14 DAY TRIAL // Greg Street, one of the leading systems designers working on World of Warcraft, says that the most successful MMO lost its way around the time its third expansion, called Cataclysm, was launched, but that Blizzard is turning things around with the latest patch.
It’s unclear exactly how Cataclysm turned gamers away, but both Mists of Pandaria and the 5.2 patch, labeled The Thunder King, are designed to bring back those who have recently abandoned the MMO.
Street says, “we made an effort with the launch of Pandaria and we redoubled it with this most recent patch to make a lot of cool stuff for players to do out in the world. We still have great dungeons and other instance content, but we also just have fun things to do out in the world with your friends.”
World of Warcraft is one of the longest-running MMOs in the world and remains the leader when it comes to subscribing players.
Inevitably, a number of those who signed up for the Blizzard title when it launched have abandoned it and the company is interested in offering a gameplay experience that convinces them to return.
The developer adds, “It’s great to give those players a reason to come back and try it again, and appealing to their nostalgia is a good way of doing that.”
Patch 5.2 The Thunder King will change a number of game mechanics and will introduce a new set of raids for players to enjoy.
World of Warcraft has recently lost some subscribers, with the current number hovering over the 10 million mark.
The game will probably get a new expansion in late 2013 or early next year and until then, Blizzard plans to deliver more content updates.
The company is also working on a new MMO, which might be linked to next-gen consoles.