Quote Originally Posted by Xyr View Post
WoW had rewarded people for paying year-long subs for a long time, since burning crusade
This is... false. Aside from the lowered sub price for buying six months at a time (a year was never offered, and reduced price for multiple months is the norm for many subscription services, from games to porn sites) I believe the first time they actually rewarded a subscription commitment was during Cataclysm, when they offered Diablo III in exchange for you agreeing to stay subbed for a year (it didn't even charge you all at once, you just promised to keep paying monthly). This was to build up hype for their new game while simultaneously keeping people paying for WoW during the second-half lull of the expansion. While controversial at the time, and without digressing about how awful D3 actually turned out to be, you did receive something of ACTUAL value (a full-priced, AAA title).

They would not use this tactic again for several years, until 2018. They knew that BFA was going to be a turd, so offered up a half-assed mount in exchange for purchasing six months of game time (paid for all at once, unlike the previous promotion). Nothing of actual value was received by the buyer, other than the standard discount for buying six months at a time that has always existed. Anyone with common sense would realize that BFA must not be very good if they were already trying to bait people into committing for six months. Fast forward to the release of 8.2, and they do the same crap AGAIN because they know that they have little to show for 8.2 and that it's another turd.

The last two times that they've done this have been painfully obvious cash grabs when they know that they are about to drop a deuce. There's a handful of idiots who will continue to pay for it each time. I do not think at all that these "promotions" are the cause of the decline and failure of WoW, but rather a very telling indicator (and transparent as hell to anyone with common sense) that the game is in the toilet. The time that they did it in Cata wasn't even remotely the same - they were actually giving something of value to you AND WoW was also still at its peak and not hurting for subscriptions.

Also, don't forget all the times that BFA has been on sale (including an unprecedented two months after release) and the times they've sent free weeks out to inactive accounts. Gotta mention those when pointing out how hilariously bad WoW is doing these days. I am enjoying the hell out of seeing their awful business and game design decisions lead to the collapse while the few people still defending the game are plugging their ears and pretending that it's still the best game out there.