The Success or Failure of Warhammer and Fishing
Well, the big (or should I say little) news within the blogosphere today is how Warhammer is currently sitting around 300k subs (down from the 750k peak). Originally most people had expected it to be at least to 500k by the end 2008, if not higher. A lot of people were expecting it to land somewhere between one and two million. Not only that, but there are still quite a number of people who have six month subs but are not playing anymore so the numbers could drop off even more.
People have many different explanations. On one blog I read, commentators laid the blame on EA for not advertising the game enough. I do not think this could be the case since one report I read stated that 1.2 million boxes were sold of the game. Even if they lost 50% of those people, they would still be sitting at 600k subs, double what they have now.
Others blame a buggy, unbalanced end game. This could be a possibility. I have not gotten that far into the game, so I cannot say. Syncaine puts some of the blame on the "MMO tourists". Overall, everyone has come up with a different person or group to put at fault in this blame game. I have a different theory.
When I was a kid, I grew up in northern Idaho, deep in the heart of the pacific northwest. We did a great deal of hunting and fishing. One thing that you immediately notice about fishing hooks is that they have the point and the barb. The point will cut into flesh and the barb makes sure it stays. You can have the sharpest hook out there, but it will not matter without a barb because you will not be able to hold the fish on the hook.
Warhammer is missing the barb.
The hype of the core mechanic of RvR was huge. The RvR in the game is the point of the hook. It cuts deep into gamers wanting something new, but that is all the game had to offer so there was no barb to keep them hooked. On the other side of the fence, I see World of Warcraft as a fish hook with a multitude of barbs. If you make it past the first one, there will be ten more waiting for you.
In Warhammer, if you get bored of RvR for a couple days, there is nothing for you to do. Professions are a joke and so is PvE. In WoW, if you get bored of PvP, you can go run 5man instances, go build reputations, work on professions (including secondary ones like fishing and cooking), do 10 or 25man raiding, play the auction house, collect items like mounts and noncombat pets, and other various activities.
I hate sounding cliche, but in the end, it seems like WAR is in its current state a one-trick pony. It does not matter how fantastic that one trick is because after a while people will tire of it and want some other tricks, however mundane they may be, to keep their attention.
I question the next six months of WoW as I feel people are burning through Wrath of the Lich King at an alarming rate. Within two months, I had accomplished everything I could want to do in WotLK until a new content patch comes out. It will be interesting to see how strong those extra barbs are in the game and if they are strong enough to hold the masses to the game.
Nonetheless, WAR currently does not feel like it has any barbs so subscribers are slipping right off the hook.
Pre-Post Edit:
It seems like Mythic is going to be losing 60-120 people from the company. I just wonder if they knew about this last week when they announced the new stuff or they're just finding out about it now.
Once A Year
No Warhammer update from me today. Last night I didn't game at all. It was my birthday so Rynala and I went out to dinner and then came back in and watched movies all night. I expect to play a lot more tonight.