Ach, WOW is a great game imo because it has been able to evolve beyond it's various incarnations and offer something for everyone. That's why it has 11 million players. They can't all be idiots and immature trolls or kids as some haters suggest.
11 million subscriptions isn't the same as 11 million players. I was one player and had two accounts. I don't think I was all that rare and certainly, there are many who have far more than just my meager two accounts. Then factor in the number of "players" who are really nothing more than bots and gold sellers.
The 11 million figure is fiction.
As far the type of player that is reflected in those accounts, no, they can't all be idiots and immature trolls or kids, but those are certainly the most vocal of the player base. When I played with my small group of friends, none of us would participate in any of the public chat channels. We stayed mostly within our group, so were largely sheltered from all the garbage that makes WoW the 'great' commununity it is today. Unfortunately, I was a little more hardcore than my friends and tended to play a lot more hours, so I would regularly jump characters ahead. And this lead to having to group with other members of the 'great' community, which would so often lead to irritation and frustration.
I won't say that the trouble is with *all* of the kiddies playing, but it's more likely as a result of all the adults who act like spoiled little snots.
I won't be back until Blizzard implements a technology that allows you to reach through your computer screen and beat a little bit of courtesy and common decency into the abrasive, arrogant pukes on the other end, with your bare hands. In the meantime, WoW can wallow in it's own filth and claim it's a mineral bath with rose petals. I know what it used to be and what it's become ... a digital latrine with a subscription fee.
11 million subscriptions isn't the same as 11 million players. I was one player and had two accounts. I don't think I was all that rare and certainly, there are many who have far more than just my meager two accounts. Then factor in the number of "players" who are really nothing more than bots and gold sellers.
The 11 million figure is fiction.
There is also the question on how Blizzard actually counts Chinese players who pay by the hour, do they count if they played one hour this month, more or for just having an account?
But does it really matters, Wow is still the largest P2P game even if you just count the 4 million western accounts and even if you take away all multi accounts.
On the other hand have the number who like something never been a sign of quality, Cocaine have many "subscribers" and it surely isn't good. I do however have to admire Blizzards excellent coding.
Ach, WOW is a great game imo because it has been able to evolve beyond it's various incarnations and offer something for everyone. That's why it has 11 million players. They can't all be idiots and immature trolls or kids as some haters suggest.
11 million subscriptions isn't the same as 11 million players. I was one player and had two accounts. I don't think I was all that rare and certainly, there are many who have far more than just my meager two accounts. Then factor in the number of "players" who are really nothing more than bots and gold sellers.
Two years ago when I played there was a player in our guild who had 6 accounts...
I don't know why I bothered coming back to WoW, it's the same shit it has always been, no-one cares and no-one gives a dam about anything. Old raids, no-one cares about that, all they want is ICC this and ICC that, it's all people want to do now, I know it will be the same shit in Cataclysm.
I don't even want to do pvp because there's far too many gear imbalance you'll be easily steam rolled. Worse of all, everyone is a jerk, WoW is nothing more then a e-sport but it's a shame WoW is the only MMO that gets played really.
I only came back because my account was hacked and because it happened in May, Blizzard couldn't get my stuff back. Well, I think I'm going to leave WoW once and for all. So what does this mean for me in the future? For me I'm not sure, there will be MMO's coming out in the future like Guild Wars 2 but they will probably will not do well. =(
Time to uninstall WoW.
It is not just WoW, though - is it?
Be honest.
You probably have a rotation of games that you go through, where you are away a period of time (just long enough to forget all the faults the game has) before you resubscribe because something new is mentioned (which generally turns out to be as disappointing as the rest of the game that you quickly begin to remember)...
I used to have quite a collection of games that I went through this with over the years since I started with UO. Would play for a couple of months in a game before it all became too much - for one reason or another. Then on to the next game and the promise of what I was looking for presented by the most amazing trailers . . . only to find it a lie.
There are many different games that include a part of what I want, but not all of what I want. They always come up short in some fashion. There is always something wrong.
Over the years, the list of games has shrunk. Some companies have simply gone above and beyond to ruin what little fun they once offered...
...and instead of being constantly subscribed to one game or another, I find that months can go by where I find my entertainment elsewhere.
But then after a period of time - there is always some new trailer that catches my eye, and I am hooked again...
...for that month's sub where I may not even play thirty minutes on the first day and end up doing the requisite /facepalm.
WoW is an interesting game. I no longer think of it as a MMORPG. I mean, seriously, who could?
It is a game lobby - WC4, if you will. You sit around waiting to do battlegrounds, arena, heroics, or raids.
If you stop looking at the game as if it were a MMORPG, and instead think of it along the lines of what it actually is - a game lobby - your level of disappointment with the game drops immensely. Much like a FPS/RTS/etc, where you login to a game lobby - then go have a bit of fun as the hours pass by...there, you will find WoW.
I mean, c'mon - think about it... Blizzard (Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo)... they are a game lobby game company, why would WoW have evolved into anything different?
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
11 million subscriptions isn't the same as 11 million players. I was one player and had two accounts. I don't think I was all that rare and certainly, there are many who have far more than just my meager two accounts. Then factor in the number of "players" who are really nothing more than bots and gold sellers.
The 11 million figure is fiction.
There is also the question on how Blizzard actually counts Chinese players who pay by the hour, do they count if they played one hour this month, more or for just having an account?
But does it really matters, Wow is still the largest P2P game even if you just count the 4 million western accounts and even if you take away all multi accounts.
On the other hand have the number who like something never been a sign of quality, Cocaine have many "subscribers" and it surely isn't good. I do however have to admire Blizzards excellent coding.
Having a low number of followers has never been a sign of quality either, and its absolutely ludicrous to compare RL to the MMO world, the only reason everyone is not staying at the Ritz and other 5 star hotels when they go on holidays and instead choose lower rated alternatives is because they cant afford if given equal opportunities as it is the case with MMOs can and will dictate what the majority of ppl will consider higher quality.
11 million subscriptions isn't the same as 11 million players. I was one player and had two accounts. I don't think I was all that rare and certainly, there are many who have far more than just my meager two accounts. Then factor in the number of "players" who are really nothing more than bots and gold sellers.
The 11 million figure is fiction.
There is also the question on how Blizzard actually counts Chinese players who pay by the hour, do they count if they played one hour this month, more or for just having an account?
But does it really matters, Wow is still the largest P2P game even if you just count the 4 million western accounts and even if you take away all multi accounts.
On the other hand have the number who like something never been a sign of quality, Cocaine have many "subscribers" and it surely isn't good. I do however have to admire Blizzards excellent coding.
Ut oh.. becareful.. Some have hissy fits when you mention WoW and McDonalds's in the same sentence.. Using Cocaine will definately get you on someones chit list..
I think that coming back, complaining, and leaving again, is pretty much nonsense.
WoW lives because of the guilds. If you join a guild with people you like, then you will also enjoy the game. If you run around only alone or in a guild full of people you don't care about, and go only with random raids and stuff, then of course it's boring. Do I really have to explain that?
11 million subscriptions isn't the same as 11 million players. I was one player and had two accounts. I don't think I was all that rare and certainly, there are many who have far more than just my meager two accounts. Then factor in the number of "players" who are really nothing more than bots and gold sellers.
The 11 million figure is fiction.
There is also the question on how Blizzard actually counts Chinese players who pay by the hour, do they count if they played one hour this month, more or for just having an account?
But does it really matters, Wow is still the largest P2P game even if you just count the 4 million western accounts and even if you take away all multi accounts.
On the other hand have the number who like something never been a sign of quality, Cocaine have many "subscribers" and it surely isn't good. I do however have to admire Blizzards excellent coding.
Ut oh.. becareful.. Some have hissy fits when you mention WoW and McDonalds's in the same sentence.. Using Cocaine will definately get you on someones chit list..
I am all for giving other MMOs a chance and I do hope something nice comes out in the next year or so, but its not new that ppl on mmorpg.com like to give praise and standby games who are in all honesty a pile of shit just for the sake of it, like there is some sort of crusade of making other ppl think they are smarter, more elitist and have somehow a more refined taste than others.
Its not everyone but most posters here are like that, doesnt really annoy me just find it funny how close minded and dumb they are :P To each their own, someone elses views do not affect how I feel about games or game, I just like to discuss and express an opinion when I dont feel its fitting or makes sense.
"I hate WoW and i'm leaving AGAIN because of ______"
*cue the wave of white knights coming to defend WoW, and feeling like it was a personal attack against them and their beloved game. Copy/paste the same arguments as the first 20 threads. Toss in a few more '11 million accounts' references. Cue the anti-account argument concerning goldspammers and duplicate accounts*
Free trials, inactive accounts and banned accounts are not included in blizzards subscriber numbers.
Here is the exact text from the blizzard press release and HERE is a link to that release.
World of Warcraft's Subscriber Definition
World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees’ territories are defined along the same rules.
If you don't want to believe the press releases, just look at the server list when you log in. There are over 500 active game servers in North America and Europe alone, while the next biggest games have10 or 20 servers total. You can't fake servers with people on them.
Guess i wrote a lie, but i still don't believe in 11 mill.
Thanks for the accurate information though :0)
Europe has about 260 servers. With an average of 7000 active players per server. Wich is about 1,82 million active players.
US also has about 260 servers. So theres another 1.82 million.
If theres as much in Asia as in Europe or US, then the total number will be around 5,5 million. Is that a more believable number for you?
It's still quite impressive. I'm not sure how Blizzard got to 11 mil, perhaps theres a lot more players in Asia, or theres a lot more people playing per server than the server population statistic webpages indicate (note: those are not official).
I used to leave WoW about every three months in search of something better. But...I always go back because of Blizzard's polished system, content updates, and friends. I have decided to now stay with WoW because everything else is a let down, and I go back to WoW anyways.
I am sure GW2 and SW:ToR will be good, but folks leaving WoW for them will be back...just like with every other MMO. I heard the same folks saying Aion, Ao|C, Warhammer, _____ would be better than WoW and you see how that turned out. Unless a game development company can think outside the MMO box, people will always play WoW over other titles. The way I see it:
GW2 = Korean grind style hidden in a decent storyline (I hope I am wrong)
SW:ToR = Massive Solo Play Online (I REALLY hope I am wrong)
MMOs seem to be at the point now where no one game can meet the expectations of a single player. We consume content to fast.
A while back I saw one of the producers at blizzard talk about not wanting wow to be the only game that wow players subscribe to. I thought that was a rather strange statement for a company to make. The part about them being fine with people coming and going with the content updates.
In truth it makes a lot of sense and I think really highlights the problem with the genre. Playing to much of one game burns people out, but there is such a lack of quality second choices. I'm hoping guild wars 2 is an excellent second game to mix in. Since it has no sub fee it will be nice to just come and go as time and desire permit. I think that is part of the design choice with so many games going free to play. There is little to no commitment with those games, so they can be played during breaks from other games or just on nights where someone wants something a little different.
Like most people, I always go back to WOW as well. Up until the last few months my vacation from WOW game was Everquest 2 and at this point it is so clunky I just cannot play it anymore. Everquest 2 has gotten to this point where I could close my eyes and create 2 characters, and when I am done, they would feel like I was playing the same class. Its so homogenized that classes feel like every other class.
What does it for me though? Blizzard has AMAZING customer service. My account was hacked (I have an authenticator now) about 3 months ago. 25k gold, All 5 of my 80s were stripped and items sold, my alt guild bank with 5 tabs was stripped out, I literally LOST everything, including 2 toons they actually paid to have transferred to another server to sell.
I called, it took about an hour on hold. When a CS rep anwsered, he was extremely nice, knew exactly what hapenned and escalated it to where the ticket needed to be. This may not mean much to a lot of people but I have been working in Customer service my whole life (Starbucks 13 years) and I can tell you that if you can get the service side down, no matter where you mess up in anything, the client will remember this and keep coming back.
Comments
11 million subscriptions isn't the same as 11 million players. I was one player and had two accounts. I don't think I was all that rare and certainly, there are many who have far more than just my meager two accounts. Then factor in the number of "players" who are really nothing more than bots and gold sellers.
The 11 million figure is fiction.
As far the type of player that is reflected in those accounts, no, they can't all be idiots and immature trolls or kids, but those are certainly the most vocal of the player base. When I played with my small group of friends, none of us would participate in any of the public chat channels. We stayed mostly within our group, so were largely sheltered from all the garbage that makes WoW the 'great' commununity it is today. Unfortunately, I was a little more hardcore than my friends and tended to play a lot more hours, so I would regularly jump characters ahead. And this lead to having to group with other members of the 'great' community, which would so often lead to irritation and frustration.
I won't say that the trouble is with *all* of the kiddies playing, but it's more likely as a result of all the adults who act like spoiled little snots.
I won't be back until Blizzard implements a technology that allows you to reach through your computer screen and beat a little bit of courtesy and common decency into the abrasive, arrogant pukes on the other end, with your bare hands. In the meantime, WoW can wallow in it's own filth and claim it's a mineral bath with rose petals. I know what it used to be and what it's become ... a digital latrine with a subscription fee.
Has anyone invented the term "Bungee Wow player" yet?
I call it otherwise, there are more than a few that jumps in and out fast and many times....
There is also the question on how Blizzard actually counts Chinese players who pay by the hour, do they count if they played one hour this month, more or for just having an account?
But does it really matters, Wow is still the largest P2P game even if you just count the 4 million western accounts and even if you take away all multi accounts.
On the other hand have the number who like something never been a sign of quality, Cocaine have many "subscribers" and it surely isn't good. I do however have to admire Blizzards excellent coding.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/Cloudsol/
Two years ago when I played there was a player in our guild who had 6 accounts...
It is not just WoW, though - is it?
Be honest.
You probably have a rotation of games that you go through, where you are away a period of time (just long enough to forget all the faults the game has) before you resubscribe because something new is mentioned (which generally turns out to be as disappointing as the rest of the game that you quickly begin to remember)...
I used to have quite a collection of games that I went through this with over the years since I started with UO. Would play for a couple of months in a game before it all became too much - for one reason or another. Then on to the next game and the promise of what I was looking for presented by the most amazing trailers . . . only to find it a lie.
There are many different games that include a part of what I want, but not all of what I want. They always come up short in some fashion. There is always something wrong.
Over the years, the list of games has shrunk. Some companies have simply gone above and beyond to ruin what little fun they once offered...
...and instead of being constantly subscribed to one game or another, I find that months can go by where I find my entertainment elsewhere.
But then after a period of time - there is always some new trailer that catches my eye, and I am hooked again...
...for that month's sub where I may not even play thirty minutes on the first day and end up doing the requisite /facepalm.
WoW is an interesting game. I no longer think of it as a MMORPG. I mean, seriously, who could?
It is a game lobby - WC4, if you will. You sit around waiting to do battlegrounds, arena, heroics, or raids.
If you stop looking at the game as if it were a MMORPG, and instead think of it along the lines of what it actually is - a game lobby - your level of disappointment with the game drops immensely. Much like a FPS/RTS/etc, where you login to a game lobby - then go have a bit of fun as the hours pass by...there, you will find WoW.
I mean, c'mon - think about it... Blizzard (Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo)... they are a game lobby game company, why would WoW have evolved into anything different?
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
Having a low number of followers has never been a sign of quality either, and its absolutely ludicrous to compare RL to the MMO world, the only reason everyone is not staying at the Ritz and other 5 star hotels when they go on holidays and instead choose lower rated alternatives is because they cant afford if given equal opportunities as it is the case with MMOs can and will dictate what the majority of ppl will consider higher quality.
Ut oh.. becareful.. Some have hissy fits when you mention WoW and McDonalds's in the same sentence.. Using Cocaine will definately get you on someones chit list..
I think that coming back, complaining, and leaving again, is pretty much nonsense.
WoW lives because of the guilds. If you join a guild with people you like, then you will also enjoy the game. If you run around only alone or in a guild full of people you don't care about, and go only with random raids and stuff, then of course it's boring. Do I really have to explain that?
Let's play Fallen Earth (blind, 300 episodes)
Let's play Guild Wars 2 (blind, 45 episodes)
I am all for giving other MMOs a chance and I do hope something nice comes out in the next year or so, but its not new that ppl on mmorpg.com like to give praise and standby games who are in all honesty a pile of shit just for the sake of it, like there is some sort of crusade of making other ppl think they are smarter, more elitist and have somehow a more refined taste than others.
Its not everyone but most posters here are like that, doesnt really annoy me just find it funny how close minded and dumb they are :P To each their own, someone elses views do not affect how I feel about games or game, I just like to discuss and express an opinion when I dont feel its fitting or makes sense.
Oh look, 'this' thread again.
"I hate WoW and i'm leaving AGAIN because of ______"
*cue the wave of white knights coming to defend WoW, and feeling like it was a personal attack against them and their beloved game. Copy/paste the same arguments as the first 20 threads. Toss in a few more '11 million accounts' references. Cue the anti-account argument concerning goldspammers and duplicate accounts*
I think that about covers it.
Europe has about 260 servers. With an average of 7000 active players per server. Wich is about 1,82 million active players.
US also has about 260 servers. So theres another 1.82 million.
If theres as much in Asia as in Europe or US, then the total number will be around 5,5 million. Is that a more believable number for you?
It's still quite impressive. I'm not sure how Blizzard got to 11 mil, perhaps theres a lot more players in Asia, or theres a lot more people playing per server than the server population statistic webpages indicate (note: those are not official).
I used to leave WoW about every three months in search of something better. But...I always go back because of Blizzard's polished system, content updates, and friends. I have decided to now stay with WoW because everything else is a let down, and I go back to WoW anyways.
I am sure GW2 and SW:ToR will be good, but folks leaving WoW for them will be back...just like with every other MMO. I heard the same folks saying Aion, Ao|C, Warhammer, _____ would be better than WoW and you see how that turned out. Unless a game development company can think outside the MMO box, people will always play WoW over other titles. The way I see it:
GW2 = Korean grind style hidden in a decent storyline (I hope I am wrong)
SW:ToR = Massive Solo Play Online (I REALLY hope I am wrong)
MMOs seem to be at the point now where no one game can meet the expectations of a single player. We consume content to fast.
A while back I saw one of the producers at blizzard talk about not wanting wow to be the only game that wow players subscribe to. I thought that was a rather strange statement for a company to make. The part about them being fine with people coming and going with the content updates.
In truth it makes a lot of sense and I think really highlights the problem with the genre. Playing to much of one game burns people out, but there is such a lack of quality second choices. I'm hoping guild wars 2 is an excellent second game to mix in. Since it has no sub fee it will be nice to just come and go as time and desire permit. I think that is part of the design choice with so many games going free to play. There is little to no commitment with those games, so they can be played during breaks from other games or just on nights where someone wants something a little different.
Like most people, I always go back to WOW as well. Up until the last few months my vacation from WOW game was Everquest 2 and at this point it is so clunky I just cannot play it anymore. Everquest 2 has gotten to this point where I could close my eyes and create 2 characters, and when I am done, they would feel like I was playing the same class. Its so homogenized that classes feel like every other class.
What does it for me though? Blizzard has AMAZING customer service. My account was hacked (I have an authenticator now) about 3 months ago. 25k gold, All 5 of my 80s were stripped and items sold, my alt guild bank with 5 tabs was stripped out, I literally LOST everything, including 2 toons they actually paid to have transferred to another server to sell.
I called, it took about an hour on hold. When a CS rep anwsered, he was extremely nice, knew exactly what hapenned and escalated it to where the ticket needed to be. This may not mean much to a lot of people but I have been working in Customer service my whole life (Starbucks 13 years) and I can tell you that if you can get the service side down, no matter where you mess up in anything, the client will remember this and keep coming back.