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WoW hits 8.5m subscribers

computerandvideogames.com — The MMORPG has already touched the hearts of millions worldwide but its campaign for world domination doesn't look like ending anytime soon.

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  • trubbleshute, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17Without going back as far as MUDs, it is amazing how far MMO's have come in the last 5 years. I hope Blizzard keeps up with WoW for as long as possible and I think it's entirely possible-- but I also think they should make another Starcraft RTS but what do I know?
    • Sarauble, on 10/12/2007, -11/+14Blizzard has made it known they plan to announce their next project within the next two quarters... If I remember right. Speculation and their recent hires point to a new RTS.

      That being said, WoW has become the 100-ton gorilla of the MMO world, and rightly so. It has the correct mix of fun and funny, with enough difficulty for such a broad range, it's hardly surprising they can't make everyone happy with it. There's a lot of complaints on the WoW forums, but the game itself is very, very good.
    • mortigon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+44Yea... Starcraft 2... Diablo 3... Warcraft 4.... I hope all of those come out before I have to get married. :P
    • Dantetheinferno, on 10/12/2007, -8/+5Well, I was talking to a GM once and he told me "We'll never stop until we have world domination! Bwahahaha! I mean.... Nothing"

      Uhoh.
    • hellno, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1Gratz WoW
    • kingkilr, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11If even 3 million of those people live in the USA, that means 1 in 100 people you know(on average) plays WoW, scary stuff.
    • davymac, on 10/12/2007, -25/+11wow so that means we have 8.5 million losers with no life in the world? nice fun fact.. haha.. i kid i kid.. go ahead and bury, lol
    • foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -1/+22"Yea... Starcraft 2... Diablo 3... Warcraft 4.... I hope all of those come out before I have to get married. :P"
      Well, since Duke Nukem Forever is gonna come out on your wedding day, I have no doubts SC2, Diablo3, and WC4 will be out before then.
    • Shuk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10For me, this reads: "Starcraft 2 announcement delayed for another few years"
    • skyfire1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Personally, I'd wish they'd make a MMO that wasn't geared so much toward grinding to the next level. I also wished everything wasn't level based. I'm still looking forward to Two Worlds.
    • blast0x, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4@skyfire

      ever heard of guild wars? you can make a max lvl character whenever you want (although its for pvp only). but still, lvl 20 isnt very high at all
    • praisethelard, on 06/06/2008, -0/+4skyfire1, I agree. I'd like to see a skill-based system similar to The Elder Scrolls series.
    • mrgodai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2inbred, elder scroll series still got levels alongside with skills. Ultima Online was completely skill based.
    • drmangrum, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's amazing how successful WoW has become. When i first saw the game, I scoffed. It looked rather cartoony and the game mechanics appeared to be dumbed-down to the point of idiocy. But, then you take a deeper look and they have incorporated the most customizable UI I have ever seen, a beautiful world that is full of color and curves ( anyone remember all the strait lines in EQ? ), and they keep the game mostly balanced for both PvP and PvE gameplay styles. The only negative thing I can say about the WoW experience is their lack of customer service. Their in-game GM's are neutered to the point of uselessness.
    • Dustin00, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1"I hope all of those come out before I have to get married."

      WTH are you getting married for??? So not worth it. Period.
    • smilf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1They have said they are working on another diablo game.
  • SomaliWarLord, on 10/12/2007, -51/+9that game is gay.. i wanted to try something new instead of diablo2 and i tried wow but its so gayy the graphcis are gay, it looks like its from nintendo64.. i hate how you fight.. its just gay..
    • mehss, on 10/12/2007, -33/+5EVERYTHING IS JUST SO GAY GAY GAY GAY. ***** GAY!111
    • AnteChronos, on 10/12/2007, -3/+55@SomaliWarLord
      "that game is gay . . . its so gayy the graphcis are gay . . . its just gay"

      You can always tell the pre-teens on WoW because they're the ones who use "gay" as an insult.
    • tidu, on 10/12/2007, -12/+6Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think compact discs with compiled games have sexual orientations.
    • hammydude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16all compact discs have giant holes in them, and how do you buy them? ALL STACKED UPON EACH OTHER! Same sexed cds are all riding each other when you buy them, they do have sexual preference!

      /i can find phalic/sexual in anything
    • TheBasass, on 10/12/2007, -11/+5SomaliWarLord you must have played a Night Elf. I agree with you that Night Elves are completely gay. I've had nightmares with male Night Elves making out. I also have frequent day dreams where female Night Elves make out. You should create a dwarf. There is nothing gay about dwarves.
    • marsbar, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2@ANteChronos
      "You can always tell the pre-teens on WoW because they're the ones who use "gay" as an insult."

      You can always tell the gays on WoW because they're the ones who don't realize that if you're not gay then being called gay IS an insult.
    • Dustin00, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1"i hate how you fight.. its just gay.."

      So you never figured out how to kill Hogger, huh?
  • overbored454, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9It's really hard to beat a behemoth that tends to satisfy every level of online gamer from the casual, play every now and then player all the way up to the hardcore, stay up for three nights with no sleep gamer. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and you can choose how much or little PvP or grouping you do. In spite of that, other MMORPGs are sticking with their own formulas (with success in some cases) but WoW is doing it pretty good.
  • Nerdculture, on 10/12/2007, -12/+7WoW is a wonderful game considering the fact that it is so very inviting to new gamers like myself. Don't knock it until you try it.

    /target World of Warcraft /love :D

  • FizixMan, on 10/12/2007, -10/+34Assume every one of those people invested 100 hours into the game. (for many people, it's more like 100 days)


    Imagine what could have been accomplished with 850 million hours of work or productive hobbies?
    • ersatzphi, on 10/12/2007, -4/+36Imagine if you took all the leisure hours of everyone in the world and imagine what could be accomplished with those hours. Whats your point?
    • spudnic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+54Let's enslave the world and build a big *****-off pyramid?
    • SlvrEagle23, on 10/12/2007, -0/+25If we took all of those hours and divided them back out amongst the population, I'm pretty sure all of us would have plenty of time to sit around and do nothing...

      ...which is just what we deserve after working our asses off all day. Quit imagining productive ***** for us to do. I'm tired.
    • championchap, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Nono, I say lets build a great big welcome pyramid!
    • bseay, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Imagine if you applied your algorithm to TV.
    • Disodium, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5what the hell is a productive hobby?
    • chingy1788, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3More work has gone into WoW than MS Windows Vista
      hehehe
    • chris9902, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7"what the hell is a productive hobby?"

      work?
    • drmangrum, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If you choose to have fun building a model, painting a picture, playing an instrument, or taking a stroll in the park, good for you. But 8.5m people enjoy playing WoW, there is nothing wrong with having a different past time.
    • Dustin00, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I play 2 hours a day while riding my recumbent exercise bike. On weekends I'll bike/play for 3 or 4 hours

      The impact has been amazing and I love it... and so do my FBs. :-)
  • Salgat, on 10/12/2007, -3/+43More work has gone into making level 60s than into developing Linux.
    • Lionhart, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11I guess more people care about WoW than Linux then. I guarantee at least half of the people that digg Linux stuff on Digg have never used it.
    • sedo1800, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12thats lvl 70s not 60
    • foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10More work has gone into getting level 60 for any WoW player than in the last Congress.
    • vafada, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5everyone can play WoW..... not everyone can code/debug/fix an OS kernel
  • Somniis, on 10/12/2007, -10/+7So what?
    • t0mmmmmmm, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2agreed, it's not even a round number.

      see you in the 'wow hits 8.6M suscribers' story.
  • wvaughan, on 10/12/2007, -3/+228.5 million subscribers x $15 per month = $127,500,000.00

    With the addition of the Arena Tournament, WoW is starting to take on some of the attributes of a team sport. Perhaps in a few years we'll see major advertisers start to sponsor WoW Arena team.

    • mehss, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4That is ***** nuts...really.
    • bombmaster2, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3$127,500,000 a month is completely insane. Plus add on the possibility of in-game advertising, merchandising, and eventual upgrades and miscellanious fees? This is an unstoppable combination.
    • SirBriggs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13Well, minus the cost of running all of those servers and employing moderators and programmers....but still...lotta money.
    • nored, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0Hmm, no. WoW makes a lot of money, but not that much. Out of the 8.5 million around 2 million are Americans, 1.5 million are Europeans and the bulk of the rest are in China. In China you don't subscribe you buy time cards so the question becomes how are they counting the players who have time cards left? Is it 1 hour, 15 min, less?
    • doddilus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2you're right, blizz doesn't make that much money, but not for that reason, if you pay for months in advance you get a discount per month, you can get 3 months for only $41.97($13.99 per month) or $77.94 for Six Months ($12.99 per month)

      from blizzards 8 million press release (they haven' actually said anything official for 8.5million)

      http://www.blizzard.com/press/070111.shtml

      "Player population in North America now exceeds 2 million, while Europe and China pass the 1.5 million player and 3.5 million player marks, respectively"

      "World of Warcraft's Subscriber Definition
      World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees' territories are defined along the same rules."
    • gildor, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0I read on Wikipedia that the 3.5 million Chinese players pay $0.06 for each hour of game play. Also, they pay $3.75 per CD key.
  • Four20, on 10/12/2007, -14/+24+500,000 more people with no life
  • 11235813, on 10/12/2007, -10/+1Earth gets +5 nerd skill, +30 athletic resistance.
    • spudnic, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13You need at least 350 athletic resistance to tank the gym
  • zapco03, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1blink21 to Outlawz "Why you trumpin me"
  • Lyph4, on 10/12/2007, -6/+6I love WoW, I just wish that they would add new 20-60 stuff to go with the 60-70 stuff...
    • FryedGuy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0They added two new races with a host of really cool quests (especially on the Dranei starting zone). Check it out.
  • ArntorFTL, on 10/12/2007, -3/+25I quit that game in January and haven't looked back. It's amazing the amount of real accomplishments I have made in my life since. Never again do I get sucked into that empty life.
    • spudnic, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Quit just before Christmas, I hadn't realized how much of my life it was sucking up until I did. I wasn't even enjoying it anymore, it took quitting for me to see it.

      By no means saying that this would be the case for everyone, but the amount of time this game requires you to put in on a regular basis (read 4/5+ hours most nights a week) to keep up with raiding is absurd. The changes to the honour system were definitely a step in the right direction however, so at least Blizzard are recognizing this fact.
    • usefulidiot, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8after grinding like mad 6+ hours a day to get to 60 and raiding EVERY day with my guild, jew'ing warriors + new pvp system is what gave me a reason to leave. Im glad i quit, that game is worse than crack, i get a lot more done in a day now too.
    • akinnee, on 10/12/2007, -5/+11let's smoke weed instead ok? =]
    • hammydude, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4i swear, on my honour, it has been 3 months since my last wow experience, or i may be killed and loot be divided upon all of you.

      i have seriously seen wow do more damage than weed onto people....well actually weed isn't that bad at all....point is wow sucks you into a reptitionous void, that takes no skill whatsover and you lose sight on life. Put the game down, and at least play something that takes some sort of skill, pressing macros for 6+ hours takes nothing, or preferably go outside and talk to a REAL HUMAN BEING

    • real2, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I bought the game back in February of 2006 because of the insane mental peer pressure / advertisements about how wonderful WoW is. About 25 days in (countless hours of grinding and putting off work/homework, ~6-12 hours of daily gaming), I reached level 60.

      Several weeks of MC/BWL later, I just couldn't take the staleness of basically repeating endgame content. The only thing that was remotely fun was rolling people in PVP, but that had its downside with server problems left and right.

      By the end of march I had lost interest, (+2 months of having the game). Finally, by April, my account saw a total waste of a month, and that was basically it. $15/month? Insane of a little pvp and sitting around in town for the remaining countless hours.

      Just like weed, give it a try. The same friends that first got into WoW 1-2 years ago, they have all dropped out with similar reasons of losing interest.
    • badbox, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16I love how you morons blame your lack of responsibility on a game, as if the game made you do anything.

      Look, I'm sorry you had a problem with balancing real life and a game, but in the end YOU were the problem, not WoW.

      GTFO with that *****. I'm so sick of people always pretending to be some sort of victim.

      You obviously aren't able to handle the game and it's not for you.. neither are a lot of things in life if you're so easily swayed by this. Move on and quit making it out to be some crazed thing.
    • huhwhathuh, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3badbox said this, then slammed his empty mountain dew can down on his desk, got another one, put his headset back on and resumed playing WoW in a fit of rage...
    • badbox, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I slammed a shot of vodka and went back to playing Crackdown
    • FryedGuy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Badbox is right. I still play WoW but do it in my free time when I'm bored and don't have other stuff to do, rather than plan the rest of my life around it. It's a video game after all...

      ...I'm going home to play Crackdown.
    • mykos, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I have a compulsive personality and never should have started. My wife thinks I'm way cooler now that I've quit...ha :)
    • bs101, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Badbox hit the "nail on the head".

      Playing WoW like Real2 described is not how a game like this is meant to be played and if you do then of course you are going to fricken burn out and say it was a waste. It is supposed to be a hobby, not a fricken life controller. As with any hobby you need to balance real life and the hobby.

      Bottom line, don't knock the game because your inability seperate real life and your hobbies. It has absolutely nothing to do with the game. Blizzard doesn't make it so you have to game that many hours, that is your choice.
  • junskey, on 10/12/2007, -11/+4WOW IS GAY
  • JimmyRye, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1Banned farmers re-subscribed ?

    Tried it.... didnt like it....more of a sci-fi guy
  • Jergens, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Is that 8.5 million "active" subscribers? Or is it just 8.5 million people who have signed on at some point to play the game. Because if that's the case there are probably a few million like me who were addicted to the game (for over a year, sad to say), but eventually gave it up when they realized they didn't have 6 hour blocks of time to get any further in a high-level instance.
    • Mitijea, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3All other figures released up until now have been concurrent subscribers, so this is probably the same. I'm guessing total subscribers ever would be closer to 2x to 3x that, if not more.
    • doddilus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"World of Warcraft's Subscriber Definition
      World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees' territories are defined along the same rules."
  • cinnix, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2It's a filthy habit, I have never started myself. And kids, by all means, I DO NOT condone WoW
  • borchard76, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3The only problem I have with WOW is that the monthly cost is too high. They SERIOUSLY need to offer access tiers, with rollover minutes. For the casual gamer, this would be perfect. I'm not able to play very frequently, due to my insane schedule and having 3.2 children. The most I would pay at this point in my life about $5/month. If I could do that and be allowed something like 30 hours or just 20 hours/month, with a rollover, I would probably do it. $15 is a bit much for me as a casual gamer, which is why I am considering dropping $100 to get Guild Wars + both expansions (Sam's Club rocks), since I know I'll never have a monthly fee, I would do this. Of course right now that $100 would get me WOW ($20) + Expansion ($40) + < 3 months of subscription (on top of any that came with the game). That's not very much, and I wouldn't even come close to getting anywhere in the game in that time frame.
    • Lionhart, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Uh. How do you have 3.2 children? How exactly does that work? Or do I not want to know?
    • Angmar, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3MMO's monthly fee is high because they have to pay for servers, development of new content, etc.
    • iMoth, on 10/12/2007, -1/+23.2? wtf.
    • SwampyUK, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Maybe he has a kid he only sees for a day and a half per week?
    • Dustin00, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I dropped cable tv ($70/mo) for WoW.

      No commercials!!!!!
  • NobleArc, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Heh, I just bought WoW and The Burning Crusade yesterday, and have been playing for the first time (other than a trial back in 2005) with people, and it's pretty good. Glad I bought it. :) $17, though.. pretty expensive, 'specially since at times I'm not going to be wanting to play it, but... I guess if I don't like it, I can always just cancel. Though, I'm still out $80 for the boxen. (All prices in Canadian Dollars.)
  • davidcg, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1It's funny because I got bored of Wow because of the grinding, which isn't even bad compared to most other mmorpgs. I came to realize i wasn't having much fun, and it felt like I was just wasting hours away playing some game to get to level 44.

    and mmorgps feel so redundant because alot of people wait to pvp until they get to max level, then they fight other max levels... when they can both fight each other at level 1 if they wanted.

    It's like you wait 6 months before you begin to do you pvp ass kicking... why wait 6 months?

    Thats when I realized eve online was way cooler because you didn't have to grind. But then I realized it was even worse once you get your skills where they take a month to train, then you just kinda like, sit there and wait...doing npc missions over and over again. I joined a corporation and an alliance, to go to 0.0 space to have some fun. but those bastard pirates would rape me and I died countless times because of the pirate corps. Burn Eden was their name. bastards!!!

    So I will sign up the day someone makes a economy/item based only mmorpg and screw the levels and character skills.
    • JimmyRye, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0If you wanna pvp outta the box play eve online....
  • tim507, on 10/12/2007, -7/+4im kinda glad im not into video games...dont get me wrong, i think their cool and relxing sometimes..but i personally rather get real work done and make money.

    even the Wii doesnt really interest me (WHAT?!) yes, even the wii,..although it is rather cool, i just think that if i buy it id never use it more than the first week i got it.

    digg me down if you want, but all i can say is im glad im not hooked on a video game when i can be finding better things to do like marketing myself out into the world so i dont end up wasting my life away.

    -tim
    • ENEX, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2so you are saying people who are hooked on a video game cant live a happy life?
    • tim507, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2@enex

      of course not, i guess i should say, do what you enjoy.

      me = not playing video games and making money.
      them = playing video games

      i guess if everyones happy then who cares.
      but 8.5m is insane lol
    • Mitijea, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I am ambivalent about how your comment affects me - on the one hand I'm sorry that making money for the sake of making money is what makes you happy, but on the other hand I'm glad you have found something that does make you happy. Too many people can't seem to find happiness, or reject it because they feel what makes them happy isn't good for them/a sin/immoral/slothful/etc..

      So, I'll go with the latter and be happy for you.
    • tim507, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2i agree with you

      but, making money for the sake of making money isnt what makes me happy. its feeling accomplished that does.
    • nored, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0I have a productive life and I play video games whats your point?
  • tuxidomasx, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8wow. if i had a dollar for every subscriber, i'd have $8.5 million

    • tim507, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13if I had $2 for every subscriber i'd have 17 million
    • hammydude, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2wow. If i had $3 for every subscriber, i would have $25.5 million

    • LR2_, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5wow. if i had a nickel for every subscriber, i'd have $425,000
    • MarkFl, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2If i had an XP for every subscriber, I'd be lvl 70 eight times over.
  • Spaceomega, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4I don't know how so many people are really addicted to this; It could be loads better.

    But good for Blizzard! They apparently did something right.
    • spudnic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It's a bad thing really, they hit the sweet mass-appeal spot and now publishers are going to expect the same huge user base. Can't help but feel that it's going to stop a lot of good MMOs making it to market.
  • saladtossser, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1damn
    that game needs to be banned, like how that german place banned FPS games
    oh and do play more FPS
  • mr_bako2, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2this isn't news... "i woke up this morning", thats a front pager in my book...
  • LarianLeQuella, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Personally I am a DAoC fanboi, so I'm just hoping that the folks who leave WoW come over to DAoC for some much better PvP (or RvR as we call it).

    Although, I have seen quite a few folks on WoW forums talk about WAR. I hear if you have an active DAoC account, your chances at WAR beta are much better. ;) Or I could be making that up.
    • rettix, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I play DAoC also. I really think most of WoW's subscribers are people that are new to mmo's because everybody that I know that has played several other mmo's hate WoW. If it wasn't such a pve grind fest and focused more on the horde/alliance battle it would be awesome.
  • leejae, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Is WoW honestly that great? I gotta look into it I guess.
  • MessiR10, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0WoW is addictive you need time to play the damm game, is better if you play with friends and lvl together otherwise you
    have to depend on other people that you don't know to play the game and most of them are NOOBS
  • roxb0x, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I'm so glad I quit.. now I get to level myself up in the gym!
    • Dustin00, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I lift weights for about 20 minutes a day, then hop on my recumbent bike for 2 to 4 hours of WoW.

      WoW IS my gym!
  • Ryan32, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3WoW is a great game, but Blizzard is the most shady company on the planet.

    Think about it, they have 8.5 million subscribers, but if you have a problem with your account, their phone support tells you to "e-mail wowaccountadmin@blizzard.com. Because phone support can only deal with payment issues. WTF? 8.5 million subscribers at $15.00/month plus game and expansion, and I have to E-MAIL a support ticket, and wait a WEEK for this response:

    "We're sorry you were banned, we can't provide you proof of any violation that you may have committed because of security reasons".

    After 15 e-mails they finally said "we think you used 3rd party software".... Still no resolution. I am currently looking into the possibility of suing them...
    • thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1hrrrm... too bad they have that clause about online performance may degrade....
    • Ryan32, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1What does that have to do with completely rendering my software useless, not to mention banning countless hours worth of accounts.... And won't provide any proof whatsoever that I did what they claim. Thats pathetic. It's even more pathetic that there is no phone support that I can call and complain. Every time I ask them for contact info on their legal department, I get a response that says "We're sorry we can't help you with that"... Via phone or e-mail, they can't help me with that... I hope blizzard burns.... I hope a class action lawsuit shuts them down.
    • thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6See this page for EULA of World of Warcraft:

      http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/eula.html;jsessionid=FDE9F275AD70B33A5CB30301D9083F63.app05

      Specifically: 14. Dispute Resolution and Governing Law

      Some highlights:

      you and Blizzard agree to first attempt to negotiate any Dispute (except those Disputes expressly provided below) informally for at least 30 days before initiating any arbitration or court proceeding. Such informal negotiations commence upon written notice from one person to the other. Blizzard will send its notice to your billing address and email you a copy to the email address you have provided to us. You will send your notice to Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., P.O. Box 18979, Irvine CA 92623, attn: Legal Department.

      Binding Arbitration. If you and Blizzard are unable to resolve a Dispute through informal negotiations, either you or Blizzard may elect to have the Dispute (except those Disputes expressly excluded below) finally and exclusively resolved by binding arbitration. Any election to arbitrate by one party shall be final and binding on the other. YOU UNDERSTAND THAT ABSENT THIS PROVISION, YOU WOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO SUE IN COURT AND HAVE A JURY TRIAL.



      Sorry to say it, but you already signed away your rights to a Jury Trial and Class Action lawsuits... So you're probably S.O.L.

      The binding arbitration clause is a favorite among most EULAs and Cell Phone contracts these days.
    • marsbar, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1totally agree. Its no longer about the game for them its all about the cash. They can't be bothered spending a dime to help you resolve your problem because its not financially attactive. You can and have already been replaced by ten other people willing to pay them $15 a month. They'll only begin to care about their customers when their subscription numbers start fallling.
    • thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@marsbar

      Let me tell you a little secret: It was ALWAYS ABOUT THE MONEY.

      They are a business; it's just you make more money with fun games than crappy ones.
    • marsbar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@thecobbs

      Sure, sure, I agree. Everyone's got to pay the bills and feed the kids but there are a lot of boutique gaming studios where a large part of the motivation is still about the art, the community and just plain fun. It used to be that way at Blizzard, a long time ago. Now its ONLY about the money. Nothing gets done for the sake of just creating a good game. All their other projects got scrubbed even though they're hugely profitable and can afford to take more creative risks now than they ever could before. When an accountant makes ALL the decisions at a gaming company its no longer a gaming company in my book, that's why I can't support them anymore.
  • thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Wonder how many of these are suspended accounts ?
  • the1wraith, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Wow...8.5 million. In comparison that is 500,000 more then currently reside in the state in New York City, and over twice as much as live in my state...

    Think about how ridiculous that is. They really are a nation...even have taxes.

    Congragulations to Blizzard
  • xkidmidnightx, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2That's a lot of fat and neckbeard.
  • Samsong, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1wow
  • marsbar, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Two reasons I quit WOW was
    (1) that it sucked up all my gaming time. Lots of other games I wanted to play and my "obligations" to my guild were just sucking up all my time.
    (2) a big megacorp like Vivendi is just running this as a cash cow. There is no real innovation or community participation or control. If they want to kick you out you have no recourse and they don't really give a second thought to whats good for the gamers just what they can do to bring in more cash. Too much power in the hands of a single self serving corporation is bad for my community, the gaming community, so I voted with my dollars and quit.
  • hawkspur, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2180 days played.


    ....SOMEONE SAVE ME FROM MYSELF.
    • thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4No need... Only you can save yourself.

      For me, I saw how much time I was spending away from my family in a computer chair and I didn't like it.
    • hawkspur, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3In all honesty, WoW is just something I do in my free time and I enjoy it. Most of my friends play WoW and we get together every weekend and have a good ole fashioned LAN party.

      As lame as it sounds, Blizzard is obviously doing something right to have so many subscribers.
    • Canute, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I could not have agreed more. Last summer, me and 4 friends used to meet up each day after dinner, play soccer an hour or two outside, and then go inside to raid with our guild.

      Those were the times. :)
    • Dustin00, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I ride my bike while I play -- my doctor thinks I'm some sort of gym rat/heath nut since my heart rate and blood pressure are so low.
  • badbox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8The reason so many people are "addicted" (and I use that term very loosely, explained below), is because it's such a fine blend of multiple genres that almost anything else fails in comparison.

    There's the strategy aspect of balancing your build and fighting against other classes, the action aspect of real time combat... PvP servers for those who enjoy randomly killing people for lulz, PvE servers for those who are experienced in MMOs and hate getting ganked.

    Plus being an MMO, it's a very... social atmosphere. It's one of those games that pretty much makes gaming history. All future MMO type games will look to WoW for inspiration, just like classic games in the past morphed console games into various directions.

    All these things in one singe place could possibly give one a feeling of disappointment in single player games because there's really something for everyone in this game. Of course, not everyone likes the same type of games so not *everyone* will like it, just like there are some who didn't like Gears of War.. but it's still a damn good game, MMO or not.

    As far as being "addicted", it's just a game. Everyone has played a game at some point where they easily lost 4 or 5 hours in it because they were having so much fun. Being that this game is so large and there's always something to do at any given point, it's not uncommon to see people always playing it, mistakenly viewed as an addiction.

    Hell, I was playing it 4 or 5 hours a day EASILY at one point, but that's only because most everything else was uninteresting. I'd socialize with friends probably twice a week, but outside of that... bored with console games. I usually workout 20 or 30 mins in the AM before heading into work, so I didn't exactly have a sedentary lifestyle. Still got caught up on my college classes and performed well.

    I think you just get attention whores who feel sorry for themselves generally replying in threads like this all, "I quit that addiction months ago, so glad I haven't looked back" as if they were some type of victim because they don't have the ability to discern real life responsibilities from a ***** game. Like trying to pass blame and convince others it's bad instead of simply saying, "Yeah, I ***** up."
    • LushusJackass, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1
      Couldn't agree with you more, badbox. It is absolutely up to the individual to control the amount of time spent playing a game like WoW. In fact, WoW is actually very easy to walk away from if you must impose time limits on yourself. The mere existence of the rest experience bonus is incentive enough. You are *rewarded* for inactivity. You are also not penalized experience-wise when you die. The fact that the game is basically spoon fed to you in small increments (better known as quests) is yet another easy escape clause. Limit yourself to a finite number of quests to complete and log out. Easy.
      So, for everyone that is damning this game as some sort of life-force sucking demonspawn.. cry me a ***** river. Be all growed up, and try implementing some practical time-management like the rest of us do. It's really not that difficult.

      By the way, the expansion just happens to be the *****. Keep on keepin' on, Blizzard.
  • parent, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2 8.5 million users and there are probably 600,000 that play over 100 hours a week (16+ hours a day)

    I played wow for about a year, and when they came out with the update I felt like I raided every night for absolutely nothing, I'm so glad i was able to get away from it
    • badbox, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Yeah, I raided once upon a time. Never again. Mainly because they added a casual reward system where you can get great gear (PvP) for just playing at your leisure. I hated scheduling game time.. "Can't go out thursdays, have a raid." Of course, I have open minded friends who do other equally pointless stuff during the week (clubs, bars) so they didn't mind much.

      Before you had to fight to High Warlord and that was just basically a "who can play the longest" type of thing to get any chance at non-raid gear.

      Now, if you wanna play only 5 hours a week.. you still keep your points to spend on gear.
  • elbxmatatan, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1Congrats to Blizzard but WoW is completely pointless. Its an infinite loop, kill monster > take loot > kill monster > take loot. The whole LVL up crap is to make the player feel like he accomplished something after hours of gaining xp points by of course killing monsters and taking loot.
    • Corbet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Guess what, every game revolves around pressing the same buttons in different combinations with a different UI. That's the nature of EVERY game. You must have never played any RPGs because almost all of them require you to level up your character.
  • d03boy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Glad to know that we have 8.5million people without lives. I guess that gives me more of a chance to get a job for instance.
    • Corbet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Again... why would you be so ignorant in saying that people who play WoW have no lives? Do you really think every person who plays a game online live in their parents basement, unemployed, with no life? Maybe the same can be said for people who visit digg....
    • bs101, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0why?? I just don't get that statement except you are showing your ignorence.
  • Zephir62, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Maplestory currently champs the MMOG scene with over 30 million subscribers. WoW is dwarfed by some of the bigger players in Asia - but it IS the first US/European game to break into the Asian market so well, we can give it that.

    http://www.gamestudy.org/eblog/?p=32
  • Corbet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Obviously all the people here who would rather be "marketing themselves and making money" spend every waking hour doing something productive. Give me a break, WoW is the same thing as sitting around watching TV after work or reading digg or whatever else you do. People do have lives who play this game, I know alot of them in-game who work a typical 9-5, have a wife and kids, and do on.

    And guess what? Regardless, all of your time is wasted in life because 99% of people die and are never remembered for anything. Sad but true.

    Lastly, WoW is addicting because of the social aspect. You're not just playing with a computer, you're playing against REAL life people. I have a ball talking with people over vent while doing PVP or even questing. Thankfully I know when enough is enough and when I'm bored with it I do something else with my time.
  • Disodium, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Ding!
  • digitalarcanum, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0World of Warcraft.. has taken quite a few months of my life I'll just say. I remember the "kneeboarding" bugs that were prevalent in the game when it was released, massive latency issues, random server crashes in the middle of a dungeon, disconnects left and right and so on and so forth.. Blizzard did good to fix most the issues, but the issue for me is that the game just flat out becomes monotonous the longer you stay.

    I just got sick of the game. Of course there were other options... except there weren't: dungeon raiding-- no one uses the new LFG interface when they wanna go dungeon raiding. NO ONE because it's counterintuitive. Before you could just talk on the LFG channel (which was the equivalent of global chat) and throw a group together for any dungeon from Rage Fire Chasm to AQ 40-man raids. Good luck on that note, you'll be spamming general chat for hours on end in the zone you're in or in a major city zone (since those are the only zones with linked chat channels.. and only the trade channel is linked) to get a group together.You'll be waiting what seems like forever to get a 5-man group together for a lower level dungeon all the while hoping that the group members you have found don't leave, all the while wondering why this is taking so long with a game that has over 8 million customers, while you're grinding away on the solo quests you didn't want to do to begin with.

    You could sign up for PVP to end that monotony! yaay! oh wait.. nope no luck there either. Horde or Alliance it doesn't matter both sides suck no matter what battleground you choose because your team (unless you spent the hours to get a real PVP group together in that case, see above) has mental capacity of pre-teen assholes who bought all their gear on e-bay and believe they're better than you because of all their purplz.. LAWL.

    That brings me my next and final point in that this game has become slums of the internet. Need some proof? go check out the world of warcraft forums. Go on, I'll wait. I've seen and heard such ignorant ***** on the game over such stupid things like representing your guild (or... we're gonna disenchant parts of your set for your class that we've found while raiding this dungeon because you're not high enough ranking in our guild to be allowed to roll on that item.. I've seen it happen) or arguing over who deserves that rare magical item that I specifically raided the dungeon with you for or just plan refusing to raid a dungeon because "that dungeon only has X class items in it, nothing for my class."

    So I leave you with this: Blizzard has come a long way since WoW has went public both in right and wrong directions, trying to please every one of their 8.5 million customers in order to bring more on board.. but where have you gone since then? Hope you had or are still having fun. As for me, I quit, deleted every one of my characters, and began to play other video games where yes, the communities may be smaller, but no, you won't have to deal with nearly as many pre-pubescent youth LAWLing @ ur unleet grenez. (read: immature assholes) Good day.

  • cevil203, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1the title should read...8.5 million people have lost their souls to the devil
  • duggtrio, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Can I get a wow fanboy? and an amen..
  • mozdef22, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1i'm glad i'm not a part of this insane group of people
  • GreyICE, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Can WOW consume your life? Yeah, sure. Doesn't have to. Our guild is raiding Kharizan, we're on our way to getting 25 people together for other raids, and I spend maybe 15 hours a week. A lot? Maybe. I only watch TV when I'm playing though, while most people watch it about 2-3 hours a day. So maybe I don't have any idea what is happening on Battlestar Galatica, or Heroes, or Scrubs, or anything else I hear people talk about. Guess that means I'm wasting my time.

    Of course WOW is easy to point fingers at because when someone gets depressed and spends way too much time goofing off and not enough time working, and there's WOW involved, you can blame the game not the person. Jack Thomson would be proud.
  • KevinRoseFetus, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2that's 8.5 million losers who need to get a life
    • heinousjay, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That's 8.5 people to potentially bury you. Never scorn those who have no life, because they have nothing better to do than seek vengeance.
      • Itokio, on 12/20/2007, -0/+0You are an idiot for making a huge generalization/stereotype on so many people. I mean sure there are people who play Wow more than 90 hours a week but that isn't exactly the majority of players. There are a lot of casual players too who still lead a normal life so please, next time you try to be cool and slate 8.5million people, THINK.
  • PhilMoskowitz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Is that 8.5 million current active subscriptions? The game too damn vanilla to retain users like that. It gets pretty damn boring.
    • Nephilym, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Easily over half of the 8.5 can be attributed to people trying to make money from the game by selling characters or items for real money.
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