Blizzard: "Well Over Half" of Players Who Deserted WoW For Warhammer Are Already Back
Posted 10/16/08 at 07:38:19 PM by Nathan Grayson
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Well, that was quick. Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, Blizzard COO Paul Sams claimed that Warhammer Online was no 18-hour raid boss. The battle's over, and the spoils of waaaagh clutter Blizzard's side of the field.
"The good news is that we've seen a significant number of people, well over half, that cited Warhammer as their reason for leaving - they've already returned," Sams said over the deafening roars of BlizzCon.
But, regardless of whether the game's a direct competitor or merely Led Zep to Blizzard's Beatles, Sams handed out Warhammer Online's participation ribbon with an air of humility -- hedging his bets on the MMO's future success.
"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. 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," he explained.
"But I think without EA they would have struggled as well, because EA fortunately for them has a lot of money and so they were able to put forward a lot of marketing dollars and were able to support the huge infrastructure that they require for these kinds of games. It's a tough road and as I said, if we had not had the benefits of the trust of our customers because of the years of delivering for them, I think that we could have been in trouble a few times. There have been big challenges and mistakes that we've made and we've been fortunate enough to get by them."
So MPC readers, who's pocketing your subscription money at the end of each month? WoW or WAR?
Both? Don't go down that road, folks. It's a slippery slope.
still play Everquest
Submitted by MarkJ on Fri, 10/17/2008 - 11:13am
I'm still playing everquest after 9 years. I found WOW extremely boring. I am liking Warhammer though, so far.
Submitted by Muerte on Fri, 10/17/2008 - 11:08am
I was with WoW since the beginning. Dropped my subscription after they nerfed the content to make it easier to level before their next expac. I know why they do it but it does not make me want to do the same quest, grind the same monsters for the same things for the 3rd time.
So I switched to War. Just makes me a little angry that I did not start my WoW toon on a PvP server. Wathammer is designed for war. Being able to be a part of a siege to the enemy keep or fortress is a lot of fun. There is boiling oil and siege engine and cannons. Hell I'd play just to watch one but its more fun to be involved. I can't wait to march on the Empires main city.
Submitted by Kaldor on Fri, 10/17/2008 - 7:42am
Basically if you want long PvE raids, and lots of grinding, go play WoW.
If you want a game thats fun and the ability to sit down for an hour and make some progress, play War.
I will never play WoW, ever. I hate PvE, I hate bad PvP, I hate raids, I hate care bear games like WoW.
WoW noobs to stay in WoW....
Submitted by Velcrow on Fri, 10/17/2008 - 9:43am
Soooo basically you just said you've never played the game, but hate it none-the-less. Biased much? I've never played it, but I sure as hell am not gonna spout off garbage like I have.
"WoW noobs to stay in WoW...." Not even sure what that means. You play War so you're elite?
You're pretty emotional about this whole thing. Does somebody need a hug?
Submitted by Sithinious on Fri, 10/17/2008 - 4:46am
I've left WoW for WAR and don't plan on ever looking back.
As an immigrant
Submitted by Sonickid101 on Thu, 10/16/2008 - 9:29pm
Not from that stinking pile of dung called WoW but from Mythics other hugely successful RVR MMORPG Dark Age Of Camelot. I think I have found my new home and likes squishing stunties and slicing high elves, WAAAGH!!!
Submitted by BrookV on Thu, 10/16/2008 - 6:34pm
I don't like the grind. I don't like the idea of 25 man raids. I like feeling like I can log on and off any time I want. Short sweet dungeons and scenarios! WAAAGH!
Submitted by strykyr on Thu, 10/16/2008 - 5:00pm
I have yet to pay to play any MMO. I sank some cash into SRO for a while for a pet and other stuff. But all the scammers and botters...I haven't played that in over a year. I tried Perfect World and a couple others. I will never play WoW because the idea of forking out cash in a store then more money to play that game is just offensive to me. Right now I've been playing NWN 2 on the forgotten realms server. I know it's not MMO exactly but 1. I paid for it and 2. everyone else on that server paid for it so the gold spammers and scammers as far as I know don't exist. WoW can kiss my grits.
Submitted by roninnder on Thu, 10/16/2008 - 9:15pm
I'm tired of all the people who come on here and cry about "spammers and scammers" I've been playing MMOs for years and such people have never impinged on my gaming fun.
Let me let you in on a little secret. People pay a monthly subscription fee for WoW because the game is fun and they enjoy playing it. If that's not your thing fine, but if you find the idea of paying a subscription fee for a continued service "offensive" then I'd hate to hear your opinion on paying for cable TV or internet. "I already paid for my TV at the store, now I have to pay them to put shows on it? That's BS!" Do you complain about magazine subscriptions too? There is an overhead to developing games worth playing. I'd be willing to bet the only reason you're playing NWN2 is because you pirated it you cheap B@$t@!d. So lets call this what it is; you just don't feel like you should have to pay anyone for their hard work, apparently the world owes you a good time.
Submitted by neo1piv14 on Fri, 10/17/2008 - 5:44am
"So lets call this what it is; you just don't feel like you should have
to pay anyone for their hard work, apparently the world owes you a good
time."Not at all - gamers like us just hate paying for games more than once. If I had to pay monthly to play Counter Strike, CoD, Team Fortress, etc, I would probably just stop my gaming right then and there. Games are fun for me because they're just a relaxing escape from reality. But when I feel like I HAVE to play a game because it's continuously taking more of my money, it stops being fun. Look at Guild Wars. Not as successful as WOW, but I can load it up pretty much any time, still have fun for a while, delete it, and not worry about losing any more money than the day I first bought it. Plenty of companies host game servers without charging monthly, and for you to call someone a software pirate just because they think $15 a month is too much for a game they already own is pretty lame.
Submitted by Velcrow on Fri, 10/17/2008 - 7:08am
I think you guys look at it the wrong way. You're paying for the amount of time a game can provide fun. I pay 50 dollars for a fps that I may only play, say... 50 hours total. I call that a good deal. Maybe you don't. So if you don't play at least 15 hours a month of WoW, I would say forget it personally. Apparently you're dollar per hour price is below mine, 'cause even I would play at least 15 hours a month. And that's a good deal.
"If I had to pay monthly to play Counter Strike, CoD, Team Fortress, etc, I would probably just stop my gaming right then and there."
The servers for these games are mostly run by individuals, clans, and small hosting companies, not by the publisher or developer. WoW has to be run by Blizzard. Big difference in cost structure. Hence, you pay monthly. Plus Blizzard provides a lot of free, new content.
Submitted by neo1piv14 on Fri, 10/17/2008 - 12:04pm
You make an excellent point, but I think how much entertainment you get out of a game is totally dependent on chosing your games wisely. I might spend 50 bucks on a game that I put away after 10 hours (looking at you, Crysis), and I spend the same money on a game that I've spend hundreds of hours on (Call of Duty 4).
Besides, looking at games as an enjoyment per hour ratio just makes it feel more and more like work to me. I might go on vacation or just get slammed with work or a personal life and not get to play any of my games for a month. If I play games that are on a subscription basis, then I'll feel like I've actually lost something, which is more of real life than I want my games encroaching upon
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