Originally Posted by
Laumann
Except it wasn't an analysis it was pure speculation as it dismisses any other possible source for sub loss. All you have stated is.... 'I think it was shit, so we lost subscriptions because of that.' Completely dismissing the obvious arguments such as, older players having families and finding no time, people just becoming bored with WoW itself since its so old and WoW's failure to bring in new players because the hype has ebbed in the social consciousness causing a net flow to the minus? Or even the fact that people are just tired with it? No... it must be because the content and story which you labeled as not as good as previous as the reason to the downfall, totally dismissing any alternatives and not even addressing the fact that it is purely your own opinion that you've nailed to the crucifix of WoW.
Yes. on the flipside perhaps the story in WOTLK and TBC was so good that people were prepared to overlook the problems with flight, and its only since as you've described that 'the story and content are shit' (paraphrased) that the issue of flight has came up and the community can see that its pros and cons are somewhat unbalanced. You also leave out possible explanations such as product life cycle and media hype, see paragraph 1.
It can very well be the latter and not the former, but it is still pure speculation, backed only by a quirky anecdote and should not be lauded as truth like you are some sort of guru whose personal preferences on what constitutes 'good content' or 'good story' is an absolute truth that others share as a majority. I must add though that since it is purely subjective that personally I enjoyed MoP far more than I did TBC, to me the story and content was more compelling. I though, know that my personal opinion on the matter has no place being elevated to some lofty position. Don't be like that, simply because you did not like the content, does not give you the right to stamp it as the defining reason of WoWs decline. I did not say flying mounts caused the decrease in subscription numbers, and I never will.
It's interesting the way you use the word immersion. You seem to be in the mindset that immersion means one singular thing and any other definition which deviates from your narrow viewpoint must therefore be invalid. I had not intended to bring this up at this point as I have been drinking heavily since I got home, but since it reared its head I will throw this into the fray.
<Edit, cant post links at the moment you heathens, but do a search, look at the first few 'immersion'>
Not cherry picked but what a quick search on the definition would be. All have the common theme "Deep mental involvement." For some reason many people have come to the conclusion that immersion seems to be a synonym of 'realistic' (within the bounds of the world), or 'believable'. That for some reason immersion has the conclusion of "I believe I am there." This singular belief is quite outrageous, and although I do understand words have a chance to evolve and come to mean other things, to stick to one definition and damn all others is a dishonest way to conduct yourself.
Now it is purely my opinion that flight is immersion breaking in the way that it detaches the player from the landscape and that player no longer has a deep mental involvement in his surroundings. He now has one goal, to reach his next objective whatever that may be. He no longer has to pass between the gates of Gaar'nesh or traverse the slippery slopes of doom-ice mountain. He can simply go in one direction and drop down.
Whether or not that's how you want to play the game is not my concern, it seems to be for Blizzard though, and although there are good arguments for such a system where you can do this, to say it does not break 'immersion' in the context of involvement with your environment well there I disagree with you, and I do think it is an argument that can be made. Of course I have no desire to push my agenda on any person but to wave your hand away and dismiss the immersion argument by the grace of one singular definition well then I can give my opinions on the matter and enlighten others with a different slant on the matter which still comes from a logical background and not purely from my own imagination.
"I'm right, you're wrong." Yes, very good logical argument there, which is the crux of my argument from the beginning, I did not say whether you are right or wrong or what was the reality of the situation. I had given a statement that what you said on those lines had no place in your logical assessment on the status of WoW. The opinion that Blizzard had written a bad story and failed to deliver content that you found compelling is very much your own personal feelings on the matter. Although you gave a statement which gives one possible explanation to the decline of WoW, and it could very well be the truth of the matter, to pass it off as gospel is hideously self reverential. Not everybody shares your tastes, a point which people frequently bombard at many different groups in the WoW community as they should too.
I don't pretend to know the solution to WoW's problems and I can only speculate to what they are, you seem to like to tell me what they are, and I do not want that crammed into my fizzogg.