Want to leave WoW for Conan or Warhammer? Good luck!

by Christopher Grant on Nov 5th 2008 9:26PM

Despite his rather stoic delivery during an Activision Blizzard conference call earlier today, Blizzard's Mike Morhaime undoubtedly took some thrill reciting the following statistics relating to players trying to leave World of Warcraft for the competition: Of the players who cited Funcom's Age of Conan as their reason for leaving WoW, a whopping 68% returned to Azeroth; of the players who cited Warhammer: Age of Reckoning as the impetus behind their departure, a less overwhelming (but similarly impressive) 46% of players ultimately leapt right back into Blizzard's no-doubt strategically receptive embrace.

So, what's the takeaway from this tale? Like broadband internet, hardcore drugs, or those 24-hour wicker stores, World of Warcraft is tough to stay away from once you've gotten a taste. And with Blizzard on the cusp of rolling out its latest and greatest expansion in Wrath of the Lich King, we're pretty certain there are plenty of cold-turkeyers getting the shakes just thinking about it.

Tags: Activision-Blizzard, Age-of-Conan, Mac, PC, Warhammer-Online, World-of-Warcraft

Reader Comments (76)

I'll bet any amount of money that those percentages of people returning will skyrocket once the Lich King is released.

I bet you some money that many people play both, as well. So coming back to WoW and leaving WAR, or just repaying its account?

i'll bet you the sky is blue and grass is green.

honestly though, I don't know why people keep going back to the game. it's insanely repetitive and pretty boring. This coming from a guy who played it hardcore for 2 years, I can't imagine the people who are still grinding away since day 1.

@ eldee

So, you played the game hardcore for TWO years, but are confused why people coming back?
That's like saying you were a crack addict and are confused why people get addicted to it.
Its easy to get into, has a good endgame, and everyone and their brother plays it. Thats why.

how is that like saying i was a crack addict? one day i logged in and said "this is no longer fun" and then cancelled my account. by your measure, crack is a fairly easy drug to kick, we should tell the DEA about this revelation you've had.

in all seriousness- the little improvements they keep making to the game are minor and don't really extend the fun of the game (IMO anyway). Maybe it's just me, but even if they create a new instance once every 6 months it's still the same old game. I think the issue is a little deeper seated than that though.. once people get a little bit of gear they don't want to let go. it's like they're rats in a maze, constantly looking for the next piece of digital cheese.

I doubly don't understand the people who get tired of the game, quit, and then go back. if you got tired of it, what the hell is drawing you back in? is it the hannah barbera style graphics? social networking? hopping around in orgrimmar?

Well ive been into WoW since the beginning, left a few time due to Real Life, nothing specific. Life, going out more, playing console games etc. Thats the beauty of your account being frozen but, your rested EXP building while away.

IMO WoW could lose a few million players and still carry on. I wouldnt mind. Its attracted so many LRN2players, its ridiculous. Thank goodness for ignore, mute and Roleplay.

player: "Hey"

avatar: "Aye sir?"

player(lvl 11): Can u hlp me kil thes guy? -Lvl21 Elite-

avatar: /boggle *walks away, ingoring whispers

I've moved on to Lord of the Rings Online. It is a better game for being story-driven. Also feels less grindy. I do miss the music in WOW. That was its greatest hook for me. The art direction was nice, but the look of LOTRO on a higher end PC is hard to beat.

Plus the Mines of Moria expansion comes out in a couple weeks. I have my own content to keep me going...

I've returned to WoW several times myself.

For arguments sake. How many people that quit to play WAR or AOC actually marked that as the reason for leaving WOW? I myself have unsubbed from WOW more then once, and every time I do I choose a new excuse.

I am part of this statistic. I played warhammer, bought CE too and it just wasn't very polished or very fun. Came back to WoW after a month to check out WotLK.

I tried to go back to WoW because of the new patch, and I lasted all of 3 hours. The game is horribly boring and now they have managed to make raiding even easier, on top of a horrible PvP experience.

I would go back to Lineage II (Playing WAR atm) before I did WoW.

While I don't plan to stay away permanently from WoW, I think it's pretty safe to say that Gears of War 2 will be getting some love from me in the weeks and months to come.

I dumped WoW permanently. I'm never coming back to that casual playhouse that masquerades as anything remotely gaming.

High five bro! I also quit and am happy to stay the fuck out! Warhammer is damn good so it's not like I feel like going back anyway.

The only way I'd ever even think of playing another MMO is if I could have, in writing, a legally binding contract that ensures far more player-controlled improvements rather than watered down crap designed to draw in as many subscribers as possible.

Since that will never happen, it's unlikely I'll ever play another MMO. The chance that all that time I invested could be wasted is not worth it.

High five guys, we're the cool kids now because we don't follow trends.

Oh wait... I'm still a subscriber.

:(

So, elitist snob, what do you play?

I quit WoW, because its a big shit bird of a game. I am an elitist snob, want to know what I play? Nothing. Pure and simple, I don't play any MMO's. Because all of the new MMOs are either tedious korean shit holes, or tedious WoW clones.

I'll admit I was addicted to WoW for a little bit, its not remotely as close to the addiction I experienced in Everquest; which I am also proud to say that I quit. Hell I even sold my accounts on EQ, to seal the deal.

I play an occasional first person shooter on my pc with some good friends, but I can count on 1 hand how many hours a week I play them.

Honestly, it's like you're talking about a woman.

I quit and came back once, only to quit again in about a month. After I really examined time invested versus reward returned it was a no-brainer. Not that WoTLK hasn't tempted me. Damn you, Blizzard.

Is anyone else even slightly disturbed that, not only does Blizzard keep a statistic for how many people leave for what reason, but then continue to track those accounts with that statistic in mind, and then brag about it when the numbers suit them?

Why would a pretty basic use of customer service be alarming? They asked customers why they left for the purpose of using the information to change what needs changing. When customers return after leaving, it's good to know that too; why change your game to be more like one that people are turning away from?

"They asked customers why they left for the purpose of using the information to change what needs changing. When customers return after leaving, it's good to know that too; why change your game to be more like one that people are turning away from?"

Blizzard asked so that they can make appropriate changes? So when people leave because of the imbalanced PvP, or terrible customer service, why doesn't Blizzard talk about how they've fixed those problems and then talk about the return rate?

Similarly, what kind of changes could Blizzard possibly make based upon people simply saying they are, for example, leaving WoW behind for WAR? If any such changes could be made, why isn't Blizzard acknowledging any kind of changes instead of just sneering and saying, "Of all the players who left us for WAR, 46% of them came crawling back to us for more :)"?

This isn't a constructive use of customer data by Blizzard on the part of the customers, it's pure PR fluff.

I left WoW in March 2007 after 5 months of constant playing and never went back. I've had the urge but won't give into it. Dropped it, cold turkey.

+1 Will

What's a wicker store?

The less you know, the better...

They have Pier 1 Imports in WoW?

I actually came back for Lich King, but am a bit nonplussed at how goddamn boring the combat is after Age of Conan. On the other hand you can't really argue with the huge amount of content.

yes you can, a boring game is a boring game, even if there happens to be A LOT of boring game there.

I unsubed from WoW and picked up Warhammer. I'm really enjoying it and have no interest in picking up WotLK.

i quit WOW a couple of weeks ago and i'm not planning on going back. Maybe if they had a PVE server i might reconsider signing back on. The only things i liked about the game were leveling up, fooling around with the tradeskils and exploring the areas.

Normal servers are PvE servers.
PvP servers are PvP servers.

Unless they've changed in the year since I last played.

If you're feeling really lame you could go to the role playing servers, where your make believe avatar can play make believe.

I used to be a hardcore WoW player (40 man raids...sigh), but then dumped it after my social life, grades, and ability to play other games went down the tubes. It's horribly addicting.

That's what I like about LOTRO. Its less life-sucking and more soloable. I opted to not try Warhammer as it looked a little too dark for my liking. And I'm holding out for Age of Conan on the 360.

Hi my name is Josh. It's been 3 weeks since I last played WoW. I feel pretty good "shakes a little"

Isn't there a circle of hell reserved for people that boast about that kind of thing?

Actually there already going there for making a character that looks like Sauron from the Lotr movies and is called a 'lich king'. Well, that and the whole 'genocide' thing they did back in '05. Is that public yet?

Arthas' character design predates the LotR movies, which are based on a very loose description in the books. If you're going to throw around the idea of plagiarism, you'd almost have to say that the LotR movies stole the design from Blizzard.

Got any proof for that?

Because according to Mah Weekeepeediah, LotR1(First appearance of BOTH Sauron AND Nazgul/Witch King) came out in 2001 and W3: The Frozen Throne(First appearance of the Lich King as we know him.) came out in 2003.

Two years seems like enough time to be "inspired" by the character.

Sauron makes an appearance in the first LotR movie, which came out in 2001, half a year before Warcraft 3 was released and 18 months before The Frozen Throne. I'm being nice and assuming that the similar art design was in the original game and not just the expansion.

So unless Blizzard was releasing character art of Arthas more than two years before Reign of Chaos was released (LotR filming began in late 1999), there's little chance that the LotR people were copying from them.

And of course I'm beaten to the punch. I was doing more research into it because I didn't know specific dates.

Don't worry, this ALWAYS happens to me instead. Revenge is sweet hehe.

Raided all of WoW up to whatever's in the upcoming expansion, and as I started to play the Beta content, it's basically more of the same.

Dungeons are shorter, gear is easier to get, and there are more complainers.

I'm currently subscribed to WAR, and having a great time with something new.

I feel like I stepped into a 12 step help group

World of Weed

I am playing EQ2 for the first time in a long time and I love it. I was playing WAR, but will wait a few more months at least before checking it out again. It's a diamond in the rough for sure.

Is it just me or does Joystiq seem to endorse WoW more than half the time?

http://www.wowinsider.com/

I can't imagine why....

If they took the time to bother telling Blizzard why they left, they probably weren't all that unsatisfied with the game. I expect that among people who breezed through the survey without telling Blizzard why they're quitting, the keep away rate is much higher.

If the exit-poll were in any way cumbersome, maybe. As it is, it's just a click of the mouse to tell them a reason, no harder than not providing one. I doubt satisfaction with the company plays any big part in whether or not the poll is answered.

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Want to leave WoW for Conan or Warhammer? Good luck!

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