I believe the key to regaining subscriptions would be to combine wow with diablo. Random content would really make difference. The problem with wow is that everything is static, nothing is dynamic, and it gets old very fast.
The game now is simply a lobby game. There is no reason to leave the cities other than complete their list of "daily" chores. They need to make a reason for people to immerse themselves in the huge world they have created. I remember running around in Vanilla just doing stuff. I honestly don't remember specifics other than having a blast in Silithis. What I do remember is the word "daily" did not exist. And my main concern wasn't chain running instances for all them "phat lewts".
The problem is, the way the community is now, I'm not sure if that is possible. People need to care about the lore and world they're spending all their time in, and that just isn't prevalent now.
I believe the key to regaining subscriptions would be to combine wow with diablo. Random content would really make difference. The problem with wow is that everything is static, nothing is dynamic, and it gets old very fast.
I'm not sure what can be done really, ActiBlizz really developed themself into a corner where the only recourse is to make things easier and shallower for the ultra-casual masses.
Unless something really drastic happens i don't see a very bright future for WoW, it could very well be in it's twilight years right now.
the main issue that scare new player away surprisingly is this:where is everybody!everybody think the game is empty when they hop in wow.and for this they will need to add a new mecanic like this!blizzard will need to steer all new player to a specific server (the minimal number they can go with!once the player reach dalaran then (after being say lvl 80) he can go to the server of his choice free of charge one time only.
this way there wont be 10 k empty start area and secondo player will like to see pleople at low level instead of wondering if the game is dying.went to a start area poor soul was by himself he had to grind from 1 to maybe 85 till he saw where everybody is.do you honestly think a lot of player experienced the new awsome lore?nope i bet most didnt bother ,experiencing it solo?hell no!
If Blizzard wants me to return as their loyal customer, they need to remove certain things currently in-game and step up their game. Polished alternatives are present and many more and better games are coming out soon enough. Meaning I have better alternatives then to invest in a game where the developer clearly does not have a happy customer as their main goal.
- Remove Flying Mounts: They destroy world pvp, make the world feel small and questing trivial.
- Make the Guild Level System more flexible: Allow players to switch guilds easily again.
- Allow people to do both 10 and 25 man raids again: I had to pick between my friend group and my raiding guild.
- Implement 'premium' services for free: They make roughly 850 million every year on this game.
- Stop rehashing content: I enjoyed DM, ZG, ZA, SFK and all the other things they recycle without shame. I prefer new stuff.
- Return of world-bosses: Best raiding experiences from Vanilla came from world bosses.
- Update textures of old races: My human is starting to look really bad compared to my new goblin.
- Stop destroying PvE for PvP balance: Just give everyone the same stats the moment they enter a BG or Arena Match.
- Stop making old end-content useless: Decrease the impact of tier-based loot.
If Blizzard wants me to return as their loyal customer, they need to remove certain things currently in-game and step up their game. Polished alternatives are present and many more and better games are coming out soon enough. Meaning I have better alternatives then to invest in a game where the developer clearly does not have a happy customer as their main goal.
- Remove Flying Mounts: They destroy world pvp, make the world feel small and questing trivial.
- Make the Guild Level System more flexible: Allow players to switch guilds easily again.
- Allow people to do both 10 and 25 man raids again: I had to pick between my friend group and my raiding guild.
- Implement 'premium' services for free: They make roughly 850 million every year on this game.
- Stop rehashing content: I enjoyed DM, ZG, ZA, SFK and all the other things they recycle without shame. I prefer new stuff.
- Return of world-bosses: Best raiding experiences from Vanilla came from world bosses.
- Update textures of old races: My human is starting to look really bad compared to my new goblin.
- Stop destroying PvE for PvP balance: Just give everyone the same stats the moment they enter a BG or Arena Match.
- Stop making old end-content useless: Decrease the impact of tier-based loot.
- Get rid of the activision attitude.
I totaly agree
Same... but I think fixing the the last one would do a lot.
With all the expansions installed, they are now filling over 32GB of space on my HDD. I can't take no more expansions, especially if I have to reinstall them again for whatever reason. PLEASE STOP, BLIZZARD!! DAMN YOU FOR GOING F2P to 20!
The next expansion should be set in the Emerald Dream. All world trees and portals are in the game now!!! I've been waiting for the emerald dream ever since patch 1.8 with the whole emerald dream lore! I thought that would be the first expansion but then TBC came out and I was like sigh then wotlk and now cata. Give it to us already!
Although cata did let us explore Hyjal which I really wanted to do ever since some of our epic mountain treks in Wintergrasp back in Vanilla If I ever buy cata, hyjal would be the main reason!
If they give us the emerald dream I am definitely subbing again and buying cata and whatever the new xpac is
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
I have a feeling that it depends on how TOR and GW2 does.
If TOR do really well I think they will release something with a more Bioware styled story.
If on the other hand GW2 will be the next big thing I have a feeling they will try to add dynamic events into the game, at least for the new zones.
Wow have always adapted when other games got good ideas, it revamped the PvP 6 months after GW released, it used the phising that LOTRO used first and so on. It is probably one of the reasons Wow stayed on top for so long, Blizzard are great at adapting.
But no matter what the 4th expansion do need to be Wows best if they plan to continue as the number one Western game. For the first time does it looks like some games that are well funded and made by competent people is comming out so Wow need a great expansion to battle that.
New character models wouldn't hurt either, the old were excellent before but looks dated now.
I would not count out Wow yet, Blizzard have been masters of getting new players and getting the old ones comming back again but if the next expansion launches late next year Wow will be 8 years old, that is really old and therefor it needs to be a great expansion.
the main issue that scare new player away surprisingly is this:where is everybody!everybody think the game is empty when they hop in wow.and for this they will need to add a new mecanic like this!blizzard will need to steer all new player to a specific server (the minimal number they can go with!once the player reach dalaran then (after being say lvl 80) he can go to the server of his choice free of charge one time only.
this way there wont be 10 k empty start area and secondo player will like to see pleople at low level instead of wondering if the game is dying.went to a start area poor soul was by himself he had to grind from 1 to maybe 85 till he saw where everybody is.do you honestly think a lot of player experienced the new awsome lore?nope i bet most didnt bother ,experiencing it solo?hell no!
at least for me
Maybe they should do like GW2 and allow people to change servers themselves, that would solve the problem.
Or maybe it is time to close down a few of the servers with least population, you have right that when players feels like they are the only low levels on the server it is really bad for the game.
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
Well all of what I said was basically to build up to a third faction.
New classes, new races, all of it would be kind of null without a good reason for them to be there.
Shake things up in their "new" old world by allowing players to be a bit of a threat. It'd be their best chance to redeem Blizzard's "great story tellers" banner.
They do indeed have to do something mind blowing with next expansion, they have to add something new I mean really new not just the same old with a new skin (like zones quests instances raids races even classes to a certain degree). Ofcourse they still need to add that too. Update stuff that should be updated.
Player and or guildhousing could be such a thing, a place where for example certain achievements (like clearing a raid) could have a visual representation, you can customize it in many ways all the furniture would have multiple models and textures to choose from and more could be unlocked (by total pool of achievements maybe? to make it actually usefull) etc.
Not just "here is a little completely useless dull instance that you paid 1000g for"
Not as big but you should also be able to customize your gear visually by saving the look of any item you equipped some restrictions could apply such as turning it off in BGs or arenas at least for other players if needed.,
Dyes.
Just a few things I can remember myself thinking "why doesn't the most profitable mmo on the planet have this" while playing.
1. new continent to explore 2. player house can be cool 3. new pvp area(s) 4. more items to make with skills (upper skill lvl) 5. make more dungeons, easy HC (I m big fun of fast Lich runs)=D 6. way more raids
try before buy, even if it's a game to avoid bad surprises. Worst surprises for me: Aion, GW2
Mainly I agree with op, but not necesarely would like to see new races but for sure new class that would make me wish to run again from start. New races now have not been enough despite have leveled both gnomes and worgen on another server just for fun and experience (and particularly gnomes have fabolous starting area with quests ... but love also a lot worgens). Problem is wow is already covered very good with classes ... but still would love to have anything different, at least 1.
They need to un-do their mistakes from Cata. In my opinion, here is what's wrong:
#1 45 minute dungeon queues with people still LF Healer. OK, I understand they can't un-make it as a holy trinity game, but they needed to address the lack of healers and tanks two expansions ago. The DK class was a sad attempt.
#2 PVPers want more. We don't want more BGs and more arenas. We want more PVP. In vanilla, you had epic battles over what? Tarren Mill and Sothshore. There wasn't any PVP gear or battlegrounds until late in vanilla. Now, people fly in, PVP for 2 mins, get a few points and leave. We want high stakes. We also want a third faction and castle sieges. Basically, WOW PVPErs want a graphical and ui update to DAOC to magically appear in WOW, since WOW copied a lot of other thigns from DAOC. Epic fail.
#3 Guild levelling fails. They promised small guild advancement, and did not provide. Small guild advancement is nearly impossible, and forget about leaving a guild you hate. The system they have in place was written by a 3rd grader. It's such that everybody on the server is better off joining one 5000 player guild.
#4 Limited classes and races. Why can't I be a troll paladin. Trolls don't champion causes? Absurd! If you look at the competition, this is becoming a thing of the past in medieval fantasy. D&D 3rd edition fixed this. Why can't WOW catch on?
#5 Boring expansion. The new expac content is much less interesting than The Shattering Patch which preceded it. IMO, they should have made Cata the patch and The Shattering the expansion. Better yet, they should have filled the new expansion with more exciting content with story, and used Deathwing more in those last 5 levels. I makes no sense that levels 1-58 are about Deathwing and the faction lore, and levels 58-80 are about.... ? Levelling up?
#6 WOW is too childish and goofy at this point. When every game was serious and mature, this was OK. Now that there are a billion E and T-rated MMOs out to copy Warcraft, it's old. They need to up the ante for their aging audience.
#7 Levels 58-68 now suck. They are slow, the bonus exp given does not match prior levels, and the content needs an overhaul. It's good to see that Blizzard has progressed so far beyond TBC, but it's bad to see that they are squandering their progress by not providing continuity.
#8 We paid for this? I am sorry, but cata is just a piss poor expansion all the way home. The game is getting massive and expensive, and the content just isn't there. When they first announced 5 less levels for cata, I was expecting 5 epic, wicked awesome levels filled with badass lore. What I got was 5 boring ass levels with a few nice coats of paint over top.
Sadly, they will instead throw the baby out with the bathwater yet again. WOW was fun for its day, but nothing can save it now except for a complete overhaul.
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Playing Nothing waiting for The secret world Played WoW, DCU online, star wars: the old republic, city of heroes, city of villains, everquest, plenty more I'm probably forgetting or aren't worth noting.
#1 45 minute dungeon queues with people still LF Healer. OK, I understand they can't un-make it as a holy trinity game, but they needed to address the lack of healers and tanks two expansions ago.
The tank healer issue could be resolved by un-nerfing tanks and healers. I know I won't heal until this is fixed. Way too much hassle.
Ken Fisher - Semi retired old fart Network Administrator, now working in Network Security. I don't Forum PVP. If you feel I've attacked you, it was probably by accident. When I don't understand, I ask. Such is not intended as criticism.
Comments
I believe the key to regaining subscriptions would be to combine wow with diablo. Random content would really make difference. The problem with wow is that everything is static, nothing is dynamic, and it gets old very fast.
agree 110%
EQ2 fan sites
I think cataclysm end event should blow up every server and erase every bit of data to make it unrecoverable.
/thread
Wow IS old.
I'm not sure what can be done really, ActiBlizz really developed themself into a corner where the only recourse is to make things easier and shallower for the ultra-casual masses.
Unless something really drastic happens i don't see a very bright future for WoW, it could very well be in it's twilight years right now.
Shut it down.
the main issue that scare new player away surprisingly is this:where is everybody!everybody think the game is empty when they hop in wow.and for this they will need to add a new mecanic like this!blizzard will need to steer all new player to a specific server (the minimal number they can go with!once the player reach dalaran then (after being say lvl 80) he can go to the server of his choice free of charge one time only.
this way there wont be 10 k empty start area and secondo player will like to see pleople at low level instead of wondering if the game is dying.went to a start area poor soul was by himself he had to grind from 1 to maybe 85 till he saw where everybody is.do you honestly think a lot of player experienced the new awsome lore?nope i bet most didnt bother ,experiencing it solo?hell no!
at least for me
I totaly agree
He that lives upon Hope dies farting.
Same... but I think fixing the the last one would do a lot.
With all the expansions installed, they are now filling over 32GB of space on my HDD. I can't take no more expansions, especially if I have to reinstall them again for whatever reason. PLEASE STOP, BLIZZARD!! DAMN YOU FOR GOING F2P to 20!
The next expansion should be set in the Emerald Dream. All world trees and portals are in the game now!!! I've been waiting for the emerald dream ever since patch 1.8 with the whole emerald dream lore! I thought that would be the first expansion but then TBC came out and I was like sigh then wotlk and now cata. Give it to us already!
Although cata did let us explore Hyjal which I really wanted to do ever since some of our epic mountain treks in Wintergrasp back in Vanilla
If I ever buy cata, hyjal would be the main reason!
If they give us the emerald dream I am definitely subbing again and buying cata and whatever the new xpac is
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
I have a feeling that it depends on how TOR and GW2 does.
If TOR do really well I think they will release something with a more Bioware styled story.
If on the other hand GW2 will be the next big thing I have a feeling they will try to add dynamic events into the game, at least for the new zones.
Wow have always adapted when other games got good ideas, it revamped the PvP 6 months after GW released, it used the phising that LOTRO used first and so on. It is probably one of the reasons Wow stayed on top for so long, Blizzard are great at adapting.
But no matter what the 4th expansion do need to be Wows best if they plan to continue as the number one Western game. For the first time does it looks like some games that are well funded and made by competent people is comming out so Wow need a great expansion to battle that.
New character models wouldn't hurt either, the old were excellent before but looks dated now.
I would not count out Wow yet, Blizzard have been masters of getting new players and getting the old ones comming back again but if the next expansion launches late next year Wow will be 8 years old, that is really old and therefor it needs to be a great expansion.
Build a sandbox in your themepark
Give players something else to do other than the same-old same-old. Let people build stuff.
Player owned instances, Guild cities, shops, get some serious crafting going. Crafting that means something.
Give people stuff to do other than dailys, dungeons and raids.
Maybe they should do like GW2 and allow people to change servers themselves, that would solve the problem.
Or maybe it is time to close down a few of the servers with least population, you have right that when players feels like they are the only low levels on the server it is really bad for the game.
Add 4 to 6 new classes. 3 more trees to existing classes.
4 new races! That'd be sweet. I'd like to see some unique game play mechanics too. Something surprising or unexpected.
A third pvp faction.
player houses?
RIP Ribbitribbitt you are missed, kid.
Currently Playing EVE, ESO
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
Dwight D Eisenhower
My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.
Henry Rollins
A few of those hero classes that should have come a long time ago is a really good idea yes.
Races isn't as important, 4 new classes is better than 2 new classes and 2 new races.
A third PvP faction won't happen.
But you are onto something with new classes, it is usually a great way to win back old players.
Well all of what I said was basically to build up to a third faction.
New classes, new races, all of it would be kind of null without a good reason for them to be there.
Shake things up in their "new" old world by allowing players to be a bit of a threat. It'd be their best chance to redeem Blizzard's "great story tellers" banner.
They do indeed have to do something mind blowing with next expansion, they have to add something new I mean really new not just the same old with a new skin (like zones quests instances raids races even classes to a certain degree). Ofcourse they still need to add that too. Update stuff that should be updated.
Player and or guildhousing could be such a thing, a place where for example certain achievements (like clearing a raid) could have a visual representation, you can customize it in many ways all the furniture would have multiple models and textures to choose from and more could be unlocked (by total pool of achievements maybe? to make it actually usefull) etc.
Not just "here is a little completely useless dull instance that you paid 1000g for"
Not as big but you should also be able to customize your gear visually by saving the look of any item you equipped some restrictions could apply such as turning it off in BGs or arenas at least for other players if needed.,
Dyes.
Just a few things I can remember myself thinking "why doesn't the most profitable mmo on the planet have this" while playing.
1. new continent to explore
2. player house can be cool
3. new pvp area(s)
4. more items to make with skills (upper skill lvl)
5. make more dungeons, easy HC (I m big fun of fast Lich runs)=D
6. way more raids
try before buy, even if it's a game to avoid bad surprises.
Worst surprises for me: Aion, GW2
Mainly I agree with op, but not necesarely would like to see new races but for sure new class that would make me wish to run again from start. New races now have not been enough despite have leveled both gnomes and worgen on another server just for fun and experience (and particularly gnomes have fabolous starting area with quests ... but love also a lot worgens). Problem is wow is already covered very good with classes ... but still would love to have anything different, at least 1.
They need to un-do their mistakes from Cata. In my opinion, here is what's wrong:
#1 45 minute dungeon queues with people still LF Healer. OK, I understand they can't un-make it as a holy trinity game, but they needed to address the lack of healers and tanks two expansions ago. The DK class was a sad attempt.
#2 PVPers want more. We don't want more BGs and more arenas. We want more PVP. In vanilla, you had epic battles over what? Tarren Mill and Sothshore. There wasn't any PVP gear or battlegrounds until late in vanilla. Now, people fly in, PVP for 2 mins, get a few points and leave. We want high stakes. We also want a third faction and castle sieges. Basically, WOW PVPErs want a graphical and ui update to DAOC to magically appear in WOW, since WOW copied a lot of other thigns from DAOC. Epic fail.
#3 Guild levelling fails. They promised small guild advancement, and did not provide. Small guild advancement is nearly impossible, and forget about leaving a guild you hate. The system they have in place was written by a 3rd grader. It's such that everybody on the server is better off joining one 5000 player guild.
#4 Limited classes and races. Why can't I be a troll paladin. Trolls don't champion causes? Absurd! If you look at the competition, this is becoming a thing of the past in medieval fantasy. D&D 3rd edition fixed this. Why can't WOW catch on?
#5 Boring expansion. The new expac content is much less interesting than The Shattering Patch which preceded it. IMO, they should have made Cata the patch and The Shattering the expansion. Better yet, they should have filled the new expansion with more exciting content with story, and used Deathwing more in those last 5 levels. I makes no sense that levels 1-58 are about Deathwing and the faction lore, and levels 58-80 are about.... ? Levelling up?
#6 WOW is too childish and goofy at this point. When every game was serious and mature, this was OK. Now that there are a billion E and T-rated MMOs out to copy Warcraft, it's old. They need to up the ante for their aging audience.
#7 Levels 58-68 now suck. They are slow, the bonus exp given does not match prior levels, and the content needs an overhaul. It's good to see that Blizzard has progressed so far beyond TBC, but it's bad to see that they are squandering their progress by not providing continuity.
#8 We paid for this? I am sorry, but cata is just a piss poor expansion all the way home. The game is getting massive and expensive, and the content just isn't there. When they first announced 5 less levels for cata, I was expecting 5 epic, wicked awesome levels filled with badass lore. What I got was 5 boring ass levels with a few nice coats of paint over top.
Sadly, they will instead throw the baby out with the bathwater yet again. WOW was fun for its day, but nothing can save it now except for a complete overhaul.
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sorry, i hit the wrong thread..
Playing
Nothing
waiting for
The secret world
Played
WoW, DCU online, star wars: the old republic, city of heroes, city of villains, everquest, plenty more I'm probably forgetting or aren't worth noting.
The tank healer issue could be resolved by un-nerfing tanks and healers. I know I won't heal until this is fixed. Way too much hassle.