...is the latest report coming out from Blizzard's HQ, which is depressing news indeed - WoW may not be the same WoW once Cata hits, as the number of current subscribers, sitting at 11.5M, has not shown any net growth since 2008. 2008! With this economy, the future of WoW is looking a little grisly.
And we were complaining about Blizzard whoring out paid premium services as of late, they're trying to keep up with their same ol player base's bitching and moaning. (and server costs. and the many ponies Ghostcrawler promised to give out but instead kept, cause he sucks like that. oh and the spontaneous - *shot*)
What do you guys think? Should the player base somehow shoulder the rising costs of maintaining the game servers, since we're the ones populating them? Should we, the players, somehow help out our patron of good times and get more people to play, or is advertising for more players something in the domain of Blizzard only? What incentives do you think would help Blizz get more people to play, or what PR moves should they pull to ease the stigma WoW has of consisting only of snot nosed horny virgin 14 year olds with no lives? lol
Damn, I sound like a teacher.
Personally I don't mind the premium services, as long as they don't give the payees a leg up above people who only pay the subscription price. If I could afford them, I'd have my mini K.T. or Pandaren out all the time and be whoring out my WoW FigurePrints and Steins and the like. But I can't. So...In my opinion, and in most PR operatives opinion, the best form of advertising any company can have is in the form of word of mouth - from player to player, friend to friend. Certainly you trust the review of a game from a credible source more than the company that's trying to push it out, yes? I know I do. I'd try to pull my friends into WoW if it means it'll help Blizz keep WoW alive. Hell, I'll have more to talk to my friends about and hang out more than we currently do (we're all college students, all long distance).
But then, what if this is a perfectly crafted PR stunt to get players to do just this at Blizzard's whim?
Damn good stunt it is.
