World of Warcraft Tops 12 Million Subscribers

[Owlslayer]

Dear god...
Now i get it.
WoW won't die, in won't slowly fade away to the land of dead MMORPGs. It's here to stay. Forever

I'm guessing that in the year 2075, 1/4 of all the people on Earth will be playing this.
We can't stop it.
And from the sounds of it, why bother? It seems to get better and better. I Myself have almost no experience with the game, but when so much people play it, it really has to be good.

Or Blizz is just using some sort of mind-control device. Who knows?

 

[Keava]

You really think the zones in WotLK were physically smaller than the ones in Classic WoW? I mean, smaller than the Barrens, maybe. I think it's just that they had a much more natural progression than Classic.

Like, I remember that one quest from Classic where you had to go from Azshara to like EPL to Winterspring just for one quest. Pain in the ass.

They sure did felt smaller. I never really counted the steps if you ask about that. The problem is once you got the de-frosting on your flying mount whole Northrend was just a a little island you got stuck on with an undead dude that apparently has nothing better to do than freeze his butt to an iceblock.

They lacked that sense of journey you had in classic when you made that epic run from Teldrassil to Ironforge as a 10 lvl character, avoiding all those crocs on the way in Wetlands. Or when you first ventured into STV and getting from Duskwood to Booty Bay was a trip filled with angry ganking forsaken rogues and evil oversized kittens that wanted to pounce and snuggle you. Not to mention that when i was a newbie at WoW and had no idea how to get from Stormwind to Orgrimmar so i hijacked a zeppelin from Undercity.
I still miss the massive Tarren Mill fights and spying on big horde meetings at STV's arena (RP server).

Neither BC nor WotlK managed to re-create that feeling of exploration, everything was streamlined to push you on the right track and guide you through the zones. Surprises were kept to minimum, half of the content was designed with flying mounts in mind. That's a price WoW had to pay for it's popularity.

 

[fnartilter]

How were the old zones in 2004 better? What type of grandeur?

I only played this game for around a month (stopped already), but everyone keeps telling me how Blizzard sank it with too much user friendlyness and invisible walls and what not.

How was it more 'grand'? I'm curious.

It's mainly due to Burning Crusade Effect which created really terrible, small and dull zones. Sometimes i had the feeling whole BC landscape was created by the guy who planned out Barrens...

WotlK while a step forward was still very small, zones, even when much better visual were just so little you went through them in no time. Part of that is also the whole deal with flying mounts, which ruined the exploration aspect. Perspective from high above is much different than from the ground level when you run for age from one end to the other.

Sadly Cataclysm brings flying to old Azeroth so it won't ever be the same as when you first looked at the landscape. The only time they managed to recreate that impression was the first zones in WotlK before you got to use your flying mount again.

On the other hand... spending an hour to run to your next quest location blows hard. Especially if you have other things to do.

"Woohoo, I got to the gnolls! Time to go cook some dinner."

I'm going to wait a few months before resubscribing and getting Cataclysm. If it's anything like the first days of say - All The Other Releases, there's going to be lag up the woozah, and crashes, and maintenance.

 

[Baron Khaine]

You really think the zones in WotLK were physically smaller than the ones in Classic WoW? I mean, smaller than the Barrens, maybe. I think it's just that they had a much more natural progression than Classic.

Like, I remember that one quest from Classic where you had to go from Azshara to like EPL to Winterspring just for one quest. Pain in the ass.

They sure did felt smaller. I never really counted the steps if you ask about that. The problem is once you got the de-frosting on your flying mount whole Northrend was just a a little island you got stuck on with an undead dude that apparently has nothing better to do than freeze his butt to an iceblock.

They lacked that sense of journey you had in classic when you made that epic run from Teldrassil to Ironforge as a 10 lvl character, avoiding all those crocs on the way in Wetlands. Or when you first ventured into STV and getting from Duskwood to Booty Bay was a trip filled with angry ganking forsaken rogues and evil oversized kittens that wanted to pounce and snuggle you. Not to mention that when i was a newbie at WoW and had no idea how to get from Stormwind to Orgrimmar so i hijacked a zeppelin from Undercity.
I still miss the massive Tarren Mill fights and spying on big horde meetings at STV's arena (RP server).

Neither BC nor WotlK managed to re-create that feeling of exploration, everything was streamlined to push you on the right track and guide you through the zones. Surprises were kept to minimum, half of the content was designed with flying mounts in mind. That's a price WoW had to pay for it's popularity.

Nothing can recapture that feeling, that feeling was being new to an MMO, we all feel it, we all want it back, but we can never get it back.

Some of the funnest times in WoW I had were when I was a newbie, its like growing up, you have a lot more fun when your a kid, but once thats over, there aint no going back, sure you can try, but it's not the same.

 

[Sir_Tor]

Do they count the accounts that exist but are not being used?

 

[Souplex]

Do they count the accounts that exist but are not being used?

It says "12 millions subcribers", not accounts. Subscriber implies a subscription is being paid.

 

[Smackadummy]

I kinda miss the old times in WoW. It was great times abound back then. My friends and I made dwarf hunters and we ran to Quel'thalas at level 10 to tame dragonhawks. A 5 hour journey from Ironforge through the Plaguelands and into the Blood Elf starting zone.