NOW = 1.7 Million Active Subscribers | 3 Months from now = Guess What

You still are just buying boxes compared to a sub of roughly 130$ a year AND boxes for expansions. It would be more than suprising if TOR wouldn't charge for expansions additionally like almost all AAA MMOs from western creators do.

And even if they didn't (lol) you are still comparing 130$ to what? 30$?

How many started playing wow and stuck with it because it was the warcraft universe? I know a major reason I tried it was because I love the old warcraft games. If that game had a different IP would it have attracted as much initial attention? Hard to say really. It all depends, if they had gone with my little pony it wouldn't have been much of a hit. Bottom line is your argument applies to both games.

Could be, sure, just as the announced 1.7 million could be a bit more than that.

Honestly, the 1.7 mil cannot be correct. I'm sure they counted the gamecard players as well, which doesn't say much since a lot of people without a CC had no other option than to buy a gamecard to activate the sub in the first place.

It all really, REALLY depends on what they do with those months. But I don't see this game growing in the long term. Doesn't justify a monthly fee for what's been given.

mm i think i should go more into details. I am not suggesting that ToR lacks of clever boss mechanics, but i do say that they don't punish you enough when you make a mistake. But that is just me.

I am not going to compare ToR with WoW at it's early stage but i will compare it Wotlk. BW decided to use a Normal-HardMode-Nightmare more? Fine, but if that's how you want to do it at the very least do it right. Don't just make HM mode a version of the boss as just %+ of damage and HP. It dosn't make the fight more difficult it just forces your guild to gear up a little before they can reach the next level.

I kinda agree with the mormal mode game difficulty, it's a really nice way to make all the content in the game available to more casual players. But, HM and Nm as they stand now are very accessible to even the most casual guilds provided that they have enough dps and heal to stand the fight. That for might part is a flaw. Hardmode should be hard, regardless of how early this game is. That is the whole point of it.

I agree with your other remarks.

more features at launch = more bugs = more problems = delayed launch again... last summer the game wasnt even ready to be tested yet they keep adding more features... generally things that are too good to be true are...

I could make up a number too...

I think 3 months is a bit quick to expect a 50% sub increase...

Most of those who were really on the lookout have probably already tried the game.

I think if BW does things well and improves the game and listens to the playerbase, the subs will keep growing slowly but surely.

I think it'll take a couple of months for things to level out before any truly substantially relevant figures show up.

I'm not grasping at anything. I'm not sure why I'd want to grasp at straws.

I'm simply saying - oddly enough - exactly the same thing you are. "The key numbers we should be looking at is the average retention rate after a few months..."

We just said it differently.

Once the hoopla dies down and the people who aren't staying peter out, that's when it'll be time to look at the numbers.

For now, it's just too soon to tell (although I'm relatively certain that the massive (and often rabid) Star Wars fan community will keep this game going for a long, long time).