^ Agreed, also even if I DID quit (which i find highly unlikely at the moment) I would come back in a second regardless of real life situation if any of the following were to happen;

-Kil'Jaeden Final Battle
-Sargeras Final Battle/Story Resolution
-Blizzard declares a final expansion/raid/encounter for the game

I think a large amount of us players are deeply invested in the story and have to see whats at the end of the yellow brick road.

I agree as well, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. Cataclysm is probably going to be an even further step up in quality than Wrath, with far-reaching consequences in the world not seen since the Sundering. I would say the next expansions following that will likely involve the Emerald Dream with huge amounts of abstract environments (due to being a different plane of existence) and Argus, a whole other planet that's NOT been ripped apart at the seems, and will bring oft-mentioned but mostly unseen characters like Sergeras and the Titans back into the fray, and (hopefully) have a bigger focus on the mysteries of the Draenei origin and the Naaru.

First of all, I want you to think for a moment about those "40 million" subscribers. How many of those accounts do you think were gold spammers honestly? A LOT. So of course they left WoW, they didn't have a choice in the matter. So those numbers are false to say the least.

To quote Conan:

"Time enough to quit WoW in the grave."

This.

I get bored of WoW for weeks (sometimes even months), but then come crawling back once a new patch is out or there's something going on that grabs my interest.

Take a break from WoW? I'll be doing that as soon as I get my Pilgrim title tonight. Then it'll be waiting till 3.3, and (if it comes first) finishing Winter's Veil achievements.

Perma-quit WoW? When they shut the servers down, or if I loose the ability to play(ie, dead or comatose), or if I just completely loose interest in the game(which *could* happen, but I'm pretty sure I'm more likely to be hit by a bus or something).

I'm not a hardcore WoW fan, but I do enjoy the game because, frankly, there's a lot of game there to enjoy. Sure, there's the occasional bit of burnout, but burnout is *good*, it lets me go focus on other awesome games I'd otherwise miss out on, take care of RL, and eventually, be able to come back to WoW with my enthusiasm refreshed and ready to tear into the next content patch/expansion.

Same sentiment made me quit recently. TOGC was the worse tier of content since the early days of Vanilla WOW and Icecrown is turning out to be a crap-fest of lazy design. One wing at a time, normal modes only for months, and a buff that slowly makes you stronger versus bosses. Thanks, instead of tuning the game, you'll just release mediocre content, pretend that its more than it is to buy time before Cataclysm, and give players a gradual buff so that you don't have to tune content to be challenging and fun.

Well Eff you blizzard. I am out.

Funny to see this right now here, I just quit wow yesterday and deleted it from my comp.

Also, I'd like to add that the reasons I gave up the game are the exact same as the dude's who posted above me.

@ Alex Nov, you quit, but you're still reading about WoW?

That is such an awesome way to put it. I agree 100% :-)

I think I have finally quit WoW actually. I've played the game off and on over the past 5 years, but I have my first baby coming in a couple months and I can't honestly see myself being able to play the game on a regular basis anymore.

I don't think the game is worth playing casually either - I prefer PuG raiding and running Heroics for the emblem gear.

WoW's been awesome, don't get me wrong. But I've actually gotten bored with the game lately.

The last big thing I did was complete the World Event Meta-Achievement fo the Pruple Proto-Drake and almost the second I got it I felt like I had nothign else to really play for anymore.

New expansions = replacing all my loot again and I've done that twice already.

I started playing a new single-player game "Dragon Age" recently - sure, it's not online. But it's mind-blowingingly deep and rich with old-school "Baldur's Gate-style" RPG goodness. And I can play it on my own time without worrying about other players out-leveling and out-gearing me. Plus there's downloadable and custome content out for it.

I logged in the other day to get my Onyxia Whelping and then I called it quits in WoW. I'll probably have my hands full with the new baby in the new year, so I'm goign to say goodbyw to WoW and all the great friends I met over the years.

/sniff sniff

Maybe when WoW 2 comes out in 10 years (aka - SOON lol) and my baby boy is a little older, we'll venture back to Azeroth together and slay some dragons.

Anyway - cya guys. Been fun!

@Netherscourge

I canceled partially for similar reasons.

1. Random roller-coaster of class development
This is a major problem for me. My class' strengths can change completely in a single patch or expansion, yet a lot of longstanding problems (i.e. since nearly launch, all carefully tested and documented by multiple players) are often left unfixed. PvP also recently clobbered class development when Arena was introduced.

2. Arena
I had liked old BG PvP, however I loathe Arena. I also strongly dislike that the best PvP rewards require Arena. Honestly I wish Arena would just disappear. I know a lot of people like it, that's great, I hope they enjoy it... however I'm not one of them.

3. More accessible = more bland
As Blizz makes the game more and more accessible it gets more and more bland. We've seen massive reductions in gear complexity in stats and looks... but the result is that gearing has become an Ilvl hunt. It doesn't matter what gear you get. If it is a higher ilvl, it is better, and it will always look pretty much just as bland as the gear you had before. Raiding has become essentially useless except if you want gear earlier than other people, because Blizz has begun carrying forward badge and token buys as they release new content. There is no longer any pressure. If you don't complete your set of gear now, so what, in a couple months you can clobber some heroics and buy it... so you can just start replacing it again with the newest set. While I applaud Blizz for trying to fix the ever-moving gear window, I don't know if this is the best way to do it.

4. Balance pls?
The ideas of 'hybrid tax' seem to be going away a bit, however PvP vs PvE balance is a problem for me. The two game goals are so different and so at odds I'm not entirely sure Blizz can balance them together without separating them. PvE gear in PvP and burstiness is still a massive problem in PvP, and some classes and specs simply can't compete. Honestly I don't know how most of these ideas got out of testing and into the live environment.

5. Focus on quantity over quality
I really think the recent focus on releasing an expansion a year is part of the reason for the reduced gear complexity, enforced gear and raid accessability and homogeneity. If the game and gear is more homogenous and accessible, it is easier to create gear and balance raids and content. I also doubt Blizz will be giving away those expansions for free.

For these reasons, which were reinforced by the dismal class Q&As, I don't think Blizz's development of WoW is worth what I'm paying. if and when they turn themselves around and actually start doing things for the 'good of game' (as they so often like to say) I'll be more than happy to buy back in, but I honestly don't think WoW is in a good place, or is going anywhere good anytime soon, and I don't intend to pay them in order to play a game I don't find fun due to their oddly inept and random development. I honestly don't understand why they keep moving the product forward when there are major problems that need fixing. Sure the coders and art asset people are different, but wouldn't you maybe cut back on art dev and hire some more programmers to fix problems instead of ramping up the expansion release schedule?

I don't see how this is the same company that turned out the Diablo, Starcraft and original Warcraft games.

I must admit that I have no interest in PvP. Honestly, the whole idea of PvP bothers me because I don't like competing with other people outside of my professional life. I prefer cooperative gaming. Hence why the constant struggle over PvP and PvE balancing doesn't really bother me. I don't see the PvP side of the game enough to care about it.

I am much more concerned with the experience of moving through the amazing environments Blizzard has created. Over the last 5 years I think we have all become so used to moving in the world that we forget to actually look at it. It is truly an incredible backdrop to an amazing work of fantasy storytelling. I think in the future when the new art history books are written, WoW will be included as one of the most important works of fine art of our time.

I believe that simple fact makes all of the whining about class balancing and content accessibility completely inconsequential. WoW is an incredible work of interactive art that you are all very privileged to be participating in.

@cmi...

I would agree entirely, if it were free.

WoW is great, and great fun. I didn't like stopping. I had wanted to quit near the end of vanilla, but hung on through BC. There was a lot of change in BC, but not what I was looking for. I hung through the beginning to mid-Wrath... then got tired with waiting.

The problem is I have to pay for it, every month. The subscription fee is not for the game itself, I already bought that when I bought the disks. It is for the development of it... the new stuff they add. Even though the base they are working from is fantastic, I think their development is terrible, so I'm not paying them anymore.

If I were to stop doing the work I was assigned and just worked on whatever I felt like, I would get fired. It doesn't matter how much great work I've done in the past, no business would pay me to just do whatever I felt like. This is the same environment, I, we, are all paying Blizzard to develop and maintain WoW with our subscriptions. I don't think their development is good enough and does not address what I want addressed, so I fired them. Unfortunately when you stop your subscription you lose access to not only new things you didn't pay for, but also all the old stuff you did like, but I'm not going to hang on for another year (for another ~$200) just to see if maybe Blizz will finally fix the things I think are broken.

If I was told to work on something, and told my boss that maybe I'll get to it net year, I'd be out of job. Blizz is no different. Yes, WoW is fantastic, but their development of it sucks noodles.

It isn't a privilege if you can buy it... if you can buy it, it is a product. The supermarket down the street doesn't grant me the privilege of buying bread, they stock it in the hope that people will buy it for more than it costs, in essence giving them money for free. Blizz isn't giving me the privilege of experiencing their art, I am giving them the privilege of continuing to generate more art, a task they enjoy and are passionate about, by paying them to do it.