Yeah…seems a bit of a stretch to have a Hogger Model updeat being the make or break considering the major pain points of past expansions
I haven’t had a lot of faith since WoD and the expansions after it. We’ll see. I like what they’re throwing out and I like the articles they are providing players as well.
I’m optimistic, but still holding off on pre-purchasing
There are hints of a potential Torghast system which was on my wish list. I am super interested in the new Dragon flying. I’m waiting on the Warrior talent tree and I hope Prot is interesting. Professions getting attention is awesome.
I’m definately in the Entryway and staying a while and listening sicne it seems Blizz got the Hubris beaten out of them.
I like what I’m seeing, I like what I’m hearing, and the moment that changes, I’m back to hitting that dusty trail.
Really is the way to go about handling these things in this day and age. Stay for as long as it’s fun, then leave when it isn’t.
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I’ll hope for Dragonflight to be a success as well.
Right now, I’m not pre-ordering, much less intending to buy it. No Cross-Faction guilds on launch, no expanded customizations for other races, no new Allied Races, and Dracthyr being restricted to Evoker? Too much stuff at the most fundamental level is being left wanting for me to feel like this is a good investment of my money.
i reserve judgment on DF until the ALL of the progression systems are fully revealed, for both pve and pvp
I literally do not trust Ion and his team at all, he consistently leaves out forecasts and descriptions of systems and grinds that basically ruin the enjoyment of content and result in delivering a burnout experience or feeling forced to do many things you could only really enjoy a handful of times
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As much as I would like to see a return to those numbers and WoW to experience a second rise, I doubt it will ever happen, not with the current Dev team in charge. They will make changes sure, but they will never understand what made the game so successful during it’s peak, and if they do, they are too stuck in their ways to do those things again.
It would require the current Dev team to actually admit they were wrong with the design ideas they have been doing for the last few expansions, and I don’t see their pride letting them.
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Art Style and Story direction are very big reasons for people to say no to an expansion. You’d do well to acknowledge that if you truly hope for what you expressed in your original post. Both of those have been the 2 major reasons for both the dips and spikes in player retention.
The first dip was Cataclysm, story playing a big role. Second dip was Mists of Pandaria, both art AND story both major causes for those players leaving. Warlords of Draenor initially saw a big homecoming of the player base it lost in Cataclysm and Mists…only for those who came back and even more of those who remained leave due to the story.
Legion, Story and Art style saw a return to Warcrafts roots which in turn saw a sizeable amount of those who left return and actually stay throughout the expansion. Battle for Azeroth initially capitalized on that hope things were turned around, only for the story and art decisions to kill that hope and saw the return of players leaving. Shadowlands couldn’t even keep it’s returning players for longer than a month, with the story direction, art direction, internal scandals and alienating die hard fans all playing their parts in driving the population to the lowest point it has ever been.
And now we’re almost at the launch of Dragonflight and the reception to information outside of this forum has been luke warm at best. Even the reddit, which has traditionally been more of an echo chamber than even these forums, has been very critical of both the updated art and story direction. This is really something Blizzard and the remaining playerbase should be paying attention too, but neither really has a stellar history of actually listening so again, it’s hard for me to share the hope that you have in seeing the game climb back up to 14m players. I don’t even have hope it’ll see 1/3rd of that return for DF, or retain those that do for longer than a couple of months.
I don’t even think it’s a matter of pride-I think as a matter of corporate Policy they simply can’t.
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That’s reasonable. I feel like Wrath took place in a certain time in gaming history which made it really stand out. Blizzard has to figure out what it was that made it stand out and try to replicate that. They did that somewhat with Legion. However, a big problem is that they’ve kind of exhausted a lot of their original lead character lore. Beyond that many people who would play WoW are now grown up and don’t have the time to invest into the game. The current generation of gamers are into mobile stuff and whatever their internet idols are playing (which is often not WoW).
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Could be that too, or could be a combination of those things and other factors. I just feel like this current Dev team is so full of their own pride, they really never want to admit when they are wrong, and that will limit them in what they do.
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I feel there’s a more “frank” energy in some of their more recent interviews, but some stuff still feels like they can’t go Yoshi-P levels of transparent without PR aiming a gun at their heads.
common it’s like a joke that keeps getting better, you see the wiggle toes, then you see his name… it’s so good.
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Umm there’s nothing to acknowledge. I don’t think your friends decided not to come back to the game solely because Hogger’s model was updated. That’s all I wrote.
Your treatise on the story or art ruining every expansion is based on nothing factual whatsoever. Cata’s story was fine, people left because the dungeons were too hard at first and DS lasted way too long. MoP’s story was regarded as amazing, as was the art style and class gameplay. That’s what MY friends all said, and that was the consensus that I noticed on the forums at the time. Your statistics are being pulled out of your subjective tushy, as are mine. I do not agree with anything you wrote up there.
And I don’t actually think it would reach 14m, I’m being hopeful. Not naïve, either. Just hopeful and excited. And if it winds up sucking, I’ll still play because even bad WoW is a good time. Just so much to do. But I won’t feel disappointed, because I choose not to have a negative emotional reaction to a hobby.
maybe when they release classic plus after wotlk
Thay title takes on a whole new meaning here in Australia
Absolutely agreed. I want this game to do well. This is my game.
Name checks out.
I do, too. I think we all do.
But I’m personally not holding my breath. Blizzard has dashed my hopes too many times. Four years ago, Blizzard borked the guild permissions, which Ion said was unintended and they were working on a fix. Four. Years. Ago.
Still not fixed.
The skill trees alone will bring back a ton of people.
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Yeah it’s definitely a highlight for me. I would spend hours customizing my character’s skills if given the chance.