If WOW was released now would it be as successful ?

Tindale111

just a thought after playing GW2 for a couple of months went to give wow another go.but the graphics put me off very quickly .I wondered how many people still play because of their friends on their and the time they have already put into it your thoughts please

Loktofeit

If WOW was released after 100 WOW-like games were released with the features they adopted from WOW, it probably wouldn't do as well.

 

Was this a serious question?

maplestone

Are there any international markets where a WoW clone was released before WoW itself became available there?

( or, if you assume that WoW's initial success came from introducing the large, loyal Warcraft fanbase to MMOs, the question becomes whether the Warcraft IP would be as strong today as it was a decade ago and it would still contain a large number of players who had yet to try an MMO )

Tindale111

yes i was genuiinly interested. but dont forget wow pinched most of its ideas from EQ

Thorbrand

Vanilla WOW would be to hardcore for todays gamers. That is what made it successful at launch.

just1opinion

Originally posted by maplestone
Are there any international markets where a WoW clone was released before WoW itself became available there?

 

This is a good question.  I'd be interested in knowing the answer to this, just out of curiosity.

Rimmersman

Originally posted by Tindale111

just a thought after playing GW2 for a couple of months went to give wow another go.but the graphics put me off very quickly .I wondered how many people still play because of their friends on their and the time they have already put into it your thoughts please

 

The title of the thread is completely different from the question you ask in your post.

DSWBeef

Its an interesting question. If say themepark garbage was the norm w/o wow and it launched as it is NOW it would fail. If it was like how it launched where themepark/sb hybrids were dominate then it might succeed.

Derros

It depends on what we mean by "Now", now as in a game thats very similar in gameplay to several previous games (post wow MMO market),  or now as in WoW never having been released and thus no real casual friendly games like it having existed?

Roguewiz

Back in the day, when WoW was first released, the only real game we had on the market was Everquest.  Everquest was substantially more hardcore than WoW is/was/will ever be.  However, WoW (being new and having a great IP), it did well.

Could WoW still do well if it wsa released today?  I'd say no, at least in regards to if it was released exactly how it is now.  There is nothing really "groundbreaking" about it now.  With games like Guild Wars 2, Secret World, and to a smaller exten, Star Wars the Old Republic; WoW would have competition.

Now, people are so used to WoW (much like how we were with Everquest), they aren't really willing to leave the game.  It will take something truely "new" to pull people away.

Secret World, Rift, and Star Wars made a valiant attempt; but they each had issues.

Secret World: No real end game, too difficult for some

Rift:  WoW with better graphics

Star Wars:  Voice Over story, but fundamentally, not Ground Breaking enough (although PvP is alot more fun in TOR than it is in WOW)

The real question is:  What would it take for a game to truely be competitive in a market dominated by WoW and mediocre games?

I'm thinking the next Everquest and possibly Blizzard's next MMO.

Goll25

Considering Blizz polish (exclude d3) it probably would, and it would most likely be completely different as the game wouldn't have been built on a modifidy w3 engine. Also warcraft universe is extremely lore-rich, plenty of interest in the series itself. 

I guess if you consider that expansions are released now, and they are successful, that should tell you something .

NBlitz

Originally posted by Tindale111
just a thought after playing GW2 for a couple of months went to give wow another go.but the graphics put me off very quickly .I wondered how many people still play because of their friends on their and the time they have already put into it your thoughts please

If WoW released now, its graphics would not be the same. So there's that.

 

Also, Blizzard simply being Blizzard, would have probably released an MMO up to the current (in an alternate reality) market's standards and pushed gameplay mechanics beyond ho-hum and not to forget the old Blizzard "when it's done."

 

A world in which WoW didn't exist until recently...wouldn't one call that a paradox? 

Didn't the genre grow exponentially because of WoW?

itstheclimax

in its current state HELL YESSSSSSSSS off content volume alone. in its state from 2004-2008, lmfao....no way.

Boardwalker

Originally posted by Roguewiz

Back in the day, when WoW was first released, the only real game we had on the market was Everquest. 

Besides WoW, there was DAoC (best mmo ever), AC, EVE, AO and probably some others that I'm not listing. Of those, only AC is no longer online.

 

If WoW was released now, in its current state, it would do just fine now because of its polished vertical progression and extensive content.

AegisSaga

When WoW released questing was AWESOME. People don't remember that previous generation MMOs barely had any quests at all, and leveling required massive amounts of grinding. Questing was new and refreshing. Having the possibility of leveling alone was also new and refreshing. 

Talgen

If WoW was released now, there wouldnt be 100 other games that have came out like it, so, yeah it would do well.

Oracle_Fefe

Only if every expanson was within the release.

It'd feel a bit awesome knowing that  you can go from Azeroth to fighting Illidan's forces in Outland and returning only to find undead threat happening in Northrend followed by the Cataclysm slowly appearing in several places more frequently then once DW is down players can explore the lost isles of Pandaria and face off against each other.

Roguewiz

Originally posted by Boardwalker

Originally posted by Roguewiz

Back in the day, when WoW was first released, the only real game we had on the market was Everquest. 

Besides WoW, there was DAoC (best mmo ever), AC, EVE, AO and probably some others that I'm not listing. Of those, only AC is no longer online.

 

If WoW was released now, in its current state, it would do just fine now because of it's polished vertical progression and extensive content.

Eve didn't exist when WoW was release.  DAoC was good, but unbalanced back then.  AC was decent.  AO was crappy.

The point I was trying to make was simply this:  Much like how it is WoW, then everyone else right now.  It was Everquest, then everyone else back then.  Sure, DAoC was good, but it wasn't great (it got better after WoW and EQ2's release).

WoW's "content" is large because the game has been out for a while.  However, like most content, it's day old milk.  The newer expansions offer some fun, but it's a sight seeing tour on Blizzard's story where your role is a bystander.

WoW is Theme Park, the previous generation was Sandbox.  Sandbox worked back then, but it won't really work now.  Likewise, Theme Park has been done to death.  Questing, if you really want to call it that, has become dry and boring.  Honestly?  The best types of quests are those that involve you more.  Dungeons and Dragons Online and Secret World have it right.  Traps and Puzzles are far more entertaining than "Kill X, Collect Y, Click OK for XP".

You have to approach this question from the angle of someone currently playing one of the existing non-WoW games.  Since all games have tried to mimic WoW, that would make WoW the mimic'er if it was to be released right now.

So would WoW do well?  It wouldn't fail, but it also wouldn't have 10mil subs worldwide.

Kyleran

Originally posted by Roguewiz

Originally posted by Boardwalker

Originally posted by Roguewiz

Back in the day, when WoW was first released, the only real game we had on the market was Everquest. 

Besides WoW, there was DAoC (best mmo ever), AC, EVE, AO and probably some others that I'm not listing. Of those, only AC is no longer online.

 

If WoW was released now, in its current state, it would do just fine now because of it's polished vertical progression and extensive content.

Eve didn't exist when WoW was release.  DAoC was good, but unbalanced back then.  AC was decent.  AO was crappy.

The point I was trying to make was simply this:  Much like how it is WoW, then everyone else right now.  It was Everquest, then everyone else back then.  Sure, DAoC was good, but it wasn't great (it got better after WoW and EQ2's release).

WoW's "content" is large because the game has been out for a while.  However, like most content, it's day old milk.  The newer expansions offer some fun, but it's a sight seeing tour on Blizzard's story where your role is a bystander.

WoW is Theme Park, the previous generation was Sandbox.  Sandbox worked back then, but it won't really work now.  Likewise, Theme Park has been done to death.  Questing, if you really want to call it that, has become dry and boring.  Honestly?  The best types of quests are those that involve you more.  Dungeons and Dragons Online and Secret World have it right.  Traps and Puzzles are far more entertaining than "Kill X, Collect Y, Click OK for XP".

You have to approach this question from the angle of someone currently playing one of the existing non-WoW games.  Since all games have tried to mimic WoW, that would make WoW the mimic'er if it was to be released right now.

So would WoW do well?  It wouldn't fail, but it also wouldn't have 10mil subs worldwide.

Have to clear up some of the misinformation in your post.

EVE was launched in May, 2003, almost a 18 months before WOW.   DAOC was best after the SI expansion, and most fans agree it was the TOA expansion (Oct 2003) coupled with the New Frontiers expansion that followed soon after (April 2004) that pretty put the nail in DAOC for good. 

Must not forget that Shadowbane launched in March of 2003 however it quickly crashed and burned due to stability and performance issues and was largely dead by 2004.

Another famous 2003 launch was SWG (June) and I do feel that if SOE had been able to clean it up a bit quicker and not follow the lure of WOW and other titles we'd have seen more success in sandbox style MMO's, especially if there had been no WOW.

Another title that launched in NA in April of 2004 was Lineage 2 and I spent a good 6 months there myself, and even EQ2 launched on Nov 4th, 2004, just ahead of WOW.

In fact, you could argue that all of this set the stage for a mass exodous of players over to WOW in Nov of 2004 and I know countless people including me and most of my friends who did.

Hard to say how it all would have turned out, likely EQ2 would have been a bigger hit than it was and perhaps we'd still be looking at clones of the AC2, EQ1 and their like.

 

Psychow

If it released without all the blind WoW/blizzard hate we have now, then yes, it would be a success.

 

 

Raventree

I have to assume that if WoW launched now the graphics would be better, but still cartoony.  I really think that it would be lost among all of the other titles that are out there and be seen as nothing special, much like the fate of almost every MMO to come out lately.  While there were MMOs back then, WoW sort of hit the jackpot of the right time and the right place and it is very difficult to replicate those condtions with so many options available right now. 

I guess what is more impressive is that WoW is able to hold on to so many subscribers, given the abundance of choice we currently have.  There are a lot of really good MMOs out there but WoW still stays on top of the mountain.

FrodoFragins

Not vanilla WOW, but they wouldn't have released vanilla WOW today.  They would have released an MMO with group finders, heroics and probably lots of other additional features.  It's the other companies that seem to think they can release a vanilla WOW clone in 2010+ and be successful.  Those companies also tend to miss key attributes that made WOW special on release and in its first few patches.

RemyVorender

No, but only because it looks like dogshit visually.

Goatgod76

Originally posted by Tindale111
yes i was genuiinly interested. but dont forget wow pinched most of its ideas from EQ

And just about every game after it.

Larsa

To answer the title of the thread: Yes.

If the WoW that was released 8 years ago would be released now it still would be successfull. Back then WoW was almost - but not quite - an old-school MMORPG, heavily influenced by the mechanics found in EQ and DAoC. That's how Blizzard got it's WoW fanbase.

What all the other games (a.k.a clones) did wrong was not to copy the WoW from 8 years ago but to copy the WoW as it is now. Currently WoW is an old game slowly losing subscribers. And that's what the clones copy: an old game losing subscribers.

 

 

Goatgod76

Originally posted by remyburke
No, but only because it looks like dogshit visually.

It's sad when so many seem to think this equals the success rate of a game. Mechanics>Graphics....ALWAYS.