What would it take to tople WoW from its throne?

[RJ 17]

Just read someone's thread about The Old Republic and someone responding to him made a pretty good point in drawing out the lifecycle of an MMO. It comes out, there's a big rush for it, everyone's happy. A few months later the free trials from the initial rush start to end and players aren't interested enough to continue and pay for it, so they go back to WoW. It plugs along for a little while longer before finally saying "screw it" and going free to play.

This applies to all MMO's that are not WoW.

That got me thinking...just what would it take to knock WoW off the throne of the MMO? Everquest used to be known as Evercrack because it was so ridiclously addictive. Then WoW comes along and just straight up steals people's souls. Any thoughts on what kind of MMO could possibly beat WoW? Would it be based off of an already successful franchise the way that WoW is based off of WarCraft or would it be an original concept? What features would you implement?

 

[madwarper]

Back before WoW, the only thing people thought could topple EQ was EQ2.
So, as far as I can see, the only thing likely to topple WoW will be WoW2.

Though, I highly doubt we'll see whatever actually topples WoW coming.

 

[CoffeeBoy]

If Farmville had interactive multiplayer, WOW wouldn't stand a chance.

 

[Saladfork]

1) It is entirely possible for games of the same genre to coexist quite profitably

2) The only thing that would lure Warcraft players away from Warcraft is for it to stop being fun for them, and as a fan, I can say that that certainly hasn't happened to me yet.

 

[Corven]

It just has to get to the point where people get sick of playing wow. it's really hard to top a game that has over 8 years of content packed into it. People leave wow for a month or two trying out a new mmo, then realize that it just doesn't have the amount of content that they are used to, get bored and go back to the game which they have invested a large part of their time into.

That's probably another reason why wow doesn't die, because it's user base has dedicated so much time into the game crafting their character, meeting up with people and experiencing the game, that to just up and leave it for another mmo would seem like a waste to some people.

I also think that you just aren't going to beat wow with another wow, in that I mean the traditional hotkey mmo format. Just as a recent example look at swtor, now I like swtor, I've still got a few months of sub time on the game left, but it will never come close to wows success due to the fact that bioware relied on the "safe bet' of the hotkey format. They didn't want to rock the boat and possibly scare off any potential newcomers to their game by trying something different than what was already available. Which I think was the wrong thing to do, just look at how many people are looking forward to Guild Wars 2 and Tera online which discard the hotkey format for a more action oriented gameplay style.

Because now we are at a time where tech is advanced enough and net connections are fast enough to support a fast paced combat system in mmos. whereas in the past they just wouldn't have worked, hell wow still has a 56k modem option in its connection choice list. You can lag out in a traditional mmo safe in assurance that at least the tank has the threat and you ain't gonna get hurt while waiting for your net to catch up, but with games like tera and GW2 that rely on your character actually having to rely on situational awareness to win fights, fast net connections are detrimental.

 

[Esotera]

Pandas, time, or itself.

If they keep tagging on unnecessary crap, long-time players will eventually get fed up as it becomes more and more ridiculous. New players will come along, but they'll get discouraged by its quite outdated graphics. For this reason Blizzard are probably working on WOW 2, which would fragment the userbase/never live up to the pedestal WOW has been put on now.

 

[Zhukov]

Knives.

Long knives in the night.

That, or World of Starcraft.

 

[Zeh Don]

The problem with toppling World of Warcraft is that you're not just toppling the game. Hell, I'd argue that it's been beaten since it's launch in terms of a better quality MMORPG.

No, what you're fighting against the years of content patches, the familiar feeling it's players have, the level grind of a new MMORPG and, ultimately, the community.

When you release an MMORPG, you need to be able to go toe-to-toe with the current MMO market at launch. Gamers won't remember that WoW at launch had fuck-all end game content - they just remember that, right now, it has literally dozens of Dungeons that sit practically empty.
You need to be able to beat WoW content wise at launch. The closest we've seen to that is TOR.

Basically anyone who was interested in MMOs has played, or is playing WoW. It's familiar. When you pick up a new MMO - LotRO for example - you have to re-learn the world. Where's the best farming spots? What the fuck is Melee Critical Chance Rating? What colour loot is the best colour loot? What order do the zones progress in? What is something worth on the Auction House?
This puts WoW players off. They already know WoW, and I'd wager over half of it's current player base couldn't handle re-learning an MMO. In WoW, they're fountains of knowledge; the OGs of the WoW scene. In TOR, they're worthless n00bs who don't know what Dungeons to run and when. Most simply retreat back to the safety of WoW.

There was a terrific article on Gamasutra.com a while ago talking about MMOs, and how they're all the same. Specifically, it said that the level grinds where almost comprised of identical quests, with only the window dressing changing between titles. This meant that a general player wouldn't want to sit down and play to max level multiple MMORPGs; they'll pick one, because the level grinds are so similar. Again, the TOR is the closest we've seen to this being changed up.

Lastly, a release day MMO has zero community. You don't know if it's going to go Free 2 Play in a months time, you don't know if the company is going to go bankrupt, you don't know if enough people are going to jump on board to warrant playing. WoW is established, safe and currently the most successful video game title ever released. It's not going anywhere; time spent playing WoW is a "safe investment".
TOR is off to a terrific launch - most new MMOs are. It's the 6 month status reports that hurt; player base slowly retreats back to WoW, without achieving critical mass: enough hardcore players to keep the community populated so that the casual players can come and go.
TOR has a solid benefit: it's Star Wars, backed by EA's limitless coffers, and has the highest production values of any MMO ever released. TOR isn't going anywhere in the next 5 years.

 

[Jandau]

This thread again? Well, I talked about this before, so I'll be brief:

You can't. WoW isn't just a game, it's a social phenomenon by this point. It's set itself up in the general public awareness as the "default" MMO and is kept strong by inertia at this point.

You can't even try to replicate its path to success, since WoW's climb was as much about being at the right place at the right time as it was about being a good game. It came out when the general public was starting to get curious about the whole MMO thing, it drew people in with a familiar and well liked franchise, it was a decent game at the very least and all that was enough to give it the initial mass. After that, word spread, even more people got curious about the whole MMO thing and jumped aboard, which spread the word further and so on and so forth. Basically, if you wanted to try MMOs, you went to WoW since everyone else was doing it.

The circumstances surrounding WoW were a perfect storm of various factors and it can't be artificially replicated, which is why no other game has matched it. Also, the MMO bubble has burst or is close to, with the casuals and non-gamers having had their fill of the whole MMO thing or are perfectly content with WoW and don't desire new experiences since they aren't hardcore gamers who burn through stuff like crazy.

The best a Sub-based MMO can hope for today is 1-2 million subscribers and should adjust accordingly. It's not a matter of quality, it's not a matter of being bigger or better or prettier than WoW, there simply aren't enough people who are actually looking for a new MMO to play. That ship has sailed. The MMO market isn't dead, far from it, we just won't see another WoW-sized juggernaut ever again.

 

[ShindoL Shill]

Guild Wars 2

I think it will capture a lot of the casual MMO players (i.e. me) who don't want to shell out a subscription fee and who don't want to feel pressured into playing to justify the price.

Oh yeah. Plus, from the gameplay videos I've seen (The Yogscast and TB's wife), it looks like it has a better skill system (ie you unlock 3 for your main weapon, 2 for your offhand, and different abilities for different weapons), and a better role system (ie everyone can res and it's faster is more people do it (encouraging teamwork), and every class has a healing spell/ability which helps soloing and means you don't need to sit on your ass waiting for a healer, because your DPS or Tank can do it too).

 

[Scarim Coral]

Well from the recent beta weekend of Guild Wars 2. I would say that game due to the many many videos out there showing how awesome the game it.
However I suppose time will tell if Guild Wars 2 can really topple WoW.

 

[deadish]

Something that takes a significant leap forward from WoW - like WoW from EQ. [1]

Me-Too MMOs are just going end up in it's shadow.

[1] In what ways you ask? WoW was accessible (it was easy and it was solo-able; even a complete noob to computer games could reach level cap solo bumbling his way through the game), it had great art (far better than EQ and EQ2 anyway; WoW was "cinematic"). Those factors, plus the fact that it was a damn good game, was enough to make it No.1 in MMOs.

 

[Gnarynhar]

Time travel

 

[Lono Shrugged]

WOW has been out for what? 5, 6 years? I think it's less about toppling it than it just people moving on to something different. It's not going to last forever and that is by no means a failure or it being "beaten" From mates of mine who play WOW pretty solidly they just want something new after having maxed out 5 or more characters over the years. I don't think WOW will go out with a bang, they will scale the servers back maybe but it will always run.

As to what will beat it? I think something different from the sandbox mmo like LOL is the next step for a little while.

 

[Ralen-Sharr]

didn't some MMO already do this in some respect? I thought I heard about someone beating WoW for concurrent users or something.
Besides, last I heard WoW was in decline anyway.
What's it going to take to beat WoW? Attrition. WoW is WAY past it's prime, and I would imagine that a lot of it's subscriber base does play other games from time to time. Get those people to stick around for some reason or another, and it'll wear WoW's subs down.
A lot of people are likely still playing WoW because it's what their friends play, and it's more about playing with their friends than anything else.

I think the key is to find a breaking point. At some point enough people will leave WoW and the remaining players will say "not enough people play anymore" and then it will start sliding downhill.

 

[Davey Woo]

I think any new MMO that comes out will be anticipated to 'topple' WoW, (look at Guild Wars 2, The Old Republic etc) but what really happens is, new MMO comes out, thousands of WoW players stop playing WoW for a few weeks, then Blizzard release another expansion and they get all their players back for another few months.