WoW's two biggest reasons why it's the king is simply polish and population. The game keeps you entertained, especially at first. And it's easy. And getting easier. Blizz is bowing to the casual players, since that's what most WoW players are. Biggest turnoff for me was the PvP.
-------------------------------------- A human and an Elf get captured by Skaven. The rat-men are getting ready to shoot the first hostage with Dwarf-made guns when he yells, "Earthquake!" The naturally nervous Skaven run and hide from the imaginary threat. He escapes. The Skaven regroup and bring out the Elf. Being very smart, the Elf has figured out what to do. When the Skaven get ready to shoot, the Elf, in order to scare them, yells, "Fire!"
It works. Little to no bugs, servers up, no worries bout anything..Unlike 99% of other games who launches incomplete and dies incomplete and horribly bugged.
Marketing. WoW spent more $'s on marketing than other MMO's spent on creation. It put WoW on everyones lips, kinda like Coke or Levis or back in the days "Benneton"..Never knew what they made, but everyone knew Benneton...
It's silly really. WoW isn't a great game. But because of the massive marketing and that it works, Blizzard can now afford to keep making the game work and keep up the massive marketing.
Ofcourse, it also helps WoW that there's only Koreangrinders and woW clones available now... There are no games that stand out and can even reach WoW to the knees. (Thanks to deves and publishers and investors that couldnt see further than their own nose, and just HAD to try make a WoW clone). In a world of Diablo..err WoW clones, you pick the original.
In case it hasn't been said in this thread (I can't read all the WoW fanboi comments) I will tell you what Blizzard did thus explaining the greatest mystery, apparently.
Blizzard took the concept of Massively Multiplayer Online and turned it into Massively Single Player Online. Before WoW, most MMOs required at least some portion of your game time spent in a group. The grouping is what drew me to MMOs in the first place. Blizzard was one of the first well-marketed games that anyone could play, regardless of skill. From 5-year old kids to 70-year old Mahjong-playing grannies, WoW is simple enough for anyone to play.
Forget graphics and low system requirements... it's turning MMO into MSPO that made this game successful. Imagine what sales and subscriptions would have been like if something like, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion had been created as an MMO. That game was a successful Single Player game. Take the millions of sales Oblivion experienced and multiply it by 2 and you could get an idea of how it may have fared.
So to sum up, if you're experienced with MMOs and you like a little challenge in your game I would recommend avoiding WoW... not because I hate the game - not because my mom plays - not because I'm a recovering addict.... avoid WoW because it is simple.
Blizzard increased the experience rate that a character gains from levels from 1-60. Why do this? To speed up the Mahjong players so they will be even MORE unexperienced lvl 70 characters that much quicker? I don't understand...
Originally posted by Bronks Blizzard increased the experience rate that a character gains from levels from 1-60. Why do this? To speed up the Mahjong players so they will be even MORE unexperienced lvl 70 characters that much quicker? I don't understand...
Easy answer: IF you can have as many people hit 70 as soon as possible and before the expansion arrives, then they'll be able to experience the expansion, thus flooding blizzard with more money.
Blizzard took the concept of Massively Multiplayer Online and turned it into Massively Single Player Online. Before WoW, most MMOs required at least some portion of your game time spent in a group. The grouping is what drew me to MMOs in the first place. I disagree with this statement. My MMO's prior to WoW were UO and SWG, neither of which were particularly group oriented compared to WoW, whose end-game is currently very group-oriented.
One other thing that I forgot to mention about WoW; people play it because of the size of it's subscription base. People assume that because it has 10 million subscribers that means that they will always have way more people to play with than other MMO's, but this is of course not the case.
If we take WoW's EU subscriptions for example, they currently stand on around 2 million over around 240 servers. That's a (rough) average of about 8.3k subscriptions per server, though of course some are more populated than others.
Compare that with EVE, which is considered a "niche" game with far less players than WoW. Currently (at 9am on a Sunday morning) there are 22.4k players on the Tranquility server.
One other thing that I forgot to mention about WoW; people play it because of the size of it's subscription base. People assume that because it has 10 million subscribers that means that they will always have way more people to play with than other MMO's, but this is of course not the case. If we take WoW's EU subscriptions for example, they currently stand on around 2 million over around 240 servers. That's a (rough) average of about 8.3k subscriptions per server, though of course some are more populated than others. Compare that with EVE, which is considered a "niche" game with far less players than WoW. Currently (at 9am on a Sunday morning) there are 22.4k players on the Tranquility server.
As someone who played only consoles in the past I can't stress enough how...out of this world Blizzard's marketing is.
I stood there in the shop deciding which MMO to buy. The first one to basically assault my eyes was WoW. If you've been to a gaming/electronics store and seen the WoW display you'll know what I mean.
BUT! I was not to be persuaded so easily, no sir. So I checked out the different boxes and their list of features.
The deciding factor for me was: I'm a newbie and if I want to have fun ONLINE with more people then I'd best go with the one with the most subscriptions.
I know I was not the only one and there will be more who will choose their game IN STORE based on that, with no prior knowledge of what is out there.
Folks, WoW's marketing may be good, but if the game were crap it would've died a long time ago. Good marketing may get a lot of people to try a game, but it won't keep people in it. People will leave a junk game no matter how much marketing or selling is done for it. History is replete with examples of great marketing for a crappy product that didn't sell precisely BECAUSE it was crap.
Originally posted by TeflonEddie 4. Timing. It was released at a point in time where there really wasn't much competition for a fantasy-based game of the type; which drew it a lot of subscriptions.
Microsoft cancelled Mythica 10 months before WOW launched citing that they couldnt compete in the mmo market
other companies are finding it surprisingly hard to duplicate Sony's success.
Microsoft abandoned Mythica last week, even before the game was officially launched. "We were looking at the . . . market and really determined that we couldn't be competitive," said Microsoft spokeswoman Genevieve Waldman.
Spurred by the success of EverQuest, lots of companies began launching persistent online role-playing games, without thinking through the demands of the market.
"Too many products got created, to be used by too few customers," said Jeffrey Anderson, CEO of Westwood-based Turbine Entertainment Software, developer of another successful online game, Asheron's Call. "It's like we all decided we all wanted to create our own version of MTV."
Actually, it's worse. Nearly anybody who likes pop music might check out the various MTV imitators for a minute or two. But there are millions of gamers who'll never try an online role-playing game.
WOW appealed to mmo subscribers that were not thought to exist
Microsoft cancelled Mythica 10 months before WOW launched
citing that they couldnt compete in the mmo market
You gotta love MicroSoft. When they get it wrong, they get it really wrong.
WOW appealed to mmo subscribers that were not thought to exist
Very true, they also appealed the EQ'ers who, after 4 years and ~7 different paid expansions were looking for a next-generation alternative and had the choice of either EQ2 or WoW, as they were released at about the same time. WoW was the more polished and innovative game, and had the extra boost from the influx of people who'd never done the MMO thing before but loved the Warcraft IP.
In case it hasn't been said in this thread (I can't read all the WoW fanboi comments) I will tell you what Blizzard did thus explaining the greatest mystery, apparently.
Blizzard took the concept of Massively Multiplayer Online and turned it into Massively Single Player Online. Before WoW, most MMOs required at least some portion of your game time spent in a group. The grouping is what drew me to MMOs in the first place. Blizzard was one of the first well-marketed games that anyone could play, regardless of skill. From 5-year old kids to 70-year old Mahjong-playing grannies, WoW is simple enough for anyone to play.
Forget graphics and low system requirements... it's turning MMO into MSPO that made this game successful. Imagine what sales and subscriptions would have been like if something like, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion had been created as an MMO. That game was a successful Single Player game. Take the millions of sales Oblivion experienced and multiply it by 2 and you could get an idea of how it may have fared.
So to sum up, if you're experienced with MMOs and you like a little challenge in your game I would recommend avoiding WoW... not because I hate the game - not because my mom plays - not because I'm a recovering addict.... avoid WoW because it is simple.
Blizzard increased the experience rate that a character gains from levels from 1-60. Why do this? To speed up the Mahjong players so they will be even MORE unexperienced lvl 70 characters that much quicker? I don't understand...
There's absolutely nothing single player about WoW. Very solo friendly yes, but even then you are never alone. There are people playing around you, talking to you, talking in general chat, competing with you for spawns or even helping with the occassional heal if you get into trouble. You couldn't be more wrong about WoW or other MMO's that offer a lot of solo content, such as EQ2, City of Heroes and Star Wars Galaxies. Their problem is that they do a crappy job of it. Their idea of solo content is to make it boring, grindy and unrewarding, particularly in comparison to WoW's system, all in the hopes to force people to group and to placate groupers who can't seem to get past the idea that soloers deserve good content and rewards and that it won't ruin the game for groupers by doing so.
With PvE raiding, it has never been a question of being "good enough". I play games to have fun, not to be a simpering toady sitting through hour after hour of mind numbing boredom and fawning over a guild master in the hopes that he will condescend to reward me with shiny bits of loot. But in games where those people get the highest progression, anyone who doesn't do that will just be a moving target for them and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay money for the privilege. - Neanderthal
I played WoW for six months, explored every zone and group instance, got my main to level 60 (max at the time) and felt I had seen it all and done it all, since I'm not really into raiding, so moved on. Even though I do not play it anymore, I still recommend WoW to everyone as their first MMOG. Why? For all the reasons stated above, easy to play, low hardware requirements, polished content, etc.
Bottom Line: I feel that WoW is the best introduction to MMOG's out there today so, if you're interested in MMOG's, you should start with WoW.
It's 100 times better than any other mmorpg on the market, simple as that really, I mean the polish of WOW can't be matched by anyother game and the artwork of the game is just sooo much better than anything else out there.
I myself am bored of WOW and it doesn't appeal to me anymore but the game is such high quality it's the only blockbuster game in the genre and tbh the genre wouldn't miss anyother game but WOW.... so basically you can take all the rest away and noone would really care apart from a minority of fanbois who like crap games like Vanguard who think it makes them elite that they are th eonly ones playing it.
It's 100 times better than any other mmorpg on the market, simple as that really, I mean the polish of WOW can't be matched by anyother game and the artwork of the game is just sooo much better than anything else out there.
I myself am bored of WOW and it doesn't appeal to me anymore but the game is such high quality it's the only blockbuster game in the genre and tbh the genre wouldn't miss anyother game but WOW.... so basically you can take all the rest away and noone would really care apart from a minority of fanbois who like crap games like Vanguard who think it makes them elite that they are th eonly ones playing it.
What's it like having sub human brain capacity?
The artwork is so much better than what? it has the worst artwork in the whole genre. It is polished, i'll give you that much, but that pales in significance compared to it's flaws.
Unfortunately WoW opened up a whole new market for kid's and non mmo gamers. I say unfortunately because when any company looks at WoW's numbers and contemplates making a game, they invariable go down the same route; thus the chances of a sandbox game, something with a different ideology, innovation, in short any variety are now slim. If you like the game fine, i'm glad you get pleasure from it, I have been without an mmo home for a while now, due to lack of choice; people that like WoW don't have that problem. Just do me a favor and don't force your little kid opinions down everyone else's throats.
The artwork is so much better than what? it has the worst artwork in the whole genre. It is polished, i'll give you that much, but that pales in significance compared to it's flaws.
WoW was released 4 years ago with intentionally "cartoony" graphics. Despite the lack of realism in the graphics, they are by no means the worst in the whole genre. If you were around for the early days of non-graphical MUDs and 2D graphical MMO's, you wouldn't make such an obviously unfounded comment. Unfortunately WoW opened up a whole new market for kid's and non mmo gamers. I say unfortunately because when any company looks at WoW's numbers and contemplates making a game, they invariable go down the same route; thus the chances of a sandbox game, something with a different ideology, innovation, in short any variety are now slim. If you like the game fine, i'm glad you get pleasure from it, I have been without an mmo home for a while now, due to lack of choice; people that like WoW don't have that problem. Internet snobbery; you gotta love it. The MMO genre owes a lot to WoW. Before WoW, the MMO market was extremely limited and we should all be thankful that it's success has energized the genre. Now, you may not like WoW.. that's fine, (after playing it for over three years, I really don't like it much either) but no-one can deny that it has been good for the MMO genre.
Just do me a favor and don't force your little kid opinions down everyone else's throats.
Yes, well.. the least said about this sentence the better considering you were 14 when WoW was released.
Things go in cycles anyway, we will have more sanbox type games at some point, right now I am very happy with EVE, a game which is still growing and has vast scope for expansions.
WoW itself can only be positive for the genre, I am sorry but it is a fact. With the simple style, it was very easy for people to get started in, and to enjoy, of course it was not just the fact that it was simple, it was very well polished and I will be honest, the style of graphics was great, and something different back then. The graphics low system rew also made the game more accesible.
I would love to see a survey of how many people went on from WoW to other MMORPGs, peope who would otherwise never have played this type of game.
In short my opinion is that it is the other developers you want to blame for any percieved stagnation. They should not be making WoW clones but realise it will be damn hard to be successful with that, and that there is a growing market within the MMO communtiy, of people who want something different (be they genre vets or new players who have finished with WoW and want a more detailed game in the genre).
It's really pretty simple (and no I'm not trying to bash WOW here). What made WOW what it is today?
Brand, Polish, Design, Timing, Marketing.
Brand - Come one, battlenet players were waiting for the game just because it was Blizzard. Even if they'd never touched an MMO before, they were already anticipating this one. At that time, I don't know what other company or game could've had that much built-in hype.
Polish - Releasing a smooth, polished product is HUGE when it comes to bringing in and keeping casual fans. Hell, many people will list this as one of ther top reasons for playing the game. It's a big factor.
Design - The game was designed to be much more noob/casual friendly.
Timing - Right place, right time. Basically, it was a similar situation to what we have now. Most players were looking for something new. Their MMOs was either dead, slowing down, or changing and they were ready to move on.
Marketing - I don't see how anyone can ignore this, it's just too obvious.
Personally, I've never played WOW...honestly. Though, I do know many people who play WOW or who have played it at some point. Since it launched, I've just never seen anything new or different that would've got me into the game. Many of us who were following the game in beta were hoping to see the next great PvP game, after DAOC. But, that was never going to happen, would have been too risky.
What made WoW so good for me had nothing to do with game play mechanics, smooth launch, or noob-friendly play. I needed a new MMO to play. EQ2 was a system hog and would not run on my machine so the only choice for a new MMO was WoW.
When I started playing WoW, to my delighted surprise, I saw people everywhere. This was the key sticking point for me: a very populated game world. I was easily able to subsequently find a great guild, made good friends, and a couple of teasing online flirtatious affairs. I stayed in WoW for two years simply for its population. The more I played, the more I hated the game but I stayed and supported it because of its population. I remember instigating parties in Orgrimmar, got everybody around the mailbox to start dancing and shooting off fireworks...cracking jokes and being stupid. Ahhh, those were the days. I haven't found that kind of population since I left WoW and is just about the only thing I miss from that game.
The artwork is so much better than what? it has the worst artwork in the whole genre. It is polished, i'll give you that much, but that pales in significance compared to it's flaws.
WoW was released 4 years ago with intentionally "cartoony" graphics. Despite the lack of realism in the graphics, they are by no means the worst in the whole genre. If you were around for the early days of non-graphical MUDs and 2D graphical MMO's, you wouldn't make such an obviously unfounded comment. The genre in it's modernistic incarnation. Of coarse the graphics were intentionally "cartoony", that is quite besides the point; if their whole graphical interface was accidental i would be more than a little worried.
Unfortunately WoW opened up a whole new market for kid's and non mmo gamers. I say unfortunately because when any company looks at WoW's numbers and contemplates making a game, they invariable go down the same route; thus the chances of a sandbox game, something with a different ideology, innovation, in short any variety are now slim. If you like the game fine, i'm glad you get pleasure from it, I have been without an mmo home for a while now, due to lack of choice; people that like WoW don't have that problem. Internet snobbery; you gotta love it. The MMO genre owes a lot to WoW. Before WoW, the MMO market was extremely limited and we should all be thankful that it's success has energized the genre. Now, you may not like WoW.. that's fine, (after playing it for over three years, I really don't like it much either) but no-one can deny that it has been good for the MMO genre.
How has the mmo market diversified or been energized since WoW's release then? i find this statement quite dubious. In any event i think that a lot of people would find it quite easy to deny that WoW has been good for the mmo genre. It has introduced a terrible community, after which of WoW's demise will be introduced to subsequent games, simplified every facet of the genre to child like levels, and completely stifled innovation.
Just do me a favor and don't force your little kid opinions down everyone else's throats.
Yes, well.. the least said about this sentence the better considering you were 14 when WoW was released.
I was 14 at the time meaning what? Your ideology and perception towards the world may have been tremendously stunted at 14, i don't know. needless to say i was quite capable of formulating subjective opinions at that age.
If WoW represents to you the pinnacle of mmo gaming, i would be very worried; but each to their own.
Originally posted by Va-leThe genre in it's modernistic incarnation. Of coarse the graphics were intentionally "cartoony", that is quite besides the point; if their whole graphical interface was accidental i would be more than a little worried.
You're judging a 4 years old game's graphics alongside those of a freshly released game? Or games still in development that have yet to be released? Of course it's going to look dated by comparison. If you want to compare it's graphics against other current MMO's then compare it to Runescape or Ultima Online then come back and assert that WoW's graphics are the worst in the genre. How has the mmo market diversified or been energized since WoW's release then? i find this statement quite dubious. In any event i think that a lot of people would find it quite easy to deny that WoW has been good for the mmo genre. It has introduced a terrible community to mmo's and after WoW's demise to subsequent games, simplified every facet of the genre to child like levels, and completely stifled innovation.
It gave us something we'd never had before. A simpler, less cerebral introduction to the MMO genre for the uninitiated. No harsh death penalties, low system requirements and an accessible learning curve. How many people started playing WoW and then progressed to more "complex" MMO's? And seriously, if you think that bad communities began with the inception of WoW you are sorely mistaken.
I was 14 at the time meaning what? Your ideology and perception towards the world may have been tremendously stunted at 14, i don't know. needless to say i was quite capable of formulating subjective opinions at that age.
Meaning that you're calling someone "kid" who, (by his bio here) is 10 years your senior. Labelling people "kids" (or flinging random insults such as the one implied in your response above) because you dislike their arguments or style of writing is tantamount to waving a big flag proclaiming "I am an arrogant moron whose only response to criticism is to resort to nonsensical insults." If someone disagrees with your point, you can either concede that they're correct or attempt to counter their argument, but don't take every molecule of criticism as a personal attack or you'll wind up with a neurosis or two before you're out of your teens.
If WoW represents to you the pinnacle of mmo gaming, i would be very worried; but each to their own.
Pinnacle? No. That was probably pre-NGE SWG for me, but I do consider the phenomena of WoW to be a pivotal event in the history of MMO gaming.
It wasn't market as others have pointed out. Marketing will only get people to try it, not stay and invite more people by word of mouth. EQ2 had just as much coverage in the MMO world and it was closing server within the first year.
If WoW is a great starter game then naturally other games should be swelling in numbers just from the churn of subscribers that WoW produces. That isn't happening, because the market is flooded with games clinging to outdated ideas about what makes MMOs fun. I miss the days of UO and EQ, but I am realistic that those days are gone. While I will forever miss the hardcore days MMOs have evolved. Games are meant to entertain and it looks to be more in the future.
I thought people liked WoW because you could grind uber items and make your character look cool.
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!
Originally posted by Daffid011 If WoW is a great starter game then naturally other games should be swelling in numbers just from the churn of subscribers that WoW produces.
Many other modern MMO's are showing increased subscriptions in the last year. EVE, LOTRO and even EQ2 were showing increased subs in the last figures that I saw; and I can personally attest that both EVE and LoTRO have new players running around the newbie zones, and the term "i came from WoW" is a very common sight on newbie channels.
That isn't happening, because the market is flooded with games clinging to outdated ideas about what makes MMOs fun. I miss the days of UO and EQ, but I am realistic that those days are gone. While I will forever miss the hardcore days MMOs have evolved. Games are meant to entertain and it looks to be more in the future. You're right in the later part; the old days are dead and buried and the feeling of being on the frontier of an emergent genre is sadly lost too.
Comments
WoW's two biggest reasons why it's the king is simply polish and population. The game keeps you entertained, especially at first. And it's easy. And getting easier. Blizz is bowing to the casual players, since that's what most WoW players are. Biggest turnoff for me was the PvP.
--------------------------------------
A human and an Elf get captured by Skaven. The rat-men are getting ready to shoot the first hostage with Dwarf-made guns when he yells, "Earthquake!" The naturally nervous Skaven run and hide from the imaginary threat. He escapes. The Skaven regroup and bring out the Elf. Being very smart, the Elf has figured out what to do. When the Skaven get ready to shoot, the Elf, in order to scare them, yells, "Fire!"
Order of the White Border.
Personally....
What makes WoW good compared to other games:
It's silly really. WoW isn't a great game. But because of the massive marketing and that it works, Blizzard can now afford to keep making the game work and keep up the massive marketing.
Ofcourse, it also helps WoW that there's only Koreangrinders and woW clones available now... There are no games that stand out and can even reach WoW to the knees. (Thanks to deves and publishers and investors that couldnt see further than their own nose, and just HAD to try make a WoW clone). In a world of Diablo..err WoW clones, you pick the original.
In case it hasn't been said in this thread (I can't read all the WoW fanboi comments) I will tell you what Blizzard did thus explaining the greatest mystery, apparently.
Blizzard took the concept of Massively Multiplayer Online and turned it into Massively Single Player Online. Before WoW, most MMOs required at least some portion of your game time spent in a group. The grouping is what drew me to MMOs in the first place. Blizzard was one of the first well-marketed games that anyone could play, regardless of skill. From 5-year old kids to 70-year old Mahjong-playing grannies, WoW is simple enough for anyone to play.
Forget graphics and low system requirements... it's turning MMO into MSPO that made this game successful. Imagine what sales and subscriptions would have been like if something like, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion had been created as an MMO. That game was a successful Single Player game. Take the millions of sales Oblivion experienced and multiply it by 2 and you could get an idea of how it may have fared.
So to sum up, if you're experienced with MMOs and you like a little challenge in your game I would recommend avoiding WoW... not because I hate the game - not because my mom plays - not because I'm a recovering addict.... avoid WoW because it is simple.
Blizzard increased the experience rate that a character gains from levels from 1-60. Why do this? To speed up the Mahjong players so they will be even MORE unexperienced lvl 70 characters that much quicker? I don't understand...
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/28371832@N02/2648951313/[/url]
Easy answer: IF you can have as many people hit 70 as soon as possible and before the expansion arrives, then they'll be able to experience the expansion, thus flooding blizzard with more money.
One other thing that I forgot to mention about WoW; people play it because of the size of it's subscription base. People assume that because it has 10 million subscribers that means that they will always have way more people to play with than other MMO's, but this is of course not the case.
If we take WoW's EU subscriptions for example, they currently stand on around 2 million over around 240 servers. That's a (rough) average of about 8.3k subscriptions per server, though of course some are more populated than others.
Compare that with EVE, which is considered a "niche" game with far less players than WoW. Currently (at 9am on a Sunday morning) there are 22.4k players on the Tranquility server.
well wow is good if your a child i guess but it made me fall asleep,now give me face of man kind and i will play for hours.
As someone who played only consoles in the past I can't stress enough how...out of this world Blizzard's marketing is.
I stood there in the shop deciding which MMO to buy. The first one to basically assault my eyes was WoW. If you've been to a gaming/electronics store and seen the WoW display you'll know what I mean.
BUT! I was not to be persuaded so easily, no sir. So I checked out the different boxes and their list of features.
The deciding factor for me was: I'm a newbie and if I want to have fun ONLINE with more people then I'd best go with the one with the most subscriptions.
I know I was not the only one and there will be more who will choose their game IN STORE based on that, with no prior knowledge of what is out there.
Microsoft cancelled Mythica 10 months before WOW launchedciting that they couldnt compete in the mmo market
Flood of games, too few players cause change in online realm (Feb 2004)
wowmb.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-220.html
WOW appealed to mmo subscribers that were not thought to exist
EQ2 fan sites
There's absolutely nothing single player about WoW. Very solo friendly yes, but even then you are never alone. There are people playing around you, talking to you, talking in general chat, competing with you for spawns or even helping with the occassional heal if you get into trouble. You couldn't be more wrong about WoW or other MMO's that offer a lot of solo content, such as EQ2, City of Heroes and Star Wars Galaxies. Their problem is that they do a crappy job of it. Their idea of solo content is to make it boring, grindy and unrewarding, particularly in comparison to WoW's system, all in the hopes to force people to group and to placate groupers who can't seem to get past the idea that soloers deserve good content and rewards and that it won't ruin the game for groupers by doing so.
With PvE raiding, it has never been a question of being "good enough". I play games to have fun, not to be a simpering toady sitting through hour after hour of mind numbing boredom and fawning over a guild master in the hopes that he will condescend to reward me with shiny bits of loot. But in games where those people get the highest progression, anyone who doesn't do that will just be a moving target for them and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay money for the privilege. - Neanderthal
I played WoW for six months, explored every zone and group instance, got my main to level 60 (max at the time) and felt I had seen it all and done it all, since I'm not really into raiding, so moved on. Even though I do not play it anymore, I still recommend WoW to everyone as their first MMOG. Why? For all the reasons stated above, easy to play, low hardware requirements, polished content, etc.
Bottom Line: I feel that WoW is the best introduction to MMOG's out there today so, if you're interested in MMOG's, you should start with WoW.
It's 100 times better than any other mmorpg on the market, simple as that really, I mean the polish of WOW can't be matched by anyother game and the artwork of the game is just sooo much better than anything else out there.
I myself am bored of WOW and it doesn't appeal to me anymore but the game is such high quality it's the only blockbuster game in the genre and tbh the genre wouldn't miss anyother game but WOW.... so basically you can take all the rest away and noone would really care apart from a minority of fanbois who like crap games like Vanguard who think it makes them elite that they are th eonly ones playing it.
This is what makes WoW so good, the poster boy of WoW in the flesh
http://athene.movielol.org/record.php
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3NU5WZXCKU
this is what defines WoW, keeps it going and make it the best!
The artwork is so much better than what? it has the worst artwork in the whole genre. It is polished, i'll give you that much, but that pales in significance compared to it's flaws.
Unfortunately WoW opened up a whole new market for kid's and non mmo gamers. I say unfortunately because when any company looks at WoW's numbers and contemplates making a game, they invariable go down the same route; thus the chances of a sandbox game, something with a different ideology, innovation, in short any variety are now slim. If you like the game fine, i'm glad you get pleasure from it, I have been without an mmo home for a while now, due to lack of choice; people that like WoW don't have that problem. Just do me a favor and don't force your little kid opinions down everyone else's throats.
Things go in cycles anyway, we will have more sanbox type games at some point, right now I am very happy with EVE, a game which is still growing and has vast scope for expansions.
WoW itself can only be positive for the genre, I am sorry but it is a fact. With the simple style, it was very easy for people to get started in, and to enjoy, of course it was not just the fact that it was simple, it was very well polished and I will be honest, the style of graphics was great, and something different back then. The graphics low system rew also made the game more accesible.
I would love to see a survey of how many people went on from WoW to other MMORPGs, peope who would otherwise never have played this type of game.
In short my opinion is that it is the other developers you want to blame for any percieved stagnation. They should not be making WoW clones but realise it will be damn hard to be successful with that, and that there is a growing market within the MMO communtiy, of people who want something different (be they genre vets or new players who have finished with WoW and want a more detailed game in the genre).
It's really pretty simple (and no I'm not trying to bash WOW here). What made WOW what it is today?
Brand, Polish, Design, Timing, Marketing.
Brand - Come one, battlenet players were waiting for the game just because it was Blizzard. Even if they'd never touched an MMO before, they were already anticipating this one. At that time, I don't know what other company or game could've had that much built-in hype.
Polish - Releasing a smooth, polished product is HUGE when it comes to bringing in and keeping casual fans. Hell, many people will list this as one of ther top reasons for playing the game. It's a big factor.
Design - The game was designed to be much more noob/casual friendly.
Timing - Right place, right time. Basically, it was a similar situation to what we have now. Most players were looking for something new. Their MMOs was either dead, slowing down, or changing and they were ready to move on.
Marketing - I don't see how anyone can ignore this, it's just too obvious.
Personally, I've never played WOW...honestly. Though, I do know many people who play WOW or who have played it at some point. Since it launched, I've just never seen anything new or different that would've got me into the game. Many of us who were following the game in beta were hoping to see the next great PvP game, after DAOC. But, that was never going to happen, would have been too risky.
What made WoW so good for me had nothing to do with game play mechanics, smooth launch, or noob-friendly play. I needed a new MMO to play. EQ2 was a system hog and would not run on my machine so the only choice for a new MMO was WoW.
When I started playing WoW, to my delighted surprise, I saw people everywhere. This was the key sticking point for me: a very populated game world. I was easily able to subsequently find a great guild, made good friends, and a couple of teasing online flirtatious affairs. I stayed in WoW for two years simply for its population. The more I played, the more I hated the game but I stayed and supported it because of its population. I remember instigating parties in Orgrimmar, got everybody around the mailbox to start dancing and shooting off fireworks...cracking jokes and being stupid. Ahhh, those were the days. I haven't found that kind of population since I left WoW and is just about the only thing I miss from that game.
Currently playing: No MMOs. They all suck.
It wasn't market as others have pointed out. Marketing will only get people to try it, not stay and invite more people by word of mouth. EQ2 had just as much coverage in the MMO world and it was closing server within the first year.
If WoW is a great starter game then naturally other games should be swelling in numbers just from the churn of subscribers that WoW produces. That isn't happening, because the market is flooded with games clinging to outdated ideas about what makes MMOs fun. I miss the days of UO and EQ, but I am realistic that those days are gone. While I will forever miss the hardcore days MMOs have evolved. Games are meant to entertain and it looks to be more in the future.
I thought people liked WoW because you could grind uber items and make your character look cool.
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!