Should we be concerned?

[Kelarese]

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game ... eople.html

I saw this on MMORPG.com this morning. Now I know, you can't believe every site you read. But I can't help but think: Should we start being concerned?

I'm concerned about the path WoW is taking. It seems like it's taking a direction no one really asked for. Now I know there are also no details about what the hunter class is going to look like. But I really am not looking to learn my class all over again. We've already done that.....five...six times already?

I'm all for something new. But dear gods does that mean things have to be changed AGAIN?

I'm not trying to be Doom and Gloom here. But what would it take to keep World of Warcraft in the forfront of MMO's?

Thoughts?

[Worba]

Think of it more as housecleaning; for example at one point our talent trees were up to 61 pts... and growing. You can only have so many "really big end tier spell" before the whole thing starts to get muddled and incoherent. So they took a lot of the stuff already considered "mandatory" anyway and rolled it into built-in functionality, and rebuilt the rest into a lean 31 pt structure which better fit the original feel of things.

But now here we are talking about 5.0. So what happens - we extend it out to 41 pts and go down the same road as before? No, they came up with a new approach that seems a better fit, and gives us new capabilities such as built-in slow shot, and so on. It's not trying to be the best thing ever, just an interesting alternative to top heavy bloating.

Etc.

In the end though, nothing is forever in the realm off gaming / creative arts, no matter how well done or engaging, and yeah someday they will stop the major content expansions, and as the author in your article said, it may well also become F2P. But new stuff will come along to fill the void, like Titan or offerings from other companies, and I'll be interested to see what form it takes.

[Gumballs]

Yes, something new means that the old has to change. People are dropping subs, so they are trying to change things so it revives their interests. I have 0 concerns about any changes they make. When hunters got a big overhaul before Cata, I didn't have to 'relearn' my class - I modified how I played it by a tiny bit. If I hated those changes, by all means I could have quit playing. But in all honesty, they aren't a big deal. I don't know why people QQ about them so much.

And as a note, this is all general statements, not directly stating it towards you.

[pengupuff]

While no game can cling to life forever, I think articles like these are needlessly pessimistic about WoW's future. Yes, the subscription rate is on decline, but there are still over 10 million people on board, and WoW is still the most subscribed to MMO at the moment.

Look at games like Everquest and Runescape. They're way past their prime but still maintain a large enough player base to keep things going. In short I think that WoW still has several years left in it, and I have a creeping suspicion that the eventual "WoW-killer" will be released by Blizzard as well.

[Lupis]

What Pengu said. xD Also, many people drop their subs only to get enticed by a new patch/expansion and start playing again. Once the expansion comes out, for example, subs will skyrocket. Even people who poo-poo it will still be drawn in.

[Lisaara]

Yeah that article is way to pessimistic. Things change throughout time. Thats how life works. No game stays the same forever. WoW is no different. I have no concerns. If they're trying to keep interest, they definitely kept mine with that.

[Silivren]

I'm quitting WoW as soon as SWTOR is out.. Why? Because I've stuck with WoW from the beginning and its all getting uber repetitive to me... Did SWTOR kill WoW for me? No It's killing itself for me. Now this is MY opninion - Expansion and all changes coming with it to me seem stupid. I dont like it and I've read everything about it. I'm tired of the same old thing Cataclysm felt just like Wotlk just as Wotlk felt just the same as BC. In the end nothing will kill WoW but WoW itself and for me its doing that. Half the time I sit online and do absolutely nothing now because theres simply nothing to do. When Blizz moves its sights onto something more important in their eyes then it truly will die. Because all games age, the first mmo I ever played is still around and has subscribers but you'd be lucky to get a "gm" to help you and if you do it will take quite a long while. In the future that will be WoW. Its only a matter of time before Blizz makes another "baby" to love and lavish their attention on and when that time comes you'll know. Its just a matter of time until WoW can stop pumping out new toys that make the people(who go away and come back off and on) go "Ooo shiny!" just to go "Ok, I'm bored" a few months later. When WoW stops putting out sparkly dangly keys to try to keep your attention you know that they themselves are done with it.

[Lisaara]

Vulp - Um...for the past few months when I put a ticket in, it was answered within 5 minutes. So They've gotten A LOT better at response times. You might not wanna generalize so harshly on the GMs. Their job isnt easy.

[Silivren]

Vulp - Um...for the past few months when I put a ticket in, it was answered within 5 minutes. So They've gotten A LOT better at response times. You might not wanna generalize so harshly on the GMs. Their job isnt easy.

Did I say now? No I didnt. Reread what I wrote. I said when WoW will get to the point its FtP and GMs will be few and far between and thats when they begin to lavish their attention on a new game.

[Lisaara]

Oh. You didn't really specify when/time frame. I read it as a generalization. My mistake.

[Silivren]

Oh. You didn't really specify when/time frame. I read it as a generalization. My mistake.

S'ok. Sorry to be a bit snippy. It isnt now but in the future like all games imo it probably will be <3

[Vephriel]

There's always an ebb and flow like this, especially during the stale periods in between expansions. Some people leave the game, but there's also new players coming in constantly as well. WoW isn't going anywhere anytime soon. People who enjoy the game stay, people who don't move on.

[Lisaara]

Oh. You didn't really specify when/time frame. I read it as a generalization. My mistake.

S'ok. Sorry to be a bit snippy. It isnt now but in the future like all games imo it probably will be <3

S'ok. <3 I still love ya! Maybe. It's hard to say. They're really trying to get better at it. I scold people on my server that like to put in tickets for 'lulz' cause I'm like "Dude thats not funny..."

[Silivren]

Oh. You didn't really specify when/time frame. I read it as a generalization. My mistake.

S'ok. Sorry to be a bit snippy. It isnt now but in the future like all games imo it probably will be <3

S'ok. <3 I still love ya! Maybe. It's hard to say. They're really trying to get better at it. I scold people on my server that like to put in tickets for 'lulz' cause I'm like "Dude thats not funny..."

I never put them in for "lulz" just some GM's do tick me off they say they cant help but yet they do the exact same thing for a friend of mine Its annoying to say the least.

[Lisaara]

Oh god I knooooow!

Though today I put in a ticket. I wanted the name Sango for my future Pandaren Monk. But I couldn't have the name cause it was taken. One of my guildies looked into it and informed me this person was probably not even active cause they had no avatar and were only level 14 in the armory. So I put in a ticket. Less than 5 minutes go by and I get PINGed by a GM who releases the name for me. :3 So yay!

[Boven]

I only skimmed the story, but doubt it's any reason to worry. I can think of a few factors that'd cause a drop in subscriptions.

First off, some people have been playing this game for a long time. I played in final beta and created my old warrior on the first day of retail release. I'm still having fun, but I know a lot of friends and guildies who've just kind of lost interest after all these years. It's understandable. Some have come back, some haven't.

Times are also tough financially for a lot of people. For some, saving that 15 bucks each month is important. Some of those accounts closed may be 2nd and/or even 3rd accounts folks have. I know I've considered closing out my 2nd account, but that's where my ret bull and Goblin rogue are.

I do wonder whether the 'lost' subscriptions also include accounts that were closed/banned for exploits and such.


Any time there's been a noticeable drop in WoW subscriptions, blogs start pumping out the "WoW is DYING!!!!" posts. Barring something out of left field, WoW isn't going to die overnight. I also rather doubt that another MMO is going to 'kill' WoW. I feel it's more likely that, over time, it'll just slowly fade until there's not much left of it and Blizz will shut it down.

[Kayb]

with the majority of those lost subscriptions being from the china area, i'd say a few share of them are probably gold farmers etc etc that have been stopped by blizz themselves

[Nightsights]

if we look at the big picture WoW has probably lost several million subs over the past 7 years, but overall it has probably had over 15 million subs. probably safe to say that WoW's current subs are greater than all other MMO's combined. and compared to console games, WoW is limited to NA, parts of SA/CA, Aus/NZ, parts of Asia, EU, Rus.

[Chimera]

the day i quit WoW will be the day i am either forcefully rendered unable to play (which is a very huge myriad of things with life being unpredictable at every step of the way) or because it, in my mind, is dying/dead. But i dont forsee that kind of fate in my future of playing the game. It will definitely not be what it once was, right now it isnt what it used to be, but it will still hold on for years to come unless blizz or activision pulls the cord. WoW pulls in too much money for them to give up on it without coming out with another game that can pull in as many or more subscribers as WoW. It will be boring to many yes because they're following a routine and only recently have they began to try something new by going forward with the war between the horde and the alliance which is what the game was originally built upon. Cataclysm may of sent many running but Mists of Pandaria will hopefully bring many back.

[Acherontia]

I think WoW has become stale enough that another very good fantasy MMO would have enough people leave for it that WoW would pretty much collapse. There just isn't enough end-game content for non-hardcores, and even for most raiders--stuff that isn't grindy & repetitive, I mean.

The first sign would likely be more and more empty /2 and cities, until only a handful of people were online. You'd probably see realms being merged to save costs, getting shut down one by one. They'd probably still run them even then, as it'd be profitable (Guild Wars still runs to this day, as do LotRO and others), so I wouldn't call it dead, but its time would be pretty much over. The new content seems crappy enough that I'm not really sure even Blizzard is giving their all to keep it at its best, more like just keeping it afloat until their other MMO comes out. That isn't to say the devs don't care, but I feel like they're being throttled or spread too thin by the upper management. That is just complete speculation, though--just based on things like the dance school not being released, character graphics not being overhauled for Cataclysm, lore being completely destroyed (looking at you, Worgen), no proofreading on seasonal event text, etc. Also, new players coming into WoW will be astounded at how bad the graphics are, whereas us older players are used to it. I would love to see numbers on how many trial accounts wind up subscribing nowadays versus how many used to.

I think that minigames like the whole Pokemon thing they're bringing in may well prolong WoW, as will the character graphics overhaul.

WoW is an old cape buffalo bull wandering around the savannah--it's sick, and it's weak, but damned if it won't still kick the ass of a lot of up-and-comers regardless. It's the next big bull we have to watch out for.