Everyone has his favorite theory what causes WoW to fall in subscriptions. They all claim that this or change deviated from the "golden age". Surprisingly, all of them are right. Not this or that change is responsible for the decline. Changes in general are.
I was in TB for a fast win to go BH. We lost. I'm not used to lose TB, since we practically owned the place. But we did not go there for long long time. Others told that TB is usually horde controlled nowadays. However we still have queue. I mean the server has 2x more horde than ally but still ally has to wait to get in. Why?
Tol Barad on most servers are often traded. It is its normal state. Then we came and changed it to 5 minute assault wins, 15 mins 100 kill, zero death crazy Slag defenses, so the horde lolkids learned that "TB is no fun". We left long ago and die-hard horde PvP-ers got it back. But the horde lolkids did not return, despite the reason why they left is no longer true. They can't change their mind as they never made a conscious decision. They did not say: "an organized guild runs a TB ownage projects, I have no chance without similar organization so I leave". They simply went there and did not have fun, so they left. They have a bad feeling about TB and it lasts.
Every time Blizzard made a change to WoW it caused bad feeling in people who did not like it and they left. Changing it back did not help. You could go to their house and tell them that "hey, WoW is no longer bad", it wouldn't help. You can't argue feelings.
Those who tried out WoW in Vanilla and TBC and found it "too grindy" or "too hardcore" are lost to WoW. The fact that 2.3 made leveling much faster, did not bring them back. It alienated some who liked leveling. When WotLK changed raiding into "accessible", it did not lure back a single guy who quit in frustration over Lady Vashj, nor the /follow "heroics" did not make those return who couldn't finish Sethekk Halls and left. But lot of people who liked Vashj, Sethekk, Magister's terrace have left in disgust. When 4.0 made the /follow command insufficient to complete a 5-man, these people did not return. But others who liked to get rewards for nothing left in outrage. When Jindo the Groupbraker introduced the dance-based endgame, none of the "i won't farm sres for Mother" people returned. But those who liked building gear left. When DS was no longer a dancefest, it did not get Larísa back, but several "l33t" left because "itz no skill anymore".
In a game, an entertainment feature there are no second chances as people are not forced to play. If my car breaks down I still must travel, so I won't throw it away. But why bother waiting for a game fix?
A change, any change alienates people but don't "un-alienate" a single one. Design a game and stick to it! Vanilla-BC could have 15M if not changed. If WotLK would be published as a new game it could also have 15M. Maybe Firelands-game too. But the "first Vanilla, then WotLK, then Cataclysm" does not have a chance.
Of course I don't say that WoW could live 7 years if it would be still 1.0. Certain addations are welcomed, but please notice that they are not changes. These are:
I was in TB for a fast win to go BH. We lost. I'm not used to lose TB, since we practically owned the place. But we did not go there for long long time. Others told that TB is usually horde controlled nowadays. However we still have queue. I mean the server has 2x more horde than ally but still ally has to wait to get in. Why?
Tol Barad on most servers are often traded. It is its normal state. Then we came and changed it to 5 minute assault wins, 15 mins 100 kill, zero death crazy Slag defenses, so the horde lolkids learned that "TB is no fun". We left long ago and die-hard horde PvP-ers got it back. But the horde lolkids did not return, despite the reason why they left is no longer true. They can't change their mind as they never made a conscious decision. They did not say: "an organized guild runs a TB ownage projects, I have no chance without similar organization so I leave". They simply went there and did not have fun, so they left. They have a bad feeling about TB and it lasts.
Every time Blizzard made a change to WoW it caused bad feeling in people who did not like it and they left. Changing it back did not help. You could go to their house and tell them that "hey, WoW is no longer bad", it wouldn't help. You can't argue feelings.
Those who tried out WoW in Vanilla and TBC and found it "too grindy" or "too hardcore" are lost to WoW. The fact that 2.3 made leveling much faster, did not bring them back. It alienated some who liked leveling. When WotLK changed raiding into "accessible", it did not lure back a single guy who quit in frustration over Lady Vashj, nor the /follow "heroics" did not make those return who couldn't finish Sethekk Halls and left. But lot of people who liked Vashj, Sethekk, Magister's terrace have left in disgust. When 4.0 made the /follow command insufficient to complete a 5-man, these people did not return. But others who liked to get rewards for nothing left in outrage. When Jindo the Groupbraker introduced the dance-based endgame, none of the "i won't farm sres for Mother" people returned. But those who liked building gear left. When DS was no longer a dancefest, it did not get Larísa back, but several "l33t" left because "itz no skill anymore".
In a game, an entertainment feature there are no second chances as people are not forced to play. If my car breaks down I still must travel, so I won't throw it away. But why bother waiting for a game fix?
A change, any change alienates people but don't "un-alienate" a single one. Design a game and stick to it! Vanilla-BC could have 15M if not changed. If WotLK would be published as a new game it could also have 15M. Maybe Firelands-game too. But the "first Vanilla, then WotLK, then Cataclysm" does not have a chance.
Of course I don't say that WoW could live 7 years if it would be still 1.0. Certain addations are welcomed, but please notice that they are not changes. These are:
- Bugfixes, balance issue fixes, graphical updates: the game was always meant to be stable, fair and good looking, these just fix errors.
- Content patches: new flavors of the same type. If you liked questing in the Barrens, you liked Blade Edge too.
- Optional side-fluffs: ponies, pets, Darkmoon and seasonal silliness. They are optional, if you don't like them, you ignore them.
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