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Is WOW going F2P?

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Comments

  • ceratop001ceratop001 Member RarePosts: 1,594
    Originally posted by moonbound
    Originally posted by ceratop001
    Ok I'm going to chime in here. It's obvious that Blizzard is going or is already in the process of making a new game. I believe there is no doubt . WoW will eventually go free to play. The market is ripe for a new game to take over. If Blizzard can make a new type of mmorpg then its game over and the saga continues.

    I doubt it will have even remotely the same success as wow did.

    Maybe not but this is a business they have to move on. They have have to stay innovative and keep pushing the envelope to stay on top.

     
  • ceratop001ceratop001 Member RarePosts: 1,594
    Originally posted by Phry
    Originally posted by moonbound
    Originally posted by ceratop001
    Ok I'm going to chime in here. It's obvious that Blizzard is going or is already in the process of making a new game. I believe there is no doubt . WoW will eventually go free to play. The market is ripe for a new game to take over. If Blizzard can make a new type of mmorpg then its game over and the saga continues.

    I doubt it will have even remotely the same success as wow did.

    For any game to achieve what WoW managed to do, it would have to be very 'new' probably involving a persistent world accessed through VR tech, so, not for a while yet image

    Good point and the VR thing is very interesting.

     
  • MMOVet74MMOVet74 Member UncommonPosts: 76
    Originally posted by ceratop001
    Ok I'm going to chime in here. It's obvious that Blizzard is going or is already in the process of making a new game. I believe there is no doubt . WoW will eventually go free to play. The market is ripe for a new game to take over. If Blizzard can make a new type of mmorpg then its game over and the saga continues.

     I'm sure they are prototyping many new ideas behind the scene, with the money they have. But to be honest, the best thing for them would be to just port WOW to a new engine. They always say at Blizzcon, they want to expand and create new exciting content and features. But with a 15 year old engine you can only do so much. They updated the character models and some animations but it  really  didn't  change much.  That low poly count is still awful.They need a new engine to  really see some change.

    Plus if they want to add  gameplay features, like dynamic events in GW2, destructable environments in Crowfall,  they need a new engine.  Eve online  did it a few years back when they ported the game to a new graphics engine. Warcraft is a juggernaut of an IP, now with a big blockbuster movie coming out, making a new MMO wouldn't make sense.

  • observerobserver Member RarePosts: 3,685

    It dropped from 10 million to 7.1 million in one quarter.

     

    http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/4878-WoW-Down-to-7-1-Million-Subscribers

     

    Subscription numbers will be irrelevant next quarter unless they exclude the Token Subscriptions.

  • observerobserver Member RarePosts: 3,685
    Originally posted by MMOVet74
    Originally posted by ceratop001
    Ok I'm going to chime in here. It's obvious that Blizzard is going or is already in the process of making a new game. I believe there is no doubt . WoW will eventually go free to play. The market is ripe for a new game to take over. If Blizzard can make a new type of mmorpg then its game over and the saga continues.

     I'm sure they are prototyping many new ideas behind the scene, with the money they have. But to be honest, the best thing for them would be to just port WOW to a new engine. They always say at Blizzcon, they want to expand and create new exciting content and features. But with a 15 year old engine you can only do so much. They updated the character models and some animations but it  really  didn't  change much.  That low poly count is still awful.They need a new engine to  really see some change.

    Plus if they want to add  gameplay features, like dynamic events in GW2, destructable environments in Crowfall,  they need a new engine.  Eve online  did it a few years back when they ported the game to a new graphics engine. Warcraft is a juggernaut of an IP, now with a big blockbuster movie coming out, making a new MMO wouldn't make sense.

    That would be a monumental task that would take several years.  It could be done, but they would be better off just starting from scratch and making a WoW 2.0 or something.

  • AnirethAnireth Member UncommonPosts: 940

    I would gladly see WoW die, so we finally get Warcraft IV, but it's not going anywhere any time soon, not even F2P.

    Why would they? F2P makes a lot of money, but thats usually compares to subs that are not doing so well. Even only 3 million people still subbed would be a lot of money, no real need to risk alienating customers by switching business plan.

    Blizzard and F2P is also still quite new. Maybe in 2-3 years when Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm and (if they actually get it released by then) Overwatch are well known factors, both for Blizzard (how much money they get from it) and for us players (how much money do we 'need' to spent).

    I'll wait to the day's end when the moon is high
    And then I'll rise with the tide with a lust for life, I'll
    Amass an army, and we'll harness a horde
    And then we'll limp across the land until we stand at the shore

  • CelciusCelcius Member RarePosts: 1,878
    WoW won't go F2P. They are making more money then they ever have due to all the cash shop type things they have added. Even with the huge sub drop they are going to be fine. If anything they will eventually have a cash shop that looks like a F2P game but also charge the sub. Sure, F2P offers a lot of money potential, but it is not the same kind of income assurance that a sub offers for a company. They are more likely to LOSE money going F2P due to how many players would potentially drop their subs to play the game for free. Why would they do that when they can just charge people the same as they have always charged and still reap the benefits of a F2P cash shop in their P2P MMO? 
  • KothosesKothoses Member UncommonPosts: 931
    Originally posted by MMOVet74

    So with the massive loss in subs, the news that 6.2 will be the last major content patch for WOD, you can bet that something is going on at Blizzard headquarters. They apparently doubled their staff so that they could get  more content out quicker. Then why is that there is less content being pushed out?

    I think   the game is finally going F2P.  And Hearthstone  is a big factor in that decision. If you look at that card game,  it's production  costs were  minimal. I think the game was made with a team of 15 developers yet it's made over 500 million since launch and hasn't lost steam.  

    I think Blizz has finally seen the  potential of F2P.  Heroes of the Storm is F2P, and most likely Overwatch, their next  online shooter coming out probably sometime next year.

    They recently hired Stephan Frost who was lead designer on Wildstar, a game which is in the process of going F2P hmmm Coincidence?

    I mean they already have a cash shop, selling character boosts, pets, mounts, etc...  They introduced the WOW token so that players can  exchange gold for in game time.  hmmmm 

    I think they are just testing out different models to see which one nets them  the most cash. Once they are satisfied with a model, I believe F2P is coming. Gold will probably be  an option used to unlock content  or purchase items in the cash shop, which is maybe why the WOW token was implemented in the first place , to flush out some of that excess gold people have saved up from years of playing. Mobs and quests will probably reward much less gold and  the game will probably have a gold cap that needs to be unlocked through cash. Who knows?

    What do you guys think?

     

     

    You nailed the reason wow wont go free to play any time soon in your own post.

     

    They already have a cash shop selling all manner of cosmetic and convenience items, which they have shown they are willing to add to even in the middle of an 18 month content drought  and which people have shown willing to throw money at.  They already make more money from microtransactions and such in wow than they do from wow subs, but they can keep the perceived value of a subscription and the perception of prestige that goes with it.

     

    If they ditch their sub, the perceived value of their product (a lot of which comes from consumer association, IE people wanting to be associated with the "number 1 brand") deteriorates and with it they would likely lose player base rather than having pretty much guaranteed churn in every time they put an expansion out.

     

    So now, wow wont go free to play, not until an xpac bombs, sells next to no copies and they dip way lower in player base than they currently have.

  • MMOVet74MMOVet74 Member UncommonPosts: 76
    Originally posted by observer
    Originally posted by MMOVet74
    Originally posted by ceratop001
    Ok I'm going to chime in here. It's obvious that Blizzard is going or is already in the process of making a new game. I believe there is no doubt . WoW will eventually go free to play. The market is ripe for a new game to take over. If Blizzard can make a new type of mmorpg then its game over and the saga continues.

     I'm sure they are prototyping many new ideas behind the scene, with the money they have. But to be honest, the best thing for them would be to just port WOW to a new engine. They always say at Blizzcon, they want to expand and create new exciting content and features. But with a 15 year old engine you can only do so much. They updated the character models and some animations but it  really  didn't  change much.  That low poly count is still awful.They need a new engine to  really see some change.

    Plus if they want to add  gameplay features, like dynamic events in GW2, destructable environments in Crowfall,  they need a new engine.  Eve online  did it a few years back when they ported the game to a new graphics engine. Warcraft is a juggernaut of an IP, now with a big blockbuster movie coming out, making a new MMO wouldn't make sense.

    That would be a monumental task that would take several years.  It could be done, but they would be better off just starting from scratch and making a WoW 2.0 or something.

    Problem with making a WOW 2 would be losing all your characters, items, and achievements you've spent years collecting.. A large majority of  their  dedicated fan base  have thousands of hours invested into the game.  To lose everything would be devastating. Porting WOW to a new engine would allow people to keep everything. 

    It would be a massive undertaking, but imagine what would be possible.  Dynamic questing, destructible environments World vs World PVP . So much that can be done. 

  • BladestromBladestrom Member UncommonPosts: 5,001
    Originally posted by MMOVet74
    Originally posted by observer
    Originally posted by MMOVet74
    Originally posted by ceratop001
    Ok I'm going to chime in here. It's obvious that Blizzard is going or is already in the process of making a new game. I believe there is no doubt . WoW will eventually go free to play. The market is ripe for a new game to take over. If Blizzard can make a new type of mmorpg then its game over and the saga continues.

     I'm sure they are prototyping many new ideas behind the scene, with the money they have. But to be honest, the best thing for them would be to just port WOW to a new engine. They always say at Blizzcon, they want to expand and create new exciting content and features. But with a 15 year old engine you can only do so much. They updated the character models and some animations but it  really  didn't  change much.  That low poly count is still awful.They need a new engine to  really see some change.

    Plus if they want to add  gameplay features, like dynamic events in GW2, destructable environments in Crowfall,  they need a new engine.  Eve online  did it a few years back when they ported the game to a new graphics engine. Warcraft is a juggernaut of an IP, now with a big blockbuster movie coming out, making a new MMO wouldn't make sense.

    That would be a monumental task that would take several years.  It could be done, but they would be better off just starting from scratch and making a WoW 2.0 or something.

    Problem with making a WOW 2 would be losing all your characters, items, and achievements you've spent years collecting.. A large majority of  their  dedicated fan base  have thousands of hours invested into the game.  To lose everything would be devastating. Porting WOW to a new engine would allow people to keep everything. 

    It would be a massive undertaking, but imagine what would be possible.  Dynamic questing, destructible environments World vs World PVP . So much that can be done. 

    they are just records in a database, its not a big deal to transfer.  The real issue is they don't want to invest.

    rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar

    Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D

  • JaggaSpikesJaggaSpikes Member UncommonPosts: 430
    Originally posted by observer

     ...

    Subscription numbers will be irrelevant next quarter unless they exclude the Token Subscriptions.

    token subs are as good as classic subs. they are backed by real money.

  • MMOVet74MMOVet74 Member UncommonPosts: 76
    Originally posted by Kothoses
    Originally posted by MMOVet74

    So with the massive loss in subs, the news that 6.2 will be the last major content patch for WOD, you can bet that something is going on at Blizzard headquarters. They apparently doubled their staff so that they could get  more content out quicker. Then why is that there is less content being pushed out?

    I think   the game is finally going F2P.  And Hearthstone  is a big factor in that decision. If you look at that card game,  it's production  costs were  minimal. I think the game was made with a team of 15 developers yet it's made over 500 million since launch and hasn't lost steam.  

    I think Blizz has finally seen the  potential of F2P.  Heroes of the Storm is F2P, and most likely Overwatch, their next  online shooter coming out probably sometime next year.

    They recently hired Stephan Frost who was lead designer on Wildstar, a game which is in the process of going F2P hmmm Coincidence?

    I mean they already have a cash shop, selling character boosts, pets, mounts, etc...  They introduced the WOW token so that players can  exchange gold for in game time.  hmmmm 

    I think they are just testing out different models to see which one nets them  the most cash. Once they are satisfied with a model, I believe F2P is coming. Gold will probably be  an option used to unlock content  or purchase items in the cash shop, which is maybe why the WOW token was implemented in the first place , to flush out some of that excess gold people have saved up from years of playing. Mobs and quests will probably reward much less gold and  the game will probably have a gold cap that needs to be unlocked through cash. Who knows?

    What do you guys think?

     

     

    You nailed the reason wow wont go free to play any time soon in your own post.

     

    They already have a cash shop selling all manner of cosmetic and convenience items, which they have shown they are willing to add to even in the middle of an 18 month content drought  and which people have shown willing to throw money at.  They already make more money from microtransactions and such in wow than they do from wow subs, but they can keep the perceived value of a subscription and the perception of prestige that goes with it.

     

    If they ditch their sub, the perceived value of their product (a lot of which comes from consumer association, IE people wanting to be associated with the "number 1 brand") deteriorates and with it they would likely lose player base rather than having pretty much guaranteed churn in every time they put an expansion out.

     

    So now, wow wont go free to play, not until an xpac bombs, sells next to no copies and they dip way lower in player base than they currently have.

    All i know is back in MOP, when everyone got burnt out on the expansion after a few months, WOW started losing a few hundred thousand subs a quarter. This time around  they lost a few million subs a  quarter. There is obviously something wrong here.  Obviously they are going to wait it out and see, but with no new content  after 6.2, and a new expansion probably  a year away, sub losses could spiral out of control, then F2P or B2P might become an option. 

    How much money does a company have to lose before they shake things up.  

  • ceratop001ceratop001 Member RarePosts: 1,594
    You can't have an emotional response to this. Being a fan and seeing how this and that can improve from your own perspective is easy to do. It's technically free to play right now. 25k gold isn't very much money. This is why there seeing number drops on a daily basis. It will go full F2P within 6 months I have no doubt.
     
  • MMOVet74MMOVet74 Member UncommonPosts: 76
    Originally posted by Bladestrom
    Originally posted by MMOVet74
    Originally posted by observer
    Originally posted by MMOVet74
    Originally posted by ceratop001
    Ok I'm going to chime in here. It's obvious that Blizzard is going or is already in the process of making a new game. I believe there is no doubt . WoW will eventually go free to play. The market is ripe for a new game to take over. If Blizzard can make a new type of mmorpg then its game over and the saga continues.

     I'm sure they are prototyping many new ideas behind the scene, with the money they have. But to be honest, the best thing for them would be to just port WOW to a new engine. They always say at Blizzcon, they want to expand and create new exciting content and features. But with a 15 year old engine you can only do so much. They updated the character models and some animations but it  really  didn't  change much.  That low poly count is still awful.They need a new engine to  really see some change.

    Plus if they want to add  gameplay features, like dynamic events in GW2, destructable environments in Crowfall,  they need a new engine.  Eve online  did it a few years back when they ported the game to a new graphics engine. Warcraft is a juggernaut of an IP, now with a big blockbuster movie coming out, making a new MMO wouldn't make sense.

    That would be a monumental task that would take several years.  It could be done, but they would be better off just starting from scratch and making a WoW 2.0 or something.

    Problem with making a WOW 2 would be losing all your characters, items, and achievements you've spent years collecting.. A large majority of  their  dedicated fan base  have thousands of hours invested into the game.  To lose everything would be devastating. Porting WOW to a new engine would allow people to keep everything. 

    It would be a massive undertaking, but imagine what would be possible.  Dynamic questing, destructible environments World vs World PVP . So much that can be done. 

    they are just records in a database, its not a big deal to transfer.  The real issue is they don't want to invest.

    And that is the biggest issue with Blizzard, is that  they can do so much more for their fans,   they have the money and resources to do it, but Nope. Sorry we love money more then you guys, even though at Blizzcon  Chris Metzen  is always  saying how  important the fans are to us. Yeah right.  

  • AriesTigerAriesTiger Member UncommonPosts: 444
    Please don't open the sewer gates Blizzard. Please keep the paygate up for some sort of sensibility. Please.  Although I still sub and play a few hours a week I would be gone in a heartbeat when they make the F2P choice if they ever do. HELL NO.
  • BladestromBladestrom Member UncommonPosts: 5,001
    Originally posted by MMOVet74
    Originally posted by Bladestrom
    Originally posted by MMOVet74
    Originally posted by observer
    Originally posted by MMOVet74
    Originally posted by ceratop001
    Ok I'm going to chime in here. It's obvious that Blizzard is going or is already in the process of making a new game. I believe there is no doubt . WoW will eventually go free to play. The market is ripe for a new game to take over. If Blizzard can make a new type of mmorpg then its game over and the saga continues.

     I'm sure they are prototyping many new ideas behind the scene, with the money they have. But to be honest, the best thing for them would be to just port WOW to a new engine. They always say at Blizzcon, they want to expand and create new exciting content and features. But with a 15 year old engine you can only do so much. They updated the character models and some animations but it  really  didn't  change much.  That low poly count is still awful.They need a new engine to  really see some change.

    Plus if they want to add  gameplay features, like dynamic events in GW2, destructable environments in Crowfall,  they need a new engine.  Eve online  did it a few years back when they ported the game to a new graphics engine. Warcraft is a juggernaut of an IP, now with a big blockbuster movie coming out, making a new MMO wouldn't make sense.

    That would be a monumental task that would take several years.  It could be done, but they would be better off just starting from scratch and making a WoW 2.0 or something.

    Problem with making a WOW 2 would be losing all your characters, items, and achievements you've spent years collecting.. A large majority of  their  dedicated fan base  have thousands of hours invested into the game.  To lose everything would be devastating. Porting WOW to a new engine would allow people to keep everything. 

    It would be a massive undertaking, but imagine what would be possible.  Dynamic questing, destructible environments World vs World PVP . So much that can be done. 

    they are just records in a database, its not a big deal to transfer.  The real issue is they don't want to invest.

    And that is the biggest issue with Blizzard, is that  they can do so much more for their fans,   they have the money and resources to do it, but Nope. Sorry we love money more then you guys, even though at Blizzcon  Chris Metzen  is always  saying how  important the fans are to us. Yeah right.  

    yup exactly.  If blizzard wanted to invest for their fans then they would have translated the player demand for more content into - creating more content for their fans.  Instead they divert WOW subs into other things including shareholder profits.  1 billion gross for 5 levels and a patch, taking the piss out of mugs.

     

    rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar

    Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D

  • SovrathSovrath Member LegendaryPosts: 32,941
    Originally posted by MMOVet74
     

    Rock, they lost 3 million subs.  

    Did you track how many they gain each time they do an expansion along with those losses?

    I would wonder if what they are experiencing are the people who surge for the expansions, content locust the heck out of them then move on to other things.

     

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  • MMOVet74MMOVet74 Member UncommonPosts: 76
    Originally posted by AriesTiger
    Please don't open the sewer gates Blizzard. Please keep the paygate up for some sort of sensibility. Please.  Although I still sub and play a few hours a week I would be gone in a heartbeat when they make the F2P choice if they ever do. HELL NO.

    Don't worry Blizzard cares about it's loyal subscribers. If you stay subbed you'll be promoted to VIP status and you'll receive a shiny new item in your mailbox every month, because Blizzard cares about it's loyal fan base. Didn't you know that. 

    You give them 15 dollars a month and they gave you  what you want, Twitter integration and  in game selfies. And now a huge 6.2 patch with enough content to last you  till next expansion.   You got nothing to worry about buddy.

  • MMOVet74MMOVet74 Member UncommonPosts: 76
    Originally posted by Sovrath
    Originally posted by MMOVet74
     

    Rock, they lost 3 million subs.  

    Did you track how many they gain each time they do an expansion along with those losses?

    I would wonder if what they are experiencing are the people who surge for the expansions, content locust the heck out of them then move on to other things.

     

    That's not the point. In MOP they didn't lose 3 million subs in one quarter. They lost a few hundred thousand, and we all know MOP was the worst expansion they ever released. I played it for 3 weeks and had to stop, it was just so bad. I didn't play WOD but from what I read it had some of the best  questing to date. So why is it that 3 million people left. Wait one more quarter and let's see how many more subs they lose. That will put us in a better position to judge how much damage has really  been done.

  • DullahanDullahan Member EpicPosts: 4,536
    Why are people still quoting 7m? Thats a statistic from earlier this year, right after a new expansion. I would bet they've lost considerably more since then.


  • observerobserver Member RarePosts: 3,685
    Originally posted by JaggaSpikes
    Originally posted by observer

     ...

    Subscription numbers will be irrelevant next quarter unless they exclude the Token Subscriptions.

    token subs are as good as classic subs. they are backed by real money.

    No, they are not.  They don't reflect population numbers at all.  That was my whole point.

    That's like saying one person that buys 100 tokens is worth 100 subscribers.

  • observerobserver Member RarePosts: 3,685
    Originally posted by Dullahan
    Why are people still quoting 7m? Thats a statistic from earlier this year, right after a new expansion. I would bet they've lost considerably more since then.

    Because it's the only statistics we have.  We don't know if their next report will include token subscribers either.

  • tixylixtixylix Member UncommonPosts: 1,288
    Everyone is playing Vanilla because it's better, the servers are packed.
  • WicasaWicasa Member UncommonPosts: 77
    It should be free to play up until around level 60, level 20 is now too low to hook most people, right?
  • JoeyjojoshabaduJoeyjojoshabadu Member UncommonPosts: 162
    Originally posted by observer
    Originally posted by MMOVet74
    Originally posted by ceratop001
    Ok I'm going to chime in here. It's obvious that Blizzard is going or is already in the process of making a new game. I believe there is no doubt . WoW will eventually go free to play. The market is ripe for a new game to take over. If Blizzard can make a new type of mmorpg then its game over and the saga continues.

     I'm sure they are prototyping many new ideas behind the scene, with the money they have. But to be honest, the best thing for them would be to just port WOW to a new engine. They always say at Blizzcon, they want to expand and create new exciting content and features. But with a 15 year old engine you can only do so much. They updated the character models and some animations but it  really  didn't  change much.  That low poly count is still awful.They need a new engine to  really see some change.

    Plus if they want to add  gameplay features, like dynamic events in GW2, destructable environments in Crowfall,  they need a new engine.  Eve online  did it a few years back when they ported the game to a new graphics engine. Warcraft is a juggernaut of an IP, now with a big blockbuster movie coming out, making a new MMO wouldn't make sense.

    That would be a monumental task that would take several years.  It could be done, but they would be better off just starting from scratch and making a WoW 2.0 or something.

     Nah. Blizzard have sensed the winds of change and they're canny businesspeople. That's why they scrapped their MMO plans and have developed a (very successful thus far) MOBA.

     

     

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