Another leak about what's going on at Blizzard

[Lorgar Aurelian]

And this absolutely true.

Now, think about why this would be true. What happened in the time between when majority of players were constantly subscribed and current expansions?

How many dungeons, raids, etc (i.e. actual content, not difficulty sliders) were released in BC and Wrath? How many in the last 5 expansions? Similarly, how many new systems (at that time) were introduced in BC and Wrath, and nothing truly new (or laughably stupid things like Garrisons v1, v2, v3, v4) since?

Blizz got cheap with players, so they left. Blizz figures, correctly based on financials, that they can just trade out actually providing content for PR hype that will draw short (but profitable) spikes in spending (expansion cost, microtransactions) while milking what remains of the subs on xmogs, collectibles (mounts, pets), and achievements.

Blizz still would have been wildly profitable by providing actual content and maintaining a lot of loyal players, but they opted for the lower cost but higher margin approach instead. They are a corporation with one loyalty only; not the players, but just the profit by any means necessary.

Tbc had 5 with the one boss raids put together.

Wrath had 4 raids if you count the one boss ones together as 1 raid, naxx was just a difficulty slider of the classic version.

Mop had 5 raids

Legion had 5 raids.

Bfa had 5 raids.

Shadowlands and Wod have 3.

Dungeons,

Tbc had 16.

wrath had 14.

Mop had 9.

Wod had 8.

Legion had 14.

Bfa had 11.

Shadowlands 10.

So it would seem raid wise only really shadowlands and Wod are behind tbc/wrath and dungeon wise they all are but legion.

But those aren’t the only actual content in the game so let’s compare added zones to.

Tbc had 1

Wrath had 0.

Mop had 2.

Wod 1 if you want to count a cut launch zone.

Legion 1 arguably 2.

Bfa 2 arguably 3 if revamped dark shore counts.

Then for systems it’s kinda questionable what to count is flying a system or arenas a system? Mounted combat?

Let’s just assume yes those count and exclude scaling difficulty’s.

Tbc had 3. Flying, arenas, daily’s.

Wrath had 2. Mounted combat inscription.

Mop had 3. Challenge modes, brawlers guild scenarios.

Wod had 1, garrisons.

Legion had 3. Artifact weapons mythic+ Invasions.

Bfa had 3. Azerite, islands, warfronts.

Shadowlands 2. Renown, maw.


Depending one what you want to count as systems these could obviously be added to or subtracted from.

[Aedruid]

Idk, that's a pretty lengthy freakin' post from the OP!

[Cthulhu 2020]

It must be really hard for people to do basic research, because they're sitting here asking me to link a leak that literally anyone can google. Yes, the line about Sylvanas becoming the new arbiter is most likely false (though you guys seriously need to take data mining with a grain of salt) but a lot of the internal strife at Blizzard in the July leak was true.

Leaks have also been saying Sylvanas is getting some kind of redemption arc, and regardless of how obvious that was, it's still one of the dumbest moves ever. She committed genocide for fun. Tyrande should slice off her head and be done with it. Blizzard shouldn't be afraid of killing off their fan favorite SINCE SHE COMMITTED WAR CRIMES. But naw, the players will LOVE a redemption arc.

If anyone wants an example of just how tone deaf blizzard is, that's one huge example.

[Raisei]

Truely, I am ready to absolutely believe that Christie was poking holes into Danusers redemption ark and that he ghosted her for that. Seems completely believable to me.

His obsession with that undead queen bitch has been ruining the plot for years now. No one apparently puts a stop to this.

The rest I am not so sure, the revamp is hard to believe but hey, they have to be working on something and it is definately not the "amazing" 9.2.

[Aedruid]

Latest leak - WoW will turn into a MOBA by 2032:
1. Thrall will be OP in the top lane.
2. Bobby K will be an AD carry. Epic skins will be available for Bobby at launch.
3. This will be what the Jailer's goal ultimately was, since well... he really REALLY loves MOBA's and is tired of this open world stuff
4. Gul'dan purchased a race change - he is now a fairy that farts pixie dust

[Makaloff]

"FOMO" is put in to any game in order to make you take as few breaks as possible.
And if more "FOMO" would make you take less breaks then it works as intended.

Blizzard has stated many times that the times when the majority of the players were constantly subscribed are gone, so Blizzard, and virtually all other game companies, are doing their best to make as many as possible to play their game as long as possible between content patches as that makes them more revenue in the long run.

Blizzard does not want you to subscribe one month before the launch of the next expac so you can collect all the titles and shines. Blizzard wants you to be subscribed for many months, not necessarily consecutive months, so you can collect all the shinies.

Edit: I have no great feelings about time-limited content, no matter if it is targetted at skilled/unskilled casual/hardcore, but if we want "FOMO" gone then we need to come up with a solution that gives Blizzard the same revenue or more. Or else it is unrealistic that it will get implemented.

yet blizzard doesnt seem to realise that if you actually make a good game, people will stick around without having to do FOMO content (theres nothing more i hate than dev time wasted on assets avaible for limited time and never coming back again, CM sets being one example of this waste). Hell FF14 even says that if people are bored, play something else in the meanwhile until you want to come back again and FF14 is doing very good currently. So no, you dont really need fomo content if your game is actually good but blizzard rather double down on the bad stuff instead of manning up and fixing their game.

[Cuppy]

Well, I don’t even speculate anything on this, but it’s very convincing on the few points: more money via battlepass type of FOMO shit, you know pets, mounts and toys you can only get if you do the grind, and it’s so on point. WoW is nothing but a milking cow that will take all the abuse to just keep the juice flowing.
So we will have in the future: Battlepass type of progress track, filled with distractions. Timegated content. A ton of lootbox shit which we already have. Do this and have your weekly chance of getting something out so you can grind it again even faster, but you need to do it again because now it’s even better.

Nontheless, propably will buy next expansion, but I’ll take my 150$/year elsewhere this time.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Also, the 2019 Shadowlands leak that turned out to be true

[RobertMugabe]

https://boards.4channel.org/v/thread...blizzard-leaks

I don't know man, get your opinions. Wouldn't surprise me if this was true.

Stopped reading right when you mentioned sub numbers. It's instantly total BS when any supposed employee knows a sub number. This isn't some info they are keeping very secret at Blizzard and have somehow successfully managed to keep secret since they stopped reporting it back in WoD... but it is in fact a metric that they cannot and do not measure anymore.

- - - Updated - - -

Also, the 2019 Shadowlands leak that turned out to be true

Sarcasm? /10char

[Swnem]

Stopped reading right when you mentioned sub numbers. It's instantly total BS when any supposed employee knows a sub number. This isn't some info they are keeping very secret at Blizzard and have somehow successfully managed to keep secret since they stopped reporting it back in WoD... but it is in fact a metric that they cannot and do not measure anymore.

So... you are telling us Blizzard doesn't know how many subscribers they have?

[Cthulhu 2020]

Stopped reading right when you mentioned sub numbers. It's instantly total BS when any supposed employee knows a sub number. This isn't some info they are keeping very secret at Blizzard and have somehow successfully managed to keep secret since they stopped reporting it back in WoD... but it is in fact a metric that they cannot and do not measure anymore.

You don't think they measure subscriber numbers internally just because they're no longer presenting them at earnings calls?

Hey, I've got a bridge in Florida, you looking to buy one?

[MoanaLisa]

Stopped reading right when you mentioned sub numbers. It's instantly total BS when any supposed employee knows a sub number. This isn't some info they are keeping very secret at Blizzard and have somehow successfully managed to keep secret since they stopped reporting it back in WoD... but it is in fact a metric that they cannot and do not measure anymore.

Nonsense. Someone in accounting knows. CEO knows or can ask someone. I imagine it's tightly held these days but it's total nonsense to say that no one knows what it is since it cannot measured.

[Graeham]

Knowing exactly how many subscribers exist at specific milestones was always something I liked learning about MMO's. It's a shame that there's been a move away from that - and towards an annoying habit of promoting the number of accounts made instead.

[T-34]

yet blizzard doesnt seem to realise that if you actually make a good game, people will stick around without having to do FOMO content (theres nothing more i hate than dev time wasted on assets avaible for limited time and never coming back again, CM sets being one example of this waste). Hell FF14 even says that if people are bored, play something else in the meanwhile until you want to come back again and FF14 is doing very good currently. So no, you dont really need fomo content if your game is actually good but blizzard rather double down on the bad stuff instead of manning up and fixing their game.

The issue isn't whether you or I like "FOMO" or not, for example the CM sets you mention, the issue is whether "FOMO" makes Blizzard more money compared to no "FOMO".
Blizzard clearly thinks that having time-limited stuff together with regular refreshes of skills and game systems is the way to maximize its profits. And Blizzard is just doing what the vast majority of game companies is doing.

As long as Blizzard makes more money/believes it will make more money on people buying expansions because they bring new skills and game systems and people stay subscribed for longer because of "FOMO" compared to not having new, shiny and "no-FOMO" then Blizzard will continue doing so.

We can't just consider that Blizzard will lose some customers because of "FOMO", we also have to consider how many customers Blizzard will lose because of "no-FOMO".

Personally I don't care much for "FOMO" that is based on grind, but I know plenty of people that love it, on the other hand I love "FOMO"-rewards that are based on skill.
The CM-sets are a prime example of stuff that I find cool. It shows when a person played the game and it makes each character individual.
A game where everybody can get everything "for free" is very boring. There needs to be something to strive for, there must be the possibility of not getting it.

[Aphrel]

">Cross faction grouping is on the table because they would rather do that than take the bad press hit and merge servers at the risk of losing transfer fees. Like that would be the worst news for the company this year."

This to me confirms that blizz wills till make it so that one will still need to be on the same server and same faction to play mythic in the future.

They really like their fucking server transfer fees...

[RobertMugabe]

Nonsense. Someone in accounting knows. CEO knows or can ask someone. I imagine it's tightly held these days but it's total nonsense to say that no one knows what it is since it cannot measured.

No they don't know, that's not how these companies work. Believe it or not, idc, but knowing their sub count isn't just counting how many entries a certain table has, especially because it's not actually Blizzard, but different companies(!) that manage the subscriptions to WoW.

[sunxsera]

I'm going to guess you are a GenXer or older? I say that because I'm in the same boat and it's a reason I still ay WoW, because I find what I do in the game fun and don't need any shiny reward to play.

Unfortunately, for the last 20 years or so, it's all about them shinies for the greater majority of gamers. You see it all over the place. Take BotW, people hated that journey to figure out how to get to the top of that cool land mark you saw mile away was the reward. They wanted quality rewards to even be assed to go do something. Nintendo even trolled players by giving them a golden piece of shit for collecting all 900 korok seeds. Just saying go play and have fun, they rewards shouldn't be the reason to play.

I remember just playing and enjoying playing the games, it didn't matter if beat the game, I didn't need a shiny reward for exploring a map or killing that elite monster.

But I'm some weirdo for liking WoW and not needing great endgame systems. Me, my wife and our friends in our guild just enjoy raiding with each other. Recently, we've never gotten into or very far into mythic, and a few times have never finished the heroic before the next raid came out. We don't even care if we don't, we just have fun.

Early Generation Y

But yea, often times i had the most fun when the journey was the reward. Legion did great in that regard. I allways raided mythic, but i also loved most of the other things wow had to offer. Mage Tower was definetly a fomo thing, but you didn't feel forced or in a hurry to do it.
Hell, i even liked island expeditions. it was just something you could do in your spare time. Could have been implemented better, sure ... but it was at least something.
Fishing in your garrison with friends or completing the garrison invasions with them was also this kind of content. I never really did any of that for the rewards.

What i probably want to say is; with a season pass all - or some of that will be a ~6month rush to get rewards. It removes a big part of freedom a mmo has to offer.
It fits games like CS:GO or Warframe that are free to play and loose replayability - but not an expensive mmo, that should have a lot more content anyway.

[Relapses]

No they don't know, that's not how these companies work. Believe it or not, idc, but knowing their sub count isn't just counting how many entries a certain table has, especially because it's not actually Blizzard, but different companies(!) that manage the subscriptions to WoW.

You know, typing random words does not make them true. This isn't even a conspiracy theory, it's just wrong.

[HateTrain]

No they don't know, that's not how these companies work. Believe it or not, idc, but knowing their sub count isn't just counting how many entries a certain table has, especially because it's not actually Blizzard, but different companies(!) that manage the subscriptions to WoW.

That is INSANE. Please read your statement again. Did you actually mean to type that?

[Makaloff]

The issue isn't whether you or I like "FOMO" or not, for example the CM sets you mention, the issue is whether "FOMO" makes Blizzard more money compared to no "FOMO".
Blizzard clearly thinks that having time-limited stuff together with regular refreshes of skills and game systems is the way to maximize its profits. And Blizzard is just doing what the vast majority of game companies is doing.

As long as Blizzard makes more money/believes it will make more money on people buying expansions because they bring new skills and game systems and people stay subscribed for longer because of "FOMO" compared to not having new, shiny and "no-FOMO" then Blizzard will continue doing so.

We can't just consider that Blizzard will lose some customers because of "FOMO", we also have to consider how many customers Blizzard will lose because of "no-FOMO".

Personally I don't care much for "FOMO" that is based on grind, but I know plenty of people that love it, on the other hand I love "FOMO"-rewards that are based on skill.
The CM-sets are a prime example of stuff that I find cool. It shows when a person played the game and it makes each character individual.
A game where everybody can get everything "for free" is very boring. There needs to be something to strive for, there must be the possibility of not getting it.

id argue they lose out more on future customers by having fomo content, even if you could get everything in a game it doesnt mean that players are less unike (you still need to have the skills to do the challenge, no matter where in time the challenge is). I can tell you that ive had plenty of people asking me about my feral druid skin from MT only for me to have to tell them that it will never be avaible again. while it does make me a bit more unike to have it compared to those who dont, it wouldnt hurt to make it avaible to those who dont have it as long as the challenge remains the same in terms of difficulty.

You have still stuff to strive for, it doesnt take away what you have or what others have. But then again, its just my take on it, i played since TBC, ive been throught most content in the game (i missed out on CM sets due to my family being a complete donkeys rear to me during the time, essentially stopping me from being to do any content in the game, so i missed out on the sets sadly). But blizzard just sees money, its no secret they dont care about the players anyway so FOMO or not at this point, blizzard are hellbent to crash the ship nonethless with their greediness.

also, take a look at Warframe, a game where everyone can have pretty much everything (aside from founders items which is a frame and 2 weapons for those that supported the start of the game) and yet every player i come across is unike and if someone happens to have the same stuff i have, so what? im still happy with my stuff and i still have stuff to strive for in the game to aquire, it doesnt devalue any item i have.