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Blizzard has lost almost 29% of its overall active playerbase in three years

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Re: Blizzard has lost almost 29% of its overall active playerbase in three years

#451

Post by void_mint »

jrockway wrote: post #435
void_mint wrote: post #415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. Blizzard's balance team is shockingly bad. Metas usually exist for huge periods of time (GOATS lasted over a year, as did moth, as did dive). It is repetitive to play the same maps, with the same heroes, for a year.

I hear that a lot. Why keep playing? Why play the meta? The onetricks seem to do well no matter what the meta is. A lot of players feel forced to play the meta. Then a few don't, and the meta changes.

> I hear that a lot. Why keep playing? Why play the meta? The onetricks seem to do well no matter what the meta is.

To compete at anything means making the decisions that put a contestant in the best position to win. A "meta" is the most optimal team composition for a given map. To play off meta is uncompetitive.

> Then a few don't, and the meta changes.

This is not how metas change.

Re: Blizzard has lost almost 29% of its overall active playerbase in three years

#452

Post by jrockway »

void_mint wrote: post #451
jrockway wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear that a lot. Why keep playing? Why play the meta? The onetricks seem to do well no matter what the meta is. A lot of players feel forced to play the meta. Then a few don't, and the meta changes.

> I hear that a lot. Why keep playing? Why play the meta? The onetricks seem to do well no matter what the meta is. To compete at anything means making the decisions that put a contestant in the best position to win. A "meta" is the most optimal team composition for a given map. To play off meta is uncompetitive. > Then a few don't, and the meta changes. This is not how metas change.

So why did the Orisa buff result in a Rein/Zarya meta? She wasn't in the meta before, she was changed, she wasn't in the meta afterwards -- but the meta changed. What's going on there exactly?

Re: Blizzard has lost almost 29% of its overall active playerbase in three years

#454

Post by ajuc »

drdrey wrote: post #318
asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #8

I can't say what's driving all the playerbase losses but: They stopped development on Diablo 3 a long time ago. It doesn't have the staying power of more modern online games where new content is added continuously. They stopped development on HotS, which never achieved the same level of pull as League of Legends. Overwatch faces stiff competition from Valorant and other competitive small team FPSes, and also has over…

I used to be a daily Hearthstone player and I dropped completely given how they handled the situation with the Hong Kong protests

Same but with sc2.

Re: Blizzard has lost almost 29% of its overall active playerbase in three years

#455

Post by riffraff »

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #8

I can't say what's driving all the playerbase losses but: They stopped development on Diablo 3 a long time ago. It doesn't have the staying power of more modern online games where new content is added continuously. They stopped development on HotS, which never achieved the same level of pull as League of Legends. Overwatch faces stiff competition from Valorant and other competitive small team FPSes, and also has over…

How about hearthstone? They release new content regularly and have significantly extended the game with new modes of play over the years.

I think it has its own set of problems but they seem different from the ones you mention.

Re: Blizzard has lost almost 29% of its overall active playerbase in three years

#456

Post by riffraff »

teeray wrote: post #405
pradn wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm unsure if the RTS genre is in a waning phase. AoE2 is still a top-20 game every day on Steam. Granted, it's a 20-year-old game. Maybe that shows new entrants can't make it; or maybe it shows there aren't enough good new entrants. StarCraft 2 is not as popular as it was, but would still be in the top 20 games if it were on Steam. We'll see if AoE4 gives the genre a kick. Initial reactions are somewhat lukewarm bec…

I feel like RTS would have a second awakening if they could de-emphasize the all-important actions-per-second somehow. It’s not appealing to new audiences because most people cannot execute multiple threads in their brains well. I think Factorio has some of this, where there is strong pressure to automate things that would otherwise demand your constant attention.

Wouldn't that get you turn-based strategy?

Re: Blizzard has lost almost 29% of its overall active playerbase in three years

#457

Post by mattnewton »

totony wrote: post #275
Jetrel wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironically, having been a huge WC3 fan; I felt like reforged was great. I bought it, loved it, and am still routinely playing it (in fact, I've picked it up as a semi-regular routine, whereas I'd kinda mostly stopped playing the original). I love the new graphics, the bugs were pretty minor and quickly fixed, and the stuff the community complained about was either irrelevant (complaining about the game being heavier…

>I get that blizzard doesn't want to have its lunch stolen a second time by LoL/Dota But it's not stolen -- they didn't invent the genre, someone did off of their platform. >I love the new graphics, the bugs were pretty minor and quickly fixed, and the stuff the community complained about was either irrelevant [...] or was not a regression against the prior version of the game I have played the game a lot since it ca…

Blizzard should have just hired the dota guy / bought out the team’s idea. It would have been worth it in retrospect and it would have established a precedent that would motivate other people to make truly great content on their level editors, selling more copies..

Re: Blizzard has lost almost 29% of its overall active playerbase in three years

#458

Post by void_mint »

jrockway wrote: post #452
void_mint wrote: post #451

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I hear that a lot. Why keep playing? Why play the meta? The onetricks seem to do well no matter what the meta is. To compete at anything means making the decisions that put a contestant in the best position to win. A "meta" is the most optimal team composition for a given map. To play off meta is uncompetitive. > Then a few don't, and the meta changes. This is not how metas change.

So why did the Orisa buff result in a Rein/Zarya meta? She wasn't in the meta before, she was changed, she wasn't in the meta afterwards -- but the meta changed. What's going on there exactly?

Sorry, if you can expand on which Orisa change you're describing I'd be happy to explain what happened in that meta. Nonmeta heroes get changed all the time and do not change the meta (unless they get changed enough to become meta heroes).

Re: Blizzard has lost almost 29% of its overall active playerbase in three years

#459

Post by emptysongglass »

jointpdf wrote: post #263
emptysongglass wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No love for EverQuest? Any MMO I've played since hasn't held a candle to the world design and enduring sense of mystery and wonder EverQuest was able to spark in my fragile little boyhood heart. I went back to play in a "static" group on the old school Project 1994 servers a couple years ago. Buncha strangers agreeing to meet online a couple times a week to play, drink some fancy beers and shoot the shit. No wonder l…

> the old school Project 1994 servers You mean Project 1999: https://www.project1999.com/ (LFG, by the way)

Oh jeez, that's what I get for not proofreading! Thanks for the correction.

What side of the world are you on?

Re: Blizzard has lost almost 29% of its overall active playerbase in three years

#460

Post by redisman »

donio wrote: post #293
mbesto wrote: post #86

It's worth noting that this is specific to Blizzard . They have: - an MMO (not a growth area compared to other genres) - a FPS that tried to create a unique twist - a card game that essentially created a new genre (with a commercial ceiling) - remastered classics Compared to the rest of the market that is growing in the following areas: - large mobile presence - MOBA (HotS has been discontinued) - battle Royale

> - MOBA (HotS has been discontinued) Development has certainly slowed down but it's still alive with new content, Hero reworks and balance patches. https://heroespatchnotes.com/patch/summary.html

It’s at a similar patch cadence and size as Warcraft 3. The fall from the good times has been pretty severe
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