One thing that has been overlooked is the distribution of character levels at the bottom of the page. It's nearly flat all the way to 70 and then a big spike at 70 which makes sense since you can't get any higher than this. But ignore 70 for a minute and look at all the other levels. It's nearly flat. There are no real peaks or valleys across the board. What does this mean? It means that the low level character activity which everyone claims is non existant is false. It's very much alive and kicking. Across the board from 10 to 69 you can easily find people online all the time. Edit: OK, either my estimating skills suck or their graph isn't that accurate, because I did a little more research and found the following numbers. 10-19 - 760,776 characters 20-29 - 648,810 characters 30-39 - 478,841 characters 40-49 - 417,385 characters 50-59 - 329,639 characters 60-69 - 624,914 characters Total - 3,260,365 characters 70 only - 2,604,449 characters So there's actually more active toons from level 10-69 then there are level 70 toons. That's pretty astonishing. And there's approximately 1/4 to 1/6 the number of characters in any one 10 level range as there are total level 70's. That's pretty impressive too. And even more surprising is that there are more in the 10-19 and 20-29 range than the 60-69 range. So much for the theory that BC killed all the pre-BC content.
imo thats a severe misconception here, judging from the numbers stated above that low lvl areas are alive or even kicking. Of course there are lots of low lvl chars existing, such as bank chars, mules, mail pickups in various cities, etc and of course the different classes everyone has tried up to certain lvl. Most of this chars are rotting in the Char screen or logged in a couple of minutes per week - they are surely not all active played toons. Ever tried to find a group for a low lvl dungeon ??? I remember what it was like 2.5 years ago when i leveled my first char - compared to that low level areas are indeed dead
The new expansion will certainly bring some curious old players to resubscribe and see what's new. It will be interesting to see if this expansion will accomplish the same as the previous one. Generally this expansion has certain things in favour and others against it.
The fact that the game has some sort of competition after quite some time is something that helped improve the game. Certain things that were postponed since the launch of the game (some sort of serious world PvP for example), are implemented in some fashion in the new expansion. Also the new expansion does not seem to constitute a complete travesty of the lore (and consecutive of the world). The game seems to be going back to its roots and the Outland experiment is abandoned (the whole alien-spaceships world was more of an abomination than an addition to the otherwise very interesting World of Azeroth).
On the other hand however, they could repeat the weaknesses of the first expansion (the major weakness being the necessity to do certain things elevating the game to work status, like farming herbs or doing daylies). Also at this point the seem unwilling to modernise the game to today's standards, even as an option, like LOTRO for example. While the art style helps, the outdated engine detracts too much from the immersion, especially in this age and time, where the affordable monitor sizes have grown to the 20+ size. The character reset with each expansion doesn't help either.
I'm still hoping for a futuristic or wastelands MMO, from either Blizzard or anybody else.
I think a lot of people on the WAR boards would probably refer to me as "WoW fanboy" But I find it hard to imagine WoW growing even *more* even with the expansion, i think it will bring a lot of people back, lots of those will have quit in the months leading up to the expansion probably due to waiting for new stuff.
I'm not sure if the Russian localization will bring a major influx of players, I'm rather expecting the Russian players move to those servers from the ones where they are now on.
I guess an advertising campaign might pull in new russians, hard to tell.
Mostly I'm expecting people to come back rather than getting a new influx.
One thing that has been overlooked is the distribution of character levels at the bottom of the page. It's nearly flat all the way to 70 and then a big spike at 70 which makes sense since you can't get any higher than this. But ignore 70 for a minute and look at all the other levels. It's nearly flat. There are no real peaks or valleys across the board. What does this mean? It means that the low level character activity which everyone claims is non existant is false. It's very much alive and kicking. Across the board from 10 to 69 you can easily find people online all the time. Edit: OK, either my estimating skills suck or their graph isn't that accurate, because I did a little more research and found the following numbers. 10-19 - 760,776 characters 20-29 - 648,810 characters 30-39 - 478,841 characters 40-49 - 417,385 characters 50-59 - 329,639 characters 60-69 - 624,914 characters Total - 3,260,365 characters 70 only - 2,604,449 characters So there's actually more active toons from level 10-69 then there are level 70 toons. That's pretty astonishing. And there's approximately 1/4 to 1/6 the number of characters in any one 10 level range as there are total level 70's. That's pretty impressive too. And even more surprising is that there are more in the 10-19 and 20-29 range than the 60-69 range. So much for the theory that BC killed all the pre-BC content.
imo thats a severe misconception here, judging from the numbers stated above that low lvl areas are alive or even kicking. Of course there are lots of low lvl chars existing, such as bank chars, mules, mail pickups in various cities, etc and of course the different classes everyone has tried up to certain lvl. Most of this chars are rotting in the Char screen or logged in a couple of minutes per week - they are surely not all active played toons. Ever tried to find a group for a low lvl dungeon ??? I remember what it was like 2.5 years ago when i leveled my first char - compared to that low level areas are indeed dead
WRONG (again). Complete BULL shit I'd even say.
Those are ACTIVELY played characters or they are not even in this man's Stats (for what they are worth even). 15 days to be precise.
As a matter of fact: try leveling a new character on a medium to full server (which is recommended every 6 weeks for a few days).
I had MUCH more players in these leveling zones than 2 years ago. Competing in SV or Tanaris to first get the mobs and little bosses )) It was even annoying at prime time.
I have done about EVERY dungeon up to Sunken Temple with my new character( up to lvl54 now) and did it in prime time without ever having to wait for more than 15 to 20 minutes.
I guess the raids and hard dungeons on lvl 60 don't seem to have people (only for specific quests), but all up to BRD are full of questers.
And it is normal of course because Wow is bigger than one year or two years ago. As there were hardly more servers added since TBC. (one to be precise and that was 1 month ago !).
As for new players: just look at the sales; Wow outsells NOW every MMORPG market by a wide range so stop telling "invented" stories.
It is Number one on Xfire for 1070 consecutive weeks, so NO other PC player (free !) is being played more than Wow and ALL stats prove this.
In center Europe WOW takes position 2, 3, 6 and 7 on the general top sales on Amazon.com.
[quote][i]Originally posted by Pappy13[/i] [b]One thing that has been overlooked is the distribution of character levels at the bottom of the page. It's nearly flat all the way to 70 and then a big spike at 70 which makes sense since you can't get any higher than this. But ignore 70 for a minute and look at all the other levels. It's nearly flat. There are no real peaks or valleys across the board. What does this mean? It means that the low level character activity which everyone claims is non existant is false. It's very much alive and kicking. Across the board from 10 to 69 you can easily find people online all the time. Edit: OK, either my estimating skills suck or their graph isn't that accurate, because I did a little more research and found the following numbers. 10-19 - 760,776 characters 20-29 - 648,810 characters 30-39 - 478,841 characters 40-49 - 417,385 characters 50-59 - 329,639 characters 60-69 - 624,914 characters Total - 3,260,365 characters 70 only - 2,604,449 characters So there's actually more active toons from level 10-69 then there are level 70 toons. That's pretty astonishing. And there's approximately 1/4 to 1/6 the number of characters in any one 10 level range as there are total level 70's. That's pretty impressive too. And even more surprising is that there are more in the 10-19 and 20-29 range than the 60-69 range. So much for the theory that BC killed all the pre-BC content.[/b][/quote]
How is that surprising? Players in their 60s are motivated top get to 70 asap. There are lots of twinks and would be-twinks in their teens and 20s who just want to show off and don't give a damn about leveling.
The new expansion will certainly bring some curious old players to resubscribe and see what's new. It will be interesting to see if this expansion will accomplish the same as the previous one. Generally this expansion has certain things in favour and others against it. The fact that the game has some sort of competition after quite some time is something that helped improve the game. Certain things that were postponed since the launch of the game (some sort of serious world PvP for example), are implemented in some fashion in the new expansion. Also the new expansion does not seem to constitute a complete travesty of the lore (and consecutive of the world). The game seems to be going back to its roots and the Outland experiment is abandoned (the whole alien-spaceships world was more of an abomination than an addition to the otherwise very interesting World of Azeroth). On the other hand however, they could repeat the weaknesses of the first expansion (the major weakness being the necessity to do certain things elevating the game to work status, like farming herbs or doing daylies). Also at this point the seem unwilling to modernise the game to today's standards, even as an option, like LOTRO for example. While the art style helps, the outdated engine detracts too much from the immersion, especially in this age and time, where the affordable monitor sizes have grown to the 20+ size. The character reset with each expansion doesn't help either. I'm still hoping for a futuristic or wastelands MMO, from either Blizzard or anybody else. The above of course are my opinion only.
They are working on the graphics. Shadow enabled characters and higher pixels are already in the WotLK Beta.
Also I don't know what you mean about "today's standards". LOTRO is hardly ANY innovative as an MMORPG, unless you are talking of the views which are excellent.
But LOTRO has a very handicapped movement system which apllies to all MMORPG's btw . Warhammer is even worse in this respect. WAR could fail by its slow and quirlky PvP fights.
So gameplay and fast animated fights prime always "pixels". ----> see Conan.
It's one of the many "secrets" why Wow stays on top. More so than any other quest or end game: it is the animation in the fights which is miles above the rest in MMO land.
I don't really understand why other MMORPG's makers are so "stiff" in this department.
I had so high hopes for Warhammer, ... until I saw those fights. really bad. I don't care what the fanboys say. Warhammer has bad animations (and I don't mean pixels).
My (subjective) definition of today's computer standards is based on how much computer power a player can derive from an average PC bought today and how much a game utilises that power. For example, I would expect as a minimum that the game would be updated so as to utilise at least some of the directX10 capabilities (optional setup of course). That is why I mentioned LOTRO, the engine in that game without the minimum directX10 addition is but a small step ahead of WoW. However, implementing the limited directX 10 instructions turns the world into something extremely beautiful and detailed.
I find it inexcusable for a company that has 10 times the profit of it's closer competitor to not implement improvements and additions into the game, unless threatened by direct competition. For that part alone I'm a bit sad that AoC was not as well received as it could have been. Then we might have seen Blizzard putting some extra effort into improving the game further.
My (subjective) definition of today's computer standards is based on how much computer power a player can derive from an average PC bought today and how much a game utilises that power. For example, I would expect as a minimum that the game would be updated so as to utilise at least some of the directX10 capabilities (optional setup of course). That is why I mentioned LOTRO, the engine in that game without the minimum directX10 addition is but a small step ahead of WoW. However, implementing the limited directX 10 instructions turns the world into something extremely beautiful and detailed. I find it inexcusable for a company that has 10 times the profit of it's closer competitor to not implement improvements and additions into the game, unless threatened by direct competition. For that part alone I'm a bit sad that AoC was not as well received as it could have been. Then we might have seen Blizzard putting some extra effort into improving the game further.
thats exactly the point and what sepearates people who like wow from stupid fanbois. They wish there wouldnt be any other decent game out there that would pose a threat to wow as a competitor. They dont realise that blizzard is a profit oriented company who will only put that much effort into their game needed to keep people playing it. A serious competition kicking blizzards ass would just improve wow. But fanbois dont get that lol.
thats exactly the point and what sepearates people who like wow from stupid fanbois. They wish there wouldnt be any other decent game out there that would pose a threat to wow as a competitor. They dont realise that blizzard is a profit oriented company who will only put that much effort into their game needed to keep people playing it. A serious competition kicking blizzards ass would just improve wow. But fanbois dont get that lol.
ROFLMAO. Thank you sir, I needed to start the day off with a laugh and you provided the perfect foil. Yeah, that's what Blizzard needs, a good dose of motivation, because you know they are the biggest slackers.
They are working on the graphics. Shadow enabled characters and higher pixels are already in the WotLK Beta. Also I don't know what you mean about "today's standards". LOTRO is hardly ANY innovative as an MMORPG, unless you are talking of the views which are excellent. But LOTRO has a very handicapped movement system which apllies to all MMORPG's btw . Warhammer is even worse in this respect. WAR could fail by its slow and quirlky PvP fights. So gameplay and fast animated fights prime always "pixels". ----> see Conan. It's one of the many "secrets" why Wow stays on top. More so than any other quest or end game: it is the animation in the fights which is miles above the rest in MMO land. I don't really understand why other MMORPG's makers are so "stiff" in this department. I had so high hopes for Warhammer, ... until I saw those fights. really bad. I don't care what the fanboys say. Warhammer has bad animations (and I don't mean pixels).
Vicksburg - We seem to be on collision course alot, so also today
The only graphical update in WotLK is the dynamic shadows. There is no poly count upgrade according to the latest interviews. Maybe this has changed, but that is the last information I have seen.
I believe the Chapter quests to be highly innovative in LOTRO, critical craft results and the entire world around that as well. Those are two areas that WoW could have picked up quite easily but have not.
Since I know you have not played WAR (you have written that yourself in other places on this Board), I would be more careful if I were you placing judgement on the product. Right now it looks very promising, this does not mean Mythic will pull it off, but if I were to bet WAR will be a better alternative for those interested in PvP, equal alternative for casual player just wanting to fool around and worse alternative for the PvE interested (raiding etc).
thats exactly the point and what sepearates people who like wow from stupid fanbois. They wish there wouldnt be any other decent game out there that would pose a threat to wow as a competitor. They dont realise that blizzard is a profit oriented company who will only put that much effort into their game needed to keep people playing it. A serious competition kicking blizzards ass would just improve wow. But fanbois dont get that lol.
ROFLMAO. Thank you sir, I needed to start the day off with a laugh and you provided the perfect foil. Yeah, that's what Blizzard needs, a good dose of motivation, because you know they are the biggest slackers.
Hmm, so you dont believe in competition as a driving force in getting better products? And Blizzard makes games cause they are a bunch of nice people who want to make gamers happy?
Well sorry for waking you up,but thats not the way things go in todays economies......dream on
If blizzard is slacking cant be judged neither from me nor from you, only blizzard knows if they could invest more ressources to produce better results....but I believe with the profits they have, they have some reserves to bring out some better results. At least with the expansion in my opinion they are slacking alot - it should have been out some months ago.
If the new WoW expansion will come out before WAR... Blizz gets more people and after they get bored of the new content they might be going for WAR/Aion. (a part of them not all of course).
If WAR gets out before the new WoW expansion it could gather up some good numbers.
Personally Im looking forward to Aion mainly and I might try WAR depending when its out.
If WAR isnt out before WoW expansion I'll go with the crowd and buy the new WOW expansion to check at least. who knows I might get hooked again?! at least until Aion.
WAR really has to launch before WoW expansion to get bigger numbers. If they dont see that, their marketing fails big time and it will affect the game pretty much.
Age of Conan had 1.000.000 Beta demands (at least IF FUNCOM was telling the thruth back then).
Warhammer has 750.000 Beta demands.
After a mere two months AoC is completely out of the top 30 from the PC charts on Amazon.com
Again Amazon.com...
The real Warhammer market shows in at place 200 something (while Wotlk is already in top 10).
The ONLY difference is the preordering of the Collectors Edition of WAR, but that is of course with the chance of getting into Beta (which Wotlk doesn't need to offer).
So those thinking WAR will make a splash... just look at the "normal" preordering edition of Warhammer (not in the Amazon PC top 200 for the moment) and the WotLK position.... and rising of course.
I could swear that the OP is Zorndorf ... a blind WoW zealot. But just in case he's not ...
Why WoW bringing more players with the new expansion is news, or worth mentioning? The game has a very high retention rate, it's more than normal than a big portion of the players that have at some point left might give the expansion a try. It happened with the previous one and it's more than likely that it will happen again. Even I'm a bit curious, it's just that certain lack of qualities that drove me away still remain.
Besides, WoW doesn't need the hype. Unless people prefer to eat one kind of food for the rest of their lives, MMO sites like this one does a good job presenting the outsiders of the market. Even if they are not on par with the giants. Even if they have major issues. Diversity is a necessity of the human nature.
Having said that, I find myself enjoying Team Fortress 2 more than any MMO these day. Weird times, at least for me.
I haven't read the thread, so it's probably been said before.
It's probably a combination of WotLK advertising (beta server up, all the gaming sites talking about the talent, gameplay mechanic changes, new class, new instances, etc.) and the fact that people are disenfranchised with AoC (and so are returning to WoW). Those are pretty much my reasons for resubbing to WoW, really ... those paladin changes look very, very juicy.
I could swear that the OP is Zorndorf ... a blind WoW zealot. But just in case he's not ... Why WoW bringing more players with the new expansion is news, or worth mentioning? The game has a very high retention rate, it's more than normal than a big portion of the players that have at some point left might give the expansion a try. It happened with the previous one and it's more than likely that it will happen again. Even I'm a bit curious, it's just that certain lack of qualities that drove me away still remain. Besides, WoW doesn't need the hype. Unless people prefer to eat one kind of food for the rest of their lives, MMO sites like this one does a good job presenting the outsiders of the market. Even if they are not on par with the giants. Even if they have major issues. Diversity is a necessity of the human nature. Having said that, I find myself enjoying Team Fortress 2 more than any MMO these day. Weird times, at least for me.
ROFL, I had exactly the same idea about Vicksburg being Zorndorf. His writing style and fanboism is unique. His daddy probably works for blizz and he is afraid he gonna loose his job if wow's subscription numbers drop
Well, Age of Conan had 1.000.000 Beta demands (at least IF FUNCOM was telling the thruth back then). Warhammer has 750.000 Beta demands. After a mere two months AoC is completely out of the top 30 from the PC charts on Amazon.com Again Amazon.com... The real Warhammer market shows in at place 200 something (while Wotlk is already in top 10). The ONLY difference is the preordering of the Collectors Edition of WAR, but that is of course with the chance of getting into Beta (which Wotlk doesn't need to offer). So those thinking WAR will make a splash... just look at the "normal" preordering edition of Warhammer (not in the Amazon PC top 200 for the moment) and the WotLK position.... and rising of course. No more comments with this: http://www.amazon.de/Computerspiele-Games/s/qid=1216886587/ref=sr_pg_1?ie=UTF8&rs=301129&bbn=301129&rh=n%3A300992%2Cn%3A301129&page=1 Even as we type...
Can we just skip things that are obvious:
1) Since WoW has 10 million accounts WotLK will sell between 5 and 10 million boxes in a very short time. That will be more than any other game in the same period. I do not think anyone argues that.
2) AoC failed due to lists and lists of obvious reasons. That has however nothing to do with WoW nor WAR. What the AoC launch did tell us however is how tired alot of players are with WoW - in fact, they are so tired they are willing to swim through pure manure for a few months before giving up and return to WoW (menure = AoC for those that wonder).
Just to make one thing clear: I think 5 of my 10 best gaming memories are from WoW including the number one spot. I am no hater of the game but the blind crap some people come up with start to annoy me - WoW is the Microsoft of MMOs in every dimension. So expect very little love and understanding
thats exactly the point and what sepearates people who like wow from stupid fanbois. They wish there wouldnt be any other decent game out there that would pose a threat to wow as a competitor. They dont realise that blizzard is a profit oriented company who will only put that much effort into their game needed to keep people playing it. A serious competition kicking blizzards ass would just improve wow. But fanbois dont get that lol.
ROFLMAO. Thank you sir, I needed to start the day off with a laugh and you provided the perfect foil. Yeah, that's what Blizzard needs, a good dose of motivation, because you know they are the biggest slackers.
Hmm, so you dont believe in competition as a driving force in getting better products? And Blizzard makes games cause they are a bunch of nice people who want to make gamers happy?
Well sorry for waking you up,but thats not the way things go in todays economies......dream on
If blizzard is slacking cant be judged neither from me nor from you, only blizzard knows if they could invest more ressources to produce better results....but I believe with the profits they have, they have some reserves to bring out some better results. At least with the expansion in my opinion they are slacking alot - it should have been out some months ago.
And if you think the only time a company decides to improve their product is when the competition forces them to, you are sadly mistaken. Once you are on top, you do everything you can to stay there, which means putting more distance between you and the competition, not letting them catch up. Blizzard is doing everything in there power to increase the distance between them and their nearest competitor, now and tomorrow. Because THAT is how you stay on top for 3+ years, not resting on your laurels.
One thing that has been overlooked is the distribution of character levels at the bottom of the page. It's nearly flat all the way to 70 and then a big spike at 70 which makes sense since you can't get any higher than this. But ignore 70 for a minute and look at all the other levels. It's nearly flat. There are no real peaks or valleys across the board. What does this mean? It means that the low level character activity which everyone claims is non existant is false. It's very much alive and kicking. Across the board from 10 to 69 you can easily find people online all the time. Edit: OK, either my estimating skills suck or their graph isn't that accurate, because I did a little more research and found the following numbers. 10-19 - 760,776 characters 20-29 - 648,810 characters 30-39 - 478,841 characters 40-49 - 417,385 characters 50-59 - 329,639 characters 60-69 - 624,914 characters Total - 3,260,365 characters 70 only - 2,604,449 characters So there's actually more active toons from level 10-69 then there are level 70 toons. That's pretty astonishing. And there's approximately 1/4 to 1/6 the number of characters in any one 10 level range as there are total level 70's. That's pretty impressive too. And even more surprising is that there are more in the 10-19 and 20-29 range than the 60-69 range. So much for the theory that BC killed all the pre-BC content.
imo thats a severe misconception here, judging from the numbers stated above that low lvl areas are alive or even kicking. Of course there are lots of low lvl chars existing, such as bank chars, mules, mail pickups in various cities, etc and of course the different classes everyone has tried up to certain lvl. Most of this chars are rotting in the Char screen or logged in a couple of minutes per week - they are surely not all active played toons. Ever tried to find a group for a low lvl dungeon ??? I remember what it was like 2.5 years ago when i leveled my first char - compared to that low level areas are indeed dead
Sorry, but these are not characters that are just sitting around collecting dust. These are characters that were being played at the time the mod ran, so they are ACTIVE characters. Now, I can't tell you what they are doing, they may indeed be just surfing the AH, but you can't assume that's what they are doing. And besides we have no way of knowing how many lvl 70's are just surfing the AH. No, these numbers tell a very different tale of toons below level 70 and even below level 60. They are very much IN USE!!!!
If Blizzard really wanted to set a new fire under the MMORPG's ass, they could revamp the graphics, actually UPDATE them to 2008's standards, but still give the option to either download the hi-res pack or continue with what they have.
I remember AC2 and EQ2 both had these options. You didn't have to play hi-res, just made the game that much more enjoyable for people who had the proper hardware.
I would actually be willing to try WoW out of the graphics matched the gameplay. It's 2008 people, not 1999. Lets get with the program.
If Blizzard really wanted to set a new fire under the MMORPG's ass, they could revamp the graphics, actually UPDATE them to 2008's standards, but still give the option to either download the hi-res pack or continue with what they have. I remember AC2 and EQ2 both had these options. You didn't have to play hi-res, just made the game that much more enjoyable for people who had the proper hardware. I would actually be willing to try WoW out of the graphics matched the gameplay. It's 2008 people, not 1999. Lets get with the program.
The character textures look fine and don't need an update. Same with the environments. There is a difference between a game having bad outdated graphics, and a game having an art style that you dislike.
If Blizzard really wanted to set a new fire under the MMORPG's ass, they could revamp the graphics, actually UPDATE them to 2008's standards, but still give the option to either download the hi-res pack or continue with what they have. I remember AC2 and EQ2 both had these options. You didn't have to play hi-res, just made the game that much more enjoyable for people who had the proper hardware. I would actually be willing to try WoW out of the graphics matched the gameplay. It's 2008 people, not 1999. Lets get with the program.
The character textures look fine and don't need an update. Same with the environments. There is a difference between a game having bad outdated graphics, and a game having an art style that you dislike.
I never once said I didn't like the graphics. Jeez.
I just said, that with the technology today (I have 4GB RAM, Nvidia 280, Quad-Core, etc) I would like to see a game (Other then Age of Conan, which I won't play) push the envelope, but at the same time have good gameplay.
I just think that Blizzard could perhaps make things a bit... better looking then blocky dwarves and silly gnomes with 4 hair colors...?
"IRVINE, Calif. -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that World of Warcraft®, its award-winning subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), will be released in Mexico, Chile, and Argentina on Friday, July 25. On that date, players in those countries will be able to purchase localized versions of the game and its expansion, The Burning Crusade®, as well as 60-day prepaid subscription cards, and begin playing on dedicated realms with the benefit of a Spanish-language customer-support team."
Expect another 2 or 3 million to be added on after tomorrow...
"The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand." - Lewis Thomas
"IRVINE, Calif. -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that World of Warcraft®, its award-winning subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), will be released in Mexico, Chile, and Argentina on Friday, July 25. On that date, players in those countries will be able to purchase localized versions of the game and its expansion, The Burning Crusade®, as well as 60-day prepaid subscription cards, and begin playing on dedicated realms with the benefit of a Spanish-language customer-support team."
Expect another 2 or 3 million to be added on after tomorrow...
So convert that... about 20,000 people. (Just kidding)
Comments
imo thats a severe misconception here, judging from the numbers stated above that low lvl areas are alive or even kicking. Of course there are lots of low lvl chars existing, such as bank chars, mules, mail pickups in various cities, etc and of course the different classes everyone has tried up to certain lvl. Most of this chars are rotting in the Char screen or logged in a couple of minutes per week - they are surely not all active played toons. Ever tried to find a group for a low lvl dungeon ??? I remember what it was like 2.5 years ago when i leveled my first char - compared to that low level areas are indeed dead
The new expansion will certainly bring some curious old players to resubscribe and see what's new. It will be interesting to see if this expansion will accomplish the same as the previous one. Generally this expansion has certain things in favour and others against it.
The fact that the game has some sort of competition after quite some time is something that helped improve the game. Certain things that were postponed since the launch of the game (some sort of serious world PvP for example), are implemented in some fashion in the new expansion. Also the new expansion does not seem to constitute a complete travesty of the lore (and consecutive of the world). The game seems to be going back to its roots and the Outland experiment is abandoned (the whole alien-spaceships world was more of an abomination than an addition to the otherwise very interesting World of Azeroth).
On the other hand however, they could repeat the weaknesses of the first expansion (the major weakness being the necessity to do certain things elevating the game to work status, like farming herbs or doing daylies). Also at this point the seem unwilling to modernise the game to today's standards, even as an option, like LOTRO for example. While the art style helps, the outdated engine detracts too much from the immersion, especially in this age and time, where the affordable monitor sizes have grown to the 20+ size. The character reset with each expansion doesn't help either.
I'm still hoping for a futuristic or wastelands MMO, from either Blizzard or anybody else.
The above of course are my opinion only.
I think a lot of people on the WAR boards would probably refer to me as "WoW fanboy" But I find it hard to imagine WoW growing even *more* even with the expansion, i think it will bring a lot of people back, lots of those will have quit in the months leading up to the expansion probably due to waiting for new stuff.
I'm not sure if the Russian localization will bring a major influx of players, I'm rather expecting the Russian players move to those servers from the ones where they are now on.
I guess an advertising campaign might pull in new russians, hard to tell.
Mostly I'm expecting people to come back rather than getting a new influx.
imo thats a severe misconception here, judging from the numbers stated above that low lvl areas are alive or even kicking. Of course there are lots of low lvl chars existing, such as bank chars, mules, mail pickups in various cities, etc and of course the different classes everyone has tried up to certain lvl. Most of this chars are rotting in the Char screen or logged in a couple of minutes per week - they are surely not all active played toons. Ever tried to find a group for a low lvl dungeon ??? I remember what it was like 2.5 years ago when i leveled my first char - compared to that low level areas are indeed dead
WRONG (again). Complete BULL shit I'd even say.
Those are ACTIVELY played characters or they are not even in this man's Stats (for what they are worth even). 15 days to be precise.
As a matter of fact: try leveling a new character on a medium to full server (which is recommended every 6 weeks for a few days).
I had MUCH more players in these leveling zones than 2 years ago. Competing in SV or Tanaris to first get the mobs and little bosses
)) It was even annoying at prime time.
I have done about EVERY dungeon up to Sunken Temple with my new character( up to lvl54 now) and did it in prime time without ever having to wait for more than 15 to 20 minutes.
I guess the raids and hard dungeons on lvl 60 don't seem to have people (only for specific quests), but all up to BRD are full of questers.
And it is normal of course because Wow is bigger than one year or two years ago. As there were hardly more servers added since TBC. (one to be precise and that was 1 month ago !).
As for new players: just look at the sales; Wow outsells NOW every MMORPG market by a wide range so stop telling "invented" stories.
It is Number one on Xfire for 1070 consecutive weeks, so NO other PC player (free !) is being played more than Wow and ALL stats prove this.
In center Europe WOW takes position 2, 3, 6 and 7 on the general top sales on Amazon.com.
Talking of new players ....no problem at all.
[quote][i]Originally posted by Pappy13[/i] [b]One thing that has been overlooked is the distribution of character levels at the bottom of the page. It's nearly flat all the way to 70 and then a big spike at 70 which makes sense since you can't get any higher than this. But ignore 70 for a minute and look at all the other levels. It's nearly flat. There are no real peaks or valleys across the board. What does this mean? It means that the low level character activity which everyone claims is non existant is false. It's very much alive and kicking. Across the board from 10 to 69 you can easily find people online all the time. Edit: OK, either my estimating skills suck or their graph isn't that accurate, because I did a little more research and found the following numbers. 10-19 - 760,776 characters 20-29 - 648,810 characters 30-39 - 478,841 characters 40-49 - 417,385 characters 50-59 - 329,639 characters 60-69 - 624,914 characters Total - 3,260,365 characters 70 only - 2,604,449 characters So there's actually more active toons from level 10-69 then there are level 70 toons. That's pretty astonishing. And there's approximately 1/4 to 1/6 the number of characters in any one 10 level range as there are total level 70's. That's pretty impressive too. And even more surprising is that there are more in the 10-19 and 20-29 range than the 60-69 range. So much for the theory that BC killed all the pre-BC content.[/b][/quote]
How is that surprising? Players in their 60s are motivated top get to 70 asap. There are lots of twinks and would be-twinks in their teens and 20s who just want to show off and don't give a damn about leveling.
They are working on the graphics. Shadow enabled characters and higher pixels are already in the WotLK Beta.
Also I don't know what you mean about "today's standards". LOTRO is hardly ANY innovative as an MMORPG, unless you are talking of the views which are excellent.
But LOTRO has a very handicapped movement system which apllies to all MMORPG's btw . Warhammer is even worse in this respect. WAR could fail by its slow and quirlky PvP fights.
So gameplay and fast animated fights prime always "pixels". ----> see Conan.
It's one of the many "secrets" why Wow stays on top. More so than any other quest or end game: it is the animation in the fights which is miles above the rest in MMO land.
I don't really understand why other MMORPG's makers are so "stiff" in this department.
I had so high hopes for Warhammer, ... until I saw those fights. really bad. I don't care what the fanboys say. Warhammer has bad animations (and I don't mean pixels).
My (subjective) definition of today's computer standards is based on how much computer power a player can derive from an average PC bought today and how much a game utilises that power. For example, I would expect as a minimum that the game would be updated so as to utilise at least some of the directX10 capabilities (optional setup of course). That is why I mentioned LOTRO, the engine in that game without the minimum directX10 addition is but a small step ahead of WoW. However, implementing the limited directX 10 instructions turns the world into something extremely beautiful and detailed.
I find it inexcusable for a company that has 10 times the profit of it's closer competitor to not implement improvements and additions into the game, unless threatened by direct competition. For that part alone I'm a bit sad that AoC was not as well received as it could have been. Then we might have seen Blizzard putting some extra effort into improving the game further.
thats exactly the point and what sepearates people who like wow from stupid fanbois. They wish there wouldnt be any other decent game out there that would pose a threat to wow as a competitor. They dont realise that blizzard is a profit oriented company who will only put that much effort into their game needed to keep people playing it. A serious competition kicking blizzards ass would just improve wow. But fanbois dont get that lol.
ROFLMAO. Thank you sir, I needed to start the day off with a laugh and you provided the perfect foil. Yeah, that's what Blizzard needs, a good dose of motivation, because you know they are the biggest slackers.
Vicksburg - We seem to be on collision course alot, so also today
The only graphical update in WotLK is the dynamic shadows. There is no poly count upgrade according to the latest interviews. Maybe this has changed, but that is the last information I have seen.
I believe the Chapter quests to be highly innovative in LOTRO, critical craft results and the entire world around that as well. Those are two areas that WoW could have picked up quite easily but have not.
Since I know you have not played WAR (you have written that yourself in other places on this Board), I would be more careful if I were you placing judgement on the product. Right now it looks very promising, this does not mean Mythic will pull it off, but if I were to bet WAR will be a better alternative for those interested in PvP, equal alternative for casual player just wanting to fool around and worse alternative for the PvE interested (raiding etc).
ROFLMAO. Thank you sir, I needed to start the day off with a laugh and you provided the perfect foil. Yeah, that's what Blizzard needs, a good dose of motivation, because you know they are the biggest slackers.
Hmm, so you dont believe in competition as a driving force in getting better products? And Blizzard makes games cause they are a bunch of nice people who want to make gamers happy?
Well sorry for waking you up,but thats not the way things go in todays economies......dream on
If blizzard is slacking cant be judged neither from me nor from you, only blizzard knows if they could invest more ressources to produce better results....but I believe with the profits they have, they have some reserves to bring out some better results. At least with the expansion in my opinion they are slacking alot - it should have been out some months ago.
yup!
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CASUAL CONFESSIONS - Draccan's blog
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If the new WoW expansion will come out before WAR... Blizz gets more people and after they get bored of the new content they might be going for WAR/Aion. (a part of them not all of course).
If WAR gets out before the new WoW expansion it could gather up some good numbers.
Personally Im looking forward to Aion mainly and I might try WAR depending when its out.
If WAR isnt out before WoW expansion I'll go with the crowd and buy the new WOW expansion to check at least. who knows I might get hooked again?! at least until Aion.
WAR really has to launch before WoW expansion to get bigger numbers. If they dont see that, their marketing fails big time and it will affect the game pretty much.
Well,
Age of Conan had 1.000.000 Beta demands (at least IF FUNCOM was telling the thruth back then).
Warhammer has 750.000 Beta demands.
After a mere two months AoC is completely out of the top 30 from the PC charts on Amazon.com
Again Amazon.com...
The real Warhammer market shows in at place 200 something (while Wotlk is already in top 10).
The ONLY difference is the preordering of the Collectors Edition of WAR, but that is of course with the chance of getting into Beta (which Wotlk doesn't need to offer).
So those thinking WAR will make a splash... just look at the "normal" preordering edition of Warhammer (not in the Amazon PC top 200 for the moment) and the WotLK position.... and rising of course.
No more comments with this:
http://www.amazon.de/Computerspiele-Games/s/qid=1216886587/ref=sr_pg_1?ie=UTF8&rs=301129&bbn=301129&rh=n%3A300992%2Cn%3A301129&page=1
Even as we type...
I could swear that the OP is Zorndorf ... a blind WoW zealot. But just in case he's not ...
Why WoW bringing more players with the new expansion is news, or worth mentioning? The game has a very high retention rate, it's more than normal than a big portion of the players that have at some point left might give the expansion a try. It happened with the previous one and it's more than likely that it will happen again. Even I'm a bit curious, it's just that certain lack of qualities that drove me away still remain.
Besides, WoW doesn't need the hype. Unless people prefer to eat one kind of food for the rest of their lives, MMO sites like this one does a good job presenting the outsiders of the market. Even if they are not on par with the giants. Even if they have major issues. Diversity is a necessity of the human nature.
Having said that, I find myself enjoying Team Fortress 2 more than any MMO these day. Weird times, at least for me.
I haven't read the thread, so it's probably been said before.
It's probably a combination of WotLK advertising (beta server up, all the gaming sites talking about the talent, gameplay mechanic changes, new class, new instances, etc.) and the fact that people are disenfranchised with AoC (and so are returning to WoW). Those are pretty much my reasons for resubbing to WoW, really ... those paladin changes look very, very juicy.
ROFL, I had exactly the same idea about Vicksburg being Zorndorf. His writing style and fanboism is unique. His daddy probably works for blizz and he is afraid he gonna loose his job if wow's subscription numbers drop
Can we just skip things that are obvious:
1) Since WoW has 10 million accounts WotLK will sell between 5 and 10 million boxes in a very short time. That will be more than any other game in the same period. I do not think anyone argues that.
2) AoC failed due to lists and lists of obvious reasons. That has however nothing to do with WoW nor WAR. What the AoC launch did tell us however is how tired alot of players are with WoW - in fact, they are so tired they are willing to swim through pure manure for a few months before giving up and return to WoW (menure = AoC for those that wonder).
Just to make one thing clear: I think 5 of my 10 best gaming memories are from WoW including the number one spot. I am no hater of the game but the blind crap some people come up with start to annoy me - WoW is the Microsoft of MMOs in every dimension. So expect very little love and understanding
ROFLMAO. Thank you sir, I needed to start the day off with a laugh and you provided the perfect foil. Yeah, that's what Blizzard needs, a good dose of motivation, because you know they are the biggest slackers.
Hmm, so you dont believe in competition as a driving force in getting better products? And Blizzard makes games cause they are a bunch of nice people who want to make gamers happy?
Well sorry for waking you up,but thats not the way things go in todays economies......dream on
If blizzard is slacking cant be judged neither from me nor from you, only blizzard knows if they could invest more ressources to produce better results....but I believe with the profits they have, they have some reserves to bring out some better results. At least with the expansion in my opinion they are slacking alot - it should have been out some months ago.
And if you think the only time a company decides to improve their product is when the competition forces them to, you are sadly mistaken. Once you are on top, you do everything you can to stay there, which means putting more distance between you and the competition, not letting them catch up. Blizzard is doing everything in there power to increase the distance between them and their nearest competitor, now and tomorrow. Because THAT is how you stay on top for 3+ years, not resting on your laurels.
imo thats a severe misconception here, judging from the numbers stated above that low lvl areas are alive or even kicking. Of course there are lots of low lvl chars existing, such as bank chars, mules, mail pickups in various cities, etc and of course the different classes everyone has tried up to certain lvl. Most of this chars are rotting in the Char screen or logged in a couple of minutes per week - they are surely not all active played toons. Ever tried to find a group for a low lvl dungeon ??? I remember what it was like 2.5 years ago when i leveled my first char - compared to that low level areas are indeed dead
Sorry, but these are not characters that are just sitting around collecting dust. These are characters that were being played at the time the mod ran, so they are ACTIVE characters. Now, I can't tell you what they are doing, they may indeed be just surfing the AH, but you can't assume that's what they are doing. And besides we have no way of knowing how many lvl 70's are just surfing the AH. No, these numbers tell a very different tale of toons below level 70 and even below level 60. They are very much IN USE!!!!
If Blizzard really wanted to set a new fire under the MMORPG's ass, they could revamp the graphics, actually UPDATE them to 2008's standards, but still give the option to either download the hi-res pack or continue with what they have.
I remember AC2 and EQ2 both had these options. You didn't have to play hi-res, just made the game that much more enjoyable for people who had the proper hardware.
I would actually be willing to try WoW out of the graphics matched the gameplay. It's 2008 people, not 1999. Lets get with the program.
The character textures look fine and don't need an update. Same with the environments. There is a difference between a game having bad outdated graphics, and a game having an art style that you dislike.
The character textures look fine and don't need an update. Same with the environments. There is a difference between a game having bad outdated graphics, and a game having an art style that you dislike.
I never once said I didn't like the graphics. Jeez.
I just said, that with the technology today (I have 4GB RAM, Nvidia 280, Quad-Core, etc) I would like to see a game (Other then Age of Conan, which I won't play) push the envelope, but at the same time have good gameplay.
I just think that Blizzard could perhaps make things a bit... better looking then blocky dwarves and silly gnomes with 4 hair colors...?
"IRVINE, Calif. -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that World of Warcraft®, its award-winning subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), will be released in Mexico, Chile, and Argentina on Friday, July 25. On that date, players in those countries will be able to purchase localized versions of the game and its expansion, The Burning Crusade®, as well as 60-day prepaid subscription cards, and begin playing on dedicated realms with the benefit of a Spanish-language customer-support team."
Expect another 2 or 3 million to be added on after tomorrow...
"The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand."
- Lewis Thomas
So convert that... about 20,000 people. (Just kidding)