I mean allowing people to play Pandas is a good move by Blizz, but imo, people really want to play the monk class. And for that they have to wait. At least they allow you to play in new content (Panda starting zone). If this game has any chance of seeing me resub, I need to play the monk class. Just having Pandas playable wont do it. But I'm sure for others thsi is exactly what they want. While GW2 is a threat, its really a bonus for Blizz. Most people will have a sub game AND GW2. And that sub could very well be WoW again.
Blizzard is just trying to soften the fact that in GW2 you can play all the races and play all the professions (regardless of race choice) at start. They had to do something to offset that a little.
I wouldn't be surprised if they don't make all races available to all factions in a coming patch or expansion. Yeah it throws lore all out the window, but it will happen because the players want it. Blizzard will probably sell it to the gamers as either refugees or traitors. If the players will accept a kung-fu panda expansion, they'll accept anything.
Originally posted by BadaboomAnother desperate attempt to retain subscribers in the face of blizzard's biggest competition yet in GW2.I think fans of WoW should actually thank Anet. Question to everyone, "Do you think Blizz would have done this if Anet was not coming out with GW2?"
Nine million plus and desperate, lol the irony.
And 15 full servers from the 128 they have, all the other servers in Europe are empty lol. I bet Blizzard is realy happy with those asian players who pay 1 cent per hour so thay can count them up as full subscriptions rofl.
But hey try to talk to a blinded WoW fanboy lulz
Is there any truth to that? I mean, that a good number of their subs are the pay-as-you-go Chinese players? If that's true, they shouldn't brag about such a huge "filler" playerbase, after all how much money would they be really making? Besides, a lot of those are probably gold sellers.
I'm not saying WoW is not successful, but what if the Chinese decided to stop playing? They'd lose that 9 million they're touting, but they wouldn't lose much money.
Another desperate attempt to retain subscribers in the face of blizzard's biggest competition yet in GW2.
I think fans of WoW should actually thank Anet. Question to everyone, "Do you think Blizz would have done this if Anet was not coming out with GW2?"
When your game still retains over 9 million subscribers after an eight year reign, which is about 800% more subscribers than any MMORPG that has ever existed, the last word I would ever use to describe the company is desperate.
GW2 is going to be amazing, I'm a massive fan, but grasping at straws just to try and make the competition appear to be something they are not is little more than a thinly veiled form of spite.
Wake up.
We could use that "Wake up" the other way around, too. And in fact, the "Wake up Blizzard" is far more appropriate than ever in this case.
Now if people could just stop raising the colossal numbers of subs as an immortality card on Blizzard, that would elevate the debate. Because let's be real for a second :
Do you really think those billions of dollars from "9 millions subs" are used to buy them pancakes ... ?
Don't you think they're reinvesting them in other vital projects ? Hence the desperate need to sustain such a high score ?
Especially when WoW costs roughly 40 millions per year to maintain and produce expansions/updates ?
Especially when their new MMO, Titan, is their only hope to renew their supremacy ?
Especially since it's been in production for ages ?
Especially since 60% of their mothership, aka Vivendi, is starting to talk about abandonning them ?
People are far too easily impressed by big numbers, really. For me it would be more like "Wake up Blizzard, you've been dominating the mmo market for 6 years, but I've yet to see you take some risks with your last 3 expansions. You reap what you sow."
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Lotro was also a bigger threat than GW2. The films were amazing, made so much money and brought a whole new audience to Middle Earth. This game was even critically acclaimed by both players and critis. And the graphics are still probably the best in the MMO genre.
Your entire post was wishful thinking, but this bit made me go "WTF?"
I played the game. No they aren't.
As for the OP, that's great news for WoW players and a smart decision on Blizz's part.
In your opinion you mean, yeah? Or is your opinion fact? I said probably.
Well I guess graphics come down to opinion, people think WoW/GW2 have very bad graphics, I think they're very stylised and both have great graphics in general.
But I do think Lotro has the most realistic graphics currently, no other MMO even comes close to how realistic and breath taking they are. The character animations are a bit off, but the scenery is beyond amazing.
The next closest for graphics would probably be Age of Conan, but even that's way off.
Again, this is my opinion, and that is your opinion.
I think it's stupid to go around and say "I played the game. No they aren't" without giving any valid reasons, and stating it as fact. "I played the game. It was bad" do you not see how stupid this sounds? Without valid reasons your statement is pathetic.
Actually there biggest competition to date was Swtor. It has two massive, well known, well loved companies behind it, and it had the biggest budget in the video game industry of all time. It was practically a Star Wars MMO catered to the WoW fanbase.
Vanguard was also considered a bigger threat than GW2. It was announced not long after WoW was released, and it was released around the same time as Burning Crusade. Many called it the new EverQuest and was probably the most hyped MMO of all time. It has Sony behind it and massive names in the MMO industry.
Vanguard was never meant to be a WOWthreat - its targeted audience was EQ Classic players
Does our core gamer = WoW's casual gamer? I don't have their internal data, obviously, but I doubt it. Our core gamer is someone who plays 2-4 hours every night, occasionally spending a full day or so raiding, but who is normally focussed on challenging group oriented gameplay. The casual and raid gamer will indeed have content for them, but the core gamer is our focus. So also is creating a more challenging and longer term game -- a home.
I do know the average EQ player earlier on (launch->Velious) and it is their playstyle and time commitment whom we are targeting primarily. Those who raided full time were about 6-10% of the player base.
EverQuest lot most of it's players when WoW was released. In other words they moved to WoW.
So even though they denied they were targeting WoW's gamer base, they actually were, as WoW was made up largely by EverQuest players.
Sigil was good to not publically announce going against WoW though, because like every other company that announces this, and every company that will announce this, they will fail to do so.
WoW will continue to be the "King of the Hill" for at least another good few years, theres no denying that.
I think we'll see WoW down to 3 million subs by 2015, and even then it'll still be the largest subMMO in the world.
Looks like as usual Blizzard are damned if they do and damned if they dont, if Blizzard stick to the same they did with the previous expansions, ie locking a new race to the purchase of an expansion they are shouted at for being greedy or what ever.. then Blizzard change it up and give access to the new race with or without the expansion and they are yet again criticised... I think this is more a reflection of the increasing poisonous MMORPG community than anything else.
Something I don't say often, but it sounds like a smart move on their part.
I don't see it hurting MOP sales, because that carrot is 5 levels of content and new raids.
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I don't think Blizzard has to be worried about any other game. They have more people playing than all other MMOs combined. They could lose 90% of thier current subscriptions and still be in the category of what most developers would call "successful" (that'd be around 1 million). This doesn't even include the number of players who are just playing the trial, which there is alot. If you ever notice at level 20 if you use the dungeon finder, it's almost instant for anything, even dps sometimes.
This doesn't mean that Blizzard doesn't mind losing subscriptions, they'll do whatever they can to keep thier players. Players do equal money. I think alot of people that play WoW don't even know of other games. They don't keep track of games like GW2 or anything else. They're born on WoW and will always stick with WoW. Most probably don't even know about MMORPG.com or other sites. That's why there's so much WoW hate on this site (from users, not Bill and the gang hehe).
Edit: And please could people stop crying "Kung Fu Panda" this and "Kung Fu Panda" that. The Pandaren were in Warcraft lore loooooong before Kung Fu Panda was even thought of.
Not surprised at all. Activision is trying to keep the game afloat until Titan is released. If Activision came out with more ideas and better expansion this time around I would probably go back and try it out but this pandarian expansion isn't worthy enough for me to blow forty dollars on. It's the same thing we've seen every expansion, just with less than other expansions. I'll most likely pass on it.
Actually blizzard has stated that titan wont compete with wow, So im not expecting titan to be a fantasy rpg, They in tend to run wow even after titan, and sell it as hard as they can
I expect titan to be activisions foray into free 2 play, Its the new norm in the world after all, Maybe buy 2 play with a cash shop like gw 2
That said blizzard has a sale on there expansions right now on all the expansions u can conievably buy the battle chest for 5 , lk for 5 and cata for 10 so only 20 dollars for the entire game up to the new mop right now
while they say one week only id expect this to become the norm once mop goes live.
Not surprised at all. Activision is trying to keep the game afloat until Titan is released. If Activision came out with more ideas and better expansion this time around I would probably go back and try it out but this pandarian expansion isn't worthy enough for me to blow forty dollars on. It's the same thing we've seen every expansion, just with less than other expansions. I'll most likely pass on it.
´afloat´ Have you checked how much profits WOW makes.. it is like a billion dollars a year. WOW is hugely profitable.
And as they indicated in the financial results, the majority of the lost subscribers were from China.. so they kept the higher paying customers and lost the lower paying ones. This is obvious when looking at their profits, which barely budged.
SWTOR is ´afloat ´ with 500k subscribers. WOW has about 10x´s that number in the west. If WOW is only ´afloat´, then it is amazing other games aren´t bankrupt by now.
Actually blizzard has stated that titan wont compete with wow, So im not expecting titan to be a fantasy rpg, They in tend to run wow even after titan, and sell it as hard as they can
I expect titan to be activisions foray into free 2 play, Its the new norm in the world after all, Maybe buy 2 play with a cash shop like gw 2
That said blizzard has a sale on there expansions right now on all the expansions u can conievably buy the battle chest for 5 , lk for 5 and cata for 10 so only 20 dollars for the entire game up to the new mop right now
while they say one week only id expect this to become the norm once mop goes live.
I really think Titan is going to be Call of Duty FPS-MMORPG. There is no way they are going to mess with WOW. The profits from WOW are HUGE and stable.
I know everyone things F2P is the future..it isn´t, unless you are a massive failure trying to grasp at last straws. F2P has not worked for EQ2, AOC and most other attempts.. the only game that had success going to that model was DDO, because it was FIRST to do it as an AAA mmorpg.
Developers, especially publicly traded companies want stability ( $15 per month). SWTOR never would have gotten the green light to be developed if it had been pitched as a f2p game... f2p is where MMOs go before dying.
Originally posted by Badaboom Another desperate attempt to retain subscribers in the face of blizzard's biggest competition yet in GW2.
Riiiiight.
They're doing this because there will be a massive influx of new players when MoP launches. Many of which will probably be trials. Opening all races to those new players increases the odds they will get hooked and become a subscriber.
ROFL guess you not a stock market watcher they have done this in a last attempt to stop the slide of their share price. If you do a little more research you will see they have already tried to off load Wow but no one in their right mind wants to buy a sinking ship. As soon as they start to loose loads of subs the company will go bust.
So what Badaboom wrote is very close to the mark, why do you think they announce the new expansion on the same day GW2 hits the streets....In plain English they are shitting them selves my friend. Enjoy while you can because when the suits pull out the shit will hit the fan. they are trying to stop people going to GW2 end of.
Comments
Blizzard is just trying to soften the fact that in GW2 you can play all the races and play all the professions (regardless of race choice) at start. They had to do something to offset that a little.
I wouldn't be surprised if they don't make all races available to all factions in a coming patch or expansion. Yeah it throws lore all out the window, but it will happen because the players want it. Blizzard will probably sell it to the gamers as either refugees or traitors. If the players will accept a kung-fu panda expansion, they'll accept anything.
Is there any truth to that? I mean, that a good number of their subs are the pay-as-you-go Chinese players? If that's true, they shouldn't brag about such a huge "filler" playerbase, after all how much money would they be really making? Besides, a lot of those are probably gold sellers.
I'm not saying WoW is not successful, but what if the Chinese decided to stop playing? They'd lose that 9 million they're touting, but they wouldn't lose much money.
We could use that "Wake up" the other way around, too. And in fact, the "Wake up Blizzard" is far more appropriate than ever in this case.
Now if people could just stop raising the colossal numbers of subs as an immortality card on Blizzard, that would elevate the debate. Because let's be real for a second :
Do you really think those billions of dollars from "9 millions subs" are used to buy them pancakes ... ?
Don't you think they're reinvesting them in other vital projects ? Hence the desperate need to sustain such a high score ?
Especially when WoW costs roughly 40 millions per year to maintain and produce expansions/updates ?
Especially when their new MMO, Titan, is their only hope to renew their supremacy ?
Especially since it's been in production for ages ?
Especially since 60% of their mothership, aka Vivendi, is starting to talk about abandonning them ?
People are far too easily impressed by big numbers, really. For me it would be more like "Wake up Blizzard, you've been dominating the mmo market for 6 years, but I've yet to see you take some risks with your last 3 expansions. You reap what you sow."
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In your opinion you mean, yeah? Or is your opinion fact? I said probably.
Well I guess graphics come down to opinion, people think WoW/GW2 have very bad graphics, I think they're very stylised and both have great graphics in general.
But I do think Lotro has the most realistic graphics currently, no other MMO even comes close to how realistic and breath taking they are. The character animations are a bit off, but the scenery is beyond amazing.
The next closest for graphics would probably be Age of Conan, but even that's way off.
Again, this is my opinion, and that is your opinion.
I think it's stupid to go around and say "I played the game. No they aren't" without giving any valid reasons, and stating it as fact. "I played the game. It was bad" do you not see how stupid this sounds? Without valid reasons your statement is pathetic.
EverQuest lot most of it's players when WoW was released. In other words they moved to WoW.
So even though they denied they were targeting WoW's gamer base, they actually were, as WoW was made up largely by EverQuest players.
Sigil was good to not publically announce going against WoW though, because like every other company that announces this, and every company that will announce this, they will fail to do so.
WoW will continue to be the "King of the Hill" for at least another good few years, theres no denying that.
I think we'll see WoW down to 3 million subs by 2015, and even then it'll still be the largest subMMO in the world.
Looks like as usual Blizzard are damned if they do and damned if they dont, if Blizzard stick to the same they did with the previous expansions, ie locking a new race to the purchase of an expansion they are shouted at for being greedy or what ever.. then Blizzard change it up and give access to the new race with or without the expansion and they are yet again criticised... I think this is more a reflection of the increasing poisonous MMORPG community than anything else.
Something I don't say often, but it sounds like a smart move on their part.
I don't see it hurting MOP sales, because that carrot is 5 levels of content and new raids.
I don't think Blizzard has to be worried about any other game. They have more people playing than all other MMOs combined. They could lose 90% of thier current subscriptions and still be in the category of what most developers would call "successful" (that'd be around 1 million). This doesn't even include the number of players who are just playing the trial, which there is alot. If you ever notice at level 20 if you use the dungeon finder, it's almost instant for anything, even dps sometimes.
This doesn't mean that Blizzard doesn't mind losing subscriptions, they'll do whatever they can to keep thier players. Players do equal money. I think alot of people that play WoW don't even know of other games. They don't keep track of games like GW2 or anything else. They're born on WoW and will always stick with WoW. Most probably don't even know about MMORPG.com or other sites. That's why there's so much WoW hate on this site (from users, not Bill and the gang hehe).
Edit: And please could people stop crying "Kung Fu Panda" this and "Kung Fu Panda" that. The Pandaren were in Warcraft lore loooooong before Kung Fu Panda was even thought of.
Not surprised at all. Activision is trying to keep the game afloat until Titan is released. If Activision came out with more ideas and better expansion this time around I would probably go back and try it out but this pandarian expansion isn't worthy enough for me to blow forty dollars on. It's the same thing we've seen every expansion, just with less than other expansions. I'll most likely pass on it.
I believe Blizzard did it purposedly to stop the subs from bleeding.
Next year will be the perfect storm nightmare for Blizz once Planetside 2, Blade & Soul, Archeage, GW2 and Age of Wushu are launch in the east.
If all these game are really good Blizz might have to go F2P or unleashed the Titans lol.
Pardon my English as it is not my 1st language
Delete GW2, Insert AOC, War, SWTOR blah blah blah.
Actually Blizzard already did this.. For like the past year you could make BEs and Dranaii and BC was included with the original box.
Actually blizzard has stated that titan wont compete with wow, So im not expecting titan to be a fantasy rpg, They in tend to run wow even after titan, and sell it as hard as they can
I expect titan to be activisions foray into free 2 play, Its the new norm in the world after all, Maybe buy 2 play with a cash shop like gw 2
That said blizzard has a sale on there expansions right now on all the expansions u can conievably buy the battle chest for 5 , lk for 5 and cata for 10 so only 20 dollars for the entire game up to the new mop right now
while they say one week only id expect this to become the norm once mop goes live.
´afloat´ Have you checked how much profits WOW makes.. it is like a billion dollars a year. WOW is hugely profitable.
And as they indicated in the financial results, the majority of the lost subscribers were from China.. so they kept the higher paying customers and lost the lower paying ones. This is obvious when looking at their profits, which barely budged.
SWTOR is ´afloat ´ with 500k subscribers. WOW has about 10x´s that number in the west. If WOW is only ´afloat´, then it is amazing other games aren´t bankrupt by now.
I really think Titan is going to be Call of Duty FPS-MMORPG. There is no way they are going to mess with WOW. The profits from WOW are HUGE and stable.
I know everyone things F2P is the future..it isn´t, unless you are a massive failure trying to grasp at last straws. F2P has not worked for EQ2, AOC and most other attempts.. the only game that had success going to that model was DDO, because it was FIRST to do it as an AAA mmorpg.
Developers, especially publicly traded companies want stability ( $15 per month). SWTOR never would have gotten the green light to be developed if it had been pitched as a f2p game... f2p is where MMOs go before dying.
ROFL guess you not a stock market watcher they have done this in a last attempt to stop the slide of their share price. If you do a little more research you will see they have already tried to off load Wow but no one in their right mind wants to buy a sinking ship. As soon as they start to loose loads of subs the company will go bust.
So what Badaboom wrote is very close to the mark, why do you think they announce the new expansion on the same day GW2 hits the streets....In plain English they are shitting them selves my friend. Enjoy while you can because when the suits pull out the shit will hit the fan. they are trying to stop people going to GW2 end of.
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