WoW revenue down 54% in seven months

[smackababy]

It's unreasonable to expect a several year old multiplayer game to maintain revenue. People get bored/tired especially with grind-driven games, the game engine gets old and ugly, new games come out that chip away at your playerbase, etc.

While that is true, what is happening with WoW is the death of a Titan (Blizzard pun >_>). This isn't just some yearly MP FPS not being the top dog because Nov came around again and a new one was released. There have been numerous "WoW killers" and none of them have done anything except highlight what WoW does good. Blizzard certainly wasn't expecting WoW to be so successful, the highest concurrent playerbase for an MMO before WoW IIRC was UO having around 300,000 active subscribers. WoW smashed that number on release.

Eventually, this game will die off, but it will leave a very large hole in gaming. LoL, and now Dota 2, are what is killing WoW. F2P fantasy MMOs don't threaten them at all, they can out WoW the WoW clones with ease. They can't beat games that offer vastly different experiences though. At least until we get Blizzard All-Stars. >_>

 

[Batmeat]

It's old, plain and simple. There isn't a real change in gameplay at all. The fact that they've dumbed it down since vanilla was the kill for me. I played till Cataclysm. Whatever their next MMO is will finally give WoW the nail in the coffin. Hopefully it's a diablo or starcraft mmo.

 

[Chiropteran]

The biggest problem is the gear resets. The whole game is based around spending hours and hours working for one tiny upgrade at a time. In vanilla, this was okay, because once you had that upgrade you actually got something out of it. Now, you work hard to earn gear and then the next patch welfare gear is handed out to everyone that matches or exceeds the stuff you wasted so much time to earn.

This has two results. One, it discourages players from spending so much time trying to upgrade gear, because it'll just become obsolete later. Second, it destroys that feeling of falling behind. You know that if you don't have good enough gear, you can just go collect welfare epics from LFR or PvP or whatever and catch up pretty easily, so there isn't any strong push to keep your character geared up.

 

[magomago]

The biggest problem is the gear resets. The whole game is based around spending hours and hours working for one tiny upgrade at a time. In vanilla, this was okay, because once you had that upgrade you actually got something out of it. Now, you work hard to earn gear and then the next patch welfare gear is handed out to everyone that matches or exceeds the stuff you wasted so much time to earn.

This has two results. One, it discourages players from spending so much time trying to upgrade gear, because it'll just become obsolete later. Second, it destroys that feeling of falling behind. You know that if you don't have good enough gear, you can just go collect welfare epics from LFR or PvP or whatever and catch up pretty easily, so there isn't any strong push to keep your character geared up.

Players who compulsively want the latest gear will upgrade to get the latest gear. The latest gear is always better than welfare epics. Ultimately, it isn't about the latest gear as much as it is about the PROCESS to get it, and that MOMENT of finally owning it.

I haven't played since WOTLK, but I remember people complaining that unless you grinded like the true dedicated fanbase, you were never able to really get anywhere near parity... grinders had a huge advantage
Now that Blizzard has helped even the fields, while still providing some extra incentives for those wanting the best gear, people are complaining about the reverse: not enough incentive to get the latest gear.

You just illustrated a great case of "damned if you do, damned if you don't"

My thought is if you don't appreciate the process of getting that gear, and its really about how the item functionally strengthens you, then you are better off just always going for welfare epics. The only other instance where its worth it is if you are a min/maxer where having +1 attribute is desired.

 

[magomago]

It's old, plain and simple. There isn't a real change in gameplay at all. The fact that they've dumbed it down since vanilla was the kill for me. I played till Cataclysm. Whatever their next MMO is will finally give WoW the nail in the coffin. Hopefully it's a diablo or starcraft mmo.

fyi titan is new ip

 

[Aikouka]

I'm probably looking forward to Wildstar the most at this point, which is interesting because when I first saw it, I didn't really think much of it. Since then, I've seen more and read more about the game's design and core philosophy. Part of the staff is originally from Blizzard, and they've outright stated, "We don't think raids should be for everyone." However, they keep pushing this notion that they want to teach players about mechanics at an earlier level and keep building on it. That kind of makes me hope that players won't be absolutely awful come end-game, but maybe I'm just living in a pipe dream.

I did see this one video where players had to stick by a designated target (an area around that party member became a safe zone), but that party member had to keep moving as an AoE was placed at their present location randomly. Those reminded me a lot of mechanics that I saw in WoW raids, but if I remember correctly, this was in a level 20 dungeon!

At least until we get Blizzard All-Stars. >_>

...which (surprise!) Blizzard is taking way too long to release!

 

[smackababy]

I'm probably looking forward to Wildstar the most at this point, which is interesting because when I first saw it, I didn't really think much of it. Since then, I've seen more and read more about the game's design and core philosophy. Part of the staff is originally from Blizzard, and they've outright stated, "We don't think raids should be for everyone." However, they keep pushing this notion that they want to teach players about mechanics at an earlier level and keep building on it. That kind of makes me hope that players won't be absolutely awful come end-game, but maybe I'm just living in a pipe dream.

I did see this one video where players had to stick by a designated target (an area around that party member became a safe zone), but that party member had to keep moving as an AoE was placed at their present location randomly. Those reminded me a lot of mechanics that I saw in WoW raids, but if I remember correctly, this was in a level 20 dungeon!

A community that knows not to stand in the big fire ball, burning on the ground? Sign me up please!

...which (surprise!) Blizzard is taking way too long to release!

Sadly, unless they have an amazing engine, I don't see it gaining much traction over Dota 2. I actually dislike the Dota 2 engine after playing a lot of HoN and Dota before that.

 

[robvp]

i would like to see a blizzard all stars type of game, or a battlegrounds only wow, pick a hero and duke it out in arenas or battlegrounds

 

[smackababy]

i would like to see a blizzard all stars type of game, or a battlegrounds only wow, pick a hero and duke it out in arenas or battlegrounds

They are working on Blizzzard All-Stars (which is Dota 2, actually Dota 2). But I think a F2P Battlegrounds only game would be nice. You pick your character and skill him prior to the match (or maybe you keep that build forever) and you get gear based on "level" or perhaps everyone has the same. They could easily make money selling silly things like cosmetic items. I'd at least try it.

 

[Aikouka]

A community that knows not to stand in the big fire ball, burning on the ground? Sign me up please!

Heh, the game actually uses telegraphs to show where the bad stuff -- and also the good stuff like AoE heals -- will hit. I remember when someone built an add-on to do that in WoW during ICC, and that Blizzard squashed it pretty quickly. If I remember correctly, it was pretty popular for H-Putricide, Sindragosa and the Lich King.

Sadly, unless they have an amazing engine, I don't see it gaining much traction over Dota 2. I actually dislike the Dota 2 engine after playing a lot of HoN and Dota before that.

Yeah, the MOBA market is definitely pretty saturated right now with a ton of free games. Even the HoN people are making a new game, but their game is being considered a more "casual MOBA" as it tries to eschew some of the stuff that makes games like LoL or DOTA 2 harder for newer folks to grasp.

 

[smackababy]

The HoN people are pretty much the worst company in the history of companies as far as management goes. The owner just lets people hire their friends and run it into the ground. There is a reason they have a horrible competitive scene with the best MOBA.

I remember that Add-on. It was called something like AVR. It was okay, if you had down syndrome. It basically raided for you.

 

[robvp]

They are working on Blizzzard All-Stars (which is Dota 2, actually Dota 2). But I think a F2P Battlegrounds only game would be nice. You pick your character and skill him prior to the match (or maybe you keep that build forever) and you get gear based on "level" or perhaps everyone has the same. They could easily make money selling silly things like cosmetic items. I'd at least try it.

i was thinking you could keep the skill tree and pay for respecs if you wished, or have each hero have their own set skill trees to differentiate

as for gear it could move in brackets, as you move up the ladder so would your gear set to reflect it

not sure how they could monetize it asides from cosmetic items or extra heroes

 

[smackababy]

i was thinking you could keep the skill tree and pay for respecs if you wished, or have each hero have their own set skill trees to differentiate

as for gear it could move in brackets, as you move up the ladder so would your gear set to reflect it

not sure how they could monetize it asides from cosmetic items or extra heroes

Ladder resets, colored names, additional heroes (perhaps you start with 3 slots and can pay to unlock others). Special mounts maybe?

 

[Grooveriding]

Doesn't surprise me. I resubbed to take a look at the new 5.4 content. That Timeless Isle is a pile of crap. Boring and uninspired garbage. Compare that to a patch like Isle of Qeul'Danas in 2.4. Game has gone really downhill.

 

[smackababy]

Doesn't surprise me. I resubbed to take a look at the new 5.4 content. That Timeless Isle is a pile of crap. Boring and uninspired garbage. Compare that to a patch like Isle of Qeul'Danas in 2.4. Game has gone really downhill.

Isle of Qeul'Danas was just a series of garbage quests to gain money for 99% of the population. 1% did the 5 man and 0.1% entered into Sunwell.

I remember being rewarded the title like half way through WoTLK because I never abandoned the raid quest for TK and Vashj. >_> Peeps were mad jelly.

 

[Balt]

Doesn't surprise me. I resubbed to take a look at the new 5.4 content. That Timeless Isle is a pile of crap. Boring and uninspired garbage. Compare that to a patch like Isle of Qeul'Danas in 2.4. Game has gone really downhill.

The Siege of Orgrimmar concept interested me. Not enough to reinstall the game and buy the new xpac (which I assume is required) though.

 

[sourn]

has wow ever needed to merge servers due to low pop?

WoW is working on "connected realms" which are essentially mergers except you get to keep your name.

With that said, people must not very bright if they think WOW is going f2p anytime soon. Even with the drop in subs it's gonna take a lot more for them to get that desperate.

Pretty much what these guys are saying, "you ONLY got 7 mil subscribers you better go f2p or else die!" That's just nonsense. Once WOW drops below a mil then I could see it going f2p. Until then lol@doomsayers.

 

[Sheep221]

WoW is largely made like it is and was left like it is, because it is made to induce addictive behavior. By the time WoW was released, other games were much more technologically advanced, it uses redesigned Warcraft 3 engine(betas could be dated since 2000), but is still most played game of this type. It doesn't matter that graphics and effects are crap, they are enough good to lure players in who will just be paying no matter what and that's their goal, that's also the reason why they started to lower some requirements in gear collection and introduced raids with variable difficulty to get in players who don't have that much raw free time, it indeed happen, and those who got into it oftenly replaced IRL activities in favor of game. Many will probably disagree but it's true.
The playerbase right now is probably in size as it was in 2005 or so, but it's still enough large that WoW is not going F2P anytime soon.
The other thing is, even if the WoW network gets shutdown once, there will still be someone playing it because there are so many private servers out there, that someone will still be playing it at any given time for many years to come. The game sucked in many ways but it is software phenomenon you just won't destroy.

 

[blankslate]

has wow ever needed to merge servers due to low pop?

They avoid that issue by inventing tech like shared zones where people from different servers can interact.

 

[lilrayray69]

I got a free 7 days to come back, hadn't play in about 1 maybe 2 years...couldn't bring myself to play more than 30 minutes. It just looks so crappy and plays so rudimentary and reminds me of being 15 because it looks exactly the same as it did then

 

[mmntech]

The game is turning 9 years old this November. Heck, even the famous South Park episode aired in 2006. I was still in university!

I think it's just gotten to the point that everyone who wanted to play WoW already has. It's difficult to keep any game going for nine years while at the same time retaining a consistent fanbase. So they must be doing something right. Though I agree that the subscription model is becoming a tough sell. That's why all these other companies went F2P with micro-transactions. For some reason, people are willing to pay $18 to refill their energy bar, but don't want to pay $15/mo to play the whole game.

 

[Fingolfin269]

They still find me on Steam and tell me they want a DK Tank. I don't know why it was so hard for them to replace me.

That's easy. I can tell by the way you went about your business in letting them know your intent that you would have been a good guild mate. It's easy to replace bodies but finding quality ones who know what they're doing and that you generally like are hard to come by. Not necessarily limited to wow either...

 

[desura]

My biggest problem with WOW nowadays is stat inflation. Makes all the numbers utterly meaningless.

 

[shortylickens]

Not that interesting, considering WoW is approaching 10 years old. The gameplay has become stale and people are growing fatigued and moving on to other things.
10 really successful years is an awesome run for any MMO, and WoW will probably live on at least another 5 once going FTP.

They promised a Starcraft MMO way back when, maybe they are getting ready to announce it.

 

[Arkaign]

I tried to play WoW, but after about an hour I just couldn't possibly conceive how anyone does it. I can handle bad graphics, but WoW is ugly even by 2004 standards. And the gameplay, good lord.

"Go fetch 50 of these, bring them back"
"Go kill 10 of those, come back"

NOPE