Played off and on, with my wife, since vanilla. It was kind of like re-runs of old TV shows. First few times through kept me entertained/occupied but by the time Cata came out, didn't want to kill my free time with it anymore.
Saddest part of WoW was, started out with a fairly decent community that turned toxic by the end of WotLK.
Ironicly, the game most accused of stagnating the genre seems to have stagnated itself. Really bad time for that Blizz, with new titles on the way and Titan at least 2 years off.
Very 'meh' towards WoW right now, I mean, it's a game, hard to take it too seriously.
Blizzard Ruined wow, I enjoyed, and Loved WOW when it first came out, but I started to see the game go down hill since Burning Crusade, Lich King & now Cata.
1. The story lines don't match up, and even a new player would have a hard time understanding the actual story and game it doesn't make much sense on most of it to me anymore.
2. The Nerfs, Good Lord look what Blizzard has done, restricted Talents so you can no longer spend the way you please it was fine at first, but then they started nerfing to the point where you can't arcane/POM/Pyro and this was just not acceptable and the time I quit wow their constant Nerfs & Changes to classes just because a melee class can get picked off, Yeah thats right all ranged classes should be able to take any melee class except maybe a paladin, or a rogue with invisibility they could win beyo nd that 1vs1 they should be able to win, and some may ask why wait theres no balance here, Well there never was any balance, but in many books, and previous games mages/spell casters and rangers have always been more powerful than a melee user and melee had to work as a group.
4.2 Changes, they have Nerfed, Mages, and ruined the game even more, I am simply sick and tired of every little thing getting changed by Blizzard constant nerfs changes to the Skill system really made me quit becuase I got tired of their games, sure in PVP maybe it should do a bit less damage, but PVE balance What is this crap nerfing every spect in the game both PVP, and PVE constantly just makes me angry, and Blizzard has done this way worse compared to any other company I have seen.
For Example not only mages, but Warlocks, Blizzard goes and makes rapid changes to the spell casting system and way warlocks damage simply because they use Drain Life as a Primary attack stacked on top of other spells, That is just stupid.
IF you take note of the Shaman for example they are ready to And still checking on what they need to do to make the class balanced, what kinda game company does this type of stuff?
Priests for example why Nerf DOTS and shadow spec because of PVE? Too much damage ? What?
Hunters, Multi-Shot was doing too much damage in PvE given how simple it was to use.
Okay so Druids Bear gets a nerf because it does a bit more damage than other Tanks? Well what? Its a bear, a Druid Turning into a bear it should do a bit more damage.
Okay seriously I quit World OF Warcraft, and for good reasons it seems they may have hired people on their team who don't know what they are doing and not giving players what they want, I seriously think WOW has lost a lot of Subscribers to Rift, and for sure Tera when it comes out, I am not sure if those games will be any good because most games made in Korea get Greedy and add Micro Transactions like NC Soft and Aion for core parts that should be free in the game, and that is the reason I quit Aion when they charged to change a characters appearance otherwise I would have stayed, same thing with Nexon Games I no longer play them because they over charge, and Perfect World way over priced to customize Character, and can't share purchased items along with other Characters on the account, Sure I am willing to pay, but I am not going to play anymore free 2 play games that require RL Money for character customization Alternations Free 2 Play, or P2P, I will pay for an expansion pack, or extra content, but expect that I can customize my shape, size, and change my default character as I please, for example EVE Online, as long as it stays the way it is right now where I can customize my character as I please it will keep me subscribed longer, but the moment they charge me extra to change a hair, beyond extra stuff I can buy from that shop I am going to Unsubscribe.
WoW is a lot better if you pay no attention to the MMORPG.com forums.
"If I'm not enjoying the game from the beginning then why do I need to torture myself to get to "end cap" to see the "real" game? WTF? Why can't the WHOLE GAME BE THE REAL GAME" - TheExplorer
The biggest problem of WoW with me is the progression. WoW has progressed so much and Blizz keep on trying to incorperate new mechanics to keep the game entertaining along with catering to casuals has degregated itself from it's former glory. Lvling is a joke especially when you have the option to twink out your toon wiht heriloom gear and top notch chants that you cna practically solo/duo dungeons at lvl. The story is lost upon me and one of the final straws was making Thrall a friggin monk. The game no longer resembles the original and now more than ever Blizz needs to come out with Titan to replace WoW, new MMOs provide challenge and newness that WoW has lost.
'has ruined the modern mmo genre' should be an option.
I really hate this comment about WoW more than any other. People want big name studios publishing games with lots of polish and they get more of that now probably because of Blizzard. I will probably never play WoW again, but that's because of the utterly horrid community that the GMs have allowed to pregressively worsen over time, but we, as comsumers and players, have so many games to chose from due in a large part to the success of WoW (and EQ1). If you really feel that they ruined modern MMO's- go play the ones that were release the same year and a little after and see if they have the same level of polish that WoW does
4 months into Cataclysm i finally got burned out after almost 6 years. My intention was to play till TOR arrives but it was not meant to be. Can't say that i had a bad time in WoW. I got aquainted with nice people, some of them we met in person as well. Had lots off exciting moments both in PvE and PvP and overall the nice experiences where quite more than the negative ones.
However, i believe that WoW has entered a a slow but steady decay phase, it's a natural thing. Of course when talking about WoW's sub numbers the word "decay" has a tad "loose" meaning.
WoW is a lot better if you pay no attention to the MMORPG.com forums.
QFT!
Actually, you could broaden that though - ANY game is better if you pay no attention to these forums
I agree, but it's not like I come here to find reasons not to like a game. When I'm playing a game I like, I don't bother participating in forum discussion, for the most part. When I'm burnt out and there are no games that appeal to me, I come here both to see what's on the horizon as well as trying to find out what I can do to make things better for players who enjoy the same things I do.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.
WoW is a lot better if you pay no attention to the MMORPG.com forums.
QFT!
Actually, you could broaden that though - ANY game is better if you pay no attention to these forums
Absolutely. I won't disagree with you on that point.
"If I'm not enjoying the game from the beginning then why do I need to torture myself to get to "end cap" to see the "real" game? WTF? Why can't the WHOLE GAME BE THE REAL GAME" - TheExplorer
At first I thought that this pool will be like asking KKK members how do they feel about black people, but I was mistaken. It seems that people are really cool about wow (tho there are few retarded haters) and thats really nice. I mean you dont have to be fanboi, but I see many people expressing their calm opinion and its even based on reasons why do they think so. And there arent many people posting shit like "WoW ruined everything, its made only for 11yo kids". So again thats really nice
I think of WoW as a playpen for all the stupid kiddies. This way they do not play my MMO and wreck it. Thank god for the playskool of MMOs, WOW.
Typical Coment form someone that Sounds just like one of these Stupid Kids you refer to .. Let hope you graduate from Pre-school soon
Now for my take on WOW : WoW is a well made game , What makes WOW so popular is anyone can play & you don't feel like you have to earn a degree in applied Mathamatics to learn how to have fun in WOW ..
WoW caters for everyone from beginners to Long time MMO Players , while WoW doesn't pretend to be an inovater it does do what it does well.. you feel a sence of immersion & for the Warcraft players like me it Feel like a warcraft world .
Rating World Of Warcraft : 8/10
People will always bag whoever is doing the best its in our nature "tall poppy Syndrome"
PS : Asherons Call still the Greatest MMO of all time
Instead of posting my own view on WoW, I will state a few facts.
My sister is a terrible gamer, she is good at the Sims, Little Big Planet and manages to finish pokemon games, but ask her to play a shooter, rpg, rts, racer or anything what most gamers would call a real game and she would fail. Together with her ex-boyfriend I managed to convince her to try WoW.
With only her boyfriend and me to aid her and ignoring any serious guides or in-game help since she dislikes any real thinking when playing anything more complicated than tetris she managed to level to 80 pretty quickly and after installing recount on her pc we slowly turned her into a pretty decent player.
The conclusion of this story is that my sister didn't play WoW very long since her boyfriend decided to take a break as well, but she still spend a considerable amount of time in a gameworld while she is silly enough to start downloading entire seasons of lost, greys anatomy without any form of antivirus. Did that last sentence make any sense? No it did not.
while she is silly enough to start downloading entire seasons of lost, greys anatomy without any form of antivirus. Did that last sentence make any sense? No it did not.
It seems all Blizzard care about is keeping the kids happy at all cost. The latest update, Cataclysm, is a bit dire really; yes they revamped the old zones, but you out level them so fast it's ridiculous- Blizzard basically took all the quests out and made 10% of what was there give more xp, so the player doesn't enjoy the zone they just level past it far too quickly.
The general attitude of Wow players ( Generalising here not all are like this) is, 'well I can be a idiot because the game is working as intended, so STFU.' In a sense they are not wrong as the game is a breeding ground for EGO maniacs, spoilt children and anyone else who thinks the gear is more important than human kindness and interaction.
Is saddens me when I go back to Wow thinking; maybe it's changed, maybe people are different, only to get rudely slapped in the face by the game and its idiot followers.
I think Wow is dying and Blizzard are putting more resources into their new MMORPG; we will see what happens.
I was over at a friend's house troubleshooting his PC, note to upgrade enthusiasts, power supplies are actually somewhat important
Anyway, he still plays WoW avidly and I used to up till a couple of months after Cata came out. He was showing me some stuff about some raid they had redone or upgraded or something, can't remember now (I got paid in beer for the PC servicing) so I hung out for a while to watch him play his Warlock (my old preferred class). The link takes you to a video about a different sort of game tantrum, but I kid you not, that in essence what was coming over his speakers from some guild member who was a officer no less. Its what they've steadily cultivated as a majority of their consumer base so...yeah
I feel WoW has ruined the mmorpg market, All the games that keep coming out mmo wise just feel like WoW in a diff skin, they are way to simmlar. They try to emulate it because its done so well, but the problem is, people don't WANT another game like WoW they want something that feels new, not something that feels like they played it before right out of the box.
WoW's endgame is also totally pointless, think about it, you spend weeks to get some uber gear, but what use do you have for it? You can't pvp with it, and well the pvp is pointless to. We need a mmo to have some actual meaningful endgame. Closest thing I can think of is Aion, You raid for gear which you then use to pvp to take over places in the abyss which grant faction wide bonuses. The only way I can see endgame being meaningful has to be with land control either guild vs guild or faction vs faction, hell even Players vs some super strong monsters that takes alot of people to win the terratory. The pure PvE endgame is kinda dying out because especally in wow its the same lame crap in a diff wrapper over and over. Why people eat it up and stand for it is beyond me. Anyway.. Thats how I feel. DAoC's endgame was perfect before spellcrafting, you'd raid fpr gear then go pvpve keeps for faction wide bonuses.
Anyway due to WoW the mmorpg market has kinda stagnated into a sesspool of the same game rehashed over and over by diffrent dev's.
Being a pessimist is a win-win pattern of thinking. If you're a pessimist (I'll admit that I am!) you're either:
A. Proven right (if something bad happens)
or
B. Pleasantly surprised (if something good happens)
I feel WoW has ruined the mmorpg market, All the games that keep coming out mmo wise just feel like WoW in a diff skin, they are way to simmlar. They try to emulate it because its done so well, but the problem is, people don't WANT another game like WoW they want something that feels new, not something that feels like they played it before right out of the box.
WoW's endgame is also totally pointless, think about it, you spend weeks to get some uber gear, but what use do you have for it? You can't pvp with it, and well the pvp is pointless to. We need a mmo to have some actual meaningful endgame. Closest thing I can think of is Aion, You raid for gear which you then use to pvp to take over places in the abyss which grant faction wide bonuses. The only way I can see endgame being meaningful has to be with land control either guild vs guild or faction vs faction, hell even Players vs some super strong monsters that takes alot of people to win the terratory. The pure PvE endgame is kinda dying out because especally in wow its the same lame crap in a diff wrapper over and over. Why people eat it up and stand for it is beyond me. Anyway.. Thats how I feel. DAoC's endgame was perfect before spellcrafting, you'd raid fpr gear then go pvpve keeps for faction wide bonuses.
Anyway due to WoW the mmorpg market has kinda stagnated into a sesspool of the same game rehashed over and over by diffrent dev's.
I think I may have said this in another thread where this came up.
First off, I loved DAoC, I don't know about Spellcrafting, as I left the game after ToA came out which I felt killed the game, but up till that point, I thought it was a very good game, even thought about going back till I tried out WAR a second time and saw how poorly Mythic handled that. But I digress.
Partially defending Blizz here. I don't think that WoW ruined the MMO market, it made it very profitable, and not over night. Its first year was filled with growing pains but what allowed it to gain the momentum was partly a ideal situation, between modest hardware requirements, limited competition, a hybrid pve/pvp design (theme park wasn't new, EQ had done it just on a larger scale) and finally its loyal fan base from other games that they had earned.
A very significant component of WoW's dominance is due to how Blizz responded to player feedback, despite the forum gripping and so forth, when you step back and look at the features just in the customer service area from the start of the game to what was available just at the start of WotLK, its actually rather impressive. So far, I haven't seen any other company get even half way to that standard. Instead they just emulate WoW's content formula, thinking that's what won them their market share, largely pissing on their consumer base, then scratching their heads and wondering why it isn't working for them. Yes WoW's content style has something to do with it, people can jump in and quickly participate in a number of things, and the Dungeon Finder IMO is actually a pretty impressive tool as is the BG queing system as part of the game's content, the tech behind that feature is both welcome and impressive, the negative comes purely from the player base's attitude while inside it.
So basically, I don't think that WoW ruined the MMO market, far from it. I think they set a rather high standard which other developers just can't seem to clue in on, and to be fair, Blizz refined the themepark ride with its responsiveness to player feedback like no other developer has. Mind you, I'm totally burnt out on WoW, I have tried several times at the urgings of friends to pick it up again and last all of 3 minutes before I log out, literally unable to play it. But I still appreciate, admire, and respect what Blizz has created (though its community in general has turned into a very foul swamp of entitlement minded kiddies).
You're right, WoW's end game after you've done it for any length of time is something you tire of, its a treadmill of gear collection as you learn scripted fights that reset weekly,with what you own being more important than that what you do, and what you do not mattering past the instance, gear >> skill, one tires of that after a while. What ticks me off isn't that WoW is the way it is, its that other Publishers don't have the creativity of a squirrel to come up with a game that deviates from WoW's formula. They think all they have to do is copy the formula of WoW's content and offer only 10% of its customer service and call it a day. They can't seem to get it through their thick skulls, if people are leaving WoW...its because they don't want to play that style anymore.
So no, I don't think WoW ruined the MMO genre, I think Publishers and their CEOs with their cigar chewing attitude demanding competitive WoW earnings is what is ruining the genre.
Even peace may be purchased at too high a price, and the only time you are completely safe is when you lie in the grave.
Comments
I think of WoW as a playpen for all the stupid kiddies. This way they do not play my MMO and wreck it. Thank god for the playskool of MMOs, WOW.
Played off and on, with my wife, since vanilla. It was kind of like re-runs of old TV shows. First few times through kept me entertained/occupied but by the time Cata came out, didn't want to kill my free time with it anymore.
Saddest part of WoW was, started out with a fairly decent community that turned toxic by the end of WotLK.
Ironicly, the game most accused of stagnating the genre seems to have stagnated itself. Really bad time for that Blizz, with new titles on the way and Titan at least 2 years off.
Very 'meh' towards WoW right now, I mean, it's a game, hard to take it too seriously.
It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside! Can I haz your cookiez now?!
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
Okay here we go again with WOW.
Blizzard Ruined wow, I enjoyed, and Loved WOW when it first came out, but I started to see the game go down hill since Burning Crusade, Lich King & now Cata.
1. The story lines don't match up, and even a new player would have a hard time understanding the actual story and game it doesn't make much sense on most of it to me anymore.
2. The Nerfs, Good Lord look what Blizzard has done, restricted Talents so you can no longer spend the way you please it was fine at first, but then they started nerfing to the point where you can't arcane/POM/Pyro and this was just not acceptable and the time I quit wow their constant Nerfs & Changes to classes just because a melee class can get picked off, Yeah thats right all ranged classes should be able to take any melee class except maybe a paladin, or a rogue with invisibility they could win beyo nd that 1vs1 they should be able to win, and some may ask why wait theres no balance here, Well there never was any balance, but in many books, and previous games mages/spell casters and rangers have always been more powerful than a melee user and melee had to work as a group.
4.2 Changes, they have Nerfed, Mages, and ruined the game even more, I am simply sick and tired of every little thing getting changed by Blizzard constant nerfs changes to the Skill system really made me quit becuase I got tired of their games, sure in PVP maybe it should do a bit less damage, but PVE balance What is this crap nerfing every spect in the game both PVP, and PVE constantly just makes me angry, and Blizzard has done this way worse compared to any other company I have seen.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/2956383#blog
For Example not only mages, but Warlocks, Blizzard goes and makes rapid changes to the spell casting system and way warlocks damage simply because they use Drain Life as a Primary attack stacked on top of other spells, That is just stupid.
IF you take note of the Shaman for example they are ready to And still checking on what they need to do to make the class balanced, what kinda game company does this type of stuff?
Priests for example why Nerf DOTS and shadow spec because of PVE? Too much damage ? What?
Hunters, Multi-Shot was doing too much damage in PvE given how simple it was to use.Okay so Druids Bear gets a nerf because it does a bit more damage than other Tanks? Well what? Its a bear, a Druid Turning into a bear it should do a bit more damage.
Okay seriously I quit World OF Warcraft, and for good reasons it seems they may have hired people on their team who don't know what they are doing and not giving players what they want, I seriously think WOW has lost a lot of Subscribers to Rift, and for sure Tera when it comes out, I am not sure if those games will be any good because most games made in Korea get Greedy and add Micro Transactions like NC Soft and Aion for core parts that should be free in the game, and that is the reason I quit Aion when they charged to change a characters appearance otherwise I would have stayed, same thing with Nexon Games I no longer play them because they over charge, and Perfect World way over priced to customize Character, and can't share purchased items along with other Characters on the account, Sure I am willing to pay, but I am not going to play anymore free 2 play games that require RL Money for character customization Alternations Free 2 Play, or P2P, I will pay for an expansion pack, or extra content, but expect that I can customize my shape, size, and change my default character as I please, for example EVE Online, as long as it stays the way it is right now where I can customize my character as I please it will keep me subscribed longer, but the moment they charge me extra to change a hair, beyond extra stuff I can buy from that shop I am going to Unsubscribe.WoW is a lot better if you pay no attention to the MMORPG.com forums.
The biggest problem of WoW with me is the progression. WoW has progressed so much and Blizz keep on trying to incorperate new mechanics to keep the game entertaining along with catering to casuals has degregated itself from it's former glory. Lvling is a joke especially when you have the option to twink out your toon wiht heriloom gear and top notch chants that you cna practically solo/duo dungeons at lvl. The story is lost upon me and one of the final straws was making Thrall a friggin monk. The game no longer resembles the original and now more than ever Blizz needs to come out with Titan to replace WoW, new MMOs provide challenge and newness that WoW has lost.
Too easy. I quit because I could play it blind folded with one hand tied behind my back.
QFT!
Actually, you could broaden that though - ANY game is better if you pay no attention to these forums
Still by far the best theme park MMO, but grew tired of it after many years
I really hate this comment about WoW more than any other. People want big name studios publishing games with lots of polish and they get more of that now probably because of Blizzard. I will probably never play WoW again, but that's because of the utterly horrid community that the GMs have allowed to pregressively worsen over time, but we, as comsumers and players, have so many games to chose from due in a large part to the success of WoW (and EQ1). If you really feel that they ruined modern MMO's- go play the ones that were release the same year and a little after and see if they have the same level of polish that WoW does
A witty saying proves nothing.
-Voltaire
4 months into Cataclysm i finally got burned out after almost 6 years. My intention was to play till TOR arrives but it was not meant to be. Can't say that i had a bad time in WoW. I got aquainted with nice people, some of them we met in person as well. Had lots off exciting moments both in PvE and PvP and overall the nice experiences where quite more than the negative ones.
However, i believe that WoW has entered a a slow but steady decay phase, it's a natural thing. Of course when talking about WoW's sub numbers the word "decay" has a tad "loose" meaning.
I agree, but it's not like I come here to find reasons not to like a game. When I'm playing a game I like, I don't bother participating in forum discussion, for the most part. When I'm burnt out and there are no games that appeal to me, I come here both to see what's on the horizon as well as trying to find out what I can do to make things better for players who enjoy the same things I do.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.
Absolutely. I won't disagree with you on that point.
At first I thought that this pool will be like asking KKK members how do they feel about black people, but I was mistaken. It seems that people are really cool about wow (tho there are few retarded haters) and thats really nice. I mean you dont have to be fanboi, but I see many people expressing their calm opinion and its even based on reasons why do they think so. And there arent many people posting shit like "WoW ruined everything, its made only for 11yo kids". So again thats really nice
I have played all the namebrand mmo's as well as a ton of cash shop ones, they all fail since I have started playing rift
playing eq2 and two worlds
Typical Coment form someone that Sounds just like one of these Stupid Kids you refer to .. Let hope you graduate from Pre-school soon
Now for my take on WOW : WoW is a well made game , What makes WOW so popular is anyone can play & you don't feel like you have to earn a degree in applied Mathamatics to learn how to have fun in WOW ..
WoW caters for everyone from beginners to Long time MMO Players , while WoW doesn't pretend to be an inovater it does do what it does well.. you feel a sence of immersion & for the Warcraft players like me it Feel like a warcraft world .
Rating World Of Warcraft : 8/10
People will always bag whoever is doing the best its in our nature "tall poppy Syndrome"
PS : Asherons Call still the Greatest MMO of all time
Instead of posting my own view on WoW, I will state a few facts.
My sister is a terrible gamer, she is good at the Sims, Little Big Planet and manages to finish pokemon games, but ask her to play a shooter, rpg, rts, racer or anything what most gamers would call a real game and she would fail. Together with her ex-boyfriend I managed to convince her to try WoW.
With only her boyfriend and me to aid her and ignoring any serious guides or in-game help since she dislikes any real thinking when playing anything more complicated than tetris she managed to level to 80 pretty quickly and after installing recount on her pc we slowly turned her into a pretty decent player.
The conclusion of this story is that my sister didn't play WoW very long since her boyfriend decided to take a break as well, but she still spend a considerable amount of time in a gameworld while she is silly enough to start downloading entire seasons of lost, greys anatomy without any form of antivirus. Did that last sentence make any sense? No it did not.
Lost = Worst Ending Ever or Was it The Sapranos
yes i still love it. though i have played wow for 7 years , i still love it.
many friends of mine are quitted , but there are many new friends. It is the joy of wow , isn't it ?
I love wow, i love Azeroth
I was over at a friend's house troubleshooting his PC, note to upgrade enthusiasts, power supplies are actually somewhat important
Anyway, he still plays WoW avidly and I used to up till a couple of months after Cata came out. He was showing me some stuff about some raid they had redone or upgraded or something, can't remember now (I got paid in beer for the PC servicing) so I hung out for a while to watch him play his Warlock (my old preferred class). The link takes you to a video about a different sort of game tantrum, but I kid you not, that in essence what was coming over his speakers from some guild member who was a officer no less. Its what they've steadily cultivated as a majority of their consumer base so...yeah
http://www.break.com/game-trailers/game/call-of-duty-black-ops/epic-black-ops-freakout
Even peace may be purchased at too high a price, and the only time you are completely safe is when you lie in the grave.
I feel WoW has ruined the mmorpg market, All the games that keep coming out mmo wise just feel like WoW in a diff skin, they are way to simmlar. They try to emulate it because its done so well, but the problem is, people don't WANT another game like WoW they want something that feels new, not something that feels like they played it before right out of the box.
WoW's endgame is also totally pointless, think about it, you spend weeks to get some uber gear, but what use do you have for it? You can't pvp with it, and well the pvp is pointless to. We need a mmo to have some actual meaningful endgame. Closest thing I can think of is Aion, You raid for gear which you then use to pvp to take over places in the abyss which grant faction wide bonuses. The only way I can see endgame being meaningful has to be with land control either guild vs guild or faction vs faction, hell even Players vs some super strong monsters that takes alot of people to win the terratory. The pure PvE endgame is kinda dying out because especally in wow its the same lame crap in a diff wrapper over and over. Why people eat it up and stand for it is beyond me. Anyway.. Thats how I feel. DAoC's endgame was perfect before spellcrafting, you'd raid fpr gear then go pvpve keeps for faction wide bonuses.
Anyway due to WoW the mmorpg market has kinda stagnated into a sesspool of the same game rehashed over and over by diffrent dev's.
Being a pessimist is a win-win pattern of thinking. If you're a pessimist (I'll admit that I am!) you're either:
A. Proven right (if something bad happens)
or
B. Pleasantly surprised (if something good happens)
Either way, you can't lose! Try it out sometime!
I think I may have said this in another thread where this came up.
First off, I loved DAoC, I don't know about Spellcrafting, as I left the game after ToA came out which I felt killed the game, but up till that point, I thought it was a very good game, even thought about going back till I tried out WAR a second time and saw how poorly Mythic handled that.
But I digress.
Partially defending Blizz here. I don't think that WoW ruined the MMO market, it made it very profitable, and not over night. Its first year was filled with growing pains but what allowed it to gain the momentum was partly a ideal situation, between modest hardware requirements, limited competition, a hybrid pve/pvp design (theme park wasn't new, EQ had done it just on a larger scale) and finally its loyal fan base from other games that they had earned.
A very significant component of WoW's dominance is due to how Blizz responded to player feedback, despite the forum gripping and so forth, when you step back and look at the features just in the customer service area from the start of the game to what was available just at the start of WotLK, its actually rather impressive. So far, I haven't seen any other company get even half way to that standard. Instead they just emulate WoW's content formula, thinking that's what won them their market share, largely pissing on their consumer base, then scratching their heads and wondering why it isn't working for them. Yes WoW's content style has something to do with it, people can jump in and quickly participate in a number of things, and the Dungeon Finder IMO is actually a pretty impressive tool as is the BG queing system as part of the game's content, the tech behind that feature is both welcome and impressive, the negative comes purely from the player base's attitude while inside it.
So basically, I don't think that WoW ruined the MMO market, far from it. I think they set a rather high standard which other developers just can't seem to clue in on, and to be fair, Blizz refined the themepark ride with its responsiveness to player feedback like no other developer has. Mind you, I'm totally burnt out on WoW, I have tried several times at the urgings of friends to pick it up again and last all of 3 minutes before I log out, literally unable to play it. But I still appreciate, admire, and respect what Blizz has created (though its community in general has turned into a very foul swamp of entitlement minded kiddies).
You're right, WoW's end game after you've done it for any length of time is something you tire of, its a treadmill of gear collection as you learn scripted fights that reset weekly,with what you own being more important than that what you do, and what you do not mattering past the instance, gear >> skill, one tires of that after a while. What ticks me off isn't that WoW is the way it is, its that other Publishers don't have the creativity of a squirrel to come up with a game that deviates from WoW's formula. They think all they have to do is copy the formula of WoW's content and offer only 10% of its customer service and call it a day. They can't seem to get it through their thick skulls, if people are leaving WoW...its because they don't want to play that style anymore.
So no, I don't think WoW ruined the MMO genre, I think Publishers and their CEOs with their cigar chewing attitude demanding competitive WoW earnings is what is ruining the genre.
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