Honestly? Several reasons but the main one would have to be theme. It’s all got to do with the advertisement and the message coming across.
Y’all remember BFA’s cinematic? Alliance troops laying siege to Lordaeron and Sylvanas going full banshee mode.
BOOM we were all hooked. We didn’t even know how bad the story was going to get. We wanted in.
Shadowlands? Lich king attacked. Realm of death revealed. Hell yes why not. We were in.
Dragonflight? We saw Horde and Alliance races having joy rides while trying to outpace a bad dragon. A living statue waking up to calm Alexstraza back. It was a lot less about a climactic story and more about overall old school adventure…without the usual hook. I remember originally looking at it and thinking how uninteresting it all seemed.
Players are willing to eventually excuse or look over gameplay issues while hoping it gets addressed, but if the story itself isn’t enticing…then why bother?
I think the developers over the years alienated a lot of your more traditional MMO players. FF14 does a fantastic job at catering to people that want to play an MMO, not an e-sport simulator.
WoW’s endgame 3 pillars are some of the sweatiest gaming I have ever experienced.
I will say that I started playing WoW in BFA because of the opening cinematic when Sylvanas went full on Banshee. That was enough to get my focus and I played on Horde then. Shadowlands cinematic was what got me to keep playing WoW because of the Cinematic. And I bought DF because of the cinematic but overall the expansion is kind of meh for me.
I mean it’ll be cool to play a Night Elf paladin. Cool enough to level another new main and gear but not enough to get me into the Dragon Isles. It’s missing that hook as you said.
Because no one cares about Disney fantasy dragons? Are you seriously this clueless or do you pretend to be naive and stupid because you enjoy doing so?
I studied advertising and arts and I could see how well BFA and (somewhat less) Shadowlands intro cinematic were. They showcased characters we have loved and grew up with for years (Sylvanas, Saurfang, Anduin, etc) in dire need which drove home that we wanted to be there.
Add to it the sense of a climactic buildup to a shattering event to take place: War, Void, Death, etc.
DF just had none of that really. Alexstraza is nice but she was never as famous/infamous as the others mentioned. It also just feels more like a family feud on a new continent rather than some impactful world-shattering adventure
The adage “two bad releases and it’s over” seems to be holding somewhat true. But MoP also had low release sales too.
The story is very, very mediocre. Dragonflight is fun in some ways and just the same boring open world as every other expansion minus a compelling story. Dracthyr aren’t as cool as the warlords of the AU and that shows in release sales.
If the next round is going to be Old Gods or Orcs fighting off the light and the cinemas really touch the spirit of the AU you can bet the release sales will be higher. It just depends on how bad or good the story turns out to be.
I have zero confidence in the design. They even brought dailies to D4
For me, i loved BfA other than the stupid necklace and borrowed systems.
Spent a lot of time in BfA.
SL came around and I played the first month and unsubbed.
SL was that bad.
2 years later and is DF.
Didnt buy due to the bad taste of SL and in between, played other more fun and friendly games like Genshin which is super fun and casual friendly. No stupid hardcore toxic people. Dont have to install addons.
Got a 7 day trial(now down to 2 days) for DF and frankly…it isnt that fun.
Im not into Dragons at all and so this xpac isnt appealing to me.
Played DF for maybe a few hours so far, enough to get my 60 to 61.
Not going to buy DF even at the current 40% off price.
I think this really is the end of the wow journey for me.
Dragonriding makes me not want to gather and that sucks. I’m looking to spend as little time in that mini-game as I possibly can. I’m even riding my ground mount in questionable terrain, it’s to that point. Getting on the thing is just a chore. Yes yes, fly straight up with all your vigor until you’re so far in the clouds you can glide anywhere. Doesn’t make up for the fact I can’t hover and multiple short flights are discouraged over one big dive. So I know I can make it to the world quest or most of the way through cave entrances, but I’m not going to bother stopping for that herb if it might mean I spend any time recharging on the ground.
So anyway I feel anyone who doesn’t “get” dragonriding. Quite a few of us don’t, it seems.
Moving on . . .
SL was when my brother decided to give retail another try. He retreated to classic ultimately. I talked him into buying DF but after getting an evoker out of the starting zone, he quit again to go play classic.
Basic extrapolation might suggest people coming back for classic may have bought SL to give it a shot, but big surprise it was not for them so they didn’t bother with DF.
Though now he’s just not playing WoW at all, so classic could be dead by now for all I know.
we were all hooked. We didn’t even know how bad the story was going to get. We wanted in.
