World of Warcraft Subscriptions Continue to Slide

[skullduggery]

rift sees to have everything wow has and more. the only thing rift doesnt have is the 11 million subscribers.

i wouldnt be surprised if in 2 - 5 years time rift is the big dog mmo

I haven't heard THAT one before...

Hyborian Age...
Warhammer...
Perfect World...
LOTR...
Galaxies...
Everquest 2...
FF-whatever...
DC Universe...
City of Morally Ambiguous Ubermen...
EVE Online...
Guildwars...

All of these have been set up as these great WoW killers and ultimately fail. Because WoW is a good game. All these fanboys coming in and saying WoW is collapsing don't know what they're talking about. It pulls in a billion in revenue each year. If WoW dies it's not going to be for another 10 years or so.

 

[Sonicmixer]

rift sees to have everything wow has and more. the only thing rift doesnt have is the 11 million subscribers.

i wouldnt be surprised if in 2 - 5 years time rift is the big dog mmo

You MIGHT be right, but I don't think Rift has the pedigree. I'd put my money on SW:TOR. So far I've heard so many things that they are trying to do with that game that I've never heard of another MMO pulling off, and if they do...well the only words that comes to mind are ... Unstoppable Juggernaught!

 

[Zing]

Not surprising. The lack of content in WoW is really surprising now. Cataclysm only brought 5 new zones. The revamping of the old zones does nothing for existing players, except making leveling an alt slightly more interesting. PvP balance is the worst it's ever been, and it takes them months to make any changes. There's been zero new arena maps, and they still can't fix the one arena they added from the last expansion.

I see no reason for me to keep playing when Diablo 3 and SWTOR come around.

 

[Alorxico]

I had a subscription to WOW, but times are tough and given the choice between playing WOW or being able to buy groceries, Food wins.

Two ideas that, if Blizzard implemented in the game, would get me to come back.

1.) Lower the monthly fee. It doesn't have to be drastic, but until the economy turns around, that might be a good idea to keep players and gain new players.
2.) Find away to herd all the players who care more about Gear-Score and damage numbers onto their own server so those players who just want to have fun don't feel unwelcome and cancel their subscriptions.

 

[RA92]

It would be an interesting day when WoW's servers are shut down. Will there be mass mourning, celebration, or apathy?

 

[kingcat1]

No we left because its too easy , and your making us pay for mounts

 

[Omnific One]

Maybe you should start thinking about a WoW2. Well, more like focusing on a WoW2, because I'm guessing WoW is showing its age.

 

[TheSkaAssassin]

It's a down economy. As a college student, I can buy a weeks worth of groceries for $15 and I'd rather have the groceries. Once the market picks back up, people will be able to afford to play.

 

[Cormitt]

How about instead of solely catering to the 'end-game' crowd. We actually have a content patch that has something for the little guy whose still levelling?

Cataclysm in my eyes is one of the best expansions so far if only because it gave me new things to do while I levelled.

Now, it's fucking boring again because I've seen it all... Again.

Wow that sums up exactly why I've cancelled my WoW account for the last time.

Why not spend some time slowly re-working content from previous expansions?
I'm not saying reboot it all entirely, maybe just have a look at some of the quests and re-work them to more fit the style you've currently got?

You're not but I think a reboot is probably a good idea.. although probably completely not feasible.

The bottom line here is that WoW relies heavily on a repeatable model of character development and that model is only fun for a finite period of time. Eventually, even new content can't help the fact that the model is boring as hell.

One other thought. I think someone needs to take into consideration the casual gamer more. Sure there's a huge element of hardcore incredibly social people who do nothing but raid the end game content but the casual gamer feels excluded from this because they don't have the time to devote to getting there. I've had I don't know how many of my friends start the game then quit because they can never really experience the end game content properly. Personally, it was one of the reasons I quit the first time.

 

[EvilMaggot]

Perhaps it's time to create an entirely new MMO, Blizzard.

they are working on "Titan"...remember ?

 

[DaMullet]

Finally! People are realizing what I've known all along. WoW sucks.

There's not going to be anything there and will die as soon as people's friends start playing other games.

Here's a glimse into the future;
Bob: Do you still play WoW?
Jim: No, because I don't know anyone that still does.
Bob: What MMO are you playing?
Jim: The one that my friends play.

This loss of players will increase Exponentially.

 

[Chris Barber]

I played from classic to Cataclysm and quit in February, I think it was. Partly because my friends started to quit and that hurt my motivation to play what is (for me) a social game without friends. But the final nail in the coffin was when they removed the 25 man bracket for Rated Battlegrounds. I went from enjoying regular PVP play with newly made friends to suddenly not having a party slot anymore when Rated BGs became exclusively 10 player. So after going through all the trouble to make new friends Blizzard removes my capacity to actually play with them.

When my favorite game mode is removed from the game I can't justify playing it anymore. And so I let my account expire and took up NEStalgia as my new MMO hobby. And so far I'm loving it and think the game has a good future ahead of it.

I don't at all regret my time in WoW. But I'd never return to it.

 

[Sartan0]

Here's a glimse into the future;
Bob: Do you still play WoW?
Jim: No, because I don't know anyone that still does.
Bob: What MMO are you playing?
Jim: The one that my friends play.

This loss of players will increase Exponentially.

You got it right there. While Blizzard is working on a new MMO I don't think WoW will keep it together long enough for them to bridge the gap cleanly. That gives another game a chance to become the new top dog. At least for awhile.

 

[savandicus]

So they're down to 11.1 million, which is actually the number counting free accounts (you know, those things people don't pay for?). I wonder how far they're down for real. Cause this ain't LOTRO where those free accounts are paying microtransactions or some shit like that, it's just a trial account.

Good to see it losing it's stranglehold - it'll make way for the new and better MMOs that are coming in '11/'12

I think you've missunderstood, that 11.1 million is the active number of accounts paying the monthly sub, if they counted free accounts and inactive accounts they'd probably be in the hundred of millions.

 

[Archemetis]

How about instead of solely catering to the 'end-game' crowd. We actually have a content patch that has something for the little guy whose still levelling?

Cataclysm in my eyes is one of the best expansions so far if only because it gave me new things to do while I levelled.

Now, it's fucking boring again because I've seen it all... Again.

Wow that sums up exactly why I've cancelled my WoW account for the last time.

Why not spend some time slowly re-working content from previous expansions?
I'm not saying reboot it all entirely, maybe just have a look at some of the quests and re-work them to more fit the style you've currently got?

You're not but I think a reboot is probably a good idea.. although probably completely not feasible.

The bottom line here is that WoW relies heavily on a repeatable model of character development and that model is only fun for a finite period of time. Eventually, even new content can't help the fact that the model is boring as hell.

One other thought. I think someone needs to take into consideration the casual gamer more. Sure there's a huge element of hardcore incredibly social people who do nothing but raid the end game content but the casual gamer feels excluded from this because they don't have the time to devote to getting there. I've had I don't know how many of my friends start the game then quit because they can never really experience the end game content properly. Personally, it was one of the reasons I quit the first time.

Hell, it's not just the casuals who find it hard to get into End-game raiding content.

I've been at the level cap for all the expansions so far and throughout all of it the only raiding instance I've been to is Karazhan, which was in TBC.

I've been playing for a little over 5 years now, I consider myself to be a competent player at the very least, Hell, my best friend was the best tank on my server for a time and he's always giving me advice.

But nowadays I find it slightly intimidating to even consider trying to get into raids, even with the ability to PuG them now.

Simply because no one wants to raid with an 'inexperienced' player.

Since I haven't seen any raid content since Karazhan, no one will take me to a raid, despite the fact that without taking me to them, how will I get experience?

If I PuG, people will ask for achievements to prove I know what I'm doing, which I won't have, because I don't. Because no one has let me find out.



To come back to the topic of the thread, maybe Blizzard should consider these people who're maybe not as social or able to get into the content as a means of keeping their numbers?

Personally, my lack of involvement in the end-game is the reason I stick solely to levelling.

And I can't seem to think of any other reason for my dwindling involvement besides The achievement system doing it's best to cock-block me from me from the raids.

 

[BloodSquirrel]

I don't know, I'm a six year veteran of WoW and for some reason Cataclysm just isn't "doing it" for me. I don't know what it is exactly but there just feels like something is missing. I know a lot of guild members are saying the same thing. We can't put our finger on it but something that was there in the previous three chapters just isn't there any longer.

I think WoW has become a classic case of being over-streamlined. There's no adventure in it anymore. You get to 85, chain run instances at as fast a rate as possible (and whine on the forums if that dips to less than 5 per hour because any of the fights are actually hard) to build up an abstract currency, and use that currency to buy gear. Professions are something that you grind up after you hit 85 to get some small bonus to something.

Oh, and raiding? Mostly a waste of time. You're better off waiting until shortly before the next expansion comes out, when the almost-best gear can be bought after a few days of instance running, and facerolling NerfedWing.

The game has just become too transparent. There's no immersion anymore, and I think the expansion-pack reset button is starting to make things feel pointless.

Funny thing is, the 1-60 content is now the best in the game.
-Professions are actually useful to some degree while leveling, instead of it taking until you reach 85 to make something that would have been useful at level 81.
-The story is actually grounded and interesting. There's a feel of cohesion to the game world, as opposed to zones that feel like they?re on a completely different planet than the one right next to it.
-Moves you through the game world quickly.

 

[frehls]

hue

 

[Fensfield]

I won't chime in here with much but.. I can't help but think we're beginning to see the hole in the entire MMORPG model, here. As long as the content isn't dynamic and emergent, a game will inevitably, eventually, sink.

A truly dynamic and emergent game probably isn't within the grasp of today's technology, and even if it were, the players themselves likely aren't ready for the sort of gameplay that would mean - namely, rather a lot less endlessly killing things and a good deal more just experiencing a world.

But still.. hm.

 

[uc.asc]

EVE Online...

WoW killer

If somebody actually said this, you need to not listen to them any more.

 

[Makon]

Disclaimer: This opinion is coming from a WoW Casual (Don't raid anymore) Vet from all the way back from Vanilla Open Beta, up till hitting 85 in Cata. I've been well versed in WoW Lore ever since WC2 and the novels. Since then, I've moved on to RIFT and EVE while awaiting SWTOR.

Honestly, for me, it's just that I'm sick of WoW. It's not that I am tired of the game mechanics either, it's Blizzard, the Azerothian setting, the graphics style. The core mechanics of the game (hotkey skills, talent system, mounts, auction house, crafting system, ect) are all fine and good, but it's the aesthetics and 'theme' of the game that has worn me down. In part, that is why I play Rift right now. The mechanics are essentially the same, but it has enough of a unique spin on the world, atmosphere, and class system that I am truly enjoying the hell out of it.

Blizzard's biggest thing was that WoW was polished enough to keep it's players in the game, while also releasing addons and content updates at enough intervals that they screwed with other game's launch cycles. Now, after 6-7 years, people like me are just getting tired of Azeroth and are either ducking out of the genre altogether, or are looking for the next best thing to fit the mold.

That said, I don't think you'll be seeing WoW shutting down their servers anytime soon. They are still at 11.1 Million accounts (how many are paying, we don't know, but still), a figure that ANY other game would give both of their nuts to come close to reaching. Unless Blizzard takes some very drastic steps to anger their existing player-base, that number will remain high for quite a long time. What it does give, however, is a chance for other games like SWTOR and GW2 to launch and try and retain their initial player-base. As far as I know, Rift has actually held on rather well to their player base, especially for being the definition of a 'WoW-Clone'.