Contrary to what it may appear because I have been so very quiet all throughout the monumental changes that have come the past few months (I did buy the damn mount, btw, and it is every bit as gorgeous and as soul-eating as I thought it would be) I am still playing WoW. I read forum threads and news sites and am seriously excited about 4.3 and MoP... and not just because MoP is the best acronym ever. I raid and my casual guild of noobs and old, old people finally managed to down Ragnaros two weeks ago.
I signed up for the Annual Pass and recently paid to move three of my characters off that miserable hole of a server I was on before. Things in game are better than ever and I'm happy enough.
Still, when I heard that Blizz is losing subscribers by the bucket load? I laughed. I want this game to stay around for a long time, I want to play with my friends and progress my characters, but I also want Blizzard to stop being so conservative and boring. MoP looks like they may try something daring in terms of game mechanics, but for years their actual stories have been fairly dull and worse, outsourced. I want Blizzard to feel some pressure to do better, and frankly I want games with new approaches and other philosophies to do near as well as Blizzard.
I want people to buy SWTOR not because I hate WoW, but because I think SWTOR has something to teach Blizzard. So does GW2. In fact, I do believe we're finally at the Guild Wars: Factions expansion for WoW. Yeah, no, don't judge me, but it was funny when Wrath looked like Eye of the North, too.
WoW is full of bloat and old ideas that need to be shoved off a cliff so they may learn to fly. Part of that is happening with transmogrification, but we need more, especially in Blizzard's traditionally weak spot, which is compelling, well-developed characters. They did alright in Wrath for a while there, but it's simply not that impressive to tell a story and make me wait a year for a lackluster and spineless conclusion or tell all the good bits in books and comics.
