Is WoW still as Huge as it was?

Hedge · 3 Jul 2010 at 11:45

I quit wow a couple of years ago, and so too did my mates who played alongside me.

Since then Ive been outta touch with it. But Im curious. Did lots of people grow tired with it like we did, or is it still strong as ever?

Servers still rammed?

neverender · 3 Jul 2010 at 11:51

It's still massively popular for sure, though I don't think the latest expansion (Wrath) has been anywhere near as much of a success as The Burning Crusade. Blizzard haven't released subscriber figures for some time and many realm forums are starting to report fairly big populating imbalances between Horde and Alliance, pointing to a definite stalemate/downturn in the playerbase over the last 12 months or so.

That said, many accounts are going into hibernation right now as people wait for new content in Cataclysm, which brings so many new changes and refreshments to the old world that I image Blizzard are banking on seeing a pretty notable rise in subs and re-subs toward the end of the year. A lot is riding on Cataclysm to 'save' WoW ut, realistically, would you bet against Blizzard to screw it up?

Kesz · 3 Jul 2010 at 11:54

I stopped playing not too long ago this year and I still found it to be very popular. And now with the cross realm options for groups you'll always be a few clicks away from people.

I played on EU-Terenas, and while it was never really considered a high pop server it was always very much full of people, mainly in the evenings (as with most servers I'd guess)

I think it'll go on for quite sometime. When people leave there will always be others to take their place. As much as people hate it, I do believe it is the best one out there, although that is my opinion and not fact.

Hedge · 3 Jul 2010 at 11:55

I stopped playing before WOTLK came out , but in the run up to that even it seemed that it was proving easy for people to get good items and that kinda took away the whole challenge of it.

maybe that was a good thing, because times when I thought it was fun to raid Molten Core for like 12 hours on a sunday to get no loot are now gone

.Sean · 3 Jul 2010 at 12:43

It's still massive, 10 million players or something. It's not going to die any time soon. People have gotten bored, but more than likely they'll come back or be replaced by new players.

Xinn · 3 Jul 2010 at 12:54

Hopefully most of those 10 Million will stay right where they are when FF14 comes out. Can't be doing with their whine and pvp e-peen.

DooMeR · 3 Jul 2010 at 12:55

I lost interest in the game when rotlk came out. Gear got easier and easier to get. The game seems more about gear now and gear score not how well you can play your class.

But yeah its still a popular game just too much about it bug me now to go back.

The only thing i miss about wow is the old instances people dont seem to play any more.

Tombstone · 3 Jul 2010 at 13:59

Its still hugely popular and to be honest 9 out of 10 people who are on a hiatus from it will return when Cataclysm comes out. I already see people who havent been in WoW for a long time perking their interest up again due to the imminent arrival of Cataclysm, all the other MMOs know too that their subscriber numbers will take a hit as people head back to WoW to check out Cataclysm so expect to see quite a lot of MMO offers planned for later this year to try and combat the Cataclysm effect.

BigBruiserAl · 3 Jul 2010 at 14:06

I gave up as soon as gear score become the need not a guide. I played with people with 5k+ GS and they had no clue then others with 3k+ who played their class well.

Phinor · 3 Jul 2010 at 16:54

Gearscore killed the game for me. That, and the way everything is gear focused now and there's nothing to do in the game besides raids. I think the biggest failure was the way Blizzard handled 5-man dungeons ie. made them nearly useless even on the first day of the expansion. What was the point, when the first raid was easier and gave better loot? Heroics should last at least a year, now they lasted half a day.

Hoping that Cataclysm fixes some of the issues but it doesn't look like it will. A good guild will go a long way towards enjoying the game though so if you can find one, go for it.