Take a guess. Because its different from other MMORPGs. It has a ongoing story. It's more a RPG than a MMO.

The problem about this is that designing raids is as much effort as if you would design content for the majority. At the end, it just is not justified to create something with an effort as raids need for a small playerbase raids traditionally address. The only solution is to create gameplay and assets for everyone, adressing an as large audience as possible.

I think the MMORPG genre in total is not appealing anymore. Add to this the fact many MMORPG developers focus on "ancient relics" like organized group play, they dont really help to evolve the format to something better. At the end, its always the same. Quests having "collect 10 x" and "kill 20 y".. battlegrounds where you defend a base, catch a ball or capture a flag, dungeons with a tank, a healer and dds.. and we got all that for 15 years already.. with a genre thats not going anywhere.. The same content used for OPs would have to be used for solo player experiences. Or lets even say, the focus should be on designing the solo and small group player experience and derive operations from it, which wont have dedicated assets and gameplay. Just a group setting with more demanding boss abilities. Everyone would be able to see the same story. No matter if its played as an operation or as a solo player experience.

Exactly. It never adressed the majority of MMORPG players. Thanks for your anecdotal evidence, but it is very hard to argument with it.

Sorry, but guild raiding is as dead as it ever was.. no change here since WotLK. It was very low in TBC, tho, in comparison. In its traditional approach, raiding never really worked as endgame for many.

The best solution is to create content for everyone. So if operation content was added, it also should be available for solo players and small groups as an additional mode. But exclusive raid content is an absolute no go. Who should pay those raids? The content in the raids has to be consumed by the entire playerbase, and not only by a few. A approach like in rift surely would work, if it also was applied to new content. Adding a system like that would create elitism among raiders and would split the playerbase, tho. "Why are they allowed to see my content?".. see the toxic reactions of the raider playerbase in WoW when LFR was introduced.

The ongoing monthly update is the key feature. Which gives a new story. And surely not raids. Do you prefer 10000 customers playing your game for 1 week a month or 10 loyal customers playing your game every day?

Actually its from the days when WoW had 13 million active players. Compared to nowadays with around 4 million players. While TBC, the playersbase still was growing, as it was early in the game lifecycle. And yes, the number is accurate. It's a quote from the devs and an interview. http://www.gameplanet.co.nz/pc/features/i138733/Blizzards-J.-Allen-Brack-on-Mists-of-Pandaria/ Raid participation in WoW is way higher nowadays. Mainly due to the fact they implemented a group finder, which allows you to assemble groups very fast. The part of guild raids, tho, is still as small as it was in WotLK. Which is not 1% but a two digit percentage.

Operations have been wasted to a small group of players. The best solution is to turn them into H2+-flashpoints. Being soloable with some skill. I believe, every flashpoint- and operation-content should be made soloable and playable by small groups.

Sure i have numbers. Of other MMORPGs and statistics from their playerbase. Blizzard Entertainment releases all their statistical data through their armory. And you get a half-year report of raid participation from fan sites. Also i have a quote from Jeremy Gaffney, talking about solo players as the largest part of the MMORPG playerbase. While i even doubt you know who Jeremy Gaffney is. Pro-Tip: Use Google I base my opinions on arguments you obviously arent able to counter. As i said, i have a lot of statistics from other games. I have interviews talking about player numbers and percentages playing organized raids. Sunwell in TBC, as an example, was seen by less than 1% of the wow playerbase those days. Raiding always was, and always will be, minority gameplay.

No, i mean traditional MMORPGs which depend on organized group play. Raids. Premade battlegrounds.. All that kind of stuff noone was and is interested in. Even in the "good old days of vanilla" only a small percentage of players played raids. I did not talk about your personal involvement into raids, so i wonder where you think i talk about your case? "New school" organized raids built based on guild groups in the size of 20 and 10 are dead as well. As still, since its first implementation, only a very few play it. Raiding never was successfull gameplay, and never will be. Only if you think LFR is comparable or part of the organized raiding game. Not at all, also i do not condemn it, i tell you facts why i think raiding was the biggest mistake in MMORPGs from the start. You are free to counter them. No, there is no need for gameplay nearly noone plays. It's better to invest the development time into components most of the players actually really play. Do you want to invoke a "but old school MMORPGs always had raiding"-dogm here? Wont work. Bring arguments. Only because "MMORPGS have been like this" is no reason. What you call "throw away games" are currently the most successfull games. As they dont ask for commitment. The idea is that you may have a sub based RPG with an evolving story you dont throw away.

I just try to counter the raiders attitude of "I demand all development recources for my special interest gameplay".. Sorry, but its exactly that. Special interest gameplay of a few. A small but vocal group. The "broad range of players" is interested in solo content, some small group content (either PVP or PVE), collecting mounts and pets and care-bearing, but not in raids which demand players commitment at a level most people are just not interested in. Raids ask for way too much, be it commitment of the players or effort of the developers to add them. They are the worst incarnation of endgame, as their players demand everything for them self, as the effort to implement them is extremely high and unrewarding for any game company..

I know exactly what i talk about. You are free to try to counter arguments instead of arguments ad hominem. tl; dr: l2discuss

Solo gameplay. And to raise player retention, they should add engaging crafting and collecting. And a trade system. Games like Black Desert online show, how to do that.

Most of the players even arent in guilds. Most of the guilds do not commit to raiding groups. You are, even if you think your anecdotal evidence is interesting, a part of a small minority. Organized raiding never really adressed more than 10% of the playerbase of nowadays MMORPG players. Compare to that the fact that MMORPGs have at least round about 60% solo players.. and even more. Add to this the other large part of guilds that never raid.. and you talk about a niche gameplay. Close to noone. A small percentage. Raids are the main reason for toxic communities. As they demand a high level of contribution and commitment, which creates elitism at the end. Elitism, because raiders think they have to get the best rewards, the most content and the biggest amount of gameplay.. even if they wont even be enough to pay a single raid boss.