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Problems With WoW
Stormreaver
Member Posts: 130
Problems with WoW - I'm opinionated and possibly misinformed. Say what you will.
Community - Essentially, very little of the WoW community is actually made up of players who know what makes an MMO "good." Many WoW players are either a)Battle.net kiddies, b)First time gamers who want to try the most popular game or c)Friends of either a or b. Because of this, population of WoW is well... massive. And in turn, people tend to think that WoW must be a good game if so many people play it. However, these players who have no experience with MMOs in general just don't make a good community for a true player to be around.
Lack of Skill- In short, you don't need to actually be a skilled player to be any good at WoW. Anyone can pick it up and play adequetly. This is great for new players, but in the endgame, it pretty much breaks the system. People who have had enough time to grind for all the good gear will beat you, even if you are more skilled than you. This is frusturating no doubt.
Grind- WoW is just one big grind. It's all you ever do. Grind your levels. Grind your trade skills. Grind your reputation. Grind the battlegrounds. In my opinion, an MMORPG should reward players for doing whatever they want to do. You shouldn't have to grind all these meaningless things to be able to play. Grinding isn't fun, and it isn't fun for a sustained period of time.
PvP- PvP in WoW is a joke. Why? It was an afterthought. If I remember correctly, PvP wasn't even in the game till beta. Blizzard balanced WoW for PvE, and because of that, PvP is unbalanced, and lacks the requirement of skill. If WoW was balanced for PvP first, it would be a better game. PvE is easier to balance for, mainly because you can control the situations the characters will be put in, and therefore make it necessary to bring along certain classes.
Lack of Immersion- This is just a personal problem, but WoW really does not immerse the player in the game world to the extent that other games do. Leaving your impression on the world is more like posting that you killed a monster first, as opposed to writing down your tail in a book and putting it in the library for all to see. You can't really change the world other than the ways Blizzard has planned for it to be changed.
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I played WoW for 2 and a half years, and these are the conclusions I have drawn. Not to say I didn't have a fun time playing it, but now that I'm pretty much off it, I'm beginning to see how it compares to other games out there.
Community - Essentially, very little of the WoW community is actually made up of players who know what makes an MMO "good." Many WoW players are either a)Battle.net kiddies, b)First time gamers who want to try the most popular game or c)Friends of either a or b. Because of this, population of WoW is well... massive. And in turn, people tend to think that WoW must be a good game if so many people play it. However, these players who have no experience with MMOs in general just don't make a good community for a true player to be around.
Lack of Skill- In short, you don't need to actually be a skilled player to be any good at WoW. Anyone can pick it up and play adequetly. This is great for new players, but in the endgame, it pretty much breaks the system. People who have had enough time to grind for all the good gear will beat you, even if you are more skilled than you. This is frusturating no doubt.
Grind- WoW is just one big grind. It's all you ever do. Grind your levels. Grind your trade skills. Grind your reputation. Grind the battlegrounds. In my opinion, an MMORPG should reward players for doing whatever they want to do. You shouldn't have to grind all these meaningless things to be able to play. Grinding isn't fun, and it isn't fun for a sustained period of time.
PvP- PvP in WoW is a joke. Why? It was an afterthought. If I remember correctly, PvP wasn't even in the game till beta. Blizzard balanced WoW for PvE, and because of that, PvP is unbalanced, and lacks the requirement of skill. If WoW was balanced for PvP first, it would be a better game. PvE is easier to balance for, mainly because you can control the situations the characters will be put in, and therefore make it necessary to bring along certain classes.
Lack of Immersion- This is just a personal problem, but WoW really does not immerse the player in the game world to the extent that other games do. Leaving your impression on the world is more like posting that you killed a monster first, as opposed to writing down your tail in a book and putting it in the library for all to see. You can't really change the world other than the ways Blizzard has planned for it to be changed.
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I played WoW for 2 and a half years, and these are the conclusions I have drawn. Not to say I didn't have a fun time playing it, but now that I'm pretty much off it, I'm beginning to see how it compares to other games out there.
Comments
Sounds just like any other mmorpg out there.
Darkfall Travelogues!
I'm just going to give my 2 cents here, and if you disagree then w/e. WOW is an alright game that manages to do some things right. Obviously you didn't spend 2 and a half years of your life paying $15 per month on something that was unenjoable. But you are right, WoW is not for everyone. I personaly think that if you are looking for a game that takes skill and where PVP is really good, then guild wars might be for you. Unlike most MMO's, in gw you get 8 skills, that's not to say there are no more than 8 skills in the game, but that when you go into battle, you get to use 8 skills. The pvp is excellent once you ge the hang of it and it takes a lot of skill to be the best out there. Also, the lvl cap is 20 and you can reach it in like 1 - 3 days easy, which means almost no grind (though i actually don't mind grinding in wow, and i actually am starting to like it). Oh and for the community side of wow, you must have gotten shafted or something, cause i find it to be pretty good, course i play on a rp server, so that might have something to do w/ it.
Like i said before, just my 2 cents.
This whole post sounds like opinions of yours which is fine. WoW is a big grind like all MMOs, but if you had played a lot of MMOs before WoW then it was a cakewalk in comparison. Grinding in EQ nearly made me sick at one point. I would just sit in one area and kill the same mob over and over at nausea when I got to the mid and higher levels.
Anyway WoW introduced the many quests system. This is a grind of a kind, but not really for those who are used to real grinds. For me it was a breath of fresh air and I liked all the stories and being able to get large amounts of exprience for helping quest NPCs. It made the game go by much faster.
The game engine for WoW is the best I've ever used. It is so comfortable to move around, look up and down, and interact with things in the world.
The looks of the world is something very personal. I love cartoony graphics so this game was good for me. In fact it was a huge step up from the orignal EQ graphics even though the character customization opotions were limited. On top fo that the animations for the characters walking and fighting may still be the best to date. Certainly the animations are better then the LOTRO ones. A lot of them are aimed at humor which is great.
PvP isn't my thing, but I thought it was okay fun. I guess it never bothered me because I'm not a big PvP person. I don't like raiding much so I wouldn't have minded if they just had small group endgame content which would have made PvP more balenced.
Just because many of them have griding, doesn't make it necessary. People are just so use to it now that they can't even think MMORPG without it.
MMORPG.COM has worst forum editor ever exists
Few problems i had with this post:
1. Lack of Imagination - Same ol shit that everyone else posts.
2. Repetitive - Same ol shit that everyone else posts.
3. Very Whiny - Same ol shit that everyone else posts.
4. Boring - Once again same ol shit that every one posts therfore very boring to read once again.
Conclusion - *sob sob* another person who does not like WoW who feels the urge to repeat the same old bullshit that all the "elitest's" feel they need to post.
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy
I found it hard
It's hard to find
Oh Well
Whatever
Nevermind
Community - And you offer what evidence as proof of this? Your vast experience has led you to believe this? Because my experience has led me to believe something different.
Lack of Skill - True of most MMO's. True of most games as a matter of fact. Any game that requires you to acquire loot/xp to improve your character is gonna be centered more around your gear/level than your skill.
Grind - Again, true of most MMOs' and true of most games. You can get to level 70 doing nothing but questing, but then I guess you would say you're grinding questing. Again, any game that relies on you to get XP/Loot to improve your character is gonna require time and repeated behavior to get to the top. Nature of the beast.
PvP - You don't know what you are talking about. Blizzard has done an incredible job balancing all that has to be balanced including PvE, PvP in all it's various forms, Races, Classes, skills, weapons, melee vs ranged, pets so on and so forth. Is it perfectly balanced? OMG, NO! Will it ever be perfectly balanced? OMG NO and thank goodness! So why do I think they have done an incredible job? Because it's insanely tough to balance everything without just making everything mirror images of each other. There's so much diversity in this game it's incredible. For you to be able to take a healer class like a Priest and spec him as a Shadow Priest and make him one of the most lethal characters in the game is a testament to the designers. For every type of player there's a character that fits his personality and they have a place in the game. That's balance. Anyone who expects everything to be perfectly balanced needs to go play checkers. Checkers is perfectly balanced. It's also extremely boring.
Lack of immersion - Not for lack of trying. WoW has an insane amount of things in the game to try to immerse you in the experience. There's books you can read on the lore. There's factions. There's guilds. There's crafting. There's quest chains. Just exactly what do you want them to do?
You played for 2 and 1/2 years and just now you are realizing that the game has faults? Tell you what I think. I think that a game that keeps you interested for 2 and 1/2 years is a damn freaking incredible accomplishment and you're just pissed off that you've come to the end of that 2 and 1/2 years and have nothing left to accomplish. Tough. It took you 2 and 1/2 years to get there. That's a hell of a ride. What other games have you played for 2 and 1/2 years? Me, zero.
"I stopped reading at the Grind section, obviously MMORPGs aren't for you."
Just because the majority of MMORPGs on the market are a grind doesn't mean they all have to be. A grind is what you perceive needs to be done in order to be "successful" at a game. However, games tend to lead you to believe that you have to be at max level to be successful (and unfortunately this is the truth). Changing the system would be daring, but doable.
"The game engine for WoW is the best I've ever used. It is so comfortable to move around, look up and down, and interact with things in the world."
I couldn't agree more. Out of the games I've tried, WoW is the easiest to move around in, change your view etc.
"Community - And you offer what evidence as proof of this? Your vast experience has led you to believe this? Because my experience has led me to believe something different."
www.forums.worldofwarcraft.com
Go check it out. 30% of posts are trolls. 50% of posts are whining about imbalances. 10% of posts are Blizzard employees posting about something other than the game. 5% of posts are suggestions just repeating a suggestion that was suggested a day ago. So about 5% of the posts are actually worthwhile. Just one example.
"Lack of Skill - True of most MMO's. True of most games as a matter of fact. Any game that requires you to acquire loot/xp to improve your character is gonna be centered more around your gear/level than your skill."
As I've stated before, just because something is true in most MMOs doesn't mean it's a necessary feature. I see what you mean about improving your character as opposed to your skill level, but when something like that outweighs skill, the game loses its entertainment value.
"PvP - You don't know what you are talking about..."
I beg to differ. Gear is too much of a factor, certain classes will almost never beat other classes, and strategy is nonexistent in many forms. Personally I don't expect any game to have classes perfectly balanced in a 1v1 situation, but WoW oftentimes forces 1v1 situations on the players by way of duels, random encounters on PvP servers, standoffs in battlegrounds, and in the form of small groups in the arena. Players expect these encounters to be balanced and Blizzard implies that they should be balanced. In order to balance them, Blizzard is forced to nerf and buff classes back and forth, once again leading to 50% of the posts I mentioned before.
Good day
Agree with the criticisms which I think are commonly-cited anyway really. Although playing the game two and a half years and only now realizing you dislike the game?
Well yea : It was my first MMO and I had a good number of friends to keep me going. The age of MMOs is starting and now I've seen things that make me think "Why would I play WoW...?"
And as to the PvP, yes their very little insentive to PvP but out of the MMO's I have played WoW's PvP and combat is very fast almost like a FPS game, and its great fun if you can organise unoffical PvP matches with a rival guild in Stranglethorn arena like my old guild used to... aww the memories.
Just because many of them have griding, doesn't make it necessary. People are just so use to it now that they can't even think MMORPG without it. Grinding is what developers use to keep their players playing on a long term basis. I really can't think of any MMORPGs that doesn't have some sort of grind. (for the record, I don't consider Guild Wars nor DnD Online "true" MMORPGs)
I swear, I would love for someone to just explain to me what it is about this game that is so good? It being easy to learn just doesn't cut it.
Some of the games I play(ed):
City of Heroes
City of Villains
Lunia
Mentin 2
Astonia 3
Only those that enjoy Life live it.
Few problems i had with this post:
1. Lack of Imagination - Same ol shit that everyone else posts.
2. Repetitive - Same ol shit that everyone else posts.
3. Very Whiny - Same ol shit that everyone else posts.
4. Boring - Once again same ol shit that every one posts therfore very boring to read once again.
Conclusion - *sob sob* another person who does not like WoW who feels the urge to repeat the same old bullshit that all the "elitest's" feel they need to post.
Couldn't have said it any betterThx much for posting that.
On one hand most everything you said is both true an a major problem.On the other hand I have played City of Villians,FinalFantasy XI,World of Warcraft,GuildWars,RuneScape,an a bazillion other FTP mmos,an none have TRUELY stuck with me.
In my opinion games in general,but especially MMOs,need to evolve.one idea is adding more emotion.
well if anyone has any comments or suggestions please send me them.
The only way to get anywhere in life is to pwn everything in site...and repeat.
to the OP - you talk about these things in wow such as grinding and needing to be max level to accomplish things etc...
Well this may not be a "necessary" feature in MMO's but the fact remains that it is a feature in all the major fantasy (and most sci-fi - excluding space mmos like EVE) games... so while WoW may have them so do the others... I think THIS is what people are trying to say. WoW may not be the best game imaginable which it certainly is not... and it may be able to do things better but the fact is that it's the best mix of things and the things it does well... are done way better than any mmo out.
What could be added in WoW simply is freedom... player housing... guild housing... that kind of thing.
As far as pvp being off balaced ... GOOD.
If you want to avoid random encounters with players you most likely can't beat then play on a non pvp server because obviously you don't like it rough... I'm a priest... on a PVP server... I know this better than anyone... I'm basically the main prey of these gankers. I make due though... I can fear, silence, etc... just gotta use a little strategy.
I was also a Battle.Net Kid... SC, and Diablo 2... that when I was 12. >>> NOW IM 18 <<< I don't see why that has anything to do with playing and enjoying games. I got into WoW... have enjoyed it... and it led me to try other MMO's - some of which I also very much enjoyed.
There's lots of features about wow that could be better or totally different but as I said this should come with a whole new game - a better game which doesnt exist yet (look out for AoC/WAR
)
As far as the community ... for the most part i've found the community (in game - could care less about the site forums) to be just fine. No worse or better than any of the other MMO's i've played since WoW... Well... City of Villains I suppose had an extra friendly community but other than that they've just been *decent* like WoW. And I really dont run into a ton of little kids and when I do, if they have a crappy maturity level that shows their age then I just avoid them. Pretty simple.
Currently Playing: WoW (somewhat)
Testing: None
Played: WoW, CoV, AL, SWG, VC, EVE, SWToR
I always laugh when I see comments like this. It's even more funny when it comes from those who wants "realism" in MMOs... To analyze that a bit: grinding is combat training. You didn't expect to be an expert swordswinger when helping grandma with the laundry?
You say you played for 2.5 years, that the game is all about grind, and grind isn't fun. You do realize that this says A LOT about you?