I would take the middle view .Also in the EU there are 20 + low population servers now and around 15-20 high/full the rest are medium compared to 40+ when the wrath of the lich king was released and only a handful (less than 5) low . This expansion seams to have appealed souly to the converted and not all of them are happy .
My over all opinion so far is that it is inferior the the previous two Xpacs .
I did the count last night.
In EU there were 52 english Realms on ... LOCKED status. Not high, not full but ... locked. I went to count the French, German, Spanish and Russian EU servers and I arrived at a total of...
83 EU servers locked. The vast majority was on 08.00 PM last night.
Its wast even weekend and a lot of people have exams.
Sure there are also 20 low pop servers. But I never saw this number of total locked ones.
Never.
What a surprise? And a further proof: I never saw xfire Wow at 74% either...
No one believed it could ever grab that market this high.
Well I am not surprised at all, neither are the people that actually log in these days.
RRRRRRRRRRRRRR wrong answer.. The problem is, I have played WoW for 5 years before cancelling.. I refuse to made another ALT to to justify playing a game because the end game is broken in my opinion.. I have leveled 6 toons to 80, and there isn't anything Earth shattering in the expansion to say, "OH I need to resub".. If Blizzard was truly interested in regrabbing LOST customers, maybe they should of spent LESS time revamping the leveling game and spend more time on revamping the END GAME.. Hell I know 16 players that would come back and play if they redid the end game.....
Happy Holidays
You played WOW for 5 years, so you got your moneys worth. The longest i have ever stuck with any MMO is one year maybe 2. After, 5 years of playing its just natural to get burned out. So no matter what Blizzard does will never be good enough for players like you. Sorry but what else do you want? 5 years is a lot of playtime which means the game was really that good and kept you interested for such a long period. The only remedy for you is to move on to something else.
Happy Holidays.. Actually I should of said .. off and on for 5 years.. I had other hobbies during that time.. But yeah.. I'm burned out on the lame stilly "dungeon grind" for gear.. I prefer a game that surprised me when I log on.. You know? Such as when I log on, I want to ask myself.. "what do I do today".. "What new trouble can I get into"........ That does not excist in WoW, and of the 5 years I played off and on.. the last years since BC have been more like waiting for corrections that never came.. This reminds me of SWG in a way.. I liked the game in the beginning, but it changed and too many game breakers.. I waited months for those to get fixed, and when they announced NGE, I was done.. Same with Cataclysm, it was the NGE promise that didnt' address my issues.. /Cancel
BTW.. I went back to playing EQ2 and enjoying myself casuall.. I"m glad at the changes they made in the since I played it early on.. GW2 is looking attractive too.. Not sure about Rift yet..
You sound like you are expecting a game expansion to reinvent your game experience and bring back that virgin feeling you experienced when you started the game. Raging after you have grown bored of the game isn't going to bring that back or somehow change the priorities of the company to fix your specific problems when the expansion caters to the majority of new and old players who still enjoy the game.
They are not worried about getting old players back who are completely burned out of the game. Some may come back, but nothing short of a complete change of the core game will do that and what company would be stupid enough to do that except one.
Blizzards strategy for a long time has been to make wow so that it can be played in conjunction with other mmos. They are not designing it to be the only mmo their players play. They don't mind if people leave for a while and come back for new content patches, because it works in their business model and the devs have said as much. Cataclysm is a HUGE content addition that dwarfs almost every content update for any other mmo and seeing that it is not enough to satisfy you I think we can safely say there is little that would satisfy you.
You are burned out and turning that into anger against the game. Five years is a long time for a game. Take a break and if you don't feel like returning then don't. Enjoy another mmo. Let us know how much you enjoy EQ2 in five years.
Let's put it as simple as one can make it.. People will argue all day long that the Cat expansion and revamp patch are the best things since sliced bread.. Ask yourself just ONE thing, and one thing only, cause I already have the the answer was clearly , "NO"..
If you think the revamp is so great, would you delete ALL your 80 toons and relevel them in the new amazing 1-60 revamp?... If you can't answer yes to that , then you're just fooling yourself..
So which mmos that you play are you willing to delete all of your characters and start from scracth just to enjoy the content from the new expansion?
Wizardry is kinda right. WoW brought to the world of MMO as many bad game mechanics as they did good. Its a known fact that a lot of developers look on the example of WoW and treat it as a 'losless' template of successfull MMO and just copy a lot of elements from WoW into their game. I guess thats fine, but for people who doesn't care much about WoW when they want to try a new MMO and see those 'very familiar' things they just get annoyed and it may as well change their decision either they gonna buy the sub.
For example - RIFT - its a great game, I've tried in beta, has one of the best graphics in MMO along with the content, but there are so many elements that remind WoW I want to puke in my shoes sometimes. I mean why would they use THE SAME FONTS and the SAME COLORS even? Thats annoying, but I still may be playing Rift on a casual basis as it is quite pretty cookie cutter. Or most likely I wont. I may stay in Perpetuum after all until SWTOR comes out.
I was going to say that there was actually a ton of content added (levels 1-60, 80-85)...but seeing as the OP is a staunch defender of FFXIV, he might not understand. Is there anything to do in FFXIV besides level and craft?
I am not a staunch defender of FFXIV,i don't play it because it is inferior to FFXI,but imo is still better than Wow.
When you talkWow "content" are we talking chasing more exclamation marks over npc heads?I don't call that content,i am sorry that is just Blizzards leveling mechanics,to lead players into a linear path .no thinking,just follow the exclamation marks.
WOW was, is and always will be a themepark quest MMO. the new expansion wasn't meant to completely change how WOW played. its main purpose was to add new content at the starting levels. So your complaint is 6 years too late. But thanks anyways captain obvious.
When you say "DO",what does one do in Wow from level 1?Oh ya chase exclamation marks.That is why so many were confused in FFXIV,they thought that is the ONLY way to design a game,so people were lost,i guess Wow really did dumb down the MMORPG player base.
Blaming WOW for FFXIV faults is classic. And no people were not confused because they were all WOW players. I never played WOW until now and FFXI was my first long term MMO. People were confused because the game is too cryptic and lacks any kind of beginner tutorial. Even sandbox games like Ryzom try to ease players when they start fresh. Once again don't try to blame FFXIV's own bad game design on WOW.
Did you play FFXIV? every leve for DOW/DOM leads you to your target with an arrow on the map. Even for DOL leves you have markers on maps, are you really sure FFXIV is just that unique in its game design? how is it any different than chasing exclamation marks in WOW?
Umm comparing content of a 6+ year old game that has made MILLIONS to a brand new ,obviously unfinished game,like FFXIV?How about compare it to FFXI?Sqaure Enix blows the doors off of Blizzard for unique content,not even close there.
The comparison is in term of 'wtf devs were doing for all this time', that was the gest of the comparison. And yes it is very ironic and hilarious when FFXIV players complain about quality and content of other MMOS. Moreover, cataclysm is just an xpac and still has more things to do comapred to an entire game which took 5 years. Sad? yes.
BTW Blizzard announcing it took them 6 mnths longer was actually like biting their own hand.This is because they still released a pile of bugs,what do you think FFXIV will be like 6 months after release?I am willing to bet FFXIV will be bug free and even some of the nuiances that were bothering people will be gone.I think Blizzard needed another 6 months on this release and probably still finding glitches/bugs.
Every MMO released uptill now and in future will have bugs. That is something you can not avoid. There is only so much feedback you can get during closed and open beta. That is why more bugs are quashed during live. Moreover, FFXIV problem is not just bugs. Of all the forums and fansits i have been to bugs in FFXIV is last on everyone list of grievances.
BTW Square Enix does not utilize a test server,they release what they have,Blizzard uses a test server and still releases tons of bugs.So don't go comparing a poor release like Cataclysym to FFXIV when Blizzard's release is no better ,i would say even worse.
And whose fault is that? should we blame it on Blizzard too that SE doesn't want to use a test server? in gaming business individual bias and opinions has no place. Its good for forums. The only thing matters to companies is the profit they make. Is Cata a sucess? yes.
But as far as poor release is concerned so far the feedback for Cata has been 100 times better compared to FFXIV. And where is FFXIV now? poor ratings by players and critics, 2 months of free play time and dwindling population? is that what you call a good release?
Originally posted by bongo123 i have yet to try CAT, i bounce back and forth between WOW and whatever takes my fancy, but in the frst year or two when WOW came out it give me without a shadow of a doubt some of the best gaming ive ever had, i met cool people whom i still chat to and have some hilarious memories of stuff you just didnt get with other games at the time (for example, 5 randomers on a sat nite running some dungeon cant remmy the name now, 4 of us were drinking and the bloody thing was taking ages and the longer it took the more drunk and stupid we all became untill we just didnt have the reflexes and mental capacity to down the boss so we all ended up kicking back and chatting just inside the dungeon for the rest of the night, having a right laugh & playing silly drinking games, even the sober dude stayed for the craic) and for that and many like it, WOW no matter what it keeps regurgitating will always be fondly remembered by me...
Did you know Windows7/Linux/Mac OS all have bugs?! I know right! /sarcasm
I think a lot of people are missing the point of Cata.
"70% of players don't get beyond level 10." by Blizz CEO.
So how do you fix that without pissing off your 12million subs?
Oh.. I dunno. maybe a revamp of the old world so only 30% of players don't get beyond level 10 (which effectively doubles WoW subs if projection stays) with some end game content?
And still you keep using the "revamp" as Cataclysm expansion content.. Really... Revamp = FREE global patch to correct problems.. Cataclysm EXPANSION = $40 and you get 2 races and zones and a couple minor perks.. These are 2 ENTIRELY different content changes paid by 2 different pocket books.. Using your excuse for Cataclysm of the 30% retention rate.. First, NO GAME will ever have a big retention % becaue you can't please everyone.. I would bet that under perfect conditions that no game would ever get over 50%.. This is like fighting over unemployment numbers.. Which 90% of the general public dont' know that 5% unemployment is considered FULL employment.. Why? Because some people just wont' work period.. even if you lead them to a job.. Same with gamers.. NO matter how you cater to a gamer, some just will never stay and play no matter what you do..
In fact many people that have bought the game NEVER knew it was a subscription game, and that is one HUGE reason why you'll not achieve a high retention percentage.. My great niece is a perfect example.. She put WoW on her Christmas (grrrr a 12 year wanting to play it because of commercials).. lol Anyways.. No one in the family knew it was a subscription game.. How many thousands of family or friends bought these games for whoever wanted them.. only to find afterwards what they were??
BTW.. Blizzard KNOWs damn well they are not going to increase numbers that high.. That is why they didn't add new servers.. and HAVE not since Cataclysm release.. The hype of mega increase in numbers is superficial.. NO NEW SERVERS tells us all we need to know.. However I wouldn't be surprised if in a month or two they add a couple servers.. NOT because they have to, but because it would be good "marketing".. Companies love to brag how they added new servers because of demand.. LOL
Happy Holidays and good luck with WoW.. as I'm sure 6 months from now, people will be talking about how EMPTY the 1-60 revamp zones are.. Mark this post for future review
I find it hilarious that you think many people (we are talking millions of people here) are dumb enough to buy something without reading what they are buying.
If that was true, I expect a lot more people to come to gamespot/eb games/whatever and say 'this doesn't work on my PS3!' while holding Halo Reach.
The italics is gold by the way. Cata's been out what 5 days and since they didn't announce new servers during that time Blizz knows they won't get the numbers?
They can project and have something ready in short notice but I doubt they'll announce that FIVE days after Cata's release.
Companies love to brag how much Sub/Income they get through their financial statements because that is serious stuff (increase in share prices). No one serious (people with the $$$) looks at the spin. They look at the financial stuff where what is there has to be true and will do their own due diligence as well.
Why do you think Blizz specifies what a 'Sub' is? Cause it is the only company that can say 'look at those 12 million numbers, it is actual income'. Not Sony's 'we have 100million Free Realms account'
Gdemami - Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
Cataclysm and the 4.0 patch are a really massive expansion to the game. I can't think of any other xpack that comes close to it. There is new content for levels 1-60 and 81-85.
Five or ten levels is arbitrary to me as long as there is lots of new stuff.
Not gonna say Eq2 is a better game than WoW but SOE 1000% BURIES WoW in terms of free content and paid expansions hands down not even close they both came out at around the same time as well.
Cataclysm and the 4.0 patch are a really massive expansion to the game. I can't think of any other xpack that comes close to it. There is new content for levels 1-60 and 81-85.
Five or ten levels is arbitrary to me as long as there is lots of new stuff.
Not gonna say Eq2 is a better game than WoW but SOE 1000% BURIES WoW in terms of free content and paid expansions hands down not even close they both came out at around the same time as well.
That is because soe takes a quantity vs quality approach to new content. It isn't like the current playerbase has been pleased with the quality of the last several expansions with sentinals fate being perhaps the worst yet.
That is a big part of why eq2 has had several series of server mergers.
Comments
I did the count last night.
In EU there were 52 english Realms on ... LOCKED status. Not high, not full but ... locked. I went to count the French, German, Spanish and Russian EU servers and I arrived at a total of...
83 EU servers locked. The vast majority was on 08.00 PM last night.
Its wast even weekend and a lot of people have exams.
Sure there are also 20 low pop servers. But I never saw this number of total locked ones.
Never.
What a surprise? And a further proof: I never saw xfire Wow at 74% either...
No one believed it could ever grab that market this high.
Well I am not surprised at all, neither are the people that actually log in these days.
You sound like you are expecting a game expansion to reinvent your game experience and bring back that virgin feeling you experienced when you started the game. Raging after you have grown bored of the game isn't going to bring that back or somehow change the priorities of the company to fix your specific problems when the expansion caters to the majority of new and old players who still enjoy the game.
They are not worried about getting old players back who are completely burned out of the game. Some may come back, but nothing short of a complete change of the core game will do that and what company would be stupid enough to do that except one.
Blizzards strategy for a long time has been to make wow so that it can be played in conjunction with other mmos. They are not designing it to be the only mmo their players play. They don't mind if people leave for a while and come back for new content patches, because it works in their business model and the devs have said as much. Cataclysm is a HUGE content addition that dwarfs almost every content update for any other mmo and seeing that it is not enough to satisfy you I think we can safely say there is little that would satisfy you.
You are burned out and turning that into anger against the game. Five years is a long time for a game. Take a break and if you don't feel like returning then don't. Enjoy another mmo. Let us know how much you enjoy EQ2 in five years.
So which mmos that you play are you willing to delete all of your characters and start from scracth just to enjoy the content from the new expansion?
Wizardry is kinda right. WoW brought to the world of MMO as many bad game mechanics as they did good. Its a known fact that a lot of developers look on the example of WoW and treat it as a 'losless' template of successfull MMO and just copy a lot of elements from WoW into their game. I guess thats fine, but for people who doesn't care much about WoW when they want to try a new MMO and see those 'very familiar' things they just get annoyed and it may as well change their decision either they gonna buy the sub.
For example - RIFT - its a great game, I've tried in beta, has one of the best graphics in MMO along with the content, but there are so many elements that remind WoW I want to puke in my shoes sometimes. I mean why would they use THE SAME FONTS and the SAME COLORS even? Thats annoying, but I still may be playing Rift on a casual basis as it is quite pretty cookie cutter. Or most likely I wont. I may stay in Perpetuum after all until SWTOR comes out.
Bite Me
WoW inspires drinking - there you go. lol j/k =D
I find it hilarious that you think many people (we are talking millions of people here) are dumb enough to buy something without reading what they are buying.
If that was true, I expect a lot more people to come to gamespot/eb games/whatever and say 'this doesn't work on my PS3!' while holding Halo Reach.
The italics is gold by the way. Cata's been out what 5 days and since they didn't announce new servers during that time Blizz knows they won't get the numbers?
They can project and have something ready in short notice but I doubt they'll announce that FIVE days after Cata's release.
Companies love to brag how much Sub/Income they get through their financial statements because that is serious stuff (increase in share prices). No one serious (people with the $$$) looks at the spin. They look at the financial stuff where what is there has to be true and will do their own due diligence as well.
Why do you think Blizz specifies what a 'Sub' is? Cause it is the only company that can say 'look at those 12 million numbers, it is actual income'. Not Sony's 'we have 100million Free Realms account'
Gdemami -
Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
Not gonna say Eq2 is a better game than WoW but SOE 1000% BURIES WoW in terms of free content and paid expansions hands down not even close they both came out at around the same time as well.
That is because soe takes a quantity vs quality approach to new content. It isn't like the current playerbase has been pleased with the quality of the last several expansions with sentinals fate being perhaps the worst yet.
That is a big part of why eq2 has had several series of server mergers.