The Wake of WarCraft

Blizzard games are always such a demonstration of absolute polish and near-perfection that I’ve found this to happen with other games as well. Back when Age of Empires was out, my friend would watch another person playing it and just stand there ridiculing them, saying how much better StarCraft was. This is despite both being good games, but StarCraft is generally regarded as the more genre-defining one.

It’s just that in WoW’s case, it didn’t just reach the pinnacle of the genre. It crushed everything else in it’s path. I’d say this has a lot to do with the fact it is a great game, but it also had a foundation which none of the other MMO’s really had, and that foundation is Blizzard’s proven record with not only previous WarCraft games, but all their other franchises as well. And it’s because of that they have attracted so many people who otherwise wouldn’t be interested in MMORPGs.

It’s much like what happens with other games, not just MMORPGs. Halo 3 is going to be huge because its prequels have a huge fanbase already. Same with the next Unreal. I suppose the issue with the MMOs though is that compared to the other genres, they’re quite young. And for a genre to be completely saturated by one game while still being so young, well that’s probably a bad thing.

But it does mean that for others to break through, they’re going to have to make some truly awesome games, and I don’t have a big problem with that. You and I both know what would kill WoW. MMO-Grand Theft Auto. It’s only a matter of time, and Jack Thompson will have a fit. Can’t wait.

Just think how much they’ll put a dent in the market for others should they decide to create a ‘World of StarCraft’ in 6-7 years time following the wake of new games (Diablo 3, StarCraft: Ghost, maybe StarCraft 2). Their legion of asian fans is just overwhelming.

Although, doesn’t Lineage II or some other Korean game have the most subscribers, not WoW? I’m sure there was a chart out there displaying the subscriber rates.

World of WarCraft has, surprisingly, not really caught on in korea. I mean there are many korean players for sure but not as many were willing to leave Lineage and Lineage 2.

If added together (both Lineage I & II) those numbers are obscene. Although many blame this on multiple accounts. One player alone may have 8 accounts active at a time. The combined number is over 4 million but with WoW’s recent launch in China it actually beat both Lineage I & II if they were to stand alone.

I mean yeah it’s really remarkable. I’d beta tested other MMORPGs in the past but I’d never actually paid to play. I just bought a 2nd 2-month card so i can get started again with a Preist on Bloodscalp for the Horde with a few friends. It just seemed to have a bit of black magic that the others i’d beta tested lacked.

I’m not sure my last post got my whole message across. I mean yeah I said what I loved about WoW but that almost misses the point of this discussion. I mean yeah their are other MMORPGs out there that are pretty darn good. I understand City of heroes is really special. But frankly games like these are life consuming games, they’re the kind of game you can’t play a little bit here and a little bit there, you’ve really got to play them heavily if you want to get your money’s worth out of them. How many games that aren’t small commitments would you expect us to make? I’m going to go for the one that’s the most polished 10 times out of 10. It’s not that I have hostility towards EQ2 or CoH or what have you, I just can’t justify paying for more than one of these games, and I have very little patitence for multiplayer games as it is.

The numbers to me are dubious. “Subscribers” in asian markets seem to be counted as “anyone who played at an internet cafe and may come back and play tomorrow”. That being said there may not be a better way to count them.

We are talking about Chinese workers who make $.50 an hour and you’re (I mean Blizzard and NCSoft) telling me you have over a million of them paying the full $15 a month to play?

I’m not buying that for a second.

Prices are no doubt localized. Just because it isn’t America does not mean everyone earns sweat shop wages. Whether it be net cafes, home use or underground bot farms each account needs a key and a monthly payment.

Scathe Scathe Scathe

But anyway, onto more mature posts. I totally agree with you Doc. WoW has killed off the next few MMO’s in the future. I would be sad for those games, but WoW does have me addicted.

After all the time and friends made ingame, I really don’t think I would want to leave and start a whole new game. Many people have hit kind of an endpoint in WoW. They are still getting new gear and PvPing. Now to quit after all the effort, what is the point? I’ve just started getting my Earthfury (Tier 2 Shaman armor) from Molten Core and I have no intention to give up on how many hours I’ve spent/wasted getting this.

Now, in a few years, WoW will lose its appeal. Will new games come out that offer gameplay like WoW in a few years? Most definantly. But as Hardflip has said, Blizzard isn’t stupid. There is still Universe/Galaxy of Starcraft to be released. Hell, maybe even a whole new franchise. Blizzard is in position to keep a stranglehold on this market and as long as they keep up the good work they will have no problem keeping it.

In my opinion, WoW finally made MMO’s mainstream. Gone are the games filled with unbalanced classes and no content (I’m looking at you, Star Wars Galaxies). Gone are the games that are only for hardcore players and korean dual boxing grinders (Everquest, Final Fantasy and Lineage). World of Warcraft is here and it provides something for everyone: enough challenge and depth for the hardcore players, and enough content for the casual gamers who just want to enjoy the game for an hour (admitted, after lvl 60 this changes). PvPers get their pick, roleplayers, and everything in between. And it is because of this it is so popular. Unlike games like Lineage, Everquest and SWG it is not just fishing in the over-fished pool of MMO gamers, but in the much larger pool of ‘casual’ gamers as well.

Now WoW isnt the end-all of MMO’s. Eventually, a better game will come along. And already you can see there are different type MMOs still holding their own, like EVE Online. WoW is not the master in anything. This is what I hear from people in my WoW guild, some of whom have played basically every MMO there is. It doesnt have the elaborate crafting of SWG, or the expansive PvE experience of EQ. It doesnt have the thrilling PvP experience of DAoC.

However, it also doesnt have the weaknesses of those games (the grind in EQ and its absolute lack of PvP, the bugs and inbalances of SWG, etc). It may not be a master at anything, but its damn good across the board, and this is what many people look for.

I’m hooked and until a better game comes along, you can find my Gnome Mage in Molten Core

The numbers to me are dubious. “Subscribers” in asian markets seem to be counted as “anyone who played at an internet cafe and may come back and play tomorrow”.

I think Subscribers are counted by the ammount of active accounts. You have to register an account to play, so its fairly easy to count the number of subscribers.

I really never found WoW to be that excellent of a game. I played it a lot, and still do, but it’s by no means a good game in itself. The things that made it such a powerhouse are 1) the rabid community of fanboys and 2) that there is something for almost everybody. I say almost for a reason.

There is nothing for perfectionist-style players. That’s the player group I fall under. We’re the kind of people who have to play our class perfectly or we’re not having fun. Being a solo-intensive game, I rarely got an opportunity to fully use my class (60 rogue). Soloing I can’t use my stealth because I have no tank or because the mob is just dead too quickly. Now that I’m doing MC and that jazz, it feel it’s even more constricting to the already choked gameplay. Classes have a cut and paste role which is generally mind-numbingly boring. Ok rogues, focus on the marked guard John is tanking, priests focus heals on me I’ll hold him, mages AoE here…. boring.

The final thing that crushes it compared to other games is how loot is done. Grinding to 60 I could do Maraudon 5 times max and have every single good drop, but some people have to do UD strat over 20 times just for their pants to finally drop. It’s frustrating to run the same boring instances over and over for a 10% drop.

And that’s my take on what the fanboys consider their life’s meaning.

The ultimate genious of WoW I’ve always had to praise was its based on an ancient platform similar to what Everquest has used for almost a decade. That is also the reason I’ve never cared for the game, its pretty, its funny…its just not innovative.