(10-27-2011, 05:50 PM)Lissa Wrote: Aion is hardly an 800lb gorilla and you know it.
You asked me who the competition was, that was taking WoW's (slightly) decreasing share of the market. I pointed out about four million subscribers worth of new games, from key markets, all to explain a measly 800,000 fall in WoW's player base. You tell me this isn't enough, it's no "800lb gorilla". Is there any satisfying this argument? Because if the *second largest MMO ever* is not enough, I don't know what even could be. Aion is huge, by any standard except World of Warcraft itself.
Quote:Likewise, WoW lost 800k subscribers, that doesn't account for the 200k difference between it and Rift.
Because either 100% of WoW players went to Rift, or none of them did? Could it not be that Aion and Rift each took a chunk? Or that some left for other games, some left the market, and yet others started playing for the first time? The numbers don't have to equal each other perfectly to matter.
Quote:Likewise, Rift has lost subscribers, so that shows even more that Blizzard hasn't lost that many to other MMOs. Something else is making WoW lose subscribers, and it isn't competing MMOs on the market at this time.
The whole market is down maybe 1 million. If 100% of those are from WoW, then yes, that explains it. I don't think it is plausible that this is the case - that would mean that no other game is losing players, period, including Aion, including Rift, and they clearly are.
Regardless, the basic content of your argument is obviously contradicted by the data. This is not an unprecedented decline in subscribers, either in percentages or absolute terms. However, I am rapidly coming to the opinion that you are not interested in the data, but merely adapting your argument to whatever will support your prior idea: that the B team wrecked WoW.
-Jester