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World of Warcraft @ 10.1 million subscribers [Up: Blizzard: This is a lie]

Juraash

Member
So I've been playing since vanilla. I was probably overly zealous about the game through Wrath and spent a ton of hours being "hardcore". Cata was the start of the falloff for me, even though I was thrilled about Deathwing, Mists didn't really grab me either and I really couldn't stand Warlords. That said...Legion has brought me back. The story is fun enough and the content is really solid. Also it helps that, imo, Ret is about as enjoyable as it's been since Late BC/Wrath.

The numbers feel well earned for this release, it's been great fun so far.
 

Athreous

Member
I hope the FFXIV faithful see these numbers and realize the enormous gulf between 10.1 million active subscriptions (if that number is correct) and FFXIV's 250-500k.

Hopefully 4.0 takes more cues from the King and continues to evolve.

XIV actually has 4m+
 

Lanf

Member
According to Blizzard, the content lull in previous expansions was because they were trying to release an xpac a year and pouring most resources in that.

They stated that they don't have that ambition anymore, that the time between xpacs will probably be longer, but that there would be a more constant, steady stream of content.

Curious if they can deliver on that.

And yeah, this is the best xpac since WotLK, having a great time.
 

KLoWn

Member
I kind of doubt it... they are prolly showing those numbers to make ppl think that the game is "the bomb" again, but an increase in almost 4,5m subs is insane... I don't believe it, no matter what =p
Are you saying they're outright lying about the numbers?

I hope the FFXIV faithful see these numbers and realize the enormous gulf between 10.1 million active subscriptions (if that number is correct) and FFXIV's 250-500k.

Hopefully 4.0 takes more cues from the King and continues to evolve.
Kind of off topic, but how is FFXIV doing? I haven't followed it since I completed the Heaven's Ward main story.
 
The solo/questing content is really good, but I can see fatigue setting in and eventually unsubbing once I hit endgame progression. I don't see myself playing longer than 2 months.
 

Gnomist

Member
That's a much bigger boost than I would have expected given the age of the game and the number of other online options these days. It definitely feels well-deserved. I hope they get 7.1 out in a couple weeks to help maintain that momentum and keep interest going for the players who typically only re-sub for a month or two at the start of an expansion.
 

Arkeband

Banned
Are you saying they're outright lying about the numbers?


Kind of off topic, but how is FFXIV doing? I haven't followed it since I completed the Heaven's Ward main story.

I think they're in a fairly good position with the amount of content players can do at any one time, but then again, the same could have been said about the game in 2.5, and then suddenly we only had 2 dungeons and 4 poorly tuned raid fights when 3.0 came along, so we'll see how they handle the transition this time. WoW is much better at having a bunch of content right out of the gate.

As far as how it's evolved, it really hasn't. PVP is still largely ignored, they've been very afraid of making changes to classes (they finally made AST's competitive in 3.4), nothing's changed with dungeons or raids. The shallow roguelike 'deep dungeon' has found some success but other content (exploratory missions, Lords of Verminion) are dead on arrival.

It's probably worth a month's sub to catch up on the storyline, which is the game's strength, and there are a bunch of boss fights that are visually exciting.
 

sora87

Member
The legion experience was great but I've cancelled my sub this week, nothing left to do really as I don't want to do pug raids.
 

Oscar

Member
Yeah I'm loving this expansion, didn't enjoy MoP and Warlords.

I don't have as much time to play these days, so the world quest layout helped me gear for Mythics.
 

Gnomist

Member
Arkeband said:
As far as how it's evolved, it really hasn't.

This is my biggest fear with XIV, and especially 4.0. I feel like they've found their pattern and that they are going to stick to it. It's hard to get excited about something when it stops being surprising. Ideally they can find the right balance between reliable content at a consistent rate and exploring/implement new ideas in a satisfying manner. I'm hoping at least some of their dev team is playing Legion and seeing the pros and cons of the choices Blizzard made with Legion.
 

Lanrutcon

Member
Legion is meh. The honeymoon period is almost done, then people will start seeing the cracks. The amount of gating and grinds this xpac is insane and very apparent when you start working on alts.

Unless they start making world quests and mythic+ relevant to the masses the subscriber number will just plummet again.
 
That's great. Now it's time for them to prove they're serious about eradicating the content drought with their patch release schedule or else they're back to square one.
 

KLoWn

Member
It's probably worth a month's sub to catch up on the storyline, which is the game's strength, and there are a bunch of boss fights that are visually exciting.
Yeah, that's what made me try it out in the first place. I'll probably wait for the new expansion to drop and then marathon through all the story content.
 

Bio

Member
Usually I start to get bored with a WoW expansion after a solid month or so of playing but I'm still going strong. Just paid for my next month with in game gold, too, so I don't even have the financial incentive to stop
 

Jarnet87

Member
What is this game like as a new player jumping in in the year 2016? Will it all feel dated as hell?

I think new players have it better then returning players these days. you get the boost so you can jump into the new content, and because you are new you dont have the rehash with leveling new characters for the 100th time.
 

IvorB

Member
This is my biggest fear with XIV, and especially 4.0. I feel like they've found their pattern and that they are going to stick to it. It's hard to get excited about something when it stops being surprising. Ideally they can find the right balance between reliable content at a consistent rate and exploring/implement new ideas in a satisfying manner. I'm hoping at least some of their dev team is playing Legion and seeing the pros and cons of the choices Blizzard made with Legion.

They are trying new stuff to be fair. I enjoyed Diadem in the beginning. Even if it was ultimately flawed it's not unsalvageable. There was a cool idea in there. I also liked House of the Dead.
 
Woah that's a huge jump! I'm actually curious on how that compares to FFXIV since I've been seeing it gain popularity recently. I assume these are all current subscriptions and not accounts?
 

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
I miss WoW. I played from day one in 2004 until about 2011, I think that was during Cataclysm? No, I played a lot of Mists so it must have during Mists that I quit. But I still think about the game regularly and often contemplate subbing again to play some more. I love it, I just don't have the time to make paying $13/mo worth it to me.
 
The legion experience was great but I've cancelled my sub this week, nothing left to do really as I don't want to do pug raids.

Hadn't played WoW in sometime, but was thinking about it weeks ago. It seems that it might suffer still from issues that I have with many MMOs ; that many rely on content far too much. Once you completed everything, you either grind or replay the raids( if you were interested). Legion might get a big drop off like the past few expansions, but I really like if they have some form of persistent and dynamic content. I still follow the story every so often though.

Is the missions in order halls have little more of a purpose behinds giving you some loot?
 

Arkeband

Banned
wow has 10m active subs, ffxiv has 4m+ accounts made

to make this crystal clear since we're still juxtaposing active vs. total:

Total:
WoW hit 100 million accounts in 2014
FFXIV hit 5 million in 2015

Active:
WoW claims 10.1 million currently active
FFXIV has between 250 and 500k based on unofficial census data (they don't release sub numbers).
 
its a wonderful expansion honestly. It's about time they thought out the box more and took ideas from other great MMOs, while adding their own awesome ideas and charm into the game.
 

Azzurri

Member
I fear that WQ's and Mythic+'s dungeons have trivialized raid content because of how good of gear they drop. There is almost no point (gear wise) to raid N or heroic when Mythic + dungeons give much better gear, unless you just want to see the story and get some achievements. I

Also, the rep and AK gating for alts and (and to some extent your main) is really gonna burn people out , I mean it already has for a lot of people.

I do think this is the best expansion in a long time, but I fear if they don't do something about rep and AK ggrind people will stop playing because it just becomes a choir after awhile.
 

SargerusBR

I love Pokken!
to make this crystal clear since we're still juxtaposing active vs. total:

Total:
WoW hit 100 million accounts in 2014
FFXIV hit 5 million in 2015

Active:
WoW claims 10.1 million currently active
FFXIV has between 250 and 500k based on unofficial census data (they don't release sub numbers).

Fixed
 

notworksafe

Member
Sounds like the 10.1 mil number is bullshit

Polygon reached out to Blizzard directly this afternoon to confirm the number, and the publisher revealed that it "was a misquote or some kind of misunderstanding on the part of the journalist." Blizzard neither confirmed nor denied whether 10.1 million is the actual subscriber number at the moment but simply reiterated that it’s not planning to provide subscriber numbers any more.

"Our policy for almost a year now is that we do not talk about subscriber numbers, and Tom did not do that with this publication," a Blizzard representative told Polygon.
http://www.polygon.com/2016/10/4/13167592/world-of-warcraft-legion-subscriber-numbers-10-million
 

Cipherr

Member
The King stay the King. Gonna be a lot of salt on a certain subreddit I visit about Legion being an obvious success. It wont ever hit those highs again, but its still the # MMORPG in the world.

What is this game like as a new player jumping in in the year 2016? Will it all feel dated as hell?

It will be fine. None of the Wow launch content from 14 years ago is in the game today. They completely redid the world/quests/items since then so its all modernized.
 

ElRenoRaven

Member
Wow. That's not bad. Legion has been great. I really thought I'd play my 1 month then quit again till later in the year and do another month like normal but I've been hooked so far.

Blizzard has done a good job with this expansion.
 

Zackat

Member
It's the best expansion pack they have made, imo. There is more stuff for me to do than is possible and I play a lot.

If you are a new person now is the best time to really get into it. Really refreshing after the dumpster fire that was WoD.
 
Thats good but I don't see it staying that way, and see it dropping below what WoD had months after launch. The pattern isn't just going to fix itself, its pretty much inevitable that subscriber count will continue to plummet and probably stagnate at a much lower number until the next expansion hits. Rinse and repeat.
 

Daingurse

Member
I've been feeling the pull to come back myself. Seeing the Warcraft movie recently has only increased these feelings. But I would need to contact Blizzz to get my old authenticator off my account first though lol.
 

Zackat

Member
Thats good but I don't see it staying that way, and see it dropping below what WoD had months after launch. The pattern isn't just going to fix itself, its pretty much inevitable that subscriber count will continue to plummet and probably stagnate at a much lower number until the next expansion hits. Rinse and repeat.

Have you played this expansion?
 

bryt

Member
I quit in WoD and came back for Legion and even though this is considered the best expansion by many people I got bored of it in 3 days lol. I think I've outgrown WoW after having 450+ days played in the past 10 years. Not gonna be renewing next month.
 

Kawngi

Member
Legion is the best expansion since WOTLK so this is great to see. Their plans for content seem to be exactly what I want too. Congrats to Blizz!
 
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