The sky is falling as World of Warcraft has now hit a modern record low of 5.6 million subscribers. The shame, the horror, the pain as this unimaginable feat as WoW, the kingpin, has been slain to a mere 5 million and some odd change subscribers as we question this horrible reality. Well, romanticism aside, there are a lot of reasons for this. 

First, Warlods of Draenor was a great single player game, but it wasn't an MMO. I played it and felt, the same as many others, of the euphoria of leveling again in WoW and how great it was to just play WoW in this really novel way where you're basically following a single player story but you can play it with friends. Then I hit max level and began to simply question why am I spending all day in my garrison. 

The garrison, isolating everyone to their little plots of land, along with a stagnating endgame, along with a lot of cross-pollination between WoW and the other major properties Blizzard has announced, justifies not only the subscription loss, but why WoW is announcing its expansion as Gamescom instead of Blizzcon. 

While I'll have more words about this tomorrow, to speak of what I can think of today, it's simple: Final Fantasy XIV is a better produce to true MMO players, while Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm are better solutions for Blizzard fans. Blizzard games are known for their short engagement. You can play Diablo 10 minutes or 18 hours in a day and still progress and get something done. You can get a Hearthstone match done in about the time a bathroom break takes. Heroes matches are short, no more than 30 minutes on average I feel, again - low time commitment. WoW was, in many ways that way, to the MMO genre. It was one of the first EQ-clones that made it where a few minutes could give real progression, versus grinding mobs all day for half a bubble like in Dark Age of Camelot. 

Considering Blizzard fans want games with low engagement periods and optional binge-sprees and MMO gamers want a solid endgame with more statistics than nutritional information on a multi-vitamin, combined with an MMO that's endgame is not only the same, but it also pushed players into seeing it was an episodic story versus a game about grinding and exploiting boss mechanics to kill something unkillable. 

Many are calling this the death of WoW today and I can't really process the low numbers for myself and figure out what the future is until we see what the expansion is. Right now, if Blizzard launches an expansion focused purely on the endgame and the journey there, while a considerable value of the experience, is but a speck on the hero's journey, then by all means I'd say this is a road bump. 

However, if this expansion is nothing more than a single player game, Harvest Moon simulator, and regurgitation of previous boss encounters, while bringing nothing new to the table, then by all means it's going to stay this way and we'll see the gradual culling of WoW subs - first in droves, and then to a trickle. 

Another word of warning: If Blizzard announces, dares to announce, a New Frontiers type expansion where it's not a full expansion, but a revamp of previous dungeons and raids, then they're going to need to make a compelling argument for why this is occuring. My big worry is this is a mini-expansion and not a full fledged new levels, races, classes, etc. 

We'll see as the days move forward. A million and a half subscribers is substantial and I feel as if this is probably the end of "WoW as an MMO model" as games like FFXIV have refined it into its purest form, while games like Guild Wars 2 have taken off onto a journey of their own. All I can say for now is stay tuned to Ten Ton Hammer as we weigh in on this in the coming days and keep our eyes peeled for what happens at Gamescom.