The Secret of WoW

[Wingmna]

http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/7638/thisiswhywowsucksms3.png

I played for a long time. I am an anti-raider. This is because back when the best thing going was MC, dicking around for hours at a time with 40 people who had purple fever, wasn't fun. Being forced to spec to go on raids - wasn't fun. I don't play a game to listen to whingy children (or grown men/women for that matter) who've never held a job ***** over vent about wiping repeatedly.

For a long time, even during the latter stages of BC, raiding and raiders just reeked of elitism to me. And now with the achievement system, Guilds can judge someone before even speaking with them.

Yeah I know, friends have told me raids are easier now, blah blah blah.

I was in it for the fun, not for stroking my ego at a bank/mailbox with my shiny dragon mount or whatever and spitting on others.

And a game that rewards raiders more easily than pvpers is biased imo, although if you're reading this and salivating with barely controlled rage I imagine you can disagree with me 'til the end of time. Or even WoW.

There's no secret to WoW - Blizzard just did their research. They studied or employed people who understood the minutae of addiction, in all it's varied forms, and applied those lessons as best as possible without going so far as to be blatently obvious.

That picture is the biggest load of BS ever.

Firstly, Tigole left Everquest and hated it because of all the bugs.

Not only that, but he started working on WoW so he could make a MMORPG more accessible to more gamers, not to make the game harder.

If you knew ANYTHING about everquest you'd know that it was much more grindy and long then even vanilla WoW was.

So the simple fact that you know nothing about raiding just proves that you have no right to cry about how bad it is.

That's not to say Tigole isn't a hardcore raider, of course he is, probably one reason why he's working on Blizzard's new game, but to say he tried to make it harder then Everquest is just ignorant and moronic.

And the racism in that picture is just pathetic, the country of my background protected Jews at the risk of their own lives, so how dare you put a picture you little Nazi. My relatives didn't risk their lives so morons like you can post pictures like that.


Either way, WoW = PVE game, Raiders were the best in PVP in vanilla because it was PVP in a PVE game, PVP was there so you could use the tools you got in PVE.

Again, if Blizzard really wanted to suck hours out, why have they turned casual? Your argument makes ZERO sense considering the ACTUAL facts. Just piss off racist.

 

[SirSchmoopy]

There is no secret to WoW. Other developers are simply full of fail and cannot duplicate anything without trying to "spice" it up and failing the whole way.

 

[fondue]

The secret to killing WoW is to provide the two things they provide but better; Camaraderie and a Sense of accomplishment. It's nothing more than that.

Nobody has created a game that has provided better so as to draw away WoW's membership.

If you look at any succesful MMO today you will find them providing these two attributes and keeping their subscribers. Can't provide it? You lose.

 

[fliptrocity]

clearly , you have not played this game lately... because if you have youd know you have alot of the facts wrong...
One that particularly stands out is the Rogues vs hunters comment. if you had played wow once any time in the past 4-5 months, you would know that hunters are no longer a "point click" class.. to be honest they NEVER were, and come to think of it... no class in the game is "point click", unless of course youre talking about the baddies... in that case... carry on.

 

[ravensshade]

I played for a long time. I am an anti-raider. This is because back when the best thing going was MC, dicking around for hours at a time with 40 people who had purple fever, wasn't fun. Being forced to spec to go on raids - wasn't fun.

yeah.. but don't pve specced players almost certainly have to re spec to have any chance at winning pvp? (atleast to get on a reasonable arena team) Also bg'ging against twinks and twink whining ain't fun either

And a game that rewards raiders more easily than pvpers is biased imo, although if you're reading this and salivating with barely controlled rage I imagine you can disagree with me 'til the end of time. Or even WoW.

it is of course you're opinion but think about this a moment unless you make a game that rewards both path's equally there will always be some imo whiner that will think it's biased/unfiar

 

[Credge]

All of the things you listed are things that people have done with MMO's since WoW was released and none of them have been a WoW killer.

You're not going to make a WoW killer anytime soon. WoW is a freak occurrence that won't happen again for a long, long time. The only time a game will have more players than WoW is when WoW is played out like EQ is now.

 

[Credge]

yeah.. but don't pve specced players almost certainly have to re spec to have any chance at winning pvp? (atleast to get on a reasonable arena team) Also bg'ging against twinks and twink whining ain't fun either



it is of course you're opinion but think about this a moment unless you make a game that rewards both path's equally there will always be some imo whiner that will think it's biased/unfiar

Warhammer did all of this. It's just too similar to WoWs combat (which is actually DAOC's combat...) for people to really stay attached.

 

[MrPop]

I liked the article. Although some may say it's just an article on how to emulate WoW (which it is) it is hard to argue that the formula is a bad one though.

 

[Doug]

yeah.. but don't pve specced players almost certainly have to re spec to have any chance at winning pvp? (atleast to get on a reasonable arena team) Also bg'ging against twinks and twink whining ain't fun either



it is of course you're opinion but think about this a moment unless you make a game that rewards both path's equally there will always be some imo whiner that will think it's biased/unfiar

Warhammer did all of this. It's just too similar to WoWs combat (which is actually DAOC's combat...) for people to really stay attached.

Ironic really. If the MMO don't copy enough of WoW, the MMO fails for lacking features; if they copy too much of WoW, there's no really point switching over.

 

[Credge]

I liked the article. Although some may say it's just an article on how to emulate WoW (which it is) it is hard to argue that the formula is a bad one though.

Define bad and I could probably argue with it. If by bad, you mean that it isn't successful then sure, you'd be right. If by bad you mean that it's boring and has killed the genre while focusing all of its players in one spot, then I could easily argue for that.

Ironic really. If the MMO don't copy enough of WoW, the MMO fails for lacking features; if they copy too much of WoW, there's no really point switching over.

Verily. The entire MMO genre is pretty ruined at the moment. You've got one game that every other MMO is trying to copy. When it comes out, people complain about it being too much like it. Then, you get the rare game that is really, really good but is so different in the genre that people crap themselves over it and it doesn't get played that much.

The entire situation is poor.

 

[skathe]

The key to a great MMO to compete with WoW is going to be a) not set in a fantasy world and b) already based on a deep, interesting story line. Also, to kill WoW you're going to have to make your MMO significantly different, giving people the option to do things they could never do in WoW. IMHO, a Mass Effect MMO could kick some major ass. But WoW is far from dead, and it is much more likely that the MMO to "kill" WoW is going to be WoW2 or Starcraft MMO.

 

[Fearzone]

No, to everyone who says this article is how to make a WoW clone, it isn't. Rather, it lists the minimum fundamentals required for a MMO to possibly be as successful, but people are correct in pointing out this won't gaurantee success. Indeed, you will need to do certain things better than WoW to even get a subscriber base of 1 million--but you AT LEAST have do to these points as well as or nearly as well as WoW or you've just made a boring MMO. Having played mainly WoW but a couple other MMOs too, it becomes painfully clear where WoW surpasses its competition and these points encapsulate them pretty well.

This should be required reading for future MMO developers. I hope you get a consultants fee.

 

[PlasticTree]

A nice article, but all you do is saying what's good about WoW. You don't come up with anything which could have done better, and why. So, why exactly should people go to this new MMORPG, when they are used to basically the same game?

Oh, and I raged about your 'hunters are American Idol watchers'-sentence. 2 years of hardcore PVE and Arena, and you call me a casual bastard who doesn't need any skill to play his class correctly? ;_;

 

[Faceless Clock]

I don't get it. Is this article about why WoW is good, or about how to make a better WoW? It works fine as the former. But it doesn't say anything about how to "kill WoW".

And as others have already said, WoW is a freak occurrence. Its really sad that the games industry is so conservative that WoW's success has turned a genre that could be so broad as "MMO" into a bunch of loose role-playing games based on activating the correct skills and leveling up your character and gear.

The best thing a new MMO developer can do is pretend that WoW was never made.

 

[Wingmna]

Verily. The entire MMO genre is pretty ruined at the moment. You've got one game that every other MMO is trying to copy. When it comes out, people complain about it being too much like it. Then, you get the rare game that is really, really good but is so different in the genre that people crap themselves over it and it doesn't get played that much.

The entire situation is poor.

This is the truth. MMORPG as a gaming genre is in the shitter atm.

 

[TheBarefootBandit]

Lord Shamus was a hunter, like myself. I'm so happy. /dance

 

[Aegwadar]

I can see the light in both arguments for/against WoW killing; But, where are the solid "FACTS"... I personally play A LOT of different MMOs; But, the facts are what stick out(and make Shamus correct):

Ability to play on the low-end systems

Simplistic interface

Pre-existing Fan base

Screw all the nit-pick crap; its the bigger picture that nailed Blizzard to the MMO world. I don't see a MMO coming up to compete anytime soon... Which blows...

 

[Agrosmurf]

Yeah right "balenced", they do alot of stuped "Nerf's", I don't even play my huntard anymore because it got nerfed to hell a couple of patches ago.