Tobold cancels his account (until next expansion)
by Mike Schramm 
Jun 18th 2007 at 11:39AM
Tobold, MMO blogger-at-large, has posted that he has cancelled his World of Warcraft account.Sign of the times or outraged for the wrong reason? That's for you to decide-- Tobold says his guild has moved on to Serpentshrine, and since he's not attuned yet, he probably never will be, which means there's no point to moving on. Apparently no one has told him about Vashj's attunement scrolls, which will let a guild that beats Vashj attune whoever they want to SSC. Of course, he'd have to wait until his guild actually beats Vashj, but hope is not lost yet.
Then again, maybe Tobold's just going with the flow. If you ask me, leaving because your guild has moved on is a terrible reason to leave-- not only is there lots to do out there, either on your own or with the people in your guild who don't happen to be running SSC, but I do believe there is more than one guild in the game. Surely someone else would be willing to take Tobold to Karazhan, right?
Either way, it's his choice. As he says, cancelling the account sends a clear message to Blizzard that he wants things to change. And if enough people send that message (for whatever reason), then you can't but agree that they will.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Expansions
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Freehugz Jun 18th 2007 11:45AM
who?
Sylythn Jun 18th 2007 11:51AM
Some troll...though they say he used to be great.
Razhlok Jun 18th 2007 11:52AM
Oh noes! A blogger quit! A BLOGGER! When will Blizzard ever learn?
Hal Jun 19th 2007 9:08AM
Who is this guy anyway ?
Jay Jun 18th 2007 11:54AM
Care?
Chilblain Jun 18th 2007 11:56AM
Calling this expansion "horrible" because you can't keep up with your guild, and refuse to find another one is crazy. There is PLENTY of stuff to do in this game, and having tons of people to do it with makes it that much more fun.
So where else are you going to go once you quit? Some WoW-clone right out of beta with 100k subscribers? Have fun soloing.
lolwtfstfu Jun 18th 2007 11:57AM
terrible reason for leaving? No i dont believe so, maybe he didnt wanna play so hardcore and raid every night
ben1778 Jun 18th 2007 12:00PM
Um, so why not continue with Kara and Gruul after you start in SSC? There is a reset timer on the raid instances, so if you've progressed as far as you can in SSC you can do the other instances in the time it will take to reset SSC. So you can get attuned before your guild ever gets to Vashj. Once they are able to down Vashj you can get attunement scrolls. Either way you win and will be able to join in SSC.
None of those reasons he listed on his blog sound like a reason to quit the game, since those problems are rather easy to counter.
Honestly in his blog post (i haven't read any others) he sounds like my little cousin whining about something - without the will to solve the problem or the patience to wait a bit for what he wants. Get attuned through questing on non-SSC days before the guid gets to Vashj, or get a scroll of attunement once the guild can down Vashj.
Cancelling his account will send a "clear" message to blizzard only if he HIMSELF sends the "clear message". Account cancellations happen every single day and many of them don't get tagged with a reason by a blizzard employee talking to a customer cancelling over the phone. Every day there are new subscriptions as well.
The decline in avg players online during peak times as described by census is interesting but not necessarily statistically significant. Wait 2 more months to see if the trend develops. I wouldn't bat an eye unless WoW was down 10% from normal population for at least 3 months straight and declining.
You also might want to wait until schools in the US/Europe pick up again in August/Sept. That always will influence the population playing.
Brian Jun 18th 2007 12:01PM
It seems to me that the common thread among all these "I'm done with WoW" entries is that the individual thinks that what they experience while playing must be the exact same as everyone else. Play any game long enough and it gets boring and stale to you - but to the new player it is all fresh and exciting. I appreciate the money and time any long-term player had invested in the game, but to blame Blizzard for not giving you enough new baubles to play with or for making it to difficult and time consuming to level your alts is to entirely miss the fact that there is a constant stream of new players coming into the game. I spent years of my life and much $$$ on my flight simming rig, TS servers, system upgrades, etc. - eventually I got bored with it and now most of it gathers dust. Its not the dev's fault that I moved on to something else...or that anyone else has chosen to either. If WoW was fundamentaly flawed and that was causing people to bail I would understand...it just sounds like people are moving on to other interests.
Ahoni Jun 18th 2007 12:03PM
Whats with the doom and gloom around here? A blogger quit. So what. Subscription numbers have not gone up perpetually. So what.
Do you really think Blizzard cares that a single blogger quit. Sends a clear message? What message, that one player is unhappy? Or bored. Or pissed at his guild for leaving him behind. What message was that?
Beorin Jun 18th 2007 12:04PM
I'm not sure I understand this guy's complaint. Tell me if I get this right.
He's too casual to run through Kara and Gruul's to get attuned for SSC.
Yet he is upset that he can't go to SSC, a place that is not designed for casual players.
What did he think end-game raiding involved? If you're at all interested in raiding, getting SSC attuned is a joke and takes 2 days at most if your guild is that far.
Or is he just selfish and doesn't want his guild to succeed? There seem to be 24 other people in there who plan on doing what it takes to see SSC. The game should not revolve around him and the exception he creates.
Incendo Jun 18th 2007 12:03PM
I actually strongly disagree with the last bit about if enough people do it Blizzard will change. If you look at what Blizz is about, the way they make their games and do business you'll see a pattern and history that suggest quite the opposite. Blizzard is going to make their games the way they want, change them in the way they want, and do whatever they think is right and best for them. Sometimes they can be influenced by outcry yes, but they never cave to it unless they agree with it as well. When they have this many subscribing, as much as they may hate to lose it, what's 1% in the short term if it means they build their game in what they feel is the fashion that will keep that 70% playing it 7-10 years from now. That's what they care about.
coop Jun 18th 2007 12:20PM
The attunement obstacle course is ridiculous. Many people who have taken a break from the game have returned to find that their guilds are not running instances for attunement quests or attunement rep. Finding a new guild seems like a good idea; however, leaving your friends and finding a guild that raids at your times is an unpleasant prospect.
If someone new is trying to come up in a particluar guild (mostly their old guilds), they are at a serious disadvantage due to the guild not running for attunements. If a guild wants to take a newbie to an instance and gear them up (i.e. make them a viable productive alternate) then they should be allowed to do so.
Some may argue that attunements prevent people from going to instances for which they are not ready. This argument does not work when looking at AQ40 which has no attunement. An MC guild could go to AQ40, but they would be silly to go. They would have trouble advancing, but at least they would have the opportunity. If a guild chooses to do an instance, they should not be limited by some artificial 'skill' hoop through which players must jump.
This new game should be called World of RepGrind.
I am currently running through the process or getting the rep. It sux, but it is very doable. I will eventually catch up with my guild. I am just annoyed with all the pug-tastic instances that I have had to run.
@Tobold....The expansion has offered an amazing amount of content other than raiding. I personally have enjoyed all the solo content. I intend to continue the solo content until I get 'fully' back into raiding.
Medros Jun 18th 2007 12:24PM
I am sorry to see that this person could not see the casual, non raid stuff to do through the cloud of the raid community. There is a lot to do, and this person just didn't look for it. There is a vibrant Arena and PvP community, there isa huge amount of quests, even more so now with the daily quests that can be done every single day, and he could always, you know, go help younger players with their own instances, to get their own quests done. He quit because he wanted to, or maybe you could blame his guild for being inconsiderate, but it wasn't Blizzrd's fault he quit. We all make decisions, this was his. Will it make them see their 'mistakes'? Nope, cause this one wasn't theirs.
mattyt17 Jun 18th 2007 12:25PM
Get over it...
WoW is still the BEST MMORPG out there BY FAR
John Vilsack Jun 18th 2007 12:33PM
I have to agree here; this self-important person declaring that Blizzard has failed him is just ridiculous.
Toboldis unhappy that he can't keep up with his hardcore guild, yet never touches on the fact that the most recent expansion centered primarily on delivering content for soloists.
World of Warcraft specifically addresses the casual gamer by developing content that doesn't take very long, including repeatable faction quests that cannot be spam repeated save once per day.
Crying foul because you outpaced the content that normal human beings are supposed to savor is not a reasonable position. Just because you burn yourself out and feel like Blizzard has failed you personally because your group of friends have continued at the same breakneck speed you were used to a few months ago does not mean that the developer's of the game have created a failed expansion of their world.
Even this Blogger's own words are used against him in the comments section.
This is a clear example of why I have disdain for the majority of self-important bloggers. Wowinsider is one of the few I enjoy because it doesn't seem like anyone has the sort of attitude that because people visit this web page, Blizzard should be paying attention to them and hanging on their EVERY WORD.
Tridus Jun 18th 2007 12:38PM
This post is the definition of "slow news day."
vetarra Jun 18th 2007 12:38PM
I'm in the "Who cares" group. Tobold's blog lost it's draw over me a long time ago. It's also starting to be the same with WoWInsider, with it's 'jump to conclusions' attitude. This is just the latest of several articles claiming the mass exodus of WoW players, based on a graph that doesn't have enough data to actually prove the fact. Yes, there's a drop in numbers since BC, however, that doesn't mean anything when even now, the number of players is higher then preBC. Any expansion to any game brings a peak of players, which taper off and level out again. Check any chart, and it's obvious.
I'd wait for a few more months to see if numbers drop before announcing the sky is falling.
And really, at this point, I wouldn't worry until WoW's levels drop into ballpark range of any other MMO out there. So far Blizzard has proven adept at keeping their subscribers. What happened to the last greatest 'WoW Killer'? It seems Goliath isn't dead yet.
Lost Jan 7th 2010 10:04AM
If the guy wants to leave the game for his reasons, let him go.
Seems like every time a "I am leaving WoW" thread pop's up, people have to judge the person of being wrong.
I to took the plunge not to long ago, and moved on away from WoW, and will never look back. Every one gets engulfed a little in the current game, and some way more then others. This can cause people only to see one side. I played WoW for 2 years and I enjoyed it and had no quorums. And as time went on the game did not go in the direction that suited "my personal play style".
If a player wants to post I am leaving thread let them. So what if there was a change that he did not like, or the style has changed for them. You might like that change, while he did not. Just think of it, if you were in the other players shoes. A bunch of changed that you did not like, and it changed the game for you.
WoW has the most negative community I have ever seen. Try to be positive, and embrace the difference of other players. I know I will get some bashing for posting something that might have a negative effect on your style of gaming. But in the end what else can be said.
mattyt17 Jun 18th 2007 12:59PM
it's not about just posting a thread saying they are leaving wow...it's about the whole i'm mad i'm going to jump on the bandwagon and QQ bc it's the new fad...
just getting annoying