Blizzard Admits The Old Republic Stung World of Warcraft

[Furioso]

Understandable, and I would probably play ToR if there was a trial of some kind, but until then I'm staying with WoW, speaking of, why is a Panda so silly when you could play as a cow person from day one?

 

[Eiv]

Understandable, and I would probably play ToR if there was a trial of some kind, but until then I'm staying with WoW, speaking of, why is a Panda so silly when you could play as a cow person from day one?

Existing players can refer you for a trial. Gimme a mail and I'll hook you up

 

[CardinalPiggles]

I'm not sure there were many that left WoW for TOR, more like they left WoW and have been searching for alternatives for a while.

I bet people just got a bit sick of it, 7 years? Good lord.

 

[JasonKaotic]

Nope. What Mists of Pandaria is going to do to talents massively contributed to me cancelling my subscription, not TOR. Well, that and I can't afford to pay both for WoW and Xbox Live at the same time.

 

[Thoric485]

WoW has been declining since WoTLK, losing subs every patch. They staved it off with the Cata hype, but not for long.

Now they're entering the embarassing pandering stage where they'll desperately introduce all the gimmicky crap anyone ever asked for, in hopes of slowing the tide. It happens to every huge MMO - UO, EverQuest.

Looking at WoW's massive cultural impact, it still has a good 8-10 P2P years in it, but they'll be slow and unfruitful ones.

 

[Pearwood]

They're technically herbivorous carnivorans. (Carnivora is their order, and while they do eat some meat on rare occasions, it's not enough to qualify as even omnivorous, nevermind carnivorous, as their primary diet is bamboo, 99% of their food.)

Hence the technically carnivorous . Looking at their anatomy you'd think they'd be carnivores.

 

[rapidoud]

Or maybe WoW players don't find the thought of playing as pandas appealing.

Just a thought.

You're an idiot if you think that is the reason subscribers will dip.

You're already playing in a game with talking anthropomorphic cows, butsomehow pandas becomes a no-no.

WoW will start to lose numbers as people stop with the hardcore stage of their lives and realise that the people they were feeling empowered over really don't care, or try as much as you (i.e. like saying you won a urine-drinking contest, the only reason you won is because no one else cares).

Whether it takes you a day or a decade to figure this out, your time will come.

 

[Dr Pussymagnet]

Huh. Call me crazy, but I'm excited about both Pet Battles and The Tillers now. Now more than ever I really want that beta to come out.

Yeah, I don't understand the hatred. I mean, I don't necessarily like PvP (partially because I lock up like a deer in headlights) but its mere existence doesn't ruin the game for me. I just choose not to do it, and I don't feel like I'm missing out on the whole game.

Like I said, every time there's change in WoW, the game is "RUINED FOREVER".

I'm just looking forward to a more laid back expansion as opposed to the previous THE WORLD IS ENDING WE MUST BAND TOGETHER ones.

Don't get me wrong, they were fun, but how many times can Azeroth get attacked before it starts to get old? I think three is enough.

 

[Agente L]

"I'm one of the few people who's still playing it actually, but yeah we've seen a dip in subs."

I see what you did there, Mr. John Lagrave.

Well played sir.

Well played.

 

[Kyrinn]

What Blizzard Said: "We lost subscribers because of ToR"
What People Hear: "Pandas ruined wow"

 

[Susurrus]

How did TOR, which came out in December, lead to a dip in subscription to 10.3 million subscribers 3 months before TOR released, in September? To me, that makes absolutely no sense.

Which suggests that either this is spin, or that the numbers have dipped still further since September...

 

[Mikkel421427]

I'm just looking forward to a more laid back expansion as opposed to the previous THE WORLD IS ENDING WE MUST BAND TOGETHER ones.

Don't get me wrong, they were fun, but how many times can Azeroth get attacked before it starts to get old? I think three is enough.

You're right. Personally, i'm a faithful WoW player, but even I am starting to wonder "What haven't we killed yet?"

 

[Don Savik]

People who speed through SWTOR and ***** about end game while shouting TORTANIC!! HAHAH FUNNY JOKE are idiots. Theres 50 levels of story telling for every class with a multitude of options for everything. Yes, the kill 10 mobs quests are still kill 10 mobs with dialogue in front of it, but it still freakin' helps! Its good to have context behind everything you do especially when its presented nicely. People need to enjoy the ride and stop bitching because they speed through games. The game is essentially Kotor 3, 4, and 5.

Captcha was an add for Little Caesars, and I had to type in Little Caesars. I mean, its good pizza, but WHAT THE HELLS CAPTCHA!?!?!?

 

[Knight Templar]

sniped

I almost feel sorry to snip that very good post.
Anyway, so you're saying that this is less because OF SWTOR, and more because of timing?

 

[Bluntman1138]

After peaking at 12 million in late 2010, user numbers were down to 10.3 million at the end of September 2011,

Did anyone else get an out of the blue brain freeze on this statement?

How can a 1.7 million drop in subs be due to a game that came out on Dec 2011? I mean, can someone really attribute a 1 million drop (averages) between Sept 2010 and say April of 2011 to TOR??

Or is someone trying to find a scape goat for the shareholders?

 

[Dirty Apple]

WoW has been declining since WoTLK, losing subs every patch. They staved it off with the Cata hype, but not for long.

Now they're entering the embarassing pandering stage where they'll desperately introduce all the gimmicky crap anyone ever asked for, in hopes of slowing the tide. It happens to every huge MMO - UO, EverQuest.

Looking at WoW's massive cultural impact, it still has a good 8-10 P2P years in it, but they'll be slow and unfruitful ones.

As interesting as this graph is, I want to now what caused the dramatic dip to WoW east in mid 2009. That drop is positively grand canyon like.

 

[Thoric485]

I almost feel sorry to snip that very good post.
Anyway, so you're saying that this is less because OF SWTOR, and more because of timing?

Yeah. In 2008, WoW barely felt the 1.5 million WAR and AoC pulled between themselves for a few short months. Even Aion's 4 million didn't cause such a drop. The trend was there before SW:TOR, it'll probably continue after it, seeing how MoP isn't really generating a lot of buzz.

SW:TOR itself i expect to fare the same way as every damn hyped themepark MMO before it [http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/Subs-2.png]. WAR, AoC, Rift - that downward plunge is what probably awaits it. They could hold on for quite a bit if they go F2P like LOTRO, but considering EA still charge for Ultima Online, i highly doubt it.

As interesting as this graph is, I want to now what caused the dramatic dip to WoW east in mid 2009. That drop is positively grand canyon like.

Their contract with their Chinese provider expired in June 2009 and Acti-Blizz decided to sign with a new company for higher royalties. Getting their activities re-approved by Chinese authorities took 2-3 months during which the servers there were down.

 

[Grey Day for Elcia]

Wait, wait, wait.... wait! People are still playing World of Warcraft?

 

[Idocreating]

I figure millions of WoW players are suddenly realizing "holy shit, this game isnt fun! What am I paying for?!" and dropping their subs.

That's basically what happened to me. Five years of the game before I called it a day.

To be honest, I think it's been a combination of the guild I was in and early Cataclysm that kept me going for so long. Pre-firelands was just... so good. Having to use CC in 5 mans again, tough raids...

Shame it all went to shit again after that.