Are players from the original WoW community a minorty in WoW now?

[Guyviroth]

I don't know many people who've joined since Vanilla and are still playing besides me.

Though it is funny to see so many people try and be elitist in Trade by saying how they've been playing since Beta or whatever, and yet when you ask them what a reckoning bomb is they go silent.

[OzoAndIndi]

Just something I wondered lately.

I notice so many completely new players around me that I wonder if newer generations have taken over the torch from the "Original players" that started in the early years. And by new player I mean players that started in MoP and to a lesser extend in Cataclysm.

What do you guys think? Do you experience something simular?

P.s. please dont make this about what group is better etc., just focus on the main question

To some extent it prob is. Figure for many who started playing as young adults, life has probably changed a lot over the last nine years and some prob couldn't continue to play like they used or, if at all.

[Vayshan]

Just something I wondered lately.

I notice so many completely new players around me that I wonder if newer generations have taken over the torch from the "Original players" that started in the early years. And by new player I mean players that started in MoP and to a lesser extend in Cataclysm.

What do you guys think? Do you experience something simular?

P.s. please dont make this about what group is better etc., just focus on the main question

I chuckled the other day when I was in a group with someone who had been playing for 3 years and considered himself a veteran WoW player. He killed Deathwing normal just before MoP. Looking at how increasingly ridiculous and pathetic the unconstructive comments and the endless whining is getting on this and the official forums... Yh, I have to say the peasants have taken over.

I stopped believing the fairy tale that they're the vocal minority the day Cataclysm came out and quite rapidly the heroics were nerfed. Imagine you actually had to use your class abilities apart from the 5 you have on your action bars or pay attention. It's madness!

[derpkitteh]

i hope not, considering most of them tend to be assholes and have this belief they're superior just because they've been here longer.

[mellowconundrum]

Nearly everyone I played with through Vanilla and BC have quit.
I'm the only regular still playing. Some re-sub for a bit then quit, so now it's mostly just me soloing the old raids for xmog and remembering properly raiding them :S

[Thetruth1400]

Most of my friends stuck through the end of TBC. About half of them quit at some point in Wrath. About 25% of them were around at the beginning of Cataclysm, while only a handful stuck out to the end of Cata and still play today. Most of the people that started in Vanilla are in their mid 20s to pushing 30 now. They're often deep into their careers, lives, families, and what not and have no time.

The problem with that rational is that this game is more casual friendly then ever. If your hypothesis was correct, we'd see even more people playing then ever because not only would the game have drawn in an entirely new crowd as they came of age to play, but would have retained those slightly aged players because of the ease of everything. Finding an hour a week to play this game isn't that hard, even for families. In honesty, the game is tailored for that kind of player now. Dungeons are short enough to finish in 10 - 15 minutes, leveling is a joke, and raids are broken down into 3-4 boss sections which can be cleared in an hour. Even the busiest person alive could find the time to play WoW and see everything there is.

The game quality is the only thing that's suffered. Sure, a ton of quality of life improvements have been made, but that means nothing for the game play itself.

[Hitei]

I chuckled the other day when I was in a group with someone who had been playing for 3 years and considered himself a veteran WoW player. He killed Deathwing normal just before MoP. Looking at how increasingly ridiculous and pathetic the unconstructive comments and the endless whining is getting on this and the official forums... Yh, I have to say the peasants have taken over.

Please.
The playerbase has always been whiny and full of douchebags.

I have to say the peasants have taken over.

Case and point.
You're clearly part of the reason the wow community is toxic.

[Gothicshark]

Pure speculation and entirely unclear why you're presenting a normal distribution here.

That being said, there's no real evidence for the retention rates for certain types of players. It is entirely possible that 5m of the original 7-8m vanilla players are still playing and most of your players are vanilla veterans. Granted this is ludicrously unlikely, especially given the culture of the current playerbase. However, my point is that there is no firm evidence to be had here. Any theory will be speculation, and hence mathematical rigor has no place in this discussion.

Yes pure speculation since Blizzard never gives out that data, however based on known factors the speculation I make fits a model which can be tested. It makes logical sense from a sociological point of view, which means as for guesses it would be the most scientifically logical one.

You can make antenatal comments based on experiences, but that is not scientific reasoning.

What I failed to do which I will add to this post is give numbers based on my hypothesis.

~7m
Vanillia WOW: SD +2 (~2%) = 140,000 subscriptions
TBC: SD +1 (~14%) = 980,000 subscriptions
Wrath: Median (~68%) = 4,760,000 subscriptions
Cat: SD +1 (~14%) = 980,000 subscriptions
Mop: SD +2 (~2%) = 140,000 subscriptions

[Gaexion Ramza Beoulve]

In the beta female trolls looked like everquest trolls not the slinky jamaican goddesses they are today. it always tickles me pink when i see deviantart or w/e of sexy trolls or people who get way too into their toons...knowing what they are supposed to look like.

Additionally male BE were supposed to have a slender and sexy physique, not look like anglo luchadors with banana hands sorry if this is off topic.

Original vanilla player here...I am still 'around' I just do not play, for many various reasons.

[Alternategray]

I started a few months before BC, I only know a handful of people who are still on my server from back then. All the regulars are long gone. I have a full friendlist of people that haven't logged on since Wrath. My guild is a good example: 800 characters, 500 or so players total, about 20 somewhat active players currently. On a good day we'll have 10 or 11 players on. Edit: I should say the guild was formed in early 2007 and reached its peak in Wrath.

When I joined my server had a small horde pop and it's shrunk dramatically over the years while alliance has increased... some horde ended up transferring I'm sure (like the more serious raiders when things got bad), but it seems most quit. It'd be interesting to see what the realm population and faction imbalance is like on the servers who still have a big Vanilla/BC population (basically the ones who have retained the most players over the years).

[Gothicshark]

I should also show how this model can very in expected ways. Since the possibility of variation does exist, usually +- 2%

Weighted to vanilla/TBC players
6% 420,000
16% 1,120,000
65% 4,550,000
12% 840,000
1% 70,000

Weighted to Wrath
1% 70,000
12% 840,000
74% 5,180,000
12% 840,000
1% 70,000

Weighted to New
1% 70,000
12% 840,000
65% 4,550,000
16% 1,120,000
6% 420,000

You will see what ever the truth is, the odds are one of these is correct.

[klaps_05]

people quit and join every day - VERY few people actually have the interest or time to keep on playing since vanilla until now. I know i've done it, but outside of my guild pretty much everyone I knew in vanilla has quit.

[Xe4ro]

In the beta female trolls looked like everquest trolls not the slinky jamaican goddesses they are today. it always tickles me pink when i see deviantart or w/e of sexy trolls or people who get way too into their toons...knowing what they are supposed to look like.

Additionally male BE were supposed to have a slender and sexy physique, not look like anglo luchadors with banana hands sorry if this is off topic.

Original vanilla player here...I am still 'around' I just do not play, for many various reasons.

yeah ofcourse. everything has to look like in the early days. No Technical and Skill Progression should ever be allowed. :>

[Alternategray]

Imagine you actually had to use your class abilities apart from the 5 you have on your action bars or pay attention. It's madness!

I don't get it. I really don't. How are current dungeons fun or interesting in any way? How?! It's just a loot machine. Fun is when you accidentally pull a second group and it's a whirlwind of chaos trying to protect the healer while the tank tries to regain control and the hunter is trapping things while you fear a mob off another dps and break the fear with a searing flame before it can pull a third pack and somehow at the end of the madness there's two or three of you still standing because your group managed to down both (!) packs against all odds. And you managed it because you used your abilities creatively and on the fly, not because you eeked out an extra 1.34% dps using the same abilities over and over and over. I miss old dungeons; dangerous dungeons. There's no real reward without the danger of failure.

[Xeraxis]

Just something I wondered lately.

I notice so many completely new players around me that I wonder if newer generations have taken over the torch from the "Original players" that started in the early years. And by new player I mean players that started in MoP and to a lesser extend in Cataclysm.

What do you guys think? Do you experience something simular?

P.s. please dont make this about what group is better etc., just focus on the main question

How in the hell do you know if another player is new or not?

[Sithalos]

I'm still here.

And lordy it's a different game and culture entirely. For better and for worse.

Mostly for worse.

[Mormolyce]

Vanilla players have been a minority for a very long time.

I've been playing since 2009 and in that time I've seen about 4 whole "generations" of friends come and go. I'd say the vast majority of the WoW population turns over every year.

Out of my entire 25m guild that I'm in now, only 2-3 of them were in it when I joined in early Firelands. The rest are new. I quit raiding shortly after the release of HoF, and I don't recognise more than half of their current raiding roster.

[Feanoro]

@Fearnoro: No. ToC was awesome, because there was no trash. Raiding isn't about time wasted killing a wave of stupid mobs, it's about knowing boss mechanics and being quick enough to do what you're supposed to be doing, in coordination with other people. Sure, the scenery didn't change, but it was quite refreshing to be able to go from boss to boss, getting your earned loot without having to waste more time plowing through trash.

Oddly enough, I didn't say a word about ToC lacking trash.

[Xeraxis]

Vanilla players have been a minority for a very long time.

I've been playing since 2009 and in that time I've seen about 4 whole "generations" of friends come and go. I'd say the vast majority of the WoW population turns over every year.

Out of my entire 25m guild that I'm in now, only 2-3 of them were in it when I joined in early Firelands. The rest are new. I quit raiding shortly after the release of HoF, and I don't recognise more than half of their current raiding roster.

You're aware that just because you don't know them; that doesn't mean they are new to the game, right?

[Zdrasti]

Yes pure speculation since Blizzard never gives out that data, however based on known factors the speculation I make fits a model which can be tested.

This sentence is self contradictory. The rest of your post goes on to make up numbers, which would be great for testing your hypothesis, if your hypothesis could be tested -- which it cannot.