'World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria' misses the mark with kung fu pandas

[Aucald]

One day WoW will die. The issue here, and the issue most people can't or won't understand, is that it's not going to a single thing that kills it... unless that "thing" falls under the definition of "time." WoW is already almost 10 years old, and this strange age of the Internet and the information age, that's basically the equivalent of well past retirement age. WoW's "peak" has come and gone, and while it lasted it was it most definitely a rush to be remembered. These are WoW's twilight years - it's basically cashing in Social Security checks, getting senior discounts at Denny's, and if it hasn't already made the move it's really looking into the real estate market in Florida. But MoP hasn't killed it, and TDB/WoD/Whatever the next expansion is certainly won't kill it. Every expansion and content patch breathes new life into the game, like a dose of blood pressure medication or a vitalizing treatment at a downtown spa. But each of these, over time, will deliver less and less life... until finally WoW settles into the somehow immortal state of torpor achieved by games like EverQuest, Asheron's Call, and Dark Age of Camelot.

At that time WoW will still be around, still be a thing to be played, just by a whole lot less people. Another game will have taken the crown of "top MMO," perhaps it will be Titan, maybe it'll be something by a new publisher fresh off the presses with new ideas and new technology. I find the bickering and speculating over sub losses to be some strange theater, because we know how its going to go down. Hell, we've seen it go down before with MMO's that have preceded it.

[Deleted]

Why is swagster not banned already? Just look at his name.

Fixed that for you

[Gangplank]

The game was shedding subs long before that. It started during the tail end of Wrath, and it hasn't ever recovered. It isn't the content that is driving people away. It's the MMO market in general. The target audience in 2004-2008 is now married with children and jobs. The current gaming consumer doesn't want the old style MMOs they want something that they can pick up whenever they want and put it back down for a while. MMOs aren't that kind of game...

This sums up my thoughts. I was a junior in college in 2004 when I bought my copy of WoW on release day. My interest in the game peaked right after Uldar, and I suddenly found myself playing less and less because "life" took priority. I completely quit in the first month or two of Cata.

When I have time to play something, I'm likely to play LoL because the time commitment is so much shorter if you aren't determined to be one of the best. I'm just a casual player and mostly stick to ARAM's now because I might only have less than an hour a night to play.

Do I sometimes think about WoW? Yes. And there are times when I think... maybe I'd like to revisit it. But then I remember those nostalgic times won't come back, and I'll just be playing a game that I'm not really interested in aside from possibly visiting familiar places (NElf and Draenei starting zones are very dear to me... I think it's the music and the general sense of wilderness/nature that I've always enjoyed).

[Venant]

The story and depth of meaning in MoP is far superior to any other expansion so far, however the narrative here was hijacked by a bunch of malcontents who misrepresent the entire expansion by relentlessly using the 'panda card.' Are pandas really any less ridiculous than magic space goats or undead vikings or living statue cat people? I think that most of the people who were bashing the game over pandas are self-haters, they are people who are in the proverbial closet because in their hearts they think that 'normal' non-video game playing people would think that playing a game where you slay electronic dragons makes you some sort of man-child.

[Transmigration]

an awful lot of people have voted in the last year via their subscription dollars.

You may be totally right that Pandaren had something to do with it, but..

I think it's due to:
a. culture shift. Many of the youth of today (the people who add new blood in to MMOs) are more in to games like CoD.
b. The older guys like me (29) are too busy for MMOs or finally have money/families to do other things with.
-Every single one of my rl friends I once played with quit MMOs altogether. I am the last of the group that still plays a few hours each week.
c. There are actually other options for good MMOs now, such as: FFXIV ARR (has 1.5 million subscribers now), Rift, TOR, and a slew of other free games.

WoW is a little tired now. A new expansion not involving "Kung Fu Pandas" may bring back some subscribers, and may even keep a few around until the end because of a more demon/legion based theme. It will not, however, change points a and b.

I don't think we'll ever see WoW operating with the same power that it once did simply because of time and other factors that are out of Blizzard's control.
I was excited for MoP, then I got bored in a first few months. I unsubbed because of that, the Pandaren part had no affect on my decision to play at all. I went to ARR when it came out and was really enjoying myself. Unfortunately they randomly banned a bunch of people for RMT, which some of us didn't take part in at all. I couldn't get a hold of customer service so close to launch, so I came back to Wow based on principal. I'm not saying I've never bought gold in a game, I did it quite a bit when I was younger. I haven't in many years though. Maybe the ban was karma, lol.

Anyway, I'll be playing WoW for a few more years I suspect. I just won't be subbed the whole time, just like many others.

tldr; Pandas did WoW in for a minority of the previous playerbase, but overall there are many other reasons that people don't play anymore.

[Deleted]

This sums up my thoughts. I was a junior in college in 2004 when I bought my copy of WoW on release day. My interest in the game peaked right after Uldar, and I suddenly found myself playing less and less because "life" took priority. I completely quit in the first month or two of Cata.

When I have time to play something, I'm likely to play LoL because the time commitment is so much shorter if you aren't determined to be one of the best. I'm just a casual player and mostly stick to ARAM's now because I might only have less than an hour a night to play.

Do I sometimes think about WoW? Yes. And there are times when I think... maybe I'd like to revisit it. But then I remember those nostalgic times won't come back, and I'll just be playing a game that I'm not really interested in aside from possibly visiting familiar places (NElf and Draenei starting zones are very dear to me... I think it's the music and the general sense of wilderness/nature that I've always enjoyed).

I was 13 or 14 when I started playing and I don't think I want to marry anyone or have children for at least 10 more years Still I guess it's true. I thought about resubscribing for a few months but MoP costs $40 + $30 for 2 months subscription maybe a little more than that because I doubt the next expansion will come out in 2 months, then at least $40 more for the expansion. Thats just too expensive and I dont think the game has enough to offer.

[Deleted]

I honestly enjoyed this expansion on the whole. I never really saw the architecture and cultural elements as Chinese, which is odd because I'm a bit of a sinophile irl. I got a lot of fun out of MoP, but that might be because I'm social and polite, along with not having the incessant need to compare myself to others or worry about what other people are doing in a game.

And frankly, I don't care that you didn't. End of the day, it's all relative, all opinions.