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I dont understand why WoW is such a huge hit.
admriker444
Member Posts: 1,526
My credentials...
1. Ultima - played at launch for 3 years.
2. DAoC - Played on and off for 2 years
3. CoH played in beta through launch for 1 year. Still play on occasion
4. SWG - Played from beta 2 through everything until NGE hit, left soon after (2.5 yrs)
5. Matrix - played in beta
6. D&D - played the stress test
7. EQ2 - Played for about 2 months
8. AC2 - Tried a 14 day free trial twice
9. FF11 - Played for about 1 month
10. Horizons - played from about 6 months
11. Eve - Tried 14 day trial
12. Saga of Ryzom - Tried 14 day trial
13. WoW - Played at launch for about 3 months. Returned several times (3) for usually 1-2 months each time. Currently playing 55 paladin on shadow council
As you can see Ive just about played most mmorpgs around so I have a large basis of comparison. My review..( based on 10 being highest and 1 lowest)
1. Graphics - While definitely simplistic, there is much attention to detail. However, one thing bothers me is there isnt much difference from low settings to maxed out ones. Sure I get to see footprints in sand but where are the better graphics ? Where are the shadows ? Where is the sparkling details one should see if they're able to crank everything to maximum ? Also the areas all look to similiar. You have 4 basic areas, swamps...snowy lands, burned out areas, and deserts and they all look the same. Too cartoonish for my taste and pixelated. Score - 4
2. Combat - From a balance perspective, the game shines. There are issues with shaman still but otherwise pretty fairly decent job. Each class has a defined role with some flexibility as to playstyle. Game is level-based though so its pretty easy to balance the classes unlike say in a skill-based one. Attacks are basic and simplistic. The attack or spell you use at lvl 6 will probably be the same one you use at lvl 60, only stronger. Score - 5
3. Crafting - If you've ever preferred playing a decent crafting game then WoW isnt for you. Most are pretty pointless and cost way too much time and gold to bother with. I worked on armorsmith till lvl 278. At 225 I trained for armorsmith (from blacksmith) and found out there were only two recipes I could buy. The rest were all drops. Now after spending a month grinding into the late night for mithril and iron, this was quite depressing. The recipes for decent stuff usually are found on AH but the prices are ridiculous. Finally, loot drops and quest rewards especially at the later stages are almost always better than anything crafted.
I played a warlock to lvl 60 and went alchemy / herbology. The problem there is many times potions will drop. Or there are repeatable quests to get them. In Tanaris, one can farm water pouches from NPC and turn them in for crates of goods. Many times there will be mana potions or healing ones in there. Same thing in Ungoro Crater, repeatable quest which gets you nice potions. Also, since WoW servers allow multiple toons to be made on each one, players arent dependent on each other for goods. So even though potions are a consumable, most dont sell tons of them. Anyone can simply just create another toon and craft potions if they really want them.
There arent any vendors you can use to sell your own goods. And since there isnt any housing, one cant set up a shop or mall either. The AH or spamming is pretty much the only way to sell stuff.
No decay means tons of peeps will simply never ever need your goods. Also since WoW allows multiple toons per server peeps simply will take their lvl 60 toon and farm a low lvl instance for gear for the next toon they make. Many times I ran across a lvl 10 rogue who already had gear in his bank for every level. Again, lack of relying on others (a staple of most mmorpgs) is the glaring issue here.
Score - 3
4. Community - What can I say to some up WoW's community...hmm. Well worst mmorpg community comes quickly to mind. I have never in any mmorpg seen such an awful foul-mouthed community of children ever. If they arent discussing their mating rituals or getting drunk, they're arguing about something ridiculous. I cant recall how many thousands of times Ive seen some poor fella ask a simple quest like where is something and bam major flame war breaks out. Just try selling some item and watch out because 50+ peeps will give their opinion on whether your price is fair.
Most of the players in WoW seemingly are NOT mmorpg vets. They have little clue on how to act, conduct themselves, nor play their class properly. Many times Ive seen warriors with no shields trying to play the rogue. Or watched in horror as a warlock ran into the middle of a mob and dropped an AOE on them (then swore at priest cause he died). Its a really lucky day if you actually find a decent group to run all the way through an instance.
Guilds are like nothing Ive ever seen in other mmorpgs. In other mmorpgs, joining a guild is an important step in playing the game. It usually involves a recommendation from another member. It might require joining them for an instance or group hunt to test out your skills. It could require tribute of goods or gold. Some even have websites that require filling out applications as well. In WoW its a completely different animal which is a reflection of the lack of maturity of the community. Peeps will invite players to join their guild without even talking to them first. Others will spam looking for others to sign their charter and arent required to join after (for some reason many just want to start a guild but dont care if anyone joins it ???)
I've bounced around in several guilds. Some disbanded. Others were maybe 5 players playing 30 toons (all alts) so nobody was ever on. Most are full of selfish players that rarely group together to benefit each other.
Some servers are designated as role playing. However very little RP goes on there. Again the maturity factor here really hurts. What WoW really needs is an Adults only server
Score - 1
5. PvP - Two major glaring issues with PvP in my opinion. One, its way too fast. There really isnt much time to bother with strategy. Its just mash buttons and hope you win. After experiencing SWG where one might spend 30 minutes battling a bounty hunter, this WoW PvP leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Second, the Honor system doesnt work. I played on several PvP severs, they were all the same....GANKFEST. Many times I had to log off in disgust because of the ganking that would occur. Dont get me wrong, I have no problem getting attacked by an enemy if I quest or explore in neutral or enemy territory. However, when I continually getting slain by a lvl 60 rogue and Im only 12, well thats just stupid. The Honor system is supposed to penalize someone into NOT attacking such lower level players.
My last night playing on a PvP server went like this....I was a lvl 14 paladin. I was in Westfall trying to quest. A swarm of horde were there doing some major griefing. They kept killing the quest giver I needed to turn in my quest for the pocketwatch and collecting oats. This horde literally just sat there and killed him anytime he spawned.
Other horde players camped the graveyard and would gank anyone reviving. Or they would camp the griphon so we couldnt fly out. Many stood in the entrance to DM so no alliance could approach to get in.
This went on for 5 days. Finally I gave up and moved on to a so-called Role-Playing server.
Score - 1
6. Animations / emotes - Combat animations really are quite awful in WoW. I get really bored watching my paladin doing the same slash over and over and over and over and over again. Oh wait, he just did a different slash for a critical hit, neat. Oh here we go again, slash over and over and over bleh. Emotes, like the community are simplistic and uninspiring. After seeing the same naked elf dance in IF a few thousand times you get tired of them. Absolutely the worst Ive ever seen in a mmorpg.
Score - 1
7. Game Economy - In short, a total mess. Because of the 5+ million players, gold farmers have set up shop in the game. Prices have skyrocketed since launch day. And because prices for items have gotten so high, many players are almost forced to buy gold from the very source of the problem (how ironic) Its quite common to see a blue item sword with average dps selling for 150g ouch. At launch even epics didnt go above 100g, now they sell for 2000g.
When I came back after a several month break I was shocked at the number of tells I'd get from peeps offering to sell me gold or directing me to their company website. At least twice a day I get one offering this. I have never ever been solicited in any other mmorpg before.
Score - 1
8. Sound - Basically non-existent. Besides the music you hear upon entering SW or the occasional grunt while swing your sword, its just silent. If you crank the volume you might notice your mail armor making a clinking sound while you walk. Otherwise, its obvious Blizzard cared very little for doing anything innovative here.
Score - 1
9. Immersive Factor - There are some neat things here. You'll run across schoolchildren following a teacher around. You'll see and hear two kids chattering on about fishing. During the Holidays, Blizzard does a real nice job in adding festive things. In small towns like Goldshire you might hear a vendor announce they're leaving soon so stop by to check out their goods.
Score - 7
10. Quests - The one thing WoW really shines in is the quests. They're immersive, well written and interesting. They also take away that awful feeling of "ah I need to grind". Yes some are repetitive like kill and bring back 10 buzzard wings. Most though tell a story and lead to many more fine quests. Blizzard did a fine job here.
Score - 9
Total score 33, Rating - 3.3 / 10
Comments
Thier are a few key factors that lead to WoW's success:
1. Blizzard's popularity
2. Lower settings then the competition
3. Reduced repetative gameplay
Well, if persons like you that value the game 3.3/10 have played it for 3 months at release and returns every now and then to play it again... plus are playing it still right now, imagine what the guys valuating it .. dunno... 6/10 do? and for the 8/10 guys?
oh and the 9/10 guys prolly now live IN the game or something.
So there is your answer to WoW popularity. even people that do not like it can't but play it.... go figures.
"If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, if you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime"
I play it because frankly there isnt much else to choose from these days. And I do enjoy the game as a single player rpg. However because the community is just so awful, Im missing the mmo part.
Also, its needs something else besides mashing combat. Housing for starters, player run towns, decorative loot to collect, maybe a wedding or party to attend, etc
It definitely needs more social stuff and non-combat things to do. The main reason I stuck around in mmorpgs like Ultima and SWG was because there was more to do than just smash stuff
Great review OP
WOW is quite cute game in my opinion , unfortunately it has one of the worst community - and Blizzard is doing nothing to change this. Actually Blizzard does not care about players playing the game , and especially not about a one single player. They have millions paying addicts .... so why worry
In one word WOW is a victim of its own success
"Before this battle is over all the world will know that few...stood against many." - King Leonidas
Im not commenting on the rest of your post, but sound? Where do you get off saying there is no sound...almost everything has a sound to it.....
Maybe your settings are messed up? I noticed since one of the patches that a checkbox in the "sound" options keeps turning off, but when i turn it back on all of the sounds are there.
I'm not trying to insult you...but I just dont see why you say there is no sound...because there actually is.
one word
Blizzard
ugh butchered a long quote with counter points to most of what you said. i'll sum it up quick tho.
WoW is such a huge hit because not everyone is you.
well simply cause its a Blizz product. Their name alone garantees a couple of hundred thousand players.
And once you have that snowball running, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger
hehe Its not a bad game people dont like it because its the most popular game. I mean The people that tend to hate it you look at their sigs and they say level 60 warrior ehhh you didnt hate it that much then lol, So they say I was just giving it a chance and I say to level 60 ..... thats more then just a chance. If you didnt enjoy it you wouldnt play to 60
The PVP Combat is one of the best I've ever seen and I have played as many if not more MMOs than you.
The PVP system (horde vs alliance) sucks, though. But the combat itself is amazing. Lots of stragety and timing. The combat couldn't be any better. So, I don't know what you're talking about there, maybe you didn't learn it very well.
There was a reason I could Duel ppl w/ 3 lvls on me and me playing on 56k w/ a 4,000ms ping as a hunter and beat everyone 90% of the time (besides palidans)... I understood the strategy perfectly. Not to mention skill set strategy. But the game overall is sub-par and lacks many important things I seek in MMOs.
(I'm back on DSL now btw, but I still don't play WoW anymore)
A Work in Progress.
Add Me
since my long response was messed up i'll quickly reply to the things i remember off the top of my head.
you mention getting ganked at lvl 12 and being ganked in westfall, just a heads up but those zones are alliance controled. the only way you die is if you flag yourself for PvP or went into a higher lvl contested zone.
you talk about a warrior without a shield playing like a rogue as a negative. thats a positive, every class has multiple ways to play. i tank lvl 60 instances with a 2 hander on my war, doing the most dps as well, with my guild(cant do it out of guild because people like you bitch).
there were some other things like the price of items going up since release, well yeah...more items added and people actually have money now. you talked about an avg dps sword going for 150g. well, dps doesnt mean a lot. its attack speed and top end damage(or was before a recent patch). not that 150g is a lot anyway.
ill agree the community is horrid, but it is a great game....the main thing is it runs smooth and alot of people like the faster paced combat and pvp.
also you give it a 1. for combat animations compared to what? alot of games are like that....and you play a paladin? thats just bore city right there.
and while i agree high lvl people should be penalized for attacking lower lvl's over and over, there is no way to do it with the current pvp system. they fixed the problem of killing quest givers and i dunno man....i have never not been able to get my corpse some how, even when the gy is camped.
lol sound a 1.? it might not be innovative but does it really deserve a 1.? this review is obviously biased, i agree with some of it but there are things there that are just ridiculous.
i am no huge wow fanboy either, the only reason i really play is because everything els bores me right now and I'm holding out for vanguard/AOC.
if you don't like this game just don't play it, thats all i can really say. if you don't understand why it is so popular i will explain it to you...it is real simple.
wow is a well made game that is made by blizzard witch already had a huge fanbase before (witch also explains their awful community). blizzard made a game that fits their casual fans style. there are a ton of new casual mmorpg gamers because of this game.
it may not be your favorite game, it may not fit your play style or taste....but there are a whole lot of bnet kiddies, casual gamers, and some hardcore players that love the game and that is obvious.
read this http://www.vanguardsoh.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1044304#post1044304 then come back and talk to me about the vanguard/soe fiasco.....
5 million idiots can't be wrong!
its a huge hit because it has established itself as the best mmorpg for newcomers. For experienced mmorpgs like me and you, its nowhere near as good but it can be appealling to mmorpgers because it does provide Blizzard's gameplay which is fun and it is a lot more casual than a lot of the mmorpgs out there.
Sure they can. More than 5 million idiots voted for W. More than 5 million idiots decided Tony Blair would make a good PM and that New Labour was the way of the future. More than 5 million idiots have bought Michael Jackson albums.
Not that I dislike WoW. My husband still plays from time to time and has since early beta and I enjoyed it while I played it, too. (though I did get rather bored early on) I just wanted to debunk your "5 million idiot" theory.
Because it's a fun, noob friendly game with the name "Blizzard" on the box.
You should be happy it is the great success that it is because it brought about 3 million people to the MMO genre that otherwise probably never would have given it a second look.
I played EQ1 for 3 years back in the late '90s, it was my first...and my favorite, and I've been playing MMOs ever since. Now just imagine the effect this has on those millions of people that have WoW as a first. That is why it's so popular. 3 million people's first (and will most likely be their favorite) MMO.
Remember the addiction your first MMO gave you? Think back...waaaayyy back. And there you have it.
Joined 2004 - I can't believe I've been a MMORPG.com member for 20 years! Get off my lawn!
I played it a year ago and found that is indeed is a fun game to play, but only up until my characters were lvl 60. After that it was just a constant rinse and repeat all over again 4 times. I still have many very good memorable thoughts of the raids and groupings I partook in. I had a blast and my subscription was well worth it IMHO.
The downside that I didn't like about the game is: No indepth crafting, cartoon graphics get boring, and the fact that my guild buddies changed all the time and no one ever stayed for a long length of time.
Overall I think the game has one of the highest fun factors of all mmorpgs out there currently.
Eve-Online, EQ2, DnL, SWG (Dead), Guild Wars, Anarchy Online, EQ, DAoC, Planet Side, WoW, LOTR, Tabula Rasa.
1) Popular franchise
2) Easy to play
3) Lots of publicity
Simple.
I myself thought WoW was great.
It had some downsides though. But you get really addicted.
I had to quit playing because I got too addicted.
And having heard that other people quit their jobs or brake up with their girlfriend/boyfriend, this game can't be too bad.
Have at you!
WoW is a success because it:
A) Is easy to get into
Is easy on the grinding
C) Takes most of the fun parts of other MMO's and refines them a bit
D) Doesn't have overly harsh penalties
E) Is aimed at Solo, Group, and Raids types
F) Rewards Casual and Hardcore players alike
G) Very easy on the hardware requirements
and the most important of all
H) Because it's fun
Mark my words. You are going to see alot more games focus on Solo and Small Group content in the future. Because forced grouping just doesn't appeal to the largest part of the MMO Community. The Casual players, and those are the people. Most of the publishers that snatch up these developers games are looking to capture.
In War - Victory.
In Peace - Vigilance.
In Death - Sacrifice.
You need to do more than just post length of time played. You need to post your highest level character/characters, their names, and server name - IF you want to really show absolute proof backing up your claims.
If you also posted links to ingame screenshots of your characters, you would be completly untouchable!
As for the rest of your post, you completly miss the boat. There is what YOU think of WoW, which is ok. You can like it or not. Nothing wrong either way.
THEN there is what 15 million - 30 million BLIZZARD FANS world wide think of BLIZZARD. WoW was guaranteed to be a hit no matter what. It already had fans going back close to 10 years before release. Did you know Diablo I is still for sale in stores?! People still play that game online! Millions of Blizzard fans existed years before WoW released. The fanbase was already there. Unlike with most other mmorpgs which have to build up their fanbase.
In the end, do not worry about WoW. Simply find a mmorpg you like and play it, be HAPPY with it. Don't worry about what other players like or dislike. It's all about YOU being.... HAPPY! HAPPY! HAPPY!
I pretty much agree with all of the OP's points. For me, the game is well made and bug free (which is good), but also linear, repetitive, and boring (which is bad). I have been struggling to understand why this game is so popular for awhile now.
It just feels so damn simplistic, im getting dumber just thinking about it. Is this really what we have come to? Oh well, to hell with it. I dont have to understand why its popular, I never understood why Nsync sold records either.
"The man who exchanges Liberty for Iconic classes is a fool deserving of neither." - Me and Ben Franklin