How healthy is World of Warcraft's future?

[DarkAmbient]

Financially it's undeniably been doing well. But the next expansion is arguably going to be the most important they've ever made in terms of demonstrating to the playerbase that they are still capable of delivering a fun experience, one that eases off on all the timewasting bullshit they've been putting in the game lately and doesn't have a laughable story. When they reveal it I need to feel like "Yep, they listened, they've still got it". If it smells like BfA/Shadowlands then to me the game is done at that point and there's probably no going back.

[Thor79]

Bleak as fuck, tbh.

The WoW Killer finally arrived after 15 years, and to nobody's surprise, it was WoW itself.

I'm not playing this game because I enjoy it. I'm playing because I enjoy raiding with a bunch of people I've been raiding with for close to 15 years for some of them. Our current guild split from another over 10 years ago. I said then that it was my last roll of the dice and I meant it.

It's not the systems, or the transmogs or mounts or gameplay that sustained me for 15 years. It was people. If they're not there, why would I want to be? None of the recent changes or announced changes really do anything about that.

All the systems in this game are designed to maximise shareholder value rather than fun, and I'm finally ready to let go.

This was exactly why I left a year ago. Spot on.

[Kumorii]

Well, Legion is recognized as being one of the top three by many. Not everything is going to fit everyone, after all. Some loved BFA, others loved WoD, some loved and thought TBC was the peak, etc. So, when the "good things" for you will show up, I do not know, and that is life.

My top three in no order are WotLK, MoP, and Legion.. And I hold hope that once the turd is flushed out of the toilet, we'll see clear water again... Unless of course, we suffer the issue of decaying water and sewage supply system as in the states. If they follow the track record of what I saw as top 3, then one can only hope that the next one is the clear flow of water, especially since Blizzard flushed some massive turds out of the system.

Don't get me wrong, it's good that they are gone. But it's quite a leap to think that game design will be better once they are gone. Who a person is doesn't necessarily mean bad or good work. You can be garbage as a person but still output good stuff. You hail legion and that was made by some of the turds that are now flushed. And hell, the "old guards" content are praised to this day... nor will the shit they did change the enjoyment people have with classic.

the term "especially" holds no real ground. Either it becomes good or it doesn't, neither is more likely than the other. Current changes shows it's not good though, although that surely is subjective.

[Lochton]

Much bigger companies than the Blizzard part of Activision-Blizzard have failed. The failures comes on slowly, then quickly, and then they're gone.

In the long run, almost all companies fail (and then are either broken up or acquired). How many big companies from 100 years ago are even still around?

A lot, is still around, is the answer. Minimum 10 international companies that are over 100 years old, and still running (A little of 10 really known ones). Of course, there are hundreds of smaller companies still as well, not on the list.

[Osmeric]

A lot, is still around, is the answer. Minimum 10 international companies that are over 100 years old, and still running (A little of 10 really known ones). Of course, there are hundreds of smaller companies still as well, not on the list.

Yes, yes. This (and others who said similar things) completely misses the point. I was arguing against the claim that Blizzard is too big to fail. I don't need to show that every last old company has died. Pointing to exceptions doesn't refute my argument.

[Thrif]

and went heavy on the esport when the majority of players fell in love with wow because it was an mmorpg, at one time anyway

Preaching to the choir on this one, but that's almost worth a thread on its own. It's definitely not their only mistakes although it really did influence all of their game design.

MMORPGs are the absolutely worst kind of game to turn into an eSports but that really didn't stop them from going all in on that idea.

[Dracullus]

I know both expansions have defenders, but the numbers don't lie.

Show me numbers that prove or even indicate BfA & SL perform(ed) worse than 'beloved' Legion.

[Aggressive]

Well, Legion is recognized as being one of the top three by many. Not everything is going to fit everyone, after all. Some loved BFA, others loved WoD, some loved and thought TBC was the peak, etc. So, when the "good things" for you will show up, I do not know, and that is life.

My top three in no order are WotLK, MoP, and Legion.. And I hold hope that once the turd is flushed out of the toilet, we'll see clear water again... Unless of course, we suffer the issue of decaying water and sewage supply system as in the states. If they follow the track record of what I saw as top 3, then one can only hope that the next one is the clear flow of water, especially since Blizzard flushed some massive turds out of the system.

I agree with you on those expansions. They were awesome in my opinion. But BFA and Boringlands. Jesus, those were the worst ones ever. Again IMO. I am hoping when, and if, they release a new expansion next year that it will be fun. But I am not pre-ordering it. I am going to wait and watch to see if the release is any good and if they have listened to any of player feedback in Beta. I won't be falling into their trap of "Buy Now, get f**ked, and We ignore you later" shit. Not happening. I am done falling for Blizzard's shit anymore. I am going to stay here in FFXIV until Blizz's gets their shit together.

[Eosia]

[*]The sanitization/bonfire of content devs no longer find acceptable.
Removing lore, jokes, flirts, artwork has basically set the playerbase on fire. Once again, this has an impact on engagement.[/LIST]

And your evidence of this besides angry faux internet outrage posts is....

[Osmeric]

Show me numbers that prove or even indicate BfA & SL perform(ed) worse than 'beloved' Legion.

If you go to wowprogress.com, you'll find about 45,944 guilds downed a boss (N or above) in the last tier of Legion (and more in earlier tiers, as participation declines over the course of an expansion.)

Right now, 23,922 guilds have downed a boss in SoD (N or above). And this isn't even the last tier of this expansion.

[Kokolums]

If you go to wowprogress.com, you'll find about 45,944 guilds downed a boss (N or above) in the last tier of Legion (and more in earlier tiers, as participation declines over the course of an expansion.)

Right now, 23,922 guilds have downed a boss in SoD (N or above). And this isn't even the last tier of this expansion.

Nice measuring stick! How do you get that info off that site?

[Accendor]

Companies that participated in the holocaust (on the production side) and are still around today...

If they can survive that, they can survive a sexual abuse scandal.

Just to point this out, it's not only the scandal. In fact, they probably could solve that without too much losses.
The problem is however that their games are dogshit at the moment (with the exception of Hearthstone and even that has seen better days). They need time and new talent to fix it / bring out something new and they neither have time (at least not in case of WoW) nor new talent, because they now have a very bad reputation because of the abuse scandal, terrible payment/working environment (already known before) AND a portfolio of (currently) terrible games.

Activion will survive this without problems of course, they not only have all the King stuff but also CoD etc. Blizzard however IS in real danger here and to be honest, while "saving" it might be possible, bringing it back even closely to former glory days it probably a too difficult task. And even saving... I don't know. I'll be honest, I see now future for Blizzard in general, at least on the PC/console market. Perhaps their mobile games will save them and they will switch focus completely, thats always a possibility of course.

[uuuhname]

Financially it's undeniably been doing well. But the next expansion is arguably going to be the most important they've ever made in terms of demonstrating to the playerbase that they are still capable of delivering a fun experience, one that eases off on all the timewasting bullshit they've been putting in the game lately and doesn't have a laughable story. When they reveal it I need to feel like "Yep, they listened, they've still got it". If it smells like BfA/Shadowlands then to me the game is done at that point and there's probably no going back.

exactly, ultimately it's not these minor changes to jokes, emotes, art assists... the game itself is just not fun to play anymore.

[Accendor]

If you go to wowprogress.com, you'll find about 45,944 guilds downed a boss (N or above) in the last tier of Legion (and more in earlier tiers, as participation declines over the course of an expansion.)

Right now, 23,922 guilds have downed a boss in SoD (N or above). And this isn't even the last tier of this expansion.

Holy shit, I knew it was bad but not that bad. WoW.

[bryroo]

I personally expect the next expansion to be announced next year at Blizzconline with a new hero class being available with the pre-order but I think two patch expansions will probably become the norm from here on out.

I dont expect big, drastic changes or improvements to happen to the game anymore. Things like 4th specs, class skins, another set of Allied races, I dont think the current team can handle the work load.

[Aggressive]

Bleak as fuck, tbh.

The WoW Killer finally arrived after 15 years, and to nobody's surprise, it was WoW itself.

I'm not playing this game because I enjoy it. I'm playing because I enjoy raiding with a bunch of people I've been raiding with for close to 15 years for some of them. Our current guild split from another over 10 years ago. I said then that it was my last roll of the dice and I meant it.

It's not the systems, or the transmogs or mounts or gameplay that sustained me for 15 years. It was people. If they're not there, why would I want to be? None of the recent changes or announced changes really do anything about that.

All the systems in this game are designed to maximise shareholder value rather than fun, and I'm finally ready to let go.

I left about 5 or 6 months ago. At that time it was because Boringlands was toooooo Boring. I then started to play FFXIV, and really really loved it. Then all the sexual harassment stuff showed up and I was like damn "Thank God their are other games to fill in the boredom spot."

I am not sure Blizzard will ever be back to it's glory days. The games they make play like shit now. And it seems the devs have no heart, but time will tell. I will just enjoy my stay in Eorzea until they get it together.

[Nyel]

There's only one answer, really. WoW has never been in bigger trouble than right now. It's obvious if you want to see it, if not, you won't even recognize the issues until WoW shuts down.

The game itself (retail) has serious problems, but the dev team has serious problems as well, as the recent censoring efforts show. This can only get worse.

[feacs]

healthy for a long time yet and very politically correct for the foreseeable future #rollseyes

[Echocho]

I think that the next expansion will manage to drive away most players. Not only will they have not learnt their lesson and release a systems driven mess but it'll also be incredibly woke which will drive away the far right which makes up a sizeable portion of the playerbase these days.

[xpsync]

Preaching to the choir on this one, but that's almost worth a thread on its own. It's definitely not their only mistakes although it really did influence all of their game design.

MMORPGs are the absolutely worst kind of game to turn into an eSports but that really didn't stop them from going all in on that idea.

Agreed, BellularGaming started complaining about this esport problem years ago, i refused to believe that or listen, and regrettable, either did Blizz, and here we are.