EQ1 lost half its subscribers to WoW in a few months time. . DAoC and SWG lost many subs to WoW too. . Why? . WoW has a very responsive and feature rich combat system. . Mob AI is still better in WoW than in many newer games. . Quality. . Tedious aspects of gameplay were removed. Fun aspects of play, like combat, were improved. . Word of mouth spread many ways. Word of mouth was rampant on EQ1 chat, DAoC chat, and SWG chat.
I would say the Largest factor was how they advertised and where they advertised. WHat Blizzard did with WOW was not only brought their player base from their already successful games, they brought in many Non gamers through their advertising that no other game has done. They advertised everywhere from beauty chic flick magazines to non stop commercials. They advertised on a scope that I have never seen before in the gaming industry , and targeted so many different audiences via Celebrity endorsement. What other game has had endosrements from everyone from Mr.T & Captain Kirk, to Mila Kunis & Ozzy Osbourne? They created a " cool " factor that had not previously existed in the " gaming geek" world of MMORPGS.
I really don't understand why this comes up again and again. Blizzard didn't do those ads until later. WoW was already a successful game when they starting doing the celebrity ads.
I think most of Blizzards success can be summed up to spreading it through "word-of-mouth". Loyal blizzard fans started getting their friends to play it. And some of their siblings might have picked it up. And then spread it on to their friends etc etc. There is such a wide variety of people playing WoW. All the way from kids to the elderly.
Nobody knows because no one else came close and I don't see anything coming soon.
My 2 cents: the competition cut corners and frankly have no clue either. Investing millions in voice overs is the latest trend, just as if this means something in a video game.
It is clear putting question marks above heads and kill things to level is not enough.
The room has been taken.
Well, you are half right.
The competition did cut corners. Or more precisely, didn't have the funds to go all the way.
One thing that wow is good at is details.
As a comparison, lotro is not a "wow clone" but is clearly cut from the same cloth in comparison to other games.
so one gets a reward in WoW and you are shown 3 choices, one for each archetype. Essentially something you can use.
I can't tell you how many LOTRO rewards I've vendored because I'm shown mostly stuff that I can't use.
However, the voice over thing will be big. Games don't need it but it's part of that immersion that people talk about.
Just like earlier silent films. Sound was eventually added but people were concerned it would ruin the acting. Most people today would find it awkward to watch a film with no sound.
For quests it's a great move.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
Yes - I know - solo vs. grouping is a neverending topic. But the way I see it - when WOW showed up - the major trend for MMORPGs was to almost force grouping.
2. They made it easy
Yes there are lots of vocal hardcore players (some of them now probably fillig out the ranks of hardcore raiding guilds - going to wow as they would go to the office 5-6days a week), BUT - aparently there is Lots of paying customers who prefer the easy way.
3. And it could be the loot model as well ... (in a way as it was back in Diablo I & II) .... you can go out, kill any (your level) mobs, and expect for something good to drop often enough. (by 'something good' here I mean a green or even blue piece of gear, that you can immediately equip and see how your characted becomes stronger and progresses).
(one of the things that was pissing me off in EQ2 was - you could go and solo kill whatever you could kill - and rest assured - that IF anything at all drops from the mob - it WILL be a total crap loot (that you should sell to lower lvls, in order to get money to buy stuff for your character)).
what did WoW do, that other EQ clones didnt do, which made WoW so Successful?
Well a couple of things really. As one person pointed out Blizzard has a pretty loyal following and that gave them a build in customer base. However the reason for this following is in my opinion the reason for the success.
Blizzard as a company does not produce a complex or even for that matter good game. What they do is back a fair game, make it stable, give the impression of a ton of options and then put on a shiney coat all the while keeping game play as simplistic as possible.
Perfect example of this is Starcraft. At the time Total Annihilation was a superior game in every aspect. It offer more tactical options, more depth, better actual game play and a ton more advanced game engine and yet SC beat it out all over the world. The reason is most people want simple.
Other MMOs focus on depth of play, fitting a story, inovative concepts and this just overcomplicates it for most people. They want simple, easy to play and easy to advance with little real effort, WoW delivers. In the old pen and paper days it was referred to as a Monty Haul game...
Sauronas said it well way back on page 1. For many years i played blizzards warcraft and starcraft games. I had not even heard of a mmorpg before 2004 i had no clue these type of games existed, and im 33 now. But when blizzard launched wow i became well aware of it at the time, and was blown away by it. I had never experienced such a game and was hooked from day one. I got my brother playing and my cousin who also had never heard of this type of game. We were all hooked instantly. I suspect a great many people would have a similar experience.
Simply put, it was fun. Why was it fun? Basically, there are a lot of small things that make the game great.
Also, simplicity! You don't want a very complex and thought provoking game when you're brain dead from a very tiring day at school/uni/work. I just want to blow stuff up and have fun, this is a way of chilling out.
But there is one thing no other MMORPG has! Everything in WoW plays so smoothly. When I've tried other MMORPGs I just can't help it. I get so irritated with the clunkiness of my character/other characters/NPCs/monsters movevement. This is a game-breaker for me. Skills and spells are also very dinstinct and when you hit with a sword/spell it really feels like it. Unlike some games where I cant tell my spells from one another.
WoW came around at a time of explosive growth in the MMO market.
WoW was vastly superior to its competitors at the time of its release. WoW's main competitor was EQ, and it offered a much more streamlined and smooth experience. When WoW was released, a big thing in EQ was the introduction of sequential quests that could be used to level up and get equipment, but the experiencing of getting and completing these quests was a little klugey. WoW offered this experience in a very streamlined fashion.
Blizzard has continued to add features to WoW which makes it near impossible for any other game to offer all that WoW does. If you look at most MMO's now they all target a "niche." They do this because they know there is no way for them to offer everything that WoW does...there are so many manhours of development in that game now, it would be impossible for a developer to make a new game that offers everything it does.
WoW has perfected the easy-mode game were you get rewards for anything and everything.
Why haven't the other games that cater to this crowd seen the success of WoW? Why leave WoW for a game that's not as good as WoW, but tries to do the exact same thing?
Sure, some of these games have succeeded in shaving off a few hundred thousand subscribers. These guys like to pretend their game is somehow different, and I guess that is the draw to them; its not called WoW. It just walks like it, and quacks like it.
1) The feel of the game was just right. Animations, world, authenticity
2) End game... which is something that is not found alot in most new mmo's.
3) A very big open world without expansions.
4) A lot less laggy in combat than most mmo's out there.
5) Pve balance was good. For example you could kill something 1-2 levels higher than you. Which was impossible in most mmo's at that time. You could barely even kill a mob 1 level lower in other mmo's. This still occurs in some new games.
6) And it was just plain fun. The other mmo's felt more like work from the moment you start the game. Ok there are still some moments where you feel like work but tbh at that moment it was alot worse in other mmo's. (Lineage2, daoc, ...)
Most of these problems still happen in new mmo's. Instance zones, lag in combat, ZERO endgame, feels like work, etc.
But yea wow sux now too since its just to main streamlined now. I mean lol at achievements thats just one of those things that makes gamedesign a big joke.
I believe that the game was designed to be visually pleasing to players and that turns out to be more important than anything. Not unlike the Teletubbies that mesmerize toddlers, or Barney's colorful skin, WoW's art employes colorful visuals that may be more cartoony than other MMOs but are exactly what humans like to stare at for unending hours. Photorealistic games in most cases appear dull and drab, giving a boring feeling.
Obviously, the game also happens to be put together very well, but again the same cartoony graphics that lead others to not want to take the game seriously is the exact thing that helps make it successful.
It's basically all already been said, but can't let this one pass.
1. It had the groundworks laid out for it setting-wise (keep in mind that this is NOT the same as Warhammer and some other MMOs, primarily because WoW had it's groundwork in actual well-known and succesful VIDEO GAMES, not tabletop or some other medium),
2. It built on already existing MMO principles and mechanics, but made them all easily accessible to then non-MMO players,
3. It had excellent timing, arguably the best one in recent video game history,
4. It was an overall awesome and highly polished game that had expanded and added new content wisely over the years of it's existence.
Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
I would say the Largest factor was how they advertised and where they advertised. WHat Blizzard did with WOW was not only brought their player base from their already successful games, they brought in many Non gamers through their advertising that no other game has done. They advertised everywhere from beauty chic flick magazines to non stop commercials. They advertised on a scope that I have never seen before in the gaming industry , and targeted so many different audiences via Celebrity endorsement. What other game has had endosrements from everyone from Mr.T & Captain Kirk, to Mila Kunis & Ozzy Osbourne? They created a " cool " factor that had not previously existed in the " gaming geek" world of MMORPGS.
I really don't understand why this comes up again and again. Blizzard didn't do those ads until later. WoW was already a successful game when they starting doing the celebrity ads.
I think most of Blizzards success can be summed up to spreading it through "word-of-mouth". Loyal blizzard fans started getting their friends to play it. And some of their siblings might have picked it up. And then spread it on to their friends etc etc. There is such a wide variety of people playing WoW. All the way from kids to the elderly.
Same here. I dont know why people keep this claim alive as to the reason for WoW's Success.
That stuff came out in WoTLK, which was long into WoW Success already.
I would say the Largest factor was how they advertised and where they advertised. WHat Blizzard did with WOW was not only brought their player base from their already successful games, they brought in many Non gamers through their advertising that no other game has done. They advertised everywhere from beauty chic flick magazines to non stop commercials. They advertised on a scope that I have never seen before in the gaming industry , and targeted so many different audiences via Celebrity endorsement. What other game has had endosrements from everyone from Mr.T & Captain Kirk, to Mila Kunis & Ozzy Osbourne? They created a " cool " factor that had not previously existed in the " gaming geek" world of MMORPGS.
I really don't understand why this comes up again and again. Blizzard didn't do those ads until later. WoW was already a successful game when they starting doing the celebrity ads.
I think most of Blizzards success can be summed up to spreading it through "word-of-mouth". Loyal blizzard fans started getting their friends to play it. And some of their siblings might have picked it up. And then spread it on to their friends etc etc. There is such a wide variety of people playing WoW. All the way from kids to the elderly.
Same here. I dont know why people keep this claim alive as to the reason for WoW's Success.
That stuff came out in WoTLK, which was long into WoW Success already.
WOW was advertised in my Elle Decor magazine prior to it even being released.. It WAS massively advertised prior to release. I already stated they did that on top of bringing their player base as highlighted in the quote above.
They started with the celeb advertisements later, but they already had a massive ad campaign prior to ever releasing the game. It was being spammed on every game I played and even my decorating magazines prior to even being released, not just G4.
I have yet to see any other game in history or since advertise in my decorating magazines lmao!
[quote]Originally posted by deviliscious [b][quote] Originally posted by MMOExposed [quote] Originally posted by Zoulz [quote] Originally posted by deviliscious I would say the Largest factor was how they advertised and where they advertised. [color=#ee82ee]WHat Blizzard did with WOW was not only brought their player base from their already successful games, they brought in many Non gamers through their advertising that no other game has done. They advertised everywhere from beauty chic flick magazines to non stop commercials. They advertised on a scope that I have never seen before in the gaming industry , and targeted so many different audiences via Celebrity endorsement. What other game has had endosrements from everyone from Mr.T & Captain Kirk, to Mila Kunis & Ozzy Osbourne? They created a " cool " factor that had not previously existed in the " gaming geek" world of MMORPGS. [/quote] I really don't understand why this comes up again and again. Blizzard didn't do those ads until later. WoW was already a successful game when they starting doing the celebrity ads. I think most of Blizzards success can be summed up to spreading it through "word-of-mouth". Loyal blizzard fans started getting their friends to play it. And some of their siblings might have picked it up. And then spread it on to their friends etc etc. There is such a wide variety of people playing WoW. All the way from kids to the elderly. [/quote] Same here. I dont know why people keep this claim alive as to the reason for WoW's Success. That stuff came out in WoTLK, which was long into WoW Success already. [/quote] WOW was advertised in my Elle Decor magazine prior to it even being released.. It WAS massively advertised prior to release. I already stated they did that on top of bringing their player base as highlighted in the quote above. They started with the celeb advertisements later, but they already had a massive ad campaign prior to ever releasing the game. It was being spammed on every game I played and even my decorating magazines prior to even being released, not just G4. I have yet to see any other game in history or since advertise in my decorating magazines lmao![/color] [/b][/quote] . Naw. . It was advertised in game magazines just like any other MMO at the time. . WoW's most effective advertising was done in EQ1, SWG, and DAoC /general chats. . Well, word-of-mouth too.
I would say the Largest factor was how they advertised and where they advertised. [color=#ee82ee]WHat Blizzard did with WOW was not only brought their player base from their already successful games, they brought in many Non gamers through their advertising that no other game has done. They advertised everywhere from beauty chic flick magazines to non stop commercials. They advertised on a scope that I have never seen before in the gaming industry , and targeted so many different audiences via Celebrity endorsement. What other game has had endosrements from everyone from Mr.T & Captain Kirk, to Mila Kunis & Ozzy Osbourne? They created a " cool " factor that had not previously existed in the " gaming geek" world of MMORPGS.
[/quote]
I really don't understand why this comes up again and again. Blizzard didn't do those ads until later. WoW was already a successful game when they starting doing the celebrity ads.
I think most of Blizzards success can be summed up to spreading it through "word-of-mouth". Loyal blizzard fans started getting their friends to play it. And some of their siblings might have picked it up. And then spread it on to their friends etc etc. There is such a wide variety of people playing WoW. All the way from kids to the elderly.
[/quote]
Same here. I dont know why people keep this claim alive as to the reason for WoW's Success.
That stuff came out in WoTLK, which was long into WoW Success already.
[/quote]
WOW was advertised in my Elle Decor magazine prior to it even being released.. It WAS massively advertised prior to release. I already stated they did that on top of bringing their player base as highlighted in the quote above.
They started with the celeb advertisements later, but they already had a massive ad campaign prior to ever releasing the game. It was being spammed on every game I played and even my decorating magazines prior to even being released, not just G4.
I have yet to see any other game in history or since advertise in my decorating magazines lmao![/color]
[/b][/quote]
.
Naw.
.
It was advertised in game magazines just like any other MMO at the time.
.
WoW's most effective advertising was done in EQ1, SWG, and DAoC /general chats.
.
Well, word-of-mouth too.
Yes, it was advertised in my decorator magazine , and I was really surprised to see it there.. And yes I agree with the in game advertising in every game I played it was being heavily advertised in public chats. It didn;t matter what game I logged into it was there. LOL!
Its still the best out there when it comes to logging in, walking around and fighting stuff. In the end the feel and quality of the game surpasses everything else to a degree where you kinda laugh at other game's attempts at animation or flow. Perhaps all this is in itself due to money, talent and QA at Blizzard. And lets be honest, this is their trademark to a degree.
I quit playing myself though, since after 5 years anything becomes stale. But haven't picked up another MMO yet due to the above mentioned. Im looking at Bioware's attempt at a Star Wars WoW clone currently. We shall see if they manage it.
In my opinion they basically streamlined EQ. They took many of the features that worked, and changed the ones that didn't. The interface, the questing, xp, item gain; everything was expedited. Personally, I've always thought WoW plays more like Diablo than Warcraft.
As far as compared to other companies who tried the same thing, I think it mostly boils down to polish and timing. WoW was a pandora's box though, in my opinion. MMORPG gaming will never be the same again.
every single person Ive met who played WoW never played a MMO before, why Im quite firm in my stand that its only because blizzard is behind the game, and advertised it....
why doesnt the advertising work on new games? imo its because for alot of WoW players the kind of gaming aint new to them any more, and being used to an MMO being about grind for gear ( just like EQ2 now) to make yourself stronger and beat the content - ofc..for most males perspective anyways :P.
either way find that this above make the MMO developers have to do better. to make their MMO "worth" the time....even if hate to read all these ppl talking about wasting their time....like they dont know playing games is the biggest waste of time ever invented....but hey its fun :P ......well and if it aint dont play it...
World of Warcraft launched on 12:01 AM on November 23, 2004 with a huge marketing blitz that included magazine ads, radio commercial, Internet trailers, and an enormous launch event at Fry's Electronics in Fountain Valley California that drew close to 5,000 people. Now, of course, all those people who have purchased the game are creating accounts, designing characters, and taking their first steps into the world of Azeroth.
That huge marketing Blitz did not just include game magazines, they targeted a wide range of non gaming magazines that included sports, decorating, and chic flicks lol.
Its still the best out there when it comes to logging in, walking around and fighting stuff. In the end the feel and quality of the game surpasses everything else to a degree where you kinda laugh at other game's attempts at animation or flow. Perhaps all this is in itself due to money, talent and QA at Blizzard. And lets be honest, this is their trademark to a degree.
I quit playing myself though, since after 5 years anything becomes stale. But haven't picked up another MMO yet due to the above mentioned. Im looking at Bioware's attempt at a Star Wars WoW clone currently. We shall see if they manage it.
as can read you played WoW since release...I have a major problem with WoWs gameplay - have only played the trial even if knowing the whole style were awful to me...but like you bored of WoW Im bored of EQ2.
but gameplay wise dont see whats the rave is about, EQ2 is far superior to me...even in the first 20 lvls, the gameplay not really getting to its full force till lvl 60.
opposite on crafting tho, after lvl 25ish crafting is just a dull timesink in EQ2
bet you d have the same experience in EQ2 as Ive had in WoW tho.....and I did choose when sat look for a MMO to play, that werent F2P...hated the look of WoW from the start and thought heck no this cant be a new game, but then WoW fans call EQ2 looking like plastic, tho very clear that they have talked about that in game general chat, trying to justify playing WoW over EQ2 ( just like "EQ2 players + others" talk about WoW looking like a simple cartoon)
a long rant brought to you...just to say WoW gameplay aint superior in any way, lotro is better than WoW imo...but then thats another game I aint playing anymore
I really don't think it's what WoW did, I think it's more of what WoW had. It had a large playerbase from Warcraft III and other games (Though I only played Warcraft III for the custom games, otherwise, no I really didn't like the game at all.)
Comments
EQ1 lost half its subscribers to WoW in a few months time.
.
DAoC and SWG lost many subs to WoW too.
.
Why?
.
WoW has a very responsive and feature rich combat system.
.
Mob AI is still better in WoW than in many newer games.
.
Quality.
.
Tedious aspects of gameplay were removed. Fun aspects of play, like combat, were improved.
.
Word of mouth spread many ways. Word of mouth was rampant on EQ1 chat, DAoC chat, and SWG chat.
Well shave my back and call me an elf! -- Oghren
it stripped EQ of nearly all the hardcore elements of the gameplay
standard recipe for success:
millions of brain dead idiots + product that said millions find understandable
I really don't understand why this comes up again and again. Blizzard didn't do those ads until later. WoW was already a successful game when they starting doing the celebrity ads.
I think most of Blizzards success can be summed up to spreading it through "word-of-mouth". Loyal blizzard fans started getting their friends to play it. And some of their siblings might have picked it up. And then spread it on to their friends etc etc. There is such a wide variety of people playing WoW. All the way from kids to the elderly.
Well, you are half right.
The competition did cut corners. Or more precisely, didn't have the funds to go all the way.
One thing that wow is good at is details.
As a comparison, lotro is not a "wow clone" but is clearly cut from the same cloth in comparison to other games.
so one gets a reward in WoW and you are shown 3 choices, one for each archetype. Essentially something you can use.
I can't tell you how many LOTRO rewards I've vendored because I'm shown mostly stuff that I can't use.
However, the voice over thing will be big. Games don't need it but it's part of that immersion that people talk about.
Just like earlier silent films. Sound was eventually added but people were concerned it would ruin the acting. Most people today would find it awkward to watch a film with no sound.
For quests it's a great move.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
IMO ...
1. They made it soloable.
Yes - I know - solo vs. grouping is a neverending topic. But the way I see it - when WOW showed up - the major trend for MMORPGs was to almost force grouping.
2. They made it easy
Yes there are lots of vocal hardcore players (some of them now probably fillig out the ranks of hardcore raiding guilds - going to wow as they would go to the office 5-6days a week), BUT - aparently there is Lots of paying customers who prefer the easy way.
3. And it could be the loot model as well ... (in a way as it was back in Diablo I & II) .... you can go out, kill any (your level) mobs, and expect for something good to drop often enough. (by 'something good' here I mean a green or even blue piece of gear, that you can immediately equip and see how your characted becomes stronger and progresses).
(one of the things that was pissing me off in EQ2 was - you could go and solo kill whatever you could kill - and rest assured - that IF anything at all drops from the mob - it WILL be a total crap loot (that you should sell to lower lvls, in order to get money to buy stuff for your character)).
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
Well a couple of things really. As one person pointed out Blizzard has a pretty loyal following and that gave them a build in customer base. However the reason for this following is in my opinion the reason for the success.
Blizzard as a company does not produce a complex or even for that matter good game. What they do is back a fair game, make it stable, give the impression of a ton of options and then put on a shiney coat all the while keeping game play as simplistic as possible.
Perfect example of this is Starcraft. At the time Total Annihilation was a superior game in every aspect. It offer more tactical options, more depth, better actual game play and a ton more advanced game engine and yet SC beat it out all over the world. The reason is most people want simple.
Other MMOs focus on depth of play, fitting a story, inovative concepts and this just overcomplicates it for most people. They want simple, easy to play and easy to advance with little real effort, WoW delivers. In the old pen and paper days it was referred to as a Monty Haul game...
=============================
I have a soap box and I am not afraid to use it.
Sauronas said it well way back on page 1. For many years i played blizzards warcraft and starcraft games. I had not even heard of a mmorpg before 2004 i had no clue these type of games existed, and im 33 now. But when blizzard launched wow i became well aware of it at the time, and was blown away by it. I had never experienced such a game and was hooked from day one. I got my brother playing and my cousin who also had never heard of this type of game. We were all hooked instantly. I suspect a great many people would have a similar experience.
Simply put, it was fun. Why was it fun? Basically, there are a lot of small things that make the game great.
Also, simplicity! You don't want a very complex and thought provoking game when you're brain dead from a very tiring day at school/uni/work. I just want to blow stuff up and have fun, this is a way of chilling out.
But there is one thing no other MMORPG has! Everything in WoW plays so smoothly. When I've tried other MMORPGs I just can't help it. I get so irritated with the clunkiness of my character/other characters/NPCs/monsters movevement. This is a game-breaker for me. Skills and spells are also very dinstinct and when you hit with a sword/spell it really feels like it. Unlike some games where I cant tell my spells from one another.
I think the answer to this is for a few reasons:
WoW came around at a time of explosive growth in the MMO market.
WoW was vastly superior to its competitors at the time of its release. WoW's main competitor was EQ, and it offered a much more streamlined and smooth experience. When WoW was released, a big thing in EQ was the introduction of sequential quests that could be used to level up and get equipment, but the experiencing of getting and completing these quests was a little klugey. WoW offered this experience in a very streamlined fashion.
Blizzard has continued to add features to WoW which makes it near impossible for any other game to offer all that WoW does. If you look at most MMO's now they all target a "niche." They do this because they know there is no way for them to offer everything that WoW does...there are so many manhours of development in that game now, it would be impossible for a developer to make a new game that offers everything it does.
Are you team Azeroth, team Tyria, or team Jacob?
They made MMO "FUN" again.
+they had a huge fanbase
+a lot of money to support their player base
+a engine that ran way better than other MMO and way better than EQ
+huge world without zoning + lore
+something for everyone, solo, group, small raids
+many many EQ players+ guilds went to WoW, because SoE started messing up with bugged expansions (GoD)
+they're Blizzard..they only release if their game is perfect
WoW has perfected the easy-mode game were you get rewards for anything and everything.
Why haven't the other games that cater to this crowd seen the success of WoW? Why leave WoW for a game that's not as good as WoW, but tries to do the exact same thing?
Sure, some of these games have succeeded in shaving off a few hundred thousand subscribers. These guys like to pretend their game is somehow different, and I guess that is the draw to them; its not called WoW. It just walks like it, and quacks like it.
1) The feel of the game was just right. Animations, world, authenticity
2) End game... which is something that is not found alot in most new mmo's.
3) A very big open world without expansions.
4) A lot less laggy in combat than most mmo's out there.
5) Pve balance was good. For example you could kill something 1-2 levels higher than you. Which was impossible in most mmo's at that time. You could barely even kill a mob 1 level lower in other mmo's. This still occurs in some new games.
6) And it was just plain fun. The other mmo's felt more like work from the moment you start the game. Ok there are still some moments where you feel like work but tbh at that moment it was alot worse in other mmo's. (Lineage2, daoc, ...)
Most of these problems still happen in new mmo's. Instance zones, lag in combat, ZERO endgame, feels like work, etc.
But yea wow sux now too since its just to main streamlined now. I mean lol at achievements
thats just one of those things that makes gamedesign a big joke.
I believe that the game was designed to be visually pleasing to players and that turns out to be more important than anything. Not unlike the Teletubbies that mesmerize toddlers, or Barney's colorful skin, WoW's art employes colorful visuals that may be more cartoony than other MMOs but are exactly what humans like to stare at for unending hours. Photorealistic games in most cases appear dull and drab, giving a boring feeling.
Obviously, the game also happens to be put together very well, but again the same cartoony graphics that lead others to not want to take the game seriously is the exact thing that helps make it successful.
It's basically all already been said, but can't let this one pass.
1. It had the groundworks laid out for it setting-wise (keep in mind that this is NOT the same as Warhammer and some other MMOs, primarily because WoW had it's groundwork in actual well-known and succesful VIDEO GAMES, not tabletop or some other medium),
2. It built on already existing MMO principles and mechanics, but made them all easily accessible to then non-MMO players,
3. It had excellent timing, arguably the best one in recent video game history,
4. It was an overall awesome and highly polished game that had expanded and added new content wisely over the years of it's existence.
Same here. I dont know why people keep this claim alive as to the reason for WoW's Success.
That stuff came out in WoTLK, which was long into WoW Success already.
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
WOW was advertised in my Elle Decor magazine prior to it even being released.. It WAS massively advertised prior to release. I already stated they did that on top of bringing their player base as highlighted in the quote above.
They started with the celeb advertisements later, but they already had a massive ad campaign prior to ever releasing the game. It was being spammed on every game I played and even my decorating magazines prior to even being released, not just G4.
I have yet to see any other game in history or since advertise in my decorating magazines lmao!
[quote]Originally posted by deviliscious
[b][quote]
Originally posted by MMOExposed
[quote]
Originally posted by Zoulz
[quote]
Originally posted by deviliscious
I would say the Largest factor was how they advertised and where they advertised. [color=#ee82ee]WHat Blizzard did with WOW was not only brought their player base from their already successful games, they brought in many Non gamers through their advertising that no other game has done. They advertised everywhere from beauty chic flick magazines to non stop commercials. They advertised on a scope that I have never seen before in the gaming industry , and targeted so many different audiences via Celebrity endorsement. What other game has had endosrements from everyone from Mr.T & Captain Kirk, to Mila Kunis & Ozzy Osbourne? They created a " cool " factor that had not previously existed in the " gaming geek" world of MMORPGS.
[/quote]
I really don't understand why this comes up again and again. Blizzard didn't do those ads until later. WoW was already a successful game when they starting doing the celebrity ads.
I think most of Blizzards success can be summed up to spreading it through "word-of-mouth". Loyal blizzard fans started getting their friends to play it. And some of their siblings might have picked it up. And then spread it on to their friends etc etc. There is such a wide variety of people playing WoW. All the way from kids to the elderly.
[/quote]
Same here. I dont know why people keep this claim alive as to the reason for WoW's Success.
That stuff came out in WoTLK, which was long into WoW Success already.
[/quote]
WOW was advertised in my Elle Decor magazine prior to it even being released.. It WAS massively advertised prior to release. I already stated they did that on top of bringing their player base as highlighted in the quote above.
They started with the celeb advertisements later, but they already had a massive ad campaign prior to ever releasing the game. It was being spammed on every game I played and even my decorating magazines prior to even being released, not just G4.
I have yet to see any other game in history or since advertise in my decorating magazines lmao![/color]
[/b][/quote]
.
Naw.
.
It was advertised in game magazines just like any other MMO at the time.
.
WoW's most effective advertising was done in EQ1, SWG, and DAoC /general chats.
.
Well, word-of-mouth too.
Well shave my back and call me an elf! -- Oghren
Yes, it was advertised in my decorator magazine , and I was really surprised to see it there.. And yes I agree with the in game advertising in every game I played it was being heavily advertised in public chats. It didn;t matter what game I logged into it was there. LOL!
Simply the gameplay.
Its still the best out there when it comes to logging in, walking around and fighting stuff. In the end the feel and quality of the game surpasses everything else to a degree where you kinda laugh at other game's attempts at animation or flow. Perhaps all this is in itself due to money, talent and QA at Blizzard. And lets be honest, this is their trademark to a degree.
I quit playing myself though, since after 5 years anything becomes stale. But haven't picked up another MMO yet due to the above mentioned. Im looking at Bioware's attempt at a Star Wars WoW clone currently. We shall see if they manage it.
Accessability....
every single person Ive met who played WoW never played a MMO before, why Im quite firm in my stand that its only because blizzard is behind the game, and advertised it....
why doesnt the advertising work on new games? imo its because for alot of WoW players the kind of gaming aint new to them any more, and being used to an MMO being about grind for gear ( just like EQ2 now) to make yourself stronger and beat the content - ofc..for most males perspective anyways :P.
either way find that this above make the MMO developers have to do better. to make their MMO "worth" the time....even if hate to read all these ppl talking about wasting their time....like they dont know playing games is the biggest waste of time ever invented....but hey its fun :P ......well and if it aint dont play it...
Nov 23, 2004
World of Warcraft launched on 12:01 AM on November 23, 2004 with a huge marketing blitz that included magazine ads, radio commercial, Internet trailers, and an enormous launch event at Fry's Electronics in Fountain Valley California that drew close to 5,000 people. Now, of course, all those people who have purchased the game are creating accounts, designing characters, and taking their first steps into the world of Azeroth.
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/world-of-warcraft/568552p1.html
That huge marketing Blitz did not just include game magazines, they targeted a wide range of non gaming magazines that included sports, decorating, and chic flicks lol.
as can read you played WoW since release...I have a major problem with WoWs gameplay - have only played the trial even if knowing the whole style were awful to me...but like you bored of WoW Im bored of EQ2.
but gameplay wise dont see whats the rave is about, EQ2 is far superior to me...even in the first 20 lvls, the gameplay not really getting to its full force till lvl 60.
opposite on crafting tho, after lvl 25ish crafting is just a dull timesink in EQ2
bet you d have the same experience in EQ2 as Ive had in WoW tho.....and I did choose when sat look for a MMO to play, that werent F2P...hated the look of WoW from the start and thought heck no this cant be a new game, but then WoW fans call EQ2 looking like plastic, tho very clear that they have talked about that in game general chat, trying to justify playing WoW over EQ2 ( just like "EQ2 players + others" talk about WoW looking like a simple cartoon)
a long rant brought to you...just to say WoW gameplay aint superior in any way, lotro is better than WoW imo...but then thats another game I aint playing anymore
I really don't think it's what WoW did, I think it's more of what WoW had. It had a large playerbase from Warcraft III and other games (Though I only played Warcraft III for the custom games, otherwise, no I really didn't like the game at all.)
WoW was built on a massively popular IP and Blizzard's reputation among gamers... and a lack of options. heh
Also, they had teased gamers with the promise of a "warcraft rpg" at least 5 years previous, long before they'd even dreamed of an MMO.