WoW's Subsciber Deductions...

As you've no doubt heard, the World of Warcraft subscriber base has shrunken. It's shrunk slightly, but shrunk nonetheless and shareholders do not like that kind of news.

With six hundred thousand fewer subscribers (myself being one of them), Blizzard has loses roughly nine million dollars a month. That's a lot of money.

Why have people left? Well, there's no single reason, obviously.

If you listen to Totalbiscuit, PvE players are leaving because the raiding content is boring and heroic raids are not cutting it. Can't argue with that, since before I left, I wasn't exactly thrilled with the initial raids in Cata and the upcoming Firelands isn't exactly inspiring confidence.

Some pvpers no doubt left due to balance concerns. And some return after a while. Will they come back for the next arena season? Who knows.

Some players leave because of general burnout. While WoW has not been around as long as the original Everquest, which is still going, last time I checked, WoW is definitely showing its age. You can only use the game engine from Warcraft 3 for so long, it seems.

And as wishful thinking as it is, I would like to think that some of the six hundred thousand are disgruntled and disenfranchised Alliance players.

While people would scream at the idea that it is extremely stupid to alienate one half of its playerbase, Blizzard was able to get away with it. During the first few Blizzcons, yeah, I rolled with the punches. I took the jabs and the jokes at the expense at the Alliance player base in stride - but then it got old. And when they kept doing it, it became tiresome. Not to mention the lack of Alliance pride, which they have also admitted and propagated, was the breaking straw for some.

If you're not going to hype up the Alliance (and when have you, Blizzard?), what's the point of having two factions if you're only going to endorse one?

Well, Blizz. The ball's in your court. It's your move. Go ahead on.