Originally posted by roo67

Originally posted by papardelios

Originally posted by expresso

I logged on last night about an hour before xpac went live, bare in mind I have not played for about 9 months, I saw more or less all my old guild mates online and many others who have joined since I stopped playing.. but this is just one observation of one guild on one server... but from my perspective WoW is as popular as ever. 

why not? the game remains popular anyway and you may count all those who already get rid the failed swtor/tera/tsw and in a short time gw2.

I'm not sure GW2 will fall in the same way as other games when you look at the facts . 1.7 million boxed sales thus far since launch and that doesn't count download sales which had to be put on hiatus because of demand . There will be some drop off as there is with any game but its far too soon to right off such a game . It sounds like more that your hoping it will fail than taking a balanced and mature view at the subject .

WoW still very popular but its not as popular as ever it lost a quarter of its subscriptions in the last 2 or so years . Had 3 million players returned I suspect we would have seen far more full servers . Its all guess work at the moment but I would think they may have had around 1/2 million returning players but I supect the numbers prior to that had probably fallen to 8 to 8.5 million .

 

Actually SWTOR sold more copies than GW2 did.

 

SWTOR had everything, The Best IP, a reputable (formerly) Company, and the money of EA and look what happened 6 months later.

GW2 sold slightly less copies. The only thing GW2 does that surpasses SWTOR is its rabid fanbase.

GW2 is just as vulnerable as any other Themepark Disneyland game.

This was at about 3am PST this morning. Pandarian Starting Area. It was far from as crowded as I had seen other expansion releases.

 Nothing to write home about! There are some fairly common WoW portions that everyone is probably use to, and then it does seem like they are adding some of the more "kiddy" features that they are slowly  incorporating in every new expansion. 

All in all it is WoW and it is fun so far.

My server is busier than I've ever seen it last night but I had to log before Midnight. We'll see what it is like tonight. I'm excited!

Originally posted by MeGaTronPower
all my old friend have returned as well. all 100 :p that includes my old guilds. Everyone is back once again the circle is complete.

I wouldn't worry too much, they'll all be gone in a few weeks and you'll be alone again :)

Yes. If there is an expansion, you can bet money that the population will go up in numbers a good deal no matter the game. Its a gamble you would always win unless they maybe completely butchered the expansion to break the game, but even then the first day of expansion would at least have more people then the day before after everyone left.

Originally posted by MeGaTronPower
all my old friend have returned as well. all 100 :p that includes my old guilds. Everyone is back once again the circle is complete.

LOL  Yeah well all TEN THOUSAND people I know that used to play aren't returning.  

Originally posted by Ghost12

Actually SWTOR sold more copies than GW2 did.

SWTOR had everything, The Best IP, a reputable (formerly) Company, and the money of EA and look what happened 6 months later.

GW2 sold slightly less copies. The only thing GW2 does that surpasses SWTOR is its rabid fanbase.

GW2 is just as vulnerable as any other Themepark Disneyland game.

SWTOR sold 2.4m copies after 4 months

we dont know how many copies GW2 will sell after 4 months

 

otherwise i agree that any themepark is vulnerable

I will say this. I logged into Rift today on my lunch break to complete my World Events dailys and get my Spectral Najmok. I can say with all certainty, there is a much greater drop in overall online server population today than there was during the entire period from 8/25/12 to 8/28/12.

Originally posted by GeezerGamer
I will say this. I logged into Rift today on my lunch break to complete my World Events dailys and get my Spectral Najmok. I can say with all certainty, there is a much greater drop in overall online server population today than there was during the entire period from 8/25/12 to 8/28/12.

I bet it has nothing to do with the fact that WoW has 9 million + active accounts and Rift and WoW being so similar.  Why would you play Rift when you can play the original?

For what its worth returning from my family is 2 out of 6.  Cata is the last expansion I will buy and I regretted that. BC is the last expansion I enjoyed a ton. Wrath was ok but it started the downfall of many things I don't like with the game now. Good luck to Blizzard and hope to see them when Titan comes out. 

People always come back for an expansion then leave in a few weeks. Shallow themeparks just don't give players many reasons to stick around.

MoP is bringing me back, the question is when. Do I return now and face possible queues and over crowded zones? Or do I continue on with GW2 for a while longer and then return when the initial WoW surege has passed?

 

I'm leaning towards now, because most of my friends have already left GW2.

Originally posted by Zezda

Anecdotal evidence and all that.. 

 

I'm living with 3 other people who use to play WoW until Cataclysm, none of them will be returning this expansion. The 4th person who never played MMO's before and just at some deep level had no love or time for them is playing GW2. Not sure how much time he has spent on it but he is about level 55 and from what he's saying he is quite enjoying it so far. I think the reason he likes it is that he can wander around and do his thing and not need to worry about having a purpose. He's lived with people who played WoW since it launched and he says it just never appealed to him because of all the Guild Drama and raiding and stuff. He did quite enjoy being able to play with myself and the other guys here without there being any hassle and I think that sort of interaction is a pretty big deal for him.

There's a few guys in my work who use to play as well. Out of the 5 that I still speak with only one of them bought MoP. Having said that I'm pretty sure none of the others play MMO's at all now.

So personal anecdotal evidence aside.. I get the impression that on forums such as this the amount of interest/articles and such seems to be a lot lower than I seem to recall previous expansions. I don't doubt it's going to sell a lot but I don't think it's going to be close to Cataclysm or WotLK.

I have been saying this for a while, the success of MoP will be determined by how many new players it brings into the game. Many of the old players are just burnt out or don't like the direction of the game since burning crusade.

 

If MoP brings in new players, then it will be a success. If it doesn't, then after a quick bump in numbers, the players who came back for MoP will get tired and leave again until the next expansion.

Originally posted by Psychow

Do I return now and face possible queues and over crowded zones?

CRZ works in reverse too - CRZ will spawn multiple zone instances if zone is overcrowded

Totally not.

For many of the ex WoW player I know who stil held up with WoW MOP was the last straw and 80% of them just totally left WoW joined GW2 today for the better. Almost five full WoW guilds from my hundreds of internet friends just quit because of MOP and joined GW2. Totally true story!

Originally posted by Eir_S

Originally posted by GeezerGamer
I will say this. I logged into Rift today on my lunch break to complete my World Events dailys and get my Spectral Najmok. I can say with all certainty, there is a much greater drop in overall online server population today than there was during the entire period from 8/25/12 to 8/28/12.

I bet it has nothing to do with the fact that WoW has 9 million + active accounts and Rift and WoW being so similar.  Why would you play Rift when you can play the original?

I am sure it has everything to do with the fact that they are similar. Rift is more like WoW than GW2.

And to answer your curiosity, I play Rift becuase the open world PVE raids are the best there are.

All expansions bring back people. The normal inflation then reduction follows. I would think though that this expansion will sell the least of all Wow expansions. I of course could be wrong. I think this due to the rather lack of hype around this expansion and also the circle of gamers I know ALL (every last one of them) are not planning on purchasing this expansion nor returning.

 

This is in sharp contrast to each previous expansion where I and each of my old Wow friends purchases and played the expansions upon release. Our last guild which was largely a family run guild where every single member of one family (and many expanded members) along with my core mmo rl friends no longer plays Wow nor is planning on returning. There is also no talk about it at all amongst the gamers within the IT community where I work. The hype for MoP is simply non-existent where I live in the circles I used to hear nothing else but Wow previously.

 

I suspect the sales will be decent of course and those playing Wow will mostly enjoy it. I haven't even researched at all the content within it. I expect it will be like all the others and tier the game up to a new level making all previous content 99% irrelevant and within a month turn into a "sit in your main city and queue your life away". This is why every single former Wow player I know quit the game.

 

Wow is too big to collapse overnight but it certainly has peaked and bleeds more players on average than gains them. It has become dependent upon players who know little to nothing about other mmo's. I see blind defense arguments for Wow from people clearly with no experience in other mmo's prior to and since Wow. Wow's core player base is now divided into two groups: their old school players who played upon release and new players largely from non-pc gaming who know Wow for what it is today and not how it used to be. Old school players with previous rpg experience are leaving to seek experiences they have become accustomed to ... slower leveling, open world content, large guild cooperation and community. New school players seek diversity in gaming and content, want their rewards quickly without the added encumbrance from large guild and community building and expect ease of access from all the games they play. Wow can no longer nurture a tight nit community as it is impossible due to its size. They admit their players come and go more than any other time in their history and their content and marketing reflects this. This is also why my guild and friends at my age no longer even talk about the game.

 

Mop will do exactly what Activision/Bliz expects it do to ... to pad quarterly sales and then see a dramatic drop off soon after. They will then plan their next income surge in the appropriate investor’s cycle. They will target their largest client market from the most recent research reflects. Each shift in player base will have Bliz alienating the previous. Those 15-25 who are currently being coddled will graduate, find jobs, start families and see the next expansion suddenly leave them in the dust as Wow is directed into a different development path once again. They will also seek other games and be frustrated with where mmo development is headed. Activision/Bliz is in a battle of attrition like all mega-companies. They want % increase in growth instead of supporting and nurturing existing communities and creating sustenance over growth.

 

Yes players will return but more players will leave then remain. The current development cycle does not support it's community as a whole. You are compartmentalized and dissected for your worth. There comes a time where every single player will see this and become disenfranchised. It is only a matter of time.

I won't be returning. It feels good. I rolled a pandaren on trial, that was enough.

Well I just played it for half hour (spent over an hour in a queue mind you) and I kinda have the WoW bug again.. the atmosphere, music pulled me right back in, only stopped playing cus the lag was too much and I forgot how to play my hunter, I'll give a few days and jump right back in.  Still have GW2 to get to cap only lvl 64, but as GW2 end game is rather limiting I think it's all worked out rather well.

Rift is a better game than WoW.

WoW has loads of players in EU, Rift does not.

WoW it is.