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Developers Are Misunderstanding WoWs Success
Melieza
Member Posts: 269
Warning: Long Post
All over these forums all the time are old school MMORPGers saying "things were better in past" (and I'm one of them) or even newer gamers complaining everything with a WoW clone.
And everyone is right. So, how did the industry get somewhere where no one is really happy? Here's my reasoning...
-> WoW Became Stupidly Popular and Developers Misunderstand Why
Of course WoW is what brought MMOs into the spotlight, we all know that. EQ, Lineage, FFXI and other old mmos were all successful games (i.e. they made a profit) but WoW didn't just make a profit, it skyrocketed a small company into a name that even my mother knows.
What people are incorrectly understanding though, is WHY WoW became popular. Everyone seems to think it's because somehow Blizzard made MMOs a more streamlined and overall more fun experience. Thus, in order to make a MMO as popular, you have to copy their 'formula' of quests and UI and dungeons, etc.
THIS IS WRONG.
WoW first became popular because Blizzard already had a fanbase for the Warcraft series. Being able to play as your favorite Warcraft races and experience and become part of Warcraft's story in a fully 3d environment? THATS AWESOME.
A lot of people thought so as well and then pulled their friends to play with them. WoW grew because ultimately MMOs are more fun with your friends. FFXI (which is older than WoW) is one of the few old school MMOs that still charges a subscription and doesn't have a cash shop because it has always been a social experience, and that keeps it going. It also doesn't have WoWs gameplay style coincidentally.
Bioware had an amazing chance to replicate WoWs success with SWTOR. They had the popular IP, they had the lore, they had the ability to replicate the immersion that WoW created. I fully believe had Bioware picked ANY other gameplay style besides replicating WoW's (which everyone is tired of), these forums wouldn't have the SWTOR hate it does.
As soon as a company replicates WoWs true reason for success with gameplay that is not stale and old, I think the genre will begin to rise again. This could be sooner over later. Guild Wars 2 and Secret World both have engaging stories and slightly different type of gameplay.
I really hope they do change the genre for the better so developers can realize letting players become part of a story is really what can make a game great.
TL;DR: WoW's gameplay is not what makes it great, its the immersion into a story. As soon as developers replicate that MMOs will start being great again.
Comments
WoW had a story?
^This is whats wrong with WoW today.
I disagree. What WoW had was ease to play... it was easier to play which allowed those not into hard-core challenges to play it. Mom and dad and little Joey for example. Also they had a great media campaign. I have played WoW and never noticed any more story to it than EQ or Asheron's call or any other non-WoW clone. just my opinion. I think the main reason nobody has had Wow's popularity is that Mom and Dad and little Joey are already playing WoW.
Currently bored with MMO's.
I'm sure people think I"m sarcastic with that remark but I never felt immersed into whatever story WoW had. The only quest chain that I can recall was the Onyxia one. I actually liked that one but other than that I don't really remember much from wow's lore and story in game. I had to learn about the overall story and lore from outside the game, not in the game.
I dissagree with the OP as well.
Blizzard had a cult like following from the Starcraft and Warcraft series but that alone wasn't enough to propell it to the subscription heights that it saw. World of Warcraft was an extremely well designed game backed with fantastic lore and easy to play for anyone.
Blizzard created a product for the masses and marketed it as such JUST as the whole gaming market was taking off with other technologies such as the XBox and Wii platforms were either being hinted at or in solid development.
WoW, started out like every other MMO, don't make it something it isn't . Large raids and world. They adapted and simplified , broadened the appeal and coded the game so that it basically runs on a Com 64 powered by a hamster wheel, and two cup with a string between them . It has 14 million subscribers because it's popular in the entire world , it has world wide appeal . The majority of subscribers are outside of NA and the EU. The scope of the appeal isn't limited to one geographic local. It's a solid game with years of content behind it. What's there to misunderstand. They haven't done anything that wasn't done in previous MMO's . Something to be said for customer service and fixing problems quickly and effectivily. Is really a mystery ? SWG had a bigger following , just SOE couldn't get a grip on the netcode and fix problems quickly enough to keep subs, also those who were there, think back to customer service.
MMO's typically had stories in them and immersion was not only the games job but mostly the player being able to read, enjoy and immerse himself into a game. World of Warcraft had some fantastic lore and stories, people just don't like to read and put effort into getting the full value of games - which I think has more to do with the genre change than anything else.
I was more trying to state that the cult following STARTED its rise. The social aspects and ease of gameplay only allowed people to bring their friends who may not have been gamers before, into the game. Tons of other games now have the ease of gameplay and they are far from as successful.
best Lore in mmos in my very VERY personal opinion.
note i said very personal.
im not even subbed because i get tired of monthly fees once in a while but i still feel the same way about the Lore. Havent enjoyed a lore in an mmo since i started reading (and playing) through wows lore.
Edit: Cata was not the best thing, but Lorewise its amazing from vanilla to WOTLK, and MoP sounds good too
Fixed.
Other games with good design OR fantastic lore OR that were easy to play came before WoW, surely, but WoW was the first MMO to be well designed AND had fantastic lore AND was easy to play for anyone.
Win + Win + Win = lightning strike.
most of the misunderstanding is from the bragging right of 12 million sub which are mostly from China with pay time to play so alot of them play very little but still count as sub.
Saying good things about WoW?
Dem's fightin' words on these forums, son.
I'm sure it did. But in my opinion they didn't present it well in game, at least early on. Maybe it has changed now, not sure.
I just remember the very first quest I got when I first played. It was the human starting area and I had to kill wolves for 10 pelts. It was my first mmo and I was like, wtf was this? If I didn't have friends that encouraged me to keep playing I would have quit right then and there and most likely never have touched an mmo ever again.
It would be disengenuous to say that the cult following of Blizzard didn't help the start of WoW but it also would be giving it too much credit to say it propelled it to it's greatness. I believe it was more about the timing of the release and the marketing campaign that drove this title to it's peak and alot less to do with the loyal fans of Blizzard than people think.
Tons of other games now have the ease of gameplay and they are far from as successful.
This just proves that WoW was much more than just an easy to play game.
http://www.eldergame.com/2007/11/learning-the-wrong-lessons-from-wow/
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
I see this come up every other month or so, but I don't know that I necessarily agree with this. If a built in fanbase and social interaction was what was needed for success, then SWG should have been the most successfull game ever. Star Wars has/had an exponentially larger fanbase than anything blizzard could have ever dreamed of, and had some of the most social gameplay on the market at the time. I bought it solely to be able to play with friends in an online star wars environment. So I don't think built in fanbase explains as much as people make it out to. I tend to think they do this (i am not saying you are so please don't take it that way) in order to diminish WoW's success.
Quest progression is bad in all mmos. They improve it here and there, but it will always be the same baddie unless they make it more dynamic. How? i dont know, thats the developers job to add creativity to the game.
EDIT: i meant quest progression is bad implemented. It is definitely better to have them in game. Just well made.
Well, I think UO was well designed, EQ had fantastic lore, SWG was easy to play and had fantastic lore...
But UO was hard to play and the lore was iffy.
EQ was hard to play and (IMO) poorly designed for a MMO game (far too much RPG / Diku MUD D&D like)
and SWG was really quite poorly designed too.
I wasn't a warcraft fan when I started WoW. I was even wary due to the cartoony nature of the graphics but a buddy of mine had just started it and he said I had to try it it was awesome. He was right. What made it awesome is how it FELT. Character feedback and world immersion(not graphically, although they aren't too shabby for a cartoon). I just remember how each class felt completely different than the others, I remember how moving around sounded and felt fluid and just "right". I remember the World seeming vast and huge and I literally did not see all of it until I had about 3 max level characters under my belt and even then there were areas/quests I had never seen. Then, with PVP there was the whole fast and fun aspect. When you died you didn't have to worry about xp loss or other stupid penalty you could hop back into the fray and have FUN again.
PVE, the enemy AI was different per monster. They all don't act the same and they pull or respond differently all across the world. Many of the games today that clone WoW make clumps of Mobs that all act the same across the world so that I feel like I'm fighting the same mob no matter the skin.
Add to that music for each zone is memorable, sound effects were top notch and fit the action on screen. It was a snowball effect of polish, polish, and FUN.
And saying bad things about UO too?
Man, that's like a death wish out on the wild frontier of MMORPG.com. Everyone knows that if you say anything bad about UO or like WoW in some way, you're a 12 year old WoW kiddy sheep.
Then again, it's nice to have a voice of reason out here
I thought we were down to 9 year old WoW kiddy sheep.
Anyone who knows me on these boards knows that UO circa 2000-2001 was my favorite MMORPG ever made.
Doesn't mean I won't admit that it was a very niche game that was not very popular in the gaming world.
I think you are wrong in your thinking honestly. I played WoW because I had fun. It was a great game. I only left it because I played too much of it and needed a change. So for me personally, I played WoW because it was indeed fun. It had little to do with how I used to play warcraft/starcraft/diablo.
When WoW launched in 2004, it took the formula from the #1 MMO at the time (Everquest), got rid of a bunch of tedium, upgraded the features & ideas, and made it their own. What came out was essentailly an upgraded EQ, kind of like a dream game for most gamers back in 2004/2005. At that time, gamers already had 4-5 years of EQ, so they were looking for something new to play.
I'll agree that Blizzard was able to tap into their fanbase much easier than other companies could. But the key is, did people stay past the first few months or did they leave? The answer to that is, they stayed, and WoW expanded beyond belief. There's little you can do to diss WoW's success, you may not like the game, but you can't erase their accomplishments by saying it wasn't a fun game. If it wasn't, people would've left within the first few months like many unsuccessful MMO's. Example to these unsuccessful MMO's? Warhammer Online was a perfect example, they had a large fanbase following from Warhammer IP to EA to Mythic, they had a lot of people playing initially. But people didn't stay, the game went downhill within 6 months.
EQ1-AC1-DAOC-FFXI-L2-EQ2-WoW-DDO-GW-LoTR-VG-WAR-GW2-ESO
The question you need to ask, is whether WOW-like games are also popular. Surely no one is as popular as WOW for many reasons, but
- LOTRO
- Rift
-Aion
and even TOR are all doing quite well, are they?