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Blizzard: Over Half of Ex-World of Warcraft Players Returning from Warhammer Online
by Chris Faylor, Oct 16, 2008 8:32am PDTOver half of the World of Warcraft players that left the popular PC MMO for Mythic's recently launched Warhammer Online have since returned to Azeroth, Blizzard claims.
"We've seen a significant number of people, well over half, that cited Warhammer as their reason for leaving--they've already returned." Blizzard COO Paul Sams told GamesIndustry.biz. "It surprises me because Mythic is a very good company and it doesn't surprise me at the same time because it's really hard [to make an MMO]."
"I think Warhammer is best positioned to succeed out of the various products that have come out thus far since World of Warcraft has come out," he explained. "It seems to be a good game, certainly a great company, Mythic and Mark [Jacobs] over there and his team, they're very, very talented."
"We respect those guys over there a lot and certainly wish them well to succeed but having registration troubles, having server troubles, these are things that come with the territory."
Since its September 18 debut, Warhammer Online has amassed over 750,000 players. World of Warcraft, launched back in 2004, currently has 10.9 million subscribers, with a new expansion pack, Wrath of the Lich King, due out November 13.
"Each time an MMO has come out we've seen some amount of reduction of use," Sams noted, adding that the company saw a drop when Funcom's Age of Conan launched back in March. About 40% of those that left for Age of Conan had returned by July, according to Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime.
Comments
Really? The WAR launch was far an away the smoothest MMO launch I have ever experienced. The WoW launch was extremley poor compared to it. Since then it has been smooth sailing as well. I can only remember 1 instance of server downtime that wasn't scheduled and even then it was very brief... 10-15 minutes. Didn't have any registration problems either.
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My comment upon canceling my WoW account was 'WAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! Bitches!', so I'm not sure that got counted in his numbers. I don't recall there being a specific option for WAR when I canceled. I was in WAR closed beta for 6 months before the game came out.
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"RvR is awesome! The scenarios are definitely the best part of this game"
"Ya I love being able to just do scenarios all day"
To me, scenarios are the worst aspect of PvP in MMORPGs. There is no difference between queue-ing for scenarios in WAR than it is queue-ing for bgs in WoW besides being able to do it anywhere. Gameplay-fun-factor-wise, it's the same boring grind.
And you know what's worse? Keep taking/sieging is fun the first two times. Than you realize you're either spamming HoTs and group heals, beating down doors, or standing there looking dumb. Plus the lag is almost unbearable on my supercomputer.
The true RvR, the rvr that made DAoC so great is missing. All the DAoC 8v8 ganking veterans who returned for WAR think that this game had potential but missed the mark. The game isn't fun at level 40. Standing around keeps isn't that great and the small areas of each zone dedicated to roaming world PvP is too small. One set of battle-swords pop up and you'll get zerged by each side. They tried to mimic WoW's BGs but instead of making it a side option, they made scenarios the popular PvP choice and now we're back to scenario grinding.
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Wow, I thought Blizzard was a good company, but their epeen is reaching epic proportions. Seriously hope a company comes and pops Blizz's baloon. Relic is on there way, but with the new direction of the DoW series I dunno anymore.
And I do agree with the other posters. I'm on Sylvania right now and they do need to do something to kick RvR into high gear. They either need to ditch scenarios or double server populations, maybe more (increase the max capacity), both would be preferable. Scenarios are too easy for lazy people (mmo players) and there aren't enough people doing RvR when it happens for it to be epic.
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I found the leveling to be way too slow as well. And ingeneral, the population is way too dispersed. I'm not sure what the point of Open RVR is if nobody is fighting over areas.
It's a good game, but I guess I love WoW more.
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So who are they talking about? What % of people canceled their WoW accounts to play War, and less than a month later came back? That just doesn't make sense.
Was the question asked when they left or when they came back? if it was asked when they left, I'd like them to cross-reference the credit card used, because I'd bet that a lot of WoW sold their characters on the way out.
Both are great games. The Blizz guy seems to be making statements that are way too broad and ripe for misrepresentation.
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Though I have to say I’ve been getting my money’s worth out of Warhamer. I’d hate to see people quit before the masses had the chance to move in to the tier 4 zones.
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;-)
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For Hells sake blizz. You make a good MMO ok? We know that. So how about a little STFU about how much better you are than every other MMO, and how many subscribers you get, and how superior the Blizz is.
WE KNOW.
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Bring on MMO mud slinging!
zzzzzz
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1) How many people quit WAR to return to WoW
2) How many people switch over just to try the new talents, and may or may not stay after they get a taste.
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However, in terms of what will remain for the WAR player base, there are a few things that number does not take into consideration:
-People who cancelled WoW subscriptions stating a different reason, but are playing WAR
-People who plan on subscribing to both WoW and WAR
-People who never played WoW but are playing WAR (Tabletop fans, DAoC fans, etc)
- etc ( probably more- this is just a few I can name off the top of my head)
I have to say I am vastly enjoy WAR, it has its faults and problems - but every patch they've released so far has had at least one, if not more fixes for one of major complaints. So, for the time being I'll being sticking with it.
I actually changed my sub from 1/month to 6/months the other day - I'm 100% sure I'll still be playing it 6 months from now - and saves money in the long run.
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People have been playing WoW without any kind of other game for 4 years now. Its the nice warm chair that has been fitted to the indentation of collective gamers asses, Mine included. Then again i didnt exactly drop WoW to player war, instead i play both. No reason to play Wow (I was in the Wrath Beta). I will play a bit in Nov, currently though, War is my RvR fix.
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