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Why hate WoW (and why Love it)?

BronksBronks Member Posts: 222

Good evening all.

 

First, I'd like to openly state that I am not a WoW hater. I played WoW from original release and gave up on it after hitting level 60 after about 2 months of (what I deem) casual playing. I re-subscribed after Burning Crusades released and got my level 70 from (what I deem) casual playing in about a month.

 

I have given the game chances... I have really tried to like it for the sake of my RL friends that started playing it. I honestly used to think there was something wrong with me because I couldn't get into whatever was making the game a success. I didn't like the dungeons... I didn't like the graphics... I didn't like the loot (however Diablo's random loot was AWESOME)... I didn't like much of the game at all.

 

I own my own business with a dozen employees, I have a wife and 2 kids that  support my gaming addiction to the point of letting me play it on the 50" LCD some nights. It finally occurred to my why I can't get into the game. There are two main reasons:

1.  My tastes have matured since I first started playing MMOs. I've got over a dozen years of my life wasted playing MMOs. What I liked 12 years ago is not what does it for me today.

2. I am hardcore... Since before Meridian 59 I have been involved in something 'multi-user', I have bought every MMO released in North America since Meridian 59 (may have missed a couple). I still play marathon sessions of 12+hours at a time occasionally.

 

Now these are my personal reasons for not liking WoW. I'm sure this following comment will be attacked by the fanboi's however, I find WoW a 'simple' game - my definition of simple, that is.

 

To me, simple is being able to find a group at any time of the day. To me, simple is clearing a dungeon in under 6 hours. To me, simple is not having to spend hours pre-raid reading and re-reading boss strategies, hand-drawn maps, etc. To me, simple is not having to requisition the assistance of a bunch of utility crafters to make food/drink/potions/etc for the various raid necessities. To me, simple is never running from a train made by someone else while you are trying to rest up after a big fight. To me, simple is taking longer than 10 seconds to rest after a big fight. To me, simple is having to give your mother a tour around Ironforge because her and her card-playing buddies all bought the game...

 

Haters - are you long time veterans of other games? Do you also feel WoW to be 'simple' by your standards? Are you mad that your mother's bridge club plays WoW because it is a 'simple' game?

 

Fanbois - do you love the game so much because it is your first MMO you experienced? Did you meet your spouse playing WoW? Do you love that the game is so 'simple' that you can keep your commitments in the real world because you only need a few hours to accomplish something in-game?

 

I don't want to start a massive hate-fest back and forth... I just want to know the motivations and drive behind people's feelings towards this game.

 

 

 

 

Comments

  • ArtaiosArtaios Member UncommonPosts: 550

    i love the UI

    -never saw enything better out there.

     

    i hate the low lvl traveling

    -it just really really suckt wasting so much time just on walking around

  • AlcuinAlcuin Member UncommonPosts: 331

    Interesting views, certainly.  I seem to be your gaming opposite.   I can only play a few days a week for a few hours at a time at the most.   But since I have limited time, I have to pick the MMO I think is the absolute best for my time.  Currently I choose WoW.  The fact that I have found a good group of players has a lot to do with it - I think player interaction is key.   But as far as the game itself goes...

    In a word...

    Verisimilitude: The quality of appearing to be true or real

    To some, WoW may not seem realistic due to its stylized, cartoonish graphics.

    But no other game world seems as real to me.  I think it has to do with the way the characters interact with the world.  The way the characters move and connect - literally the collison detection part of the programing.  For lack of a better way to put it, I feel like my character has weight.  I can get places!  I can  jump off cliffs and get onto the roofs of houses. I can swim!.   The mountains, trees and buildings feel like they are really there.  Even the way the NPCs are "in" the world seems realistic.

    It's just a feeling, really.   it's not perfect, but it's good.

     When I played LoTR and DDO , I felt like I was controlling a paper doll.  EQ2 as well, but to a lesser extent.

    The Worst?  SWG!  I cannot abide that my character cannot walk over a two inch ledge.  I have to go around it!  What?

    Original EQ wasn't too bad

    I think Vanguard has a great. beautiful world that could have achieved this with more work. 

    Actually, City of Heroes has a great feeling too.  The places you can get to using super travel powers!

     

    On the negative side.  i wish there was less "fading in" of terrain details and mobs and such.  I've had to get used to it.   Also, as anyone who has played enough knows, a lot of the graphical templates are reused- even the terrain layouts are in many cases exactly the same. 

    But that's about it.

     I appreciate the lore, and the polish.  There are a lot of things I wish they would add and tweak, but it is a good, solid game to me.

     

    Whew!  That was long!  Sorry!

     

    _____________________________
    "Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit"

  • HornyHorny Member Posts: 45

    I sure main problems are not related with people who like or dislike the game.  Blizzard sells WoW as a merge of PvP and RP features. In fact, RPRPvP servers was created with this goal.

    Official site claims you can have high customized characters and as casual player have a competitive character.

    Experience shows things are very different. High level character have little choice about what wear. As Diablo series, gear holds nearly all character improvements so you will probably be using a uniform in your end game. Even if you dont like its appearence. 

    Of course you can choice not to do it and become a easy prey or just join RP server where there is no real world PvP. But even RP players require good gear to become competitive in duels or PvP events.

    Consider how much time players spend to get this items and build up a "uniform" and new ones are released with each new patch. Im sure all WoW hardcore player have asked yourself this before: "I'm playing for fun or just to impress others?".

    But nobody can realize this until one or two months of gameplay unless you are a Blizzard's fan (normaly takes more time  ). Some things never change.

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  • DeadlyMageDeadlyMage Member Posts: 543
    Originally posted by CasaFranky


    i love the UI
    -never saw enything better out there.
     
    i hate the low lvl traveling
    -it just really really suckt wasting so much time just on walking around

    UI is the same as any mmo :)

  • funnylumpyfunnylumpy Member Posts: 212

    for me it has always been about settting and World of Warcraft setting has never applied to me I'm very picky as regarding settings my main reason for not getting too invovled most of my friends used to play it at the release. I don't hate WoW in any sense I just don't like the setting as for all mmo's I try if the setting sucks doesn't help if the game play, graphics, stuff, etc.. is good. And I prefer slow leveling as well... getting up to max level fast has never been one of my interest I play to enjoy the game I can use heaps of time to explore a world and not really do much leveling at all.

    However reading many topics it seems like people is fanatical about getting to max level asap which is a bit sad I mean no wonder a game gets boring after a few months since people grind themselves to max level so fast.

    I also like to try various classes and races.

    WoW is a good game but don't like the setting The alliance vs The horde have never liked it tried to play pen and paper version and other computer games with the same setting and it didn't appeal at all.

    Blizzard have always made good games as for UI and content to keep you happy I loved both Diablo games a mmo in the same setting would be nice to see comming. I would also hope if they did come with such a release that they don't remove all the fun stuff from the Diablo.

    Only thing I dislike is that tons of WoW fans cannot accept the fact that other people likes different things than them. They will most of the time argue the amount of players blizzard have attracted to the game. Diablo was a best seller in it's time. But the amount of sold games doesn't nessacery makes it what you're looking for.

    I mean if 11 mill people likes banana there is still some that prefer oranges.

     

  • XiaokiXiaoki Member EpicPosts: 3,823

    I'm not a fanboy but I do like WoW.

    I like WoW because Blizzard's approach has alwys been to make it a fun and enjoyable video game first and foremost.

    WoW isn't even close to being my first MMO. I was playing MMOs years before WoW. However, nearly every single one of the MMOs before WoW(and most psot WoW) did every thing they could to make the experience a mind numbing chore.

    Yes, nearly MMO before WoW was not fun to play. They were tedious exercises in boredom.

    People bash WoW for that very same reason because it's too "casual" but I would rather play a fun casual game than a boring hardcore game.

  • funnylumpyfunnylumpy Member Posts: 212

    Originally posted by Xiaoki


    I'm not a fanboy but I do like WoW.
    I like WoW because Blizzard's approach has alwys been to make it a fun and enjoyable video game first and foremost.
    WoW isn't even close to being my first MMO. I was playing MMOs years before WoW. However, nearly every single one of the MMOs before WoW(and most psot WoW) did every thing they could to make the experience a mind numbing chore.
    Yes, nearly MMO before WoW was not fun to play. They were tedious exercises in boredom.
    People bash WoW for that very same reason because it's too "casual" but I would rather play a fun casual game than a boring hardcore game.

    I recon there should be nearly all MMO before WoW .... however I don't share that opinion I played several enjoyable mmo both before and after WoW.

    But again it depends on what people see as fun.

     I don't bash WoW for being too easy or causual I don't bother to "bash" it at all just find it uninteresting to play.

    A fun game lies in the eye of the beholder and there will always be people saying this game is more fin than another... 

     

     

  • ch00pch00p Member Posts: 2

    I love World of Warcraft. It's a very well-made game and very polished, as Blizzard games tend to be. Each class has their own distinct playstyle that caters to many. Despite its cartoony graphics, the art style creates ambiance and atmosphere which many more graphically advanced MMOs fail to do (EQ2 comes to my mind). Character animation is fluid and well done. The game is simple, and I find that a major plus. After coming home from 6+ hour study sessions with my nose buried in biochemistry and molecular biology textbooks, the last thing I want to (or can) do is think. Being a full time college student, I can't play as much as I'd like, and so WoW lets me feel like I've accomplish things in the little time my real life obligations let me spare.

    However, I'm trying to stay clear of WoW nowadays not because of game mechanics, but because of the playerbase.  But, such simplicity in gameplay tends to attract the, how shall I put, more simple-minded players. Much of the WoW playerbase  a)has the mental capacity of a can of soup, b)has the maturity of that of a first grade child, or c)All of the above. I played Legends of Kesmai and EverQuest before WoW, and I've tried other MMOs after WoW, including CoH/CoV, LOTRO, and EQ2, and each game had much better playerbases than WoW's, such that I actually felt like part of a community and not just a playerbase.

    Just my 2 copper...

  • Black_ElvisBlack_Elvis Member Posts: 188

    It's not that peole hate WoW, its that they are ready for something new, IMO.

     

    Unfortunately, most game-developers are either idiots, greedy, or some combo of the two and gamers are the ones that suffer.

     

    Maybe in 10 years we'll be saying how much XXXXXX sucks.

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  • Pappy13Pappy13 Member Posts: 2,138
    Originally posted by Bronks


    1.  I've got over a dozen years of my life wasted playing MMOs.
    Why do you say you "wasted" over a dozen years of your life?  Seems like you enjoyed yourself for a while, but now are bitter that times have changed and you no longer care for MMO's?  That's too bad, but some of us still enjoy them.
    2. I am hardcore... Since before Meridian 59 I have been involved in something 'multi-user', I have bought every MMO released in North America since Meridian 59 (may have missed a couple). I still play marathon sessions of 12+hours at a time occasionally.
    And yet above you say you have "wasted" over a dozen years of your life.  Perhaps you need to reevalute why you play?  If you are not enjoying your time, why do you play?  I've only been playing MMO's for about 5 years now, I still enjoy playing.
    Now these are my personal reasons for not liking WoW. I'm sure this following comment will be attacked by the fanboi's however, I find WoW a 'simple' game - my definition of simple, that is.
    You have your opinion, other's have a different opinion.  Perhaps it has less to do with the the game itself and more to do with the fact that you think you have wasted 12 years of your life?  Have you considered that?

     

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  • murdera2k6murdera2k6 Member UncommonPosts: 474
    Originally posted by DeadlyMage

    Originally posted by CasaFranky


    i love the UI
    -never saw enything better out there.
     
    i hate the low lvl traveling
    -it just really really suckt wasting so much time just on walking around

    UI is the same as any mmo :)

    Sorry but I have to completely disagree with you there, I agree with the OP completely as i feel as he feels. I originally liked WoW but I lost Intrest quite quickly. The user interface IMO is unique to WoW, I attempted to play many other games but I couldnt, the WoW UI really got me, its amazing.

    "If they can make Penicillin out of mouldy bread, they can sure make something out of you," - Muhammed Ali

  • Pappy13Pappy13 Member Posts: 2,138
    Originally posted by murdera2k6

    Originally posted by DeadlyMage

    Originally posted by CasaFranky


    i love the UI
    -never saw enything better out there.
     
    i hate the low lvl traveling
    -it just really really suckt wasting so much time just on walking around

    UI is the same as any mmo :)

    Sorry but I have to completely disagree with you there, I agree with the OP completely as i feel as he fells. I originally liked WoW but I lost Intrest quite quickly. The user interface IMO is unique to WoW, I attempted to play many other games but I couldnt, the WoW UI really got me, its amazing.



    It's not the UI itself that is impressive, but rather the way in which Blizzard implemented it to have open support for mods in my opinion.  As mods came out that were really good and popular, often times Blizzard then added those features to their UI.  You can say that's lazy on their part, but I rather think that was a stroke of genius.  Who better to decide what the UI should be able to do then those that play the game?  All online games should follow suit.

    image

  • DeadlyMageDeadlyMage Member Posts: 543

    Originally posted by Pappy13

    Originally posted by murdera2k6

    Originally posted by DeadlyMage

    Originally posted by CasaFranky


    i love the UI
    -never saw enything better out there.
     
    i hate the low lvl traveling
    -it just really really suckt wasting so much time just on walking around

    UI is the same as any mmo :)

    Sorry but I have to completely disagree with you there, I agree with the OP completely as i feel as he fells. I originally liked WoW but I lost Intrest quite quickly. The user interface IMO is unique to WoW, I attempted to play many other games but I couldnt, the WoW UI really got me, its amazing.



    It's not the UI itself that is impressive, but rather the way in which Blizzard implemented it to have open support for mods in my opinion.  As mods came out that were really good and popular, often times Blizzard then added those features to their UI.  You can say that's lazy on their part, but I rather think that was a stroke of genius.  Who better to decide what the UI should be able to do then those that play the game?  All online games should follow suit.

    eq2 is the same. just not many people make mods for it :p

    eq2 had the added ability to lrt your mods automatically  update after every patch 

  • BronksBronks Member Posts: 222

     

    Originally posted by Pappy13


    It's not the UI itself that is impressive, but rather the way in which Blizzard implemented it to have open support for mods in my opinion.  As mods came out that were really good and popular, often times Blizzard then added those features to their UI.  You can say that's lazy on their part, but I rather think that was a stroke of genius.  Who better to decide what the UI should be able to do then those that play the game?  All online games should follow suit.

     

    The UI customization from the players is a great idea and I used dozens during my time playing WoW... however Blizzard does regularly hand out 3-7 day account suspensions for add-on usage and will never EVER give out the details regarding which specific add-on resulted in the suspension because it would compromise their add-on sniffer program.

     

    Curse gaming forums  and Blizzard forums are full of angry players who have faced the week long suspension due to an addon use (that tens of thousands of other players may be using at the same time) sp add-ons have been and will always be at user's risk. Blizzard will let people develop 'em but using 'em is something completely different.

  • Pappy13Pappy13 Member Posts: 2,138
    Originally posted by Bronks


     
    Originally posted by Pappy13


    It's not the UI itself that is impressive, but rather the way in which Blizzard implemented it to have open support for mods in my opinion.  As mods came out that were really good and popular, often times Blizzard then added those features to their UI.  You can say that's lazy on their part, but I rather think that was a stroke of genius.  Who better to decide what the UI should be able to do then those that play the game?  All online games should follow suit.

     

    The UI customization from the players is a great idea and I used dozens during my time playing WoW... however Blizzard does regularly hand out 3-7 day account suspensions for add-on usage and will never EVER give out the details regarding which specific add-on resulted in the suspension because it would compromise their add-on sniffer program.

     

    Curse gaming forums  and Blizzard forums are full of angry players who have faced the week long suspension due to an addon use (that tens of thousands of other players may be using at the same time) sp add-ons have been and will always be at user's risk. Blizzard will let people develop 'em but using 'em is something completely different.



    Add-ons are fine as long as you aren't giving yourself an unfair advantage.  Most of the bannings were people that were using bots which clearly is against the ToS.  Everyone who was using a bot knew they would be banned if caught, they either didn't care or they didn't think they would get caught.  I'm sure there are a very small number of bannings that don't have to do with botting, but it's very very small and then they are of the 1 week variety which is basically nothing more than a slap on the wrist so you know not to do it again.  The vast majority of people use tons of add-ons all the time without a single problem.

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