Will WoW ever go F2Play?

[Pikachu93]

I do believe WoW will go free to play but not for a LONG time. I think when the subs drop to in the 20-500k mark blizzard will probably reduce/eliminate the monthly fee. I don't think they will close down the game completely given that the Diablo and Starcraft 1 servers are still up and running. Personally I do believe when WoW does go free to play no one will want to return/join because everyone who wanted to play has already jumped on the train. The newer generation will probably see WoW like we see older MMORPGs; amazing when they were released, but outdated compared to their standards.

[stuck4cash]

But hey lets not forget the other big sub mmo "Rift" that has been releasing content at a way faster rate then wow and has a way lower pop then it. hell they just released a new raid like 2 months after there new xpac and in another 2 months or so going to release another content update.

Not to bash Rift at all but it's not a fair comparison.

1. WoW has a *lot* bigger code base. Therefore it's much harder to test and release solid (low game breaking bug count relative to the game's size) patches which Blizzard still seems to be doing at a decent rate.
2. Rift isn't putting in unproven features that WoW does almost every patch. (They've put in some very solid features of there own, but not at the same rate).

It's simply not fair to compare a game that is over 8 years old to one that is less than 2 years old.

[Jtbrig7390]

It's simply not fair to compare a game that is over 8 years old to one that is less than 2 years old.

Ok going to call bullshit on all this because that is what everyone dose when a MMO release's is compare it to wow. But when something gets compared to it and wins people go oooo its 8 years old you can't compare. total bs.

Blizzard has ran wow for 8 years they know how its coding works and how far they can push it. It is not hard for them to make content at the same rate as rift they just refuse to because they know they will keep a huge amount of players even if they don't pull out lots of content.

Its blizzard being lazy and knowing that can get away with it nothing more and nothing else.

"was not really trying to turn this into a bash wow thing but my point is proven each day wow is still around"

[Veiled Shadow]

It's simply not fair to compare a game that is over 8 years old to one that is less than 2 years old.

This is of course true, but does it matter? No. People will subscribe to the best game around, and if WoW is superior to Rift because it's been out for 8 years, people will subscribe to WoW, rather than wait for Rift to catch up.

[Banzhe]

Personally I think if anything will effect wow is the f2p system. Cata came out and was shit wow lost 3 million subs and those subs ether quit or went to other games.

So now if blizzard drops the ball again how much of a sub lost will wow get.

Its a mix of the f2p system+blizzard fuck ups that hurts wow.

Also remember why pay 15$ a month when another mmo can give you the same amount of content if not a bit more for free.

Wow did lose 3 million during Cata, not because other games did anything special, but because Cata was so shit as you pointed out, however.., with the release of MoP it also gained 2 million+ subs again, I don't for 1 moment think that's all new players as you describe (Mainly because I know at least 5 of those was Tbc players returning:P)

The bolded section is probably the most important part, name 1 game that's f2p that gives the same amount of content.., and not just content that's the same but with more of it, diversity is a great trade in WoW as it is, and I'm pretty sure that with the next set of sub-numbers they release, there will be an ever so slight increase without including China or any of the Eastern marked

[Preliatus]

I personally think that when Titan gets out there and launched that only then WoW can move to a Buy to Play system like GW2. Have an item shop with mostly cosmetic items like.. Tabards and boosts that give enhanced XP gain, Reputation Gain, Crafting Speed (Craft things FASTER), and other items like buying Expansions with either gold or WoW's store currency.

WoW Should only have this happen when Blizzard has Titan released.

[PhoenixC13]

Yeah I agree Titan will probably kill off wow, force them to change billing on wow or both game for a discount.

[Frizzlewits]

perhaps some day, when the amount of ppl playing is so low and only a few servers left (if they ever shut down servers)
and might keep it running for the remaining ppl. but no more new x-packs most likely.
we do not know what blizz is planning.

[Jtbrig7390]

Wow did lose 3 million during Cata, not because other games did anything special, but because Cata was so shit as you pointed out, however.., with the release of MoP it also gained 2 million+ subs again,

Wrong when cata ended WOW was at 9 million subs when MOP came up it went to 10million thats only 1 million back.

What its current sub number is at is unknown but i highly dough it got much higher if at all.

I'm pretty sure that with the next set of sub-numbers they release, there will be an ever so slight increase without including China or any of the Eastern marked

Also Highly dough the western market got higher with MOP and if it did its not by much. Hell there is only around 3.5mil subs in the western market.

Wow has reached a point where the gain in subs will be low if at all and that is due to the fact the MMORPG market has a set number and there is not as many people flooding in to play a MMORPG like back in 2004-2008 or early'er.

Even blizzard came out and said there is way less subs now then the total amount of people who has played wow. So when you have fished most of the fish out of the lake you start to notice how much is left in it.

[Orbitus]

Wrong when cata ended WOW was at 9 million subs when MOP came up it went to 10million thats only 1 million back.

What its current sub number is at is unknown but i highly dough it got much higher if at all.


Also Highly dough the western market got higher with MOP and if it did its not by much. Hell there is only at most 3.5mil subs in the western market.

Wow has reached a point where the gain in subs will be low if at all and that is due to the fact the MMORPG market has a set number and there is not as many people flooding in to play a MMORPG like back in 2004-2008 or early'er.

Even blizzard came out and said there is way less subs now then the total amount of people who has played wow. So when you have fished most of the fish out of the lake you start to notice how much is left in it.

I think you are personally trying too hard. No game has as much content or more content that wow has. Neither do they have the enormous amount of servers that WoW has. 236 realms and 6 servers per realm. Devs for D3, SC2, Titan, and WoW all being paid for by the money they make from subs. Not to mention the support staff and GMs. Those things don't come cheap. So I am betting most of the money is required for the salaries and rentals for the game servers.

There is only 51 servers for GW2, I would bet there are less than 200k people playing it by now. GW1 was awful I had it and the first expansion and it was boring. One of the reasons why I didn't waste my time with GW2. Everyone in my guild that bought it thinking GW2 was going to be a replacement WoW pretty much all quit within the first month.

As for your EQ1 and 2 comments. Wow where to start. I played EQ2 when it first came out for a few months with friends and it was ok until they all quit. Then when it went free to play I thought I would give it a try. I couldn't play my character anymore because it was one of the restricted class and race combinations now. It was a Ratonga Assassin. I submitted a ticket and they allowed me to play it again but when I logged onto it I couldn't use half of his gear anymore. They don't allow you to use the legendary gear anymore unless you buy the content pack to use that again. As soon as I saw that I closed it and uninstalled it again. Not worth the time and money to be able to use my crafted legendaries and my class rewards. It may have all the content but you get shafted on it.

So again I tell you until a game can rival wow in content and players it will never go free to play. Also from seeing the thread so far I don't blame people for quitting when it does go free to play. That's when games die.

[Poizo]

It will go freemium, Blizzard is too greedy for F2P even if there's just 1-2 more expansions left

[Jtbrig7390]

I think you are personally trying too hard. No game has as much content or more content that wow has.

In many threads already it has been shown that Rift has just as much content as wow if not a bit more now. It isn't that I'm trying to hard I am just stating the facts that have been given time and time again.

I'm done replying about Wow vs "put game here" cause its off topic.

---------- Post added 2013-01-14 at 08:51 AM ----------

It will go freemium, Blizzard is too greedy for F2P even if there's just 1-2 more expansions left

I agree or at lease go b2p.

[Alvito]

I really doubt it will anytime soon if ever. Right now things are good enough with WoW that they can charge a subscription fee and have a game shop. Sure it doesn't sell anything you need or boost like most f2p games cash shops do. Blizzard gets to double dip things are soo good right now, most games struggle to get ppl to bite on one thing in WoW they happily pay both. Hell the little fire cat pet just made 2+ million dollars in about a month, sure it was being donated but that gives you an idea of how much they make on similiar pets or mounts.

[Seranthor]

Wrong when cata ended WOW was at 9 million subs when MOP came up it went to 10million thats only 1 million back.

What its current sub number is at is unknown but i highly dough it got much higher if at all.


Also Highly dough the western market got higher with MOP and if it did its not by much. Hell there is only around 3.5mil subs in the western market.

Wow has reached a point where the gain in subs will be low if at all and that is due to the fact the MMORPG market has a set number and there is not as many people flooding in to play a MMORPG like back in 2004-2008 or early'er.

Even blizzard came out and said there is way less subs now then the total amount of people who has played wow. So when you have fished most of the fish out of the lake you start to notice how much is left in it.

Lets see you produce the numbers from Cata start... THAT is where you count your numbers from... as far as your claim that there are only 3.5M subs in the western market.. prove it. Otherwise, your just making shit up.

[Jtbrig7390]

Lets see you produce the numbers from Cata start... THAT is where you count your numbers from... as far as your claim that there are only 3.5M subs in the western market.. prove it. Otherwise, your just making shit up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_o...#Subscriptions

Even with the success of Cataclysm, World of Warcraft saw a gradual decline in subscribers through 2011. Following the release of Cataclysm, subscription levels reached a peak of 12 million subscribers but soon dropped to pre-Cataclysm levels of 11.4 million by the end of March, 2011.In early November, 2011, subscriptions declined even further to 10.3 million users.In 2012, the subscription numbers stabilized at around 10.2 million users, holding steady for two consecutive quarters. On August 2nd, 2012 it was revealed that subscription numbers had continued to decline, landing at an approximate 9.1 million subscribers.

There ya go and if that dose not work for ya feel free to google it or look at the post's even on this site about the sub number count.

And as I said WOW only got back around 1 million of the subs it lost from cata. Maybe a bit more or a bit less now depending on the next sub report.

Also you have the 3 main sub locations US/EU/China if you split the sub group three ways its around 3.5mil each one if the sub is 10.5mil subs. It was posted awhile back China holds a huge amount so "Random number here" If china has 3.5mil+ EU/US would have around 3.5million each Depending the total number.

So for me to say US is about 3.5mil subs is nearly 100% right could be a bit higher or low depending the current sub count but 3.5mil is not a to wild of a guess.

Edit: Anymore questions to me that is not about would wow ever go f2p please google your question because I will not be derailing this thread anymore then it already is.

[Seranthor]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_o...#Subscriptions


There ya go and if that dose not work for ya feel free to google it or look at the post's even on this site about the sub number count.

And as I said WOW only got back around 1 million of the subs it lost from cata. Maybe a bit more or a bit less now depending on the next sub report.

Also you have the 3 main sub locations US/EU/China if you split the sub group three ways its around 3.5mil each one if the sub is 10.5mil subs. It was posted awhile back China holds a huge amount so "Random number here" If china has 3.5mil+ EU/US would have around 3.5million each Depending the total number.

So for me to say US is about 3.5mil subs is nearly 100% right could be a bit higher or low depending the current sub count but 3.5mil is not a to wild of a guess.

Edit: Anymore questions to me that is not about would wow ever go f2p please google your question because I will not be derailing this thread anymore then it already is.

Show me the actual Blizzard numbers. Personally whether its 7 million or 12 million it doesn't make a damn difference. Blizzard isn't going to shoot themselves in the foot and go F2P just because a bunch of cheapskates cry about it. again, Sir, if you cant provide the actual Blizzard numbers, then you arent giving us the facts, you are making shit up. Sorry. I cant and wont belive you.

You keep harping on EQ. They never had more than 3M subs... they went well over 12 years before they went F2P. When was the last time Blizzard had 3M Wow subs? Think about it. Stop making up shit and think logically. Instead of trying to spin everything into what you want everyone to believe.

[Deleted]

many MMOs experience massive profits once they go f2p.

from "no profit" to "some profit" can be even 1000% massive increase, and still be amount Blizzard could only laugh at.

[dejec1989]

I guess if that was going to happen it would be some time after Titan has come out and blizzard can see how much Titan has taken away from WoW.

[Dungeonravor]

F2Play = Pay to Win so hope it will never go F2Play, cause all the games I have seen that done are utherly garbage.

[MrSerious]

gw2 even though its F2P are making truck loads of cash through the store, so much in fact that the banks are contacting people that play GW2 and are asking whether the amount they are spending is legitimate.

And because of this huge influx of cash they manage to release new content every month, dungeons, gear, pets, battlegrounds, new areas, creatures etc. This month they are releasing basically an 'expansions' worth of free content and another to be release next month. All sub free. Meanwhile for WoW and your $15 a month you have got more dailies, some pets and mounts...

So for people that think for one second that a sub game is the only way to insure quality needs to open their eyes.