They won't make legacy servers because it would be like Managment admitting they made some big mistakes...and Managment doesn't make mistakes. The only way you'll see them is if they get new Management that wants to make the old managment look worse.
80k supporters so far @ $15 per month = $1,200,000 potential revenue, that is a lot of money to just dismiss per month.
I agree is alot money, but what would it cost them to set it up and keep it running. They still need to dig in the old code, they have and fix it up. Or people would have bad experience with all the exploiter that their found around the code. Maybe looking at 30 to 50+ million to get a Vanilla server from start and get it up running.
Then you have to factor in the cost of keeping it running. The cost of doing development for said server. Because we all have to face it an admit that even Vanilla WoW had its bugs, exploits and issues all of them would take developer time to fix. And then that brings us to the next point. How long could a stock Vanilla server stay stock before there has to be some type of content addition to keep people playing.
Cause what do you do once you have cleared all that Vanilla content + raid? What is going to keep a player playing at that point?
If they start adding content to it well now they have effectively split the WoW Dev Team in half or have to spin up another team to support said project. If they decide to do no new content + dev work on the Vanilla server it will just be a matter of time before people start leaving said server and thus all that time money and work put into getting it up and running + maintaining said server is for a cheap buck or two and nowhere near the amount they would get out of making a quick and dirty expansion for the real WoW game and seeing that for $30+
That does not even take into account refactoring your Customer Service to handle basicly two different games because as WoW grew and expanded the code base had some very major changes and shifts made to it.
Also we have to take into account stock WoW code could not handle a massive amount of players so your looking at several servers you will need to setup, run, maintaine and perform regular maintance on (WoW Vanilla needed weekly maintance of 4+ hours to archive the databases and backup / delete the logs, ect.)
Nost was had alot of custom code they created for themselfs to handle a massive amount of players. Blizzards servers never achived them numbers atleast not at the quality they considered acceptable. People that did play on Nost remember once the massive mass of people hit the server the character draw distance for players and npc's dropped to litterly feet in front of you. They eventully got it under control somewhat and that increased but it was never the mob draw distance wow had with the numbers Nos was sticking on the server.
In gaming in general I do not miss "old good times" because they were not at all so good. There were few games, now zillion of them. If for somebody "vanilla" mean forced grouping, no LFG, ... then for sure they have lost one subscriber.
What bothers me with Wow with WOD is lack of PVE content. Have spent 1/4 to 1/5th of time that I needed up to MOP, last great expansion.
80k supporters so far @ $15 per month = $1,200,000 potential revenue, that is a lot of money to just dismiss per month.
You are assuming those 80k would pay a sub ................they wont.............. matter a fact the only reason they are signing the petition is in hopes that they get there free Wow server back ...
80k supporters so far @ $15 per month = $1,200,000 potential revenue, that is a lot of money to just dismiss per month.
You are assuming those 80k would pay a sub ................they wont.............. matter a fact the only reason they are signing the petition is in hopes that they get there free Wow server back ...
How do they get a free wow server back? That is simply not going to happen without blizzard consent. If they really like the game that much, they will play on a an official server and pay the $15/month.
80k supporters so far @ $15 per month = $1,200,000 potential revenue, that is a lot of money to just dismiss per month.
You are assuming those 80k would pay a sub ................they wont.............. matter a fact the only reason they are signing the petition is in hopes that they get there free Wow server back ...
How do they get a free wow server back? That is simply not going to happen without blizzard consent. If they really like the game that much, they will play on a an official server and pay the $15/month.
Just pick a scenario for incoming discussions that those who play official vanilla server want to pay less, coz of less frequent updates and no new development involved in vanilla servers. This case would pop up for sure shortly after.
80k supporters so far @ $15 per month = $1,200,000 potential revenue, that is a lot of money to just dismiss per month.
You are assuming those 80k would pay a sub ................they wont.............. matter a fact the only reason they are signing the petition is in hopes that they get there free Wow server back ...
How do they get a free wow server back? That is simply not going to happen without blizzard consent. If they really like the game that much, they will play on a an official server and pay the $15/month.
Just pick a scenario for incoming discussions that those who play official vanilla server want to pay less, coz of less frequent updates and no new development involved in vanilla servers. This case would pop up for sure shortly after.
in EQ1 the Legacy / Progression servers have been running for many years and those players have been paying the standard Subscription fee like everyone else, without complaint!
Same for the EQ2 Legacy / Progression servers. Only accessible to subscribers and no complaints.
So, I am absolutely certain that People will come back and pay 14,99 a month for a WoW Legacy server! I sure as hell will, as I really miss leveling through the old zones with lots of people around and redo some of the old dungeons. Those were good times! I had the most fun in WoW back then, until TBC hit. After that it went downhill, due to everyone basically ending up in a New game, as the TBC zones were completely isolated from the old world and I really didn't like the TBC zones. Most of them were really boring, with terrible quest design.
80k supporters so far @ $15 per month = $1,200,000 potential revenue, that is a lot of money to just dismiss per month.
You are assuming those 80k would pay a sub ................they wont.............. matter a fact the only reason they are signing the petition is in hopes that they get there free Wow server back ...
How do they get a free wow server back? That is simply not going to happen without blizzard consent. If they really like the game that much, they will play on a an official server and pay the $15/month.
Just pick a scenario for incoming discussions that those who play official vanilla server want to pay less, coz of less frequent updates and no new development involved in vanilla servers. This case would pop up for sure shortly after.
in EQ1 the Legacy / Progression servers have been running for many years and those players have been paying the standard Subscription fee like everyone else, without complaint!
Same for the EQ2 Legacy / Progression servers. Only accessible to subscribers and no complaints.
So, I am absolutely certain that People will come back and pay 14,99 a month for a WoW Legacy server! I sure as hell will, as I really miss leveling through the old zones with lots of people around and redo some of the old dungeons. Those were good times! I had the most fun in WoW back then, until TBC hit. After that it went downhill, due to everyone basically ending up in a New game, as the TBC zones were completely isolated from the old world and I really didn't like the TBC zones. Most of them were really boring, with terrible quest design.
You haven't read my statement: "less frequent updates, no new development involved". As far as I know EQ1 still have expansions. Don't expect Vanilla WoW to have even one.
"The developers however prefer to see the game continuously evolve and progress, and as such we have no plans to open classic realms or limited expansion content realms."
(sotto voce) "And if we opened vanilla servers we would be out of a job".
I can guarantee you that shareholders would 100% approve of their actions.
Oh, no doubt. From a by-the-numbers perspective, their actions make sense. But there's a bigger picture here. Blizzard should be smarter than this, and at one time they were.
The "problem" is that they're not the mom-and-pop shop on the corner or the neighborhood kid with a lemonade stand. They are a multi-million dollar corporation that makes its decisions with metrics that lay out what will make them the most money. Apparently vanilla servers aren't on that golden list yet.
And that explains why the magic is "Gone baby Gone"
Have you played any Blizzard games recently?
The magic is all still there. It's just that the MMO genre has moved on from the days of Vanilla WoW.
WoW changed over the last decade because of player demand and cries for change.
They didn't add LFG and LFR because in some ominous investor meeting it was decreed, upon looking at their gold plated crystal ball, that putting LFG and LFR into WoW would make them more money...
They added LFG and LFR because players demanded and cried for better ways to play with other players, faster matchmaking, raid content they could enjoy without having to invest their life into a guild and DKP systems etc.
Then in the game director's statements to the board, they said "hey we are adding these features that players have been asking for for a long time. We think it's going to be really popular and cool."
At which the board replied... "Good... GOOOOOODDD...." in their best Emperor Palpatine impression as they stroked their evil white cats while sitting in their gold plated evil megamind chairs.
80k supporters so far @ $15 per month = $1,200,000 potential revenue, that is a lot of money to just dismiss per month.
You are assuming those 80k would pay a sub ................they wont.............. matter a fact the only reason they are signing the petition is in hopes that they get there free Wow server back ...
How do they get a free wow server back? That is simply not going to happen without blizzard consent. If they really like the game that much, they will play on a an official server and pay the $15/month.
Just pick a scenario for incoming discussions that those who play official vanilla server want to pay less, coz of less frequent updates and no new development involved in vanilla servers. This case would pop up for sure shortly after.
in EQ1 the Legacy / Progression servers have been running for many years and those players have been paying the standard Subscription fee like everyone else, without complaint!
Same for the EQ2 Legacy / Progression servers. Only accessible to subscribers and no complaints.
So, I am absolutely certain that People will come back and pay 14,99 a month for a WoW Legacy server! I sure as hell will, as I really miss leveling through the old zones with lots of people around and redo some of the old dungeons. Those were good times! I had the most fun in WoW back then, until TBC hit. After that it went downhill, due to everyone basically ending up in a New game, as the TBC zones were completely isolated from the old world and I really didn't like the TBC zones. Most of them were really boring, with terrible quest design.
You haven't read my statement: "less frequent updates, no new development involved". As far as I know EQ1 still have expansions. Don't expect Vanilla WoW to have even one.
There is no New Development for Progression servers either.
All that is happening there, is that existing (read old) expansions can be unlocked over a period of time through player voting. The playerbase decides when and if the next expasion in line gets unlocked or not.
It's not nostalgia, is because the warcraft vanilla is better than WoD trash...
Hyperbolic opinion. Around 5M people disagree with you, though you are obviously entitled to your thoughts on the issue.
And 6 Million during vanilla would agree with him and 11.5 million in TBC would also agree with him and both had growing populations not decreasing.
But what of the other 100M? Anyone can throw numbers around.(Vanilla peaked at 8M and BC at 11M btw). We simply don't know.
What - I suggest - is absolutely certain is that if Blizzard opened some "new old servers" then some of the people on the existing servers would move and, if it was a free for all, many would "move" simply to try it out - potentially creating carnage on the existing servers. (And discontent amongst those who couldn't create characters / get on.)
So what could be done?
My suggestion would be something like:
1. Announce that they would open "vailla servers" and/or a WotkL server etc. 2. Key word: subscribers would be able to enter a server based draw with rukes. 3. The server based draw would ensure that the impact on anyone server would be limited. 4. Open the new server for winners of the draw. 5. Further draws would take place as player numbers decllined. Players who unsubscribe; players who don't play a minimujm amount, players inactive for a set period of time being removed. Character data could obviously be stored and players could go back in the draw. 6. Blizzard open new servers if / as they deem appropriate.
I said it in that other thread and I'll say it again here. Blizz will never open their own classic/vanilla/legacy/oldschool servers because if they did they would end up selling less expansions for the core game. Maybe if they came up with a way to sell expansions for the legacy servers as well they might do it but that would drive the production costs sky high and would surely make the whole venture not worthwhile. So unless expansion production stops on the core game, forget about official legacy servers.
Are they not charging subs for the rollback server? I have no doubt blizzard can make money on a classic server if daybreak can. They would be bringing in the players that have totally given up on the current game for the most part. People act like this hasnt been done before. It has and with much smaller teams to a game comparable in size.
I really think ego is the main factor, unless this shutdown the first step in creating their own. Either way I don't really care. Vanilla WoW was pretty good but not much better than other linear quest hub themeparks out there.
It's not nostalgia, is because the warcraft vanilla is better than WoD trash...
Hyperbolic opinion. Around 5M people disagree with you, though you are obviously entitled to your thoughts on the issue.
And 6 Million during vanilla would agree with him and 11.5 million in TBC would also agree with him and both had growing populations not decreasing.
Still hyperbolic argument.
If you released Vanilla WoW servers, you would not get 6 million players. If you released TBC servers, you would not get 11.5 million players.
My thought is that WoW subs are in decline as a symptom of the larger issue of MMO malaise. The entire genre is struggling to find its place again and waiting for the "next evolution" that will propel it forward again. Given that, Blizzard as a corporate entity is unlikely to go backward to move forward.
I still maintain that Blizzard will bring classic realms online when they are finished with the live game and it all goes into maintenance mode. With more than a few stories being brought to a close in Legion, it feels like they're considering a gradual cessation of story. It wouldn't surprise me a bit to think they're angling for three or so expansions that tie it all up around the time of their 15th or 20th anniversary.
In gaming in general I do not miss "old good times" because they were not at all so good. There were few games, now zillion of them. If for somebody "vanilla" mean forced grouping, no LFG, ... then for sure they have lost one subscriber.
What bothers me with Wow with WOD is lack of PVE content. Have spent 1/4 to 1/5th of time that I needed up to MOP, last great expansion.
They've already lost around 6 million of them, What's one more?
I can guarantee you that shareholders would 100% approve of their actions.
Oh, no doubt. From a by-the-numbers perspective, their actions make sense. But there's a bigger picture here. Blizzard should be smarter than this, and at one time they were.
The "problem" is that they're not the mom-and-pop shop on the corner or the neighborhood kid with a lemonade stand. They are a multi-million dollar corporation that makes its decisions with metrics that lay out what will make them the most money. Apparently vanilla servers aren't on that golden list yet.
And that explains why the magic is "Gone baby Gone"
Have you played any Blizzard games recently?
The magic is all still there. It's just that the MMO genre has moved on from the days of Vanilla WoW.
WoW changed over the last decade because of player demand and cries for change.
They didn't add LFG and LFR because in some ominous investor meeting it was decreed, upon looking at their gold plated crystal ball, that putting LFG and LFR into WoW would make them more money...
They added LFG and LFR because players demanded and cried for better ways to play with other players, faster matchmaking, raid content they could enjoy without having to invest their life into a guild and DKP systems etc.
Then in the game director's statements to the board, they said "hey we are adding these features that players have been asking for for a long time. We think it's going to be really popular and cool."
At which the board replied... "Good... GOOOOOODDD...." in their best Emperor Palpatine impression as they stroked their evil white cats while sitting in their gold plated evil megamind chairs.
I'm addressing your LFR and LFR comments here. While I agree the old method of spamming trade chat for long periods of time for a group did kind of suck, and the addition of the grouping tools were successful to a degree. I think they could have did a little better job with it's implementation. No one asked for a cross server grouping tool, but Blizzard took the easy way out here instead of properly managing their server populations. If they balanced populations on each server by doing proper server mergers, a server restricted grouping tool would, in my opinion, work quite well while preserving some sense of community still.
I think most can agree the game's community kind of disintegrated after these cross server tools were implemented. I also don't understand people's disdain for guilds when playing an MMO? I see this come up quite a bit on the Wow forums when the anti LFR threads appear. I think people grossly exaggerate the effort it is in joining or finding a guild. Some of my most memorable memories over the years playing various MMOs have been meeting and playing with some great people that I met by joining various guilds.
I personally think guilds are very important to an MMOs health, and when you make tools that make easy to bypass joining a guild you really start to remove the entire point of playing MMO. I mean I see this argument a lot and I just don't understand why someone would want to pay $15 a month for an MMO to play what in essence has become a single player RPG. There are so many really good immersive single player RPGs out there, that deliver the story better and just have better overall game play than most MMOs. I personally think the egocentric, anti social gamers that have invaded the MMO scene are one of the real reasons we have some of the most anti social systems we have ever had implemented into MMOs.
In gaming in general I do not miss "old good times" because they were not at all so good. There were few games, now zillion of them. If for somebody "vanilla" mean forced grouping, no LFG, ... then for sure they have lost one subscriber.
What bothers me with Wow with WOD is lack of PVE content. Have spent 1/4 to 1/5th of time that I needed up to MOP, last great expansion.
They've already lost around 6 million of them, What's one more?
If you honestly think:
1) that only 6M subs have been lost over a dozen years; 2) that all 6M stormed off because they didn't like the development direction
...you're limiting your thinking. It's been 12 years -- many players who've played and moved on have moved on in their real lives as well. Children, jobs, lack of time, etc. all contribute to people leaving a title. I don't know the number, but my guess is that 100M people have played WoW over the course of its lifetime. People change, move on, find new things to do with their time including playing other MMOs in an ever more crowded market that 2016 represents.
Insinuating that all these former players left and would come running back for vanilla is naive. Peak population for WoW was in 2010 and the Cataclysm expansion when the game went into steep decline, not coincidentally about the time that the MMO market exploded with other MMOs and the F2P movement began.
It's not nostalgia, is because the warcraft vanilla is better than WoD trash...
Hyperbolic opinion. Around 5M people disagree with you, though you are obviously entitled to your thoughts on the issue.
And 6 Million during vanilla would agree with him and 11.5 million in TBC would also agree with him and both had growing populations not decreasing.
Still hyperbolic argument.
If you released Vanilla WoW servers, you would not get 6 million players. If you released TBC servers, you would not get 11.5 million players.
My thought is that WoW subs are in decline as a symptom of the larger issue of MMO malaise. The entire genre is struggling to find its place again and waiting for the "next evolution" that will propel it forward again. Given that, Blizzard as a corporate entity is unlikely to go backward to move forward.
I still maintain that Blizzard will bring classic realms online when they are finished with the live game and it all goes into maintenance mode. With more than a few stories being brought to a close in Legion, it feels like they're considering a gradual cessation of story. It wouldn't surprise me a bit to think they're angling for three or so expansions that tie it all up around the time of their 15th or 20th anniversary.
The reason why MMORPGs all together are having the problem is they continue to look at what can we do to get everyone into our game and make them all happy. That works for Farmville but not an MMORPG which by nature requires a lot more work to build than any other game. So to make an MMORPG work you need an in-depth game that will keep people having an active subscription to your game. Yes you can go the F2P route but hat is proving to only have short term gains at the expense of a long term game.
While you think blizzard would be going backward, I say its a good experiment to see if by a large having a Vanilla and TBC servers will prove to be a more stable subscription base than the live WOW version which can have +/- 5 Million subs. Which if you look at the overall picture of an MMORPG that hurts your ability to dedicate revenue for development and operational cost of an MMORPG.
Vanilla WOW and TBC WOW go back to a time where there was balance between MMORPG Time Sinks\Accessibility and appealing to a wider audience. WOW was the most casual MMO Up to that point. Only after TBC did WOW start having subscription problems and did people start moving away from WOW because WOTLK was the start of making the game too accessible that people no longer enjoyed the game. You can tell this by just watching subscriptions fluctuate in WOTLK and then drop during Cata.
We hear it time and time again why people dislike WOW. It keeps coming down to LFD/LFR and instances that are streamlined for people to run 15 of them in a week. Yes people have changed since Vanilla/TBC BUT if they changed so much that WOW needed to be exactly like it is today then why are fewer people playing it? I can tell you that I dont believe the way WOW is today is the right direction, if so why are people not sticking with the game OR with any game that copies exactly what WOW is doing?
I can guarantee you that shareholders would 100% approve of their actions.
Oh, no doubt. From a by-the-numbers perspective, their actions make sense. But there's a bigger picture here. Blizzard should be smarter than this, and at one time they were.
The "problem" is that they're not the mom-and-pop shop on the corner or the neighborhood kid with a lemonade stand. They are a multi-million dollar corporation that makes its decisions with metrics that lay out what will make them the most money. Apparently vanilla servers aren't on that golden list yet.
And that explains why the magic is "Gone baby Gone"
Have you played any Blizzard games recently?
The magic is all still there. It's just that the MMO genre has moved on from the days of Vanilla WoW.
WoW changed over the last decade because of player demand and cries for change.
They didn't add LFG and LFR because in some ominous investor meeting it was decreed, upon looking at their gold plated crystal ball, that putting LFG and LFR into WoW would make them more money...
They added LFG and LFR because players demanded and cried for better ways to play with other players, faster matchmaking, raid content they could enjoy without having to invest their life into a guild and DKP systems etc.
Then in the game director's statements to the board, they said "hey we are adding these features that players have been asking for for a long time. We think it's going to be really popular and cool."
At which the board replied... "Good... GOOOOOODDD...." in their best Emperor Palpatine impression as they stroked their evil white cats while sitting in their gold plated evil megamind chairs.
My comment isn't about things like LFG and LFR. It has more to do with things like Real Money Auction Houses, Cash shops in sub games, and next to zero added content for subs paid.
It's quite plain to see where the focus is. It's on the science of monetization.
Comments
Cause what do you do once you have cleared all that Vanilla content + raid? What is going to keep a player playing at that point?
If they start adding content to it well now they have effectively split the WoW Dev Team in half or have to spin up another team to support said project. If they decide to do no new content + dev work on the Vanilla server it will just be a matter of time before people start leaving said server and thus all that time money and work put into getting it up and running + maintaining said server is for a cheap buck or two and nowhere near the amount they would get out of making a quick and dirty expansion for the real WoW game and seeing that for $30+
That does not even take into account refactoring your Customer Service to handle basicly two different games because as WoW grew and expanded the code base had some very major changes and shifts made to it.
Also we have to take into account stock WoW code could not handle a massive amount of players so your looking at several servers you will need to setup, run, maintaine and perform regular maintance on (WoW Vanilla needed weekly maintance of 4+ hours to archive the databases and backup / delete the logs, ect.)
Nost was had alot of custom code they created for themselfs to handle a massive amount of players. Blizzards servers never achived them numbers atleast not at the quality they considered acceptable. People that did play on Nost remember once the massive mass of people hit the server the character draw distance for players and npc's dropped to litterly feet in front of you. They eventully got it under control somewhat and that increased but it was never the mob draw distance wow had with the numbers Nos was sticking on the server.
What bothers me with Wow with WOD is lack of PVE content. Have spent 1/4 to 1/5th of time that I needed up to MOP, last great expansion.
How do they get a free wow server back? That is simply not going to happen without blizzard consent. If they really like the game that much, they will play on a an official server and pay the $15/month.
in EQ1 the Legacy / Progression servers have been running for many years and those players have been paying the standard Subscription fee like everyone else, without complaint!
Same for the EQ2 Legacy / Progression servers. Only accessible to subscribers and no complaints.
So, I am absolutely certain that People will come back and pay 14,99 a month for a WoW Legacy server!
I sure as hell will, as I really miss leveling through the old zones with lots of people around and redo some of the old dungeons.
Those were good times! I had the most fun in WoW back then, until TBC hit. After that it went downhill, due to everyone basically ending up in a New game, as the TBC zones were completely isolated from the old world and I really didn't like the TBC zones. Most of them were really boring, with terrible quest design.
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/wiki/eq:expansions
The magic is all still there. It's just that the MMO genre has moved on from the days of Vanilla WoW.
WoW changed over the last decade because of player demand and cries for change.
They didn't add LFG and LFR because in some ominous investor meeting it was decreed, upon looking at their gold plated crystal ball, that putting LFG and LFR into WoW would make them more money...
They added LFG and LFR because players demanded and cried for better ways to play with other players, faster matchmaking, raid content they could enjoy without having to invest their life into a guild and DKP systems etc.
Then in the game director's statements to the board, they said "hey we are adding these features that players have been asking for for a long time. We think it's going to be really popular and cool."
At which the board replied... "Good... GOOOOOODDD...." in their best Emperor Palpatine impression as they stroked their evil white cats while sitting in their gold plated evil megamind chairs.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
All that is happening there, is that existing (read old) expansions can be unlocked over a period of time through player voting.
The playerbase decides when and if the next expasion in line gets unlocked or not.
If you released Vanilla WoW servers, you would not get 6 million players. If you released TBC servers, you would not get 11.5 million players.
Blizzard has never catered to its player base. It's all about the $ and there's not enough there to entice them into opening a vanilla server.
What - I suggest - is absolutely certain is that if Blizzard opened some "new old servers" then some of the people on the existing servers would move and, if it was a free for all, many would "move" simply to try it out - potentially creating carnage on the existing servers. (And discontent amongst those who couldn't create characters / get on.)
So what could be done?
My suggestion would be something like:
1. Announce that they would open "vailla servers" and/or a WotkL server etc.
2. Key word: subscribers would be able to enter a server based draw with rukes.
3. The server based draw would ensure that the impact on anyone server would be limited.
4. Open the new server for winners of the draw.
5. Further draws would take place as player numbers decllined. Players who unsubscribe; players who don't play a minimujm amount, players inactive for a set period of time being removed. Character data could obviously be stored and players could go back in the draw.
6. Blizzard open new servers if / as they deem appropriate.
Are they not charging subs for the rollback server? I have no doubt blizzard can make money on a classic server if daybreak can. They would be bringing in the players that have totally given up on the current game for the most part. People act like this hasnt been done before. It has and with much smaller teams to a game comparable in size.
I really think ego is the main factor, unless this shutdown the first step in creating their own. Either way I don't really care. Vanilla WoW was pretty good but not much better than other linear quest hub themeparks out there.
I still maintain that Blizzard will bring classic realms online when they are finished with the live game and it all goes into maintenance mode. With more than a few stories being brought to a close in Legion, it feels like they're considering a gradual cessation of story. It wouldn't surprise me a bit to think they're angling for three or so expansions that tie it all up around the time of their 15th or 20th anniversary.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
I think most can agree the game's community kind of disintegrated after these cross server tools were implemented. I also don't understand people's disdain for guilds when playing an MMO? I see this come up quite a bit on the Wow forums when the anti LFR threads appear. I think people grossly exaggerate the effort it is in joining or finding a guild. Some of my most memorable memories over the years playing various MMOs have been meeting and playing with some great people that I met by joining various guilds.
I personally think guilds are very important to an MMOs health, and when you make tools that make easy to bypass joining a guild you really start to remove the entire point of playing MMO. I mean I see this argument a lot and I just don't understand why someone would want to pay $15 a month for an MMO to play what in essence has become a single player RPG. There are so many really good immersive single player RPGs out there, that deliver the story better and just have better overall game play than most MMOs. I personally think the egocentric, anti social gamers that have invaded the MMO scene are one of the real reasons we have some of the most anti social systems we have ever had implemented into MMOs.
1) that only 6M subs have been lost over a dozen years;
2) that all 6M stormed off because they didn't like the development direction
...you're limiting your thinking. It's been 12 years -- many players who've played and moved on have moved on in their real lives as well. Children, jobs, lack of time, etc. all contribute to people leaving a title. I don't know the number, but my guess is that 100M people have played WoW over the course of its lifetime. People change, move on, find new things to do with their time including playing other MMOs in an ever more crowded market that 2016 represents.
Insinuating that all these former players left and would come running back for vanilla is naive. Peak population for WoW was in 2010 and the Cataclysm expansion when the game went into steep decline, not coincidentally about the time that the MMO market exploded with other MMOs and the F2P movement began.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
While you think blizzard would be going backward, I say its a good experiment to see if by a large having a Vanilla and TBC servers will prove to be a more stable subscription base than the live WOW version which can have +/- 5 Million subs. Which if you look at the overall picture of an MMORPG that hurts your ability to dedicate revenue for development and operational cost of an MMORPG.
Vanilla WOW and TBC WOW go back to a time where there was balance between MMORPG Time Sinks\Accessibility and appealing to a wider audience. WOW was the most casual MMO Up to that point. Only after TBC did WOW start having subscription problems and did people start moving away from WOW because WOTLK was the start of making the game too accessible that people no longer enjoyed the game. You can tell this by just watching subscriptions fluctuate in WOTLK and then drop during Cata.
We hear it time and time again why people dislike WOW. It keeps coming down to LFD/LFR and instances that are streamlined for people to run 15 of them in a week. Yes people have changed since Vanilla/TBC BUT if they changed so much that WOW needed to be exactly like it is today then why are fewer people playing it? I can tell you that I dont believe the way WOW is today is the right direction, if so why are people not sticking with the game OR with any game that copies exactly what WOW is doing?
It's quite plain to see where the focus is. It's on the science of monetization.
Good for stockholders no doubt.
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee