2022: *decent expansion with good retention but smaller playerbase*
2023: "Blizzard just needs to earn trust" <--- YOU ARE HERE
2024: *decent expansion 2 with good retention but even smaller playerbase*
2025: "Blizzard just needs to earn trust"
2026: *decent expansion 3 with good retention but even smaller playerbase*
2027: "Blizzard just needs to earn trust"
And so on. If Blizzard doesn't bother to do a big expansion, the game will eventually just end.
Very valid point and even in DF we see Blizzard acknowledging this and moving back towards much heavier RPG elements with the talent trees coming back, the profession rework leaning into being the crafter you want to be, the much slower choose your own pace of DF questing and open world, etc.
People want to be a character that exists in a world not a player chasing constant upgrades for the most part. Obviously everyone is different and I know I go through some ungabungabignumber phases but I think for the most part people that are still into MMOs now that the genre is nothing special are specifically looking for that experience of getting to be a character in a world.
You can't just say any dissenting stance is an echo chamber: A subsequent product selling poorly after the previous product was widely panned is just common sense. That reflects on Shadowlands, not Dragonflight. I'm sure the next expansion will sell better than Dragonflight because Dragonflight was a quality expansion.Yes it is. The WoW Game Director & President of Blizzard were literally professional WoW raiders.
Last edited by Ersula; 2023-10-27 at 05:25 PM.
Yeah everything ends that's not some crazy revelation. Also it's insane that anyone thinks that WoW is going to just end at any point in the future when EQ just got it's what like 30th or something expansion? FFXI is still going and even gets new battle content somewhat frequently.
Point is even when they eventually scale down expansions it's never going to actually stop.
Keep in mind, the schedule only lists start times. It's possible the opening ceremony is shorter, leaving a little pause of half an hour or so before the next event.
Also interesting to see a few developers taking up some of the streamer schedule slots. Maybe that's a basic and more relaxed form of "dev panels"?
That said, I reeeeally think it's a massive blunder if they haven't got any traditional panels planned. People loved that stuff. Seeing the voice actors, seeing developers create maps and mounts and stuff, and seeing them talk about music, art, and systems.
BlizzCon shouldn't just be silly fun and hype news. It should be a look into the development process, and a chance to celebrate the people who make what we love.
This. And EQ1's absolute peak numbers are probably comparable to the lowest sub numbers for WoW. If EQ1 is still putting out content, WoW isn't going anywhere, for a long, long time - as evidenced by the fact that WoW has been "dying" since Cataclysm and is still here.
Cosmic greetings, all, I'm the Raccoonatic Commander!
Leowyld of Emerald Dream-US
idk but i have the feeling blizzard is slowly shitfting focus from retail to classic, which would make sense because retail's reputation is not great.