Why was Cataclysm the turning point for the game's subscription count?
LFR and CRZ.
started off well but the content drought was too long
4.0 to 4.1 was fucking ages and 4.1 was probably the worst patch in WoW history, or tied with 6.1
so basically t11 to t12 took too long and fucked up everything
>>337422632
I'm going to blame old world flight for a change of pace.
>>337423278
>CRZ
That wasn't until Pandaland. And it did kill Kaluak and ruined Eagle Eye.
>>337422632
game was already going downhill in wotlk, cata sealed it though
>>337424692
it reached peak subscribers at the end of wotlk, it was still 12m strong going into cata
The rise of MOBAs. Wow and lol share the same gamer demographic.
nostalgia as a selling point
>>337422632
>cata was the only expansion where all my friends played at the same time
>raiding with my closest buddies finally
>cata is nostalgic for me but I also hate it for destroying what was left of old WoW
>>337422632
I play MMOs to feel comfy. That feeling went right out the window when they drastically changed the world map.
>>337422632
Pandering to M-MUH HARD DUNJUNS crowd and making it so casuals couldn't do their casual content, thus forcing them to look other places for it.
LFR came into existence as a direct result from people compalining that Heroics that they outgeared long ago were too easy. Thanks, retards.
>>337424953
people didn't know any better until cataclysm hit.
wrath was when LFD and item level relevancy over skill became a thing.
The launch content was too hard for 75% of the casual WotLK playerbase. By the time they nerfed everything and went back on trying to make things difficult again, it was too late.
>>337427994
i'm sure they thought up LFR the same time as LFD, doubt it has anything to do with dungeons
>>337428926
they essentially threw random people into mythic-equivalent dungeons, which was a legit fuck up
>>337429723
cataclysm heroics at launch patch weren't any harder than tbc heroics in the early days.
>Wahhh I can't AoE everything like I did in WotLK heroics, I have to actually CC and watch my aggro that's too hard!
>>337429975
cata heroics had nastier CC, interrupt and cleanse requirements, yet you couldn't control your group comp at all
>>337430693
So it was LFD that ruined it.
>>337422632
>>337424692
I'd argue the trends that would send the game downhill started in Wrath, but Wrath was still plenty fun before shit got really bad.
I personally stopped subbing after a few months of wrath. About when the Firelands patch happened. I enjoyed questing in zones like Uldum, but that was five levels of leveling and the end game was crap.
But WotLK is when the sub count peaked.
If I'm not mistaken, everyone started leaving during Trial of the Grand Crusader and junk, because that raid was ass and lasted way too long.
>>337428926
This is pretty much why. Any other answer is objectively incorrect. People can blame LFD but the fact is you could still make your own groups if you wanted to, and I know I did. The heroics required actual effort from everyone involved, and the first raid tier was massive and decently challenging. I still remember reading this rage-fueled post crying about how Halfus was different every week and how it wasn't fair. These people shouldn't BE raiding, at least not the kind of content I want to do. These are the kind of people that necessitated LFR. You can either have content that is engaging, or you can have content that is easy, you can't really have both. Some people want easy content, Blizzard found.
The saddest part is the massive sub loss prompted Blizzard to almost completely abandon Cata and do nothing but lazily shit out a couple raid tiers and the revamped Troll dungeons. We never got any of the Cata plot-lines wrapped up, no Worgen, no Goblins, no Neptulon/Azshara, all abandoned.
>>337422632
Changing the world fucked with the nostalgia people had for the game. When the newer content dried up too fast there was nothing to go back to to remind you why you playing in the first place.
>>337430693
Each DPS class at that point had some form of CC or interrupt.
>Hunter = Trap/Scattershot
>Mage = Polymorph/Counterspell
>Warlock = Banish/Fear/Pet commands
>Rogue = Sap/Blind
>Paladin = Repentance/Rebuke
Warrior was probably fucked but it was rare you was ever grouped up with more than 1 DPS Warrior.
Also, using LFD gave a buff to everyone in the group which boosted their stats and damage by 5%. People were just bad at the game after how easy WotLK heroics were.
>>337422632
I don't know but the large majority of my guild quit the the game when Blizzard released nerfs for the cata dungeons early in the xpac.
>>337431950
they later changed it from 5% to 15% after people complained but it still wasn't enough
Pretty much a combination of all of these:
League of Legends exploded in popularity and became the new activity for the average WoWfag (think about it, it has gear, leveling, pvp, pve, a boss, gold grinding, etc.)
Warcraft 3's storyline ended with Arthas' death so a lot of people didn't feel enticed to continue on what would essentially be side-quests taking place in the Warcraft world.
Blizzard forced wrathbabbies into dungeons and raids that were hard as balls. Ghostcrawler commented how they hoped the playerbase would rise to the occasion and become good but that was not the case.
WoW was just getting old as fuck and no world redesigns could change the outdated engine.
>>337426480
I don't agree with this argument. Do they share the same demographic? Sure. But the games and what you do in them are so different.
>>337428926
This. After the PvE content nerf, I unsubbed.
The game seemed to be on an upturn for me, and the boring facerolls of Wrath. Some ingame jokes were even popping up like Ozruk the pug/babbybreaker, and he wasn't even the toughest boss.
>>337427994
It's sad because the most fun I had during cataclysm was getting the hard mode dungeon mount pre nerf
I didn't play during cata, but I remember hearing people complaining that dungeons/raids were to hard at first. That Blizzard answered the complaint of the game becoming to easy by making early cata a hardcore game. But I'd be willing to bet that was all the dumb fuck casuals.
>>337422632
>game goes from fuck you I'm releasing the next raid tier before anyone finishes the previous tier
to
>participation rewards and infinite mana
back to
>fuck healers and their mana
and then they nerfed it all to shit from then on out and the expansion was finished
>>337436136
This basically. It was surreal having to use CC and be careful with my mana as a healer, something I hadn't really had to do since running heroics in BC.
That all lasted about a week as super casuals whined. Went back to infinite mana and facerolling encounters, something that persists to this day. Im sure of it, because I checked with a free trial to WoD last week. My priest had to TRY to make his mana go down, usually by spamming flash heal only like a retard.
post your face when you didn't put yourself through more than a week of wotlk and left for good
enjoy your memories of a raped game
>>337436473
4.3 spriests were the best spriests, though
>>337436640
Doesn't apply to me too much, not when I almost always healed.
>>337436559
Can't post face because I paid and played up till late Cata, but I popped my head in on Pandaland and WoD for free to see if things got any better.
They didn't.
>>337434864
afaik dungeons were hard during beta and they dumbed it down for the release
dicks
>>337436473
>Went back to infinite mana and facerolling encounters, something that persists to this day.
brings me back to the days of our healers bitching in mumble over who gets to solo heal hm ultrax to stroke their epeen on WoL
>>337431402
>Trial of the Grand Crusader
>too long
come on now
>>337436791
From what I recall, the dungeons were hard in release, but were nerfed in a patch, which followed pretty damn quickly.
>>337436756
I feel it, I liked healing but didn't get the opportunity for it, loved popping hymn at the end to pad meters and lick up those druid tears
