have 676,804 active* characters in the database (total: 8,770,302).
*Seen in the last 21 days online


It indicates there was more than a 90% player-activity-drop since launch of Classic until now.

Which is to be expected, really. Still - 600k active players is pretty decent for a 15 year old game, and considering most realms on classic says they're full/high, this number does actually seem to be accurate.

The thing about classic is that it has a quite vocal playerbase. People who WANTS classic to be a success (which it is, all things considered), and they try to push their views on everyone else.

One thing I'd like to point out from my own experience with classic launch - retail seems far less toxic. Could be a coincidence, but a lot of the streamers and their "POGGERS" followers went to classic, which I can't thank Blizzard enough for.

[TJ]

At least 300% more active actually. 300% more active players according to the realm population tracking sites we have available.

Classic only has 650.000 something active players:
Currently we have 676,804 active* characters in the database (total: 8,770,302).
*Seen in the last 21 days online


It indicates there was more than a 90% player-activity-drop since launch of Classic until now.

That's fair enough, but them websites are never 100% accurate. There has of course been a drop off in players, but you're telling me that 2.3 million players have stopped playing Classic? (going off the quarterly record announcement and the lowest possible number of players that could've returned to Classic (2.6 million)) I don't think so somehow.

Show me proof that it was taken 6 days ago. You are so biaised, I can't trust your word.

Modern Wow is booming as well. I have no issue for mm+ or pug EP.

And you know what, since Classic launched, pugs are far more enjoyable. Go figure.

Here's a new one taken just for you.

[Timewalker]

Why are you guys even arguing? Can't you just be happy that both versions of WoW are healthy and doing well? It's not a competition.

[Vorkreist]

At least 300% more active actually. 300% more active players according to the realm population tracking sites we have available.

Classic only has 650.000 something active players:
Currently we have 676,804 active* characters in the database (total: 8,770,302).
*Seen in the last 21 days online


It indicates there was more than a 90% player-activity-drop since launch of Classic until now.

Did you just bring up the same tracking sites that showed Bfa going below a mil 2-3 months after release ?

[Asrialol]

That's fair enough, but them websites are never 100% accurate. There has of course been a drop off in players, but you're telling me that 2.3 million players have stopped playing Classic? (going off the quarterly record announcement and the lowest possible number of players that could've returned to Classic (2.6 million)) I don't think so somehow.



Here's a new one taken just for you.

What you have to keep in mind is that most of the wow playerbase probably doesn't care about classic. You have a certain % of the playerbase that's active on forums and fansites - that's a incredibly low minority compared to the amount of players who play these games. A lot of players who play retail are also extreme casuals who'se never touched a raid, for instance.

I'm in a facebook group for fellow WoW players in my country and I'm continuously amazed at how clueless and "bad" people are. To try to think that these players would "manage" the horribly boring task of leveling to 60 on classic, let alone understand how to install it is a struggle, actually.

Then you have people like me - I loved classic back in the days, it's the most precious video game memories I have, but playing classic wow now is the most boring thing ever for me. I managed to level to 15 before I said fuck this. This isn't because classic is bad, but what made classic special for me was the exploration, everything was unknown, etc - now that I know pretty much everything about classic it just isn't the same, never will be, and I think this is true for a lot of the players who touched classic a bit then left it alone.

Classic exists because of retail. Retail exists because it was classic. One is not better than the other, that's completely subjective and active player numbers won't change that.

[Relapses]

Why are you guys even arguing? Can't you just be happy that both versions of WoW are healthy and doing well? It's not a competition.

...not when the smug satisfaction of knowing your preferred version of WoW is more popular than the other is on the line. Internet gloating points are very important!

[david0925]

...not when the smug satisfaction of knowing your preferred version of WoW is more popular than the other is on the line. Internet gloating points are very important!

yeah. The root of all these arguments are the proponent of one side trying to make the other version look like garbage, at least for the vocal people.

[TJ]

What you have to keep in mind is that most of the wow playerbase probably doesn't care about classic. You have a certain % of the playerbase that's active on forums and fansites - that's a incredibly low minority compared to the amount of players who play these games. A lot of players who play retail are also extreme casuals who'se never touched a raid, for instance.

I'm in a facebook group for fellow WoW players in my country and I'm continuously amazed at how clueless and "bad" people are. To try to think that these players would "manage" the horribly boring task of leveling to 60 on classic, let alone understand how to install it is a struggle, actually.

Then you have people like me - I loved classic back in the days, it's the most precious video game memories I have, but playing classic wow now is the most boring thing ever for me. I managed to level to 15 before I said fuck this. This isn't because classic is bad, but what made classic special for me was the exploration, everything was unknown, etc - now that I know pretty much everything about classic it just isn't the same, never will be, and I think this is true for a lot of the players who touched classic a bit then left it alone.

Classic exists because of retail. Retail exists because it was classic. One is not better than the other, that's completely subjective and active player numbers won't change that.

I'm not arguing that Classic hasn't had a drop off in numbers, if anyone says their realm is the same as when it launched then they are flat out liars. There was always going to be people that thought "it's free, I'll try it" and then stopped playing, or people that were hyped and then realised it was nostalgia, but that does not account for a 90% drop off. You might have found that you couldn't level past 15, but that is very anecdotal for yourself, if that was true for the majority of people then the game would be dead. Yet there is people everywhere doing raids, pugs, leveling, gearing alts etc, and that's speaking from my experience on a lesser busy PvE realm.

Classic has a demand just like other games do, and people like me love that old feeling of "original" WoW and its roots. I honestly thought I would play like like hell for a month and then get bored, yet here I am raiding casually, making gold, and starting to PvP and loving it, even though they are all ridiculously simple compared to later iterations of the game.

I don't care if someone plays retail, as you said, Classic is not for everybody and opinions are personal and subjective, but to claim "you can't like Classic, it's ALL nostalgia and the game is garbage" is just plain nonsense.

[Specialka]

That's fair enough, but them websites are never 100% accurate. There has of course been a drop off in players, but you're telling me that 2.3 million players have stopped playing Classic? (going off the quarterly record announcement and the lowest possible number of players that could've returned to Classic (2.6 million)) I don't think so somehow.



Here's a new one taken just for you.

Great, I can do the same for modern wow as well. Meaning both games have a lot of players. So you can't stop being so biaised now

[Asrialol]

I'm not arguing that Classic hasn't had a drop off in numbers, if anyone says their realm is the same as when it launched then they are flat out liars. There was always going to be people that thought "it's free, I'll try it" and then stopped playing, or people that were hyped and then realised it was nostalgia, but that does not account for a 90% drop off. You might have found that you couldn't level past 15, but that is very anecdotal for yourself, if that was true for the majority of people then the game would be dead. Yet there is people everywhere doing raids, pugs, leveling, gearing alts etc, and that's speaking from my experience on a lesser busy PvE realm.

Classic has a demand just like other games do, and people like me love that old feeling of "original" WoW and its roots. I honestly thought I would play like like hell for a month and then get bored, yet here I am raiding casually, making gold, and starting to PvP and loving it, even though they are all ridiculously simple compared to later iterations of the game.

I don't care if someone plays retail, as you said, Classic is not for everybody and opinions are personal and subjective, but to claim "you can't like Classic, it's ALL nostalgia and the game is garbage" is just plain nonsense.

Indeed.

Though it's hard to compare classic launch to now, considering sharding is turned off on every classic realm, right? I think the fact alone that sharding isn't a thing anymore tells everyone that the "hype" has worn off, and the people who are playing it now are the active playerbase that will keep playing it. Then you have those who stop, take a break, new players try it out, etc.

I'd be surprised if Classic numbers drops a lot more, if anything I think it'll be stable until next phase, then increase, then go down and stabilize again. Kind of like retail does I suppose.

Speaking of, I think it's also hard to argument that WoW retail is in a tough spot and then compare the numbers now to the all time high during Wrath. Not only were the playerbase different, the entire gaming industry was. How many F2P games and whatnot did you have back then, right? The industry is a lot different, and MMORPGs in general have struggled the last few years.

[TJ]

Indeed.

Though it's hard to compare classic launch to now, considering sharding is turned off on every classic realm, right? I think the fact alone that sharding isn't a thing anymore tells everyone that the "hype" has worn off, and the people who are playing it now are the active playerbase that will keep playing it. Then you have those who stop, take a break, new players try it out, etc.

I'd be surprised if Classic numbers drops a lot more, if anything I think it'll be stable until next phase, then increase, then go down and stabilize again. Kind of like retail does I suppose.

Speaking of, I think it's also hard to argument that WoW retail is in a tough spot and then compare the numbers now to the all time high during Wrath. Not only were the playerbase different, the entire gaming industry was. How many F2P games and whatnot did you have back then, right? The industry is a lot different, and MMORPGs in general have struggled the last few years.

Definitely, but you can compare the general activity of world/trade chat and ease of getting groups etc. As you said, I think Classic will probably be similar to previous patches of retail now where activity and players will go up and down as people complete content and are stuck in a drought with not as much to do, depending on how quick Blizzard release phases, of course.

WoW was never going to stay at the 12 million that was playing in Wrath/early Cata, that's pretty much impossible, subs were guaranteed to go down as time went on. I would argue, however, that WoW would have more subs today if the quality had stayed the same all the way throughout. I know people's tastes are different and such, but even though every expansion has naysayers and criticism, it has seemingly increased A LOT over the past few years. Just my opinion.

[Kithelle]

It doesn't say much for the competition when a 15 year-old game wins PC game of the year. I bet the judges were off their faces on nostalgia when they awarded this to WOW Classic.

But it says a lot when most of the games are better and it's a voting competition...some people where really desperate for Classic to win

[Relapses]

WoW was never going to stay at the 12 million that was playing in Wrath/early Cata, that's pretty much impossible, subs were guaranteed to go down as time went on. I would argue, however, that WoW would have more subs today if the quality had stayed the same all the way throughout. I know people's tastes are different and such, but even though every expansion has naysayers and criticism, it has seemingly increased A LOT over the past few years. Just my opinion.

WoD's early reception was overwhelmingly positive and look how history remembers that expansion after the fact. There is no universal quality standard that appeals most to WoW fans. Its playerbase is so staggeringly diverse that almost no two WoW players ever agree on anything, much less what does or doesn't constitute a good expansion. Personally, I think subscriber levels should be absent from any discussion about the quality of an expansion because there's no direct correlation between quality and whether people decide to pay for the game.

[Fascinate]

Never heard of golden joystick but i did predict classic would be getting some PC game awards, it truly does stand the test of time with its fundamental mmo mechanics.

[TJ]

WoD's early reception was overwhelmingly positive and look how history remembers that expansion after the fact. There is no universal quality standard that appeals most to WoW fans. Its playerbase is so staggeringly diverse that almost no two WoW players ever agree on anything, much less what does or doesn't constitute a good expansion. Personally, I think subscriber levels should be absent from any discussion about the quality of an expansion because there's no direct correlation between quality and whether people decide to pay for the game.

Early reception, yeah, but who would base an opinion for a whole expansion off the first 2 months or so? It needs to be consistent throughout the whole expac.

From what I've read, Legion was relatively solid, but still not top tier, and WoD/BFA have been a joke. As you said, though, that's from people's opinions on this website, and whether that is actually the case or whether it is the opinion of the majority are different questions.

I do agree with you, subs are not everything, but when some expansions have lost millions of subs in quarters, it would be hard to argue that it's doing well, imo.

[Specialka]

Early reception, yeah, but who would base an opinion for a whole expansion off the first 2 months or so? It needs to be consistent throughout the whole expac.

From what I've read, Legion was relatively solid, but still not top tier, and WoD/BFA have been a joke. As you said, though, that's from people's opinions on this website, and whether that is actually the case or whether it is the opinion of the majority are different questions.

I do agree with you, subs are not everything, but when some expansions have lost millions of subs in quarters, it would be hard to argue that it's doing well, imo.

Because you are taking the context out of it.

[unfilteredJW]

This happening in a universe where Disco Elysium came out this year is fucking dumb.

[Altariaz]

WoW Classic is simply amazing. I love every second that I'm online

[Relapses]

I do agree with you, subs are not everything, but when some expansions have lost millions of subs in quarters, it would be hard to argue that it's doing well, imo.

WoD's steep decline after launch was due to the game having almost no real content to keep casual players subbed. It's why Legion was such a complete departure from WoD (and also why WoD ended up being content-lite). BfA tried to carry on Legion's legacy but I think they rushed to release the expansion before it was really done and by the time the game started to shine (8.1.5) the damage to public opinion was already done.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Early reception, yeah, but who would base an opinion for a whole expansion off the first 2 months or so? It needs to be consistent throughout the whole expac.

From what I've read, Legion was relatively solid, but still not top tier, and WoD/BFA have been a joke. As you said, though, that's from people's opinions on this website, and whether that is actually the case or whether it is the opinion of the majority are different questions.

I do agree with you, subs are not everything, but when some expansions have lost millions of subs in quarters, it would be hard to argue that it's doing well, imo.

BfA sold record amount of copies for X period of time and there's been no quarterly report so far that's telling of any sort of disaster even prior to the Classic quarter. Just an FYI.

Ya'll can stop bickering, the fact is that neither of the game versions are dead. And yes, Retail has and will continue to be having the larger playerbase and thus revenue streams. It's entirely natural and the franchise would be in trouble otherwise.

- - - Updated - - -

WoD's steep decline after launch was due to the game having almost no real content to keep casual players subbed. It's why Legion was such a complete departure from WoD (and also why WoD ended up being content-lite). BfA tried to carry on Legion's legacy but I think they rushed to release the expansion before it was really done and by the time the game started to shine (8.1.5) the damage to public opinion was already done.

By some people's logic, they never managed to turn things around despite Legion being the polar opposite of WoD and BfA being Legion Lite, not WoD 2.0 as the doomsquad would like to pretend.

BfA sold so well thanks to Legion. Gonna be interesting to see whether BfA will have soiled Shadowlands, or if the old effect kicks in again where the people not enjoying BfA will buy because they want to enjoy Shadowlands (as with WoD going into Legion).