Another reason to dislike WoW?

[Gindil]

I'll paint the scene:

I don't play WoW, but I have watched it and feel that in terms of MMOs, it's one of the worst out there. It plods along with long fetch quests, plenty of content, decent content, and huge raids with very little in terms of single player (save the PvP)

That's just my opinion, for better or worse. Anyway, the point is that WoW has a number of things that it does well. A huge subscription base, oodles of cash, and Bobby Kotick's nickel and diming of customers, ensures it remains a success for years to come.

So I may not be adding much when I say that this article [http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/03/30/pax-east-2010-turbine-on-renting-vs-owning-in-the-mmo-market/] actually makes other MMOs look all the more enticing.

...my interest was piqued when the renting-vs.-owning comparison was made. Save for social connections, players have very little they can take away from WoW when their subscription lapses. They've left no real permanent mark on Azeroth, they have no free pass back in when they want to come back, and their content purchases mean nothing when they have to pinch pennies for a while.

So maybe DDO doesn't have the greatest graphics. It's a free game to play that I choose to invest in, through different means. Perhaps, with Blizzard dominating the subscription scene, it has left the market wide open to others for th F2P variety to expand and find their own niches.

 

[Hexateuch]

Gotta say I agree completely. I've actually played WoW, but I felt like the game was testing my patience more than anything else. It just seemed like everything I did was completely arbitrary. And really, having played DDO, I have to say they did a much better job of making the quests feel like they matter.

 

[Valksy]

The simple fact is this - if you don't like WOW or don't find it engaging or interesting then by all means don't play. I'm afraid that I don't really see an issue here.

In terms of quests, since the days of EQ1 it has been about collecting "six rat tails" (an MMO developer originally made that remark but I can't recall who). The issue is whether you can conceal the monotony (or "grind") or if it is relevant to your player base to try.

I that know when WoW:Cataclysm goes live some people will race to top level and not really read quest text or understand what they are doing or why. To me it is the difference between playing a game or farming it. For others it will be about sitting back and enjoying the story and for those people the devs have to send them in search of "rat tails".

I have a lot more faith in Blizzard to do this. Their use of game environment phasing was very good during Wrath of the Lich King. There was one quest involving a Crusader out in the snow that I did ten times (I'm alt-aholic) and each time I begged for a different outcome. Now THAT was some seriously nice storytelling.

In terms of leaving a permanent mark on Azeroth. I'm not sure that I get the point of this - the very nature of an MMO is that many people play together and no one is a special snowflake who has a unique impact. People should realise that about MMO as a game genre, the need to feel special or important somehow clashes with how the game works. For example, I played on Draenor-EU for 5+ years but I could not tell you who killed Ragnaros first, who was the first Grand Marshal or who was the first level 70, or who killed Halion first...because what other people do in the game has zero effect on how I choose to spend my leisure time.

I suppose you could argue the fact that Blizzard really does not purge accounts (rumours abound of sub ten characters being at risk on accounts that have been shut for years, but the logs remain ). You make a mark by having characters waiting for you again next time you log in. I retired from WoW a few months back, probably for good, and my characters were massed together in a neutral bar (I even had a seating plan for them) and there they shall carouse and tell stories of demons and dragons. I am not entitled to any more of a lasting legacy on the game where 100,000s play

 

[Matt_LRR]

I that know when WoW:Cataclysm goes live some people will race to top level and not really read quest text or understand what they are doing or why. To me it is the difference between playing a game or farming it. For others it will be about sitting back and enjoying the story and for those people the devs have to send them in search of "rat tails".

I have a lot more faith in Blizzard to do this. Their use of game environment phasing was very good during Wrath of the Lich King. There was one quest involving a Crusader out in the snow that I did ten times (I'm alt-aholic) and each time I begged for a different outcome. Now THAT was some seriously nice storytelling.

And to be especially fair to Blizz, they did an amazing job of mixing up quests and masking the "10 bear-asses" fetch quests in Litch king - a design philosophy they have made repeated commitments to carrying forward into Cata.


One can say what they will about how much they like WoW, and is perfectly entitled not to play it, but anyone who tries to make the case that it is an MMO of anything but the absolute highest calibre nd production value is just fooling themselves.

-m