WoW actually had a steady and healthy population between 7-8,5 million. When a new expansion would come out the numbers would swell and they would go back to normal in a few months. If you consider the current decline to be caused by the general mmo decline and not that WoD is NOT an mmorpg but a simple facebook game, well, hehe, lets just say me and some millions disagree.
I consider the current decline because the game is 10+ years old and not even a personal sexual favor from a Blizz dev of choice to every current and former subscriber would change that....
WoW only real enemy have finally caught up.. Time.. Entropy get us all in the end.
Time? Ppl are willing to play WoW, look at WoD sales. Ppl want to play Legion also. The game evolves and ppl are willing to invest their money on it. Come on dont fool yourself. You know the reason is the quality of the product. It is not an mmorpg. Thats why private servers thrive.
Have you leveled a windwalker monk by doing each dungeon only once and questing the rest of the time? If not, stop what you're doing right now and do it. You can thank me in spam or big red gum, preferably big red gum because it's fu&@ing amazing.
WoW actually had a steady and healthy population between 7-8,5 million. .
But did it? Yes we know the number at the end of a quarter but how steady was the population? If WoW had 8.5M at the end of one quarter and 7M three months later how many of those 7M people were counted in the 8.5M? We have no idea. And almost certainly less than we "naturally assume".
It is not about absolute numbers. It is about the rate of subscription numbers decline.
Partly true. Also about the rate at which new players join WoW. And AB has told us that WoW has 100M+ accounts. On average over 8M a year or 2M a quarter. Potentially a brand new population every year.
So are Blizzard "designing Legion to make subscribers happy" = don't change or "designing Legion to bring old players back" = put it back the way it was or "designing Legion to attract new players" = do something new. All of the above of course to some degree and that is how they will sell it but what is the focus? Remember the goal is profit; player happiness only matters insofar as it might improve retention.
Legion will be half the game they said it will be... just as with the last three expansions. The developers will apologize for their mistakes (having made it a point to let us all know that they have learned from them), then basically repeat them in the next expansion.
Whatever Blizzard is doing is not in question... they've been quite predictable for many many years.
Time? Ppl are willing to play WoW, look at WoD sales. Ppl want to play Legion also. The game evolves and ppl are willing to invest their money on it. Come on dont fool yourself. You know the reason is the quality of the product. It is not an mmorpg. Thats why private servers thrive.
What is quality...?
From a objective view WoW have never had more quality... things run smoother, looks better and tells a more coherent story than ever...
But of if you have a personal bias for "vanilla" that metric is useless because it does not match your value base.
But here is the objective truth... Any game as old as WoW see a decline in number of players no matter what they do. No matter the quality of the service. You are welcome.
All I can say is that I've hopped into WoD now to play through some of the content that I missed since leaving two years ago and can already see why people stopped playing WoD. Besides just the horrible lack of content updates for 16+ months, the systems they had in place for garrison are horrible. Saying they are facebook games is completely accurate and I can't believe they made them a requirement for story advancement. I may have to look elsewhere for my mmo fix.
All I can say is that I've hopped into WoD now to play through some of the content that I missed since leaving two years ago and can already see why people stopped playing WoD. Besides just the horrible lack of content updates for 16+ months, the systems they had in place for garrison are horrible. Saying they are facebook games is completely accurate and I can't believe they made them a requirement for story advancement. I may have to look elsewhere for my mmo fix.
Completely Jaded point of view from someone who left for other reasons. I have a love hate relationship with garrisons. I love that fact that I have made millions in gold over the last few months in my Garrison. On the other hand I hate how anti social garrisons make the game feel. I dont care one way or another if they keep them, change them or remove them in Legion. Im making all the gold I can for as long as I can.
Just because I'm a gamer doesn't mean I drive a Honda.
I think the fact that there will be other players there instead of solo like in WoD (afterall this is an mmorpg not a solo rpg blizzard!) changes the whole experience anyway and was one of the main reasons, if not the main reason, that people didn't really like garrisons.
Started playing mmorpg's in 1996 and have been hooked ever since. It began with Kingdom of Drakkar, Ultima Online, Everquest, DAoC, WoW...
All I can say is that I've hopped into WoD now to play through some of the content that I missed since leaving two years ago and can already see why people stopped playing WoD. Besides just the horrible lack of content updates for 16+ months, the systems they had in place for garrison are horrible. Saying they are facebook games is completely accurate and I can't believe they made them a requirement for story advancement. I may have to look elsewhere for my mmo fix.
Completely Jaded point of view from someone who left for other reasons. I have a love hate relationship with garrisons. I love that fact that I have made millions in gold over the last few months in my Garrison. On the other hand I hate how anti social garrisons make the game feel. I dont care one way or another if they keep them, change them or remove them in Legion. Im making all the gold I can for as long as I can.
I used to be all about the gold hording as well. In the end, though, there's basically no point to it because all that really happens is ending up feeling like you're saving up for the next expansion thanks to not having a whole lot to do with the gold. They moved most of the good rewards to alternative systems like tokens, raids, and battlegrounds. Also, call it jaded if you like, but when you are an outsider taking a look in and seeing the skinner box for what it is in all it's ugly glory what would you expect someone to say?
Oh gee, that mouse trap with cheese looks like the best mouse trap with cheese in it I've ever seen crafted!
Comments
Partly true. Also about the rate at which new players join WoW. And AB has told us that WoW has 100M+ accounts. On average over 8M a year or 2M a quarter. Potentially a brand new population every year.
So are Blizzard "designing Legion to make subscribers happy" = don't change or "designing Legion to bring old players back" = put it back the way it was or "designing Legion to attract new players" = do something new. All of the above of course to some degree and that is how they will sell it but what is the focus? Remember the goal is profit; player happiness only matters insofar as it might improve retention.
Whatever Blizzard is doing is not in question... they've been quite predictable for many many years.
From a objective view WoW have never had more quality... things run smoother, looks better and tells a more coherent story than ever...
But of if you have a personal bias for "vanilla" that metric is useless because it does not match your value base.
But here is the objective truth... Any game as old as WoW see a decline in number of players no matter what they do. No matter the quality of the service. You are welcome.
This have been a good conversation
I have a love hate relationship with garrisons. I love that fact that I have made millions in gold over the last few months in my Garrison. On the other hand I hate how anti social garrisons make the game feel.
I dont care one way or another if they keep them, change them or remove them in Legion. Im making all the gold I can for as long as I can.
Lets see your Battle Stations /r/battlestations
Battle Station
Oh gee, that mouse trap with cheese looks like the best mouse trap with cheese in it I've ever seen crafted!