A controversial move by any company always has polarized results.
You and the person you quoted are perfect examples.
For a lot of us, Mists is the best expansion for the game to date.
But ALSO for a lot of us, Mists is the worst expansion for the game to date.
Because Blizzard took a risk and gave the game the breath of fresh air it needed, instead of following the usual model of us going around the world saving it like Superman or something of that nature, the game is taking some hits.
Blizzard should start a manifesto where every important thing should be addressed per Vox Populi.
And on a time scale, actively implement/change these 'things' without touching the content time scale.
They should hire extra if needed and if they want WoW to survive.
just my 2 cents.
More daily quests will sure help, keep cranking em out and gating, sometimes double gating valor gear!
YAY LETS ADD MORE DAILIES IM SURE READY FOR MORE
i bet this would raise the sub numbers.
right guys?
right?
guys?
g-g-guys...?
Until they add some kind of alternate advancement for max level characters (not just gear upgrades), I think we will continue to see a population decline. Everquest had AA points, same with EQ2, WoW (In my opinion) should do something similar (Path of the Titans?) to keep people playing their characters even after they have gotten best in slot gear. I know in EVerquest, once I had best in slot gear for the expansion, I was still on farming AA points to make my character more powerful.
Really dont have to look very far. There are hundreds of F2P chinese only games and the market is always volatile. The reality is a single game canot corner the asian market. That said MOBA games like LOL who offer great esports viewership and growing super fast in china (as a game is much faster then sitting down for a 2-3hr raid in WoW) and the dream to become a 'pro esports star' with an LCS Riot salary drams a ton of very skilled players (that hope to live the dream)
Stop blaming LFD and LFR. If you remove it, you will see a decrease in subs.
Not really
Eve maintains a stable subscription because it stays very true to what the game is about and who it's for. The developers are gamers themselves and retain its integrity, never selling out to break into a different subscriber market. Drives to increase sub numbers are conservative changes in game design, the long term players are never undermined by cheap ploys to inflate sub numbers.
Wow on the other hand is a fast food product, it's been shaped by businessmen for maximum profit. The problem is long term subscribers must deal with lowest-common denominator blandness. Blizzard have a sub-population of consumers, little loyalty, quitting often, visiting MOP for a few months as a tourist. Imo wow is an unstable frankenstein at this point, and is very different from healthy stable games like EVE.
Holy moly, didn't expect that much. Cause i knew they had lost alot of subscribers... But not that many. I mean, a game won't be on top forever... So i knew at one point WoW would loose players. But 1,3million!?
So MoP lost about 1 million sub in 6 month.
Optimistic will say that's because the game is old, but it's still huge and the #1
Pessimistic will say MoP is in route to be the worst expansion of wow in term of growing or maintening the subs
The one question that is on my mind is, despite the age of wow, could they have done soomthing different, both in game design or technically, to prevent or lower such loss.
The future of wow is harder than ever, i'm not saying wow is dying, i don't believe it. In fact i believe it will still be there in 2020n everquest still is after all. No, i'm saying the future of wow is tough, concurent MMO are on the horizon, the market is learning on the success and failure of past MMO. Developer from all company learn lesson from rift, swtor, wow, guild wars.
I think blizzard should hurry with titan release now, it is not unthinkable that they finish 2013 with 5 millions sub or less.
not surprising and simply the result of
- too much of a focus on dailies
- charms
- too much of a focus on daililes
- boring leveling content
- too much of a focus on dailies, and hiding necessary item behind rep grinds
- no new 5 mans
- too much of a focus on dailies
- too much of a focus in scenarios
and of course screwed perception of Blizzard that dailies are content the people enjoy.
I'll just keep raiding and try to have fun until Blizz closes WoW at 5m subscriber cause Activision doesnt deem it profitable anymore :<
edit: also telling people you'd look into "really account wide" heirlooms and still not having a workable solution after 3 years does not help much :O
Last edited by mmoc4b8d679785; 2013-05-08 at 09:15 PM.