Where did WoW go right?

[lawll]

Originally Posted by choklo [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I never played WoW, but I can't deny it's success. Many of my former EQ friends left for WoW, but the real problem was that they never came back. How did WoW maintain it's dominance all these years, while so many other games faded away? What have we learned about MMO's in the process? What type of game could replace WoW?

WoW has the best game engine any MMO has ever been blessed with. That's why WoW is number one and will stay number one for a long time to come.

[Breeziyo]

Originally Posted by square [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

"Where did WoW go right?"

*posts negative stuff about wow like an angry mouth breather*

It went right by attracting a crowd outside of the norm. Not everyone wants to sit around camping an item you MIGHT get for 10 hours, or looking for a group for 8 hours straight. People have lives outside of games, and the WoW MMO genre gave people a pick up and play style MMO instead of a deep time invested one.

The disgruntled veterans of the game always like to keep the positives in check whenever the game is talked about.

[Atmas]

I think Falkun is spot on with most of his post.

As far as its initial and continued success I would attribute that to a combination of design and being in the right place at the right time.

Timewise, they lucked out tremendously with arriving when the MMO scene was still fairly sparse but broad band had recently become more widespread. In all honesty I dont remember much advertising for EQ in general. A lot of people who had never played MUDs, MMOs, or Tabletop games were introduced to the concepts of gear and leveling through WoW. Lets be honest, most gamers love the sense of achievement, and WoW was good at giving it to them.

After playing many MMOs over the years now I have never seen a MMO so completely polished as WoW was when it launched. They also added a lot of features that most people now expect to be in a game, things like an auction house. Basically they raised the bar for what is expected as a starting point so high that most other dev teams run out of money before being able to get their product to a competing level.

I loved Vanilla WoW, didn't really like TBC, and once again greatly enjoyed WoTLK. Through all that though I always felt like the game was well made. I played it on and off again until Cata, over the years they have dumbed the game down a lot and melded the classes way too much.

Oh and I guess I have to mention PvP. I played Tallon Zek on live and for the most part enjoyed PvP but it was kind of obvious that in EQ PvP was an after thought. WoW made it a lot more dynamic and interesting.

[Xadion]

Honestly I loved vanilla WoW- the PVP was fun, the world PVP server I was on was great and PVP actually built community as the level-uppers made friends with higher ups to come and beat down corpse campers etc- 40man raids still felt kinda RAID LIKE coming from EQs 72mans... IMO WoW did it 90% right from the start...then the pandering started in BC and blah

[Lagaidh]

I played Beta and since I was still heavily invested in EQ at the time, I didn't give it my fairest appraisal. I didn't like it. I hated their interpretation of both dwarves (my EQ race) and paladins (my EQ class).

When I'd finally given up on EQ, I went to WoW to be with some old EQ friends. I found my niche as a cow hunter. Hunters get a bad rap, and I understand why. A lot of "lol EZ mode" players gravitate towards the class kind of like the ubiquitous Iksar Monk. Lol ninja lol lizerdmang! /sigh

I thoroughly enjoyed WoW through Wrath of the Lich King. I'd run out of content... even as a casual I'd done many of the WoTLK raids and either had BiS or nearly so... I stopped playing because it didn't hold my interest as much. I'd gotten a good 3 solid years from the game so I considered that good enough.

I bought Cataclysm. Installed. They completely changed how my class works. Entirely. They took away some of my favorite skills. When there's that much of an overhaul, I have no desire to relearn how to play a class that is already a hop, skip and a jump away from the new maximum level. From my eyes, I see that as a middle finger to someone that's been paying to play for years.

I haven't looked back.

Luckily... I found p99 soon thereafter. =)

One thing I always thought Blizzard got right in WoW was environment charm. Nothing ever seems tacked on. If you are going through the woods and there's an old pillar or spot of worship... it often has no purpose other than to flavor that area. The game world IS a character and I've always thought that is great.

I do miss flying.

[falkun]

Originally Posted by Lagaidh [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

One thing I always thought Blizzard got right in WoW was environment charm. Nothing ever seems tacked on. If you are going through the woods and there's an old pillar or spot of worship... it often has no purpose other than to flavor that area. The game world IS a character and I've always thought that is great.

I have to completely disagree, especially in the newer areas. 99% of the time, I feel everything in WoW is staged and there is not a natural flow to environment. For quests, you always know where to go because the terrain is outlined by the area the quest is in. For instance, the shallow water pond things on that Western-most newbie zone in WOTLK. Those ponds define quest boundaries, and they're surrounded by that area with the trappers that just looks shoved into the zone.

In contrast, EQ zones seem much more free. Inns in the middle of the Commonlands, deserted buildings from a long-forgotten empire and a massive staircase in Emerald Jungle.

I will agree that I love the environment design in WoW, that dwarf resevoire and dam (i think they destroyed the dam in Cata) is awe-inspiring. The bridge halfway through Azeroth near Dun Modr, the gates of Stormwind.

[Barkingturtle]

What WoW did well is that they shipped with and maintain to this day a very low barrier to entry. Even a non-gamer can pick the game up and play it and--even more importantly--they can do so on an eight year-old PC.

When WoW came out, it's immediate competition was EQ2. I still can't play EQ2 on max settings.

[Breeziyo]

Originally Posted by Barkingturtle [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

When WoW came out, it's immediate competition was EQ2. I still can't play EQ2 on max settings.

Yeah, what the hell is up with that? I've got a pretty current machine and it still struggles, but usually only if I decide to turn the shadows on.

[tops419]

Originally Posted by Deddar [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Funny people mentioned vanilla wow progression servers and lone behold they are starting a brand new one on AUG 25th that will be very close to how wow was when it was released. Its called Emerald Dream which will be run on Feenix Server Project. I found the info over at wow-one so go check it out for yourself!

http://www.wow-one.com/forum/topic/2...emerald-dream/

I'm going to give this a go, who knows... it may end up alright. I get excited about any project that takes 2+ years work.

[Lagaidh]

Originally Posted by falkun [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I have to completely disagree, especially in the newer areas. 99% of the time, I feel everything in WoW is staged and there is not a natural flow to environment. For quests, you always know where to go because the terrain is outlined by the area the quest is in. For instance, the shallow water pond things on that Western-most newbie zone in WOTLK. Those ponds define quest boundaries, and they're surrounded by that area with the trappers that just looks shoved into the zone.

In contrast, EQ zones seem much more free. Inns in the middle of the Commonlands, deserted buildings from a long-forgotten empire and a massive staircase in Emerald Jungle.

I will agree that I love the environment design in WoW, that dwarf resevoire and dam (i think they destroyed the dam in Cata) is awe-inspiring. The bridge halfway through Azeroth near Dun Modr, the gates of Stormwind.

Maybe I didn't describe what I mean well enough. I wasn't thinking so much of flow from one place to the next as discreet little touches that were obviously thought about by the creators. Something that isn't an obvious rubber stamp of something else.

One zone may have a little pond tucked away that has no purpose unless you wanted to fish in it or swim. I liked those little things.