Yeah, Kotick trying to meddle in WoW is way more worrying than another probably temporary fluctuation in player numbers from "shitloads" to "slightly less shitloads".
Activision Seeks Halt to World of Warcraft Subscriber Slide
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
The problem with your method is that they'd literally have to change the fundamental design of the entire game for that to work right. It's been built with a huge emphasis on end-game all this time and I can't see that changing.DVS BSTrD said:
The problem is that they keep pumping out fast routes for players to get to the very latest endgame content. This sounds nice in theory, but it just means that you bypass most of the stuff in the game, get your tier gear for whatever the highest lvl thing currently is, and then get bored.
I think the reason Burning Crusade gets touted s the best xpac by so many people is because the content was arranged so that there were still plenty of guilds working on the first tier or second tiers of content for it even once the third and fourth tiers were out and the xpac was coming to a close. I was a gradual process. Learning each individual aid fight could be a lengthy process, but beating each boss for the first time felt rewarding enough for it to be worthwhile, and there was a tangible sense of progress.
Compare it to nowadays. Raid finder bosses are so easy that you can probably manage it on the very first ever attempt provided you've read a basic guide first, and doing them in normal mode isn't a lot harder. Heroic raids are the only thing providing people with challenge, but they just feel dull because you've already effectively done the same freaking bosses already, on two other different modes.
I quit way back and I'm not really surprised people are doing the same, seeing as Actiblizz' progression model is still the same.
I think the reason Burning Crusade gets touted s the best xpac by so many people is because the content was arranged so that there were still plenty of guilds working on the first tier or second tiers of content for it even once the third and fourth tiers were out and the xpac was coming to a close. I was a gradual process. Learning each individual aid fight could be a lengthy process, but beating each boss for the first time felt rewarding enough for it to be worthwhile, and there was a tangible sense of progress.
Compare it to nowadays. Raid finder bosses are so easy that you can probably manage it on the very first ever attempt provided you've read a basic guide first, and doing them in normal mode isn't a lot harder. Heroic raids are the only thing providing people with challenge, but they just feel dull because you've already effectively done the same freaking bosses already, on two other different modes.
I quit way back and I'm not really surprised people are doing the same, seeing as Actiblizz' progression model is still the same.
The real problem is the whole end game concept. That's why EVE online is still increasing sub wise, because despite being very niche there is no end game content to speak of and there is always something to do. On top of that the lack of end game content also means what you "accomplish" doesn't get nullified when a new xpac comes out (which did bother me after two expacs in WoW).Headbiter said:
What Themepark MMO's need to learn to do is add sufficient amount of sandbox elements for the game to always remain interesting in the end game and not make people just farm raids over and over. And than when xpacs come out instead of adding new lvl's and a new raids which replaces the old ones they should just add raids and dungeons to the existing content. Instead of having the latter replace the former they should be additive.
Take WoW, if you start now there is no reason whatsoever to do the old raids. The rewards are simply not worth the time. Instead of having that make new raids simply be a new tier which will require gear earned from the older raids. This would drastically increase the amount of content players will end up experiencing.
The issue is pretty simple, as people have gotten more and more powerful, they've consumed content faster and faster. It used too take, months and months of raiding too earn significant gear back in ye olden days of vanilla WoW. But now, pfft, people can bang that shit out in a few weeks, because Blizzard has actively tuned it's content toward casual players, making everything easier and easier, and giving in more and more too power creep. The reality is that until WoW becomes significantly more challenging, new content will be gobbled up and spat out before Blizzard can even get STARTED on the next content patch, and leave people asking "Why am I still paying for this sub?"
Same crap, different year. They've always released content far too slowly, and there is very little innovation. So far in the current expansion their bright idea has been daily hub after daily hub. Same stuff, different place.
If I had that kind of revenue and user base that big, I'd put far more effort and creativity in to it. They have long taken it all for granted.
If I had that kind of revenue and user base that big, I'd put far more effort and creativity in to it. They have long taken it all for granted.
They've actually already done a pretty good job of steppin up the content delivery. The new system of lore patch/raid patch really allows them to get updates out quicker that actually feel meaningful. Next patch is a lore update with a new bg, new arena, and that battlefield barrens thing which is so far was quite fun the few times I did it on the PTR.
The new expansion is actually really well put together despite everyone complaining about Pandas. I haven't had this much fun since BC. The raiding has been really well done also, with 3 separate raids in the first tier alone.
Are you kidding? The last patch of Cataclysm had players fighting the same 8 bosses in DS for 10 months. It was the longest arena season in WoWs history. If anything there needs to be much more content.Bostur said:
Hey Bobby, maybe you could consult with Ubisoft about how to ruin franchises by shoveling shit out faster.
Since Blizz isn't delivering for you, maybe you could farm the next expansion out to six random worldwide studios and then just spackle the incoherent mess together with spit.
... and now that I say that it sure does sound appealing at an executive level. The stockholders will love it.
Edit: I don't think they can halt the slide, and you might consider the franchise already 'ruin'ed for one reason or another, but they can certainly make people flee faster.
Since Blizz isn't delivering for you, maybe you could farm the next expansion out to six random worldwide studios and then just spackle the incoherent mess together with spit.
... and now that I say that it sure does sound appealing at an executive level. The stockholders will love it.
Edit: I don't think they can halt the slide, and you might consider the franchise already 'ruin'ed for one reason or another, but they can certainly make people flee faster.
Since I keep dipping into the clutter that is WoW, the main reason why I leave is because of the tediousness of getting into Raids. I can barely get the gear for the lower raids, and since MoP you had to gain high enough rep to get into the dungeons, like back in Outland.
Since they focus on the endgame more, the 'main game' feels boring and repetitive. More diversion of quests who help WoW feel more fresh.
Since they focus on the endgame more, the 'main game' feels boring and repetitive. More diversion of quests who help WoW feel more fresh.
it came out in 2004, has not really changed at all in that time, they should be proud its last this long. But did they really think they could milk this train for ever ? Thats seems to be the problem with games these days, somone set the bar and no one wants to rock the boat and try somthing NEW !
