Poll: This is why I don't like World of Warcraft:

[AcacianLeaves]

First of all, if you love World of Warcraft - good for you. I'm not saying you're wrong or that you have bad taste or anything negative about you personally. If you like WoW, this poll and thread really aren't meant for you.

But there are a lot of us out there for whom WoW just isn't our cup of tea. I've played most MMOs that have released in the last 10 years or so, with varying degrees of interest and commitment. My favorite was Dark Age of Camelot during the brief period of time before Trials of Atlantis had become too big for its britches, and just after New Frontiers had reinvigorated large scale realm vs. realm PvP. This just happened to also be the period of time just before the release of World of Warcraft in 2004.

Since then I've had trouble finding a long-term home for my leisure time in the MMORPG market. I think this is mostly due to the fact that I played WoW when it first released, didn't like it for various reasons, and ever since then I've been frustrated to find that all the things I dislike about WoW have permeated the MMORPG market. The most egregious example of this is Warhammer Online, where they took a great setting and IP and turned what could have been the premiere PvP title into a poorly designed WoW clone. But most MMORPGs released since 2005 or so have been guilty of some degree of WoW cloning.

I re-activated WoW earlier this year and managed to get a Druid up to about 74 before I just got plain bored of it. I really, really tried to give it a chance this time. But the kid-friendly art design, the dumbed down gameplay, the lackluster PvP, and what I found to be a toxic community just ended up turning me off again. I suspect I'll give it another shot after the furor over Cataclysm dies down, perhaps this time with a group of friends in an established guild. It seems like its the kind of game where its flaws become less apparent if played with good friends.

In any case, I know that there are many gamers like me that just never got the WoW spark. If you're one of those gamers, what is it that turns you off of the game?

And if you are a fan, keep the hate down to a minimum. No game is flawless, and I think the options I've listed are understood even by those who have dedicated the last 6 years to this game.

 

[Valkyrie101]

I like games that have a point, not just levelling up and gathering gear for the sake of it.

 

[NeedAUserName]

I don't mind most of the game, its just I find the end game content (eg raiding) boring as hell. I just don't see the appeal in running the same place every week to get a few precious bits of armour so you can advance tot he next dungeon, that you raid every week for x number of weeks until you have enough gear to advance again.

I do however really enjoy everything u to that, and on my main have just to many stupid achievements, like Loremaster, and getting a Frostsabre mount. Unfortunately I can't get onto my account anymore, and although slightly gutted, I realize it ain't the end of the world, and the main reason I want to play the game again is because I can't.

 

[John the Gamer]

Too expensive. I only want to buy for a game once.

 

[minarri]

I liked WoW and played it for over a year. However the fees were expensive enough that after a time I could no longer rationalize spending so much each month on one game.

 

[thahat]

moooneeeey needs to be in the op's poll xd

 

[Valksy]

Other.

I used to play, played for years but it seemed like with server transfer/cross server BG/cross server dungeons there was less encouragement for people to not act like cunts. The community just became way too toxic for my liking. And the incessant need to "farm" the game rather than "play" the game became tedious.

 

[AcacianLeaves]

I like games that have a point, not just levelling up and gathering gear for the sake of it.

I never understood this argument. What game has a 'point' aside from leisure and entertainment? Do you mean you prefer games that have a finite amount of content, i.e. games that can be beaten?

 

[Jandau]

Well, I'm no MMO veteran, but I've played WoW, LotRO, WAR, EQ2, DDO and a few free MMOs.

WoW is by far the highest quality product of them all. I'm not a WoW fanboy, I'm not playing WoW right now, heck I skipped WotLK altogether. However, almost everything the above bunch does, WoW does better. If it doesn't at any given time, you can bet your arse it'll be patched in inside a few months.

As for the art style, I wouldn't call it kid-friendly. I'm sure people who like hating WoW would use that term, but it's hardly accurate. Stylized might be a better one. Also, not everything has to be brown-gray (I'm looking at you, LotRO and WAR) with a spatter of guts and gore. I for one find WoW's visuals easy on the eyes, varied and functional.

The gameplay itself is no more "dumbed down" than most of today's mainstream MMOs. If that bothers you, I'm sure you can find a niche MMO somewhere that lets you craft all the Excel charts your heart desires.

Basically, sorry you didn't like it, but that doesn't make it a bad game.

 

[AcacianLeaves]

moooneeeey needs to be in the op's poll xd

I think money would fall under having no interest in any MMORPG. Although seriously, a normal game is $60 new. That's 4 months of World of Warcraft right there. With the inclusion of game-time cards 'money' isn't really a great reason, you can easily get more content out of 4 months of your typical MMO than you would out of all the content in a typical new release.

 

[Nathan Pipinpadaloxicopolis]

the only two things stopping me from playing wow is paying for the subscription, and struggling to get a number of friends online at the same time (in this case, for raiding)

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Money. I'm not a subscription person.

 

[viranimus]

I dont hate it.

I genuinely dislike it though.

Spoiling as public service...

Spoiler

Ive got a lot of reasons for it. Perhaps the biggest of which has to be its entirely too easy and simple. I mean I should be more forgiving I guess cause what does anyone expect from the company that gave birth to the notion of Zerg? 9/10 problems in WoW can be solved by adding more numbers to the equation. There is very little in the way of tactics. Its either just a matter of more warm bodies, Or higher level of gear based percentages. It really takes the player and individual out of the equation.

Beyond that, there are minor gripes, such as Even when it was released its graphics were entirely too old. I mean I get it.. reusing the same Inn/house/castle layout 10000 times saves a LOT in the way of resources, but honestly its counter immersive and only serves to make a game that is based on repetition even more repetitive.

Its also a game of bait and switch. With as easy as the game is, It exists in a group or wallow in mediocrity model. The game lulls you in with this early sense of instant gratification, but What you can accomplish on your own in the game very quickly becomes worthless by the time you can do it on your own. Only thing worth your time and effort requires groups/raids to accomplish and when you are involved in groups/raids, your contribution is basically a nominal statistic. Thus when you get something out of raid/groups its like you didnt accomplish anything, your raid/group/guild did it for you.

It isnt the biggest gripe, but is by far and away the most annoying and tedious. The people. The game is obviously geared toward social interaction and collaborative effort. But, the design of the game teaches the player how to bottom feed and places actual emphasis on greed. So with such a very large portion of the community who plays it has been rewarded for years by playing like a greedy bottom feeder, which honestly makes the game unpleasant. Thats how people ruin the in game exp, Out of game it is even worse. Because too many of the WoW fan outside of the game are a horrendous thing to be in proximity to.
I cant tell you how many times Ive randomly encountered someone, who eventually lets me know they play WoW, and as soon as WoW has been introduced into the conversation it quickly becomes this long droning nerdgasam on how they are one peice away from Tier 4 or how they raided Nax the night before, Or how they are planning on making a DK or some other innane babble that only is of interest to them. Or the obvious... OMG its so awesome, you really should play it, its the coolest thing evar! Even after I have told them, I HAVE played it, and to me it seemed like the kindergarten equivalent of an MMO.

I wont even go into the notion that some have of its glaring lack of originallity, because honestly, thats not even that big of a problem in my book.

Just my reasons why. I know theres "11 million" reasons why I am wrong, but you cant really change someones opinion when that opinion is nothing more than personal preference.

 

[Gather]

I never understood this argument. What game has a 'point' aside from leisure and entertainment? Do you mean you prefer games that have a finite amount of content, i.e. games that can be beaten?

Money is a viable reason. Some people do not have the funds to spare to pay for a 20 USD monthly fee in their budget, esp. when there is a free alternative (Be it a little worse). It might be hard to comprehend but there are people in that position.

 

[Midnight Crossroads]

I never liked PvP once they installed the honor system. Open-world, PvP Raids nearly vanished and PvP moved into instanced battlefields. I didn't like the idea of the World of Warcraft being moved into rooms. They can still be fun, but I prefer more open environments.

Raids bored me to death. I really liked some of the smaller instances because you could do them quickly with a small group, but those have always been an exception to the rule. That one instance in Ashenvale for characters in their 20's was horrid, nothing but miles and miles of tunnels fighting murlocks and snake people. My first and last raid was that mage's tower thing. I fell asleep at the keyboard. It was so boring. I especially hated some of the ludicrously low drop rates on certain items. I ran that dragon instance in the swamp about 50 times and never once saw the druid item drop.

The game lost appeal for me as my guild fell apart. I found myself drifting away from the game for a month or so before coming back for a month or so before drifting off again. Eventually, I just didn't come back. I strongly preferred vanilla WoW.

I may pick it up again some day, but I don't know what to expect as I have been gone so long. From my limited experience with MMO's, it's been my favorite. Honestly, my favorite part of WoW was just how impressive the world was. My fondest memories involve my guild and I doing random, irrelevant shit around the world from running to Hope's Chapel from Trisifal Glades with fresh characters to raiding Northshire Abbey with a pack of naked undead warriors with macros like /y BRAINS. I loved the excitement and danger that came with exploring every nook and cranny of Azeroth. If Blizz can't manage to allow me to recapture that feeling, I'll have a hard time getting hooked again. Also, I enjoyed the art style. The world was beautiful.

 

[Doive]

Personally, the level of entertainment does not warrant the amount of money I would need to pump into it. Also the time commitment, I have no desire to spend all my time on a game that, for me, gets very repetitive. I'm told it is less repetitive once you get to the maximum level but I've never managed that and I'm dubious as to the accuracy of that statement anyway.

 

[Zedayen]

By the time I quit for the 5th time back in first quarter '09, the game had been dumbed down immensely. There was little to no distinction between factions/races aside from the obvious aesthetics. PvP somehow became some kind of e-sport. The game tried to appeal to too many different demographics. Any time something changed, a large quantity of people cried, when their cries were answered another group cried and repeat infinitely.

I really enjoyed vanilla WoW. After that I really only played for the guild.

 

[AcacianLeaves]

Well, I'm no MMO veteran, but I've played WoW, LotRO, WAR, EQ2, DDO and a few free MMOs.

WoW is by far the highest quality product of them all. I'm not a WoW fanboy

- Yes you are (in my best Yahtzee impersonation)

I'm not playing WoW right now, heck I skipped WotLK altogether. However, almost everything the above bunch does, WoW does better. If it doesn't at any given time, you can bet your arse it'll be patched in inside a few months.

As for the art style, I wouldn't call it kid-friendly. I'm sure people who like hating WoW would use that term, but it's hardly accurate. Stylized might be a better one. Also, not everything has to be brown-gray (I'm looking at you, LotRO and WAR) with a spatter of guts and gore. I for one find WoW's visuals easy on the eyes, varied and functional.

The gameplay itself is no more "dumbed down" than most of today's mainstream MMOs. If that bothers you, I'm sure you can find a niche MMO somewhere that lets you craft all the Excel charts your heart desires.

Basically, sorry you didn't like it, but that doesn't make it a bad game.

Games can be stylized and not 'kid-friendly' (see Enslaved, Killer7, Borderlands, etc). World of Warcraft is specifically designed to fit a 'T' rating at all times. I like the variety, I like the use of color, and I like the use of stylization to make an attractive game that can run on a large range of systems.

However I don't like the over-sized hands and feet, the way that every character prances when they walk, the overuse of bloom and particle effects, the prevalence of soft edges, the friendly and often intentionally comical monster and character design, and the silly 'fisher price' design that most of the weapons have, etc. It's just not a world I find visually appealing - and no, I don't think everything needs to be brown/gray and bloody. Guild Wars is an amazing looking game, and Guild Wars 2 looks like its going to be positively breathtaking. But again, this comes down to personal preference.

Since your list of MMOs is entirely made up of games that released after World of Warcraft, I understand that you don't know what I mean when I say 'dumbed-down'. A streamlined interface and a less convoluted crafting/spell system are good things about World of Warcraft. Many aspects of MMOs needed to be simplified. However, the fact that I could tank nearly every instance, dungeon, and raid I took part in on my first try without putting any thought into it (and without really stressing about what gear I had on) is what makes me consider it dumbed down.

Basically I'm happy that you liked it, but that doesn't make it a good game.

I did mention in my original post that I don't mean any disrespect to those that enjoy or enjoyed World of Warcraft. Like I said, no game is flawless.