February 7: Blizzard Conference Call

[Mawnix]

It's an ABSOLUTE EXCUSE. It defends the developers BECAUSE THEY HAVEN'T INNOVATED ENOUGH. Nothing has been done to give the game any new life in mists. NObody in the god damned company had an idea except apparently pokemon and dailies. PHENOMENAL. I can IMAGINE the conversation that went on.

Hey man we need to give people something to do? and get them out into the world?
OH I KNOW DAILIES
*they all look at each other and nod*

DONE.

"My opinion reasoning is different than yours so it's an excuse."

If that's the approach we're going to take with a civil debate, then I'm done with it.

[Arbs]

See y'all in May !!! I'm gunna go play WoW now.

[Crashdummy]

No, it wasn't?
People have this natural reaction to ignore bullshit.

Yes, they make mistake after mistake.. We get it.
My mistakes get me dumped or kicked out of schools.
Their mistakes gets them a multibillion-dollar company.
I would gladly trade.

Actually, their mistakes makes them earn less money. They still make money, of course, just less that if they dont make this mistakes.

[BeastmasterGuardian]

9.6 million people still playing and running those dailies. They must be doing something right.

Anything above 5M is still a win considering the sad lapse in other MMO subs. Even those that went Free2Play are still losing people cause the freebies still need money to unlock all the subscriber content. (I'm talking to you, SWtOR)

After having come off the worst expansion ever that was Cataclysm, and introducing Panda's and Dailies (to an extreme), they still have almost 10M paying customers. My hats off to them. They won't listen to the community, cause in all honesty, most players have no idea WHAT they want

[RoKPaNda]

No, really, guys ... The sub numbers CAN'T go up to peak levels. Short of some kind of horrible and unspeakable dark bargains WoW is never going to be able to hit it's peak numbers again. The BEST that WoW can hope for is a stable number with bumps for major patches and expansions. That's it. That's the best it's going to get it being completely honest and realistic. Drops like this shortly after the release of an expansion shouldn't be a surprise, a lot of people don't play new games for very long. A lot of people do, but a lot of people don't as well.

It doesn't mean as much as some people seem to think. Look at EQ1 and EQ2. They're STILL going. WoW will be here and still going for a long time after it drops below the 1 million subs mark. The difference between WoW losing .5m people and a game like say ... SWTOR losing .5m people, is that for WoW 500,000 people is a dent, for SWTOR it was like 33% of their subscriber base.

Next quarter we'll either see a small bump back to 10m due to an exciting patch or we'll see more losses. It happens. The only place to go now is down. WoW is in a decline, it happens, it's not a problem for people that like the game.

[BenBos]

Actually, their mistakes makes them earn less money. They still make money, of course, just less that if they dont make this mistakes.

Actually Blizzard's yearly revenue was more than 1.6 billion dollars for 2012, a new record and UP with 400 million compared to last year.

[Crashdummy]

Or next quarter might be a 300k gain.

Or subscribers might be back at 12 million.

Or everyone quits the game.

Who knows.

Yeah, who knows what next quiarter will bring. All we know is that the start of MoP had roughly the same loss than the start of Cata, which is NOT a good thing.

[Mawnix]

Yeah, who knows what next quiarter will bring. All we know is that the start of MoP had roughly the same loss than the start of Cata, which is NOT a good thing.

My bad if I came off as rude or something to you, Crash. Thanks for at least being civil about this considering we kind of have differing opinions.

I'll wait and see before I pass my judgment on whether Mists is a financial success or not.

I highly doubt it'll be abysmal like Cata in the slightest.

[Crashdummy]

So we also have their revenue numbers?

Its irrelevant, even if their revenue growths. With 500k more subs, it would be higher.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Agreed, to be honest.

One thing I didn't put in there because I"m not sure they'd take that step, but I am pretty sure is inevitable is changing raid sizes.

Let's face it, 25-mans are on the decline along with the general raiding population. This is documented. Less than 30% of players raid, and even fewer yet Arena. If Thunderforged fails, expect Blizz to can 25-mans in Expansion V. Either they will go to just 10-man, or they'll add 5-man as a raid size and merge what we call dungeons and scenarios together as 3-man leveling content.

[SamR]

I dont have dummy accounts, and i dont consider 4.3 a failure. It was considered by the community though.

Which community? The community that thinks Cata lost subs because it was too casual? Or the community who thought Blizz went overboard with difficulty tuning and drove casuals away?

I can't speak for "the community", but looking on a chart it appears that 4.3 stopped the bleeding that had been happening in WoW before that patch. So in that sense, it was a success.

[melodramocracy]

Actually, their mistakes makes them earn less money. They still make money, of course, just less that if they dont make this mistakes.

Economics isn't your strong point, is it?

[Leonard McCoy]

"My opinion reasoning is different than yours so it's an excuse."

If that's the approach we're going to take with a civil debate, then I'm done with it.

It's has absolutely nothing to do with opinions or reasoning. If the developers actually had even an ounce of innovation then it wouldn't matter how old the game was BECAUSE IT WOULD BE FRESH AND DIFFERENT EACH EXPANSION. All the time. They counter this argument by saying well if we change to much then people are just as upset but that's a cop out I feel. It's basically were afraid to try anything new we don't want to rock the boat. What they did in mists was a regression. Your ABSOLUTELY right that WoW is an old game, and in mists it feels older than ever but that doesn't mean it HAS to be that way.

[Deleted]

400k in one quarter is a rather big loss, saying "it's nothing" puts you in the same boat as the people who were saying "2 million lost with ease" imo.

Since when 400k= 2 million?
Oh well, I guess that the predictions came true...wow managed to get down to a mere 9.6 million players. It;s just a matter of time till the next big mmo will surpass it....

[BenBos]

Its irrelevant, even if their revenue growths. With 500k more subs, it would be higher.

Yep the total year's revenue was more than 1.6 billion dollars for 2012: a NEW record also, the quarter earnings for on line games were higher, so it seems the western part made up for the too Chinese expansion in China...

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

How did VP not work? Furthermore farming heroic 5 mans IS BASICALLY WHAT WE DID IN CATA.... and the only thing EASIER in my opinion is daily quests...

This is HILARIOUS. Like if this were a couple of months ago and you posted this you'd have so many people saying NO NO NO NO NO DAILIES ARE THE BEST HERP but now the grim realization has set in. The writing is on the fucking wall, I told you people months ago.

A lot of people felt like they just ran their 7 dungeons on Tuesday, then logged off until their Saturday raid.

[Crashdummy]

Compared to what?
To any other MMORPG on the market? Yes, it blows them out of the water.

Compared to WoW. I dont care about other MMOs, of the oens i know they are worse than WoW. I care about WoW, and considering Cata started exactly like this and ended up with huge losses, this start is not a good sign for this expansion.

[Arbs]

Yep the total year's revenue was more than 1.6 billion dollars for 2012: a NEW record.

Victory !!

[TJ]

Since when 400k= 2 million?
Oh well, I guess that the predictions came true...wow managed to get down to a mere 9.6 million players. It;s just a matter of time till the next big mmo will surpass it....

You missed the point.

[Crashdummy]

Economics isn't your strong point, is it?

You dont think that with the same subs they have, plus 500k they wouldnt be making more money?

I think economics is not your strong point, my friend.