Comments on: [WoW] In which, surprisingly, subs don’t drop

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 17 May 2012 10:53:53 +0000

China is now all caught up with the rest of the world. They’re on 4.3, and have been since December.

By: jalindrine

jalindrine — Wed, 16 May 2012 02:26:51 +0000

Or rather, I think they’re not leaving in droves because so many of them are now already burning through MoP beta content in the largest beta of all times.

I wondered about that, but figured they can’t be letting a significant number of people in. Are they? Looks like all the annuals plus some unknown additional number (http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/4639551/Mists_of_Pandaria%E2%84%A2_Beta_Opt-in_and_FAQ-3_20_2012).

Nothing has ruined expansions for me more than having thousands who already know exactly where the goodies are. It’s like playing Game 2 of Adventure. For the experienced it’s a speed run, not a real game.

Does make me wonder who typically drops. Seems casual players would finally be getting close to end game content. Are the hard cores staying b/c of beta, and the casual non-end gamers already moved on?

By: doonewoodtac

doonewoodtac — Sun, 13 May 2012 15:51:24 +0000

I wonder how they will continue to handle annual pass subscribers once D3 has been issued. You know, they could deny access to play D3 if the annual sub isn’t upheld. That is to be seen, but somehow I don’t think D3 will remain “free”. If the sub lapses, they will probably tell you to buy D3.

By: azaael

azaael — Sat, 12 May 2012 11:34:04 +0000

I admit I’m in the boat that thinks-especially given the amount of low-pop servers in the US/EU, that Asia gained and I remember that the game is out in Portuguese as well, now? I’m sure that put a few more subs on the map. So the subs are stable, and I suppose 10m is 10m where ever they are located, but I also kinda remember subs are handled differently in China. I do think that a good million or so from the US/EU ended up as subs in China/South America. But, well, they’re looking at the fact they’re stable, I imagine, and not where the subs are coming from, but I definitely think that there is stuff not being said here, naturally.

By: roqoco

roqoco — Fri, 11 May 2012 17:05:27 +0000

Maybe its just that RL is a bit dull right now with all the economic gloom and the next gen ot MMOs isn’t quite ready to fly yet.

By: Dwism

Dwism — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:05:15 +0000

I’m one of the players who returned. I got resurrected and hooked once again. Albeit in a very very light mode compared to pre-cata (when I last played).
I’m just having fun in game, trying out things i’d never have done when I was raiding. Doing holiday achieves, pvp, grinding for archaeology pets. Never thought I’d have fun playing wow without having a raiding purpose.

By: Redbeard

Redbeard — Fri, 11 May 2012 11:13:54 +0000

If so, it’s just a temporary fix until people get the gear they need. I wonder how many short term fixes Blizz can keep rolling out before the well runs dry.

By: Zellviren

Zellviren — Fri, 11 May 2012 10:58:13 +0000

Maybe not.

I’ve had arguments with you in the past, Ratshag, but I think your mentioning of transmogrification is putting the dogs on the scent. It’s become wildly popular in a very short period of time, and it essentially makes all past content relevant again; this might significantly cushion the disappointment of the lowest amount of endgame content we’ve ever seen in an expansion.

The other things mentioned in the thread are perfectly valid and I agree it would be close to blind guesswork trying to figure out how the subscriptions have stabilised, but I think transmogrification is a large contributor to this success.

By: spinks

spinks — Fri, 11 May 2012 04:54:14 +0000

I dunno. If you know you are going to play MoP and are bored of Cata, why not unsub until MoP drops?

By: Sith

Sith — Fri, 11 May 2012 04:37:08 +0000

I would have guess a slight decline instead of stable but not too surprised.

SOR & AP were great business ideas.

I really like the vibe from MoP. All of the Cataclysm rhetoric about seeing if they can appease the forum warriors enough to make a million customers unsubscribe. And they could really fail, but if scenarios finesse the Holy Trinity, that could be game changing, at least for DPS.

So if you know you are going to play MoP, I just don’t see it being worth it to unsubscribe for a couple of months.