After subscriptions plummet to 2005 levels, WoW announces sixth expansion

Will <em>Legion</em>'s level-cap bump, new Demon Hunter class stop the bleeding?

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[kranchammer]

I loved WoW while I was playing. It's really really hard to summon any enthusiasm.

For me it's like that album you've played too many times, it's still attractive, it just is soo boringly familiar.

 

[biggerx]

"After subscriptions plummet to 2005 levels, WoW announces sixth expansion" Correlation does not equal causation. I'm sure they've been working on this Xpac since the end of MoP. This title suggests the cause of the announcement is the drop in subscriber numbers.

With that said, this is a WoW lore nerds dream. The launching point for the fight against Sargeras.

 

[Kirtaner]

Demon Hunter.

My Monk and Paladin will never be loved again.

 

[eXceLon]

biggerx[/url]":h8qnomml]"After subscriptions plummet to 2005 levels, WoW announces sixth expansion" Correlation does not equal causation. I'm sure they've been working on this Xpac since the end of MoP. This title suggests the cause of the announcement is the drop in subscriber numbers.

Sure, but it's not like Blizzard had to wait for a quarterly financial report to know they were hemorrhaging subscriptions.

 

[biggerx]

eXceLon[/url]":3kxqml41]

biggerx[/url]":3kxqml41]"After subscriptions plummet to 2005 levels, WoW announces sixth expansion" Correlation does not equal causation. I'm sure they've been working on this Xpac since the end of MoP. This title suggests the cause of the announcement is the drop in subscriber numbers.

Sure, but it's not like Blizzard had to wait for a quarterly financial report to know they were hemorrhaging subscriptions.

Right it's also like they started working on this content years before this quarters financial report.

 

[caldepen]

5.6 million is nothing to sniff at. In a way it encapsulates 21st century, what have you done for me lately, attitude.

I haven't sub'd since Cataclysm and most likely never will again, but like an aging sports athlete I will always have a soft spot for WoW.

 

[biggerx]

caldepen[/url]":2cvtkjpe]5.6 million is nothing to sniff at. In a way it encapsulates 21st century, what have you done for me lately, attitude.
.

There are so many other games to be played now. This was bound to happen.

 

[theoilman]

Not bad for a decade old game. Shouldn't they have a new game ready by now though? Blizzard always takes forever to develop games though.

 

[potato44819]

I have to wonder what it would be like to log in now with my old level 60 warrior... I wonder if I'll even recognize the place.

 

[kranchammer]

Modern Major General Thanatos[/url]":1y837s9r]I have to wonder what it would be like to log in now with my old level 60 warrior... I wonder if I'll even recognize the place.

You won't even recognize your warrior. Art and the graphics engine have been updated over the years.

 

[Intermezzo]

theoilman[/url]":yn4tu5f2]Not bad for a decade old game. Shouldn't they have a new game ready by now though? Blizzard always takes forever to develop games though.

Warcraft 4 anybody? Please? Do people even play RTS games anymore? If I could get a hero-led army again I'd consider actually taking off work for a game release. My wife would kill me, but I'd gladly say it was a life well lived.

 

[frohman]

theoilman[/url]":14htojvh]Not bad for a decade old game. Shouldn't they have a new game ready by now though? Blizzard always takes forever to develop games though.

Since Blizzard released WoW in 2004, they have released StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, StartCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, Diablo III, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm. In addition, they have a new game, Overwatch, that was teased November of last year and has had playable demos available at gaming cons. Not exactly resting on their laurels and milking WoW for every last penny.

 

[A. Reed]

So.... it seems the fabled expansion list "leaked" years ago wasn't that far from the truth heh? (it may have become self fulfilling at this point.. xD)
The Legion set was supposed to be the last IIRC

 

[acrodelpi]

This is expected really. I think after every expansions numbers will rise again, but less and less every time.

They need to make the game appealing to new people (18-25 years old), not to the old subscriptors (30+). The problem I see is that people might be a bit reluctant with some of the WoW facts:

1.- It's a game originally released in 2004: Is it still cool?
2.- It's got a lot of expansions. Will I be overwhelmed? Are all of the expansions really worth it? (Aside, I know several of the expansions have been incorporated in the main game)
3.- None of my friends play it/very few of my friends play it: That didn't stopped from start playing WoW in 2009 but it might do it to new players in 2015/16.

I think abandoning Titan was a mistake, partly. People need something new and exciting, but on the other hand, it would have divided their audience in a bad way.

EDIT: When I refer to old suscriptors, I don't mean the people who have been subscribing for a long time and are still subscribing. I mean those who have stopped their subscription and have not come back for a while.

 

[biggerx]

theoilman[/url]":32nry507]Not bad for a decade old game. Shouldn't they have a new game ready by now though? Blizzard always takes forever to develop games though.

Someone doesn't follow gaming very closely.

 

[Kirtaner]

theoilman[/url]":3ppoxy2s]Not bad for a decade old game. Shouldn't they have a new game ready by now though? Blizzard always takes forever to develop games though.

Overwatch is the remnants of their scrapped WoW successor MMO, Titan.

 

[shav]

My problem is that its the same old game. Get quest, go to area, target mob, spam number keys, repeat killing mobs, turn in quest repeat. I never found fighting enemies particularly fun or engaging. Maybe things have changed since last I played but there are to many other games to play that don't require a monthly subscription.

 

[Asvarduil]

kranchammer[/url]":1s59bab7]I loved WoW while I was playing. It's really really hard to summon any enthusiasm.

For me it's like that album you've played too many times, it's still attractive, it just is soo boringly familiar.

This, but I'd like to throw other possibilities in, too.

1: Above and beyond being boringly familiar, it's really just more of the same. That's not a reason to throw down $15/mon + $39.99 for the expansion. TL;DR - WoW is a dead horse that Blizzard keeps flogging.
2: WoW in general takes a freakishly long time, unless you buy the almost-to-level-cap insta-levelup...that's with dumbing down the early game. People who aren't college students just don't have that much time to spare, and even then the amount of time they do have even they would (grudgingly) admit is better spent doing something else (usually sleeping, or finding a significant other, or professionally networking.) TL;DR - People don't have time for WoW.
3: WoW is not generous with its loot distribution, even with everything being buyable with tokens and/or "rewards for trying." When I played, it took about a month to get a single piece of gear from a raid or PvP - and, I was in college then. TL;DR - The progression is just too slow.

Now, on an individual level, there's wiggle room for those, but I'd be willing to present those as reasons why WoW is an ex-game.

 

[elty]

And EQ has 21 expansions, so WoW still has like 15 more to go.

 

[BiochemAnthony]

We're still talking about a game with higher yearly revenues than the entire GDP of Somalia, Samoa and many other small nations. Even if we actually are heading into the twilight for WoW it has still outlasted and out-earned entire publishers/studios. I'll start being alarmed when it falls below 2 million and even then that's equivalent to the entire population of Slovenia being subscribed and paying monthly. There will be demand from the hardcore for years to come and they will certainly pay more than enough to keep the lights on.

 

[smccloud]

acrodelpi[/url]":6ap40xkm]This is expected really. I think after every expansions numbers will rise again, but less and less every time.

They need to make the game appealing to new people (18-25 years old), not to the old subscriptors (30+). The problem I see is that people might be a bit reluctant with some of the WoW facts:

1.- It's a game originally released in 2004: Is it still cool?
2.- It's got a lot of expansions. Will I be overwhelmed? Are all of the expansions really worth it? (Aside, I know several of the expansions have been incorporated in the main game)
3.- None of my friends play it/very few of my friends play it: That didn't stopped from start playing WoW in 2009 but it might do it to new players in 2015/16.

I think abandoning Titan was a mistake, partly. People need something new and exciting, but on the other hand, it would have divided their audience in a bad way.

EDIT: When I refer to old suscriptors, I don't mean the people who have been subscribing for a long time and are still subscribing. I mean those who have stopped their subscription and have not come back for a while.

Well, EverQuest has 21 expansions and people still pay to play it. I have upgraded through MoP in WoW, but I couldn't get into it. Also decided to stop doing subscription gaming for a while. Been playing World of Tanks/Planes/Warships lately and liking them.

 

[Asvarduil]

elty[/url]":2hq416rc]And EQ has 21 expansions, so WoW still has like 15 more to go.

To quote Sword Art Online Abridged:

Player: "When's the last time you heard of someone beating EverQuest?"
Kayaba: "When's the last time you heard of someone playing EverQuest?"
Player: "...That's fair."

 

[Martin Blank]

theoilman[/url]":elxwpigm]Not bad for a decade old game. Shouldn't they have a new game ready by now though? Blizzard always takes forever to develop games though.

There is a new game that's supposed to be out soonish: Overwatch. It's not intended to compete with WoW, but it is a new game.

They spent a massive amount of money on Titan, shifting people in and out, trying to get it to work, but ultimately decided that it wasn't fun enough over time.

With WoW, I think they're battling shifts in the gaming scene. They've made leveling faster, but maybe a bit too fast. It used to be that a dedicated player could hit level 10 in two days, but getting through the 30s was a major slog. Now, leveling to 10 takes a few hours at the most, and it's not hard to hit 60 in a few days if you have some teamwork. Even getting from 90 to 100 didn't take long for me, and I'm a casual player at best.

But the lifespan of a game has never been more than a few years with the exception of outliers, and even games that last more than two years have been uncommon at best. WoW has been around for more than a decade, and there are precious few games which can both claim that and claim relatively high popularity. It's closest competitor is probably EVE Online, and that probably has less than a half-million subscribers.

Blizzard is still making comparative bank with WoW: 5.6 million subscribers are probably bringing in something in the neighborhood of $30 million a month factoring in various discounts and pricing schemes. They need to address balance issues and probably need to further combine the servers or improve realm sharing to boost effective population. But really, this is one of the better problems to have.

 

[A. Reed]

The Ashbringer (and Artifact weapons) in the trailer is a troll right? The old Paladin in me feels reaaaaaally trolled right there -_-

 

[kranchammer]

Asvarduil[/url]":yhcv16om]

kranchammer[/url]":yhcv16om]I loved WoW while I was playing. It's really really hard to summon any enthusiasm.

For me it's like that album you've played too many times, it's still attractive, it just is soo boringly familiar.

This, but I'd like to throw other possibilities in, too.

1: Above and beyond being boringly familiar, it's really just more of the same. That's not a reason to throw down $15/mon + $39.99 for the expansion. TL;DR - WoW is a dead horse that Blizzard keeps flogging.
2: WoW in general takes a freakishly long time, unless you buy the almost-to-level-cap insta-levelup...that's with dumbing down the early game. People who aren't college students just don't have that much time to spare, and even then the amount of time they do have even they would (grudgingly) admit is better spent doing something else (usually sleeping, or finding a significant other, or professionally networking.) TL;DR - People don't have time for WoW.
3: WoW is not generous with its loot distribution, even with everything being buyable with tokens and/or "rewards for trying." When I played, it took about a month to get a single piece of gear from a raid or PvP - and, I was in college then. TL;DR - The progression is just too slow.

Now, on an individual level, there's wiggle room for those, but I'd be willing to present those as reasons why WoW is an ex-game.

Hate to say it, but I have to disagree with most of those.

1.) Leaving aside the level-capped F2P aspect, $15 * ~5 million subscribers = lotsa moolah. Not quite a dead horse yet, fiscally.
2.) IIRC, with the last couple expansions, Blizzard offered a free insta-level. Otherwise, yeah, it takes a long time to reach cap. On the other hand, it's fun the first few times you do it.
3.) Eh, I dunno, I think WoW is very much casual friendly. My wife still plays, and there are soo many ways to get good loot nowadays, quickly.

I think the dwindling numbers are because over-exposure and familiarity, plain and simple, in combination with an aging look and feel, graphics updates notwithstanding. I don't think any one aspect of the game mechanic-wise can be pointed to as the cause of it's subscriber loss.

 

[CppThis]

WoW has always had high subscription turnover, the problem they face is that they've finally burned through most of the world's tech population and have nowhere else to go. Hopefully for their sake there's another game in the works.

 

[Martin Blank]

Asvarduil[/url]":2rljrdkb]
3: WoW is not generous with its loot distribution, even with everything being buyable with tokens and/or "rewards for trying." When I played, it took about a month to get a single piece of gear from a raid or PvP - and, I was in college then. TL;DR - The progression is just too slow.

Getting *that specific* piece of gear can take a while. My wife has put in 20+ hours a week primarily on raids to go after specific drops that have a 1% or less drop rate, and not gotten what she was looking for over weeks of time. That doesn't mean that she hasn't gotten overall better gear, just that the specific items hasn't shown up. That's how those random numbers go.

 

[liono]

Hear that sound? its only 5.6 million hamster wheels turning instead of 12 million.

 

[VZWE5]

A. Reed[/url]":32r84sxm]The Ashbringer (and Artifact weapons) in the trailer is a troll right? The old Paladin in me feels reaaaaaally trolled right there -_-

Not crafted Ashbringer.

The new weapons system is called Artifact. You will be sent on class and spec specific missions to recover your particular weapon from where it fell during the war and reforge it for your use to battle the Legion.

You will then lvl the weapon and gain abilities and customization options as you lvl it.

 

[Static and Noise]

The name has me a bit excited; to me, the Burning Legion and Sargeras was the BIG enemy in WoW, with the Old Gods being really cool too. The Lich King was a pretty cool "side quest" if you like with Wrath, and Deathwing was OK in Cata. I never really could get into the lore in Pandaria, it seemed so "small" in comparison. If the next expansion is Burning Legion-centered, that does have my excitement up.

 

[mikesmith]

The WoW problem is it's just not the same game that won over so many people 10 years ago any longer. The game was better when it was new and novel, it was also better before the e-sport wannabe arena stuff was introduced. It was better when Alterac Valley matches could last for days and clearing UBRS was considered challenging. When a windfury totem and raiding gear made an Arms Warrior into a battlefield God.

Sadly, the game just isn't and can't be the same, which is why the corpse will continue sloughing off suscribers until they decide it's reached its end.

 

[THavoc]

liono[/url]":1om8eg8h]Hear that sound? its only 5.6 million hamster wheels turning instead of 12 million.

Not my hamsters. They are too fat and lazy to turn any wheel.

 

[kranchammer]

Causality[/url]":1kwvfdjv]

kranchammer[/url]":1kwvfdjv]

Modern Major General Thanatos[/url]":1kwvfdjv]I have to wonder what it would be like to log in now with my old level 60 warrior... I wonder if I'll even recognize the place.

You won't even recognize your warrior. Art and the graphics engine have been updated over the years.

Not nearly enough in my opinion. The N64-style graphics stopped me from trying it when it came out and the Dreamcast-style graphics have kept my interest low. There's absolutely nothing wrong with being cartoony, but when gloves are hair are just textures on skin the lowest common denominator is just too low for me.

Wow, hyperbole, much?

I admit the graphics aren't exactly cutting-edge, but 'dreamcast-level' ?

 

[Shazbot!]

I for one like knowing WoW is still chugging along. There's something comforting about knowing it's still out there in case I want to indulge my nostalgia and awaken my little lvl 80 dwarf huntard with a cat pet named Sammich, created way back in 2005.

 

[Beautiful Ninja]

THavoc[/url]":1d3wof05]

liono[/url]":1d3wof05]Hear that sound? its only 5.6 million hamster wheels turning instead of 12 million.

Not my hamsters. They are too fat and lazy to turn any wheel.

Damn LFR hamsters counting on bootstrapping raider hamsters to move the wheel.

 

[Asvarduil]

Beautiful Ninja[/url]":2htbcv5h]

THavoc[/url]":2htbcv5h]

liono[/url]":2htbcv5h]Hear that sound? its only 5.6 million hamster wheels turning instead of 12 million.

Not my hamsters. They are too fat and lazy to turn any wheel.

Damn LFR hamsters counting on bootstrapping raider hamsters to move the wheel.

I bet their gearscore is only 63, to boot.