An open world is a type of video gamelevel design where a player can roam freely through a virtual world and is given considerable freedom in choosing how or when to approach objectives.[1] The term free roam is also used, as is sandbox and free-roaming.[2][3] "Open world" and "free-roaming" suggest the absence of artificial barriers,[4]
When you logged in to Vanilla WoW, could you roam freely? Check
Could you skip over content or level in different ways? Check
Was the world "open" to all levels and characters? Check
I guess I hit a nerve with the sandbox gestapo here, but vanilla WoW was always a sandbox game imho with instancing being only a feature, that is up until the newest stuff....
I don't think you struck a nerve, I just think they are stating a fact: You are wrong.
Perhaps their method of proving you wrong may seem unorthodox to you, never-the-less, you are still wrong.
If you are going to cite wikipedia, please take a look at BOTH links in the citation:
1. Level boosting by Blizzard. This can be attached to the recruit a friend system as well. I guess Blizzard doesnt seem to understand that when you level everyone up to level 90, you're basically stepping on everyone else who spent hours and hours leveling to 90 by actually fighting mobs, questing, etc.....They've basically devalued leveling or any progression in WoW. What's the point in leveling if everyone else is just going to be free boosted there? I might as well just wait til next expansion to even it up, or better yet not play at all...
2. Instances, instances, instances. When WoW first came out it was an excellent sandbox. Now it's just a game of instance hopping, instant travel. You can even group up cross server and escape any pvp, or even use it to grief.
3. CrossServer everything basically kills off your server drama, guilding, pvpiing, etc... Running over some random for honor points will never be as fun as getting to kill the annoying server brat.
4. Microtransactions from a company that said they would never do it.
5. No Crafting in any form that's interesting. I can play free games now with superior crafting.
So I cant say I'm surprised that the new expansion has been really lackluster and probably not even close to the numbers of previous expansions. I only just now saw they had a new expansion out.
Blizzard took an epic experience and tried to milk, milk, milk it by making it more shallow for every LCD to play. Now you have it here, a dying empire.
1. I agree, any level boosting at all kills immersion for me. Too bad every game after EQ has had piss poor immersion anyways so it hurts less nowadays.
2. Instances are a way for lazy gamers to prosper, which I hate, but after seeing the MMO community devolve over the years it really is almost a must. It avoids alot of the overwhelming griefing and game mechanic abuse you see from today's gamers.
3. Crosserver content is a good thing, it makes the world feel bigger and allows you a higher chance of finding likeminded players to raid/group/pvp with. It also allows every server to be a high population server, which if you don't like that you mine as well play GW2 with all the other antisocial single player gamers.
4. Although I hate microtransactions as much as the next guy WoW has almost the least amount of it. You have no room to complain here, be thankful they haven't gone the way of Sony.
5. Agreed WoW's crafting is made for a 3rd grader and worse still it's not even beneficial most the time.
1. Level boosting by Blizzard. This can be attached to the recruit a friend system as well. I guess Blizzard doesnt seem to understand that when you level everyone up to level 90, you're basically stepping on everyone else who spent hours and hours leveling to 90 by actually fighting mobs, questing, etc.....They've basically devalued leveling or any progression in WoW. What's the point in leveling if everyone else is just going to be free boosted there? I might as well just wait til next expansion to even it up, or better yet not play at all...
2. Instances, instances, instances. When WoW first came out it was an excellent sandbox. Now it's just a game of instance hopping, instant travel. You can even group up cross server and escape any pvp, or even use it to grief.
3. CrossServer everything basically kills off your server drama, guilding, pvpiing, etc... Running over some random for honor points will never be as fun as getting to kill the annoying server brat.
4. Microtransactions from a company that said they would never do it.
5. No Crafting in any form that's interesting. I can play free games now with superior crafting.
So I cant say I'm surprised that the new expansion has been really lackluster and probably not even close to the numbers of previous expansions. I only just now saw they had a new expansion out.
Blizzard took an epic experience and tried to milk, milk, milk it by making it more shallow for every LCD to play. Now you have it here, a dying empire.
6) Crazy fast leveling and easy then your right !
All post in between are twist on words......Your dead on. MILLIONS HAD STOPPED PLAYING BECAUSE OF THIS !
Because my frost DK 1 hits everything in the open world it's current level pre 90. I was lvl 80 in a bg in pve quest armor and a lvl 89 rogue couldn't kill me.
Im actually back playing WoW because my awesome guild talked me into it. The leveling boost comes in bg handy since I have a few alts Id like to get there before the new x-pac. I've trudged through the level grind countless times in WoW and am VERY thankful I dont have to do it again.
WoW was never a sandbox and always had instanced dungeons as well as teleporting...not sure what you are talking about.
They have very few items in their shop...mounts, character changes and insta level to 90 (for 60.00). I don't really count that as much of a shop.
Im having fun and that's all that matters in the long run.
An open world is a type of video gamelevel design where a player can roam freely through a virtual world and is given considerable freedom in choosing how or when to approach objectives.[1] The term free roam is also used, as is sandbox and free-roaming.[2][3] "Open world" and "free-roaming" suggest the absence of artificial barriers,[4]
When you logged in to Vanilla WoW, could you roam freely? Check
Could you skip over content or level in different ways? Check
Was the world "open" to all levels and characters? Check
I guess I hit a nerve with the sandbox gestapo here, but vanilla WoW was always a sandbox game imho with instancing being only a feature, that is up until the newest stuff....
I love the part where you clearly left off the second half of the definition because it shit all over your argument. You should be a politician. They do this shit all the time. In case you missed all of the other posts, it's important that I remind you how wrong you are. Very, very wrong. Sandboxes require things like 100% player driven economies (very little loot drop), or player housing and castles, or choosing to do anything from the word go. Go ahead, make a level 1, and go raid Siege. You can't even get in, first of all,and you would die instantly. UO is a great example of a sandbox. Have a friend with a lot of gold to burn? He buys you reagents and armor, and you can literally go PvP with people who have been there from the start, or kill dragons in a dungeon. Now, you'll be at a slight disadvantage, as there are no levels, just expertise in your chosen skills, but you CAN do that. I used to make bards and make mobs fight one another for hours.....with a brand new character. Your flawed definition of sandbox is laughable at best, but you knew that already, as proven by your attempt to lie about the definition you yourself chose to post.
I do respect your opinion, but none of your arguments make any sense. All of the things that you are complaining about as if they are new things have been in the game ever since, except the instant 90.
WoW was never a sandbox, never will either as there has always been instances. Even though it is not a sandbox it does have a vast open world feeling to it. The crafting system has never been in depth so that's not a recent discovery I hope. The instant 90 boost does not devalue anything. If a new player wants to play an instant 90 instead of learning his class, I'm pretty sure you won't be seeing him anytime soon in your normals/heroics. But for ongoing players like me, who have leveled numerous toons to 90, it's pretty convenient to not have to do it over and over again.
The game won't die because you quit. I hope you find your dream MMO and have fun!
I know what you mean about sandbox OP and even though WOW was not essentially a sandbox it had enough sandbox elements back then for you to describe it as one and for anyone with an iota of common sense to know what you were getting at Unfortunatly you are dealing with gamers here and common sense is not going to be one of their strong points and worse they are mmo gamers so they are going to be incredibly pedantic too .
For me the major reason I gave up WoW was the looking for a group tool on pvp servers which pretty much destroyed world pvp . I am glad I left when I did I saw the best of the game and when I have returned for the 10 welcome back offers now and then I just feel its a shadow of its former self . I still think its a great game for a child and I can imagine I would have loved it when I was one . As an adult who has been playing games since the early 1990s though I can't see what an adult would get out of it especially one that has had prior experience of gaming prior to playing WoW . Maybe they have grown up with people in WoW and its more a social experience these days for them .
1. Level boosting by Blizzard. This can be attached to the recruit a friend system as well. I guess Blizzard doesnt seem to understand that when you level everyone up to level 90, you're basically stepping on everyone else who spent hours and hours leveling to 90 by actually fighting mobs, questing, etc.....They've basically devalued leveling or any progression in WoW. What's the point in leveling if everyone else is just going to be free boosted there? I might as well just wait til next expansion to even it up, or better yet not play at all...
2. Instances, instances, instances. When WoW first came out it was an excellent sandbox. Now it's just a game of instance hopping, instant travel. You can even group up cross server and escape any pvp, or even use it to grief.
3. CrossServer everything basically kills off your server drama, guilding, pvpiing, etc... Running over some random for honor points will never be as fun as getting to kill the annoying server brat.
4. Microtransactions from a company that said they would never do it.
5. No Crafting in any form that's interesting. I can play free games now with superior crafting.
So I cant say I'm surprised that the new expansion has been really lackluster and probably not even close to the numbers of previous expansions. I only just now saw they had a new expansion out.
Blizzard took an epic experience and tried to milk, milk, milk it by making it more shallow for every LCD to play. Now you have it here, a dying empire.
I stopped reading at #2, please look up what a sandbox is. WOW was never a sandbox.
I run the Mature Minded Gamers. We do video and board gaming videos and reviews. We also have a big Dungeons and Dragons community with multiple games active each week. Join us at: https://www.maturemindedgamers.com
1. Level boosting by Blizzard. This can be attached to the recruit a friend system as well. I guess Blizzard doesnt seem to understand that when you level everyone up to level 90, you're basically stepping on everyone else who spent hours and hours leveling to 90 by actually fighting mobs, questing, etc.....They've basically devalued leveling or any progression in WoW. What's the point in leveling if everyone else is just going to be free boosted there? I might as well just wait til next expansion to even it up, or better yet not play at all...
2. Instances, instances, instances. When WoW first came out it was an excellent sandbox. Now it's just a game of instance hopping, instant travel. You can even group up cross server and escape any pvp, or even use it to grief.
3. CrossServer everything basically kills off your server drama, guilding, pvpiing, etc... Running over some random for honor points will never be as fun as getting to kill the annoying server brat.
4. Microtransactions from a company that said they would never do it.
5. No Crafting in any form that's interesting. I can play free games now with superior crafting.
So I cant say I'm surprised that the new expansion has been really lackluster and probably not even close to the numbers of previous expansions. I only just now saw they had a new expansion out.
Blizzard took an epic experience and tried to milk, milk, milk it by making it more shallow for every LCD to play. Now you have it here, a dying empire.
1. Without level boosting the only alternative is to cut content. Had they only just added levels, the ability to level up to play with friends would take much too long - they've added 40 levels! I'd rather see high levels for sale or make big level boosts available than to dumb down or cut lower level content.
2. Instances were in the game when it came out - not a reason to go back to WoW but rather a reason to not visit in the first place if you're opposed to instances. Also, the only people that escape pvp are the people who don't want to PvP, which is normal in most MMO's - again, also true when the game first came out - they had PvE server where players could escape PvP.
3. Cross Server is better than not having anybody to quest/play with (which is the reality in some cases).
4. In 2004 the game cost players $14.99 per month. In 2014 would you rather the sub price go up with inflation?
5. Crafting in WoW in my opinion was never it's strong point, again - probably not a draw to go to wow in the first place.
I still think its a great game for a child and I can imagine I would have loved it when I was one . As an adult who has been playing games since the early 1990s though I can't see what an adult would get out of it especially one that has had prior experience of gaming prior to playing WoW . Maybe they have grown up with people in WoW and its more a social experience these days for them .
Well ain´t that impressive...
But as someone who has played games since the mid 80´s i can say that your so called experience does not really stand for fertelizer... Seeing how the consumer and the market have shifted in combination with the tech advance... It would be like saying that Justin Beiber is a bad artist because you started to listen to music on the 45'... After all i do not know of many 10-year olds that do Heroic (now mythic) raiding. I think you mix up bar of entry with lack of complexity. The fact that you "as an adult" no longer see the value of the game... That is more on you as one turned jaded then the game... Because it pretty much work like it alwasy have... The reason world PvP is dead is because people grew bored of it... Heck back in the days of Warth there was a perfect place for world PvP outside of the ICC gate. Did anyone take advantage of it.. Nope... So blame the player.. not the game. By the same token the reason they changed AV was because the group that actually liked a weekend long tug-o-war for no rewards was very small...
Any way... Perhaps you should sity down and have a talk with your inner child.. see if you can discover the joy for life again... Because it sounds to me like you need it.
I just returned and my only gripe is that as a war tank I lfg lvld to 60, boosted to 90, timeless isles to 502, and tanked my first lfr soo in under 12 hours played...that's a bit too easy. I hope the expansion is a bit more challenging.
Maybe not a true sandbox, but for roleplayers or PvPers, WoW was a lot more open on its initial release. I and my friends did not play to reach level cap or to raid dungeons. We played to contest zones, to gank or be ganked. You could say we were missing the point of the game -- but I had more fun before level 60 than after.
That's when the game was special. I swear it took me like 7 months to level my first toon.
Love it or hate it, WoW is considered the Theme Park MMO that all others are judged by. It is the Theme Park MMO of this and every other generation. It is NOT a sandbox game where you roam the world freely with no direction and no quests holding your hand leading you toward what to do and where to go.
I was one of those who picked EQ2 over WoW when it first came out, but have probably put more hours into WoW. The game itself has certainly been dumbed down now (I miss the skill trees ALOT), but the reality for new casual players (and after all that is where WoW makes their money), speeding up xp so they can get to cap and then want the new expansion seems to make some sense.
I do miss the Tristfall Glades Alliance V Horde PvP Friday and Saturday night fun back in the day :-(
4: Yeah... They are still not selling anything game-changing. You still get access to EVERYTHING the game have to offer with your subscription and IIRC back when they said that microtransaction was pretty much the3 same as selling P2W items. Again i respect your opinion...
Heh that's basically Guild Wars 2 but I'm sure you can find people in here telling you how much P2W the game is or shit like that. Oh and ... it has no subscription fee.
I guess cash shops are coming to every business model, I'm just curious when y'all die-hard subscription fee whiteknights are going to draw a line and move on .
1. Level boosting by Blizzard. This can be attached to the recruit a friend system as well. I guess Blizzard doesnt seem to understand that when you level everyone up to level 90, you're basically stepping on everyone else who spent hours and hours leveling to 90 by actually fighting mobs, questing, etc.....They've basically devalued leveling or any progression in WoW. What's the point in leveling if everyone else is just going to be free boosted there? I might as well just wait til next expansion to even it up, or better yet not play at all...
2. Instances, instances, instances. When WoW first came out it was an excellent sandbox. Now it's just a game of instance hopping, instant travel. You can even group up cross server and escape any pvp, or even use it to grief.
3. CrossServer everything basically kills off your server drama, guilding, pvpiing, etc... Running over some random for honor points will never be as fun as getting to kill the annoying server brat.
4. Microtransactions from a company that said they would never do it.
5. No Crafting in any form that's interesting. I can play free games now with superior crafting.
So I cant say I'm surprised that the new expansion has been really lackluster and probably not even close to the numbers of previous expansions. I only just now saw they had a new expansion out.
Blizzard took an epic experience and tried to milk, milk, milk it by making it more shallow for every LCD to play. Now you have it here, a dying empire.
1. Without level boosting the only alternative is to cut content. Had they only just added levels, the ability to level up to play with friends would take much too long - they've added 40 levels! I'd rather see high levels for sale or make big level boosts available than to dumb down or cut lower level content.
2. Instances were in the game when it came out - not a reason to go back to WoW but rather a reason to not visit in the first place if you're opposed to instances. Also, the only people that escape pvp are the people who don't want to PvP, which is normal in most MMO's - again, also true when the game first came out - they had PvE server where players could escape PvP.
3. Cross Server is better than not having anybody to quest/play with (which is the reality in some cases).
4. In 2004 the game cost players $14.99 per month. In 2014 would you rather the sub price go up with inflation?
5. Crafting in WoW in my opinion was never it's strong point, again - probably not a draw to go to wow in the first place.
Well considering in 2004 you got 60 levels and 30 days of play time for the original box price, I'd have to say the price did indeed go up with inflation over the years. WoD is the most expensive expansion to date. There's two ways to make more profit, one is to increase prices, the other is to deliver less content for the same price. Blizzard has taken the latter route for the most part, but this time around, their padding their wallets with an increased upfront fee for their latest expansion. Which means the next expansion will cost even more. Why? Because less and less people are actually subbing to the game year round and they need to recoup their costs upfront or deliver even less content. They know they can get an initial box price from people, the subscription part is the crap shoot part.
Maybe not a true sandbox, but for roleplayers or PvPers, WoW was a lot more open on its initial release. I and my friends did not play to reach level cap or to raid dungeons. We played to contest zones, to gank or be ganked. You could say we were missing the point of the game -- but I had more fun before level 60 than after.
That's when the game was special. I swear it took me like 7 months to level my first toon.
A brand new WOW with just 60 levels took 7 months to level? (and next to no end game).. you don't say.
But what sense does it make to drag people into lvling for months when now 90 is the cap (soon to be 100) and game has more end game content than majority of themepark MMOS combined? add to that the the fact that majority of players have seen everything that is there to be seen in past one decade.
I swear you people don't put much thought before hitting that keyboard of yours.
Not sure why so many of the trolls coming in are claiming WoW wasnt a sandbox. Maybe every person here has a different definition of what a sandbox is?
It was 100% a sandbox when it first came out. Zone to Zone, the world was completely open with a few side dungeons. If you're one of those trolls, explain to me how it wasnt a sandbox ?
As Kyleran said, though many people have different ideas of what a sandbox is, WoW was never, ever a sandbox.
As he also mentions, it was very open world. But open world or even FFA pvp (as others assert is necessary to wear the moniker of "sandbox") don't make a game a sandbox.
In a sandbox game you can pretty much eschew one playstyle and solely concentrate on the playstyle of your choice.
don't ever want to do a quest or kill a mob but want to only be a crafter? A sandbox game will allow that.
Another thing sandbox games do, or don't do, is lead you across your leveling experience. Or lead you in anything. It's up to the player to decide what they want to do.
I don't recall doing anything but following the quest trail from quest hub to quest hub in WoW.
WoW is the epitomy of a themepark game. Regardless of whether it had a more open world or not.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
You could just buy the service online and there isn't an easy way to stop it. Blizzard now gets the money, and leveling bots are lessened greatly.
2. Instances, instances, instances. When WoW first came out it was an excellent sandbox.
It was NEVER a sandbox.
3. CrossServer everything basically kills off your server drama, guilding, pvpiing, etc... Running over some random for honor points will never be as fun as getting to kill the annoying server brat.
Agreed. Although it helps lesser pop servers and I think it's a prelude to a server'less' world, some day.
4. Microtransactions from a company that said they would never do it.
Vanity items don't count as microtransactions. I think there's 1 pet you can buy for real money and sell, but that's not a full on pay to win.
5. No Crafting in any form that's interesting.
Agreed 100% here. Mind you I've not seen decent crafting since SWG so, it is what it is.
Now you have it here, a dying empire.
Subs went up above 7 million last month, and i'm sure more after Blizzcon/WoD. There's nothing dieing about that.
4: Yeah... They are still not selling anything game-changing. You still get access to EVERYTHING the game have to offer with your subscription and IIRC back when they said that microtransaction was pretty much the3 same as selling P2W items. Again i respect your opinion...
Heh that's basically Guild Wars 2 but I'm sure you can find people in here telling you how much P2W the game is or shit like that. Oh and ... it has no subscription fee.
I guess cash shops are coming to every business model, I'm just curious when y'all die-hard subscription fee whiteknights are going to draw a line and move on .
You haven't noticed? The line has been being drawn for a few months now. Archeage and what GW2 has turned into has galvanized anti-cash shop, sub supporters.
Maybe not a true sandbox, but for roleplayers or PvPers, WoW was a lot more open on its initial release. I and my friends did not play to reach level cap or to raid dungeons. We played to contest zones, to gank or be ganked. You could say we were missing the point of the game -- but I had more fun before level 60 than after.
That's when the game was special. I swear it took me like 7 months to level my first toon.
A brand new WOW with just 60 levels took 7 months to level? (and next to no end game).. you don't say.
But what sense does it make to drag people into lvling for months when now 90 is the cap (soon to be 100) and game has more end game content than majority of themepark MMOS combined? add to that the the fact that majority of players have seen everything that is there to be seen in past one decade.
I swear you people don't put much thought before hitting that keyboard of yours.
I think you are barking up the wrong tree. I have no problem with WoW offering level 90 boost. In fact I hate what leveling has become. I wish mmorpgs would get rid of that magic number by your character frame forever.
edit- Hell why can't they start everyone at 100. Have a big world full of optional quests that give gold and unique trinkets for those who want to soak in the lore and/or the completionists.
Comments
I don't think you struck a nerve, I just think they are stating a fact: You are wrong.
Perhaps their method of proving you wrong may seem unorthodox to you, never-the-less, you are still wrong.
If you are going to cite wikipedia, please take a look at BOTH links in the citation:
One refers to a job posting, the other talks about open world games, not sandboxes, and references GTA which is indeed a sandbox. http://www.kotaku.com.au/2008/07/pandemic_working_on_new_open_world_sandbox_ip/ and http://www.computerandvideogames.com/189599/features/the-complete-history-of-open-world-games-part-2/
Next time do your research before pulling quotes off the internet.
Once again in case you missed it, you're wrong. WoW was great, but it's no sandbox. Stop perverting the definition for your own trolling needs.
"This may hurt a little, but it's something you'll get used to. Relax....."
1. I agree, any level boosting at all kills immersion for me. Too bad every game after EQ has had piss poor immersion anyways so it hurts less nowadays.
2. Instances are a way for lazy gamers to prosper, which I hate, but after seeing the MMO community devolve over the years it really is almost a must. It avoids alot of the overwhelming griefing and game mechanic abuse you see from today's gamers.
3. Crosserver content is a good thing, it makes the world feel bigger and allows you a higher chance of finding likeminded players to raid/group/pvp with. It also allows every server to be a high population server, which if you don't like that you mine as well play GW2 with all the other antisocial single player gamers.
4. Although I hate microtransactions as much as the next guy WoW has almost the least amount of it. You have no room to complain here, be thankful they haven't gone the way of Sony.
5. Agreed WoW's crafting is made for a 3rd grader and worse still it's not even beneficial most the time.
6) Crazy fast leveling and easy then your right !
All post in between are twist on words......Your dead on. MILLIONS HAD STOPPED PLAYING BECAUSE OF THIS !
This isn't a signature, you just think it is.
Im actually back playing WoW because my awesome guild talked me into it. The leveling boost comes in bg handy since I have a few alts Id like to get there before the new x-pac. I've trudged through the level grind countless times in WoW and am VERY thankful I dont have to do it again.
WoW was never a sandbox and always had instanced dungeons as well as teleporting...not sure what you are talking about.
They have very few items in their shop...mounts, character changes and insta level to 90 (for 60.00). I don't really count that as much of a shop.
Im having fun and that's all that matters in the long run.
I love the part where you clearly left off the second half of the definition because it shit all over your argument. You should be a politician. They do this shit all the time. In case you missed all of the other posts, it's important that I remind you how wrong you are. Very, very wrong. Sandboxes require things like 100% player driven economies (very little loot drop), or player housing and castles, or choosing to do anything from the word go. Go ahead, make a level 1, and go raid Siege. You can't even get in, first of all,and you would die instantly. UO is a great example of a sandbox. Have a friend with a lot of gold to burn? He buys you reagents and armor, and you can literally go PvP with people who have been there from the start, or kill dragons in a dungeon. Now, you'll be at a slight disadvantage, as there are no levels, just expertise in your chosen skills, but you CAN do that. I used to make bards and make mobs fight one another for hours.....with a brand new character. Your flawed definition of sandbox is laughable at best, but you knew that already, as proven by your attempt to lie about the definition you yourself chose to post.
I do respect your opinion, but none of your arguments make any sense. All of the things that you are complaining about as if they are new things have been in the game ever since, except the instant 90.
WoW was never a sandbox, never will either as there has always been instances. Even though it is not a sandbox it does have a vast open world feeling to it. The crafting system has never been in depth so that's not a recent discovery I hope. The instant 90 boost does not devalue anything. If a new player wants to play an instant 90 instead of learning his class, I'm pretty sure you won't be seeing him anytime soon in your normals/heroics. But for ongoing players like me, who have leveled numerous toons to 90, it's pretty convenient to not have to do it over and over again.
The game won't die because you quit. I hope you find your dream MMO and have fun!
I know what you mean about sandbox OP and even though WOW was not essentially a sandbox it had enough sandbox elements back then for you to describe it as one and for anyone with an iota of common sense to know what you were getting at Unfortunatly you are dealing with gamers here and common sense is not going to be one of their strong points and worse they are mmo gamers so they are going to be incredibly pedantic too .
For me the major reason I gave up WoW was the looking for a group tool on pvp servers which pretty much destroyed world pvp . I am glad I left when I did I saw the best of the game and when I have returned for the 10 welcome back offers now and then I just feel its a shadow of its former self . I still think its a great game for a child and I can imagine I would have loved it when I was one . As an adult who has been playing games since the early 1990s though I can't see what an adult would get out of it especially one that has had prior experience of gaming prior to playing WoW . Maybe they have grown up with people in WoW and its more a social experience these days for them .
I stopped reading at #2, please look up what a sandbox is. WOW was never a sandbox.
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"wow was a sandbox"
L
O
L
Fine, we'll compromise. I'll get my way & you'll find a way to be okay with that.
1. Without level boosting the only alternative is to cut content. Had they only just added levels, the ability to level up to play with friends would take much too long - they've added 40 levels! I'd rather see high levels for sale or make big level boosts available than to dumb down or cut lower level content.
2. Instances were in the game when it came out - not a reason to go back to WoW but rather a reason to not visit in the first place if you're opposed to instances. Also, the only people that escape pvp are the people who don't want to PvP, which is normal in most MMO's - again, also true when the game first came out - they had PvE server where players could escape PvP.
3. Cross Server is better than not having anybody to quest/play with (which is the reality in some cases).
4. In 2004 the game cost players $14.99 per month. In 2014 would you rather the sub price go up with inflation?
5. Crafting in WoW in my opinion was never it's strong point, again - probably not a draw to go to wow in the first place.
Well ain´t that impressive...
But as someone who has played games since the mid 80´s i can say that your so called experience does not really stand for fertelizer... Seeing how the consumer and the market have shifted in combination with the tech advance... It would be like saying that Justin Beiber is a bad artist because you started to listen to music on the 45'... After all i do not know of many 10-year olds that do Heroic (now mythic) raiding. I think you mix up bar of entry with lack of complexity. The fact that you "as an adult" no longer see the value of the game... That is more on you as one turned jaded then the game... Because it pretty much work like it alwasy have... The reason world PvP is dead is because people grew bored of it... Heck back in the days of Warth there was a perfect place for world PvP outside of the ICC gate. Did anyone take advantage of it.. Nope... So blame the player.. not the game. By the same token the reason they changed AV was because the group that actually liked a weekend long tug-o-war for no rewards was very small...
Any way... Perhaps you should sity down and have a talk with your inner child.. see if you can discover the joy for life again... Because it sounds to me like you need it.
This have been a good conversation
That's when the game was special. I swear it took me like 7 months to level my first toon.
Love it or hate it, WoW is considered the Theme Park MMO that all others are judged by. It is the Theme Park MMO of this and every other generation. It is NOT a sandbox game where you roam the world freely with no direction and no quests holding your hand leading you toward what to do and where to go.
I was one of those who picked EQ2 over WoW when it first came out, but have probably put more hours into WoW. The game itself has certainly been dumbed down now (I miss the skill trees ALOT), but the reality for new casual players (and after all that is where WoW makes their money), speeding up xp so they can get to cap and then want the new expansion seems to make some sense.
I do miss the Tristfall Glades Alliance V Horde PvP Friday and Saturday night fun back in the day :-(
Heh that's basically Guild Wars 2 but I'm sure you can find people in here telling you how much P2W the game is or shit like that. Oh and ... it has no subscription fee.
I guess cash shops are coming to every business model, I'm just curious when y'all die-hard subscription fee whiteknights are going to draw a line and move on .
Well considering in 2004 you got 60 levels and 30 days of play time for the original box price, I'd have to say the price did indeed go up with inflation over the years. WoD is the most expensive expansion to date. There's two ways to make more profit, one is to increase prices, the other is to deliver less content for the same price. Blizzard has taken the latter route for the most part, but this time around, their padding their wallets with an increased upfront fee for their latest expansion. Which means the next expansion will cost even more. Why? Because less and less people are actually subbing to the game year round and they need to recoup their costs upfront or deliver even less content. They know they can get an initial box price from people, the subscription part is the crap shoot part.
A brand new WOW with just 60 levels took 7 months to level? (and next to no end game).. you don't say.
But what sense does it make to drag people into lvling for months when now 90 is the cap (soon to be 100) and game has more end game content than majority of themepark MMOS combined? add to that the the fact that majority of players have seen everything that is there to be seen in past one decade.
I swear you people don't put much thought before hitting that keyboard of yours.
As Kyleran said, though many people have different ideas of what a sandbox is, WoW was never, ever a sandbox.
As he also mentions, it was very open world. But open world or even FFA pvp (as others assert is necessary to wear the moniker of "sandbox") don't make a game a sandbox.
In a sandbox game you can pretty much eschew one playstyle and solely concentrate on the playstyle of your choice.
don't ever want to do a quest or kill a mob but want to only be a crafter? A sandbox game will allow that.
Another thing sandbox games do, or don't do, is lead you across your leveling experience. Or lead you in anything. It's up to the player to decide what they want to do.
I don't recall doing anything but following the quest trail from quest hub to quest hub in WoW.
WoW is the epitomy of a themepark game. Regardless of whether it had a more open world or not.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
You could just buy the service online and there isn't an easy way to stop it. Blizzard now gets the money, and leveling bots are lessened greatly.
It was NEVER a sandbox.
Agreed. Although it helps lesser pop servers and I think it's a prelude to a server'less' world, some day.
Vanity items don't count as microtransactions. I think there's 1 pet you can buy for real money and sell, but that's not a full on pay to win.
Agreed 100% here. Mind you I've not seen decent crafting since SWG so, it is what it is.
Subs went up above 7 million last month, and i'm sure more after Blizzcon/WoD. There's nothing dieing about that.
My 5 reasons.....
1. The Toxic Community.
2. The Toxic Community.
3. The Toxic Community.
4. The Toxic Community.
5. The Toxic Community.
"My Fantasy is having two men at once...
One Cooking and One Cleaning!"
---------------------------
"A good man can make you feel sexy,
strong and able to take on the whole world...
oh sorry...that's wine...wine does that..."
You haven't noticed? The line has been being drawn for a few months now. Archeage and what GW2 has turned into has galvanized anti-cash shop, sub supporters.
I think you are barking up the wrong tree. I have no problem with WoW offering level 90 boost. In fact I hate what leveling has become. I wish mmorpgs would get rid of that magic number by your character frame forever.
edit- Hell why can't they start everyone at 100. Have a big world full of optional quests that give gold and unique trinkets for those who want to soak in the lore and/or the completionists.
WoW was an excellent sandbox...
I pretty much stopped right there. Just goes to show that everyone has a different definition of Sandbox.