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What Do People See in WOW?
Daedalus732
Member Posts: 589
I'm really trying to figure out why so many people enjoy playing WOW for longer than the trial month. I've tried three seperate times to get into WOW, and I'm always getting bored or finding something better.
To me, an online game should require interaction between players and shouldn't include continuous Chuck Norris jokes in the general chat. Maybe I'm just too old (Almost 22) to enjoy the banter of the pre-teens, but surely there are older players as well who enjoy the game.
So, what do people see in this game? How do you keep it from being nothing more than a grindfest of the same basic quest concept over and over again?
When I played WOW, I was amazed at the lack of complexity, the lack of need between players, the immaturity of players (Creating a female character gets you hit on every few minutes), the lack of real content in quests, and the ease of traveling great distances at low levels.
As of right now, my brother and 2 friends are playing WOW, and seem to be enjoying it, but I don't see how.
So what is it that keeps people playing this game?
To me, an online game should require interaction between players and shouldn't include continuous Chuck Norris jokes in the general chat. Maybe I'm just too old (Almost 22) to enjoy the banter of the pre-teens, but surely there are older players as well who enjoy the game.
So, what do people see in this game? How do you keep it from being nothing more than a grindfest of the same basic quest concept over and over again?
When I played WOW, I was amazed at the lack of complexity, the lack of need between players, the immaturity of players (Creating a female character gets you hit on every few minutes), the lack of real content in quests, and the ease of traveling great distances at low levels.
As of right now, my brother and 2 friends are playing WOW, and seem to be enjoying it, but I don't see how.
So what is it that keeps people playing this game?
Comments
Interaction with players is there. _Forced_ down your throat interaction is not. You are free to group from level 1, although it's more meaningful to do so from level 10 or so. Both people that group and those that don't go through different gaming experience. I've gone through the whole levelling phase via grouping (holy priest from level 1 *cough*) and I really enjoyed it. It's freedom and you can do what you want with your character.
Complexity is there. It's not that apparent when you are going through the tutorial levels (aka 1-59, or 1-69 for the expansion). I could easily tell if people had experience with grouping, raiding easy content (MC), average one (BWL) or harder (Naxxramas). Up until Naxxramas I didn't feel I could learn more about the game, but, boy, was I proven wrong.
I don't think that you gave the game any real chance, but rather fell from the negative hype emanating from these forums. Just remember that people love to bash the most popular title, it's in the human nature.
In any case, when I had to choose between EQII and WoW, I bought them both, played them for 2 months in parallel. The most fun game in my eyes won. Fun factor is all that matters.
If somebody can afford 10-15 hours per day, he can be top on any MMORPG out there by just throwing hours at it like a mad monkey until he excels to it. But if the very best you can afford is 4 hours, you get limited to what you can do with your time and how far you can go.
As for the simplicity, the only downfall was that only perhaps in Naxxramas people had to really know every aspect of their character and the world that surrounded them (pots, consumables, timers etc). This is not true for any other instance. In fact, the people that never wiped on an encounter and just joined an established guild and run through all the content with people that knew what they were doing, may find the whole thing dull. I guess I was lucky again to join a guild that didn't kill any raid boss up to that point and follow it deep into Naxxramas.
With the expansion out and the heroic instances available, I hope that more people will experience what unfortunately very few could inside the established end game guilds.
It seems to me that an MMO SHOULD force people to interact with each other, or at least reward the interaction with bonus XP, better loot drops, or something like that. Otherwise why play an MMO? There are plenty of games out there that don't cost you a monthly fee that you can play all by yourself. Surely people aren't so starved for attention that they play WOW just so they can feel like there are other players around...
You know, most games don't have tutorial levels right up to the max level...
I actually just started posting here today. I left WOW before I ever knew mmorpg.com existed or I had read any real negative hype. If anything, the negative hype put into words the boredom I was feeling. What counts as giving the game a real chance? I don't think I have to play the game up to level 60 or 70 before I'm qualified to judge the game.
I chose EQ2 personally. Both for the fun, community, and frankly, much better graphics and more complexity without it being a turn off.
I do play the game, feeling like a fresh player again with all the additions of the expansion. I, however, look around for any potential new MMORPG that could give me more entertainment (although the community hook can be as strong, if more, as the gameplay itself).
The Conan and Lord of the Rings look like good candidates in my eyes. Unfortunately for now they just show potential. It remains to be proven whether that potential will be realised or we (as players) just filling in the blacks with our imagination. I will definitely try Vanguard as well, although I have the feeling that I will find too much of EQ gameplay in it (not necessarily a bad thing) and the vultures behind the SOE subscription policy (aka charge for every tiny change in the game world).
Time will tell.
PS (& edit): Game does reward grouping and even raiding. Group instances give good gear (better than what you'd find out in the wild) and raid instances the best gear in the game. Whether this is a good or bad thing is a topic for another discussion.
Oh, and up to level 60 your character is not complete. Thus, I named them tutorial levels *grin*. You can of course get a good feeling for the game long before that.
well, leave general chat and /ignore anyone that bugs you.
make a character on the same server on same faction as your brother and his friends, play with them and their guildies
it is a very social game if you WANT it to be
the character and maturity of the people you play with is mostly up to you
I too am slightly older, 23, but I play with a solid group of people i've been questing/running dungeons/raids with for a long time, and like any MMO....
it's really what you make of it
ya the game is mostly easy while leveling, doesn't get to the more challenging and in my opinion really entertaining stuff till you get into the 40's
if you can find an MMO with less grind and a better play experience, enjoy
I sooo agree with you!
Bud Spencer pwns Chuck Norris anyday, anywhere, anyhow!
Enforced grouping doesn't make a better game. A rewarding system where the best item with static stats, such as 22 hps, and earnable only in solo and another item with 10 hps/group member been earnable only in group would work extremely well however, as peoples will see an incitative to do what they like the most and care about, so to be good in groups you would have to group, and to be good in solo, you would have to solo. Raiding should give item that grant 5-9 hps per raider or something like that; so peoples do what they CARE about. Enforcing doesn't work.
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
I sooo agree with you!
Bud Spencer pwns Chuck Norris anyday, anywhere, anyhow!
Enforced grouping doesn't make a better game. A rewarding system where the best item with static stats, such as 22 hps, and earnable only in solo and another item with 10 hps/group member been earnable only in group would work extremely well however, as peoples will see an incitative to do what they like the most and care about, so to be good in groups you would have to group, and to be good in solo, you would have to solo. Raiding should give item that grant 5-9 hps per raider or something like that; so peoples do what they CARE about. Enforcing doesn't work.
an intriguing idea, however what then for the player that likes to do a little of everything? pvp, solo pve (questing), and raiding/group play?
we would have to carry around 3 sets of gear, or make constant trips to the bank to swap gear. Unless you are saying that the gear's stats change depending on what we are doing? Then what if you are questing solo and flag yourself PVP and pick a fight with that ridiculous looking Gnome? Will your gear automatically change it's stats?
I understand what you are trying get at, but the system already works that way if you think about it....
Gear you gets from quests and drops is good enough to get you through questing. Gear you get from dungeons/raids is good enough to get you through the dungeons/raids. Gear you get from PVP is designed to help you in PVP. Only problem is mobility between different gameplay. Hence why people do carry different gear sets, from magic resistence gear, PVP gear, raid gear and such. And generally speaking, raid and high end PVP gear is by far better then any gear you get from questing.
Now the question is, do people who play a few hours here and there doing questing and generally going it solo deserve to have just as good of gear as someone who spends 5-6+ hours a day/night raiding/doing PVP? not really fair if you think about it, but the solo game, the questing outside of raids/dungeons is fairly easy stuff in most cases, so the gear you get from it is not as good as the PVP/raid/dungeon gear because the raids/dungeons (and often times PVP) is a LOT more challenging and thus requires better gear.
I really don't see how else the system can work and have it make sense
I've played almost every mmo since LOK on AOL/Gamestorm. I'm almost 30.
WOW is 40% about the server you're on, 40% about the people you run with, and 20% about the game itself. My first server I got to level 10 before I quit in disgust. Went back to try again about 3 mo later and ended up on a different server... COMPLETELY different experience. That being said... there are places I avoid. Barrens chat for instance is almost always juvenile (much like antonica chat in eq2). I quit after I hit 40ish because I was bored. Finally decided to give it another go and ran from 1-60 with some friends on a new server again... server was good, had good company, and more or a less had a great time getting there. Then I quit again ;P
Right now the MMO formula for almost every game is EQ1+Enhancements. They're all a grindfest filled with fedex quests, you either like the games in general or you don't. End of story. WOW is really no different except that its grind can easily be done in 20m chunks if you want rather than having to take 2-3 hours out of your day to find a group... at least till 60.
The honest truth is... the reason people play wow... every game is the same, wow is just like the rest only more people play it.
EVE, ATITD, UO, AC1, and COH/V are about the only games that didn't follow the same EQ1+Enhancements formula WOW did. Unfortunetly the next gen of games seems to be going the WOW+Enhancements route rather than innovating.
Shrug. Wow is no less fun than 3/4ths the rest of the genre presently. Maybe is someone innovates the genre will become more interesting.
Shadus
well i dont know why ppl r addicted, i wonder why i am myself. it is just one of thoses games that u want to play for hours and hours. I think that it may seem boring at the beginning but once u get into the harder areas and begin doing raids, harder quests, ect. A player wants to do it more and sometimes u play with a guy thats a good person and u want to play with that guy again, and again so there are many factors that can contribute to why a person gets into WoW. but theres just a thing about this game and many other games that is addicting to some and mabye many players.
Choice of server makes a bit of difference, as well. I mean, you're going to run into the kiddies on any server, but I've noticed that one some of the "normal" (non-PvP) and roleplaying servers, there seems to be less of the kind of thing the OP was talking about.
It's there, you'll never escape it... but it isn't as bad.
Barring that, some of the other suggestions were good ones. Exit out of general chat -- you'll never need it, I promise. Try to find a guild of like-minded players. Try a few servers before you settle in for the long haul.
WoW is one of the most fun and relaxing games I've played in my almost 10 years of MMORPG experience... but then, I actually like the simplicity of it, and I'm not a PvPer or a die-hard raider..
Also, I like having a bad community because it's pretty entertaining at times. There's always someone to talk to.
I like the interface of WoW as well..
WoW isn't the best mmo, it's just the most complete and fun mmo out there right now, and if you have to sacrifice some difficulty, whatever, I don't care, it's a video game, I want to have fun.
Since most of the replies are from n00bs -
World of Warcraft has a huge community and has redefined the key essence in all games - gameplay > graphics. WoW has amazing gameplay, though not very original, it still perfects and polishes other concepts first concieved in many first era MMORPG's like EQ, UO, and AC - however - it adds to them with more features from second era MMO's like AC2, DAoC, Shadowbane, and Horizons. (yes, Horizons, the flop of the century) Technically, EQ2 was considered second era, until it decided to ditch everything new and copy WoW's gameplay and interface.
Overall, WoW might be boring to you. Hell even I get boed. That's why you go into windowed mode and play your own soundtrack.
WoW is really fun
But i think its hard to like all games.. I guess there is some other game you think is fun
Every 1 cant like one game, thats just how it is ;P My friend always says that WoW is not good...
He rather play Tibia which i think sux.. ;P
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SweSeeders | TheChezz
What ABOUT WOW makes it a fun game? Why should someone spend $15 a month for WOW and not some other MMO?
I was looking at the Burning Crusade reviews on EBgames.com, and came across this little gem:
"The regular WoW is awesome, but i ordered the expack from ebgames, i still have not gotten my copy yet something got messed up but they still havent sent it out yet, but otherwise, the game is still good"
Of course, this received a 5 star rating, even though this person clearly doesn't even have the item in question. From what I can tell, people just seem to fawn over this game for some reason that I can't figure out. It's not even in the top 5 highest rated MMOs on MMORPG.com, with its base mainly hailing from Asia and their usual gold farming operations.
I talk with so many people are say they played WOW until they reached level 60 and found the raids to be repetitive, leaving few other options to explore.
I'm really put off by the suggestions coming from WOW players here. Ignore tons of people? Leave the general chat? That's addressing the symptom, but not the problem.
So I'll ask again.... What is it about WOW that makes it so much fun for people and that is UNIQUE to WOW?
I guess you should read them again. People gave you lots of examples why they like it.
If you don't like WOW, go to another forum like Vanguard and gush loving remarks about that game.
People like playing WOW for their own reasons.
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Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!
Actually, Speedmann, I did read their posts, and nothing that was mentioned was anything unique to WOW that can't be found in most other MMORPGs on the market right now. So why does WOW get people to fawn over it, and not those games? There must be something unique to WOW that I'm missing for so many people to mindlessly shell out $15 a month and say it's the best game ever.
You see, I don't "lovingly gush remarks" as you put it about any game. No game gets my devotion or play time just because it exists. I HATE fanboys no matter what game, person, deity, or whatever they are defending.
Yes, people like playing WOW for their own reasons, and I'm asking what those reasons are, not just vague "The game is fun" comments.
Your looking for something that is not there. WoW does nothing that is special or different from other mmo's. You kill mobs, do quests, group, pvp, fishing, mine, cook and whatever else. For me i like the WOW environment, the colors and graphics of the game.
I took a few breaks from WOW to try other mmo's too. I played lineage 2 for abit in beta and wanted to try it again. I only lasted about a month, to many bots and the grind was starting to get to me.
I tried Star Wars Galaxies too. Then i played COV for awhile but it had no crafting so i just got bored of killing mobs in pretty much the same setting time after time.
Now i have my 2 brothers playing with me and that makes it even better playing WOW. Its fun ripping through quests and horde with 3 people.
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Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!
What do people see in wow?
its a Pick up and play game. Thats all to it. That what attracts many players. Wow adapts to the players lifestyle, not the player adapts to the game.
you think your old at 22 and think wow is only played by preteens. Wrong
Im 30, got a 12 hour shift job, married and have 2 children, Yet i find time to play wow 1 or 2 hours a day depending on how much time i have after doing all my rl errands. Since the day i played PSO (phantasy star online) on the dream cast , I started to like online games, i tried ffxi, but Forced grouping as a no for me. Then wow came out, I can log on, play for a bit and log off.
I for one will never see raid content due to my casual play, however i can enjoy the many instances that are offered in 5 man groups. I can instantly find a group instead of waiting for groups like i did in other games.
Yes This game offers better loot and exp to people who group. Wow just does not force you to camp an area with more people and grind the same few mobs all day, in wow you group for instances or elite quests. you finish an area instead of finding a camp spot.
group loot from instances is way better than solo quest loot. Also exp generated from instances and quests in those instances will gain you much more exp than you can soloing for the time invested.
in short wow has somthing for everyone that plays it.
Watching Fanbois drop their soap in a prison full of desperate men.
What they see in WoW ? It's simplicity of course. And it's simple method of hooking up new people. The game is so simple anyone can feel they succeed with something.
I believe the biggest reasons so many play are because of all the hype to begin with. Which of course leads on to more and more people playing because the people they know observes and wants to play themselves.
I don't believe all too many are that "enlightened" about the galaxy of MMORPG's.
To me WoW is not a game that deserves all it's hype. It lacks all the variety and deepness you'd suspect from a game that you need to PAY money for each month. It feels like one of those Free Games you find out there on the net that you just jump in, kill X amounts of monsters and sit months and years just to get ... items?
WoW has no real end game purpose. It lacks about anything to be called a RPG too. There are RP servers, that's it. But nothing more with the sand-boxing or a storyline of which players can help to modify by their own actions or doings.
Though, the concepts of Darkfall, that my friend is something a developer can be proud of. Though, of course, it is a high risk it's only vaporware, but a risk I'm always willing to take for a game like that
$OE lies list
http://www.rlmmo.com/viewtopic.php?t=424&start=0
"
And I don't want to hear anything about "I don't believe in vampires" because *I* don't believe in vampires, but I believe in my own two eyes, and what *I* saw is ******* vampires! "
Blizzard had done their homework and learned of what their players want and give it to them.