D&D Beyond Changes

[Oramac]

They don't do quality content anymore. 😜

IDK. I think Dragonflight is actually pretty darn good so far. Shadowlands was garbage though, I'll give you that.

actually find other people to play with on their schedule (and in a game style they like)

My emphasis added.

So what if the "game style I like" is in-person, at a table with a pencil and paper, and not a single piece of electronics in sight?

To be fair, that nominative $15 (in the US) has stayed where it is because it's subsidized by the WoW Token in most markets - and the token was making so much money in China that they abandoned the monthly subscription fee there entirely. Even just in the US, highly competitive players like Mythic raiding guilds and upper-ranked Arena players tend to max out the amount of gold they're able to rake in via the token each week, and even go into gold debt with other guilds, all so they can buy BoEs, extra consumables etc off the auction house to stay competitive. And even a number of more casual players funnel cash into the token to obtain large gold sinks like the AH mount.

Even putting the token itself aside, there is also the in-game cash shop with exclusive cosmetics, and paid services like server/faction transfers, renames etc. In short, I would wager the true average monthly price for WoW for most people even just in the US is well above $15/mo, and goes up even further as you get into the more competitive echelons of players for both PvE and PvP.

I used to be one of those Raiders. Certainly it matters, but in the grand scheme of it, the high level raiders/mythic+/PvPers are a tiny fraction of the total population of the game. The token surely has an impact, but I doubt whether it pushes the true average much past $20 a month.

And even if it does, WoW still pushes out content WAAAAY faster and more consistently than WOTC ever has. If WOTC published quality content at the same rate that WoW does, I might be ok with a $30/month sub. Maybe.