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An interesting paralel content vs subscriptions
Lord.Bachus
Member RarePosts: 9,686
seems the fewer content Blizzrd puts in their expansion packs, the harder subscriptions drop....
Burning Crusade... 16 dungeons, 7 raids
wot Lich King... 16 dungeons, 9 raids
Cataclysm ... 14 dungeons, 6 raids
Pandaria ... 9 dungeons, 5 raids
Draenor ... 8 dungeons, 3 raids (and no more comming before Legion release)
its quite obvious to me why people are leaving, they just dont want to grind the same content for 2 years..
Healthy content means a new outdoor zone, a new raid and a new dungeon every 3 to 4 months... And if any company could pay for that, it would have been blizzrd with 10M paying players..
now just look where greed got them. Its a paralel, the less comtent, the fewer players you get...
Burning Crusade... 16 dungeons, 7 raids
wot Lich King... 16 dungeons, 9 raids
Cataclysm ... 14 dungeons, 6 raids
Pandaria ... 9 dungeons, 5 raids
Draenor ... 8 dungeons, 3 raids (and no more comming before Legion release)
its quite obvious to me why people are leaving, they just dont want to grind the same content for 2 years..
Healthy content means a new outdoor zone, a new raid and a new dungeon every 3 to 4 months... And if any company could pay for that, it would have been blizzrd with 10M paying players..
now just look where greed got them. Its a paralel, the less comtent, the fewer players you get...
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
Comments
Bobby Koteck (AB CEO) essentially alluded to this when he spoke about how much content Blizzard has ......... the unspoken element being: for new players. <br><br>
So "Blizzard" basically changed tack from "focusing on existing players" to "focusing on attracting new players" in e.g. new markets. Making a calculation as to how little content they could get away with. Can't help thinking they got the calc. wrong with WoD.
Blizzard has been doing this from day 1,even if you think their first two were good,instances take the least amount of effort so they have been aiming at cheap from day 1.Cheap models,cheap graphics,cheap game engine,cheap content, need i say more,it all adds up to cheap.
Sad reality is they usually and have been getting away with it.I feel most developers become complacent about their fanbase and begin to feel they can sell dirt to a desert nomad.I have seen this same thing in my years in FFXI and the release of FFXIV and in EQ>EQ2 as well as other games.
I think a lot of it has to do with inside corporate greed.The bigshots within are all about large salaries and bonuses,they need to see big profits and if it means taking a risk on less money going out,they are willing to risk it.I see it happening in Hearthstone right now,they recently had their laziest cheapest expansion 45 cards is laughable,a new mechanic with prolly only 10 cards utilizing that mechanic all because they have been making several million a month,so they figure lets promote another wave of money with another cheap effort.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Blizzard also sells more than one product... isn't it interesting how the hiatus begins right as their new product is to be released. Bored with WoW, no problem, come play Overwatch! When you're bored with that, Legion will be ready. And the cycle repeats itself.
If they gave you a new dungeon, you have to have a reason to run it. If you outgear it, you won't bother with it. If the gear is better than the top tier raid, you won't bother raiding and just do the dungeon. Once you've decked your toon out. You won't bother with either.
Has been true since the beginning of WoW... only back then, it actually took time to complete the content... not anymore.
But will that cause subscriptions to shoot back up to 10 million?
Of course not, WoW is too old at this point to significantly increase subscribers.
Legion could launch with 10 new zones, 20 dungeons, a dozen raids, 5 new classes and 3 new races but still lose subscribers after the first couple months.
People coming back for the new content would just get distracted by the new shiny like Black Desert, play that for a couple months then move on again to the something newer and shinier.
Sounds like taking the existing players for granted. Heck, they will always be here......
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
Dont buy Legions and send Blizzard an almighty message telling them that the subs you are paying are totally worthless and the content is a joke. I can't believe people still pay to play this - unless you take a stand, there is nothing to complain about.
they are also killing classes people love to play and totally changing them.. And they dont care if players like it or not... Its like stealing the identity of your characters... You just dont suddenly totally change something in a game... Didnt they learn anything from SWG, because thats what they are currently doing to some classes..
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
My favorite character in vanilla was combat dagger rogue, that was killed off imo. They have really homogenized the classes to an extent. DPS are interchangeable for example. It make for a bland game for me.
What bothers me in the forums is people who don't like a lot of skills. Perhaps it is due to console kiddies, but limiting characters to 10 skills feels like a disservice to the players and the game. I am more skills, a lot more skills. But since everything is interchangeable, so are the skills so the devs might as well remove 'extra' skills.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
Too quick content and subscriptions just ain't smart. Particularly when you get stuck in raiding the same few instances for 2 years once you completed the open world and regular group content.
If there were an AI that could almost instantly complete new content you could probably have content that fast but now you need too balance things, a new zone should take the players some weeks to clear but not some months and an expansion do need some larger zones.
There will always be some people crying that the content is too grindy, have a look about the mastery points in GW2:Hot for example, but that does not mean the majority of the players actually feel that way. And I am not sure all players who whine really know exactly what they want either.
Just like a sizable portion of Society to be quite frank. Blizzard Employees are a part of current society after all, and if you look outside of MMOs you will see a general "I don't give a #$%^" attitude almost everywhere no matter what industry or service or sport or hobby you look at.
Signs of the times.
About original topic... Something else to consider.... look at when Sub numbers dropped, when content became "lean", and also look at when Blizzard started the "play until lvl 20" feature.
And the saddest thing is, they boast that they grew their team larger than ever, and still released a half-assed expansion.
This video pretty much explains what went wrong with WoD, and Blizzard, as a whole.