Backlash opening new doors?

[Lahis]

more importantly they need a real customer support, not just bots that permaban you because you were caught in a false positive, and then having GMs that tells you 4 different things for each one you talk to

No corporation will spend money on customer support when they can automate it.

[tru]

I doubt if they can add any of those things. I largely expect they will go with their plan because their development process doesn't allow them all that much flexibility.

If you are somehow believing that WoW is dead or dying, it isn't and the thread is liable to be closed because of it.

"No king rules forever"

Blizzard could very well do ANY of the things he listed...because that takes less time to do vs make a new xpac like the MEGA DROUGHT the game is about to have. Unless you think selfie camera is worthy of another patch...Tied in with snipchap with 9001 filters.


Honestly ask yourself how many players the game would have if it wasn't for the classic versions.

[Lodreh]

The only acceptable thing would be for WoW to go to a F2P maintenance mode. Behind the scenes everything is overhauled to make the code more streamlined and modular. When 10.0 launches (in 3-5 years) all existing characters are imported... huge swaths of customization is available... new classes included. Not sure the game would ever recover from a 3-5 year hiatus but if it ironed out what a lot of people is dislike and gave more options I feel most would give it a chance.

[Redmage]

So... to the people who are excited the game might go free to play:

Lots of people are unhappy with the current state of the game and rate / quality of new content when blizzard is making $15 /month times however many million subs they allegedly still have.

What quality of content do you think you will get if that drops to $0/month?

[Lahis]

So... to the people who are excited the game might go free to play:

Lots of people are unhappy with the current state of the game and rate / quality of new content when blizzard is making $15 /month times however many million subs they allegedly still have.

What quality of content do you think you will get if that drops to $0/month?

FF14 didn't have a sub fee while they were remaking the game into AAR.

[LunchBoxOC]

This is a great thread, ive enjoyed reading it

[Cracked]

So... to the people who are excited the game might go free to play:

Lots of people are unhappy with the current state of the game and rate / quality of new content when blizzard is making $15 /month times however many million subs they allegedly still have.

What quality of content do you think you will get if that drops to $0/month?

I'll put it this way, I don't, in the slightest, feel like the game deserves my $15 a month, but it gives me some enjoyment every now and again, so I begrudgingly pay it, because unless I do, I lose access completely. Many games deliver content at $0, the reason this bullshit still flies for WoW is historical, because it sure as shit ain't the quality of the service that we get.

[Kevyne-Shandris]

Just saying that you clearly have an anti-teacher agenda that you're shoving into this argument. There are tons of institutional investors in Blizzard, picking that one and focusing on it, then changing the subject to a completely different topic, is very silly.

Most people aren't teachers with axes to grind, either.

Hey, Teacher, did you READ your lesson yesterday?

https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...1#post53311644

!! WACK !!

[Doffen]

Well, seeing the company gets some newfound morals and people are going to be nicer, what better time would it be to remove the bitter hatred between the Horde and the Alliance than in these times?

Cross faction play in the whole game, do it already.

[AngerFork]

Do you know something I don't? Last I checked Turalyon was the interim leader of stormwind, no one crowned him high king.

He is the interim leader, but not just of Stormwind. Currently he is "Regent & Protector of the Realm," which is basically the person in charge of the Alliance, not just Stormwind. It's largely the role Bolvar played while Anduin came of age & Varian was lost. He even specifies Alliance citizens as opposed to Stormwind citizens in a quote after he takes the role.

In King Anduin's absence, I have been entrusted with the protection of Alliance citizens.

It feels like lifetimes ago that I helped a young Varian Wrynn secure his throne. Now I am charged with keeping it safe for his son.

The Fourth War took a terrible toll on the Alliance. Our military might has been depleted. Stormwind's nobles are keen to see our defenses restored.

Reclaiming Stromgarde was a good first step. Perhaps there are other holdings of the old Alliance that could be secured.

[phattsao]

Ultimately, it will hurt the rank and file employees the most.

The big public show is tanking the stock price. Who's going to take the hit? Spoiler alert: it won't be management.

Even if they fire one of the big guys, they'll get some kind of multi-million dollar golden parachute on the way out. But the regular joe employees will see wage freezes and jobs not replaced when people quit. The end result will be more work for less pay.

[Elestia]

In all likelihood:

Realm restrictions end - character transfers become free / unnecessary
Faction changes become free
Possibly faction restrictions end with fewer and fewer players


What they're not going to to:
Do anything that is actually attractive enough to compel people to resub. I mean sure, applaud the 2 people that will play their Vulpera DHs just to be stupid - that kind of crap will only make the game worse. None of the substance of the content actually gets any better, band aid incentives only help the game implode.

[wrynil]

I quite enjoy the game at the moment. Also not really following this whole thing.

[Cæli]

No corporation will spend money on customer support when they can automate it.

they will if it makes their profits higher
at this point I think it can

[Nyel]

On the contrary, I'm of the impression that the release date of 10.0 is irrelevant so long as it promises to be big. Let's say, hypothetically, that 10.0 will be the largest expansion to date but won't release until mid 2023. In terms active players, it's true that WoW might as well be dead a few months after whatever the last Shadowlands patch will be.

...but all it takes is a big marketing push for "the largest expansion to date," and plenty of people will show up by the time it comes out. At least that's what the precedent suggests. I'm not saying it's ideal for 10.0 to come out so late, but I'd rather it release good than fast, and I think most people would agree in the long run.

This worked for Legion after their only fail at that time. I doubt this would have similar effects when the playerbase has shrunken massively due to how poorly BfA and Shadowlands has been received plus the internal turmoil that will plague Blizzard for the next months, at least.

People were already leaving Shadowlands in droves before 9.1. 9.1 was anything but capable of bringing them back or raising interest. No imagine Shadowlands being live for two (!) more years from this point. There will be nobody left for the next expansion and the amount of interested players will also be very small. As I said, time is working against Blizzard in this case. They could stretch and extend an admired expansion like Legion, but they cannot stretch something like Shadowlands that’s been already disliked heavily after it’s first 8 months. I just cannot imagine how players could stand the Maw and Torghast for two more years. To think about this stuff 6 months in the future already makes it hard for me to see, but 1 year or even 2? Just lol.

[Hansa7]

I think a new character model will open soon.

[crabmousse]

I'd love to be proven wrong but the backlash will do nothing positive. Rather than put power in the hands of passionate people who want to improve the game, I would imagine that they'll systemically find ways to dismiss anyone who made a loud noise about this issue in the first place. Not obviously, but with pressure, coercion, constructive dismissals - all diffused over enough time that they can claim ignorance. Worker protection is a joke in the USA, there's talk about unionisation, so I wouldn't be surprised if they just shutter the studio and transfer the intellectual property somewhere else. In any case, expect a greater deal of Activision to leak into the games.

[MoanaLisa]

they will if it makes their profits higher
at this point I think it can

Live customer support is a done thing. I have no idea how it would make the game more profitable to add back in live worldwide customer support. I'm trying to imagine an ad saying "Subscribe to World of Warcraft now with Live Customer Support" and having difficulty believing that would make any difference at all.

Even paying a country's minimum wage for game masters, etc. scale that up to the entire planet and it's really expensive.

I lament that they've done away with most of that but now that it's gone I don't think that reinstating it is going to bring anyone back.

[pahbi]

I left about 6 months after 9.0 came out, and saw absolutely nothing in 9.1 to make me want to go back.

If enough folks vote with their wallets, maybe some interesting things might happen, otherwise I would expect Blizz to just keep along the current path its on.

[Cæli]

Live customer support is a done thing. I have no idea how it would make the game more profitable to add back in live worldwide customer support. I'm trying to imagine an ad saying "Subscribe to World of Warcraft now with Live Customer Support" and having difficulty believing that would make any difference at all.

Even paying a country's minimum wage for game masters, etc. scale that up to the entire planet and it's really expensive.

I lament that they've done away with most of that but now that it's gone I don't think that reinstating it is going to bring anyone back.

they can make a premium option with real customer service, and many will gladly subscribe to save them living through the mess that is current blizzard CS
frankly current CS is a joke and bad CS can kill a company
you can't repeatedly disrespect your customers and expect to hold them forever, it's just irrational