After playing the game, do you agree with Blizzard's expected "steep drop-off"?

[Vampyrr]

No one who has a brain thinks its going to die as that is highly unlikely however it will suffer severe drops and the data supports that. Even if the queue goes to 10 that's still 10 over the maximum the server can support. But large quantities have dropped and will continue to drop and most can agree that is expected.

[ZazuuPriest]

i expect drop off once people hit 60 and have to actually do content for a chance at gear, then i expect a lot of people to come back in phase 2 for PvP

[Littleraven]

Once more people get to level cap it will for sure drop off. I'm personally only playing because I am having fun leveling again from ground zero. I do this even in the "live" game though.

Once people run out of content it will take a huge dive I think. There will be the hardcore who still want to raid but endgame was not even remotely the same then as it is now.

[Sneek]

bait topic number 24

[Fred Skinner]

No doubt. They also had the numbers, though, that caused them to state they expect a 10% retention rate. So unless the game had 5,000,000 players I'm not sure we'll see a stable playerbase of 500k. I think the 100-200k range is more likely.

Which is still a success.

If i could take a guess, classic reboot had initially more players than retail ever had. But if i could take a second guess, that halved already.

[brt2pp]

yes, i start loosing intrest and i haven't even reached lvl 60, i know many people does to, most people i was in guild are now offline, only 2 others remained, i doubt many people that started playing 2 weeks ago are still playing

[Daffan]

Im a Classic fanboy and this game is for me the one and only game i will be playing for months to come.
And even though i used to get mad everytime i read Blizzard's "we expect a steep drop-off in interest"...after playing the game, i have to say i agree with them.

I dont think i need to repeat myself but this game is for me the best thing in videogame history, yet i think its only for incredibly patient people.
And do you think the majority of the current market is "incredibly patient"? In the age of "zoomers"? I dont think so...imo.

This is all a personal opinion after playing the game AND thinking to myself...there is no way the rest of the world enjoys the same things i do.
Even though im enjoying it like crazy, i dont believe todays market enjoys the things a 30y old me enjoys.

And im "ok" with this.
I dont need Classic to be a success to prove anything to others. I just want it to exist so i can play it with other people who also enjoy it.

What is your opinion after playing the game and CONSIDER in your opinion the current market of videogames?

Classic would've lasted longer for more people if the ultra easy content didn't exist/was fixed/1.12meme. The entire appeal of Classic was the long linear progression that mattered and felt good in all areas (crafting, dungeons and raids) thanks to a perceived difficulty/harshness. Classic 1.12 and their memory does not mix well.

Day 5 Rag signaled a collective effort/time devaluation for many people psychologically and they started clocking out as they foresee a reduced Dopamine payoff (inb4 "But they didn't do it, how can it affect them!?).

It'l be decently steep for sure.

[phattsao]

It will take a deep dive in a month or so, due to lack of endgame outside raids

That's the BFA mindset. Most people still won't even be 60 in a month. And the ones that are aren't going to be walking around in full epics. They don't just rain loot from the sky in vanilla, even if you really are clearing MC in a month, you're still only getting one piece of loot every couple of weeks or so if you're lucky.

This is also the time when we make our own fun. Tarren Mill vs Southshore etc, raiding capital cities, etc. It may shock the retail crowd to learn there are fun things to do that don't give rewards.

[Worgenmaniac]

In our Disc group for server weve had ppl track queue I will post the results for you.
Queue Start Times
8/27 - 08:56 AM
8/28 - 09:52 AM
8/29 - 12:22 PM
8/30 - 12:45 PM
8/31 - 11:35 AM
9/1 - 11:30 AM
9/2 - 11:21 AM
9/3 - 3:50 PM (Verizon Outage)
9/4 - 4:35 PM
9/5 - 5:21 PM (Transfers Opened)
9/6 - 5:02 PM
9/7 - 2:24PM // 7:48 PM (DDoS)
9/8 - 1:54 PM // 3:58 PM (DDoS)

Queue Peaks
8/27 - 17,400
8/28 - 13,000
8/29 - 10,000
8/30 - 8,800
8/31 - 7,800
9/1 - 8,200
9/2 - 9,400
9/3 - 7,600 (Verizon Outage)
9/4 - 6,600
9/5 - 4,900 (Transfers Opened)
9/6 - 4,700
9/7 - 3,000 (DDoS)
9/8 - 4,900 (DDoS)

With the exception of yesterday and saturday due to ddos skewing things there is an obvious trend.

Blizzard also increased the server capacity. It cut queue times in half.

[SkagenRora]

lets be fair, anyone that didn't expect a steep drop off after a hyped up beginning for a 15 year old game was delusional.

There were a lot of people who thought Classic would overtake retail tho.. and blizzard would start building ontop of Classic instead

[Acolyyte]

I highly doubt the game will hold down customers for any considerable length of time.

Paying 15 dollars a month for questing that's years outdated and dungeons and raids that have a definite end? And for what? The pleasure of grinding all the while?

That's not what's popular today, nor do I see any indication that it's going to go back to it. And I'm sure some people will get to the point where it just becomes their "turn off their brain" activity and play the game for some time to come, like with Diablo 2. But that's going to be a very small number of people.

Here's all the things that are dumb about this comment!

1: "questing that's years outdated" Classic quests have the exact same DNA as retail, with the exception of the insufferable vehicle quests and bejeweled bullshit that retail foists upon us. On top of that, completing a classic quest is far more satisfying, as it likely required a lot more effort.

2: "Dungeons and Raids that have a definite end" This is unequivocally a good thing. A game having an end goal is not only perfectly satisfying, but something that almost every other video game has. I'm totally fine with content drying up after naxx (although there has been some buzz about BC servers someday, complete with character migration).

3: "That's not what's popular today." Uh, literally all my wow friends and the thousands and thousands of people happily playing on the roughly 75 classic servers would probably disagree with you. People are rediscovering what an actual MMORPG should feel like, and what having a wonderful, nurturing, friendly community looks like, as opposed to the toxic waste dumps of retail WoW, overwatch, and fortnite host. I think there will be a drop, but not nearly what the naysayers think.

Classic is the return of true class identity and community. It feels so good, and it feels even better knowing there are people like you out there, squealing, railing against the success of something that doesn't coddle your tender sensibilities. Classic will continue to be a strong community for years to come, and hopefully blizz will see that and reincorporate some of things that make classic so special back into the retail version of the game.

- - - Updated - - -

That's the BFA mindset. Most people still won't even be 60 in a month. And the ones that are aren't going to be walking around in full epics. They don't just rain loot from the sky in vanilla, even if you really are clearing MC in a month, you're still only getting one piece of loot every couple of weeks or so if you're lucky.

This is also the time when we make our own fun. Tarren Mill vs Southshore etc, raiding capital cities, etc. It may shock the retail crowd to learn there are fun things to do that don't give rewards.

This is exactly the draw of Classic. You work for your loot. You wait. You hang with friends, do world pvp, farm consumables. The constant ADD outpouring of meaningless loot in retail is both exhausting and pointedly unrewarding. I'm in my lvl 27 on classic and I can name every piece of gear i have equipped and every piece of gear i have my eye on, as well as my prebis raid gear set. I have no idea what any of my live gear is called outside of my maledict trinket. That's because in classic, every piece of gear matters and has a distinct identity. Its stats don't fluctuate. Each piece of gear is a hard won reward that you'll remember. In retail, who gives a shit, next raid night will shit several more epics into your lap.

- - - Updated - - -

yes, i start loosing intrest and i haven't even reached lvl 60, i know many people does to, most people i was in guild are now offline, only 2 others remained, i doubt many people that started playing 2 weeks ago are still playing

Sounds like you got yourself a shitty guild full of young'uns

[Zafire]

I'm probably going to be playing this for the next year, at least. I'm absolutely loving the leveling experience. Everyone gets so excited when they get the Nifty Stopwatch. I'll be making at least one alt at some point, as well.

As far as the drop off, I think a month or so into phase 2 is when you'll really start to see it. Queues have been pretty consistent so far.

[Igzorn]

Im a Classic fanboy and this game is for me the one and only game i will be playing for months to come.
And even though i used to get mad everytime i read Blizzard's "we expect a steep drop-off in interest"...after playing the game, i have to say i agree with them.

I dont think i need to repeat myself but this game is for me the best thing in videogame history, yet i think its only for incredibly patient people.
And do you think the majority of the current market is "incredibly patient"? In the age of "zoomers"? I dont think so...imo.

This is all a personal opinion after playing the game AND thinking to myself...there is no way the rest of the world enjoys the same things i do.
Even though im enjoying it like crazy, i dont believe todays market enjoys the things a 30y old me enjoys.

And im "ok" with this.
I dont need Classic to be a success to prove anything to others. I just want it to exist so i can play it with other people who also enjoy it.

What is your opinion after playing the game and CONSIDER in your opinion the current market of videogames?

in shot term nope.
as in long term, maybe it depends on waht blizzard feels fit to do with it.

but outside the blizzard/activision bubble i realy dont find stuff that realy is intresting (most games nowday feels like vaporware or like a shuffleware with build in microtransaction).

the only thing i go "back" more often than not is eve online but that is also a most particular taste and not for everyone.

[Eggroll]

It's possible. It's also possible that some layers were removed which compresses people together a bit more (depending). Did you have a queue to get in? If so, how many and how long?

No, I didn't have a queue. Gonna check now again. Still on HIGH but no queue. Server started out as medium and people were quite mute, now that people have warmed up to /world chat it's becoming more lively. Very nice.

I find this /world chat quite convenient. Since it's global you are not restricted to a city or zone to find a group or group members because everyone can read it wherever.

[sourlol]

Most server demographics I am seeing show the majority of players between 20 and 40. Most people are not 1/2 way done with leveling.

Anecdotally, I played the first week, then was away from my computer, and will play this week but will be then again for a week. I've got similar gaps all the way through the holidays.

My group of players is tentatively planning on starting to raid mid to late November.

Some people may consume all the content quickly. But others, dare I say most, are consuming it at a pace that wont leave a massive content droughts for another 1-3 months.

[MoanaLisa]

No, I didn't have a queue. Gonna check now again. Still on HIGH but no queue. Server started out as medium and people were quite mute, now that people have warmed up to /world chat it's becoming more lively. Very nice.

That's an example of good realm sizing then. Hope it stays that way for you.

[BananaHandsB]

I played in vanilla and loved it. I continued to play for the next 15 years and have always enjoyed the game. I was super hyped about classic, and I have enjoyed going back in and playing the game I played 15 years ago.

But after I got to about level 20, I've had much less desire to login. Life is such now that I have much less time than I did 15 years ago. There's just so much downtime where I'm not actually doing much of anything besides traveling between various destinations, and I find myself wishing I was playing other games where I could be doing more with every minute I play, because my minutes are so limited now. Though, I plan on continuing to play and getting to 60, but it's going to be a long march there. I'm not 100% sure I will make it.

I imagine others feel the same way. Life changes. The game might not have the same appeal as it did 15 years ago, but there's no way we'd miss giving it a shot at least for a little while. So I imagine there will be a drop, at least based off of my experience.

[Kaleredar]

1: "questing that's years outdated" Classic quests have the exact same DNA as retail, with the exception of the insufferable vehicle quests and bejeweled bullshit that retail foists upon us. On top of that, completing a classic quest is far more satisfying, as it likely required a lot more effort.

At least vehicle quests and bejewled quests are far more engaging than "kill 10 inconsequential mobs, try and collect their hooves" or some nonsense again and again and again and again and again.

And again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again.


And again, and again, and again, and again, and again.

And again.

Nor were vanilla quests more "rewarding." Something taking more time doesn't mean it's more rewarding at the end of the day. It just means it took more time.

2: "Dungeons and Raids that have a definite end" This is unequivocally a good thing. A game having an end goal is not only perfectly satisfying, but something that almost every other video game has. I'm totally fine with content drying up after naxx (although there has been some buzz about BC servers someday, complete with character migration).

And people complain about content luls in retail WoW.

Eventually, people just stop caring after they've beat a game. Sure, there are people that still play skyrim or Diablo 2, but those are the barest fractions of the original playerbase for those games.

3: "That's not what's popular today." Uh, literally all my wow friends and the thousands and thousands of people happily playing on the roughly 75 classic servers would probably disagree with you.

And the game has been out for what... a few weeks?

People are rediscovering what an actual MMORPG should feel like,

And they'll lose interest in your arbitrary definition.

Why do you think other "hardcore" MMOs like wildstar failed? They tried to be vanilla. Where are they now?

and what having a wonderful, nurturing, friendly community looks like, as opposed to the toxic waste dumps of retail WoW, overwatch, and fortnite host. I think there will be a drop, but not nearly what the naysayers think.

Again, the game has only been out for a few weeks.

Classic is the return of true class identity and community.

...class identity, in that you either picked the right class or the wrong class, and for the right class you just googled what talents to take?

It feels so good, and it feels even better knowing there are people like you out there, squealing, railing against the success of something that doesn't coddle your tender sensibilities. Classic will continue to be a strong community for years to come, and hopefully blizz will see that and reincorporate some of things that make classic so special back into the retail version of the game.

I don't really care if it does well or not. I'm just not fooling myself about the viability of a 14 year old game that feels as outdated as it is.

Frankly, It doing well means that Blizzard can take that money and channel it into the development of real WoW.

[pmkaboo]

Having to wait 30s for mana regen to kick in after every single enemy got really boring around lvl2. I havent played since.

[Raelyn]

I've seen a few guildies stop playing after level 15-20 or so, or change classes to something "easier" but the majority are still grinding away. There are definitely points in the levelling process where it 'bottlenecks' and can be hard to get over the wall.

Personally, I really enjoy the slower pace (I guess I'm old) and being a healer, I can fill any gaps between levelling zones with dungeon runs pretty easily.

From day 1 I set myself a personal goal of having 100g for mount by level 40, so had that as an incentive to keep going. I dinged 40 with 119g so smashed it. Didn't do anything special, either (no AH playing, sold maybe 4 items on the AH the rest were vendored) - just was frugal, didn't buy all available skills as most were not required for levelling. Have tailoring (200) and enchanting (120) so they are a little behind the curve. Didn't level first aid as I'm a priest, nor cooking or fishing (will do both at 60 probs).