Regardless of it its real or not I can imagine the numbers are the lowest they have ever been. WoW was on a downward trend before we stopped getting updates on sub count, that didn't magically stop happening.
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WoW sub numbers may have potentially leaked
- Thread starter Strakt
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I'm not taking the data with a grain of salt. Doesn't specify if its even US, EU, Asia, or all combined. It's extremely misleading data that will be blown out of proportion. Everyone's going to jump to conclusions and become armchair analysts without looking at the facts.
But there's truth in this. BfA had fantastic leveling and outdoor content, but 2 months in none of the new systems are well made. Azerite armor sucks ass. Warfronts are boring piss easy baby shit (you can't lose them, you can just fuck around and get free gear), and Island expeditions while cool idea, are worthless because fucking collecting Azerite sucks. The switch to a RNG based game is also extremely annoying. PvP gear is randomly acquired, no more vendors. Gear is titanforged with a socket. No more fixed bonuses or gear I can target. Everything is a fucking slot machine and it isn't fun. I don't feel like I'm growing my character's power, only going backwards. Leveling up from 110 - 120 offered 0 new spells or talents. Why the fuck isn't there level 120 talents? The class balance in this expansion is fucking bizarre too. Being a Shaman right now SUCKS. Nobody wants to take you because your DPS specs aren't performing well. The class was left broken until 8.1, which I haven't seen any news on.
BfA feels like Legion 0.5. Which is weird, because Legion was a lot fun.
But there's truth in this. BfA had fantastic leveling and outdoor content, but 2 months in none of the new systems are well made. Azerite armor sucks ass. Warfronts are boring piss easy baby shit (you can't lose them, you can just fuck around and get free gear), and Island expeditions while cool idea, are worthless because fucking collecting Azerite sucks. The switch to a RNG based game is also extremely annoying. PvP gear is randomly acquired, no more vendors. Gear is titanforged with a socket. No more fixed bonuses or gear I can target. Everything is a fucking slot machine and it isn't fun. I don't feel like I'm growing my character's power, only going backwards. Leveling up from 110 - 120 offered 0 new spells or talents. Why the fuck isn't there level 120 talents? The class balance in this expansion is fucking bizarre too. Being a Shaman right now SUCKS. Nobody wants to take you because your DPS specs aren't performing well. The class was left broken until 8.1, which I haven't seen any news on.
BfA feels like Legion 0.5. Which is weird, because Legion was a lot fun.
I'm guessing numbers will go up once Tides of Vengeance hits. The current end-game is fairly lackluster with both expeditions and warfronts being extremely underwhelming.
This and class balance are the biggest problems. We always had drop rng from mobs but we had currencies like Justice, conquest and honor to collect that we could buy things if rng didn't go our way. Now literally EVERYTHING is rng. All the the rewards for the incredibly boring Expedition and Warfronts are all rng with no way to buy the items with any sort of currency. PvP rewards are all rng in boxes. The forging on items is all rng and makes getting a cool item trash pretty regularly when it doesn't forge.
Honestly a lot of the subsystems in BFA feel more like a f2p game than a sub based one. *shrug*
I constantly wonder when the day will come when WoW winds down and Blizzard moves on. I have to imagine the next decade or so will only see the numbers declining and eventually people won't want to invest their time into such a dated title despite the constant expansion releases and investments in their character.
I'm not saying it's coming soon, I'm just wondering when exactly it will.
I'm not saying it's coming soon, I'm just wondering when exactly it will.
Yeah this is kind of the impression I got; Warforge/Titanforge was the beginning of the end.
WoW will never wind down. Blizzard has never cut support for their games. Diablo 2 still gets new seasons and patches when something might be broken. WoW has a hugely dedicated playerbase that will stick around for decades, game will never die out. Just not be as popular as it used to be.
3.2 million subs at the beginning of BFA when the addon sold over 3.4 million copies day one (https://www.gamespot.com/articles/wows-new-expansion-battle-for-azeroth-sets-a-sales/1100-6461380/), we are probably looking at 7+ million sales in the first month.
Nearly a halving of subscription numbers within 2 months when it took Warlords of Draenor half a year without a content update to reach a similar decay (from a much higher starting point!).
(https://www.mmo-champion.com/conten...ubscribers-Warcraft-Movie-Trailer-at-Blizzcon)
Even the not so well-received Addons hardly drop in the first couple of months.
Pretty sure those numbers are horseshit.
Nearly a halving of subscription numbers within 2 months when it took Warlords of Draenor half a year without a content update to reach a similar decay (from a much higher starting point!).
(https://www.mmo-champion.com/conten...ubscribers-Warcraft-Movie-Trailer-at-Blizzcon)
Even the not so well-received Addons hardly drop in the first couple of months.
Pretty sure those numbers are horseshit.
I dunno it seems like a fine number for an old ass game like WoW. I don't know what else you could really expect lol. I don't even know anyone who plays that game, but of course my own experience has nothing to do w/ the reality of the subscriptions of it. Just saying it's not surprising to me personally nor does it sound all that bad.
This information is dubious and not to be trusted.
But BFA is unpopular. Blizzard is probably not wanting this headache.
But BFA is unpopular. Blizzard is probably not wanting this headache.
1.7 mil is still an extremely healthy number. When classic comes out i expect to see that number skyrocket for the first month. Once the casuals drop off i expect it to even out but i think its safe to say the golden age of WoW has come and gone.
Did the pre-purchase through bnet a month early. Sub ran out before the game came out and didn't bother to resub. Game functions pretty much the same as when I quit 5 years ago, I expected way more than what I saw.
This has been safe to say since after WotLK. That was the peak.
I'm not quite clear how such a leak would indicate secondary purchases, however. There is a system of having multiple accounts tied to a single person, but I'm not aware of that being exposed to addons.
Numbers sound dubious to me.
I've no doubt that subs are dropping or will drop, though. There's always whining and complaining around WoW (and really any online game) but the current feeling around the playerbase regarding BfA seems incredibly negative. Like even more so than Warlords of Draenor. From people I know, to other players online, to content creators. Things feel kinda bleak at the moment.
And sadly I agree with most of the complaints. As of about a week ago I haven't really been playing and I don't see myself changing that over the next few months with other stuff coming out that I want to play. PvE progression in the endgame is just a mess right now and the big new features like Azerite armor and warfronts are a total flop imo.
To put it into perspective, it's the first real break I've had from WoW since 2010 during Cataclysm. Which sucks because I love a lot of the new lore and BfA's leveling experience was a lot of fun, and I want the game to be good, but it just isn't right now. At least at endgame.
I've no doubt that subs are dropping or will drop, though. There's always whining and complaining around WoW (and really any online game) but the current feeling around the playerbase regarding BfA seems incredibly negative. Like even more so than Warlords of Draenor. From people I know, to other players online, to content creators. Things feel kinda bleak at the moment.
And sadly I agree with most of the complaints. As of about a week ago I haven't really been playing and I don't see myself changing that over the next few months with other stuff coming out that I want to play. PvE progression in the endgame is just a mess right now and the big new features like Azerite armor and warfronts are a total flop imo.
To put it into perspective, it's the first real break I've had from WoW since 2010 during Cataclysm. Which sucks because I love a lot of the new lore and BfA's leveling experience was a lot of fun, and I want the game to be good, but it just isn't right now. At least at endgame.
While the veracity of this data is dubious, its numbers line up neatly with the available realmpop data, which approximates ~1.7m level 120 characters on U.S. realms. Meaning there's at most probably 800k U.S. players, considering most have 2+ max characters.
Considering that, what Nirolak rightly posted, and that subs had been precipitously dropping last time Blizzard divulged data at 5m total, I'd say these numbers aren't far off regardless of if they're well-sourced.
There's also the fact that Blizzard essentially removed realms and forced cross-realm play with BFA's War Mode, after years of focused advancement of their sharding technology, with zero actual realm mergers (which would be worse PR than "realm coalescing"). Server-specific queue pools are completely dead, as seen with the new and already inactive dueling guild.
Considering that, what Nirolak rightly posted, and that subs had been precipitously dropping last time Blizzard divulged data at 5m total, I'd say these numbers aren't far off regardless of if they're well-sourced.
There's also the fact that Blizzard essentially removed realms and forced cross-realm play with BFA's War Mode, after years of focused advancement of their sharding technology, with zero actual realm mergers (which would be worse PR than "realm coalescing"). Server-specific queue pools are completely dead, as seen with the new and already inactive dueling guild.
Both fromthe /r/wow reddit threadon this, which also outlines a few more reasons why this might be inaccurate (e.g. China).
Also yeah, there's no way that over 50% of players use WeakAuras.
So your sub ran out before you could play it yet you say the game functions the same without playing BfA...ok. You have no one to blame but yourself for wasting your money. Stop buying shit on impulse.
That's a lot less sexy of an explanation than 'the game is dying!'
I've honestly been extremely disappointed with BFA especially considering how much I enjoyed Legion. I log onto to raid a couple nights a week and that's it...Not sure how much longer I'll even be doing that. I think I got to my small break/only logging on to raid point very to the later stages of the Nighthold raid patch (7.1.5 I think). Came back when Tomb opened and stayed through until like the last 2 months before BFA.
I do like Uldir, but they've just slowed down combat too much for me, it's really boring now. Feel like I'm just waiting for abilities to come off of CD half the time. Before it felt like you had to get your priority abilities down/know your rotation all while dealing with movement/mechanics.
EDIT: Looks like it's false info, but regardless, I'm pretty disappointed in this expac so far. Everything outside of the actual raids I haven't enjoyed much.
I do like Uldir, but they've just slowed down combat too much for me, it's really boring now. Feel like I'm just waiting for abilities to come off of CD half the time. Before it felt like you had to get your priority abilities down/know your rotation all while dealing with movement/mechanics.
EDIT: Looks like it's false info, but regardless, I'm pretty disappointed in this expac so far. Everything outside of the actual raids I haven't enjoyed much.
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The golden age of MMOs has come and gone. Can you imagine a big budget MMO launching now that was purely subscription based, no MTX at all?
I do not think subs are so low but BfA has a good number of problems and Blizzard is failing to address them so far with bad communication being a big part of them.
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