We found out last week that a whopping 1.3 million players had let the MMORPG World of Warcraft in the last 3 months. Blizzard hopes that introducing new content in shorter times will be enough to keep remaining players interested in the game, but shouldn't they be asking why players left in the first place, and addressing those issues instead? There's a lot of reasons players have left, but below seem to be the ones that gamers kep citing:
* Subscription costs - While a number of MMO games like Tera: Rising, Star Wars: The Old Republic or the upcoming Marvel Heroes have adopted the free to play model, World of Warcraft still requires a monthly subscription fee in order for players to grind in the planes of Azeroth. Blizzard offers players three different options for subscriptions: go month to month for $14.99 each, a 3 month block that brings the price down to $13.99 per month, or a 6 month block that would equate to $12.99 a month. If you're playing the game for hours each day, then you're obviously getting your money's worth out of the game, but as the free to play model becomes increasingly prevalent, the idea of paying to play a game you've already purchased is becoming increasingly archaic.
* Poor Expansions - The most recent WoW expansion, Mists of Pandaria, may have been well reviewed by critics, but this was the complete opposite case for players. Looking at the expansion's rating over at Metacritic, the expansion received an 82 overall from reviewers. But from players? 43. Talk about a disconnect. There are indeed a number of positive reviews from users, but they're still far outnumbered by negative ones. The sales records reflect this as well, as Mists is has sold the least of all the expansions released to date.
* Boredom - WoW helped set the standard for the MMO genre, but it's still a 9 year old game. Is there a game in your library that you still play enough to justify paying to play it? This is the issue that Blizzard is contending with, and trying to offer up more content, because as popular as WoW is, it needs to keep things interesting if people are going to keep playing, or attract new players. Once you've hit the level cap and completed most of the major quests, what's going to keep players interested?
* Time - Of all the WoW players that are still left, the chances are good that a lot of people picked up the game when it first hit back in 2004 when they were kids, and as such, had a lot more time on their hands back then. Say someone grabbed this game when they were 14. Living with their parents, maybe they had a part-time job, but save for extra curriculars and school, there wasn't a whole lot players had to worry about to interrupt their gaming time. Now, it's 9 years later, and life happens. This same gamer is now 23, likely out of school, working (hopefully) full time, maybe on the cusp of starting a family. A lot of things will quickly take priority over playing games, and all of a sudden, you have less and less time to try and play games, let alone something as time consuming as WoW. Speaking personally, I'm recently married, and with the daily onslaught that is adulthood, it's now seldom that I have the opportunity to play games for enjoyment. And I write about them for a living.
* Social - As games like WoW are classified as MMO's, they're literally social by definition. There's a lot that a lot of relationships that have been made; friendly, romantic or otherwise, between WoW players. Raid buddies, fellow Guild members, etc., have come to know each other as "friends" instead of "fellow players," or in some cases, even as "husband" or "wife." You come to know these people over a few years, you get along with them, talk with them on team speak, and their own involvement in the game keeps you playing. They come to be part of your peer group, and you stay in touch with them. But if one day, for one reason or another, they jump ship to a different game, what's going to keep you playing?
* Competition from other MMO's - This ties back into a number of the reasons above, where other games are potential solutions to those problems. If you're bored of WoW, don't want to pay to play the game, join a friend in another, or just don't have time for it, there's a LOT of other games for you to choose from, that don't require the costs, time, or offer up a different gaming experience, or whatever else you may be looking for.
Do you still play World of Warcraft, or did you quit years ago? Feel free to leave your reasons why you keep playing, or why you've left this MMO in the dust.
