I believe that a lot of WoWs success was being the right game, in the right place at the right time. It's not qualitatively superior to every other MMORPG out there. There are others in the same ball park as to what they offer in game and world design. The reason WoW was able to grow so huge was peer pressure. It's not just "I play WoW because I like MMORPGs", it's "I play WoW because all of my friends do". Yes, I know this isn't the motivating factor for a lot of people, espescially the genre fans who seem to congregate here, but it was for millions of WoW players who didn't know what an MMORPG was before WoW. Of course, the downside is that at some point such a phenomenon becomes so popular that it's no longer "cool". Myspace gave way to Facebook, but so far no MMORPG has come along to become the next "MMORPG place to be". It could be that the entire mmorpg fad for a lot of those people will be tossed aside as old news and the genre will return to being the abode of gamers and geeks. Only time will tell.
Now you have to find a reason why all people's friends played wow in the first place. And why they kept playing it after and not another one.
I already covered that. Right game, right place, right time.
By the end of the first year, the game was pretty saturated with existing MMORPG fans. Past the million mark, you start to attract a lot of new blood. This isn't people suddenly deciding they want to play MMORPGs and randomly choosing WoW. This is word of mouth and the snowball rolling down hill fueled by peer pressure, rather than gravity.
Notice I haven't said anything negative about the game, so if your interpreting my comments as a disparagement on Blizzard or WoW, you're way too sensitive to even the perception of criticism of the title.
The same way Facebook became uncool once it became too popular, I feel the same pressures are coming to play on WoW. Once peer pressure loses cohesion for the title, the numbers of subscribers will drop significantly. I have the impression that they are already in the phase where late adopters are filling in the ranks and the leading edge have largely moved on.
The question for the industry is what happens to all those first time MMORPG players that were drawn in by WoW? Will they settle into some new title down the road, diffuse among many titles or will the concept of playing an MMORPG be part of what becomes passé in their perception?
I'm not predicting absolutes. It won't be either, or. So, I guess the better question is what percentage of those who were fresh to MMORPGs with WoW will go down each path.
I believe that a lot of WoWs success was being the right game, in the right place at the right time. It's not qualitatively superior to every other MMORPG out there. There are others in the same ball park as to what they offer in game and world design. The reason WoW was able to grow so huge was peer pressure. It's not just "I play WoW because I like MMORPGs", it's "I play WoW because all of my friends do". Yes, I know this isn't the motivating factor for a lot of people, espescially the genre fans who seem to congregate here, but it was for millions of WoW players who didn't know what an MMORPG was before WoW. Of course, the downside is that at some point such a phenomenon becomes so popular that it's no longer "cool". Myspace gave way to Facebook, but so far no MMORPG has come along to become the next "MMORPG place to be". It could be that the entire mmorpg fad for a lot of those people will be tossed aside as old news and the genre will return to being the abode of gamers and geeks. Only time will tell.
Now you have to find a reason why all people's friends played wow in the first place. And why they kept playing it after and not another one.
I already covered that. Right game, right place, right time.
By the end of the first year, the game was pretty saturated with existing MMORPG fans. Past the million mark, you start to attract a lot of new blood. This isn't people suddenly deciding they want to play MMORPGs and randomly choosing WoW. This is word of mouth and the snowball rolling down hill fueled by peer pressure, rather than gravity.
Notice I haven't said anything negative about the game, so if your interpreting my comments as a disparagement on Blizzard or WoW, you're way too sensitive to even the perception of criticism of the title.
The same way Facebook became uncool once it became too popular, I feel the same pressures are coming to play on WoW. Once peer pressure loses cohesion for the title, the numbers of subscribers will drop significantly. I have the impression that they are already in the phase where late adopters are filling in the ranks and the leading edge have largely moved on.
The question for the industry is what happens to all those first time MMORPG players that were drawn in by WoW? Will they settle into some new title down the road, diffuse among many titles or will the concept of playing an MMORPG be part of what becomes passé in their perception?
I'm not predicting absolutes. It won't be either, or. So, I guess the better question is what percentage of those who were fresh to MMORPGs with WoW will go down each path.
Your using the term "peer pressure" that is a negative phrase.. its suggests people only played becuase they were told or forced to. They were somehow forced to go out, buy a box, install it and pay $15/month for the last 4 years.
Think teenagers, forcing others to smoke or drink or they will beat them up.
When I started playing WoW I mentioned it to a few friends, suggested they try it as I thought it a good game, and so they did.. I in no way pressured them "play this or ill break ya legs" , on my recommendation and others they bought and played it for a time and left a when they had enough.
I was scrolling through this thread and the last post caught my attention. Peer pressure is not automatically evil or terrible. Peer pressure can go either way. Just as you mentioned peers pressuring someone to do drugs or drink...peers may also influence others to NOT drink or do drugs. So, in the gaming community..it usually has to do with friends using their friendship to influence others to play the game they are playing so that they may all adventure and game together. Sometimes a few people may become stubborn and not wish to switch games, at which time those peers begin pressuring them harder to get them to join their game or switch factions ^_-
5 million is still major bank for Blizzard, although not nearly as much as it has been for the past 5+ years, obviously.
You really should read the article and exercise reading comprehension.
Chinese subs, which are most of WoW's subs, barely make any money for the company, if any. Blizzard should have never went that route for their silly "11 million players" claims, as anyone who digs in their 10k report realizes that most of those players mean nothing. Chinese gameroom players who log in maybe a few times a month mean nothing.
WoW makes money in USA & EU. Less than half of WoW's subs are in US and EU. Going into China provided them with nothing but headaches.
Financially, this means little short-term. Marketing wise is where Blizzard takes a hit. Long term this may look very bad and cause more players to jump ship.
OMG they are down to 5 mill subs. WOW is doomed. They will soon announce news ragrding servers shutting down. Who would have thought this day would come.
To give everybody some indication as to what happened with CH-WoW you can probably find the letter that the original distributor online somewhere. It basically said how they had still not received Wrath and the new company would hopefully have it sometime in the next six months. And in the transition from company A to company B ( I don't remember the names) character progress would be lost. So basically this is what the Chinese players had to deal with - No Wrath even six months after it's release, the loss of ALL of their characters after the company switch and they probably wouldn't be getting Wrath for another six months. Aion came out around December in Korea and then in China like a month later. So all these Chinese mmo gamers had a brand new, very fun MMO or an older MMO that apparantly doesn't care about them. I know what just about any gamer would do in this situation. Especially if you consider that in China they don't pay retail box prices or the same subscription fees that we do. They buy time, which works out if you play something like 10 hours every single day you end up paying ~15 dollars a month. If you play less than that then you end up paying less, sometimes a lot less since the time you buy doesn't expire. We really do kinda get shafted over here in the west on this stuff. There are restrictions on their play time and what not though. So it's a bit of give and take. The majority of money Blizzard pulls in on WoW is from the west, as is common knowledge. Aion will take a bite or two out of that, but WoW will still remain strong for at least another year or two. Other games will be coming out over that time that will take more and more bites. WoW won't "die", but it will cease to be the giant that it is. Blizzard knows this and probably has known it for a long time. This is evident by a Blizzard rep. saying that WoW may eventually become f2p. They're planning ahead.
Originally posted by Lord_Ixigan There are restrictions on their play time and what not though. So it's a bit of give and take.
Only if you are under 18 years of age. If you have an Adult ID (basically a Social) then you have no restrictions on your play time. These IDs are very easy to get, I had one when I was playing AION, and I've never set foot in China (and never will).
As for WoW becoming F2P I doubt we'll see that anytime soon. WoW will continue to be a cash cow for at least another 3 or so years I bet.
Does this mean those of us who predicted a mass exodus of players get the I WIN button?
Nope because there is a difference between a mass exodus and players not being able to play due to technical/business related issues. Nobody knows how many will return and how many won't.
i won't. this game is a hollow shell of what it used to be. they dumbed it down to the point where it isn't even enjoyable to grind for gear anymore because they will make it obsolete in the next patch or expansion anyways.
1 million different people can point 1 million different flaws in Wow
wow fanbois just have 1 reply: "you just hate it because its popular"
5 years and they have been mentally incapable of coming up with something better
For 5 years they have been playing wow instead of looking for ways to defend the pointed out flaws by the people who do not play wow maybe they are mentally incapable of moving on. Face it you just hate it cause of its sucess
Five of those world of warcraft accounts were mine. I got sick and tired of Blizzard every patch. we nerf things, we change this because of whine, But All they can ever do is over power specs,classes, Charge 5000G Per avatar for a epic flying mount, and all this bull.
Take mages for example, They overpower both frost, and Arcane, and ruin my frost mage, Then they have the nerve to change 1000G for an aditional talent box, which is one of th reasons I quit wow for AION.
PVP Gear is realsed too often, I dont even have the time to get certain gear before new is realsed, based on regular playing hours, unless I pay for power leveling, or play 24 hours a day 7 days a week, then I can get the top stuff, But then next 6 months, they release new, and new, and never stop, So wow is totally unbalanced for pvp, pve wise I dont really care, but pvp waste of time.
Honestly I dont really care what others have to say about world of warcraft, because I am here I know what is going on, But all the nerfs being thrown around at peoples classes without Any chance to reroll their character to another class, It ruins world of warcraft for everyone, Before TBC came out mages were halfway balanced, But after TBC, and adding wrath to it, fire mages got the shit end of wow big times, no new spells really, or anything that could be of use.
Just consider the fact about world of warcraft, as a mage, frost, and arcane always casts way faster than fire, so your standing there for 4 seconds casting a pyroblast spell, and they always interupt you, + they have shields which absorb damage, In my opinion both frost and fire spells should cancel eachother if casted on eachother, and do zero damage to help balance this issue between them, but Frost mages just spam the hell out of you in pvp, and you have no chance at all, same with arcane now pretty much.
Wow has always been unbalanced since The Burning Crusade and has gotten worse over the years, When Blizzard finally Gives customers more what they want, and gives free stuff, free Dual sepcs away, Free Horses/ mounts like aion, then I will resubscribe possibly, but not untill then, And Yes I will have to see the nerfing, and gear release slow down before I will resubscribe to wow.
Let me preface this by saying a couple of things: 1) I play WoW and am loving it. I'm about to enter Outlands and experience expansion content for the first time. 2) I was going to post this on the WoW forums but I didn't want my account banned, even if this story turns out to be true.
I don't think it will really have an affect on players outside of china....
Then again I think WoW is slowly going anyway, hopefully they show off this new MMO at blizzcon, they will probably have most people switching over to it. WoW is getting old pretty fast compared to all of the games that are currently in development, only one way to go and thats down. :x
i think blizzard made a concious choice to make warcraft easier so it would appeal to very young children . the thing is it already did appeal to them but whats happening is because the game has become far too easy now its a policy thats starting to backfire as players think whats the point of investing time into such a dull game . i predict a large drop in subs in the next couple of years . aions really going to offer warcraft real competition for the first time theres no doubt in that . it may be asian but its not anymore of a grind than wow and it offers a lot more interesting pvp options . also starwars knights of the old republic has the potential of stealing yet more players from warcraft . there wont be a wowkiller as such just a string of decent games that ll attract players away from warcraft or at least from subscribing to warcraft on an regular basis . its not whether theres going to be a drop its how big that drop will be . i think it ll be in the region of 3-4 million by the end of 2010 maybe more .
I believe that WOW subscriptions have peaked. We see slow a decline in the next few years due to many reasons. This does not effect players at all, just Blizzard's profits.
Unless Blizzard decideds to bury WoW, which I strongly doubt, the game will be around for at least a decade more. It might go to a different subscription model at some point. Or become a part of some sort of multi-subscription scheme with Blizzard's other games.
"The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in."
WoW is at a point in it's shelf life that where the hype dies down. (Took Wow years for the hype to stop, which is rather impressive)
Basically from now on, there will be a stable source of players who play WoW just as any MMORPG have their own stable playrs that stay with any game that didn't die all together. However, I do not foresee the subscription number to drop significantly enough to make any sort of improtant impact. Blizzard will still have the subscription number required to make tons of money of this game. (Which is still an incredible amount considering how many people play WoW)
However, from the point of view of a gamer, people are starting to seek for something new. It is not a big change, it is just the starting point of a slow process that might take years to have any obvious effect.
Well his post is factual, with the exception of the 5 million number. WoW would only be down to 5 million subscribers if the Chinese servers never reopened.
Frankly, I always thought the "Yeah they have 11 million subs, but half of those are Gold Farmers!" jokes were just those: jokes. Any proof that at least half of WoW's subs come from China?
Try google searching it's just about on every site..Thats proof enough for anyone..Whats very funny about it is another MMO didn't bring WOW to their knees, it was Blizzard who brought themselves to their knees..That is some very funny stuff..Here is just 1 of many sites
Go make jokes somewhere else. Subscriptions down to 5 mil, yeah, right! Because bloggers are filled with certainty.
I'm just going to state that this is actually going on. Blizzard is being reviewed by the Chinese government to see if their game will be allowed to stay in the country.
Blizzard could be in a lot of trouble about this too... last I remember checking foreign companies in China always operate at a high risk that they can be kicked out fairly easily.
BUT... it seems that The9 is taking Blizzard to Court...
There is a ghost of worry about the popular game's upcoming reoperation on fears that the game, with millions of Chinese gamers, might be forced to be halted in the mainland, according to a certain rule by the General Administration of Press and Publication of China, which says that once a Chinese company charges a foreign company with a copyright lawsuit and the charge is heard in a court in China, the introduction approval about the latter's products could be ceased.
I believe that WOW subscriptions have peaked. We see slow a decline in the next few years due to many reasons. This does not effect players at all, just Blizzard's profits.
Blizzard did announce that they are still seeing growth across all regions
Comments
Now you have to find a reason why all people's friends played wow in the first place. And why they kept playing it after and not another one.
I already covered that. Right game, right place, right time.
By the end of the first year, the game was pretty saturated with existing MMORPG fans. Past the million mark, you start to attract a lot of new blood. This isn't people suddenly deciding they want to play MMORPGs and randomly choosing WoW. This is word of mouth and the snowball rolling down hill fueled by peer pressure, rather than gravity.
Notice I haven't said anything negative about the game, so if your interpreting my comments as a disparagement on Blizzard or WoW, you're way too sensitive to even the perception of criticism of the title.
The same way Facebook became uncool once it became too popular, I feel the same pressures are coming to play on WoW. Once peer pressure loses cohesion for the title, the numbers of subscribers will drop significantly. I have the impression that they are already in the phase where late adopters are filling in the ranks and the leading edge have largely moved on.
The question for the industry is what happens to all those first time MMORPG players that were drawn in by WoW? Will they settle into some new title down the road, diffuse among many titles or will the concept of playing an MMORPG be part of what becomes passé in their perception?
I'm not predicting absolutes. It won't be either, or. So, I guess the better question is what percentage of those who were fresh to MMORPGs with WoW will go down each path.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
Now you have to find a reason why all people's friends played wow in the first place. And why they kept playing it after and not another one.
I already covered that. Right game, right place, right time.
By the end of the first year, the game was pretty saturated with existing MMORPG fans. Past the million mark, you start to attract a lot of new blood. This isn't people suddenly deciding they want to play MMORPGs and randomly choosing WoW. This is word of mouth and the snowball rolling down hill fueled by peer pressure, rather than gravity.
Notice I haven't said anything negative about the game, so if your interpreting my comments as a disparagement on Blizzard or WoW, you're way too sensitive to even the perception of criticism of the title.
The same way Facebook became uncool once it became too popular, I feel the same pressures are coming to play on WoW. Once peer pressure loses cohesion for the title, the numbers of subscribers will drop significantly. I have the impression that they are already in the phase where late adopters are filling in the ranks and the leading edge have largely moved on.
The question for the industry is what happens to all those first time MMORPG players that were drawn in by WoW? Will they settle into some new title down the road, diffuse among many titles or will the concept of playing an MMORPG be part of what becomes passé in their perception?
I'm not predicting absolutes. It won't be either, or. So, I guess the better question is what percentage of those who were fresh to MMORPGs with WoW will go down each path.
Your using the term "peer pressure" that is a negative phrase.. its suggests people only played becuase they were told or forced to. They were somehow forced to go out, buy a box, install it and pay $15/month for the last 4 years.
Think teenagers, forcing others to smoke or drink or they will beat them up.
When I started playing WoW I mentioned it to a few friends, suggested they try it as I thought it a good game, and so they did.. I in no way pressured them "play this or ill break ya legs" , on my recommendation and others they bought and played it for a time and left a when they had enough.
I was scrolling through this thread and the last post caught my attention. Peer pressure is not automatically evil or terrible. Peer pressure can go either way. Just as you mentioned peers pressuring someone to do drugs or drink...peers may also influence others to NOT drink or do drugs. So, in the gaming community..it usually has to do with friends using their friendship to influence others to play the game they are playing so that they may all adventure and game together. Sometimes a few people may become stubborn and not wish to switch games, at which time those peers begin pressuring them harder to get them to join their game or switch factions ^_-
Playing:FFXI
Played:WOW, FFXI
You really should read the article and exercise reading comprehension.
Chinese subs, which are most of WoW's subs, barely make any money for the company, if any. Blizzard should have never went that route for their silly "11 million players" claims, as anyone who digs in their 10k report realizes that most of those players mean nothing. Chinese gameroom players who log in maybe a few times a month mean nothing.
WoW makes money in USA & EU. Less than half of WoW's subs are in US and EU. Going into China provided them with nothing but headaches.
Financially, this means little short-term. Marketing wise is where Blizzard takes a hit. Long term this may look very bad and cause more players to jump ship.
Playing: EvE, Warhammer free unlimited trial, Allods Online
Played: Anarchy Online, WoW, Warhammer, AoC, Ryzom. Aion
Strongly Recommend: Ryzom, EvE, Allods Online
OMG they are down to 5 mill subs. WOW is doomed. They will soon announce news ragrding servers shutting down. Who would have thought this day would come.
this thread greatly exceeded my expectations.
Interesting read!
Only if you are under 18 years of age. If you have an Adult ID (basically a Social) then you have no restrictions on your play time. These IDs are very easy to get, I had one when I was playing AION, and I've never set foot in China (and never will).
As for WoW becoming F2P I doubt we'll see that anytime soon. WoW will continue to be a cash cow for at least another 3 or so years I bet.
Alltern8 Blog | Star Wars Space Combat and The Old Republic | Cryptic Studios - A Pre Post-Mortem | Klingon Preview, STO's Monster Play
Does this mean those of us who predicted a mass exodus of players get the I WIN button?
Nope because there is a difference between a mass exodus and players not being able to play due to technical/business related issues. Nobody knows how many will return and how many won't.
i won't. this game is a hollow shell of what it used to be. they dumbed it down to the point where it isn't even enjoyable to grind for gear anymore because they will make it obsolete in the next patch or expansion anyways.
For 5 years they have been playing wow instead of looking for ways to defend the pointed out flaws by the people who do not play wow maybe they are mentally incapable of moving on. Face it you just hate it cause of its sucess
Another thing to be disappointed about if you live in China.
Five of those world of warcraft accounts were mine. I got sick and tired of Blizzard every patch. we nerf things, we change this because of whine, But All they can ever do is over power specs,classes, Charge 5000G Per avatar for a epic flying mount, and all this bull.
Take mages for example, They overpower both frost, and Arcane, and ruin my frost mage, Then they have the nerve to change 1000G for an aditional talent box, which is one of th reasons I quit wow for AION.
PVP Gear is realsed too often, I dont even have the time to get certain gear before new is realsed, based on regular playing hours, unless I pay for power leveling, or play 24 hours a day 7 days a week, then I can get the top stuff, But then next 6 months, they release new, and new, and never stop, So wow is totally unbalanced for pvp, pve wise I dont really care, but pvp waste of time.
Honestly I dont really care what others have to say about world of warcraft, because I am here I know what is going on, But all the nerfs being thrown around at peoples classes without Any chance to reroll their character to another class, It ruins world of warcraft for everyone, Before TBC came out mages were halfway balanced, But after TBC, and adding wrath to it, fire mages got the shit end of wow big times, no new spells really, or anything that could be of use.
Just consider the fact about world of warcraft, as a mage, frost, and arcane always casts way faster than fire, so your standing there for 4 seconds casting a pyroblast spell, and they always interupt you, + they have shields which absorb damage, In my opinion both frost and fire spells should cancel eachother if casted on eachother, and do zero damage to help balance this issue between them, but Frost mages just spam the hell out of you in pvp, and you have no chance at all, same with arcane now pretty much.
Wow has always been unbalanced since The Burning Crusade and has gotten worse over the years, When Blizzard finally Gives customers more what they want, and gives free stuff, free Dual sepcs away, Free Horses/ mounts like aion, then I will resubscribe possibly, but not untill then, And Yes I will have to see the nerfing, and gear release slow down before I will resubscribe to wow.
I don't think it will really have an affect on players outside of china....
Then again I think WoW is slowly going anyway, hopefully they show off this new MMO at blizzcon, they will probably have most people switching over to it. WoW is getting old pretty fast compared to all of the games that are currently in development, only one way to go and thats down. :x
i think blizzard made a concious choice to make warcraft easier so it would appeal to very young children . the thing is it already did appeal to them but whats happening is because the game has become far too easy now its a policy thats starting to backfire as players think whats the point of investing time into such a dull game . i predict a large drop in subs in the next couple of years . aions really going to offer warcraft real competition for the first time theres no doubt in that . it may be asian but its not anymore of a grind than wow and it offers a lot more interesting pvp options . also starwars knights of the old republic has the potential of stealing yet more players from warcraft . there wont be a wowkiller as such just a string of decent games that ll attract players away from warcraft or at least from subscribing to warcraft on an regular basis . its not whether theres going to be a drop its how big that drop will be . i think it ll be in the region of 3-4 million by the end of 2010 maybe more .
I believe that WOW subscriptions have peaked. We see slow a decline in the next few years due to many reasons. This does not effect players at all, just Blizzard's profits.
Unless Blizzard decideds to bury WoW, which I strongly doubt, the game will be around for at least a decade more. It might go to a different subscription model at some point. Or become a part of some sort of multi-subscription scheme with Blizzard's other games.
"The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in."
WoW is at a point in it's shelf life that where the hype dies down. (Took Wow years for the hype to stop, which is rather impressive)
Basically from now on, there will be a stable source of players who play WoW just as any MMORPG have their own stable playrs that stay with any game that didn't die all together. However, I do not foresee the subscription number to drop significantly enough to make any sort of improtant impact. Blizzard will still have the subscription number required to make tons of money of this game. (Which is still an incredible amount considering how many people play WoW)
However, from the point of view of a gamer, people are starting to seek for something new. It is not a big change, it is just the starting point of a slow process that might take years to have any obvious effect.
Go make jokes somewhere else. Subscriptions down to 5 mil, yeah, right! Because bloggers are filled with certainty.
Frankly, I always thought the "Yeah they have 11 million subs, but half of those are Gold Farmers!" jokes were just those: jokes. Any proof that at least half of WoW's subs come from China?
Try google searching it's just about on every site..Thats proof enough for anyone..Whats very funny about it is another MMO didn't bring WOW to their knees, it was Blizzard who brought themselves to their knees..That is some very funny stuff..Here is just 1 of many sites
http://tobolds.blogspot.com/2009/07/wow-subscriptions-down-to-5-million.html
A quote from my very good friend Jon Bon Jovi
"Shot down in a blaze of glory
Take me now but know the truth
`Cause I`m going down in a blaze of glory" hahahahahahhahahahahahhaaha
I'm just going to state that this is actually going on. Blizzard is being reviewed by the Chinese government to see if their game will be allowed to stay in the country.
Blizzard could be in a lot of trouble about this too... last I remember checking foreign companies in China always operate at a high risk that they can be kicked out fairly easily.
http://www.jlmpacificepoch.com/newsstories?id=143005_0_5_0_M
http://www.jlmpacificepoch.com/newsstories?id=P145864
BUT... it seems that The9 is taking Blizzard to Court...
There is a ghost of worry about the popular game's upcoming reoperation on fears that the game, with millions of Chinese gamers, might be forced to be halted in the mainland, according to a certain rule by the General Administration of Press and Publication of China, which says that once a Chinese company charges a foreign company with a copyright lawsuit and the charge is heard in a court in China, the introduction approval about the latter's products could be ceased.
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=94830267&source=Newsfeed
There are 3 different lawsuits going on last I heard, one of which was copyright.
Blizzard did announce that they are still seeing growth across all regions
Feb 2009 article
ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/44698/Blizzard-On-Sales-StarCraft-II-Beta-Quality-New-MMO
For the year, the game grew by over 1.8 million subscribers, which is approximately 18% beyond where it was in December of 2007.
This growth was proportional across all regions, keeping us at a 55-45 split between east and west.
EQ2 fan sites
There is other statistics that support the decline argument. Plus they did indeed lose lots of customers due to the China issue.
"The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in."
we all know about the crap china is trying to pull why are we still talking about this?