Notes

WoW and FFXIV WoW and FFXIV: Increased Raptr Playtime And ArcheAge Playtime "cratered"

Another month and another Raptr report. Yesterday Raptr.com published its most played PC games list for November and MMOs did quite well. It's not surprising that World of Warcraft surged up the list to number 2 thanks to the Warlords of Draenor expansion. The press release from Raptr states that "The game's monthly playtime was up 71% over October." Even though WoW "likely" took its cues from League of Legends' numbers but it didn't quite take over the MOBA's number one spot.



In addition to other MMOs, ArcheAge playtime "cratered by 39.97%," but World of Tanks and Final Fantasy XIV both saw an increase in their playtime. Raptr reports that Guild Wars 2 rose in rank, but it lost the most playtime in November compared to October. SWTOR has dropped two places since October.



As always, Raptr roundups come with the caveat that they're based on Raptr users on PCs but not all gamers. Certain MMO studios are also known for boosting their Raptr numbers with in-game incentives. They may not provide information about their player base and therefore, you may consider this the next best snapshot of the game's popularity, aside from a tour of the servers.



[Source: Raptr press release which we've included here] The Most Played PC Games November 2014 -- Dragon Age, Call of Duty debut, World of Warcraft revived



Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Dragon Age: Inquisition made their debuts in the Most Played List this month. World of Warcraft's latest expansion gave the ten year-old MMO an increase in popularity and Spider Solitaire was a surprise to make it back into the top 20 after a gap of over a year. They know who the guilty party are.



Highlights



League of Legends maintained its first position in November despite losing 15.88 percent of its time playing in comparison to October. The game reached its peak at the beginning of the month, following LoL's Halloween sales event. While the game's gameplay was steady for most of the month however, the 4.20 update brought with it some long queues that significantly affected playtime.



World of Warcraft's Warlords of Draenor likely pulled time from LoL and other major games. The MMO's monthly playtime was up 71.3 percent compared to October. As is expected, daily playtime was affected by the expansion as well as the game's 10 year anniversary celebrations. It nearly doubled following the launch of Draenor and remained steady until the end of November.



The other top five games weren't as fortunate. DOTA 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Smite saw an increase in hours. Smite beat ArcheAge for the fifth position. DOTA 2 and CS.GO saw double-digit drops (12.59% and 11.59 percent, respectively), but Smite was down less that one percent.



Archeage dropped by 39.97 percent while Smite has seen a slight rise in the rankings.



The downward trend continued with Minecraft (-11.70 percent), Diablo III (down almost 45 percent -We blame WoW), and Hearthstone (-13.11%, though we expect a rebound in December, thanks to Goblins vs Gnomes).



Chart newcomer Dragon Age, Inquisition, was ranked tenth despite a release in November.



While falling behind in the ranks, World of Tanks managed to increase 7.72 percent play time when compared to October. While the WGLNA Gold League Qualifying rounds were held throughout the month play time was at its peak during the Thanksgiving weekend, due to XP multipliers as well as holiday deals on premium products.



Final Fantasy XIV increased in the length of play by 20.97 percent. This could be due to the release of the Game of the Year edition which added 60 days of adventure (plus all previously released content), in late October and early November. Mid-month DDOS attacks that caused login issues, did not have a major impact on play time.



Each Guild Wars 2 and Warframe increased in rank despite having less play time in November than October. Warframe hosted a Movember community event that resulted in a Guinness World Record. Irc101.Org Guild Wars 2's Tangled Path content has been released with new areas and items including skins, a variety of items, as as other features.



Call of Duty: Advance Warfare is always a console juggernaut - launched in November. Based on current trends we may not have it on the list of December's Most Played.



Spider Solitaire was re-invented into Most Played for the first time since October 2013. Turns out Thanksgiving isn't just about turkey, football and arguing with family members -- it's also about playing Solitaire, as gameplay hours during the month reached their peak on the 27th of November.



Note: The Share number by each game is the gameplay time as a percentage of the total time spent playing all PC games played by Raptr members, and is useful in comparing the amount of time played between specific games.


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