Originally posted by camp11111

Originally posted by Sukiyaki

Originally posted by SaintViktor

With the Chinese servers being down how can WoW peak ? If anything it lost alot of subs because of what is happening in China not to mention the fact that the game is old, people leave for newer games and WoW is no exception.

 

No the server are running again, but Blizzard forgot to mention in this pure PR line and to ease the fanboys hearts, that arround 5M out of those 11,5M where F2P or like they called it "betatest" accounts. Went for a brief second in September to retail again gathering some new subscriber numbers without agreement and then went back into "betatest" F2P mode again within days when the GAPP noticed.

highpopulated server whenever anyone tackles WoWs "ongoing growth" with plain facts, ignoring again they are an result of migration from all those low and dead server outnumbering them in the meanwhile, not any kind of population growth.

Not likewe can complain, it keeps the majority of people who dislike what MMORPGs make out anyway and just complain, out of the real MMORPGs. Though the fanboys make up for that.

Let's see what the official press conference of last night stated (instead of a German Aion fan).
 

"At this point, I would like to provide an update on the current situation with respect to World of Warcraft in China. I want to emphasize that NetEase is operating World of Warcraft normally in China right now as they have been since the relaunch on September 19.

I mentioned on the last call that World of Warcraft in China hit an all-time peak concurrency after the re-launch. We are still seeing continued strength in the region, with the game as popular as ever.

In celebration of the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday, NetEase is running a spring festival give back campaign. As part of this campaign, NetEase has temporarily suspended new account creations for one week and is rewarding our existing players with 21 hours of free game time, three hours per day.

We continue to work hard with our local partner to bring new content to our Chinese players. Wrath of the Lich King is currently under review by the relevant Chinese government authorities and NetEase has been cooperating with the various requests so that we can launch Wrath of the Lich King as soon as possible."

Blizzard is diplomatic as always.

 

It pays to be diplomatic when dealing with thugs. ^^ China has a huge potential market for games and many other market sectors.  The fact is that its the Chinese government that has obstructed the launch of Wrath in China.  I suspect that The9 didn't sufficiently grease the proper palms in the various ministries. ^^ Once the changes have been made, Wrath will no doubt launch, and many, many people will return to WoW(thus causing the Haters to grow even more rabid) so its a win win situation. ^^

My prediction is that WoW will peak this year with around 13,5-14 million subscribers after the release of Cataclysm.

The persistence of the game is astounding, however. Each year new releases try to outdo WoW, and they fail. I am eagerly waiting for that 'next-gen' WoW killer, but no game in the short term shows any promise of toppling WoW. SWTOR might have a shot, but I find it quite possible that the game that finally does it might be Blizzard's next MMO.

Originally posted by RudyRaccoon

I think WoW has peaked and as a Ex-WoW player myself, I admit I was badly treated by most players in WoW while a rare few I met where nice but they don't play anymore and since then all I see are Internet trolls, I've never reached level cap by the way because I've always had problems with what class I picked. I wished I played WoW when it was first released but now it's the biggest online community mess in history, why would you want to play a game where every is anti-social? Whatever happened to guilds, teamwork and actual friendship?

I think getting Epic gear without any hard effort is the biggest mistake Blizzard ever done, do you know what the term "Epic" means? Back in Classic WoW, Epic gear actually meant something, it meant you beaten a powerful boss and your reward was one of the best rewards you ever gained. But nowhere days it doesn't mean anything, you can just collect tokens and exchange it for Epics, how can this be rewarding? The rewards should be Rare items, not Epics!!!

How can it not be rewarding? I have three level 80's a 70 and some 60's. Most, pre dungeon finder had been stuck at high blue level gear because it was so difficult to find parties for instances.  Now I can slowly gear up my characters with decent gear(which still isn't nearly as good as high end raid gear, but I'd not expect it to be) without spending most of my time endlessly LFG in the trade channel.

I strongly suspect that many of  those who complain about dungeon finder and the emblem sets, are full time raiders/ PvP types who are annoyed that they can't stream roll many of their potential victims nearly as easy these days.  The high end raiding/PvP sets are still much better than emblem gear, but not as vastly better that its a complete walk over as it once was.

Not to mention that as word of dungeon finder and the emblem sets spread, more people are drawn back into the game.  Who ever came up with the idea of dungeon finder should get a promotion and a good sized pay raise.

I hope WoW has peaked, because of what it will do for the genre.

I look at this way. If 1 million people leave WoW for 3 new games that come out. Those 3 games will have a healthy population of over 300k each. If this did happen, WoW wouldn't be hurting, although they losing about 10% of their population would look bad on their financial charts.

Originally posted by Hrothmund

My prediction is that WoW will peak this year with around 13,5-14 million subscribers after the release of Cataclysm.

The persistence of the game is astounding, however. Each year new releases try to outdo WoW, and they fail. I am eagerly waiting for that 'next-gen' WoW killer, but no game in the short term shows any promise of toppling WoW. SWTOR might have a shot, but I find it quite possible that the game that finally does it might be Blizzard's next MMO.

Simply stated, the only threat to World of Warcraft at this point is Blizzard. Everyone who has proclaimed themselves to be "WoW killers) has failed to even come close to their numbers and retention. I suspect that will remain true for years.

After 5 years of playing, I finally decided it was time to move on.

As my friend said to me "the magic is gone".

Thanks for the memories WOW.

Originally posted by SgtFrog

With China gone i think the subscribers has gone down to 5 million or so :/

They still can play in Taiwan servers...

Originally posted by Kyleran

My grandchildren will be playing WOW one day and telling me about their level 142 Murloc Paladin.

 

At the rate blizzard releases expansions, I'm pretty sure your grandchildren will only be level 90. 

This is assuming your children have not bee born yet. 

Originally posted by mmofanatic

I hope WoW has peaked, because of what it will do for the genre.

I look at this way. If 1 million people leave WoW for 3 new games that come out. Those 3 games will have a healthy population of over 300k each. If this did happen, WoW wouldn't be hurting, although they losing about 10% of their population would look bad on their financial charts.

This is assuming those 3 games are good enough to attract 300k subscribers.  The past 5 years have show there are very few that even deserve that many (if any).  It's less about WoW and more about that all those other MMO's are just not very good.  Nobody here wants to here it but WoW has the most subs and continues to have the most subs for one simple reason.  It's the best product out there.  The hardcore MMORPG player doesn't want to hear that but it's the truth.  Not only that but Blizzard knows how to market that product.  None of these other games have the content/gameplay/marketing that WoW has.  Most are not even good enough to be a decent 'diversion'. 

Perhaps the game has peaked.  I think it's some sort of accomplishment to retain that amount of subs since we know that people cancel WoW all the time.  They are replacing those players as fast as they are losing them.  That's the difference between WoW and everyone else.  Any other game that loses players cannot replenish those subs fast enough to have a high enough subscriber count to compete.

Originally posted by tanoril

Originally posted by mmofanatic

I hope WoW has peaked, because of what it will do for the genre.

I look at this way. If 1 million people leave WoW for 3 new games that come out. Those 3 games will have a healthy population of over 300k each. If this did happen, WoW wouldn't be hurting, although they losing about 10% of their population would look bad on their financial charts.

 

This is assuming those 3 games are good enough to attract 300k subscribers.  The past 5 years have show there are very few that even deserve that many (if any).  It's less about WoW and more about that all those other MMO's are just not very good.  Nobody here wants to here it but WoW has the most subs and continues to have the most subs for one simple reason.  It's the best product out there.  The hardcore MMORPG player doesn't want to hear that but it's the truth.  Not only that but Blizzard knows how to market that product.  None of these other games have the content/gameplay/marketing that WoW has.  Most are not even good enough to be a decent 'diversion'. 

Perhaps the game has peaked.  I think it's some sort of accomplishment to retain that amount of subs since we know that people cancel WoW all the time.  They are replacing those players as fast as they are losing them.  That's the difference between WoW and everyone else.  Any other game that loses players cannot replenish those subs fast enough to have a high enough subscriber count to compete.

Exactly what I was trying to say... They are keeping their subscribers constant. Which to be honest, the way you lot complain about WoW, is surprising. I've nothing against it... outgrow it, become bored with it, "complete it"... but it's still going to be there.

No matter how good a game is, there comes a point when people get tired of it and long for something fresh.

Personally I think the game has reached its peak and the dwindling process has begun. Of course, with this many subscribers it will be 10 years or more before the numbers actually get low.

Originally posted by Amathe

No matter how good a game is, there comes a point when people get tired of it and long for something fresh.

Personally I think the game has reached its peak and the dwindling process has begun. Of course, with this many subscribers it will be 10 years or more before the numbers actually get low.

The weak point in the argument is "personally" here.

Every person will not play the same game for 5 years, but every 5 years there is a complete new generation who witness the franchise.

No doubt you have to earn those numbers every day, no easy feat. But in the meantime "Warcraft" as a franchise is building like any succesful franchise.

Blame the other mmorpg makers for not offering anything decent, because the players obviously are out there. In the meantime we had 3 generations (18 years) of "Warcraft". That's 1/3 of an active life time.

Problem with mmo release after WoW, they only implement part of the aspect of WoW and ignore the rest. I believe all of them still cant figure out why is WoW still so successful.

And in a sense we are spoil by what WoW have given and we can no longer accept a half-ars game that trying to be a clone and yet still fail in so many other areas...

 Very nice ! Go WoW go ! 

Originally posted by arctarus

Problem with mmo release after WoW, they only implement part of the aspect of WoW and ignore the rest. I believe all of them still cant figure out why is WoW still so successful.

And in a sense we are spoil by what WoW have given and we can no longer accept a half-ars game that trying to be a clone and yet still fail in so many other areas...

 

 

Agreed!

WoW was great for everyone until people started getting bored again with the same stuff. Which does happen everywhere, with everything!

I think the people who suddenly started Wow and quit after 30 minuets of playing were overhyped by everyone saying "Oh em gee!!! Game is amazing!! Nothing will ever be better!! Oh em gee!!" etc etc... Then when they actually decided to try it, it didn't live up to what they heard.

Anyway, arctarus, you've inspired me to try and start a new thread... "Why IS WoW so successful?" i.e: why is it so good that millions of people want to continue playing it, and why; despite their best efforts to try and cut into the profits, has the copy-cats and clones of WoW fell over? What was so different? - If this has been done before, let me know though... I'm going to go through some previous threads now, see if I can find if it has been done before, no doubts...

Well the game has been stagnating for a while now and may have peaked .

Perhaps if Wrath of the Lich King suddenly gets approved in China, and Cataclysm is a big hit in the West, then it may have another temporary boost, after which it will stagnate again, I don't see it ever going over 12m subs.

You can see the WoW sub numbers on my site, and I will add the new info soon.

I believe Cata will be a great hit, seeing that they revamp the whole old Azeroth. Tons of players will come back and see whats going on. Will they hit 12mil? I believe they will.

But of course it will start to go a bit down hill from there. Norm for a mmo, yet still the most successful for a f2p...

Originally posted by Sanguinelust

Originally posted by RudyRaccoon     The rewards should be Rare items, not Epics!!!

 

You are right. There should be rare rewards that people get but the problem with that is how does one get a rare item. Does that mean that only raiders should get them? Because I liked to raid just as much as the leet kiddies did but I couldn't stay up late because I have a job that I get up at 5:30 am each morning for. So how am I supposed to get a rare item if I can't if i can't stay up late on a week night to raid?

I paid my 15 a month to play and I played hard like everyone else did but because of my job I couldn't sign up for all the raids and because I couldn't sign up for all the raids I couldn't get in on the rare raid I could do because I wasn't considered "hard core" enough even though I was better at my class than their "class leader" was. Oh, then there were the assholes that would run pugs but do a Armory check before letting you raid with them. Well just because I don't have the best in slot gear doesn't mean I don't know how to play. That sort of mentality was one of the driving forces in my decision to quit playing WoW all together finally.

That is what Blizzard was trying to eliminate by making it easier to find groups for dungeons and why people are complaining that it is now too easy. Now just start dropping random rare item drops to roll on into the mix and you won't be able to please anyone cause the leet kiddies will cry that they deserve it more because they can stay up and play all night and raid hardcore but the lucky guildless nub now has a better dagger than they do and doesn't deserve it just from a lucky drop. Well hell, I can't raid for it, but i can pay for it, so why not start selling items like that in a in-game store? What, that's not fair either?

I miss being able to just have fun in a game.

i feel ya, allthogether skill in this game to get gear is to have all the time in a world to do just that and nothing else.

having a job, child and wife and still love playing online is quite hard, and the time you have, you want it to be fun.

cheers

Sony says Free Realms has 8 million "subscribers" (i.e. registered users).  Is that really a useful statistic?  In WoW, a subscriber is paying $15 per month.  In Free Realms, a subscriber runs the gamut from the few people at the top end spending tons of real money buying all sorts of virtual crap to people that never waste their money all the way down to people that signed up and never logged in.  Sony obviously wishes people to buy stuff, however I doubt they'll be releasing any demographics on the percentage of user base that wastes their money.  I've seen the 89/10/1 rule as the model, but it's really just a hopeful guess.  I assume they'll release revenue numbers for the game, but I don't know if it's required.

OTOH, you can "play" Free Realms without a subscription fee and not feel guilty about still having a sub to another game.  So is Free Realms eating into WoW's playerbase?  I doubt it.

11.5 million is a lot of freaking people.

Four years was enough wow goodness for me :)