Most of the people quitting have not consumed the content. They're quitting because the content is too hard for them and their mates.

The problem is Cataclysm's underlying raid design that intended the lesser players to do the raids one tier behind. This scheme has utterly failed to gain traction with the casual end of the player population, which unfortunately is the bulk of their customers.

Blizzard needs to end this expansion as fast as possible and roll out the next one with a revised, and easier, design. Otherwise, the bleeding will continue.

I agree with Paul. I myself never got into any raid content(I wanted to though). I think I only managed to experience 2 different 5 man regular instances(non heroic) in Cata. I've been playing since Burning Crusade, and I no longer play WoW. Consuming Content too quickly? Pifft.. Not likely, and for the record I prefer PvE over PvP.
MY RANT:
I believe there were a lot of complaints from the healing community. What added to my own reasons for exodus was that the Warlock community tried to tell Blizzard that the class was no match against other classes in PvP. Easiest to kill, and not effective enough. However Blizzard does what they do best. NOT LISTEN. They hear, but they don't listen. I shelved my Warlock and re-rolled a Pally. What happened next was disgusting. Without any effort I was easily able to steamroll over Warlocks. I felt their frustration, I really did, and how unfair it must've felt for them... Rather than fix the class they made them worse. They were relentless with their nerf bat. Warlock have little to no survivability. "ok I'm going to Fear you then run away. There I win!" Really Blizzard?!

I've read a few articles recently that have attempted to pin the downfall of WoW on only one or a couple reasons. Honestly, I think that's overlooking the big picture. WoW has been out for almost 7 years. Maybe what's happening is that the people that have been playing it for 5-6+ years are just getting bored with it. It would be interesting to see how many release players still play compared to people that started in WotLK or even BC.

I started playing during the pre-release stress tests up until about 4 months ago. Part of the reason I quit playing is because that feeling of mystery and adventure had just worn out. Of course, I'm sure it doesn't help that in my case I was starting to see the same bosses and raids come back...revised.

WoW is still the best MMO on the market, in my opinion. It's the most polished, has a ton of content, the best character control "feel", and the best interface. All of that counts for crap if there's nothing it's players care to do and almost nothing that could change that. WoW has run it's course.

I’ve been playing since the original open Beta. I was the primary heroic 5 man healer and enchanter for my guild during BC days, but burned out. As a healer the game was button mashing while watching health bars. After years that is a bore no matter what else is going on around you. WOW is in trouble it feels old dated, and the primary tank, heal, and DPS style locks you into the same old same old no matter what instance you are in. I still play DPS, or tank but usually in small friends only mini groups doing PvE quests. The Raids and instances are just to stratified. If you are not playing 20-40 hours a week and have super gear you will not be able to raid, but you will never get the super gear to be let into raid groups unless you raid. I’m sorry I’m just not willing to dedicate the time it takes to grind the gear and study strategies and maps to be allowed to enter a raid.
Also I think the competition is starting to draw some players off. RIFT, and the new Star Wars, and Guild Wars 2 will draw the MMO player to the fresher feeling games. One of the good things I’m hearing about Guild Wars 2 is that dodges and player position give a more dynamic action approach to the game. Guild wars 2 has cross class combos so as groupings and skill changes there are fresh approaches to the game. As a recovering healer from WoW I’m glad that Guild Wars 2 is also designed around every class having some healing ability. Finally freedom from the health bar button mash boredom.

i quit because blizzard has lost its touch with wow, it feels like bc all over again, not only that but the game is boring, im not sure what it is but i cant stand the game anymore

I have played WoW for 4 years or a little more. I stopped due to a number of reasons. Major one being the steadfast refusal by Blizzard to have the game hosted in Aus but also due the game getting old, repetetive and stale..I mean do I really want to raid content that I beat already in previous Xpacs..
NOT Likely.
Also the constant nerf/buff whatever classes to ?balance? them in pvp..who cares about pvp? the majority of players I believe play PvE so ya sod Blizzard..I couldn't care less the game folded up tomorrow.

I left mainly because my friend stopped playing. I've teamed up with others a couple of times, but for the most part my skill isn't high every for some groups out there, especially large raids. There is quite a mix going on in the game now, it feels parts are extremely easy for the casual players, while other areas are difficult.

I've stopped playing WoW due to other things I have to do - College is beginning to eat-up my time for the most part.

However, this isn't the only reason I stopped. It's undeniable that Cataclysm has less content than previous expansions, even Morhaime has admitted that. But not only this, but the game is becoming more repetitive and in addition, competitive. Raids are more demanding now, and you constantly have to farm in order to "keep-up" with the demanding environment around you. As others have already said, I'm not willing to put in the amount of time the game requires.

Wrath of the Lich King was ALOT more casual - yes, many people disliked that (particularly the more hardcore players), but at the end of the day, Blizzard are going to have to please the larger crowd if the game is going to survive.

Not sure how "raiding" has gotten harder. If not its gotten easier.

Buffs are stronger overall then they were in wotlk. Blizzard has added a encounter journal to explain what does what. Blizzard has added various built in notifications to warn you of stuff happening in a boss encounter.

Maybe the hard part for people is... there is no ilvl restrictions on firelands, so people going in are in blues and expecting to down bosses doing 5-8K dps...

The "2nd tier" of raiding in cata isn't exactly for people thats never touched raiding and hope to jump in and clear in within a month. Sort of like Ulduar in wotlk "2nd tier" wasn't easy compared to naxx.

I still play WoW, for now.

So let me get this staight; if I want to raid, I need better gear. Where would I find the only better gear? From the raids that I can't get in.

If I want to win in arenas and/or win in RBGs (let alone be granted entry into them), I need a higher rating and better gear. How might I get this higher rating and better gear? By wining in arenas and/or RBGs.

Yup, looks like I'm stuck with three pieces of cata PvE tier 2, because the head and shoulder seem to want me to complete "mission impossible."

Oh right, looks like I'm stuck with 25 conquests a day, because the regular ruthless gear wants me to complete "mission impossible 2."

Blizzard could solve a lot of the ennui players feel with the game by simply updating old content. SPECIFICALLY old world PVP zones, like Wintergrasp and Hellfire peninsula. If these areas were viable options to gain level appropriate rewards, you'd bet people would still play them. Adding half-baked content on and on gets old very quickly; many players have multiple characters and they feel trapped to play within the latest content to keep up with gear. Blizzard should instead keep updated what made the game great in the past.

The game wwas fun when itt first game out and BC was also fun because bc took some time for some of the raids but then when wrath of the lich king came out the raids were so dumb an easy. Like uldar u could 3 man the first boss lol then cata came out some people are flying through the raids also like it is nothing. Yea the areas were kinda fun but wasn't that great. All you do is the same shit every day and after awhile it gets so boring I just quit cuz it wasn't worth my time and money. Just they need to make alot more stuff or change stuff around to make the game fun again.

The game has become to spoon fed is the information we receive from players and as posted on gaming forums. The raids are easy, the dungeons are easy, the Battlegrounds are the same. There is no challenge except that of challenging how long you are willing to deal with the same rehashed stuff over and over again. People grow tired of the carrot on the stick gaming and the genre that were kids when they started playing World of Warcraft have acquired new tastes. Another issue we have heard is the graphics are just too horrible. While 5 years ago it was okay for most people and those with low performance computers, it is not acceptable now. These people have upgraded and playing games that do not look like coloring books. Another issue is that new games have come out and eventually people just move on. http://www.rpgtitles.com

I have played WOW since a co worker of mine was getting excited about the release of WotLK. I had heard about WOW a few times before but his excitement really said there must be something to it. I received the treasure chest of BC and reg along with WotLK for Christmas. Completely excited, I began to lvl and gear my character. Being a complete game enthusuist, I leveled 2 characters to max levels and began to raid. After a few months, my family and friends began to say I spent too much time playing. In order to be the best geared, you need to have at least 30 to 40 hours a week ready to spend raiding as well as be able to schedule in a raid time with guild or others. No longer can you randomly join a raid like you use to and be able to test your character and learn the ins and outs so as to not embarass yourself when it does come time to actually prove your worth. Cataclysm took this away and now I still play but only to PVP cause the que time is short and I dont have 30 to 40 hours a week to devote.

All games get old and fade away. WoW's had a fantastic run and considering it still has 11 million subscribers it will likely continue for many years.

But the numbers will continue to decline until only the ultra-hardcore remain. That's why Blizzard have Titan in development - they know as well as anyone that cramming new content in is only a temporary measure.

If Blizzard is expecting the people it drove away from WoW to come back for Titan, they are in for a rude surprise. Having snubbed us, we're in no mood to send them our future business. There are and will be plenty of MMOs out there from companies that haven't betrayed us.

"Betrayed" might be a little harsh, but in general the way Blizzard has been run in recent years makes it unlikely that I'll try Titan. I waited ten years for Starcraft II and then skipped it because of the RealID debacle. The Cataclysm era time demands required to do most of the end-game stuff drove me away from WoW, and now that I've found other less demanding games I've moved on from being a Blizzard gamer to an MMO gamer.

The circle turns.

LOL - I quit because: cataclysm sucks, Rotations were part of the game and ppl liked them, new talents and gameplay sucks, new raids suck, keeping ppl busy with daily quests and forced repetitive tasks can only keep them busy for so long..
My account got hacked while it was inactive... and blizzard didnt return all my stuff back, I had all slots with lvl 60-80 chars, one of each class and they only returned me the 3 80's.
And while china has alot of ppl to sell your game, their also tha plague wich consumes and kills wow with hacks and gold farming/selling, so have fun trying to sell in china and adding more useless content, your going down.

I played rift and its an improved version of WoW so any new player will now play rift instead of WoW, If you played wow so many years it will be a bit boring since its quite similar but for new players its amazing.. specially with Cataclysm changes blizz practically sent their fanbase to try rift.
A game simply cant survive for so long only by feeding content and keeping ppl busy, it has to focus on fun, interesting and challenging gameplay even if its repetitive, like counter strike or dota, etc... where you play the same map over and over and its still fun. Wow survived by being very easy to play, so lots of casual players got into it and so everyone enjoyed it, taping into a huge fanbase of casuals was a good move but the same game will get boring over the years even with new content its still the same game your playing, ur just killing a slight different version of the old stuff so its pretty much hard to keep casual players interested for so long.. plus theres new competitors out every day.

Yeah, wow's map design is wubbish, and they have no lasers (except maybe the ones that zap from Cthun's eyes, and maybe a few in the Halls of Lighting...)

Seriously - content only does so much to refresh a game. There are certain constants within the experience which cause it to feel "samey" after a while, and my suspicion is that that is the barrier that WoW has hit.

I think people are quitting because the game has become a repetative circle that goes round and round with each expansion.

Cataclysm, in a nutshell, is the same as Wrath of the Lich King, in a nutshell, is the same as Burning Crusades. And what's worse is the new patch with Firelands and the damn dailys... oh those damn dailys. My god are those things are a grind of any normal persons sanity. You do the same quests every single stinking day for a couple weeks. Then you turn in some marks that open up another chain so you can do those for a couple more weeks, on top of the ones you are already doing. Of course you can choose not to do this stuff. But if your an end game player, which a lot of core subscribers are. I think the ones that have been playing a few years have seen the light and had enough with the dailys every time an expansion comes out. There's so many other games now and other things to do.

/cancel wow

World of Warcraft’s primary game play directive has become one of herding the masses into end game as quickly as possible in pursuit of ensuing major expansion sales.

According to WoWProgress.com there are 1,605,430 level 85 characters that have either personally scored a kill in Tier 11 content, or are members of a guild that has. Since most raiding guilds will likely have some level 85 characters that don’t raid, the actual number of players who do raid will be less. Factor in the number of T11 raiders who also have multiple raiding toons and the number of subscribers who raid nosedives even more. Performing simple arithmetic, the absolute best case scenario using the raw 1.6M number makes it a fairly safe bet that (of the current 11.1 million subscribers) barely 14% are engaged in raiding. Or to be more succinct… 86% are not.

For the 86% who aren’t rocketing through T11/T12 raids and heroics, increased emphasis on more end game dungeon and raid content tells them that their $15.00 a month isn’t as valuable as the $15.00 a month paid by the 14% of subscribers who do raid. Activision Blizzard’s announcement that frequent “major new raid and dungeon content” releases will spearhead the recovery of WoW’s subscribership essentially indicates that 14% is somehow generating more revenue than 86%. So unless the plan to push more of the same only faster is based on the expectation that 86% of subscribers will drop what they’re doing to catch up, I don’t see how this fixes the problem.

I quit WoW because of the segregation which happened with Vanilla 'twinks'. I only started in Wotlk and honestly just having the game with no expansions felt like enough to me. I was level 60 with a great guild and we had fun.

Then Blizzard decided that vanilla 'twinks' were to be put into their own battlegrounds. So my queue time went from 5 minutes to 20+ hours.

When we did get games it was 10 'twinks' vs 10 other 'twinks'. We all did insanely stupid DPS due to cataclysm changes and were one shotting one another. It was just stupid.

I didn't feel like queuing up for hours for this garbage so I actually went out and bought myself the expansions for christmas.

Leveling through BC area felt gruelling, and the idea of doing dailies was daunting and not fun at all. The PvP-side lost all semblance to anything fun, filled with bots and players I didn't reckognise (due to a battlegroup merge).

Add to that the fact that Blizzard didn't properly reckognise my efforts in term of guild xp, I just fell to despair.

I shelved the game in hops that someday I feel the energy to play again. For now, I play another MMO.

The problem is your graphics suck for this day & age time to seriously catch up you where the most graphically advanced MMO for a while but not anymore. It's all about your dated graphics.

I think what has happened is the playerbase World of Warcraft is targetted to is not the long term die hard gamer...it is very casual centric for an MMO...gear resets...smaller scale raiding...all appeal to a certain demographic but that is not a lasting demographic. It is a great game. but they have tried to build a game that satisfies a PvP demographic and class balance issues almost always hurt the PvE demographic this has also taken a toll on the playerbase...add new games like Rift (not my cup of tea) but it also has pulled many players from WoW...some will likely return...some will not...EQ has players who have played since launch...its base has shrunk but it was also never as large (not even close) but the demographic EQ appeals to is more likely to stay around much longer...and in a subscription based game that is not necessarily a bad thing...

figuring out how to draw more in to a game that will keep its base happy is the key...and just not an easy one to solve...

Blizzard's expansions have been going downhill ever since WoTLK, BC was the only expansion I enjoyed. WoTLK was painfully boring, and the only part of Cataclysm that was enjoyable was the beginning zones for Goblins & Worgen, they were well thought out and *gasp* FUN. The latest Panda land expansion is the worst yet, too lazy to even come up with two different races, Blizzard? We know you have the money to come out with better stuff than this crap, half-assed content is what is killing this game. Try harder.