Guild Perks(makes every other guild taht isnt 25 seem usless)
I totally forgot about the guild perks, but you're right. I would see a lot of people begging to be part of lvl 20+ guilds. My guild was actually the first to reach 25 on the server, and we had to lock new sign ups because lvl 60 DK's were trying to get in by the boatload.
I agree about flying too. I think ground mounts were a great idea for a world as big as WoW, but flight should only be attained at the highest level when you've probably done everything, as sort of a bonus so you don't have to avoid mobs that are no use to you anymore, even for XP.
Poor Blizzard if they blame ONLY pretty short content of Cata. True, I would like to have more content, but they did impressive job with reworking old areas. Have 10 lv. 85, 10 51 to 78 horde ... and now working on alll possible classes for worgens and leveling them at least up to BC content. Only game where I have also at least 2 maxed out alts is Rift which is impressive game. I simply love more fantasy type of games and still wow attracts me more. Even If I would have hard times to put in words why, from where this addiction to it. :-) Where Blizzard in Wow really messed up is, IMO, end game. Actually Wotlk was the one when more and more players have been enjoying end game in sense mainly of 5man. And yes, at the END(!) was to easy. They wanted Cata to be more "challenging", listening to vocal minorities ... and now they have situation where nobody is happe. Wotlk was just right, now every run is or to easy or to hard.
...and SW and GW2 will be the final blow to Blizzard ...
Final blow? what are you talking about? they not even close to getting a serious blow yet ... do you know what a calculator is? ill show you here:
According to a new article at Venture Beat, Blizzard has confessed to losing over 800,000 subscribers during the third quarter of 2011. In Q1 2011, WoW's subscriber base was reported at 11.4 million. In Q2 2011, Blizzard was reporting 11.1 million subscribers and Q3 currently shows 10.3 million subscribers.
10.3 million subscribers. And you say they only need a final blow?
Oki lets look at the facts, the game is quite old, if you asked blizzard when they launched wow "hey guys, after 5 years or more would you exspect to run 10+ million subs?" i think they would answer, "lol you kidding me? i dont even think we will run that the first year!"
so atm they have 10.3 mill times an avg of $12.95 which equals 13.333.850.000 million USD a month... Can you tell me where the serious blow to them is? cuz they kinda need that before you can talk about a Final blow? This game is making more money than the rest sub-MMOs do togeater .. yep .. they only need the FINAL BLOW! .. i think Rift and other games will have quite a harder time than wow
Ohh the 13 millions.. u can add store sold mounts etc to that ..
you guys always forget the (IMO) because in your opinion, they only need a final blow, but the fact is a whole other picture.
...and SW and GW2 will be the final blow to Blizzard ...
Final blow? what are you talking about? they not even close to getting a serious blow yet ... do you know what a calculator is? ill show you here:
According to a new article at Venture Beat, Blizzard has confessed to losing over 800,000 subscribers during the third quarter of 2011. In Q1 2011, WoW's subscriber base was reported at 11.4 million. In Q2 2011, Blizzard was reporting 11.1 million subscribers and Q3 currently shows 10.3 million subscribers.
10.3 million subscribers. And you say they only need a final blow?
Oki lets look at the facts, the game is quite old, if you asked blizzard when they launched wow "hey guys, after 5 years or more would you exspect to run 10+ million subs?" i think they would answer, "lol you kidding me? i dont even think we will run that the first year!"
so atm they have 10.3 mill times an avg of $12.95 which equals 13.333.850.000 million USD a month... Can you tell me where the serious blow to them is? cuz they kinda need that before you can talk about a Final blow? This game is making more money than the rest sub-MMOs do togeater .. yep .. they only need the FINAL BLOW! .. i think Rift and other games will have quite a harder time than wow
Ohh the 13 millions.. u can add store sold mounts etc to that ..
you guys always forget the (IMO) because in your opinion, they only need a final blow, but the fact is a whole other picture.
It is all right. I don't think he even knows what the term 'final blow' really means. People are dIllusional if they think that GW2 and TOR will make WOW lose rest of the 10 million subs worldwide when TOR is not even releasing in Asia.
Get used to gross exaggeration and hyperbole on these forums.
As a long time player of WoW, I didn't want to see the game decline, and seriously, the game has improved in quality. If you started playing WoW at Vanilla, BC, WotLK or at Cata then Cata would be the best overall game experience.
Sadly, too much effort went into re-inventing the wheel so to speak, a lot of effort re-doing the 1-60 content but didn't bother with BC other than just increasing the exp so you can gtfo of there asap.
The problem for longer time players, you need to change things up significantly to keep attention and the content has to be fun more than repetitive. Cata instances, especially heroics, were brutal and while they were insanely fun to do once, to have to grind them over and over for gear or points was obnoxious because every instance had encounters with totally unforgiving mechanics which would one shot you and then usually proceed to wipe the group, the raid content wasn't that unforgiving.
I think a general problem with the way games handle expansions and level design in particular is that so much content is rendered obsolete which puts a massive weight on the developers to get the content right on launch. Take LOTRO for example, Isengard content was a bit wishy washy but the old instances continued to scale so what could have been a disastrous error by the developers was somewhat averted by not rendering all the content obsolete. WoW has no real backup. The instances blew to grind, the raid content was easy to get through and it left no real fallback.
While talents where cleaned up a bit, the game play was still largely the same but most classes were dumbed down to lack of real option in how you gear or talents you take or abilities you use, there was basically no difference between you and anyone else who played that class/spec, it was really attack of the clones and despite dumbing it down to finger painting level they still couldn't balance it.
WoW would still be fun for someone new but as an expansion it was the perfect cure for those who were addicted to the game, it really gave a lot of long-time addicts the opportunity to break the hold the game has had over them and while Blizzard pads their numbers out with all the trial and free access accounts, they have lost some long-term customers and the vast majority they wont see back again.
...and SW and GW2 will be the final blow to Blizzard ...
Final blow? what are you talking about? they not even close to getting a serious blow yet ... do you know what a calculator is? ill show you here:
According to a new article at Venture Beat, Blizzard has confessed to losing over 800,000 subscribers during the third quarter of 2011. In Q1 2011, WoW's subscriber base was reported at 11.4 million. In Q2 2011, Blizzard was reporting 11.1 million subscribers and Q3 currently shows 10.3 million subscribers.
10.3 million subscribers. And you say they only need a final blow?
Oki lets look at the facts, the game is quite old, if you asked blizzard when they launched wow "hey guys, after 5 years or more would you exspect to run 10+ million subs?" i think they would answer, "lol you kidding me? i dont even think we will run that the first year!"
so atm they have 10.3 mill times an avg of $12.95 which equals 13.333.850.000 million USD a month... Can you tell me where the serious blow to them is? cuz they kinda need that before you can talk about a Final blow? This game is making more money than the rest sub-MMOs do togeater .. yep .. they only need the FINAL BLOW! .. i think Rift and other games will have quite a harder time than wow
Ohh the 13 millions.. u can add store sold mounts etc to that ..
you guys always forget the (IMO) because in your opinion, they only need a final blow, but the fact is a whole other picture.
That's close. 10.3 million * 12.95 is a little over 133 million a month. Anyway, it's a huge amount of money.
I will admit, I do not like WoW, used to at first but that didn't last at all. I also am not a big Blizzard fan anymore for reasons I will keep to myself. However, I do not wish them ill or that WoW collapses into oblivion. They employ a lot of people and I hope they continue to so that our economy has people that are productive and can purchase items themselves.
I should tell from a game supporter friend who worked for Blizzard in France for WoW support, that they dont spend that 133 million on their employees. He barely had money for food, even though Blizzard paid his appartment.
The blue chart looks good but it's deceptive. It doesn't represent people gradually being attracted to a growth industry over time. The largest lump of that mountain was created from virtually nothing by the release of new products. When World of Warcraft released there was a lot of talk about whether or not there was enough of a demand for another "Second Gen" Mmorpg. The sum total of ALL Mmorpg games at the time was less than 10% I believe of WoW's current subscription base. Daoc was reported to have something like 20k players and was considered HUGE for an on-line game.
Blizz's product + their agressive expansion in new markets is why the numbers are where they are today. Their growth and product created the mountain almost over night.
And there are still untapped potential gaming markets around the world as well as under represented demographics. Think about it. Only something like 1 in 8 (last I read) mmorpg players is female, with more little sisters buying their own PCs all the time. Also the player base is rapidly aging. If companies can retain older players there's huge potential to increase numbers over time.
What's flattened out the top of the graph probably has as much to do with Blizz's recent post Cat woes, the economy, and a gap in new exciting, quality offerings by competitors as anything. Console subscriptions and inroads made by new subscription models also might be skewing the graph too.
"During an earnings call this afternoon, Mike Morhaime admitted that "the previous expansion, World of Warcraft Cataclysm, had content that hardcore users consumed too rapidly. Blizzard is studying ways to keep gamers more engaged with future updates and expansions.""
He needs to change "hardcore" to "veteran". There are a lot of people that wouldn't call themselves hard core, but have played WoW for years so are seasoned vets.
Some of us keep telling the WoW devs this, maybe they'll listen some day. Frankly, I doubt it, and I think many are leaving because The "Mists of Pandaria" Xpak is strong evidence that WoW is heading even more in the direction of mindlessly easy play lacking any sense of immersion outside of raids and instances. (Not much immersion in them, but it takes some effort to develop skills there, which helps develop a sense of immersion. Pitching teddy bears out of trees and getting an achievement for being roasted by Deathwing don't.)
Morhaime says that, but there are still only 5 levels of advancement in Mists.
Have played: Everquest, Asheron's Call, Horizons, Everquest2, World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, Warhammer, Age of Conan, Darkfall
I played WoW for years. The game isn't any good anymore IMO. Look, don't tell me what I'm thinking if you're trying to prove you're not trolling. At least stick to the topic at hand - they make you pay a sub to play the game, then they draw out your time and get you addicted so you wait that extra week, then the next week, and so on, just so you can pick up that fabled loot, meanwhile money magically drains from your account. I was saying there is no way in hell they would allow anyone to create a max level character because it would be a bigger drain on their cash cow than even their piss poor game design abillities over the last two expansions, to say nothing of the upcoming one.
Of course they get you addicted. The carrot on a stick keeps people chasing the next level or great piece of gear. All MMO games do this one way or another. Some (like wow) expand the chase to make it time consuming while other (F2P) games place obstacles in the way of progress that can be alleviated with cash . I guess what one has to decide is if the carrot is worth chasing and at what cost. I too have seen the game go from what I considered very good to mediocre at best. I never thought I would consider this but EQ2 extended is looking pretty good for me about now. Its not paying a sub that bothers me but the quality of the game. I dont think we are that far apart and I jumped to conclusions. Ive seen too many posts cheeing about the goodness of F2P I guess. And here I am, considering a F2P
Really? This game sucks and Im not having fun? Im going to unsub right now. Thanks for the tip.
Honestly, I don't think WoW is making players leave the MMORPG genre.
They're simply switching over to other games. Now that DC Universe Online has gone F2P, it's gained a WHOLE TON of players. Also, I know people who have quit WoW for games like Skyrim, under the assertion that Skyrim will keep them occupied until Guild Wars 2 or SWTOR comes out.
Lord of the Rings Online is also doing pretty well, especially with its new expansion.
Yeah, I got into EQ2 a bit recently. Apart from some sluggish combat early on, the game has a lot to offer and tons of quests to do that don't seem to be rushing you to the next area like WoW did. I played in the same zone for almost 15 levels and enjoyed the little story chain that went with it. I might play more when it goes 100% F2P since I downloaded the full game from Steam (no loading times like in EQX) and there should be more players around.
Honestly, I don't think WoW is making players leave the MMORPG genre.
They're simply switching over to other games. Now that DC Universe Online has gone F2P, it's gained a WHOLE TON of players. Also, I know people who have quit WoW for games like Skyrim, under the assertion that Skyrim will keep them occupied until Guild Wars 2 or SWTOR comes out.
Lord of the Rings Online is also doing pretty well, especially with its new expansion.
Exactly. People should have expected this to happen as WoW became older and more promising titles were released or are soon to be released, ie: a shifting of playerbases. Speaking of DC Universe, they gained so many people in such a short time, and I don't know how the respawn rates were before it went F2P, but they're insane now. They need another PVE server I think.
the reason for this is called swtor. the wow killer.
go swtor!
also skyrim, wow just isnt what it used to be. i think bringing the pandaran back isnt a good idea, finish cata before you make another freaking expansion you money whores.
At this point, the only "WoW killer" is Blizzard and/or Ghostcrawler. Even with its losses, it still has millions and millions more players than the next closest game. Look at this in perspective. In the last quarter they lost more subscribers than most games will ever likely have as a sustained player base. WoW isn't going anywhere, any time soon. Neither ToR nor GW2 is going to be a "WoW killer". I have no doubt they will both do well (and I plan on trying both). But "WoW killer"? Its not going to happen.
I think it just comes down to all the choices out there now. No one game will kill WoW, it will be the many other games out there each picking away at the WoW playerbase. NOt only that but the game is getting old and more and more people want gameplay AND flashy graphics.
I have seen the future and the future is Star Wars The Old Republic. I believe this will finally be the WoW Killer.
1. Cataclysm sucked, changed gameplay of my 4x 80 chars and i didnt like it
2. It was more of the same.
3. Got Hacked and bliz only returned 3 chars out of 10 and only 1 of them was fully equiped when recovered.
4. buying expansions sucks, cant invite new friends to play because no one wants to buy 4 expansions wich are useless since u just level fast till max level before you actually enjoy the late game content content. (all the low level stuff is just useless now).
But I think Drekker17 said it best. Cata failed to appeal to any group, while at the same time made a lot of people mad/unhappy. There's a list of things I was upset about with Cata. Holy Power is just the reason I left.
I don't buy the "majority was from the east" bit either. Last time (900,000 subs ago that is), he said it was because "the content was being consumed to fast", which was bologna. His comments are for PR and nothing more, to try to keep the beancounters from panicking. Maybe a large number is from the east, but I don't believe it's overwelmingly more than the NA players.
People who actually play wow and have been following things since the Cata PTR know better.
I even bought Cataclysm Collector's Edition on the basis of my earlier nostalia for the game, but it had gone too far downhill. I never even logged in after seeing a mate's travels in the new solo MMO highly linear world - ugg.
It was bad enough in Wrath having random meaningless dungeons with people you'd never meet again, and who thus didn't make any effort to be their best or keep the group going. Groups meant something when you had to work to form them and get to where you wanted to play. No more, and it was the death of decent PUGs and people's reputations mattering, not to mention death of immersion as you teleported in and out of dungeons half the world away.
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
Comments
I totally forgot about the guild perks, but you're right. I would see a lot of people begging to be part of lvl 20+ guilds. My guild was actually the first to reach 25 on the server, and we had to lock new sign ups because lvl 60 DK's were trying to get in by the boatload.
I agree about flying too. I think ground mounts were a great idea for a world as big as WoW, but flight should only be attained at the highest level when you've probably done everything, as sort of a bonus so you don't have to avoid mobs that are no use to you anymore, even for XP.
I for sure, barely can wait to play monk panda. :-) Not kidding at all.
Poor Blizzard if they blame ONLY pretty short content of Cata. True, I would like to have more content, but they did impressive job with reworking old areas. Have 10 lv. 85, 10 51 to 78 horde ... and now working on alll possible classes for worgens and leveling them at least up to BC content. Only game where I have also at least 2 maxed out alts is Rift which is impressive game. I simply love more fantasy type of games and still wow attracts me more. Even If I would have hard times to put in words why, from where this addiction to it. :-) Where Blizzard in Wow really messed up is, IMO, end game. Actually Wotlk was the one when more and more players have been enjoying end game in sense mainly of 5man. And yes, at the END(!) was to easy. They wanted Cata to be more "challenging", listening to vocal minorities ... and now they have situation where nobody is happe. Wotlk was just right, now every run is or to easy or to hard.
THink the pony made 2-million in the first few hours of it becoming availible.
Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising everytime we fall.
Final blow? what are you talking about? they not even close to getting a serious blow yet ... do you know what a calculator is? ill show you here:
According to a new article at Venture Beat, Blizzard has confessed to losing over 800,000 subscribers during the third quarter of 2011. In Q1 2011, WoW's subscriber base was reported at 11.4 million. In Q2 2011, Blizzard was reporting 11.1 million subscribers and Q3 currently shows 10.3 million subscribers.
10.3 million subscribers. And you say they only need a final blow?
Oki lets look at the facts, the game is quite old, if you asked blizzard when they launched wow "hey guys, after 5 years or more would you exspect to run 10+ million subs?" i think they would answer, "lol you kidding me? i dont even think we will run that the first year!"
so atm they have 10.3 mill times an avg of $12.95 which equals 13.333.850.000 million USD a month... Can you tell me where the serious blow to them is? cuz they kinda need that before you can talk about a Final blow? This game is making more money than the rest sub-MMOs do togeater .. yep .. they only need the FINAL BLOW! .. i think Rift and other games will have quite a harder time than wow
Ohh the 13 millions.. u can add store sold mounts etc to that ..
you guys always forget the (IMO) because in your opinion, they only need a final blow, but the fact is a whole other picture.
It is all right. I don't think he even knows what the term 'final blow' really means. People are dIllusional if they think that GW2 and TOR will make WOW lose rest of the 10 million subs worldwide when TOR is not even releasing in Asia.
Get used to gross exaggeration and hyperbole on these forums.
As a long time player of WoW, I didn't want to see the game decline, and seriously, the game has improved in quality. If you started playing WoW at Vanilla, BC, WotLK or at Cata then Cata would be the best overall game experience.
Sadly, too much effort went into re-inventing the wheel so to speak, a lot of effort re-doing the 1-60 content but didn't bother with BC other than just increasing the exp so you can gtfo of there asap.
The problem for longer time players, you need to change things up significantly to keep attention and the content has to be fun more than repetitive. Cata instances, especially heroics, were brutal and while they were insanely fun to do once, to have to grind them over and over for gear or points was obnoxious because every instance had encounters with totally unforgiving mechanics which would one shot you and then usually proceed to wipe the group, the raid content wasn't that unforgiving.
I think a general problem with the way games handle expansions and level design in particular is that so much content is rendered obsolete which puts a massive weight on the developers to get the content right on launch. Take LOTRO for example, Isengard content was a bit wishy washy but the old instances continued to scale so what could have been a disastrous error by the developers was somewhat averted by not rendering all the content obsolete. WoW has no real backup. The instances blew to grind, the raid content was easy to get through and it left no real fallback.
While talents where cleaned up a bit, the game play was still largely the same but most classes were dumbed down to lack of real option in how you gear or talents you take or abilities you use, there was basically no difference between you and anyone else who played that class/spec, it was really attack of the clones and despite dumbing it down to finger painting level they still couldn't balance it.
WoW would still be fun for someone new but as an expansion it was the perfect cure for those who were addicted to the game, it really gave a lot of long-time addicts the opportunity to break the hold the game has had over them and while Blizzard pads their numbers out with all the trial and free access accounts, they have lost some long-term customers and the vast majority they wont see back again.
That's close. 10.3 million * 12.95 is a little over 133 million a month. Anyway, it's a huge amount of money.
I will admit, I do not like WoW, used to at first but that didn't last at all. I also am not a big Blizzard fan anymore for reasons I will keep to myself. However, I do not wish them ill or that WoW collapses into oblivion. They employ a lot of people and I hope they continue to so that our economy has people that are productive and can purchase items themselves.
AKA - Bruxail
I should tell from a game supporter friend who worked for Blizzard in France for WoW support, that they dont spend that 133 million on their employees. He barely had money for food, even though Blizzard paid his appartment.
Blizz's product + their agressive expansion in new markets is why the numbers are where they are today. Their growth and product created the mountain almost over night.
And there are still untapped potential gaming markets around the world as well as under represented demographics. Think about it. Only something like 1 in 8 (last I read) mmorpg players is female, with more little sisters buying their own PCs all the time. Also the player base is rapidly aging. If companies can retain older players there's huge potential to increase numbers over time.
What's flattened out the top of the graph probably has as much to do with Blizz's recent post Cat woes, the economy, and a gap in new exciting, quality offerings by competitors as anything. Console subscriptions and inroads made by new subscription models also might be skewing the graph too.
LOL @ satan's portion, ahhhh, i haven't heard that in years, and I thought I was the only one left using that term
.
Their destined to lose another 1 to 3 million more players as soon as SWTOR is released.... WoW is pretty much a console game now...
"During an earnings call this afternoon, Mike Morhaime admitted that "the previous expansion, World of Warcraft Cataclysm, had content that hardcore users consumed too rapidly. Blizzard is studying ways to keep gamers more engaged with future updates and expansions.""
He needs to change "hardcore" to "veteran". There are a lot of people that wouldn't call themselves hard core, but have played WoW for years so are seasoned vets.
Some of us keep telling the WoW devs this, maybe they'll listen some day. Frankly, I doubt it, and I think many are leaving because The "Mists of Pandaria" Xpak is strong evidence that WoW is heading even more in the direction of mindlessly easy play lacking any sense of immersion outside of raids and instances. (Not much immersion in them, but it takes some effort to develop skills there, which helps develop a sense of immersion. Pitching teddy bears out of trees and getting an achievement for being roasted by Deathwing don't.)
Morhaime says that, but there are still only 5 levels of advancement in Mists.
Have played: Everquest, Asheron's Call, Horizons, Everquest2, World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, Warhammer, Age of Conan, Darkfall
Of course they get you addicted. The carrot on a stick keeps people chasing the next level or great piece of gear. All MMO games do this one way or another. Some (like wow) expand the chase to make it time consuming while other (F2P) games place obstacles in the way of progress that can be alleviated with cash . I guess what one has to decide is if the carrot is worth chasing and at what cost. I too have seen the game go from what I considered very good to mediocre at best. I never thought I would consider this but EQ2 extended is looking pretty good for me about now. Its not paying a sub that bothers me but the quality of the game. I dont think we are that far apart and I jumped to conclusions. Ive seen too many posts cheeing about the goodness of F2P I guess. And here I am, considering a F2P
Really? This game sucks and Im not having fun? Im going to unsub right now. Thanks for the tip.
Honestly, I don't think WoW is making players leave the MMORPG genre.
They're simply switching over to other games. Now that DC Universe Online has gone F2P, it's gained a WHOLE TON of players. Also, I know people who have quit WoW for games like Skyrim, under the assertion that Skyrim will keep them occupied until Guild Wars 2 or SWTOR comes out.
Lord of the Rings Online is also doing pretty well, especially with its new expansion.
@ Rusty715
Yeah, I got into EQ2 a bit recently. Apart from some sluggish combat early on, the game has a lot to offer and tons of quests to do that don't seem to be rushing you to the next area like WoW did. I played in the same zone for almost 15 levels and enjoyed the little story chain that went with it. I might play more when it goes 100% F2P since I downloaded the full game from Steam (no loading times like in EQX) and there should be more players around.
Exactly. People should have expected this to happen as WoW became older and more promising titles were released or are soon to be released, ie: a shifting of playerbases. Speaking of DC Universe, they gained so many people in such a short time, and I don't know how the respawn rates were before it went F2P, but they're insane now. They need another PVE server I think.
the reason for this is called swtor. the wow killer.
go swtor!
also skyrim, wow just isnt what it used to be. i think bringing the pandaran back isnt a good idea, finish cata before you make another freaking expansion you money whores.
At this point, the only "WoW killer" is Blizzard and/or Ghostcrawler. Even with its losses, it still has millions and millions more players than the next closest game. Look at this in perspective. In the last quarter they lost more subscribers than most games will ever likely have as a sustained player base. WoW isn't going anywhere, any time soon. Neither ToR nor GW2 is going to be a "WoW killer". I have no doubt they will both do well (and I plan on trying both). But "WoW killer"? Its not going to happen.
Originally posted by Deathenger
I think it just comes down to all the choices out there now. No one game will kill WoW, it will be the many other games out there each picking away at the WoW playerbase. NOt only that but the game is getting old and more and more people want gameplay AND flashy graphics.
I have seen the future and the future is Star Wars The Old Republic. I believe this will finally be the WoW Killer.
why i quit wow:
1. Cataclysm sucked, changed gameplay of my 4x 80 chars and i didnt like it
2. It was more of the same.
3. Got Hacked and bliz only returned 3 chars out of 10 and only 1 of them was fully equiped when recovered.
4. buying expansions sucks, cant invite new friends to play because no one wants to buy 4 expansions wich are useless since u just level fast till max level before you actually enjoy the late game content content. (all the low level stuff is just useless now).
Reason I quit: Holy Power.
But I think Drekker17 said it best. Cata failed to appeal to any group, while at the same time made a lot of people mad/unhappy. There's a list of things I was upset about with Cata. Holy Power is just the reason I left.
I don't buy the "majority was from the east" bit either. Last time (900,000 subs ago that is), he said it was because "the content was being consumed to fast", which was bologna. His comments are for PR and nothing more, to try to keep the beancounters from panicking. Maybe a large number is from the east, but I don't believe it's overwelmingly more than the NA players.
People who actually play wow and have been following things since the Cata PTR know better.
I even bought Cataclysm Collector's Edition on the basis of my earlier nostalia for the game, but it had gone too far downhill. I never even logged in after seeing a mate's travels in the new solo MMO highly linear world - ugg.
It was bad enough in Wrath having random meaningless dungeons with people you'd never meet again, and who thus didn't make any effort to be their best or keep the group going. Groups meant something when you had to work to form them and get to where you wanted to play. No more, and it was the death of decent PUGs and people's reputations mattering, not to mention death of immersion as you teleported in and out of dungeons half the world away.
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.