Human nature is amazing. The amount of people who just seething hate Blizzard and WoW and wish them to fail. And for what? Making one of the most successful games in history? It's like rooting on the executioner about to pull the lever for the electric chair to fry an innocent man. Just because they personally do not like the game? Then they go on infantile rants screaming about how it's a terrible game or just the half-witted one liners of "Worst game ever." etc bullshit. Note I didn't say it's one of the best games. It call comes down to personal opinion. I wish people would be more honest about that fact. These people claim all Blizzard wants is money. Really? Please say it isn't so! Show me a company who's sole purpose is the happiness and support of its customers without monetary return. Though honestly if all they wanted was money, WoW wouldn't be as big as it is today. It takes a lot of love for a product to do everything they've done for the entire franchise. Conventions, always working on trying to improve the game(Although not very successfully), decent customer support if you can actually pull your head out of your ass and realize that these guys are probably dealing with hundreds of thousands of players a day and that the line ends at the back. Welcome to the world of business, not entitlement.
You guys act as if this means the end of WoW? lol and yes cataylsm will burst the population... it changes everything this will attract people who stoped playing prebc/BC.... Yes the game has peaked but it took everquest 1 (which still is not tech dead) years ... about 3 years when the population started to decline... and it only had around 400subs we our talking Millions of acting subs to WoW it will be the top for atleast the next 5-6 years... and thats if blizzard doesent realse the next big thing in MMO... WoW is number 1 plain and simple... and isent this the same shit we heard right before the Wotk came out?
I think people stop joining is because of the 3 boxes they need to buy. Does the expansion if bought counts as everthing? If not this wont solve the issue of it stop growing.
Really? I got a friend that joined not to long ago and he just got BC and will be getting Wotlk very soon. That's not going to stop it.
Quitting WoW was easy for me to be honest, game bored the shit out of me, and yes ive returned to wow more than once for a couple of months , just to get bored and leave again, same repetive stuff over and over again, and way to easy to play now a days
Human nature is amazing. The amount of people who just seething hate Blizzard and WoW and wish them to fail. And for what? Making one of the most successful games in history? It's like rooting on the executioner about to pull the lever for the electric chair to fry an innocent man. Just because they personally do not like the game? Then they go on infantile rants screaming about how it's a terrible game or just the half-witted one liners of "Worst game ever." etc bullshit. Note I didn't say it's one of the best games. It call comes down to personal opinion. I wish people would be more honest about that fact. These people claim all Blizzard wants is money. Really? Please say it isn't so! Show me a company who's sole purpose is the happiness and support of its customers without monetary return. Though honestly if all they wanted was money, WoW wouldn't be as big as it is today. It takes a lot of love for a product to do everything they've done for the entire franchise. Conventions, always working on trying to improve the game(Although not very successfully), decent customer support if you can actually pull your head out of your ass and realize that these guys are probably dealing with hundreds of thousands of players a day and that the line ends at the back. Welcome to the world of business, not entitlement.
Population will only decline once Blizzard releases a new MMO. Their games do not die until sequels or replacements are released. Look at the Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft series for more information.
Blizzard decides when the game will go under and I highly doubt WoW will do so anytime soon. Also if WoW goes down, I have a very good feeling that other MMO's will too. Almost like the US recession causing havoc around the world...
I am fed up with these kinds of posts which are based on ZERO facts
The thread was made by the most reknown WOW hater figure on these pages at the momet Blizzard released its financial reports of the last Q of 2009 and the 11.5 million active subscribers.
The game made 329 million dollars in just the last 3 months of 2009 , that was on par with the last time Blizzard communicated on the first quarter of 2009 (314 million dollars for that 1st quarter). It is all there on the web, just search.
Please educate yourself on how to read financial statements before making such posts. It's publicly available information.
Also, it's ACTIVISION & Blizzard not just Blizzard's WoW that comprises the publicly traded company. And Activision is actually the bigger and more profitable component, although not by much.
Thanks Sukiyaki glad to see someone acting rationally.
Didn't know I'd ruffle the feathers of the WoW fanboys so badly. It's like they are almost offended by the notion that there is any other mmo out there that has subs in the millions. Not sure why, if the mmo market continues to grow can only lead to more mmos and (hopefully) improved existing mmos. Heck Guild Wars has an estimated 2 million players, but people tend to ignore/forget that since the game has no subscription. Just because Game A has X subs more than Game B doesn't mean that Game A is better or worse.
Acting rationally???
Being confronted with Blizzard's 1.2 billion dollars against NCsoft's 160 million dollars on a yearly basis of which only ... 43% comes from Aion it shows the "million players" of Aion aren't there. it is that simple.
gives a very good break and analysis on NC soft total income for 2009:
55% of the total NCSoft income comes from ... ONE country: Korea.
And that Suk guy is a genious in twisting simply figures.
for example the "slide" he shows with some 600 ... million is in KOREAN money.
The ratio of today between US dollars and KW = 1,0000 KRW = 0,0009 USD
Comparing the income of Aion to WOW is around 43% of 160 million dollars to 1.2 billion dollars on a yearly basis as seen in the 2009 fiscal reports.
That's 5.8% of the WOW market. No way Aion has multi million subs (as the total income simply is not there).
US dollars that is
Logical: since 55% of all NCSoft income comes from South Korea.
Compared to Blizzard ----> NCSoft is a rather small publisher in view of the finances and only 43% comes from Aion.
Everyone with a decent open mind knows that by viewing the sheet balances.
Dude you edit your text and underline shit just like Zorndorf!!! Holy crap you are Zorndorf!!!!!!
Where's the
))))) <--------- laughing faces you always make zorn.
I am not Zorndorf, where is that dude btw?
At least we have some thing in common.
Logical financial sense.
Dude its crazy similar, you guys type up your posts exactly the same.
Might as well start using his laughing face )))) and you would replace the guy if you arent him.
He probably got banned for 6 months for using alts.
I have to agree, if Camp's not Zorndorf' its his twin brother. Both have the same cult like fanaticism about WOW, similar belief that WOW somehow is a sandbox and the same caustic writing style.
Have to stay on topic, WOWs actually in a decline, even if they fail to acknowledge it. That will all be erased by the new expansion, at least for a few months.
Not sure if Cataclysm will boost WoW that much. Blizzard said their subs haven't gone up in 2 years, that was with Wrath coming out. If anything, one could argue that Wrath kept WoW's subs steady by keeping some players around who had been thinking of quitting.
Also, during the 2009 Blizzcon panel when they were announcing the changes in Cataclysm there were... less than positive responses from the audience. The same audience which is made up of the hardcore Blizzard fans. So if they weren't that happy, one can imagine how the average WoW player would of felt.
Blizzard needs to dust off their creative minds and get to work on new classes. So far, they just recycle existing classes over and over. Horde Paladins and Alliance Shamans in BC gave the illusion of a "new" class for BC. Wrath they added just 1 with the Death Knight. Next xpac nothing new class-wise, just recycle existing classes... again.
Originally posted by Hydroblunt Originally posted by camp11111
I am fed up with these kinds of posts which are based on ZERO facts
The thread was made by the most reknown WOW hater figure on these pages at the momet Blizzard released its financial reports of the last Q of 2009 and the 11.5 million active subscribers.
The game made 329 million dollars in just the last 3 months of 2009 , that was on par with the last time Blizzard communicated on the first quarter of 2009 (314 million dollars for that 1st quarter). It is all there on the web, just search.
Please educate yourself on how to read financial statements before making such posts. It's publicly available information.
Also, it's ACTIVISION & Blizzard not just Blizzard's WoW that comprises the publicly traded company. And Activision is actually the bigger and more profitable component, although not by much.
What?! Are you serious? That is completely false.
For 2009 Activision Blizzard made $113 million in profit from $4.28 billion in revenues. WoW by itself made $1.23 billion in revenue for 2009 and $1.02 billion in profit.
Activision is a money losing machine. Activision is only being kept afloeat by stealing money from Blizzard. If Blizzard could detach itself from the bloated corporate leeches that are Activsion and Vivendi Blizzard would be the most profitable video game company in the world.
So after 6 years it FINALLY stopped growing? And for the mindless haters this is something to dance about? I guess take whatever victory you can even thought it doesn't mean much. It's still done far better than any of the POS games that lost their sub numbers when World of Warcraft came out in 2004. When you cut thru all the B.S, that is really what the hate is about.
I wouldn't get carried away praising Blizz although they are due some kudos. WoW's continued success isn't only testament to their design but also the utter failure of their competition.
There's been several big names come along and fail in spectacular form which really should have rocked WoW if they had taken a slightly different path and had another 18 months in development. Case in point: Warhammer - disappointment of the decade for me.
Personally, I only put so much credence in subscription stats that aren't independently verified. I know from personal experience that EU WoW has slacked off since the heady years of 2005-2006. Is WoW still getting 11mill+ subs, well Blizzard says so so it must be right, right?
_________________________________________ You can walk the walk but can you talk the talk?
I wouldn't get carried away praising Blizz although they are due some kudos. WoW's continued success isn't only testament to their design but also the utter failure of their competition.
There's been several big names come along and fail in spectacular form which really should have rocked WoW if they had taken a slightly different path and had another 18 months in development. Case in point: Warhammer - disappointment of the decade for me.
Well said and something most people overlook. Wow is a solid game that addressed many problems in the genre when it released and that gave it the initial success.
However, other companies should have raised to the challenge and improved their products in response, but for some reason things have almost gotten worse. Vanguard, Conan, Warhammer, CO, STO for example. I'm not sure how many games have to sell 1 million+ copies only to crash and burn before developers clue into the fact that times have changes and sloppy games don't cut it anymore.
The only reason wow isn't half the size it is today with several other games breaking multi-million subscriber levels is that other developers are not doing their job.
At this rate, it will not just be wow that is declining, but the entire genre. If better games do not come out for people to migrate to they will just leave and that does no one any good.
So an Olympian that wins should not get the credit instead his competition not practicing enough should be credited?
Frankly the other games failing to develop should not detract from the fact that WoW did and seem to still offer what most of the gaming population of MMO'ers want. Whether you like WoW or not to deny that fact just makes you look petty. Just because I do not like the person that wins the race does not detract from their skill and ability to be first.
Where did I say they shouldn't get any credit? You're putting words into my mouth.
Of course success is relative to the standard of your competition, that's obvious, not just in gaming but in all aspects of commerce.
To achieve market dominance your product doesn't have to be nigh on perfect, it just has to be significantly better than the others. Look at Microsoft Windows if you want another example.
Respect where it's due but their continued success isn't just down to their own efforts - although a good proportion is for sure. There isn't any credible competition or haven't you looked? That's not petty that's fact. and undoubtedly it's had a positive impact on their subs. It's narrow-minded to assume otherwise.
and for the record I do like WoW, I've been subbing since 2005 and have 4 level 80's on the account and still going strong. That doesn't mean I can't be realistic about it.
Success once it gets to the proportions that WoW has achieved becomes almost self-sustaining. It has broken through the stratosphere and we'll probably never see its like gain. The brand strength on it's own acts as it's own viral marketing tool.
_________________________________________ You can walk the walk but can you talk the talk?
Interesting to hear it's still hovering around 11.5 million subscribers. I expected it to be doing a lot worse by now.
As for the bloggers question, I'm not sure what it'd take for me to come back. But off the top of my head:
1. Make the good raiding community casual oriented, so that good casual raiders can raid. I've yet to find a good casual raiding guild on Gilneas, that raided 3 hours or less per night, including the time it takes to form the raid. Most casual raid guilds are like the hardcore raid guilds, in that they want to complete the raid in one sitting, or at least put in 5 hours into a raid. But Blizzard can't make anyone do anything, so this'll never happen.
2. Release Cataclysm with a 30 day free subscription attached to it. This will too likely not happen.
Otherwise, the only way I'll return is if the buzz about Cataclysm is mostly positive once it releases AND I'm not preoccupied with any other MMORPG's.
Interesting to hear it's still hovering around 11.5 million subscribers. I expected it to be doing a lot worse by now.
As for the bloggers question, I'm not sure what it'd take for me to come back. But off the top of my head:
1. Make the good raiding community casual oriented, so that good casual raiders can raid. I've yet to find a good casual raiding guild on Gilneas, that raided 3 hours or less per night, including the time it takes to form the raid. Most casual raid guilds are like the hardcore raid guilds, in that they want to complete the raid in one sitting, or at least put in 5 hours into a raid. But Blizzard can't make anyone do anything, so this'll never happen.
2. Release Cataclysm with a 30 day free subscription attached to it. This will too likely not happen.
Otherwise, the only way I'll return is if the buzz about Cataclysm is mostly positive once it releases AND I'm not preoccupied with any other MMORPG's.
1) You could always form your own raid and set the schedule that fits your playstyle. Odds are pretty good that there are plenty of people like yourself with similar goals who would love to join you. It would be more work, but in the end the payoff is excellent.
2) In the past blizzard has given out 10 day free trials to former subscribers that include access to the newest expansion (even if you don't own it). I doubt that will happen on release day or for the first month or two after, but I would expect it sometime after that.
Interesting to hear it's still hovering around 11.5 million subscribers. I expected it to be doing a lot worse by now.
As for the bloggers question, I'm not sure what it'd take for me to come back. But off the top of my head:
1. Make the good raiding community casual oriented, so that good casual raiders can raid. I've yet to find a good casual raiding guild on Gilneas, that raided 3 hours or less per night, including the time it takes to form the raid. Most casual raid guilds are like the hardcore raid guilds, in that they want to complete the raid in one sitting, or at least put in 5 hours into a raid. But Blizzard can't make anyone do anything, so this'll never happen.
2. Release Cataclysm with a 30 day free subscription attached to it. This will too likely not happen.
Otherwise, the only way I'll return is if the buzz about Cataclysm is mostly positive once it releases AND I'm not preoccupied with any other MMORPG's.
1) You could always form your own raid and set the schedule that fits your playstyle. Odds are pretty good that there are plenty of people like yourself with similar goals who would love to join you. It would be more work, but in the end the payoff is excellent.
2) In the past blizzard has given out 10 day free trials to former subscribers that include access to the newest expansion (even if you don't own it). I doubt that will happen on release day or for the first month or two after, but I would expect it sometime after that.
1. Or I could just not play the game. Some of us do not have the desire or time to be a raid leader, so it's better to not play at all than to be a raid leader just to play the game. I'm not hard up on finding stuff to do.
2. A free 30 days would guarantee that I bought the expansion, but without that, it depends on whether or not I'm busy with any other game or something else in real life.
While WoW is still overally an incredibly successful game its safe to say Wrath of the Lich King has underperformed. Infact, WotLK borders on failure.
Not since WotLK was released, in late 2008, has WoW grown in EU/NA - the two most profitable regions. Outside China WoW has become incredibly stagnate.
By dumbing down WoW they've alienated a loyal and dedicated fanbase. The amount of old time players I know personally who have quit the game, or keep taking extended breaks, is massive. Thats just me.
Sure, Blizz fanbois can keep parroting about "casuals". But as we've seen from Guitar Hero catering to the "casual" market can be risky. Casuals by nature tend to be fickle and have no loyaltly and will play whatever the latest and "cool" game is.
A hardcore player who has been subbed to WoW from Nov 2004 to now is worth more than 3 casuals who played for 1 year then quit.
While WoW is still overally an incredibly successful game its safe to say Wrath of the Lich King has underperformed. Infact, WotLK borders on failure.
Not since WotLK was released, in late 2008, has WoW grown in EU/NA - the two most profitable regions. Outside China WoW has become incredibly stagnate.
By dumbing down WoW they've alienated a loyal and dedicated fanbase. The amount of old time players I know personally who have quit the game, or keep taking extended breaks, is massive. Thats just me.
Sure, Blizz fanbois can keep parroting about "casuals". But as we've seen from Guitar Hero catering to the "casual" market can be risky. Casuals by nature tend to be fickle and have no loyaltly and will play whatever the latest and "cool" game is.
A hardcore player who has been subbed to WoW from Nov 2004 to now is worth more than 3 casuals who played for 1 year then quit.
But wouldn't the opposite be true? Because of problems in China, the only way WoW could could keep this player base would be if NA and EU grew, along with other non Asia territories.
I think Blizzard has had it pretty easy the past few years with growth. They should start incorporating more social elements or they will get over run by the new breed of Facebook type micro-management micro-transaction social MMOs that are becoming popular.
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!
I think the reason WoW stopped growing is because there are really only so many people who even play in this genre (most of which came in with WoW being their first). People do get bored/tired of the same game no matter how much new stuff they will ad. All good things come to an end.
Now if you look at the playerbase of WoW sure its not really growing any more. But on the same note it really isnt shrinking by all that much either. WoW has hit its plateu for now. Thats all. Maybe Cat will infuse it with more players, but I think it will still stay at about the same number (not really gaining or losing).
Right now I think most of WoWs playerbase is looking for a change. In the meantime they will just hang with the game till something else nabs thier attention.
The biggest drop in WoW players might come when Blizzard launches thier new MMO (Diablo III and Star Craft II might lighten server loads a bit, but I dont think people will cancel thier WoW sub for those games).
There are 3 types of people in the world. 1.) Those who make things happen 2.) Those who watch things happen 3.) And those who wonder "What the %#*& just happened?!"
I wouldn't get carried away praising Blizz although they are due some kudos. WoW's continued success isn't only testament to their design but also the utter failure of their competition.
There's been several big names come along and fail in spectacular form which really should have rocked WoW if they had taken a slightly different path and had another 18 months in development. Case in point: Warhammer - disappointment of the decade for me.
Personally, I only put so much credence in subscription stats that aren't independently verified. I know from personal experience that EU WoW has slacked off since the heady years of 2005-2006. Is WoW still getting 11mill+ subs, well Blizzard says so so it must be right, right?
I don' think the competition had any utter failures. WoW's success came from some simple factors.
First, it had lower-end graphics allowing more people to be able to play it. A lot of other mmos out there go for higher quality graphics which shrink their potential customer base. EQ2 came out at the same time and SOE said (at that time) that no PC could play their game on max settings. That's what SOE was going for with their game, Blizzard went a different path.
Second, WoW came right off the heels of Warcraft 3. We had both Reign of Chaos (2002) and The Frozen Throne (2003) right after each other so to be able to jump right into the Warcraft universe was very appealing.
I don't think any one game will "kill" WoW, except maybe for WoW itself. More likely you'll have several mmos that will chip away at WoW's subscription numbers. Be interesting to see what effect (if any) The Old Republic has on WoW.
WOW is almost 6 years out and this is a thread about no growth in 2009.
Am I missing somthing here or is 10.000.000+ players not enough ?
Actually the number is 11.5 million and yes, you are missing the frustration of those people that hang on to games "much better than WOW" with under 50k paying players.
They are celebrating the fact Blizzard now "only gets" around 300 million dollars each quarter to develop games.
2 years ago, that was a mere 250 million and they are celebrating that on a ... mmorpg.com forum.
You miss a lot ...and welcome to mmorpg.com
Want a real mmorpg? Play WOW with experience turned off mode and be Pve_Pvp King at any level without a rat race.
GW2 will smash it up and send WoW to hell. Just look at all the features GW2 is going to have and the lore in guild wars is so fucking awesome..and did i mention the concept art,much of it is going to be in game.
GW2 will smash it up and send WoW to hell. Just look at all the features GW2 is going to have and the lore in guild wars is so fucking awesome..and did i mention the concept art,much of it is going to be in game.
... And you are basing this fact based on what ?
Tell you what: here is some proof:
In the last 5 years EVERY game was better than WOW before it launched.
54.764 pages of mmorpg forums to prove this. Adding another 100 every day. Tx for the contribution.
Want a real mmorpg? Play WOW with experience turned off mode and be Pve_Pvp King at any level without a rat race.
Comments
Now this is truth.
I think people stop joining is because of the 3 boxes they need to buy. Does the expansion if bought counts as everthing? If not this wont solve the issue of it stop growing.
Really? I got a friend that joined not to long ago and he just got BC and will be getting Wotlk very soon. That's not going to stop it.
Quitting WoW was easy for me to be honest, game bored the shit out of me, and yes ive returned to wow more than once for a couple of months , just to get bored and leave again, same repetive stuff over and over again, and way to easy to play now a days
List of SOE lies
Now this is truth.
It's not hate, it's called jealousy.
Population will only decline once Blizzard releases a new MMO. Their games do not die until sequels or replacements are released. Look at the Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft series for more information.
Blizzard decides when the game will go under and I highly doubt WoW will do so anytime soon. Also if WoW goes down, I have a very good feeling that other MMO's will too. Almost like the US recession causing havoc around the world...
Please educate yourself on how to read financial statements before making such posts. It's publicly available information.
Also, it's ACTIVISION & Blizzard not just Blizzard's WoW that comprises the publicly traded company. And Activision is actually the bigger and more profitable component, although not by much.
Playing: EvE, Warhammer free unlimited trial, Allods Online
Played: Anarchy Online, WoW, Warhammer, AoC, Ryzom. Aion
Strongly Recommend: Ryzom, EvE, Allods Online
Not sure if Cataclysm will boost WoW that much. Blizzard said their subs haven't gone up in 2 years, that was with Wrath coming out. If anything, one could argue that Wrath kept WoW's subs steady by keeping some players around who had been thinking of quitting.
Also, during the 2009 Blizzcon panel when they were announcing the changes in Cataclysm there were... less than positive responses from the audience. The same audience which is made up of the hardcore Blizzard fans. So if they weren't that happy, one can imagine how the average WoW player would of felt.
Blizzard needs to dust off their creative minds and get to work on new classes. So far, they just recycle existing classes over and over. Horde Paladins and Alliance Shamans in BC gave the illusion of a "new" class for BC. Wrath they added just 1 with the Death Knight. Next xpac nothing new class-wise, just recycle existing classes... again.
I am fed up with these kinds of posts which are based on ZERO facts
The thread was made by the most reknown WOW hater figure on these pages at the momet Blizzard released its financial reports of the last Q of 2009 and the 11.5 million active subscribers.
The game made 329 million dollars in just the last 3 months of 2009 , that was on par with the last time Blizzard communicated on the first quarter of 2009 (314 million dollars for that 1st quarter). It is all there on the web, just search.
Please educate yourself on how to read financial statements before making such posts. It's publicly available information.
Also, it's ACTIVISION & Blizzard not just Blizzard's WoW that comprises the publicly traded company. And Activision is actually the bigger and more profitable component, although not by much.
What?! Are you serious? That is completely false.
For 2009 Activision Blizzard made $113 million in profit from $4.28 billion in revenues.
WoW by itself made $1.23 billion in revenue for 2009 and $1.02 billion in profit.
Activision is a money losing machine. Activision is only being kept afloeat by stealing money from Blizzard. If Blizzard could detach itself from the bloated corporate leeches that are Activsion and Vivendi Blizzard would be the most profitable video game company in the world.
So after 6 years it FINALLY stopped growing? And for the mindless haters this is something to dance about? I guess take whatever victory you can even thought it doesn't mean much. It's still done far better than any of the POS games that lost their sub numbers when World of Warcraft came out in 2004. When you cut thru all the B.S, that is really what the hate is about.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
I wouldn't get carried away praising Blizz although they are due some kudos. WoW's continued success isn't only testament to their design but also the utter failure of their competition.
There's been several big names come along and fail in spectacular form which really should have rocked WoW if they had taken a slightly different path and had another 18 months in development. Case in point: Warhammer - disappointment of the decade for me.
Personally, I only put so much credence in subscription stats that aren't independently verified. I know from personal experience that EU WoW has slacked off since the heady years of 2005-2006. Is WoW still getting 11mill+ subs, well Blizzard says so so it must be right, right?
_________________________________________
You can walk the walk but can you talk the talk?
Well said and something most people overlook. Wow is a solid game that addressed many problems in the genre when it released and that gave it the initial success.
However, other companies should have raised to the challenge and improved their products in response, but for some reason things have almost gotten worse. Vanguard, Conan, Warhammer, CO, STO for example. I'm not sure how many games have to sell 1 million+ copies only to crash and burn before developers clue into the fact that times have changes and sloppy games don't cut it anymore.
The only reason wow isn't half the size it is today with several other games breaking multi-million subscriber levels is that other developers are not doing their job.
At this rate, it will not just be wow that is declining, but the entire genre. If better games do not come out for people to migrate to they will just leave and that does no one any good.
So an Olympian that wins should not get the credit instead his competition not practicing enough should be credited?
Frankly the other games failing to develop should not detract from the fact that WoW did and seem to still offer what most of the gaming population of MMO'ers want. Whether you like WoW or not to deny that fact just makes you look petty. Just because I do not like the person that wins the race does not detract from their skill and ability to be first.
Where did I say they shouldn't get any credit? You're putting words into my mouth.
Of course success is relative to the standard of your competition, that's obvious, not just in gaming but in all aspects of commerce.
To achieve market dominance your product doesn't have to be nigh on perfect, it just has to be significantly better than the others. Look at Microsoft Windows if you want another example.
Respect where it's due but their continued success isn't just down to their own efforts - although a good proportion is for sure. There isn't any credible competition or haven't you looked? That's not petty that's fact. and undoubtedly it's had a positive impact on their subs. It's narrow-minded to assume otherwise.
and for the record I do like WoW, I've been subbing since 2005 and have 4 level 80's on the account and still going strong. That doesn't mean I can't be realistic about it.
Success once it gets to the proportions that WoW has achieved becomes almost self-sustaining. It has broken through the stratosphere and we'll probably never see its like gain. The brand strength on it's own acts as it's own viral marketing tool.
_________________________________________
You can walk the walk but can you talk the talk?
Interesting to hear it's still hovering around 11.5 million subscribers. I expected it to be doing a lot worse by now.
As for the bloggers question, I'm not sure what it'd take for me to come back. But off the top of my head:
1. Make the good raiding community casual oriented, so that good casual raiders can raid. I've yet to find a good casual raiding guild on Gilneas, that raided 3 hours or less per night, including the time it takes to form the raid. Most casual raid guilds are like the hardcore raid guilds, in that they want to complete the raid in one sitting, or at least put in 5 hours into a raid. But Blizzard can't make anyone do anything, so this'll never happen.
2. Release Cataclysm with a 30 day free subscription attached to it. This will too likely not happen.
Otherwise, the only way I'll return is if the buzz about Cataclysm is mostly positive once it releases AND I'm not preoccupied with any other MMORPG's.
1) You could always form your own raid and set the schedule that fits your playstyle. Odds are pretty good that there are plenty of people like yourself with similar goals who would love to join you. It would be more work, but in the end the payoff is excellent.
2) In the past blizzard has given out 10 day free trials to former subscribers that include access to the newest expansion (even if you don't own it). I doubt that will happen on release day or for the first month or two after, but I would expect it sometime after that.
1. Or I could just not play the game. Some of us do not have the desire or time to be a raid leader, so it's better to not play at all than to be a raid leader just to play the game. I'm not hard up on finding stuff to do.
2. A free 30 days would guarantee that I bought the expansion, but without that, it depends on whether or not I'm busy with any other game or something else in real life.
While WoW is still overally an incredibly successful game its safe to say Wrath of the Lich King has underperformed. Infact, WotLK borders on failure.
Not since WotLK was released, in late 2008, has WoW grown in EU/NA - the two most profitable regions. Outside China WoW has become incredibly stagnate.
By dumbing down WoW they've alienated a loyal and dedicated fanbase. The amount of old time players I know personally who have quit the game, or keep taking extended breaks, is massive. Thats just me.
Sure, Blizz fanbois can keep parroting about "casuals". But as we've seen from Guitar Hero catering to the "casual" market can be risky. Casuals by nature tend to be fickle and have no loyaltly and will play whatever the latest and "cool" game is.
A hardcore player who has been subbed to WoW from Nov 2004 to now is worth more than 3 casuals who played for 1 year then quit.
But wouldn't the opposite be true? Because of problems in China, the only way WoW could could keep this player base would be if NA and EU grew, along with other non Asia territories.
I think Blizzard has had it pretty easy the past few years with growth. They should start incorporating more social elements or they will get over run by the new breed of Facebook type micro-management micro-transaction social MMOs that are becoming popular.
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!
Meh,
I think the reason WoW stopped growing is because there are really only so many people who even play in this genre (most of which came in with WoW being their first). People do get bored/tired of the same game no matter how much new stuff they will ad. All good things come to an end.
Now if you look at the playerbase of WoW sure its not really growing any more. But on the same note it really isnt shrinking by all that much either. WoW has hit its plateu for now. Thats all. Maybe Cat will infuse it with more players, but I think it will still stay at about the same number (not really gaining or losing).
Right now I think most of WoWs playerbase is looking for a change. In the meantime they will just hang with the game till something else nabs thier attention.
The biggest drop in WoW players might come when Blizzard launches thier new MMO (Diablo III and Star Craft II might lighten server loads a bit, but I dont think people will cancel thier WoW sub for those games).
There are 3 types of people in the world.
1.) Those who make things happen
2.) Those who watch things happen
3.) And those who wonder "What the %#*& just happened?!"
I don' think the competition had any utter failures. WoW's success came from some simple factors.
First, it had lower-end graphics allowing more people to be able to play it. A lot of other mmos out there go for higher quality graphics which shrink their potential customer base. EQ2 came out at the same time and SOE said (at that time) that no PC could play their game on max settings. That's what SOE was going for with their game, Blizzard went a different path.
Second, WoW came right off the heels of Warcraft 3. We had both Reign of Chaos (2002) and The Frozen Throne (2003) right after each other so to be able to jump right into the Warcraft universe was very appealing.
I don't think any one game will "kill" WoW, except maybe for WoW itself. More likely you'll have several mmos that will chip away at WoW's subscription numbers. Be interesting to see what effect (if any) The Old Republic has on WoW.
Actually the number is 11.5 million and yes, you are missing the frustration of those people that hang on to games "much better than WOW" with under 50k paying players.
They are celebrating the fact Blizzard now "only gets" around 300 million dollars each quarter to develop games.
2 years ago, that was a mere 250 million and they are celebrating that on a ... mmorpg.com forum.
You miss a lot ...and welcome to mmorpg.com
Want a real mmorpg? Play WOW with experience turned off mode and be Pve_Pvp King at any level without a rat race.
GW2 will smash it up and send WoW to hell. Just look at all the features GW2 is going to have and the lore in guild wars is so fucking awesome..and did i mention the concept art,much of it is going to be in game.
... And you are basing this fact based on what ?
Tell you what: here is some proof:
In the last 5 years EVERY game was better than WOW before it launched.
54.764 pages of mmorpg forums to prove this. Adding another 100 every day. Tx for the contribution.
Want a real mmorpg? Play WOW with experience turned off mode and be Pve_Pvp King at any level without a rat race.
Firstly, WoW has been out 5 years 4 months. So get your facts right.
Everquest only stopped growing shortly before WoW was released - 5 years after Everquest was released. http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart2.html
There is no reason why WoW should have stopped growing other than Wrath of the Lich King is a poor expansion.
For every newbie WoW picks up they're losing a veteran player in the process.