Is anyone else just waiting it out for classic wotlk?

[Celarent]

i really want you to think about the phrase "for fun that Blizzard has conceded it can no longer provide for new productions". if a company can't provide a quality product, what is the future of that company?

A company without a varied portfolio might be finished, but Activision-Blizzard has enough irons in the fire to rethink strategy. In the meantime, Classic proves that old products that should be obsolete are still profitable — plus, Classic itself is a new strategy. I know that forward-looking statements are all "innovation, growth, yada-yada," but sometimes you can make customers happy and yourself money with the same-old.

[aceperson]

A company without a varied portfolio might be finished, but Activision-Blizzard has enough irons in the fire to rethink strategy. In the meantime, Classic proves that old products that should be obsolete are still profitable — plus, Classic itself is a new strategy. I know that forward-looking statements are all "innovation, growth, yada-yada," but sometimes you can make customers happy and yourself money with the same-old.

i completely agree with what you say. it makes perfect sense from the business point-of-view. but as a consumer, while classic is appealing, it won't hold attention forever. it's best as a supplement to retail than it's own thing. people will normally come back for new content and such but outside of the initial launch, few will play it without a wanting to play retail. unless blizz starts making classic+ content, classic will eventually die without retail to support it. we've even seen the hardcore players that were on private realms prior to classic releasing quit the tbc servers only a few months after its release.

what i think people are missing with my point is i'm thinking long term. far longer than 1 or 2 years. wotlk will likely be the last (with mop having a small chance since it was really the last good "classical" style of expansion) classic server general audiences will care about so what happens then? i might not be addicted to wow in the general meaning but when i quit in january, i went through withdrawal because of my moderate-severe depression for months. i didn't quit wow and now hate on it out of spite. i genuinely love the game and think of it as a second home. i'm critical these days to try and get the game to improve. it was where my friends and my main hobby was and i can't enjoy it now because of how poorly its been handled.

so yes, the business can still milk money for a little while, and yes, customers can be happy with the bad product/prior unchanging product they have now. that doesn't mean it can last. and while activision may have the money to last for a while to finally enact the needed change, wow certainly won't if its hemorrhaging subs. wow needs to change soon or activision may cut support.

[Osmeric]

i didn't quit wow and now hate on it out of spite.

You should try it. Spite and anger, I mean. It's a great way to break a gaming addiction. And if the game or company blows up while you're gone, the schadenfreude is all the sweeter.

[MoanaLisa]

if a company can't provide a quality product, what is the future of that company?

About a billion dollars a year in revenue if it's Blizzard. There are lots of people outside this echo chamber of a forum that like the game just fine. I'm not judging one way or the other: just stating a clear truth.

[Tsyplenk]

About a billion dollars a year in revenue if it's Blizzard. There are lots of people outside this echo chamber of a forum that like the game just fine. I'm not judging one way or the other: just stating a clear truth.

There's also lots of people that blindly purchase any cash shop or paid service addition to WoW and drive up profits, which imitates a form of success for the game.

[MoanaLisa]

There's also lots of people that blindly purchase any cash shop or paid service addition to WoW and drive up profits, which imitates a form of success for the game.

That may be but the question I was answering was implying that Blizzard would have difficulty surviving if they can't please the echo chamber of 100 or so people that regularly post to this forum. The answer is the same: about a billion dollars a year in revenue. One needs to be wary of upscaling negative feedback into generalizations. A lot of people don't know and don't care about forums. They just log on and play every so often. That's mostly where the billion dollars a year comes from. They don't much care about legal issues, the cash shop or anything else. Besides, who are you or I to tell people how to spend their money?

[Tsyplenk]

That may be but the question I was answering was implying that Blizzard would have difficulty surviving if they can't please the echo chamber of 100 or so people that regularly post to this forum. The answer is the same: about a billion dollars a year in revenue. One needs to be wary of upscaling negative feedback into generalizations. A lot of people don't know and don't care about forums. They just log on and play every so often. That's mostly where the billion dollars a year comes from. They don't much care about legal issues, the cash shop or anything else. Besides, who are you or I to tell people how to spend their money?

I'm not telling anyone how to spend their money,. Like you say, it's their money. Just stating that revenue being used as a gauge of quality for the game isn't exactly accurate. I haven't followed the whole convo, so ignore me if this is irrelevant.

[MoanaLisa]

Just stating that revenue being used as a gauge of quality for the game isn't exactly accurate.

That's not really what I was saying. Great games disappear without a trace because no one buys them. Lots of terrible games flourish. Same with books, movies, almost anything else you can think of.