If you read inbetween the lines Blizzard are now talking about the market share and not about the number of subscribers it has . This really does point at some significant loses this year . I think Warcraft  will maintain a large market share because people arnt going to give up on mass for a new game . They will never have 11.6 million players again  though .

Originally posted by bigsmiff

Originally posted by Clattuc

 I'm just curious, is there some particular reason why we should want to help Blizzard maintain its market share?

 

Because some of us want to see Blizzard/WoW thrive maybe?

 

 

Yes, that would be the reason.  The more they can afford to add content and the cool new stuff the better for players.   I dont even play wow anymore but am sure tempted to check it back out only because it Thrives.

Originally posted by Ruyn

Originally posted by Thenarius

Originally posted by Ruyn

The expansions have ruined WoW.  Theme-parks and expansions just don't mix.  Everyone still playing this poor excuse of an MMO are all a bunch of mindless automatons.

Pst, chain quoting random things you heard on forums then jumping in the bandwagoon isn't good.
BC is the best thing that happened to WoW and even if WOTLK was subpar until now, it's still better than the mess which was vanilla.

 

I disagree.  Everything that you have done, is undone with a patch or new expansion.  Something is wrong with that imo. 

What you said is equally applicable when you level from 9 to10 and you leave Elwyn forrest and go to Westfall.  You will get new gear that replaces what you got in Elwynn.  See new locations.  Get new quests, new spells, new abilities. 

An expansion is no different than playing any other part of the game.  It is the same basic formula of character progression throughout the entire mmo and nothing is undone. 

Originally posted by Anubisan

I think the constant progression in gear sets is killing the game at present because many people (like me) recognize that there is no point in even trying to stay competitive unless we have MASSIVE amounts of free time.

This is the *exact* reason that I quit, along with every other player I knew personally. The hamster wheel only works for so long.

Originally posted by Daffid011

Originally posted by Ruyn

Originally posted by Thenarius

Originally posted by Ruyn

The expansions have ruined WoW.  Theme-parks and expansions just don't mix.  Everyone still playing this poor excuse of an MMO are all a bunch of mindless automatons.

Pst, chain quoting random things you heard on forums then jumping in the bandwagoon isn't good.
BC is the best thing that happened to WoW and even if WOTLK was subpar until now, it's still better than the mess which was vanilla.

 

I disagree.  Everything that you have done, is undone with a patch or new expansion.  Something is wrong with that imo. 

 

What you said is equally applicable when you level from 9 to10 and you leave Elwyn forrest and go to Westfall.  You will get new gear that replaces what you got in Elwynn.  See new locations.  Get new quests, new spells, new abilities. 

An expansion is no different than playing any other part of the game.  It is the same basic formula of character progression throughout the entire mmo and nothing is undone. 

What a laughable comparison! How much time and effort does it require to get from Level 9 to Level 10? You could almost do it in your sleep. Now, how much time and effort does it require to earn a complete set of top tier end-game gear? Slightly more, eh?

Originally posted by GaryM 

What a laughable comparison! How much time and effort does it require to get from Level 9 to Level 10? You could almost do it in your sleep. Now, how much time and effort does it require to earn a complete set of top tier end-game gear? Slightly more, eh?

So because it takes a few more hours in one dungeon, all your efforts are undone?  What I said is true.  It doesn't matter if it is the first dungeon in the game or the last dungeon in the game.  Just because it takes less time to level from 9 to 10 doesn't make what happens any different.  The entire game is about achieving.  Gain a new level, new item, spell, title, achievement, discovery, tradeskill recipe it doesn't matter.  Something is always replacing what you have already earned and it starts at level 2.

When someone replaces tier 7 with tier 8 was all that previous effort wasted?  Was it undone and for nothing?  When a raid group moves from naxx to ulduar does that somehow undo everything that was accomplished in naxx?

It is the same exact thing happening over and over again at every level in an mmo.  It just takes a little observation to see that it is the same.  

Originally posted by GaryM

Originally posted by Daffid011

Originally posted by Ruyn

Originally posted by Thenarius

Originally posted by Ruyn

The expansions have ruined WoW.  Theme-parks and expansions just don't mix.  Everyone still playing this poor excuse of an MMO are all a bunch of mindless automatons.

Pst, chain quoting random things you heard on forums then jumping in the bandwagoon isn't good.
BC is the best thing that happened to WoW and even if WOTLK was subpar until now, it's still better than the mess which was vanilla.

 

I disagree.  Everything that you have done, is undone with a patch or new expansion.  Something is wrong with that imo. 

 

What you said is equally applicable when you level from 9 to10 and you leave Elwyn forrest and go to Westfall.  You will get new gear that replaces what you got in Elwynn.  See new locations.  Get new quests, new spells, new abilities. 

An expansion is no different than playing any other part of the game.  It is the same basic formula of character progression throughout the entire mmo and nothing is undone. 

What a laughable comparison! How much time and effort does it require to get from Level 9 to Level 10? You could almost do it in your sleep. Now, how much time and effort does it require to earn a complete set of top tier end-game gear? Slightly more, eh?

This doesn't justify keeping vanilla's horrible PvE bosses bar AQ40 and Naxx and the PvP which was won by stats, not skill and the fact that you could count the number of useful specs of all classes on one hand, and the horrible itemisation.
Blizzard should have never released Naxxramas in patch 1.11 and keep it for WOTLK.

I would love to see housing implemented in WoW.  Unfortunately, I think they're waiting till their market share starts the slide before they introduce this upgrade. 

I generally agree with the article, but I suspect that Blizzard already is on to some of those things.

We already know that they are going to revisit the old dungeons for new end-game content, and you won't be needing Caverns of Time to do it.  For example, I could totally see a new Shadowfang Keep run where, after the death of Arugal in Grizzly Hills, a new "evil" worgen arises to try and subjugate the "good" worgen and/or kick the Forsaken/Scourge out of Silverpine once and for all.  With Deathwing and Ragnaros back (the latter apparently moving to Tanaris, I think was what I heard), that reopens all kinds of possible story tie-ins to entire range of Blackrock Mountains instances (and they apparently are adding a new one there, too, just for new end-game).

So I'm totally not worried about new instances made out of old ones.  Considering how huge places like Blackrock Spire and Blackrock Depths are, my only question is what kind of ridiculously-overpowered crap they'll be flinging at us.  Half fire elemental dark dwarves?  Maybe some half earth elemental black dragonspawn?  I see lots of possibilities; all you have to add/change in the game are mobs, because the architecture is already totally done.

By the way, this is going to be great for outdoor PVP, I think, because with that many opposing faction members in old stomping grounds, they'll probably get a wave of nostalgia and go knock over the sandbox in some town belonging to the enemy.  I think we'll see at least a slight increase in outdoor PVP during prime time raiding hours.  If Blizz was smart, throwing a few outdoor PVP objectives in a few extra zones wouldn't hurt our fun out there, either.

Housing is something I've totally bought into the idea of.  I hate to say it, but EQ2 had the correct model of what to use it for.  It's not just some neat thing to sink gold on.  You can use it for trophies of past glories, hanging your first epic or legendary on the wall, rather than just melting/vendoring/deleting to make more room.  You can also use housing as a business endeavor; allow players to buy extra banking space, counters to sell crafted goods from, and links to the auction house, and it'd give us tools that would greatly enhance our enjoyment of things.

Guild housing is a good idea, and we should definitely look to City of Heroes as the model there.  Not only are guild bases for crafting and decoration, but guilds can schedule meaningful PVP attacks on one another.  In COH, there are even guild-based items housed in the base that provide buffs to the guild.  While this shouldn't be a huge thing in WOW (don't want a riot about "unfair advantages" or anything), even something that just provided PVE advantages could make for a huge difference.  For example, if a Horde guild seized a relic that gave all members a 5-10% damage buff against dragons or elementals, an Alliance guild would totally love to break in, steal it, maybe smash their mana loom or kitchen while they're at it.

Regardless of exactly what housing is used for, it would add a lot of opportunity to the game.  If Blizz has the capability server-wise to add it, doing so as soon as possible can't hurt them.

Varying the look of gear (not just color, either, but actual appearance) is something else that's a good idea.  But I think we should be taking it a step further: allow crafters to actually choose specific gear models for their crafted gear.  That, along with gear respecs, would enormously improve customization in the game.

Overall, I'm pleased with the pace of development.  They don't want to release everything all at once; players get burned out just as fast, only they'll have nothing new to maintain interest.  And keeping people interested in your product is a huge part of keeping market share.

All they gotta say is their next game will be a worldly, sandbox as in UO, SWG, EVE , style, and we're yours. All of us. Or be pussies and we'll keep taking our friends back one at a time. Starting with the women.

Originally posted by phenoix63

To be honest i played WotLK to be able to kill the LICH KING! Where the hell is he? They are coming out with a Expansion without even developing the instance to down the last boss in this expansion. That is way too fast progression, and if you can't see that then you are partly blind. Are they going to release Cataclysm with the dungeon to kill the Lich King? Really what are they thinking is beyond me.

Please tell me you realize theFact that patch 3.3 will be close to a year before Cataclysm. Also while I disagree that the gear upgrading is bad I do agree that it has been at a very fast pace this expansion and it is hard to keep up.

Originally posted by phenoix63

To be honest i played WotLK to be able to kill the LICH KING! Where the hell is he? They are coming out with a Expansion without even developing the instance to down the last boss in this expansion. That is way too fast progression, and if you can't see that then you are partly blind. Are they going to release Cataclysm with the dungeon to kill the Lich King? Really what are they thinking is beyond me.

 

There's still about 1 year till the release of Cata, so maybe next patch 3.3 or 3.4 you will meet him...

. I do agree with the fact that they need to focus more on PvP because there are two ways to have fun with this game: Raiding and PvP, and anyone who doesn't quit bounces between the two or only logs on when they raid.

 

Apart from raid or pvp, alot of others also reroll other class. Thats 1 of the recent changes in patch 3.2, to make alt easier.

 

Ultimately WoW is a level and gear base game. So part of the progressions is always about better gears and more gears. Though we will see once players hit 85 there'll be another way to progress their toon.

What i personally hope to see in WoW is that they will have scalable instances, than that will definitely makes them hold on to more players and hence continue to dominate/ keeping the market share...

Pre Tbc it took me months to get decent gear.

Tbc came all the tier 3 raid gear was surpassed by dungeon blues.

Wotlk came tier 6 stayed about for a while until then that became obsolite.

Levelled a Pala to 80, had 3 4 epics within a week from badges and ToC.

The games a joke.

Now World of Warcraft is just a coin op.

Thats my honest opinion.

Raiding is like a job. You have to get there on time and stay until you kill your boss.

The above is why I quit 5 months ago, haveing completed raid after raid and a heavy time investment, only to have the gear thrown out of the window within a months time. That made the game I loved for 5 years into an abomination of time consumption, and the reason I and many others eventually quit.

Imho., the game should be about alot more than just gear, it should be about the community and not about who had what purple with an ilvl higher than the other.