Is WOW fucked long term?

[Lyion]

Note, this is here rather than the WOW forum because I want it unmoderated and open to anything.

http://www.grimwell.com/?action=fullnews&id=262

The Conclusion of Doom

Though the subscriptions support my theory, my primary reasoning is that this is due to the kind of game World of Warcraft is. Most players in World of Warcraft have no reason to engage in long-term socialization. Without socialization, the main draw the game has always been the novelty of the game play. This is so evident that even the world, with its nice variety between zones, doesn’t feel worldly enough: it lacks "epic" and feels like a game.

If the only loyalty that players have to World of Warcraft is in the novelty of the game mechanic, this leaves it vulnerable on at least two very important fronts. The first front: once players grow bored of the game mechanic, there’s no reason to hang around anymore. The second front: Players will be easily distracted by another game with better core mechanics.

Fortunately for World of Warcraft, games with equal or better game mechanics aren't necessarily easy to produce. Blizzard didn't gain their tremendous reputation on dumb luck: today they're known as being great at producing hit games. I can see only few games in the immediate future that World of Warcraft needs to worry about. Guild Wars, a game made by ex-Blizzard employees, does not charge subscription, has an incredibly portable client, and (most importantly) uniquely involving game play. The City of Villains expansion or Auto Assault are also in the same category of MMOGs, and could be considered potential competition, but being cross genre it is to a lesser degree.

I predict that World of Warcraft's upcoming battlegrounds won't change the situation. Battlegrounds are encapsulated away from the game world too much to add any of the missing “epic” feeling World of Warcraft needs. Neither will additional content help, since adding additional miles on the track (no matter how pretty you make those miles) won't change the fact that you've grown bored with running it. Expansions may help revitalize interest in World of Warcraft due to hype and new blood, but unlike Diablo it is complicated by the consumer's consideration that they would need to pay a subscription fee to take advantage of them.

Overall, my critique against World of Warcraft is the same as my critique against Planetside and City of Heroes: A MMORPG cannot just be a game: When you start charging a subscription, you’re promising it to be more than that. It has to genuinely interest players in investing time in it for meaningfully compelling reasons. World of Warcraft is far too trivialized, it's evident in the quick grind, the artificial world, and the punch-out trade skill system. World of Warcraft, in matching casual friendly (even console-game like) design expectations, is simply not built to last as a top 5 MMORPG.

[DangerPaul]

wrong forum bitch tits

[Lyion]

Read the first line again, dorkfuck.

[Langston]

Just put it in the WoW rants and flames... WTF is it here?

[DangerPaul]

douche, non rule following mod bitch tits !

[Martrae]

I love you guys...I needed a laugh tonight.

[DangerPaul]

I am not reading this thread, until its put in the proper forum !

bitch tits

[Diekan]

Lyion tried to cyber me a year ago. He sent me naked pictures and told me he could offer me more man love than even dangerpaul.... I just blew him off as being another weirdo stalker...

I don't have any proof so please before this gets out of hand!

[Lyion]

Then don't contribute. I want an unmoderated discussion regarding an article that I found interesting. It is not solely about WOW.

We can discuss anything we want here, including games. It is not a rant, thus it is not in the rant section. I want to be able to flame the WOW fanbois if they get idiotic, thus it is here. I'd prefer rationale debate, but I'll accept pure amusement.

I found the thread following it interesting as well. The point is what is the purpose behind MMOs and will a lack of socialization cause one to plummet in subscriptions.

There are some interesting points.

And you asswipes who don't have the common sense to obey the rules in regards to posting in the moderated section can fuck off and die in regards to 'proper placement'.

[Lyion]

It's that goddamn Avatar, Diekan. It mesmerises me. It's like a real life version of Glamour of Kintaz.

[Diekan]

It is hypnotic. I cant stop stairing at it either

[DangerPaul]

I hate you lyion, bitchtits

[Spacewoman Spiff]

On a happier note, it appears I taught Paul the proper spelling of douche and it stuck!

[DangerPaul]

yeah, you am gud teechur

[Diabolik]

I love how she closes her eyes seductively... /fap

[Narrock]

If anybody here ever wants to become a moderator or administrator for a message board, just look at Lyion as an example of how not to do it.

[Lyion]

Nice retort, Judas. You practicing being Godly for your ascension and when you get your 40 virgins? Just think, you can continue to scoff with malice and hate at all of the 'damned' who didn't listen to your benevolent whisperings.

God see's you and probably equates your kind to these people:

[Drem]

Did you know that in the bible's old language, the word for virgins is one letter different from the word for "white raisins"? Or that "camel" is one letter different from "rope"? Did you know that the scribes often didn't know the language they were scribing beyond the basic alphabet?

Food for thought.

[Ganzo]

Or that "camel" is one letter different from "rope"?

Gamal(L pronounced very softly) = Camel
Hevel = Rope

Seems more like only letter L is same between 2 words

Behura = virgin
Betura ceira = young girl
I've seen many claims that thats where mistake in bible comes from

Tzemukim = raisin

So i have no idea where you got white raisin = virgin thing

[Harrison]

WoW is definitely fucked long term.

[Tikker]

WoW tried to take the good parts of EQ, DAoC, UO and make them into 1 cohesive game


the problem is kind of that old good-evil balance

without evil, there cannot be good

With a complete lack of penalty for playing poorly, you don't get a sense of accomplishment when you finally beat a dungeon, or 1 of the 5 or 6 tough mobs in the game (non raid mobs, as I think the raiding stuff is not too bad)


you take away the chatter in /ooc, the random dinks wandering past with trains, KS"ers, etc etc and you expect to have a better experience

but now that you're left alone wtih just the game, you realize more and more that the game isn't perfect, and nit pick shit you wouldn't nit pick in a game like EQ (cause beating mechanics wasn't important, it was the beating of that asshole to the spawn that was!)


so yeah, long term i don't see WoW being successful EQ/UO style
I would have moved on already, but i'm a bit masochist, and I'm waiting on the promised hunter pet upgrade, wuwu

[Harrison]

We won't even get into their pathetic abilities with server hardware.

[Lyion]

They'll fix their hardware and server issues. It was a matter of too much growth and a game that was rushed out to compete with EQ2.

The thread and article had some good points, and also some good rebuttals in regards to why some players <many non MMO types> will stay.

[Harrison]

I've come to the conclusion WoW is for noobs and people who don't like a challenge.

[The Kizzy]

So did you quit playing yet, Fin?