World of Warcraft Unleashes Siren Song to Entice Former Players - Free Cataclysm Upgrade, Instant Lvl 80 Character Boost

[News Portal]

With [app=178]World of Warcraft[/app] now in its 8th year of service, the land of Azeroth has seen its fair share of immigrants and departures. While some have tried to resist its illustrious charms and return to life in the real world, a siren song has been unleashed that may be too hard to resist, with epic rewards for former and current players alike.

Read full article by Matt Williams

[Marcus Dunn]

In other news, former heroin addicts offered free coke samples to get them back in the game!

[Drakand]

In other news, former heroin addicts offered free coke samples to get them back in the game!

haha

I've only played WOW for about 10mins at a friends place, wasn't my thing, but these sort of incentives are bound to get a resurgence of former players back, even if it is just to see how things have change. free opportunity to satisfy curiosity equals return!

[Mekon]

In other news, former alcoholics offered free mars bars to get them back in the game. Wait what... ? Heroin != coke

Back on topic, seems Blizzard may be starting to feel the ebbing tide of active subs. It's a rather generous offer.

[Sathias]

Hear that? It's the sound of Activision panicking over losing recurring revenue.

[Fenryrbr]

That's what I like to see, a desperate plea for Subscribers heralding the decline of WoW.

[DarkMellie]

Their expansion packs should have been free all along due to paying a subscription fee. Much like EVE Online release their updates free, I only ever bought Burning Crusade when it was $5 and even that was highly disaffecting.

Then again, it is like normal DLC which I'm currently arguing FOR in another thread... does my sub-fee really 'entitle' me to the expansion packs given how much goes into creating them?

Tough call.

But yeah, I won't be going back to WoW, not when I have Minecraft and a million other games.

[psychofruiterer]

It's not really even that big an incentive, to get a toon to 80 thesedays is about 3-4 days playtime.
Levelling it to 85 + grinding the reputation for factions and grinding dungeons for weekly quest currency to buy gear is the timesink...

For anyone who hasn't played for the last 2 expansions, going straight to 80 will hurt more than help, the last thing the game needs is even more people playing a character without understanding it's role in a group.

[Nekosan]

Their expansion packs should have been free all along due to paying a subscription fee. Much like EVE Online release their updates free, I only ever bought Burning Crusade when it was $5 and even that was highly disaffecting.

Then again, it is like normal DLC which I'm currently arguing FOR in another thread... does my sub-fee really 'entitle' me to the expansion packs given how much goes into creating them?

Tough call.

But yeah, I won't be going back to WoW, not when I have Minecraft and a million other games.

What's the point in giving it away for free when you can charge $80 and 10 million people will still buy it?

[InAUGral]

I think this desperate measure is not just to get more players back because of declining subs but to also get them interested in WoW again before the next expansion comes out.

[Bluefire]

Oh yay... a chance to lvl an alt I dont need on a server I dont want.. just to teach other people how to play their class... That sounds like a great deal to me!!! .. Now.. back to SWTOR.

[Disruptor4]

I agree. It appears that they are feeling the affects of, and feel threatened by, other mmos and their success especially ToR.

[Novocaine]

All haters aside, if anyone wants a scroll PM me and I'll send you one.

[Artful-dodgeR]

How long do you need to be away from wow for it to be relevant? I think my sub died about 2 months ago...

[Submariner]

If they want money, all Blizzard have to do is sell another mount or pet.

All the haters want WoW to fail and then what? 10million WoW players go to SWTOR fulltime (a lot of people play both already) and start the cycle again? You really want that