When I
read on Warcraftrealms that players have been steadily leaving WoW since the release of the expansion, I admit surprise.
There is so much content in TBC I can't imagine anyone getting bored.
I can already hear the heckling from the back of the room as I say this, but think: the top raiding guild just downed Illidan. Exactly how long will it be until an average raiding guild, let alone a casual one, will be able to accomplish the same feat? Love it or hate it, the expansion increased not only the lands we were able to visit, but the quest lines we could follow, the races we could play, the factions we could prove ourselves to. I am overwhelmed by the amount of things I have the opportunity to do in the game now, to the point where I have trouble picking most times and end up bouncing between doing my daily quests on my mage and leveling my Draenei priest.
Why then are people leaving the game? Is it that they see it as something conquered once you reach 70? Is it that despite how much content Blizzard puts out it just never is enough? What do you think Blizzard can do to stem this downward spiral?
[via Warcraftrealms]
Tags: burning crusade, BurningCrusade, leaving wow, LeavingWow, players leaving wow, PlayersLeavingWow, tbc, warcraftrealms
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Blizzard
Jun 13th 2007 at 3:53PM 
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 8)
Michael Jun 13th 2007 4:02PM
If you look at that graph, you see a seasonal spike corresponding with Christmas, and exacerbated by the release of a new product (TBC), and then a leveling down to trend. There isn't enough data yet to make a conclusion.
Mike Schramm Jun 13th 2007 4:05PM
Yeah, what's even more interesting to me is that the numbers were still going up before the expansion. I'd imagine that if you look at a graph of gaming in general right now, it's down across the board, because gaming always slows down over the summer (which is interesting in itself, because when I worked at Gamestop, we were actually much busier with all the students out of school). It may be that WoW has peaked, but I don't think the game has started a downward spiral yet.
dcmetrocoaster Jun 13th 2007 4:06PM
I think we might be seeing a decrease of accounts as not only the goldfarmers are being blocked or booted. But the goldbuyers are not willing to put the actual gametime in to level their alts or mains when they are not able to buy as much gold.
Carver
Craig Jun 13th 2007 4:12PM
This very topic was discussed in the forums over at Subcreation, and the gist of the responses is that simply it is a matter of been there/done that.
2 plus years in a game, if you're going to hold people's attention you can't take the same thing and re-skin it so it seems new. At that point there has to be significant changes in the way you play your character in the game to keep your attention. I don't think WoW has quite reached that point yet. People are leaving, sure. But not enough to warrant drastic changes...yet. I still enjoy playing. Not as much as I used to though. It comes with the territory.
I'm looking forward to Warhammer, as I know are a lot of people. Why? Because it isn't WoW...
Tigraine Jun 13th 2007 4:10PM
HAVE YOU EVER LOOKED OUT OF YOUR WINDOW?
Sorry for caps, but when the outside temperature reaches above 30° you want to be outside swimming, lying in the sun or going out with friends instead of sitting in front of your Computer and be playing.
That all.
Syrio Jun 13th 2007 4:11PM
While I still actively play and raid, the expansion has been a huge letdown to a lot of people.
For example:
- The raiding environment has been absolutely horrible; no fun, no reasonable reward, lots of mindless stuff (trash)
- The PvP environment has failed to live up to promises; although arena is fun, it seems like either you're in the top 0.5% or whatever, or you get the same gear as every other scrub who does it, there is no real way to separate yourself plus the same old class imbalance
- The solo/casual environment is nothing more than reputation grinds for mediocre rewards, and even with the recent patch, all we got was more... reputation grinds. There aren't many/any long, challenging, expansive quests in the game beyond maybe Cipher of Damnation and a couple others. I would love to have seen something akin to a combination of the Ahn'Qiraj gate quest and the hunter/priest MC quests, where you have to complete a long and challenging line that actually requires some very solid solo play.
- The crafting systems are more or less broken. Professions like enchanting/JC on many servers can't make any money since people just give the expensive stuff away to skill up, blacksmith plans now require 25-man content for the best stuff, leatherworking is completely useless, and tailoring became a "you need to have it if you're XX class" thing. And I won't even mention engineering... haha
In the past you could have both "hardcore" and "casual" raid guilds, you could have hardcore, organized PvP groups and more casual solo PvP, and there were a lot more long and interesting quest chains and dungeons throughout the game (IMO).
Now, raiding beyond Karazhan is almost exclusively for the hardcore guilds and even they don't get much of a reward out of it, the focus of PvP is on smaller 3-5 person teams, leaving many casual players constantly in search of a team willing to take them, and everything else -- including all the 5-man instances in Outland -- has been reduced to reputation grinding.
The game can still be and often is fun, but I think quite a few people who came back for TBC expecting something different saw a lot more of the same and a much less friendly environment for the casual player, and split.
Crypt King Jun 13th 2007 4:11PM
The drop from 40 to 25 raiding probably has some influence on those numbers as well.
D-5 Jun 13th 2007 4:13PM
Time commitments, awful community at times, repetive gameplay, etc. Personally, I usually can only play in two-month bursts. It's awesome in the beginning then I gradually get bored of the game when I near the two-month end. Plus, I'm a console gamer at heart.
PyroAmos Jun 13th 2007 4:16PM
naw, TBC ruined raiding. SSC atunement is a pain, and only other raids to do are kara, a 10 man that destoys guilds (another reason, so many guild breakups due to the resizing of raids.) and gruul/mag, which are walk in and kill, 1 hour encounters once you learn them. clear kara/gruul/mag on tuesday and wednesday and you have nothing to do for the rest of the week but stand in ogrimar. the new instances are incredibly short, and get old very fast (compare arcatraz, the longest tbc instance to scholo, or strat, or brd... 4 bosses vs 12 bosses in scholo, 13 or so bosses in strat (not counting postmaster/rare spawns), or the 12 hours you could spend clearing BRD heh, theres no comparison. walk in, clear a few pulls, boss, few pulls, boss, few pulls, boss, done. Not to mention epics drop so much from kara/gruul, theres no upgrades in instances or even heroics (or the few upgrades that there are, take so little time to get, anyone who really wants them has them), and rep is SOOOO much easier to grind out (4 months grinding argent dawn rep before BC got me barly into revered, 2 months in tbc not even grinding really got me exaulted all outlands), so it is very easy to run out of stuff to do.
Stormsinger Jun 13th 2007 4:19PM
Assuming this isn't accounted for by non-play related sources...
One thing that I find sort of discouraging about the current game is the emptiness and pointlessness of the old game. Maybe this is because I'm on a low pop server, but it is new, so it should be getting players. Anyway, Azeroth pretty much feels irrelevant now. When I think about leveling an alt I find myself thinking, "Must get to 58 so I can go to Outland!!!"
Sure, there were discouraging things in pre-tbc WOW, but now it feels like the only "life" in the game is 58-70. Everything else feels meaningless. So for old timers the focus has limited and for new comers the old stuff is devalued by the established play base. I mean, it must be a real drag finding a group for VC/WC up to ST. Apart from the surge of Belfadins and the odd Space Shammy, there just isn't much life there. Hopefully the 60-70/Outland excitement will wane and people will reinvigorate the mid levels.
One of the things I really felt was missed in TBC was the 20-58 zones. That's a huge chunk of play time (probably the biggest for newer, casual players) and it was not upgraded the way 1-20 and 58-70 was. I hope in the next expansion they focus more on the older stuff and making the gap between beginning and end game more appealing.
Shrug.. 2 cents, not deep thoughts.
xavioremu Jun 13th 2007 4:19PM
IMO BC isn't anything special or really new.
Yes, theres new content, and new instances, blah blah blah. But when it comes down to it, there hasn't been a lot of real 'changes' to the game. I think a lot people want to see something NEW. Something that hasn't been done in WoW before. If you think about it, all WoW is, is a grinding game that repeats itself. You grind to hit the next lvl cap, then you grind to get the best gear, which entails rep and instance grinding - only so that you can run raids and grind those instances for even better gear. One day you might have all the gear and gold you need. Finally an expansion comes out, and you do it all over again.
Theres gotta be something new Blizzard can add that would actually be DIFFERENT then what we've been doing since day one. I've never had as much fun as I did when I first started playing WoW. Once I got used to that, it was the same thing at 60, and now in BC.
Just my thought.
TheManxX72 Jun 13th 2007 4:20PM
TBC indeed introduced much new content, but it also destroyed the old content. Sure going in with a 10 man team of 70's to old end game is amusing but there is no pay-off. Can I fly my new Netherdrake mount in the old content? Can I get nice new loot in the old content? Of course not, the only reason I go back is to level my new alt, help a guildie, hit the AH, or go in the Caverns of Time. Today I'm constantly farming motes for my tailoring and gold, running Shadow Labs over and over and over...for rep. Its starting to get /gulp boring.
Can it be fixed? I would like to think so and here are some suggestions:
1) Heroic's for the old instances to include great gear drops.
2) Lower ground mount level requirements. I'm sure they still get new players but I can only assume the majority of players are long time members of the WoW community. After having a flying the thought of using my feet makes me dry heave. How about just allowing "veteran WoW accounts" to get a ground mount at level 20?
3) This is a stretch but to be able to fly in the old world would be outstanding! The dev's already stated it would take an enormous amount of work to make this come true, but it sure would make 8 million customers happy.
These are but a few ideas of many...
Nion Jun 13th 2007 4:28PM
@5
How can you say the raiding environment is horrible? I readily admit that I never ran a 40 man, but in my opinion the raiding content is more accessible, very interesting, and rewarding. I was really burning out on the game, and then as my guild started doing Kara it really breathed new life into my addiction. ;)
I think that #1 is 100% correct, big spike due to Christmas gifts now leveling out both due to expansion growing pains and Christmas newbs leaving.
Kire Jun 13th 2007 4:25PM
IMO I have thought about leaving before I hit 70. Im so bored\tired of kids talking in general chat of who "pwned" who. And all the terrible "your mom" cracks. It gets old. Where are the GM's? Is there anyone monitoring this stuff?
And with addition of more faction grinding (yay what fun) and the constant need to do something in major city (pain in the butt for Dial-upers like myself)its all totaling to a poor game experience.
Anywho just my two cents worth.
NeuroMan42 Jun 13th 2007 4:29PM
I just quit today. Basically I have gotten bored with the game. I even paid to move my main toon over to a server that local friends play on, but the boredom is still. With school, work, and family just don't have the time OR desire to be bothered anymore.
Ambril Jun 13th 2007 4:31PM
Judging from that graph, I do not see a game on decline so much as I do a game that is still near its healthiest point to date. It's reasonable to consider that people who "came back" at the expansion will not have their attention held for long. Excluding the expansion release spike, it's still gained more than it's lost since Dec. I agree with Michael ~ too soon to tell.
amasen Jun 13th 2007 4:30PM
@ 5 syrio
You said it.
Nothing for casuals but endless grinds.
Horrid raiding for only the best of the best.
Poorly designed professions.
In my opinion. Illidan's dead and no one but a handful of guilds will ever be able to say the same. The game only caters to those who play 8 hours a day, otherwise you see almost no progression and NO meaningful content.
Aaron Jun 13th 2007 4:32PM
so heres my take on it. while it's still really early to think that the game is losing sooo many customers. i do know that a lot of people left after getting to 70 and realizing:
1. that resizing the guild to fit 10 mans and 25 mans will tear guilds apart. This led to lots of people, my roommate for example, leaving and not care enough to go through the hassle of earning rep in another guild.
2. earning 5k gold for the cool mount is never going to happen. specially for us shams that heal.
3. the raids, for being so tough, just weren't worth the rewards. that has been semi-fixed now.
4. there was nothing like having 40 people all get together and kill internet dragons. it's a different atmosphere now. back then when you first killed rag you peed a little.
5. and wtf the game has already been finished by some euros, remember how long it took for people to finally down KT and how long a newly released raid would take for some random top guild to beat.
ohh the good ol' days.
Dave Jun 13th 2007 4:37PM
There may not actually be more people leaving WoW than before. Even when the bars on the chart are going up, people are still leaving the game; they're just being replaced more quickly by new players. It's possible that the game has reached a saturation point of sorts; the number of new players coming in may be decreasing simply because WoW has already reached a largish portion of its potential market. The game is well-known enough as a life-eater now that many potential players may be scared off as well.
Another possibility is that the free 10-day trials may have created artificial highs as lots of people who weren't really that into it subbed for just a month or two.
Rich Jun 13th 2007 4:34PM
I've noticed more and more people leaving. This has been slowly growing since about March really. People hit 70 and realized, its no different that it was before the expansion. Sure there was more to do, but it was still raid, farm rep or level alts. Some of the things are greatly improved with TBC. But the game can't be all rep grinds for frankly mostly subpar stuff (there are few exceptions).
From what I experience and all my friends (who have largely left) was the game has gotten old. The new content really is just microwaving 2 day old stale bread. They've moved on to other games or away from the computer.
I think the more telling thing is the not the number of people leaving, but the number of new people who didn't flock to the game with the expansion.