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Post by Steve Farrelly @ 09:09am 08/10/10 | 31 Comments
Blizzard are throwing their gloat cheese around, letting us all know they topped that 10 million subscriber mark that was daunting them the last two years or so, by actually jumping to more than 12 million subscribers worldwide, helped by the release of Wrath of the Lich King in China and "global anticipation" for the December 7 drop of their next expansion, Cataclysm.

"The support and enthusiasm that gamers across the world continue to show for World of Warcraft reaffirms our belief that it offers one of the best entertainment values available today,” said Mike Morhaime, via press release. "We are as committed as ever to taking the game to new heights, and we look forward to demonstrating that with Cataclysm in December."

BlizzCon is just around the corner, could they finally be ready to do all of the above all over again with an all-new IP? We're certainly counting down the days.



blizzconblizzardcataclysmworld of warcraft





Latest Comments
gamer
Posted 09:18am 08/10/10
I havent enjoyed PVP since vanilla, or 5 man instances for that matter.

It's for this reason cata will be amazing. PVP will be slower and more fun with the removal of the 'arms race' and 400%-500% health pool sizes with a increase in damage on about 200%.

The 5 man instances have been created with very diverse and challanging fights and croud control MUST be used, unlike the 'aoe down the entire thing' we've seen in the last two expansions.

The original world has been redone and 1-70 i can say, is a real great time. I'm actually reading quest text again. Little things like having a 'walky talky' back to the quest guy to 'hand in' while your in the dungeon instead of having to teleport out etc. Quests can now be picked up by walking over ! that are on the floor 'as you enter the room you notice someone in the corner locked in shackles, they look in distress, you better free them, they might be able to show you the way out'.

The talent system has been reduced from a 71 point talent system down to a 31 point talent system, reducing all but the absolute 'fun' talents. They have removed most of the +dmg talents that made the entire talent system quite boring.


etc
Reverend Evil
Posted 09:34am 08/10/10
Only a few more sleeps til Cata comes out. Gonna be awesome!
dranged
Posted 10:00am 08/10/10
Isn't it like $10USD a month subscription? They must be the most successful gaming company by far.
Khel
Posted 10:37am 08/10/10
Pretty impressive considering thats only active subscriptions, and its probably safe to assume thats going to go even higher as people come back to play Cataclysm.
`ViPER`
Posted 10:56am 08/10/10
Isn't it like $10USD a month subscription? They must be the most successful gaming company by far.


$100 million a month cashflow from a single game is f***en insane.

I spose they would put a fair bit into server maintanance, hosting, etc.
Vash
Posted 10:57am 08/10/10
i had written off considering returning to this game...
damn you gamer for that post.
Eds
Posted 11:00am 08/10/10
I had as well until I looked at the cata alpha. I have an beta account as well now but I think ill just wait for the release as I don't want to spoil it
NoLogic
Posted 11:02am 08/10/10
been subbing since release, had one account banned and immediately started another, at times 2.

Even when I have ventured off into other MMO's I have kept my WoW sub going so I could drop in and visit old guild mates etc. Funny too because no matter how good another MMO has been I always return to WoW and find something new to get my hooks into.

It really is an amazing success story, kudos to Blizz.

Bring Cata on :)
Khel
Posted 11:03am 08/10/10
I spose they would put a fair bit into server maintanance, hosting, etc.


Yeah, they hire a ridiculous number of support staff too, I can't remember the numbers, but I read them once in an article and it was well into the thousands. Though, I'm sure they still clear a tidy sum at the end of the day :P

But s***, I don't care, the bit in the OP about it being good value entertainment is how I view it. I don't mind paying $20 a month for an MMO (be it WoW or whatever else I'm playing at the time). I mean, costs almost $20 to go to the movies these days, or $20 for a meal at Grill'd, I don't even think twice about paying $20 for a month of entertainment.
tequila
Posted 11:06am 08/10/10
it does ruin peoples lives though, even if they don't know it / believe it, I've seen the game ruin lives.
Khel
Posted 11:08am 08/10/10
Thats not really the games fault though, if it wasn't wow it'd just be some other game those people got hooked on.
TicMan
Posted 11:26am 08/10/10
I've been subbed since vanilla and wifey played for about 18 months before giving up and out of everything I've played it's the only game I just keep coming back to. I'd have to say the major reason would be the social side of the game is what brings me back. My enjoyment of the game has increased tenfold since I xfer'd servers to play with mates.
glynd
Posted 11:54am 08/10/10
I've been subbed since vanilla and wifey played for about 18 months before giving up and out of everything I've played it's the only game I just keep coming back to. I'd have to say the major reason would be the social side of the game is what brings me back. My enjoyment of the game has increased tenfold since I xfer'd servers to play with mates.


yeah my mate and i recently transfered to jube'thos and switched factions to horde. Was previously on doomhammer where there were litterally 2 active australian guilds so it's been bloody nice to be able to get a group together in the afternoon.
Eorl
Posted 04:41pm 08/10/10
I heard rumours that Bungie maybe doing a MMO, now that they're signed up with Activision. So maybe Blizz + Bungie could deliver some sweet space MMO?
kr0wb4r
Posted 05:22pm 08/10/10
I had the best fun at the end of Vanilla when my hunter was decked in 7/9 T3 and feign death was bugged to allow me to cast aim shot while laying on the ground. Anything that was cloth or leather was dead in 1 hit, mail was on 10% health and I had more hp than people in rank 13 gear <3 tauren.

I enjoyed arena's a bit when Hunter/druid 2v2 was all the rage. I had a pro resto druid, the only problem was that while I loved the 30-70 minute games vs warrior+pally etc. my druid was an impatient f*** and while he could keep him and I alive forever and a day, he'd rather just play druid warrior and melt fase.

WoW was fun when one could seriously grief undergeared or underlvl'd players, and getting from a-b took ages. It made the whole concept of guilds much more fun. If you were the victim of some ganking half or more of your guild would turn up, and things would escalate, and thus turn into some awesome world pvp. These days it's dogs***.
pARODY
Posted 07:45pm 08/10/10
Gamer put it really well. I've been on the beta for a week and loving it. PVP is still unbalanced but the health pools for normal toons being the 75-80k is a good start. I'm leveling my pally and slowing relearning my class as it's gone from the aoe spammer to single target with a slow ramp on dps. But I can do 2.2k dps on single target outside of a group which after talking to others around the same level ( 82 ) means I'm doing pretty well.

The greens from quests and early crafting actually look good! Questing is fun again. About 30% of the quests are vehicle or a cinematic quest, where you take the quest, jump on a mount and run through a crowd of mobs then get off and get to do something to take out those who followed.

My pre-made warlock is doing archaeology and up to 180 skill points already but it's slowing down as you need to gather only 30fragmens for each 5 skill points to 175, but to go further it's 100 fragments per 5 skill.

Flying in Azeroth is awesome. Just feels right being able to fly around the new Orgrimmar is so much better than riding through the streets.

I made a worgen Druid last night and leveled him to 11 in about 2-3 hours. Transformation from human to worgen looks very cool. Once I get him to 20 and out of the new zone I'll most likely stop and start a Goblin toon and test their starting area. Once I've got both to 20 the raids may be available for testing and then the fun part starts.

The real fun part is probably having to get a new guild to run with. My shifts at work mean I miss raiding. Tempted to transfer to a new server and find some locals to raid with. Any suggestions? :D
Crakaveli
Posted 07:51pm 08/10/10
Hey eds, i'll play the beta for you.
Khel
Posted 08:08pm 08/10/10
Well, if you play horde, I've got a guild on dath'remar. We're not like super "hardcore" elitist wankers or anything, but we do pretty good, we're 10/12 heroic icc, hopefully get heroic PP down next week.
eXemplar
Posted 08:12pm 08/10/10
What guild?
Khel
Posted 08:15pm 08/10/10
Scion
pARODY
Posted 08:44pm 08/10/10
khel: cool. Of course I'm Horde :D

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Blackrock&cn=Saronasta My Main - Ret pally.

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Blackrock&cn=Corpserunner Lock that only hit 80 a couple weeks ago.


I've only just come back last month after 10 months of not playing so my gear and raid achievements are a bit behind.

last edited by pARODY at 20:44:54 08/Oct/10
deeper
Posted 09:10pm 08/10/10
your gear is behind alright =P
deadlyf
Posted 09:25pm 08/10/10
I've never had as much fun in the game as I had with Vanilla PvP. Hitting 60 with my mage and jumping in a BG with 3k HP from green gear and soloing 2 rogues in tier 2 was fun. That or beating my Warrior mate in a duel who had Naxx gear when I was lvl 52.

The first expansion was pretty meh but Northrend was cool for the first few months until Blizz got back into it's treading water mode where it slowly releases lame grind content to keep the addicts hooked. Cata looks good, I haven't played in over a year but I might get back into it just to level some toons again. I don't even remember what server I'm on.
rrrocket
Posted 09:33pm 08/10/10
I'd love to see an age comparisons. I recon they're all 16-17 yr olds.
Spook
Posted 09:37pm 08/10/10
lols, im not suprised that vash plays the wow
infi
Posted 09:49pm 08/10/10
I've never been tempted once to even try this game.
Thundercracker
Posted 09:53pm 08/10/10
First hit is free, infi
Raider
Posted 10:09pm 08/10/10
bc shat on wrath, cata does look good hopefully it breathes some life into the game
Deviouz
Posted 10:19pm 08/10/10
I love wow, yeah wrath has been a bore and I'm looking forward to Cata to bring it back tot he glory of Vanil/BC, but like most people are saying, Ive tried so many other MMOs and they all can;t compare at the moment, you put 6 years of learning behind a product in the numbers they have, its hard for any 'upstart' to touch it,

PS: PROT WARRIORS RULE: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Barthilas&cn=Deviouz
kos
Posted 09:44am 09/10/10
I've never been tempted once to even try this game.
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