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World of Warcraft continues to hemorrhage subscribers...
Posted on 8/5/14 at 8:11 pm
Posted on 8/5/14 at 8:11 pm
- End of Vanilla WoW in Q4 2006: 8 million subs
- End of TBC in Q2 2008: 10.9 million subs
- End of WotLK in Q4 2009: 11.5 million subs
- (WoW surpasses 12 million subs during Cata)
- End of Cataclysm in Q2 2012: 9.1 million subs
- Nearing the end of MoP in Q2 2014: 6.8 million subs (announced today)
I find it interesting that there is a positive correlation between the loss in subscribers and the complete democratization of content. At the end of The Burning Crusade, WoW was sitting at 11 million subscribers. There was no LFG, no LFR, and raids were strictly 25 man endeavors. The amount of subscribers stabilized around 11.5 million during WotLK, but started dropping significantly during Cata, and continued to plummet during Mists.
People can place blame on the loss in subscriptions due to the age of the game, but I firmly believe that Blizzard's inexorable campaign to dilute the complexity from this game and democratize the content are both big factors. They feel that everyone should be able to experience everything within the game, and that if something is too "difficult", then it requires an overhaul.
This design philosophy is in diametrical opposition to what Bungie is currently doing with Destiny, and I think it's why so many former MMORPG players are starting to gravitate towards the game. Destiny will feature end game raiding content, and Bungie recently announced that there would not be any matchmaking whatsoever for these raids. They've gone on record stating that you will have to take time to coordinate with other people, form your own groups, and make your way through the content. No hand holding, no democratization. The phrases Bungie throws around like "cooperation challenge" and "investment challenge" are completely foreign concepts to the guys at Blizzard.
They've stated that they don't care how many people get to experience this particular set of content, and that it is geared towards only the most dedicated players. Honestly, it's refreshing to hear a developer talk like this in the context of a MMO-esque game, and I can't help but think that WoW would have at least 9+ million subscribers at this point if Blizzard wasn't so insistent on equalizing access to nearly everything in the game.
- End of TBC in Q2 2008: 10.9 million subs
- End of WotLK in Q4 2009: 11.5 million subs
- (WoW surpasses 12 million subs during Cata)
- End of Cataclysm in Q2 2012: 9.1 million subs
- Nearing the end of MoP in Q2 2014: 6.8 million subs (announced today)
I find it interesting that there is a positive correlation between the loss in subscribers and the complete democratization of content. At the end of The Burning Crusade, WoW was sitting at 11 million subscribers. There was no LFG, no LFR, and raids were strictly 25 man endeavors. The amount of subscribers stabilized around 11.5 million during WotLK, but started dropping significantly during Cata, and continued to plummet during Mists.
People can place blame on the loss in subscriptions due to the age of the game, but I firmly believe that Blizzard's inexorable campaign to dilute the complexity from this game and democratize the content are both big factors. They feel that everyone should be able to experience everything within the game, and that if something is too "difficult", then it requires an overhaul.
This design philosophy is in diametrical opposition to what Bungie is currently doing with Destiny, and I think it's why so many former MMORPG players are starting to gravitate towards the game. Destiny will feature end game raiding content, and Bungie recently announced that there would not be any matchmaking whatsoever for these raids. They've gone on record stating that you will have to take time to coordinate with other people, form your own groups, and make your way through the content. No hand holding, no democratization. The phrases Bungie throws around like "cooperation challenge" and "investment challenge" are completely foreign concepts to the guys at Blizzard.
They've stated that they don't care how many people get to experience this particular set of content, and that it is geared towards only the most dedicated players. Honestly, it's refreshing to hear a developer talk like this in the context of a MMO-esque game, and I can't help but think that WoW would have at least 9+ million subscribers at this point if Blizzard wasn't so insistent on equalizing access to nearly everything in the game.
This post was edited on 8/5/14 at 8:23 pm
10
Posted on 8/5/14 at 8:19 pm to Cs
I agree
Posted on 8/5/14 at 8:21 pm to Cs
Wow just got too easy and too dumb.
Posted on 8/5/14 at 8:33 pm to Cs
Don't know why you guys are so anxious to see WoW go away.
Posted on 8/5/14 at 8:37 pm to Cs
I really do not understand how these companies continue to make the same mistake over and over.
Galaxies starts out complex, with groups needed to complete certain events or bosses and only the hardest core made Jedi.....move to a vanilla leveling system and allow anyone to become Jedi, everything shuts down shortly after
WOW starts out with a unique system and slowly degrades to what it is now due to trying to play to the lowest common denominator.
Galaxies starts out complex, with groups needed to complete certain events or bosses and only the hardest core made Jedi.....move to a vanilla leveling system and allow anyone to become Jedi, everything shuts down shortly after
WOW starts out with a unique system and slowly degrades to what it is now due to trying to play to the lowest common denominator.
Posted on 8/5/14 at 10:58 pm to Cs
quote:can't dilute something that was never there.
Blizzard's inexorable campaign to dilute the complexity from this game
Wow was so successful because it was shallow and easy. It was playable by 7 year olds and 50 year olds, alike
This post was edited on 8/5/14 at 11:01 pm
Posted on 8/5/14 at 11:38 pm to Cs
erm no they're losing subscribers because there's been a huge period of time without new content. It has nothing to do with the quality of the game.
When WOD comes out the numbers will shoot back up
When WOD comes out the numbers will shoot back up
Posted on 8/6/14 at 10:51 am to Cs
WoW is a game that is a game that will live on the people who still love it. Sure, the numbers have dropped tremendously, but 6mil is still pretty strong for that old of a game.
The money isn't what would keep from playing. If I want to play a game that I like, I would pay $15 a month for it. If you don't like the game anymore, don't waste your money, but $15 a month isn't THAT bad to pay, and I'm no baller. I feel like I'm paying for the best MMO to my liking when I pay that, IMO. Others don't feel that way, and that is totally fine.
I'll be the first one to tell you it isn't the game it used to be, nor will it ever be again, but Next expansion is shaping up to be a good one, so I expect a good number to come back, more than MoP.
As far as the gameplay goes, LFRs don't bother me as much as others because I just dont do them that often. What bothers me is the LFD, I loved grouping with my close friends outside of game for a dungeon while leveling and what not back in the good ole days, but now its very easy to jump in the queue and level largely by playing with strangers through the LFD tool.
The money isn't what would keep from playing. If I want to play a game that I like, I would pay $15 a month for it. If you don't like the game anymore, don't waste your money, but $15 a month isn't THAT bad to pay, and I'm no baller. I feel like I'm paying for the best MMO to my liking when I pay that, IMO. Others don't feel that way, and that is totally fine.
I'll be the first one to tell you it isn't the game it used to be, nor will it ever be again, but Next expansion is shaping up to be a good one, so I expect a good number to come back, more than MoP.
As far as the gameplay goes, LFRs don't bother me as much as others because I just dont do them that often. What bothers me is the LFD, I loved grouping with my close friends outside of game for a dungeon while leveling and what not back in the good ole days, but now its very easy to jump in the queue and level largely by playing with strangers through the LFD tool.
Posted on 8/6/14 at 10:55 am to Cs
As long as they're still profitable, who cares?
I played the game a grand total of 6 months but would get back into it if the stars aligned.
I played the game a grand total of 6 months but would get back into it if the stars aligned.
Posted on 8/6/14 at 1:07 pm to Cs
quote:
People can place blame on the loss in subscriptions due to the age of the game, but I firmly believe that Blizzard's inexorable campaign to dilute the complexity from this game and democratize the content are both big factors. They feel that everyone should be able to experience everything within the game, and that if something is too "difficult", then it requires an overhaul.
I'd look into the history of Lord of the Rings Online to counteract that argument a bit. Maybe it was a different audience, but that game was a mid-level game, certainly not easy, certainly not harsh, that was growing. As soon as they started adding end game raids it got a little better. Then they started GATING end game raids through gear that took hundreds of hours to get. And such was the end of the game, starting with Mines of Moria.
They started losing subscribers, and they lost enough to follow up Moria with an expansion that shifted towards FtP, and democratized content a little more Then, I believe 24 months after Moria they were on the FtP kick to reinvigorate subscribers, which also didn't work.
They were/are done pretty much. It's still kick with sub 1-million players, but that's about it.
At its prime, the game was a more structured EQ with a solid, challenging end-game. Of course, the big guilds could farm end game stuff, which did screw the market, but that was it. They made it harder and made gating time consuming and it completely failed.
This post was edited on 8/6/14 at 1:08 pm
Posted on 8/7/14 at 3:36 pm to Cs
I resubbed last week 
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