I believe it did, and before you flame me, let me say why I think this way.
World of Warcraft appealed to a very large player base - pretty much anyone who had played Warcraft III, and people who were playing other MMOs, but had also had experience with Blizzard's franchises in the past (i.e. Starcraft, Diablo/Diablo II) World of Warcraft then sold millions, MILLIONS of copies, very quickly.
One does not think about the consequences of this - there are how many people in the world that play MMOs? What, like, maybe 50 million? I'm talking subscribers, here.
Now, WoW stole millions of those people away from other games. When some of them are only getting maybe 200,000 subscribers, and 100,000 flock to WoW like flies to honey, well, that's a big loss.
Many of the smaller MMOs were swept away in the emergence of WoW, and creativity was quickly lead to fear of "what if we can't take them away from WoW?"
Fury tried the PvP aspect - because that's still quite lacking - but failed miserably (which I blame on their Networking, and the fact that they didn't have a SINGLE server in AUSTRALIA.... fucking Auran)
Now where was I.
So, WoW grew into a monster, much like the magikarp to a Garados (and don't tell me you don't know what they are... we all were into pokemon at some stage! *shakes fist*) With such a monster out in the world, one must look and marvel. They're making more than a Billion dollars a year. Game developers, for YEARS now, have always gone the way of "Just do what already works, and improve on it!" Have you seen this in the world of First person shooters? Racing games?
They're all the same shit, but different, and with new, shinier graphics. Game devs lost their creativity a long while ago, especially Blizzard (whose main directors behind games like Diablo and Starcraft left long ago) and, well, they want to make games that will surely make money. WoW makes a lot of money. They emulate, they'll get money.
The problem is that WoW isn't getting better, it's staying the same little shit game, and when someone tries to create something different, they are but a splash of water in the MMO sea. WoW is an Ocean in that Sea, and that Sea will always be the same size.
..... In summary, I agree, but I also believe that because WoW has become such a rediculous success, while not really doing anything extraordinary (you know, like, good.) other companies have pretty much said "why bother making good games, when WoW makes so much money from being shit?"
While what you say makes sense (except for the pokeman quote, sorry didnt even like my kids watching it and i'm not that old)but WoW/Blizzard Ent. have nothing to do with other companies failures. I've beta'd just about everything out there and found nothing of interest. There isnt any new creativity what so ever. I'm reading that in so many posts yet it doesnt get through to other MMO companies. They see the blizzard pie and think they can have it too. When the WoW beta showed up my bro in law bugged me to try it, i was an avid DAoC player and said "no way it looks cartoonish and i bet it's play style will suck." I was hooked from the first moment we logged in. I do have to say it lacks the sandboxness that it could have, but it has an excellent storyline and tons of lore. I was hoping that AoC would have what WoW offered with the sandboxness thats been needed in MMOs for so long, i had a lvl 80 within a week and was shocked that the endgame wasnt even complete, yet they were worrying about midlvl content. There were so many complainers( kids from WoW, even though it was a mature rated game) that the developers didnt even think to take care of the adults who had hit 80 and wanted to start PvPing with the guild cities and wanted to start raiding that they lost just about every adult playing after the 1st month. On top of that there wasnt the sandbox everyone had hoped for. It has nothing to do with WoW, but the devs themselves. This senario can be pushed to just about any new MMO on the market.
As I said above about betaing just about everything out there, im not lieing. I saw AC betad by a friend when i was just a teen and have been interested in MMOs ever since. My list of betas go far back as AC2, neocron, and the like, ll the way to stargate worlds. I have tried any MMO thats looks reletively interesting and some that i thought might be a kick to play on a whim. Dont even get me started on Korean MMOs(point and click!? no WADS, Serious!?) There hasnt been even 1 for me to say "ooh thats the one im going to get for sure!" There are a few things in SGW, that if im invited back to the next closed beta, i am extremely happy to see in an MMO finally. SWG is made by a small company out of Arizona, if they can do it, any company can, it just has to want to.
If there are Devs that read this on their off time, new programmers looking for what gamers want. Creativity of a sandbox.
open crafting - meaning i found something cool, i learn to make that item if my skill is good enough. can learn to craft or gather anything at any time, like a real human.
open skills - u have your standard stats: stam, str, cord/dex, int, spirit. there isnt a limit to the amount you can raise them with exp. gained(AC style) same with skills. points into crafting making it open.
Endless Levels - levels mean nothing, its just a rank for how much XP you have gained, not what skills you can learn or what you can now do. maybe later levels get you prestige and every level hit will get you say an extra talent/training point with your class trainer.
building - homes near cities, guild cities where there arent cities. part of crafting. NPCs spawn at the level of the town. you upgrade the town with material collected. i.e. DAoC or AoC style.
economy - player based, open Auction houses, guild auction houses
storage - think harry potter(sorry but this is the only thing i have seen that has it) bank vaults controlled by Goblins, with unlimited space at a price. i.e. 10 slots-free for being a citizen, 25 slots 25 silver/month scrip 100 slots 1gold/month scrip yadda yadda giuld banks, same thing
mounts at low levels - training required, skill points required for type of mount, i.e donkey to start all the way to say a flying dragon, all with training and skill points.
Pack mules!!! - pay again by month or flat amount
NPC couriers - sounds weird right, no instant mail or 1 hour waits. You send a signal out in the field and one shows up, u decide on the level of protection for the courier for the item(s). it takes to whomever or your vault, all at a price.
dungeons - instanced and non instanced. instanced for groups/raids, non for pvp control for ores, minerals, and the like. i.e. cave that has mobs that have to be cleared, multi tiered and lvled. each tier has specific lvl crafting materials. something like that.
clans or guilds - taxes xp/money, ranks, war banners, tabards, mount tabards. again from above, banks and autionhouses.
The list goes on, but few MMOs have fully tapped into what can be done. LOTR had guild auction houses in beta, they didnt work when i played but i bet they do now. AoC had guild city crafting, felt limited when i played but i heard they expanded it. The MMOs i read on here all touch one thing or another but not all.
From this player begging some company out there to make something like this, please take the time you need. i know i will be waiting and i'm sure there are many others who are too.
They didn't ruin mmorpgs they simply moved down the bar of what is acceptable gameplay and made changes to how easy mmorpgs should be. For instance now instead of working in raids you simply walk into the raid and ask the mobs very nicely to give you your gear or you will have to hit them once with your fish weapon.
Graphics were replaced with animations from Bugs bunny cartoons so that small children and bunny rabbits could enjoy the game more. Language filters were also added for the benefit of the kindergarden guilds that joined later.
Finally the greatest innovation of wow is the inclusion of 2 new races for the gay comminity, Blood elves and Dranei. Somone had to answer the gay pride call and WOW didn't let us down, now fags can enjoy wow to their hearts content.
WOW didn't ruin the mmo it jsut made it better,even if its better for people you might not want to neccesarily play with, all the less still better for everyone, even blind people can now play wow.
They didn't ruin mmorpgs they simply moved down the bar of what is acceptable gameplay and made changes to how easy mmorpgs should be. For instance now instead of working in raids you simply walk into the raid and ask the mobs very nicely to give you your gear or you will have to hit them once with your fish weapon. Graphics were replaced with animations from Bugs bunny cartoons so that small children and bunny rabbits could enjoy the game more. Language filters were also added for the benefit of the kindergarden guilds that joined later. Finally the greatest innovation of wow is the inclusion of 2 new races for the gay comminity, Blood elves and Dranei. Somone had to answer the gay pride call and WOW didn't let us down, now fags can enjoy wow to their hearts content. WOW didn't ruin the mmo it jsut made it better,even if its better for people you might not want to neccesarily play with, all the less still better for everyone, even blind people can now play wow.
They are jsut having an issue with the game now. You don't have to be so full of rage, hate and evel
Comments
While what you say makes sense (except for the pokeman quote, sorry didnt even like my kids watching it and i'm not that old)but WoW/Blizzard Ent. have nothing to do with other companies failures. I've beta'd just about everything out there and found nothing of interest. There isnt any new creativity what so ever. I'm reading that in so many posts yet it doesnt get through to other MMO companies. They see the blizzard pie and think they can have it too. When the WoW beta showed up my bro in law bugged me to try it, i was an avid DAoC player and said "no way it looks cartoonish and i bet it's play style will suck." I was hooked from the first moment we logged in. I do have to say it lacks the sandboxness that it could have, but it has an excellent storyline and tons of lore. I was hoping that AoC would have what WoW offered with the sandboxness thats been needed in MMOs for so long, i had a lvl 80 within a week and was shocked that the endgame wasnt even complete, yet they were worrying about midlvl content. There were so many complainers( kids from WoW, even though it was a mature rated game) that the developers didnt even think to take care of the adults who had hit 80 and wanted to start PvPing with the guild cities and wanted to start raiding that they lost just about every adult playing after the 1st month. On top of that there wasnt the sandbox everyone had hoped for. It has nothing to do with WoW, but the devs themselves. This senario can be pushed to just about any new MMO on the market.
As I said above about betaing just about everything out there, im not lieing. I saw AC betad by a friend when i was just a teen and have been interested in MMOs ever since. My list of betas go far back as AC2, neocron, and the like, ll the way to stargate worlds. I have tried any MMO thats looks reletively interesting and some that i thought might be a kick to play on a whim. Dont even get me started on Korean MMOs(point and click!? no WADS, Serious!?) There hasnt been even 1 for me to say "ooh thats the one im going to get for sure!" There are a few things in SGW, that if im invited back to the next closed beta, i am extremely happy to see in an MMO finally. SWG is made by a small company out of Arizona, if they can do it, any company can, it just has to want to.
If there are Devs that read this on their off time, new programmers looking for what gamers want. Creativity of a sandbox.
The list goes on, but few MMOs have fully tapped into what can be done. LOTR had guild auction houses in beta, they didnt work when i played but i bet they do now. AoC had guild city crafting, felt limited when i played but i heard they expanded it. The MMOs i read on here all touch one thing or another but not all.
From this player begging some company out there to make something like this, please take the time you need. i know i will be waiting and i'm sure there are many others who are too.
They didn't ruin mmorpgs they simply moved down the bar of what is acceptable gameplay and made changes to how easy mmorpgs should be. For instance now instead of working in raids you simply walk into the raid and ask the mobs very nicely to give you your gear or you will have to hit them once with your fish weapon.
Graphics were replaced with animations from Bugs bunny cartoons so that small children and bunny rabbits could enjoy the game more. Language filters were also added for the benefit of the kindergarden guilds that joined later.
Finally the greatest innovation of wow is the inclusion of 2 new races for the gay comminity, Blood elves and Dranei. Somone had to answer the gay pride call and WOW didn't let us down, now fags can enjoy wow to their hearts content.
WOW didn't ruin the mmo it jsut made it better,even if its better for people you might not want to neccesarily play with, all the less still better for everyone, even blind people can now play wow.
They are jsut having an issue with the game now. You don't have to be so full of rage, hate and evel