Blizzard Launches WoW ''Starter Edition''

[bryguy894]

[citation][nom]sliem[/nom]The Titan project lead guy/gal.[/citation]
second best?

 

[XZaapryca]

[citation][nom]demonhorde665[/nom]Look at EQ , the game that started the MMO craze, it died and well it's sequel couldnt even last out.[/citation]

Why does Ultima Online never get any love? Came out in 1997 and was the first MMORPG to have 100K subscribers. Hell, Richard Garriott (Lord British) was the first to coin the term "MMMORPG" in the first place.

Oh, and get off my lawn.

 

[gokanis]

I liked ultima online. It was fun. But once I had all of my characters maxed on two accounts, I got bored. Gave it to a friend to mess up his spare time.

 

[bmtphoenix]

This is a smart move on Blizzard's part. They're recognizing that the only "new" subs they're likely to get are those who play very, very slowly and haven't seen much. It's an infinitesimal portion of their subscriber base that might just grow because of this move, and it won't harm the big moneymaker, the casual with all the xpacs that plays a few hours a day, in any way. In fact, it might bring some friends of said casual player on board.

Most of the "hardcore" players are gone. They got bored a long time ago. I'd guess, from playing WoW for as long as I did, that half the players are people who are only hanging around for the social aspect, about a quarter are kids who just now got access to the game, and maybe that last quarter are people that have actually played the game long term and are sticking with it.

The rest of us are playing newer games like RIFT and Aion, and waiting for things like SW:TOR, Titan, and whatever else looks interesting.

 

[bmtphoenix]

Oh, and by the way, there's no need to speculate on when WoW hit its peak. The numbers have been made public. They had around 12 million subscribers about halfway through WoTLK. After Cata came out, it got close to that again, then rapidly dropped off to 11.4 million, lower than pre-Cata.

They had a chance to really reinvigorate the game with Cataclysm but skipped it, for some reason. I'm really not sure what they were thinking. Why give some users the boot by upping the system requirements but add little or nothing in the way of end game that wasn't already done many times before? Hell, last I saw, there wasn't even any new models for end game mounts. Even the "new" drakes were re-skins of re-skins. No one wants to grind for that.

 

[dgingeri]

I don't know about anyone else, but I "jumped ship" because it was harder to get decent groups for dungeon runs. I can tank or heal just fine, depending on which lvl85 character I bring, but having to deal with totally incompetent group mates is infuriating. DPS bringing in other groups of mobs because of tab targeting or bad positioning kills a group run really quick. Oh, there are bad tanks and healers too, but those are far fewer than stupid DPSers. I just got sick of it and left for Rift.

 

[bmtphoenix]

[citation][nom]dgingeri[/nom]I don't know about anyone else, but I "jumped ship" because it was harder to get decent groups for dungeon runs. I can tank or heal just fine, depending on which lvl85 character I bring, but having to deal with totally incompetent group mates is infuriating. DPS bringing in other groups of mobs because of tab targeting or bad positioning kills a group run really quick. Oh, there are bad tanks and healers too, but those are far fewer than stupid DPSers. I just got sick of it and left for Rift.[/citation]

Yep, this goes back to what I was saying above. As people who know and have played the game leave, the odds of getting a kid who had no idea what he's doing will increase.

Say what you will about everyone being a noob at some point but that doesn't mean I want to spend hours teaching them, nor do I want to spend two hours doing a thirty minute heroic because that guy is 12. Then when I leave, because I keep getting kids, your odds of getting a kid next time you hit the LFG queue increases.

Eventually you end up with a bunch of kids playing the game (Runescape) and they don't even like each other.

In the meantime, the only people left that are willing to play an MMO but haven't tried WoW are...more kids. The ones who are left get fed up with it and leave en masse for other games.

I agreed with the people that said that, since WoW was still very much on top, it wasn't "dying". Right up until I saw that the population is down from what it was pre-Cataclysm, less than a year after release.

The fact that they're basically giving away some of that extra server space is smart but it's just a tourniquet.

Need proof that even the biggest can die while still maintaining a decent size? Look at General Motors.

 

[executor2]

First i want to comment on the Rift case. I have played the demo , and left me disappointed. The game is clearly a WOW clone , but very very poorly implemented. I chose to play the original WOW in stead of a clone that drops the bar of quality ( i only subscribed recently to WOW).
Second the most awaited MMORPG is Guild Wars 2 . If you search the net http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_massively_multiplayer_online_role-playing_games you will see that GW is the second bad ass game. I have also played it and it is sound .
Third ,i want to comment on all those who claim that WOW should be F2P , i say you this :"if you wanna play a quality game , be prepare to pay it" . WOW won't be F2P ever because it has sound game-play , good implementation , social networking and a lot of Fun.

 

[dalmvern]

I have beeen playing the game basically since the first release and for me it is more about the people I am playing with more than anything else. Hell I have met half the people in my guild outside of the game on some occasion or another. Personally, I will continue to play until the game shuts down or my friends start playing another game.

 

[Guest]

So, Rift is anything but fresh and new...only the dynamic raid is different than WoW. Don't get me wrong I'm now longer a WoW subscriber, but after buying Rift, and putting in solid hours for that first month, I really don't see why people are building it up soooo much. And I've also cancelled that sub. I played wow for 5 years, quit after wrath for 2 years and gave Cata a whirl. Wow is still, hands down the best MMO out there. If you want WoW F2P try Runes of Magic...wow clone to the nth degree...and for F2P its actually really good.

 

[Guest]

I've been playing the Starter Edition of WOW for 6 days now and I love it. I've heard of it through friends, family and South Park for years but I never played because it seemed dumb to pay money monthly to play a game.

As of now I have a warrior at level 20 and I can make 9 more characters. I plan on trying out each of the classes. The game is really fun and I can see myself eventually buying the game and paying monthly.

In my opinion those "hardcore" WOW players are quitting because WOW is becoming mainstream and they don't think it's "cool" anymore. Good riddance. Us "noobs" are going to take over. Leave or adapt.

 

[Guest]

I was hecka thinking about getting into WoW, but reading all these comments kind of ruined it for me. I love MMORPGs, but if the people playing aren't happy, I don't want to be around them. That would just kill my mood.

 

[Guest]

I hate how fast the intallation is it takes up a lot of space and time

 

[Guest]

I love the concept of the Starter Edition, I don't like paying for games, and if there is an opportunity to play a game for free i'm sure too take it. But one thing I don't like about the Starter Edition isn't the level cap, or most of the restrictions... The one thing I really want is the ability to trade via mailbox, exchange, player-to-player. Its difficult if one of your friends needs food, and they can't get it. I really wish they would change that aspect. Everything else is amazing!