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

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.

Reader Comments (76)

I got to 71 in AoC (NOOO end game but awesome combat. best mmo combat evar.) and 40 in WAR.

I'm in a great WAR guild so I'll be staying... but yes, I will be checking out Lich. After spending BC as a lame shaman, Blizz owes me the OP DK.

EVE is so much more of a better MMO than WoW... no comparison. Holding an EVE sub and loving it 8D

Bivotar in WAR on the Ostermark server. Look me up.

24-hour wicker stores.... I was so moved by that, I felt the need to comment.

There is one argument I never see made and I will propose it right now.

INSTANT ATTACKS.

I could not handle LOTRO because of the lack of quick decisions. WOW combat to me is comparable to Goldeneye or perfect dark combat. Yes, I can be outgeared. But I can still whoop some ass with skill.

From what I have played of LOTRO and WAR, the action is too slow. And I'm sorry but Blizzard has an unmatched level of polish. WOTLK looks amazing. I am happy to give a company 15 dollars a month when i know that I would spend more money that night at a bar or bowling.

It is a strong point that, if you don't do much other gaming, an MMO is one of the cheapest gaming experiences around.

LOTRO is $10/15 a month, but I opted for the lifetime membership. So it is an MMO, but its all prepaid now. I would love if WOW offered that. My biggest gripe with pay to play games is that when I'm not playing them I feel guilty for spending money on something I'm not using/playing.

I came back only once...

...and never left!

Wow on 46% eh? Lawl Age of Conan!

I left WoW a few days before WaR came out. I have to say, I am really enjoying WaR and have little interest in WoW at this time. The achievments in WoW pale against the Tome stuff in WaR imo. Fact is right now I just love the way WaR looks.

That being said, I will be picking up WotLK in January sometime. I promised my guild their kick ass holy pally back. And since my poor pally is about to be uber nerfed, my guildies will all be lvl 80 by then and able to power lvl me.

I think a lot of folks are gonna be playing both WoW and WaR. They seem like two different fixes to me.

24 hour wicker stores??

Total Police Squad reference! (With Rex Hamilton as Abraham Lincoln)

A short bout with FFXI was enough to prove to me that MMOs are not for me. I don't have the time or the patience or the interest in that kind of grind. Too much good stuff elsewhere.

FFXI on the 360 was my first exposure to MMOs. Believe me, there are better and FAR LESS grindy and frustrating MMOs out there. Lord of the Rings Online and WOW are both worth a look-see.

I've always been tempted by LOTRO, but I would feel wrong in not tackling my pile of shame instead of grinding for a mount or something.

It seems like now WoW is constantly equated with being a bad habit filled with people that don't actually enjoy themselves but just continue to churn out their subscription fee once a month due to some kind of unkickable compulsion while the people who do manage to quit seem to think they are lucky or strong willed or something.

WoW is a video game, and a damn good one. It is not crack. For many people, including myself, it is still a ton of fun.

I agree... I just ended up being one of those people that was completely and utterly inept in balancing my gametime with RL. RL suffered... and it suffered greatly. WoW and EQ were exceptionally well made games. They were engineered from concept to implementation of said concept to be incredibly addictive. Blizzard mastered what other MMOs have only dreamed of and that is to make a game that people can't seem to stop playing. More power to em!

I think Blizzard created a great game but I believe that it's NOT the ONLY good MMO out there.

Many games may not have lived up to the hype. AoC I heard just didn't work after awhile and was plagued with many bugs but ultimately end game there was nothing.

As for WAR. I think it definitely rivals WoW. It's easy for any WoW player to pick up WAR. It's just a bunch of new class mechanics, TONS of more PvP, Scen arenas, Keep raids, & PQs.

WoW shouldn't take away from WAR when WotLK. I think anyone who got into WARs PvP won't just leave it completely. They'll just play both.

Ultimately what the article was saying everyone goes back to WoW. Well I believe people will go back to WAR or play both if they want some serious PvP action.

Have played WoW since launch.
I stopped playing for about a year.

Picked up WAR during Open Beta.
Definitely have no interest in WoW.
WAR scenarios, PQs, Keep battles, & Live events are just more fun when it comes to actual game play.

I only wish they would have more dung play. I'd say majority of people don't even know theirs dungs.

I haven't played WoW or EQ1/EQ2 for quite awhile but I still miss them. I just can't afford to lose myself in them again. I liked both WoW and EQ2 for what they had to offer. Different experiences and different types of people playing each game. Everytime I read about something cool in WoW or EQ2 I get nostalgic. Make it stop....

You can't quit drugs by changing your drug of choice. The best way to quit playing WoW is to quit playing MMORPGs.

I succesfully left WoW for Spore, haven't looked back, my account's still active for another week, not even going to log in again.

I'd like to know the percentage of people who came back after leaving WoW for Hello Kitty Island Adventures.

Once you go Hello Kitty there is no turning back...

Hello Kitty Island Adventure was pretty good but there were too many chinese gold farmers.

This is why I'm actively telling my friends to go **** themselves whenever they ask me to play. I know I'll get addicted too. I've got friends from all over begging me to just join up and play with them and I can't ever give in. I played for about a month when it released and had a level 28 character, but I quit it before school because I knew I'd always play. I'm sure its real fun, but I've got other games to play too! If I got addicted to that, I'd never get to play anything else. And that's just not fair to all the other games. So I dislike WoW like I dislike recreational drugs. I'm sure its fun, but the side effects and addiction are just too much to deal with.

Your a fucking idiot Jakka, holy shit do you fucking read? WOW players really are god damn retards right?
Sauron from LOTR as in Lord of the Rings .. the book written by Tolkien came out in the year 1954 .. fucking dumbshit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings

There is your Wiki link fuckface.. try following the links next time.

Just the forum ive been looking for...

I leveled my rogue to 70, scored all epic gear, then was so bored with the game I would just log on from time to time. I wanted to move my character but physically could not so ... i read general chat for long periods of time.
I ended up selling my account. Now that Wrath of the Lich king came out im itching to get back in; but know if i do i will be bored again. Are there any other games out there that compare to this game? I dont want to subscribe to wow again cause deep down inside i know i will get bored again.

Previous 50 Comments

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

Reader Comments (76)

Posted: Nov 6th 2008 12:34AM (Unverified) said

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