the day wow goes f2p is the day wow is officially dead in my eyes. when an mmo goes f2p, it's because the player base is dwindling and the current amount of players can't sustain the game. we've seen this time and time again. there's even a youtube series called death of a game that has covered many mmos and it's the same thing every time. if you're waiting for wow to go f2p to play it, i hope you realize that the game will probably be in it's death bed at that point.
no it will never be f2p because there's always a huge amount of autistic fools to give activision $20 USD each month even when they continually get worse and worse each expansion it's just the way it is
WoW is steady going downhill after WotLK. Pandaria was nice and close to content adding, but since then it's downhill.
Cataclysm - first big player decline, awful dungeons, awful raids, overall mediocre expansion
Pandaria - awesome graphics, player base went up again.
Draenor - the moment WoW nearly died, the moment they started hiding subscriptions (lol 2,4 million at the moment they hid and was going downhill, EU top 50 guilds had zero competition, my guild was top 75 back then and we were 5-6 active players)
Legion - the moment I canceled my subscription, awesome start, DH and shits and just 1 year/raid got me pissed, the grinding was also insane.
BfA - cool features, paid and played for 3 months casually (10 hours/week max) and it seems the game is somewhat alive, based on my realm and Azmodan clips realm pops I'd say 3-4 million subs at peak.
Game is too old now and most old gamers have family, kids and other shit to spend their time. IT just can't compete with League, Dota 2, Fortnite and etc. new games, because of the time dedication needed.
Weird ... i hated nearly everything about WotLK. It ruined so many important aspects of the game. In fact, the roots of the "money sapper" nature of modern WoW can be traced directly to that expansion.
That's why I'm looking forward to Classic, and I hope in the future Classic doesn't blindly follow the progression of the expansions. I would rather see it follow a new trajectory that respects the core of the game and the ideas that set it apart from what it devolved into.
You get that Classic is just Vanilla WoW and nothing else. No expansions. No new content. Just Vanilla and nothing else.
That is what it is at launch, but Blizzard has already hinted at things they might do if it's popular. They are not going to just leave it alone.
It is a test case to see if the old style of the game can gain any real traction instead of just being the nostalgia trip they used to believe it was. If people are willing to play it and stick with it, it is important for Blizzard to dig deeper to find out why -- what do players actually like about it?
One thing I'm sure about -- people did NOT simply want a reset of the timeline or a progression server as they've done in EQ. People wanted Classic -- and are vocally praising the beta -- because of the greater challenge throughout the leveling process, not just at endgame. The challenge makes every step of the way more meaningful and creates a deeper bond between player and character, not to mention fostering the growth of in-game community spirit and consequences.
My hope is that they will never expand the Classic world with new zones. Keeping everyone contained in a small space is critical to the sense of community. They can easily add new content to old zones so that high-level players have reasons to revisit them.
Another thing they can do is halt the vertical progression at level 60. Future progression can be horizontal, giving you new and different abilities, but not necessarily more powerful ones, and definitely not just bigger stats. There is a lot of room for interesting, rewarding character progression that is more interesting than bigger numbers. Bigger numbers are the laziest design path ever invented in RPGs.
WoW is steady going downhill after WotLK. Pandaria was nice and close to content adding, but since then it's downhill.
Cataclysm - first big player decline, awful dungeons, awful raids, overall mediocre expansion
Pandaria - awesome graphics, player base went up again.
Draenor - the moment WoW nearly died, the moment they started hiding subscriptions (lol 2,4 million at the moment they hid and was going downhill, EU top 50 guilds had zero competition, my guild was top 75 back then and we were 5-6 active players)
Legion - the moment I canceled my subscription, awesome start, DH and shits and just 1 year/raid got me pissed, the grinding was also insane.
BfA - cool features, paid and played for 3 months casually (10 hours/week max) and it seems the game is somewhat alive, based on my realm and Azmodan clips realm pops I'd say 3-4 million subs at peak.
Game is too old now and most old gamers have family, kids and other shit to spend their time. IT just can't compete with League, Dota 2, Fortnite and etc. new games, because of the time dedication needed.
The downfall started with Wrath, that's where the seeds of shit were sown...Cata just covered it in whipped manure.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you thought you knew what you think I know, then you'd know I knew you knew I know.
the day wow goes f2p is the day wow is officially dead in my eyes. when an mmo goes f2p, it's because the player base is dwindling and the current amount of players can't sustain the game. we've seen this time and time again. there's even a youtube series called death of a game that has covered many mmos and it's the same thing every time. if you're waiting for wow to go f2p to play it, i hope you realize that the game will probably be in it's death bed at that point.
no it will never be f2p because there's always a huge amount of autistic fools to give activision $20 USD each month even when they continually get worse and worse each expansion it's just the way it is
WoW is steady going downhill after WotLK. Pandaria was nice and close to content adding, but since then it's downhill.
Cataclysm - first big player decline, awful dungeons, awful raids, overall mediocre expansion
Pandaria - awesome graphics, player base went up again.
Draenor - the moment WoW nearly died, the moment they started hiding subscriptions (lol 2,4 million at the moment they hid and was going downhill, EU top 50 guilds had zero competition, my guild was top 75 back then and we were 5-6 active players)
Legion - the moment I canceled my subscription, awesome start, DH and shits and just 1 year/raid got me pissed, the grinding was also insane.
BfA - cool features, paid and played for 3 months casually (10 hours/week max) and it seems the game is somewhat alive, based on my realm and Azmodan clips realm pops I'd say 3-4 million subs at peak.
Game is too old now and most old gamers have family, kids and other shit to spend their time. IT just can't compete with League, Dota 2, Fortnite and etc. new games, because of the time dedication needed.
That is what it is at launch, but Blizzard has already hinted at things they might do if it's popular. They are not going to just leave it alone.
It is a test case to see if the old style of the game can gain any real traction instead of just being the nostalgia trip they used to believe it was. If people are willing to play it and stick with it, it is important for Blizzard to dig deeper to find out why -- what do players actually like about it?
One thing I'm sure about -- people did NOT simply want a reset of the timeline or a progression server as they've done in EQ. People wanted Classic -- and are vocally praising the beta -- because of the greater challenge throughout the leveling process, not just at endgame. The challenge makes every step of the way more meaningful and creates a deeper bond between player and character, not to mention fostering the growth of in-game community spirit and consequences.
My hope is that they will never expand the Classic world with new zones. Keeping everyone contained in a small space is critical to the sense of community. They can easily add new content to old zones so that high-level players have reasons to revisit them.
Another thing they can do is halt the vertical progression at level 60. Future progression can be horizontal, giving you new and different abilities, but not necessarily more powerful ones, and definitely not just bigger stats. There is a lot of room for interesting, rewarding character progression that is more interesting than bigger numbers. Bigger numbers are the laziest design path ever invented in RPGs.
"Why, you never expected justice from a company, did you? They have neither a soul to lose nor a body to kick." -- Lady Saba Holland
The downfall started with Wrath, that's where the seeds of shit were sown...Cata just covered it in whipped manure.
If you thought you knew what you think I know, then you'd know I knew you knew I know.
Well good news -- it's already free to play as long as you make enough gold in-game to buy a token each month.
"Why, you never expected justice from a company, did you? They have neither a soul to lose nor a body to kick." -- Lady Saba Holland