How healthy is World of Warcraft's future?

[Nathreim]

Wow is in serious trouble but Blizz is currently trying to censor its past to please twitter types instead of producing meaningful content which is needed to pull the game out of the tailspin its in.

[MrLachyG]

It's obvious they know this due to the heavily timegated achievements and rep grinds in 9.1.

the timegated achievements and rep grinds in 9.1 are no different to the timegated achievements and rep grinds in past patches. it's a pretty standard thing

[jazen]

WoW is fine, in need of some quality improvements and a focus shift, but fine nonetheless. People need to realize it's not just WoW that has changed, but player expectations are drastically different today vs 15 years ago. Maybe it's you that needs to stop playing, if you're unhappy with the game. I for one still enjoy my time in game, just wish they'd focus more on solo play instead of group content. 10-12 years ago I had the ability and time to play fairly well, now, not so much.

[Myradin]

The best wow can hope for is stability tbh. There's too many groups who want different things that it's impossible to please them all. In the end only those with tight nit friend groups or just really love certain content will stick around.

Honesty 15+ years is a good run.

[hulkgor]

Here i am, still enjoying Shadowlands, farming mythic SoD, leveling some alts, trying out some specs i haven't in a while, eagerly awaiting 9.1.5 and news of 9.2...

... and then i read these boards and people try to make me believe wow is dead, no one plays it, the lawsuit ruined the game, etc etc.

Shit, guess i should quit then?

WoW is past its prime, and player retention will be low between patches\expansions, but its still profitable, and one hell of a game. And who cares if they rename some stuff and remove some jokes, i never even heard\used the vast majority of those. As long as gameplay is fun, and end game challenging and enjoyable, i'll be playing.

(looking forward to m+ adding previous expansion dungeons into its pool! such a waste of resources having a hundred dungeons, some of which amazing, just not being ran. Legion timewalking m+ is a nice step, and probably a test of the system, so im hoping for that to become reality next expansion!)

[Zaqwert]

Blizzard as a company is too big to fail. They have too much market power and their IP's are too large. Much like EA, no matter how shit they become, they'll truck along just fine.

Blizzard isn't dead, just their reputation and legacy.

[Osmeric]

Blizzard as a company is too big to fail.

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?

[Shadowferal]

Maybe it's you that needs to stop playing, if you're unhappy with the game. I for one still enjoy my time in game, just wish they'd focus more on solo play instead of group content.

If everyone took this advice you wouldn't have a game.
But I'm sure that'd be fine too with you.

[Skirdus]

I dont think they removed lore? They just changed a few naming things. But i do think they are going abit overboard, with the jokes and flirts. Still baffles me about the Consorts change

It's only a matter of time. I CANNOT see Garona's backstory remaining intact alongside the current agenda of the WoW devs

[Dinousek]

I voted a strong "WoW's Future Has Never Looked Better." All these recent changes will strengthen Wow, not weaken it. Life goes on and societies change and progress. Hopefully the game changes will nurture a less-toxic player base.

We have way too much bigotry and childish behaviour still in game, primarily from a small group of subscribers. Eliminating this element will strengthen the game and make it a more pleasant and fun environment for the rest of us.

Having said all this, the main driver of Wow's success will continue to be its innovation and polish, both in gameplay and in design.

[Aucald]

I would say it's fine, but probably entering what could be called "end of life" as a service. Not because of "OMG censorship" or even the perceived decline in quality of its last few expansions, but simply due to the extreme age of both WoW specifically as a game and the Warcraft IP as a whole. WoW's engine is, in technological terms, pretty ancient and its well of content is approaching the point where it is played out. It will continue on for some time, I'm sure, but the trend of a steady drop-off in terms of its player base is likely a known factor. Whether or not they've something in the wings like a completely new engine, an actual sequel, or some other element to revitalize the franchise is unknown - but I think that's the kind of shot in the arm WoW will need if they want said trend to change course.

[Roxinius]

honestly those devs responding to people not happy about these pointless changes just goes to show how little the devs care about the players input they care more about themselves

[Lolites]

jeez, a poll about WoWs future on forum that had posts about how wow is dying for over a decade, i wonder how it will turn out...

my opinion is wow will be fine, most casual players dont give a fuck and most hardcore players either

[HateTrain]

I believe it's all hanging on this upcoming expansion. After BFA and SL, a third similar will arguably kill this game in its current form. What new form WOW will take can be argued about, but I think the people that kept playing despite the problems of BFA and Shadowlands won't go another expansion like that. I know I won't. My account hasn't been off since halfway through BC, but I don't know if I can do another poorly written Mini-systems mini game.

[Sin of Pride]

Depends on it's competition. WoW still has more refined gameplay then most of its competition. Final fantasy has gotten close but when it comes to raid encounters they are still quite a bit behind. That said there isn't any good will left and if they announce something stupid to be the core expansion feature again I think it will cost them.

[Lolites]

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

and literaly only numbers about wow we KNOW are sales numbers for those expansions, and afaik BFA was better than any expansions before and SL even better than that...
so unless your thinking is in a vein of "i agree with numbers this person pulled out of their ass so they must be true" we have very little numbers to go by, and those we actualy know look good...

[Utrrabbit]

Apologies, I should have wrote changed lore. But you could argue that some changes, like the aforementioned Consorts, could be viewed as a removal of lore.

Calling npcs in 1 raid with 0 interaction to the story in anyway lore is laughable.

[Aggressive]

I'd want to make a different vote option. Currently, it is in trouble but I believe good things are coming.

Would you tell us please when those "Good Things" are going to show up. Cause many of us been waiting since Wrath, some since Legion, and nothing but shit like BFA and BoringLands. And now that Blizzard has shown why their games have been sucking ass all because they are toooo busy grabbing ass, we would all like to know when "Good Things" will show up.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

WoW won't be going into maintenance mode anytime soon. Blizzard can't afford to axe WoW. It's the only other game besides Hearthstone that is still making them money. All of their other projects are either stuck in development hell (D4, OW2, Diablo Immortal, whatever the incubation unit is working on) or is in actual maintenance mode (D3, Starcraft 2, HotS, OW1).

I don't think this will be the straw that broke the camel's back. It's just another straw on top of the mountain of straws that has been breaking people's backs for years, but not everyone has had their backs broken. WoW will continue to bleed customers as always but it will keep going for at least a couple more years. According to what metrics we have, it seems that WoW still has 1 to 2 million players. A far cry from 12 million a decade ago but still a respectable number. WoW's greatest rival has only just recently managed to hit similar numbers, and both games are leagues ahead of everyone else. WoW still has a long way to fall before it starts getting into maintenance mode territory.

The game will 100% never recover, though. The oldguard who made WoW what it was are long gone and Blizzard has since then been converged by crazies. Danuser and friends will continue trashing the story and Ion will continue not making a fun game and gaslighting his customers.

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I believe it's all hanging on this upcoming expansion. After BFA and SL, a third similar will arguably kill this game in its current form. What new form WOW will take can be argued about, but I think the people that kept playing despite the problems of BFA and Shadowlands won't go another expansion like that. I know I won't. My account hasn't been off since halfway through BC, but I don't know if I can do another poorly written Mini-systems mini game.

I keep seeing people say that they hope 10.0 can turn the game around, but WoW is still fundamentally being made by the same people who brought you the last 4 expansions of chores, unfun systems, and awful storylines. Expecting 10.0 to be magically different is insanity.

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jeez, a poll about WoWs future on forum that had posts about how wow is dying for over a decade

Except the part where WoW was objectively declining for over a decade.

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Blizzard as a company is too big to fail. They have too much market power and their IP's are too large. Much like EA, no matter how shit they become, they'll truck along just fine.

Blizzard isn't dead, just their reputation and legacy.

This. If the past 10 years have taught me anything, it's that a company going woke does not, in fact, mean going broke. They have too much money, and there are too many loyal fans who don't care. Companies have learned that they lose little from paying lipservice to the mob. The West doesn't have a boycott culture like Japan where you can get near unanimous boycotting of a company. The boycotters in the West are in the minority. Blizzard isn't going to collapse overnight or change their ways; they're just another company that has fallen from grace and has lost its cult status like Bioware. Just another AAA dev to forget about.

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All I can say is, fuck California man.

Indeed.

Even the quality of game assets dropped if you pay attention to it.

Wait, what? Are you talking about the gradual change in artstyle and texturing? Like comparing the more granular, detailed vanilla sea giants to the smoother and cleaner Legion sea giants? The art team (and boss design team) is pretty much the only good thing WoW still has going for it.

[Disxx]

It all depends on what type of developers Blizzard has. If they are 9-5 workers and are not passionate about WoW then the future is bleak. If they are like at 11 PM - Hell, I want this thing in WoW because it would be so awesome then WoW's future is bright.