A subscription should mean that the gaming experience is top-notch in all aspects.

[DarkAmbient]

People don't take criticism of this game well, do they. Already the cliches have been wheeled out again: "Don't like it don't play it" "Why are you here" and so on...

But the OP is right. Customers who pay not only for the game and all its expansions but also a subscription fee on top of that should expect a premium experience. No game is bug free, but a company like Blizzard ought to be able to do better, especially when they are charging so much for it.

[DemonDays]

Sad part is you aren't wrong with the F2P remark.

And of course Blizzard blame the consumers for their own failure. Easy deflection and scapegoat sadly. I mean look at how they slyly blamed the players for the dumpster fire that is Warcraft 3 Reforged.

I've just given up myself. 8.3 was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. Just recently bought FF14 for PS4 so I'll see how that goes since people are telling me it's a great MMO but I've been playing ESO for a good 2-3 years now and it's just a far superior experience imo.

We're sorry YOU didn't have the experience YOU wanted.


We're not sorry we didn't deliver on any of our promises and delivered a bug ridden piece of shit for $40.

[mauserr]

I pay for my sub with gold that I made in WoD an playing the AH. I’m not paying, I don’t think it’s worth it and I agree with the OP. When a game like ESO can function without a mandatory sub, it does question how much of our sub goes back into the product.

Going by your stupid logic, we all should stop playing and never provide feedback, because apparently providing feedback means we don’t want to play

Your sub by token is actually giving Blizzard MORE MONEY than you would if you paid for a sub yourself. Funny how that goes DD

[Raven]

People don't take criticism of this game well, do they. Already the cliches have been wheeled out again: "Don't like it don't play it" "Why are you here" and so on...

But the OP is right. Customers who pay not only for the game and all its expansions but also a subscription fee on top of that should expect a premium experience. No game is bug free, but a company like Blizzard ought to be able to do better, especially when they are charging so much for it.

But its the most logical thing, dont like the game then dont play it, if you go out to a restaurant to eat do you order the dish you dont like or do you choose one of those that you like, same here, dont like wow move on and play something you do like.

[Koloss]

Subscription fee means there is still enough demand.

[WowIsDead64]

Buying the expansions + paying the subscription is already very expensive for a game. A game this expensive should be quite excellent in all conceivable aspects. The fact that they also have various paid services + cash shop cosmetics like a f2p game is a huge revenue boost for them.

And yet, I the quality of this game surely does not justify the subscription.

EVEN IF you enjoy the game in the appalling state it's been in for years, there are some universally unacceptable issues.

The lag, the disconnections, server crashes and restarts, the AH being incredibly slow, there's a default delay of 130+ ms on all outdoor zones etc... they've been going on for weeks. Blizzard blames the customers instead of trying to fix the problem, and anyone who loses anything because of the disconnects is shit out of luck.

Another glaring issue are the bugs. This latest patch still has a myriad of bugs week after release. How is this acceptable?

Combine all these with a major patch that has barely enough content to last a month, much less the many months that it will be till Shadowlands, I can honestly say there are F2P games out there who put out better content, more content, less buggy content, and with servers that actually allow you to play that content.

Unfortunately game has become just another generic grind/group-content only MMO. We had tons of them in the past, like Wildstar for example, and they're all dead now. And Wow has always been so popular exactly because it was casual-friendly. So, as for me, sub fee is no longer justified. That's why I don't play this game. As for Shadowlands, box price isn't justified for xpack, that brings literally 0 new features. I mean, features, that accessible for buying SL only - not common game updates and technical debts, accessible to all players, like new leveling and character customization. Because, you know, covenants are just another class halls. But just 4 instead of hall for every class. We have already had that class hall set grinding (with Suramar as the most terrible part of it) and class mount grinding. Torgast is nothing new in comparison with visions. What else? Emmmm... Nothing?

[Nerovar]

I definitely agree with OP. The quality you'd expect from a game with fully priced expansions and a mandatory subscription has declined over the years. Even really basic stuff like server capacity seems worse now than it was a few years ago (try playing PvP fights with more than 30 players without massive server lag). Then again, they seem to spend unreasonable amounts of time/money on making flashy cinematics that don't really bring anything substantial (except for marketing) to the game.
It's like that old Steve Jobs interview meme. Sales and marketing people take over and make the big decisions (insert quote about Bobby Kotick bringing in "packaged goods folks" into ActiBlizz) and the product suffers in the long term because of that.

[Syegfryed]

the state of the game, bad optimization, lags, freeze, bugs, even bad support does not justify a subscription, even less a subscription that expensive

they should just put the game in buy to play mode, or halve the price of subscription imo

[Caprias]

the state of the game, bad optimization, lags, freeze, bugs, even bad support does not justify a subscription, even less a subscription that expensive

they should just put the game in buy to play mode, or halve the price of subscription imo

Are we playing the same fucking game?

[ecospherez]

The problem is, you assert your own feelings into something that is much larger. We can argue until the cows come home about how the game has changed, how it isn't to your liking anymore, how it's all about the money, keeping people subbed etc etc etc, however, that is A. different opinions and B. your own personal choice to continue with it.

For instance.

Let's say i like a band, i love this band in fact, i buy all their albums, stream all their songs and i pay to go and see them live.

This band brings out another album (expansion), i don't really like this album, it doesn't have the same flavor i once loved and i just don't enjoy it.

What do you think i do in that scenario? i stop streaming their music, i stop listening and i stop paying to go see them live.

Whilst i am disappointed that they no longer create music in the taste that i like i'm not going to spend everyday moaning about it. Sure i'll have my opinions about it though.

I've stopped giving them my money and my time because it just doesn't cut it for me anymore.

I also realise that even though I've stopped loving this band, some people agree with me, some people continue to love them and lastly a whole new audience has started liking them and turning up to every live show.

What i find bizarre are the people, whilst also disliking that band, still pay money to go and see them live.

IT IS TIME TO LET GO.

[DarkAmbient]

But its the most logical thing, dont like the game then dont play it, if you go out to a restaurant to eat do you order the dish you dont like or do you choose one of those that you like, same here, dont like wow move on and play something you do like.

It's a completely worthless sentiment. Of course people are aware that they are free to do whatever they like. Everyone knows that, it's not something that needs to be said, and it doesn't constitute a counter to specific criticisms that are being made.

[ecospherez]

It's a completely worthless sentiment. Of course people are aware that they are free to do whatever they like. Everyone knows that, it's not something that needs to be said. Saying "don't play the game" is not a counter to specific criticisms of it.

It it when OP is moaning about the state of the game and how it can be justified paying for it whilst continuing to pay for it.

[Dziubla]

Retarded thread name? Gotta be anon, 100%. Oh, look, I'm correct!

Funny how you made 18 threads so far, and only have 34 posts. Guess you like to throw baits out there and leave. And funny how most of what you post in your threads usually contradict what you wrote in the previous thread. Like the fact that you haven't played for over a year, only to say in the next thread you quit in november. Obvious troll is obvious.

Not taking tha bait any further this time.

[Beastiel]

People don't take criticism of this game well, do they. Already the cliches have been wheeled out again: "Don't like it don't play it" "Why are you here" and so on...

But the OP is right. Customers who pay not only for the game and all its expansions but also a subscription fee on top of that should expect a premium experience. No game is bug free, but a company like Blizzard ought to be able to do better, especially when they are charging so much for it.

I don't think "don't like it, don't play it" is strictly a pro blizzard stance. Expecting blizzard to sink a ton of extra money to make the game good just so that customers are happy is naive. Less time and money spent on the game increases profit margins, and they care way more about making shareholders happy than making customers happy. Yet, customers have the ability to impact how happy blizzard's shareholders are, but they just choose not to.

If you think the quality of the product is too low and the price is too high, yet you pay it anyways, then you are part of the problem. You are actively supporting this.

[schwank05]

Honestly I have had more fun in the last month and a half playing SWTOR than I have had playing WOW since MOP. I am done with wow, the only thing that will bring me back to wow is BC or WOLTK servers. I am done with retail.

[CaptainV]

Its a matter of -when- not -if- wow goes buy to play which I suspect will happen after the launch of Shadowlands, on account Shadowlands is basically the benchmark for a b2p switch, less content, more streamlined releases.

Even the purchase model lately has been "subscribe and recieve a mount, or you can buy it when its no longer available" which is another way of saying "we might aswell just make it an option to buy things".

Sooner or later it'll be the sub gives you premium content thing, with b2p being the next way blizz keeps players because hey, if no one is subbed nobody has to commit to paying but it looks GREAT on a sheet that investors can read seeing how suddenly the activity increases dramatically.

Its why I dont doubt that WoW wont die with a dignified end but be cannibalised piece by piece until it looks like a generic korean MMO.

It really hurts me as someone who played since launch watching this game as it is, even the latest expansion model was: "Buy normal, buy slightly nicer version or BUY THE MEGA EXPENSIVE VERSION" which has never happened before, even in BFA they never went down that road.

That desperation screams worrying alarm bells about the future.

I really hope, they shape their act up and fix it.

[Syegfryed]

Are we playing the same fucking game?

are we? 8.3 came all fucked up, bugs, freezing, lag, lots of people reported that, and some days ago i opened a simple ticked and i had to wait 28 hours until was answered claiming the problem was resolved, but it 'wasn't, i had to explain that and wait more 26 hours to be resolved

[Soikona]

Your sub by token is actually giving Blizzard MORE MONEY than you would if you paid for a sub yourself. Funny how that goes DD

That is true, but it’s not my money was the point I was making. I am not a paying customer.

So go provide feedback then? It's not here though.

Don't like the game? Stop playing, unsub.

Don't want to pay? Stop paying, unsub.

Want to play, aren't happy about the game? Unsub, go and voice your concerns to blizzard because it isn't on this fan site.

What makes you think I have not been on the official forums providing feedback?

Are you trying to tell me, that because this is a fan site, we can’t have a discussion about the negative elements of the game? That the only acceptable conversation here is an echo chamber of the die hard fan boys that don’t see room for improvement?

[Ladey Gags]

I have a feeling wow will go f2p/b2p soon, either towards the end of shadowlands or during the expansion after. The game is just not that popular anymore. A 15 year old version of it is doing better. I know blizzard is trying to milk it as much as possible but I think a different model will actually be more profitable for their greed in a not too distant future

[Ghostile]

I have a feeling wow will go f2p/b2p soon, either towards the end of shadowlands or during the expansion after. The game is just not that popular anymore. A 15 year old version of it is doing better. I know blizzard is trying to milk it as much as possible but I think a different model will actually be more profitable for their greed in a not too distant future

Id say I want to see where you pulled that "doing better" from, but considering the source is your ass, I wont