The expansion is themed around death, not in the same was as Wrath of the Lich King, but in a far more literal sense. WoW: Shadowlands appears to be a farewell to Warcraft, even if it doesn’t end up being the final expansion released for the main retail game. This simultaneously hints at how small WoW’s subscriber count may have shrunk while also demonstrating that releasing older versions of the game is a reliable way to bring back players. Server communities broke down as cross-server PUGs became possible and once intimidating bosses were now part of the daily grind.īlizzard no longer releases its subscriber numbers, but it is known that the last August's launch of World of Warcraft Classic doubled WoW’s subscriber base between then and February of 2020. While more players had access to the top gear and weapons in the game, the new Dungeon and later Raid Finder systems kept players parked in cities and not experiencing the huge world Blizzard had first opened back in 2004. The long-term impact of this, however, was devastating, and WoW’s subscriber base began rapidly declining. After a year of raiding Icecrown Citadel with almost no updates, many players had reached the end-game content for the first time, and with the introduction of the Dungeon Finder the game was more accessible than ever. In fact, the subscriber count peaked at around 12 million WoW subscribers right around the start of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. World of Warcraft is an old game, and it has been a long time since the game was in its hey-day.
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