There are a lot more people playing now than there were just a month ago. Just hit 90 on my 2nd toon and there are roving teams of people on the Timeless Isle grinding stuff. The expansion event seems really, really sparse though. I hope there is more stuff coming.
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I don't think the 600k is the difference. I think a lot of people who keep subscriptions running log in a lot more around expansion time.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
If they can go from 7.4 to over 10 million, then yes, this will indicate that WoW is growing again, otherwise it's still declining over the long term.
What you fail to observe (pun intended) is the passage of time. To me, that's what makes it impressive. You're now talking about a game that is 10 years old pulling back a number of subscribers that some newer games don't even have.
It's funny that you're talking like doom and gloom without even realizing what those numbers mean. Over ten years, WoW has went from a peak of what, 12 Million players to what it is now, about 7.4 million. OVER 10 YEARS! What you call a "decline" other developers would KILL for.
If they can go from 7.4 to over 10 million, then yes, this will indicate that WoW is growing again, otherwise it's still declining over the long term.
I dont think the 600k jump in prelaunch player base will set off anything when the vast majority of the players arent happy about the massive Dumb down of the game.... Tanks got screwed, other classes got raked over the coals(except maybe rogues, arent they irrelevant now?)..
CC abilities... not that they have really been used in anything but pvp for a while get a lil kick in da balls... but lets be serious.. a complete removal of all silencing abilities from the game? and dot abilities from pets are removed... WTF?!?!
The list goes on... but honestly if you take what has already been done to the characters and then look at the stupid things they have done (Swifty warrior one shot macro ring any bells?), and in a month the rest of the shit comes down the pipe and its only going to get uglier...
Lore wise this could be a nice game, however all the changes they are bringing all at once in this launch give me very vague reminders of another game that made massive changes .... oh yeah SWG... look how well that did.
Players like moderate change, they make their characters and take an odd sense of pride in thier characters... there are far too many changes coming and not all of them are even slightly bad... they completely screw up the characters... The call from the player base during alpha and beta reminded me of the lashback from the Diablo 3 launch.. the massive recalls and refund requests...
I dont think this 600k boost is a drop in the bucket to how badly they are going to get hit from the rage of the characters getting screwed. Players arent happy with it.
I stopped reading when I saw "the vast majority of players aren't happy". You loose total credibility at that point. You really know that the vast majority of players are unhappy? Really? Did you talk with the vast majority of players recently? I suppose you have the vast majority of WoW players on vent/mumble/teamspeak? Are the vast majority of players your facebook friends? Oh, I know, you had the vast majority of players over for meatloaf last Sunday and they informed you they weren't happy...
Seriously, what that statement boils down to, is that you and some of your friends aren't happy and stopped playing. There are 7.4 million players and I highly doubt you know more then a hundred or so at best. I was on for a few hours last night and you know what? The vast majority of players that I was playing with were happy with the game. You see? My statement has just as much validity as your statement.
Next, don't act like all people that play WoW hate the changes. I love most changes made. I constantly hear people talk about Vanilla wow and crying about the changes made to grouping and whatnot. Hey, I get it. The dungeon finder DID hurt the world and leveling in zones. Can't deny that; however, the old group system sucked my ass. I didn't find it charming to take 45 mins to assemble a group. I didn't find it charming to run 25 mins to the location and I certainly didn't' find it charming with some ASSHAT quit when we got to the damn thing. Rendering us useless for another 30-45 mins to find another jackass to head out there. If this game went back to Vanilla, I would quit. Hard.
Also, players take an "odd sense of pride" intheir characters??? Are you for real for real? What's odd about having a sense of pride in your character? Playing WoW, or mmo's is a hobby just like building model airplanes. If you built a really nice model airplane and had a sense of pride regarding it, it wouldn't be odd. It's an accomplishment. It's precisely the same for a WoW character. It's something we work for and should absolutely have a sense of pride in.
Also, concerning your last statement. I believe you're completely incorrect. Of course subs will drop a few months after the expansion as the content locust will be finished doing their thing. However; I believe that the subs will rise again just before and right at launch with all the people acting like their not coming back lol.
Easily accessible fun things to do no matter what your play type is (i.e. Dungeons, BGs, Arenas, LFR, Raids, etc). Which is subsequently why we always see a steep drop off towards the last year of expansions. Hardcore raiders clear the content rather quickly, arena junkies get their ratings early on in the season, etc and the last 10 month + of each expansion people get bored.
I dont think the 600k jump in prelaunch player base will set off anything when the vast majority of the players arent happy about the massive Dumb down of the game.... Tanks got screwed, other classes got raked over the coals(except maybe rogues, arent they irrelevant now?)..
CC abilities... not that they have really been used in anything but pvp for a while get a lil kick in da balls... but lets be serious.. a complete removal of all silencing abilities from the game? and dot abilities from pets are removed... WTF?!?!
The list goes on... but honestly if you take what has already been done to the characters and then look at the stupid things they have done (Swifty warrior one shot macro ring any bells?), and in a month the rest of the shit comes down the pipe and its only going to get uglier...
Lore wise this could be a nice game, however all the changes they are bringing all at once in this launch give me very vague reminders of another game that made massive changes .... oh yeah SWG... look how well that did.
Players like moderate change, they make their characters and take an odd sense of pride in thier characters... there are far too many changes coming and not all of them are even slightly bad... they completely screw up the characters... The call from the player base during alpha and beta reminded me of the lashback from the Diablo 3 launch.. the massive recalls and refund requests...
I dont think this 600k boost is a drop in the bucket to how badly they are going to get hit from the rage of the characters getting screwed. Players arent happy with it.
Who appointed you Speaker of the WoW Community? As soon as you say something like "vast majority of players..." it completely blows your argument out of the water as you don't have access to the opinions of "the vast majority" of the 7.5 million subscribers.
With that said, I logged in and tanked heroic SoO on my warrior for the first time in about 11 months and I can tell you that rotation and priority wise nothing has changed at all with my warrior. There are less spells in my spellbook and less here and there situational buttons to mash but the core of it is the same.
As far as the stat squish, it was long overdue! In fact I never agreed with the huge jump from LK to Cata as it made min maxing and parsing a freaking nightmare. It was also responsible for 25 mans being generally easier than 10 mans in a lot of cases.
In regards to the CC nerf, all I can say is thank god!! As you mentioned raids and dungeons do not generally require CC anymore (not something I agree with but...) so if you did BGs or arenas in MoP you would know that a lot of the time there was just too much CC. The strategy for arena revolved around CC, something along the lines of "Ok so as soon as we get out there hide behind the pillar so they can't CC you, if they do CC you only blow your trinket if you are getting nuked because once you do they are just going to CC you again and you will have the full duration because you have no trinket...", it just wasn't that enjoyable.
In summary what I am getting at is that the changes while there are many (gear itemization, stat squish, spell book cleanup, CC nerfs, etc) don't really impact the game all that much. You have less health and do less damage, so does the enemies. You have less CC, so does everyone else.
I am not sure if I am going to play WoD and it has nothing to do with the changes. My indecision is due to the fact that WoW is still basically the same game I played for 8 1/2 years. The graphics are outdated even when played on my new gaming PC with everything on max it still looks like a pre 2010 game. Although, I may play as even with the game being old and a bit stale for me and the graphics outdated, it still may be the best available??
If they can go from 7.4 to over 10 million, then yes, this will indicate that WoW is growing again, otherwise it's still declining over the long term.
What you fail to observe (pun intended) is the passage of time. To me, that's what makes it impressive. You're now talking about a game that is 10 years old pulling back a number of subscribers that some newer games don't even have.
It's funny that you're talking like doom and gloom without even realizing what those numbers mean. Over ten years, WoW has went from a peak of what, 12 Million players to what it is now, about 7.4 million. OVER 10 YEARS! What you call a "decline" other developers would KILL for.
Here's a pic with the subs over time and notes for expansion releases.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
If they can go from 7.4 to over 10 million, then yes, this will indicate that WoW is growing again, otherwise it's still declining over the long term.
What you fail to observe (pun intended) is the passage of time. To me, that's what makes it impressive. You're now talking about a game that is 10 years old pulling back a number of subscribers that some newer games don't even have.
It's funny that you're talking like doom and gloom without even realizing what those numbers mean. Over ten years, WoW has went from a peak of what, 12 Million players to what it is now, about 7.4 million. OVER 10 YEARS! What you call a "decline" other developers would KILL for.
Here's a pic with the subs over time and notes for expansion releases.
This chart isn't accurate based on the information from the first guy. Didn't they drop to 6.8 prior to the latest uptick? This chart doesn't show it going below 7.4... therefore, it is invalid lol.
Seriously though.. what is it this chart accomplishes? It shows that a 10 year old game is still out pacing every other Sub based MMO on the market. Hell, I don't think gw2 has this many players. Certainly not AA or Wildstar.
Comments
There are a lot more people playing now than there were just a month ago. Just hit 90 on my 2nd toon and there are roving teams of people on the Timeless Isle grinding stuff. The expansion event seems really, really sparse though. I hope there is more stuff coming.
**
I don't think the 600k is the difference. I think a lot of people who keep subscriptions running log in a lot more around expansion time.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
What you fail to observe (pun intended) is the passage of time. To me, that's what makes it impressive. You're now talking about a game that is 10 years old pulling back a number of subscribers that some newer games don't even have.
It's funny that you're talking like doom and gloom without even realizing what those numbers mean. Over ten years, WoW has went from a peak of what, 12 Million players to what it is now, about 7.4 million. OVER 10 YEARS! What you call a "decline" other developers would KILL for.
I stopped reading when I saw "the vast majority of players aren't happy". You loose total credibility at that point. You really know that the vast majority of players are unhappy? Really? Did you talk with the vast majority of players recently? I suppose you have the vast majority of WoW players on vent/mumble/teamspeak? Are the vast majority of players your facebook friends? Oh, I know, you had the vast majority of players over for meatloaf last Sunday and they informed you they weren't happy...
Seriously, what that statement boils down to, is that you and some of your friends aren't happy and stopped playing. There are 7.4 million players and I highly doubt you know more then a hundred or so at best. I was on for a few hours last night and you know what? The vast majority of players that I was playing with were happy with the game. You see? My statement has just as much validity as your statement.
Next, don't act like all people that play WoW hate the changes. I love most changes made. I constantly hear people talk about Vanilla wow and crying about the changes made to grouping and whatnot. Hey, I get it. The dungeon finder DID hurt the world and leveling in zones. Can't deny that; however, the old group system sucked my ass. I didn't find it charming to take 45 mins to assemble a group. I didn't find it charming to run 25 mins to the location and I certainly didn't' find it charming with some ASSHAT quit when we got to the damn thing. Rendering us useless for another 30-45 mins to find another jackass to head out there. If this game went back to Vanilla, I would quit. Hard.
Also, players take an "odd sense of pride" intheir characters??? Are you for real for real? What's odd about having a sense of pride in your character? Playing WoW, or mmo's is a hobby just like building model airplanes. If you built a really nice model airplane and had a sense of pride regarding it, it wouldn't be odd. It's an accomplishment. It's precisely the same for a WoW character. It's something we work for and should absolutely have a sense of pride in.
Also, concerning your last statement. I believe you're completely incorrect. Of course subs will drop a few months after the expansion as the content locust will be finished doing their thing. However; I believe that the subs will rise again just before and right at launch with all the people acting like their not coming back lol.
What WoW does better than every other game...
Easily accessible fun things to do no matter what your play type is (i.e. Dungeons, BGs, Arenas, LFR, Raids, etc). Which is subsequently why we always see a steep drop off towards the last year of expansions. Hardcore raiders clear the content rather quickly, arena junkies get their ratings early on in the season, etc and the last 10 month + of each expansion people get bored.
as much as i despise dungeon finders
i agree they are an appealing convenience feature for many gamers
EQ2 fan sites
Who appointed you Speaker of the WoW Community? As soon as you say something like "vast majority of players..." it completely blows your argument out of the water as you don't have access to the opinions of "the vast majority" of the 7.5 million subscribers.
With that said, I logged in and tanked heroic SoO on my warrior for the first time in about 11 months and I can tell you that rotation and priority wise nothing has changed at all with my warrior. There are less spells in my spellbook and less here and there situational buttons to mash but the core of it is the same.
As far as the stat squish, it was long overdue! In fact I never agreed with the huge jump from LK to Cata as it made min maxing and parsing a freaking nightmare. It was also responsible for 25 mans being generally easier than 10 mans in a lot of cases.
In regards to the CC nerf, all I can say is thank god!! As you mentioned raids and dungeons do not generally require CC anymore (not something I agree with but...) so if you did BGs or arenas in MoP you would know that a lot of the time there was just too much CC. The strategy for arena revolved around CC, something along the lines of "Ok so as soon as we get out there hide behind the pillar so they can't CC you, if they do CC you only blow your trinket if you are getting nuked because once you do they are just going to CC you again and you will have the full duration because you have no trinket...", it just wasn't that enjoyable.
In summary what I am getting at is that the changes while there are many (gear itemization, stat squish, spell book cleanup, CC nerfs, etc) don't really impact the game all that much. You have less health and do less damage, so does the enemies. You have less CC, so does everyone else.
I am not sure if I am going to play WoD and it has nothing to do with the changes. My indecision is due to the fact that WoW is still basically the same game I played for 8 1/2 years. The graphics are outdated even when played on my new gaming PC with everything on max it still looks like a pre 2010 game. Although, I may play as even with the game being old and a bit stale for me and the graphics outdated, it still may be the best available??
Here's a pic with the subs over time and notes for expansion releases.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
This chart isn't accurate based on the information from the first guy. Didn't they drop to 6.8 prior to the latest uptick? This chart doesn't show it going below 7.4... therefore, it is invalid lol.
Seriously though.. what is it this chart accomplishes? It shows that a 10 year old game is still out pacing every other Sub based MMO on the market. Hell, I don't think gw2 has this many players. Certainly not AA or Wildstar.