If you think PF is the reason for 7 mil loss, or even a moderate reason why people quit, you should never own a business.
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No its simply one of many reasons but its merely one symptom of a much larger condition Blizzard is facing
Watcher needs to stop living in his little bubble and realize how badly his do it my way or else smug condescending attitude is hurting the companies reputation
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Thats a Preacher before they earn the ER at the end. 
Meanwhile, in Drustvar, you finish routing the witches in the forest and one of the NPCs tells you that the forest is now safe to fly over and calls in the griffins to carry you back to town. That moment had the exact feeling that I assume they want players to have when they unlock flying…unfortunately, I completed it several months before flying was available.
they aren’t handing out $60 boosts
they are handing out free boosts
its just that the rest of the time people are paying $60 for something that costs blizzard nothing, good on them for getting people to buy it imo
name changes, server transfers, boosts, all that stuff is pure profit for blizzard (pets and mounts aren’t, someone has to be paid to design them and put them in game)
and subscription money is freakin huge, do you know what 5 million x $13-$15 is?
thats $65-$75 million per month
losing 7million subs is $91-$105 million per month in lost revenue, that matters, to anyone, that matters to a Fortune 500 company
plus every time a wow token is purchased from the store that basically turning someones $13-$15 monthly sub fee into a $20 month sub fee
I believe the wow token was a direct response to the sub drop in WoD, wasn’t it? WoD released November 2014. Tokens released April 2015, 6 months into the expansion. If I’m correct on the timeline, that demonstrates how Blizzard used the store and services to recoup the subscription losses and then some, which is why I previously stated the loss might not be an issue to them.
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As stated in my other responses, in the context of this discussions Ion is considered upper management. With the OP not explicitly referencing executive-level management, Ion is fairly classified as upper management. With the entire scope of the discussion being about a mechanic unique to WoW, Game Director would be considered upper management. The context of my post is in reference to Ion and others on his level as upper management.
I don’t care how to try to justify it, losing $91-$105 million per month in revenue is a HUGE deal to any company, that $1.092 - $1.260 BILLION per year in lost revenue
and wow tokens accomplish 2 goals: it helps curb gold sellers, most people would prefer to pay more and avoid the possibility of getting banned
and it artificially inflates subscription prices, everyone that buys a token on the AH for a free month of game play is literally having someone else overpay for their month for them, in return for a computer in a closet somewhere changing some numbers on their gold purse
and yes, of course the store is a way to increase their revenue, all the more important when the subscriptions dipped, but don’t be naive enough to think they are making enough money to not care about $1billion + in lost revenue per year
I think by definition upper management makes decisions for the company. He only makes decisions for the direction of WoW, which is one department of many within the company.
But whatever. If we can’t even agree on what upper management is, this conversation is going nowhere.
Yes, it’s a big deal. Hence an example of an immediate response to correct that big deal (and then some), no longer making it a big deal.
Zero relation to the topic.
Hence, recouping losses.
Which is exactly the original point I made about upper management stepping in when they started gushing subs. I’m listing ways Blizzard acknowledged and corrected a major problem to make it a lesser issue, and you just want to bicker about how big of an issue it is to Blizzard.
by what definition?
Ion can be upper management if you are talking about the game itself
but certainly not if you are talking about the company
think of it this way Ion is the GM of an individual restaurant, Blizzard is the restaurant chain
as far as the servers and cooks are concerned the GM is upper management
Those customers have the forever option of never flying. I am not given the option to use store bought mounts as intended, that is flying mounts.
So, your opinion is invalid since my play style does not take away from your play style, while your play style takes away mine. How is it your view is more valid than mine? It is not.
Let me fly and I let you walk or use a ground mount.
See, I let you play the way you like. Why do you hate the way I play?
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Typically that much lost revenue would lead to people in lead positions being fired but yet Blizzard not only doesnt hand out pink slips they also continue to make similar bad decisions which lead to more lost revenue
At this point im almost convinced theyre purposely trying to tank WoW but rather than just sunset it like other gaming companies did with their aging or unpopular MMOs they instead are taking the longest road possible to make players leave out of boredom or burnout etc
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thats certainly a possibility
or perhaps, they know the game will only last so long, they know that eventually people will leave, they are just trying to slow the bleed a much as possible and capitalize on it while they can
Do you just like nitpicking every comment I make? I already stated the definition I was going by in the paragraph. First sentence: upper management makes decisions for the company. I even preferenced it with, “I think,” to be blatant that it was an opinion.
Yeah but the problem is Blizzard is notorious for “breaking a guys leg” aka trying to fix an issue that worked fine then goes to try and fix it by putting a bandade on that leg then finally punching them on the cast and saying ahh itll work you big baby just walk it off
yea no
no amount of adding services and stuff to a shop makes losing $1 billion a year in revenue “no longer a big deal”
imagine the revenue the shop would have produced if it was servicing 12 million instead of 5 … that loss in revenue due to 7 million subs leaving is considerably more than $1billion per year
I won’t feel the need to bicker if people don’t say stupid stuff like losing the revenue from 7 million subs “isn’t a issue to them”
upper management of a company makes decisions for a company
upper management of a game makes decisions for a game
so ion can be upper management in a certain sense
and im not nitpicking for fun and entertainment, you were talking with someone else who was using upper management to refer to Ion, were you not?
I was just trying to clarify saying he could be considered upper management, when you felt the need to nitpick the other guy
You…really don’t get the point I’m making in the slightest. We’re mostly in agreement, and you don’t even realize it.
Let me ask you this: do you think Blizzard stopped reporting subscriptions because they’re embarrassed or because they’re no longer a legitimate measurement of the health and profitability of WoW?
I don’t think we are in agreement
I think losing 7 million subscribers is a massive blow
I don’t think the store makes up for it in the slightest
I think the store is a boost to revenue, for sure
but losing those 7 million subscribers also loses the money they would have spent in the store
the store is nice bonus, but the subs are far more important
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And, as you nicely pointed out, WoW tokens alone generate more than a sub.
Of course, losing 7 million subscribers is a big deal. I already said it was, from the beginning, over and over.
This is where we disagree. I think those store and services numbers get flaunted every quarterly meeting as assurance to investors that WoW is alive and well.
As a business, I would hope they don’t concentrate on what they’ve lost and focus on new ways to generate money. When I was salesman, I never would’ve cut it had I worried more about lost customers over new/loyal customers. Yes, you poke and prod and try to incentivize those former customers to give you another shot, but at some point, you’ve got to recognize the loss as a loss.
The flight debacle was almost five years ago. That might as well be a million years ago for a corporation.