"There is a pervasive myth that making content hard will induce players to rise to the occasion. We find the opposite. " -- Ghostcrawler
"The bit about hardcore players not always caring about the long term interests of the game is spot on." -- Ghostcrawler
"Do you want a game with no casuals so about 500 players?"
I agree that 2014 will be rough for WoW in the same way that 2013 was, but not for the same reasons. Elder Scrolls Online? If the collective shrug its own fans made when it was announced is any indication, there's not that much deep seated interest in it. Even heavy fans of Morrowind and Skyrim aren't all that excited about an MMO of it, and that's a dangerous sign. Wildstar looks rather silly and cartoonier than WoW itself; it might get a devoted fanbase, but I doubt it will impact warcraft any more than SWTOR did.
But the real reason the year will be bad? Well, the first point is on-key. The long gap between updates will hurt. Like the last expansion, the lack of a narrative hook or easily told selling-points for this new expansion will hurt. And WoW has gotten old, and looks it. There's a point to where its mechanics and graphics are becoming too dated to compete, especially for a monthly fee, and that date for many has already arrived.
So yeah, the game is probably going to lose heaps more subscribers, if it hasn't already (and the recent Blizzard survey probably indicates it has), not because of the competition but because of intrinsic factors in the game which cannot be easily hedged against.
I have been playing wow for 9 years, and it's been just to boring as of late.I lost interest in pvp and raiding, all i do now is do my auction's and log out.Thankfully the d3 xpack is soon so i wont be bored for long
I have many fond memories of WoW, I suspect it will lose its number one status in 2014. It is too dated graphically, it is getting pretty creaky. Maybe the new expansion will hold that off another year, maybe...I guess it may lose big numbers until the expansion comes out and then regain a bunch, after that...I bet its a steep downhill for good.
Anyone counting on ESO or Wildstar to save them from their MMORPG slump will be disappointed. Neither game is anything special IMO and at most will only suck up a month or two of everyone's time before they go back to WoW (or quit MMORPGs altogether).
Hopefully someday a developer will finally figure out what makes a good (modern) MMORPG and make it.