WoW Down to 8.3 Million Subscribers

[cowmuflage]

I think graphics is another area where they could improve. We have a number of models that haven't been updated since Vanilla, and it shows. It makes it harder to bring in new subscribers. Why would people go for WoW when they can play GW2, which is prettier, allows for complete customization, and you only have to pay for it once? Especially since there's a long standing stigma against paying WoW?

The only real downside for me with GW2's graphics is that on anything that is not super high graphics it looks like utter crap. All the screens I've seen and the time I've played it on low graphics it looks really bad (like bad early 2000's stuff and thats mainly cus they went with the "realism" style graphics they never look good on low settings XD). Least with the style WoW went with it looks okay on low settings.

The one thing I should point out is I don't think WoW would go F2P as that is a VERY risky thing for a MMO to do. Most big F2P ones fail big time or only last a year or so GW2 is really a fluke when it comes to this. Also most MMOs that go from P2P to F2P it's mainly because they are dieing anyway :S It's risky as most F2P games get most of thier money from the game store and a lot of gamers don't buy from those things( I know I don't) as you can't 100% live off of the game sales as it's a one time buy.

[Novikova]

I don't know. LOTRO is still going, as are several others. I like Marvel Heroes' approach of offering you a shot at goodies through drops or letting you buy the heroes/costumes you want straight up.

[cowmuflage]

It's still a very risky thing for a company to do. I was just trying to clear this up as a lot of gamers have this mindset of F2P = better for everyone. When yes it's better for the gamer but it can make or break a company. I mean I'd like to not pay for WoW but I know why they are not doing F2P just yet.

[Helsinki]

I've become much more focused on my career which in turn gets more work coming in, which gives me even less free time... As a result, I play mostly in spurts. I can't always play every day, and sometimes I am away for a week or two entirely. I have not stepped foot in a single MoP raid and probably couldn't even name more than one or two. The only faction rep I have is from tokens I got farming war bringers. I don't even know what the vast majority of the factions do or provide. I haven't done brawler's guild or whatever that faction stuff in krasarang is (can't even remember its name!). I have done maybe one heroic this whole expansion and maybe three or four scenarios. I have never felt so completely out of the loop in all of my 8 years of playing wow.

However... Leveling hunters and taming pets has kept me very entertained. I do random battlegrounds, quest with friends and do old content raids when I'm able. For as casual as I have become, it works fine for me - but that doesn't mean I don't wish it wasn't different. I've always been a massive altoholic and I miss how incredibly easy it was to get an alt raid-ready in wotlk. I wish they would bring that back. Funny... I used to be surrounded by guildies and friends who hated casuals like me hahaha.

Edit - another note on gearing... They have added content so quickly in this expansion, which I know is great because players consume it faster than ever. I know they have to. But that also means that with my limited playtime I just fall further and further behind. Makes it hard to feel invested in a toon and try to gear up because it just feels so grindy that it hardly seems like a fun use of the time I have. So I just level more alts... And while I still very much enjoy it right now, I can finally see the reality of the fact that I'm not going to be playing this game forever. I am not even sure I'll see the next expansion. That's a weird feeling to me when I've been playing this game since I was 19 (I'm 27 now).