The Era of World of Warcraft

[TidesJP]

Hey guys,

I have been browsing these forums and others for a long time now... the same discussion has always popped up and it is controversial... that WoW is dying. I've read countless threads and spent hours just thinking about this... and I've formed my own opinion about it.

WoW is in a sense, dying, sure, however, it's the generational shift, in my personal opinion. Most of WoW players who started in the beginning are all grown up now. Most of us started either in High School or college. At the time of WoW launch, it was massively popular, I remember most of my college classmates were playing, the job I had after college, most of them were playing and our boss too. We had guilds going, group runs, raids and we all talked about it at lunch of what we're going to be working on next when we all get home. But, over the course of time, I noticed that people stopped playing. I would go into work and no one was really talking about it, and finally, the "phase" went away. People I used to play with from work and school moved on to bigger and better things, I lost contact with people and the ones who I still remain in contact with all have one thing in common... they grew out of it. They got better jobs/careers, family matters to attend... real life obligations. Wow has never been an instant gratification game. We all have put countless hours of time and effort, either in groups or solo... but it all has taken time. Times gates, grinding badges for gear, daily quests and other stuff. I remember collecting all the mounts from the Argent torny, it took me several months to complete, but I was sure proud when I got them... The Netherdrake questline and the grind for those all so cool space dragons! It was a blast... at the time. However, it has changed. Our personalities of instant gratification has taken that over. How we want everything right away. Blizzard has done their best to accommodate that and it has left the community divided. The ones who loved/want that grind and satisfaction of completing and reaching the end of the questline/grind and the ones who can barely even do 5 quests to unlock something powerful. I know I will get flak for this. I know there will people who agree. But my point still stands. The game isn't dead, there is still people, like myself who love the game, the lore, the fantasy of Warcraft, but the era of World of Warcraft is. Look around you, other than Facebook groups and forums, no one really talks about WoW in real life openly like they used to. I don't hear people bragging about that awesome mount or gear they got last night.

King Terenas Menethil said it best himself... no king rules forever.

It's hard to accept, but the fad/phase of World of Warcraft is dying, some would argue, dead. Blizzard has been struggling to get people to play retail. They saw this and finally responded to the classic community and created classic realms. But eventually that'll come to pass too. Classic undoubtedly has a strong player base right now. But how long will that lost for? Blizzard has said they're exploring the possibilities of TBC and WotLK realms, but there is only so many more expansions they can go through before they complete a full circle and the classic community is right back where they started.

I, like many other WoW players, do not want to see this come to fruition. I love the game, I love the story and it is extremely exciting to see these lore characters come to life in game. But I do realize, that everything has an end and I really believe, and we're close to it. Blizzard is running out of story that makes sense in the Warcraft universe, they're running out of villains to explore. I hope its years down the road and we have more time to call Azeroth our home, but when the time comes, I'll accept it. From day one, November 23rd, 2004, I step foot into the world of Azeroth, and the moment the servers go offline for the last time, I will be there, in the second place I called home... Azeroth.

[Powerogue]

Yeah. MMO's don't really die all at once, it's a slow dwindling of subscribers. The only one I've ever seen die is RuneScape Classic, which had around 150 players online across all servers at peak hours, which was around 145 bots. If WoW ever gets to that point, it'll be a long time from now, long after it's stopped updating.

[TheLucky1]

I have good news for you and bad news for the haters.

Look up day one sales.

They will never stop making expansions until the numbers go waaaay down there.

I wouldn't be suprised if the overall revenue WoW generates is still cata or mop levels..

[Milfshaked]

WoW is in a sense, dying, sure, however, it's the generational shift, in my personal opinion.

This, together with people saying franchise fatigue and that the MMO-genre as a whole has declined, just seems like unfounded post hoc rationales. There is absolutely no reason why the world of warcraft franchise(or MMOs as a whole) could not continue to grow, or at the very least stagnate.

The quality of the game experience turned to shit, people stopped playing. It is not more difficult than that. There was a long road of poor decisions that overall lead to a decline over time.

[Leih]

Great blog post I guess?

[TheLucky1]

This, together with people saying franchise fatigue and that the MMO-genre as a whole has declined, just seems like unfounded post hoc rationales. There is absolutely no reason why the world of warcraft franchise(or MMOs as a whole) could not continue to grow, or at the very least stagnate.

The quality of the game experience turned to shit, people stopped playing. It is not more difficult than that. There was a long road of poor decisions that overall lead to a decline over time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Produc...nt_(marketing)

No game will ever only grow or grow and then simply stagnate.

You guys should stop seeing this in a vacuum, there are tons of reasons why WoW lost subs outside of the control of the devs.
Im not saying that the quality of the product doesn't have a influence in this, it's just not as big as you might think.

[skynet1990]

No king rules forever...

[Justpassing]

No king rules forever...

Yeah Blizzard really wrote themselves into a corner with that line. Wish I had a penny everytime I see it in a blog post from you addicts. It's almost like you think it gives your whine some depth.

[skynet1990]

There is no need to whine just read the statistics Subscriptions dropped by 64% since August 2019


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7jkVSe1bGk

[Luxeley]

I agree WOW is dying. It's not a quick swift death, it's more like a very long and drawn out death. Wow subs clearly plateaued in Cata, drifted off a bit MOP, got huge short-lived in WOD then bombed. Legion is proving to be a "dead cat bounce" and BFA is where things really started to come apart at the seems. I strongly believe only 3 things can and will put WOW back in former graces. 1) new leadership at Blizzard and perhaps a break from Activisions (doubtful) 2) WOWII with a fully upgraded game engine (eventual but not today) 3) introduce a game system or end game for WOW based on instant gratification, something you can play and compete right out of the box.

[Mace]

I have good news for you and bad news for the haters.

Look up day one sales.

They will never stop making expansions until the numbers go waaaay down there.

I wouldn't be suprised if the overall revenue WoW generates is still cata or mop levels..

Fact, it's too profitable. The quality will dip if numbers go down, and the dip in quality will in turn cause further numbers to decline, and in time it will die unless they develop seriously, push and promote, update etc.

However, when that time is seems far away, barring world events that change things (like earthquake in California, USA going to war, epidemic virus, or flooded earth, not to mention World war 3

[Justpassing]

There is no need to whine just read the statistics Subscriptions dropped by 64% since August 2019


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7jkVSe1bGk

Yeah... okay.

Actually I'm not gonna.

[TheLucky1]

Fact, it's too profitable. The quality will dip if numbers go down, and the dip in quality will in turn cause further numbers to decline, and in time it will die unless they develop seriously, push and promote, update etc.

However, when that time is seems far away, barring world events that change things (like earthquake in California, USA going to war, epidemic virus, or flooded earth, not to mention World war 3

Naaah, even if they downsize their dev. team at some point quality mustn't dip.
A lot of the pet peeves of bfa aren't really fixable with more manpower, that's just design...farts.

[Aresk]

I appreciate your post, but it seems anecdotal. I started playing after college. Everyone I know in the game played after school. I don't know anyone who ever played in school. Obviously people did, but that's not a requirement for loving the game or continued playing of it. Likewise, I don't see why a good career would make one stop playing; quite the opposite, I would imagine it would enable one to play more as they have the financial means to focus on what they enjoy.

Sure, Warcraft is dying. Everything is. But it's not like Warcraft is critical. I would be surprised if there were no servers online ten years from now. There may not be more expansions, but as long as they have enough subscriptions, I don't foresee the game shutting down.

[TheLucky1]

There is no need to whine just read the statistics Subscriptions dropped by 64% since August 2019


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7jkVSe1bGk

Jesus fckin christ, please warn us before you link mr. manchild content, jeez.

[Relapses]

There is no need to whine just read the statistics Subscriptions dropped by 64% since August 2019


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7jkVSe1bGk

LMFAO, first off: Anybody who uses Heelvsbabyface as a source for anything other than inspiration to begin a diet should be laughed off of the internet. And second of all, Superdata... really? Everybody hopped on their dick when they reported the "233% increase in subs" after Classic and now the same company whose data analytics are questionable at best is saying that "subs are down 64%." Get out.

OT: WoW will die when people stop playing it. This forum is a terrible microcosm because it hardly represents the majority of WoW players and is, in general, an overwhelming negativity echo chamber.

[Justpassing]

Jesus fckin christ, please warn us before you link mr. manchild content, jeez.

Yeah he got one click from me too. I feel all dirty now

[Mace]

LMFAO, first off: Anybody who uses Heelvsbabyface as a source for anything other than inspiration to begin a diet should be laughed off of the internet. And second of all, Superdata... really? Everybody hopped on their dick when they reported the "233% increase in subs" after Classic and now the same company whose data analytics are questionable at best is saying that "subs are down 64%." Get out.

OT: WoW will die when people stop playing it. This forum is a terrible microcosm because it hardly represents the majority of WoW players and is, in general, an overwhelming negativity echo chamber.

Some of us are quite positive. often ganged on, which is why I seldom post here anymore.

[Satelliteyears0o]

Hey guys,

I have been browsing these forums and others for a long time now... the same discussion has always popped up and it is controversial... that WoW is dying. I've read countless threads and spent hours just thinking about this... and I've formed my own opinion about it.

WoW is in a sense, dying, sure, however, it's the generational shift, in my personal opinion. Most of WoW players who started in the beginning are all grown up now. Most of us started either in High School or college. At the time of WoW launch, it was massively popular, I remember most of my college classmates were playing, the job I had after college, most of them were playing and our boss too. We had guilds going, group runs, raids and we all talked about it at lunch of what we're going to be working on next when we all get home. But, over the course of time, I noticed that people stopped playing. I would go into work and no one was really talking about it, and finally, the "phase" went away. People I used to play with from work and school moved on to bigger and better things, I lost contact with people and the ones who I still remain in contact with all have one thing in common... they grew out of it. They got better jobs/careers, family matters to attend... real life obligations. Wow has never been an instant gratification game. We all have put countless hours of time and effort, either in groups or solo... but it all has taken time. Times gates, grinding badges for gear, daily quests and other stuff. I remember collecting all the mounts from the Argent torny, it took me several months to complete, but I was sure proud when I got them... The Netherdrake questline and the grind for those all so cool space dragons! It was a blast... at the time. However, it has changed. Our personalities of instant gratification has taken that over. How we want everything right away. Blizzard has done their best to accommodate that and it has left the community divided. The ones who loved/want that grind and satisfaction of completing and reaching the end of the questline/grind and the ones who can barely even do 5 quests to unlock something powerful. I know I will get flak for this. I know there will people who agree. But my point still stands. The game isn't dead, there is still people, like myself who love the game, the lore, the fantasy of Warcraft, but the era of World of Warcraft is. Look around you, other than Facebook groups and forums, no one really talks about WoW in real life openly like they used to. I don't hear people bragging about that awesome mount or gear they got last night.

King Terenas Menethil said it best himself... no king rules forever.

It's hard to accept, but the fad/phase of World of Warcraft is dying, some would argue, dead. Blizzard has been struggling to get people to play retail. They saw this and finally responded to the classic community and created classic realms. But eventually that'll come to pass too. Classic undoubtedly has a strong player base right now. But how long will that lost for? Blizzard has said they're exploring the possibilities of TBC and WotLK realms, but there is only so many more expansions they can go through before they complete a full circle and the classic community is right back where they started.

I, like many other WoW players, do not want to see this come to fruition. I love the game, I love the story and it is extremely exciting to see these lore characters come to life in game. But I do realize, that everything has an end and I really believe, and we're close to it. Blizzard is running out of story that makes sense in the Warcraft universe, they're running out of villains to explore. I hope its years down the road and we have more time to call Azeroth our home, but when the time comes, I'll accept it. From day one, November 23rd, 2004, I step foot into the world of Azeroth, and the moment the servers go offline for the last time, I will be there, in the second place I called home... Azeroth.

WoW is certainly not dying, ppl will always come back.

[ercarp]

Blame the zoomers. Games these days are being made for children with the attention spans of small puppies. I'll never stop playing MMOs, but they're very much a boomer genre at this point.