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What does WoW do better then its competition?

Tutu2Tutu2 Member UncommonPosts: 572
8 years running and it still overshadows it competition significantly. Other MMOs improve certain aspects of the "WoW clone" yet what is it that makes WoW so enduring and keeps people coming back? 
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Comments

  • CoatedCoated Member UncommonPosts: 507

    I'm not playing atm, but I put in my time to that game. What always made me come back was the following:

    1. They do it better.

    2. The game engine.

    3. The active community.

  • AsariashaAsariasha Member UncommonPosts: 252

    They are pioneers of the onlinegaming industry. Blizzard simply took the chance when the onlinegaming industry started to evolve into a serious and profitable market - or better let's say. The market already was there. It just waited for someone to find it.

    WoW was the first MMO that was professional marketed over all available channels (print, online, tv). It was a totally new concept for the broad masses and thatfor easily enthused thousands of customers. Beyond that ... WoW has solid graphics, game design and is fun to play. A big plus was the fresh unused playerbase. Only a hand full of experienced EQ1/DAoC/Lineage veterans disliked the game. However, the majority of the new customers loved this new experience. 

  • Elegance92Elegance92 Member Posts: 93

    As someone just returning..

    I like the ridiculousness of it all.(flying mounts, weapon glows etc).

    That and addons... honestly I wouldn't be able to play this game without the addons(ui/ah ones).

  • page975page975 Member Posts: 312
    Originally posted by Asariasha

    They are pioneers of the onlinegaming industry. Blizzard simply took the chance when the onlinegaming industry started to evolve into a serious and profitable market - or better let's say. The market already was there. It just waited for someone to find it.

    WoW was the first MMO that was professional marketed over all available channels (print, online, tv). It was a totally new concept for the broad masses and thatfor easily enthused thousands of customers. Beyond that ... WoW has solid graphics, game design and is fun to play. A big plus was the fresh unused playerbase. Only a hand full of experienced EQ1/DAoC/Lineage veterans disliked the game. However, the majority of the new customers loved this new experience. 

    Yes, this is it.....Few people get this. WoW came when EQ1 needed an upgrade. SOE tryied with EQ2 at the same time but the their game ran like crap on most computers. 

    Who ever got it right at that point in time would be the winner, and WoW took it by far.

     

    - Also understand that Blizzard dumped profits back into their game, SOE just took.

    -EQ2 had paid expantions, WoW gave free patches for the longest time.

    -EQ2 looked like plastic, WoW blended in nice with their graphics for that time.

    -EQ2 expantions fit like a bad jig saw puzzle, WoW was seemless.

     

    I hate what WoW is now, but they were the clear winner back then !

  • MukeMuke Member RarePosts: 2,614
    Originally posted by Tutu2
    8 years running and it still overshadows it competition significantly. Other MMOs improve certain aspects of the "WoW clone" yet what is it that makes WoW so enduring and keeps people coming back? 

    Only overshadowing the competition in sub numbers and probably annual profits, content-wise and progress-wise they have been overtaken by a number of other mmos long ago.

     

    What makes ppl come back to this game is it's addictive, and easy to get into.

    Very smart design by Blizzard.

    "going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"

  • DerrosDerros Member UncommonPosts: 1,216
    It existed first (among the more casual/accessable MMOs).  That's pretty much all it needed to do.  Most people have massive time investments in WoW, thats the draw that keeps them coming back.  If their character's were deleted, and/or their friends left, it wouldnt hold those numbers.
  • BrucyBonusBrucyBonus Member Posts: 220

    Game engine, it just runs more smoothly and is more responsive than any other mmo.  

    It was in the right place at the right time.  

     

  • korent1991korent1991 Member UncommonPosts: 1,364

    to be honest... only thing they do better are - PC requirments. You can run that game on a toaster :D

    everything else they have now is just the result of living on the fame of past.

    "Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life."
    -------------------------------

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  • ThaneThane Member EpicPosts: 3,534
    Originally posted by page975
    Originally posted by Asariasha

    They are pioneers of the onlinegaming industry. Blizzard simply took the chance when the onlinegaming industry started to evolve into a serious and profitable market - or better let's say. The market already was there. It just waited for someone to find it.

    WoW was the first MMO that was professional marketed over all available channels (print, online, tv). It was a totally new concept for the broad masses and thatfor easily enthused thousands of customers. Beyond that ... WoW has solid graphics, game design and is fun to play. A big plus was the fresh unused playerbase. Only a hand full of experienced EQ1/DAoC/Lineage veterans disliked the game. However, the majority of the new customers loved this new experience. 

    Yes, this is it.....Few people get this. WoW came when EQ1 needed an upgrade. SOE tryied with EQ2 at the same time but the their game ran like crap on most computers. 

    Who ever got it right at that point in time would be the winner, and WoW took it by far.

     

    - Also understand that Blizzard dumped profits back into their game, SOE just took.

    -EQ2 had paid expantions, WoW gave free patches for the longest time.

    -EQ2 looked like plastic, WoW blended in nice with their graphics for that time.

    -EQ2 expantions fit like a bad jig saw puzzle, WoW was seemless.

     

    I hate what WoW is now, but they were the clear winner back then !

    pfffffffffff..... imo EQ2 came out when the wow train was running in full force already.

    WoW came out shortly after DAoC hit it's zenith... and sony realised THEN they should do sth.... which they couldn't

     

    anyway, what is WoW doing right? it is doing things when needed... and it's doing em correctly

    uh and ps: if you wanna imply wow took alot from EQ2, you are seriously desperate...

    "I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!"

  • Quazal.AQuazal.A Member UncommonPosts: 859

    For me when i did play it ( and still acknowledge the following)

     

    The fact they allowed external addons so you could modifty your UI / View get addons for stats etc, even today no other game comes close to this, and personally when will developers acknowledge this.

    Polished products, It was rare that in the days when i played that a patch would be released and would need 5/6 quick patches to fix what was broken, generally their QA dept was on the ball

    Right place - Right time, at their time of release the ONLINE PC gaming market was just taking off, they realised that the younger gaming market had liquid cash and to push for their age group - This was why their game at times was looked down upon - caters fro the younger group -and also why people grow out of it

    Finally, the ease of starting the game, they didn't make the start like EvE one minute your killing spiders in horde starting area, next your in barrens a lot of games dont focus enough on the first few days of a MMO game - TSW being a good current example/ Age of Wushu same again, The only other game for me that came close was Age of Conan with its starter island.

    This post is all my opinion, but I welcome debate on anything i have put, however, personal slander / name calling belongs in game where of course you're welcome to call me names im often found lounging about in EvE online.
    Use this code for 21days trial in eve online https://secure.eveonline.com/trial/?invc=d385aff2-794a-44a4-96f1-3967ccf6d720&action=buddy

  • sportsfansportsfan Member Posts: 431

    Open seamless background loading worlds.

    Now across servers in real time.

     

    All the newly ones have massive loading screens with instances to simulate a world.

     

    Huge difference for an mmorpg. You might as well call COD maps or D3 a living world.

     

    You might think this is trivial: but the lack of a complete open ended world to walk/ride through was the first step of destroying MMORPG's you pay subscriptions for.

    So they turned free to play as present day alternatives of on line play already offer loading screens to instances... for free.

     

    Even WOW suffers massively from that, but at least, there is still that open world behind it all that others lack.

  • MukeMuke Member RarePosts: 2,614
    Originally posted by sportsfanbut at least, there is still that open world behind it all that others lack.

    That's what I miss now about WOW tbh.

    "seamless world".

    In 1 way; correct, but with all the instant travelling/portalling etc around and not the need to actually travel through those zones, what's the use?

    "going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"

  • AsariashaAsariasha Member UncommonPosts: 252

    Originally posted by Muke

    Originally posted by Tutu2
    8 years running and it still overshadows it competition significantly. Other MMOs improve certain aspects of the "WoW clone" yet what is it that makes WoW so enduring and keeps people coming back? 

    Only overshadowing the competition in sub numbers and probably annual profits, content-wise and progress-wise they have been overtaken by a number of other mmos long ago.

     

    What makes ppl come back to this game is it's addictive, and easy to get into.

    Very smart design by Blizzard.

     

    People come back to WoW, because they already spent years into leveling their characters. You do not dump something you invested hundreds of hours of gameplay and hundreds of dollars for. It's as simple as that. Another point is that players know, that Blizzard always delivers several hours of fun with a new expansion. The ranting starts after the content is played through. ;)

     

    Originally posted by korent1991

    to be honest... only thing they do better are - PC requirments. You can run that game on a toaster :D

    everything else they have now is just the result of living on the fame of past.

    If the game was bad, it would not entice millions of players to rejoin with every new expansion. The game is awesome for the majority of players. Derogating Blizzards accomplishment is enviousness - nothing else.

  • sportsfansportsfan Member Posts: 431
    Originally posted by DMKano

    It doesn't matter anymore, it was a perfect storm of events, not some kind of a secret formula that only Blizzard had. If Blizzard released a new MMO today it wouldn't do what WoW did (project Titan restart,need we say more?).

    We may never see another MMO that does several orders of magnitude than the rest, if we do it would be something massively casual, and at the same time a huge revolutionary change in gaming.

    The WoW crowd is growing tired of wow and clones.

    Agreed, but I would not have called it in the past sense, as WOW is far from dead yet -, even as a subscription game in what has become a free to play industry.

    You are right about a new MMORPG ever to gain that much of subscriptions for one platform for one game though.

    And those who cheer for subscription losses in WOW hardly see the zero subs behind their games.

    The MMO industry is no longer HOT. It is their OWN fault too.

    Too much seeking the money grabbing formula behind WOW subs is one thing. Bloodless talent another one.

    But these times people have simply other methods of on line fun: shorter games with casual gameplay that address the millions.

     

    WOW made subscription based MMO's mass market. These days it will dwindle to a niche market again until something "new" comes out, but that will hardly be a traditional MMO (be that theme park or sandbox).

    The new next thing will have to be Multi platform, casual, long lasting, esports as a supplement and full 3D.

    Apparently something like that was shown on E3. But it will take years to unfold.

  • MukeMuke Member RarePosts: 2,614
    Originally posted by Asariasha
     

     because they already spent years into leveling their characters. 

    That goes for every MMO out there.

     

     

     

    "going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"

  • strangiato2112strangiato2112 Member CommonPosts: 1,538

    things they do best:

    combat fluidity:  No other game's combat feels as right as WoW's.  Perfect responsiveness, very smooth.  There has yet to be an mmorpg, action or not, that has super amazing combat.  You could argue WoW has best combat overall because of how fluid it is, and because its easy to learn and far more difficult to master than people think.  there is a rather large gap between 'average' and 'great' by people wearing the same gear.  There are games where it is more difficult to master for sure, but no one has the complete package WoW does combat wise.

     

    Theme park PvP: And partly because of this combat fluidity and partly because of its well designed classes, its by far the best of the themeparks at PvP.  This is sort of like being the tallest midget of course, but no other game that offers robust PvE content offers PvP as good as WoW.  

     

    Presentation:  WoW has a lot of lore behind it, and unlike most games they know how to present it without long walls of text

     

    Personality:  Sure, not everyone likes its personality but its not some dull, generic game of blah like some of the other games.  the races are awesome and fun because of this, unlike a game like Rift where you pick which race sucks the least.

     

    And there are lots of other things WoW does well on top of that, but these 4 things I think they are clearly better than their competition

  • Mors.MagneMors.Magne Member UncommonPosts: 1,549

    I agree with everything that's been said.

     

    In addition, WoW has a very good (and unique) pet battle system - it's many days worth of play alone.

     

    The only reason I stopped playing WoW and the pet battles was because the reward system for the pet battles isn't enough if all you want to do are pet battles.

  • LugorsLugors Member UncommonPosts: 184

    A couple of things keep WoW consistently on top:

     

    Emphasis on art versus graphics:  People have mixed feelings about the art design in WoW, but like mentioned before, it runs on a toaster.  See SWTOR for a game with decent graphics and horrible art.  You won't notice strong art design until it's not there.

     

    Things to do and avenues of advancement:  Very few people see WoW at its highest level of difficulty, more do all the content at various levels of difficulty.  Even more still putz around the game doing pet battles, crafting, exploration while leveling slowly. 

     

    Never standing still:  Sometimes they get it wrong, but they constantly tinker and try to make the game better

     

    Leads the way in trying to get people playing together in an MMO:  Seriously, I still can't see why games likes GWs, TSW and a host of others consider social interaction to be shouting LFG in a capital city.  WoW innovated group finding beyond a chat window by giving tools that put like minded folks together to do content. 

     

    Game keeps you engaged all the way through, but really starts at max level:  I throw this in there because one of the other prominent MMOs, GW2 felt like it ended at the max level.  Advancement in levels may stop, but so much additional content opens up, and you continue to advance in gear, pvp rankings, etc.

  • DocBrodyDocBrody Member UncommonPosts: 1,926

    building on addiction? It´s a hamster wheel. I´d never install it again, the trial was enough for me. 

  • CarnicideCarnicide Member UncommonPosts: 222
    Originally posted by Tutu2
    8 years running and it still overshadows it competition significantly. Other MMOs improve certain aspects of the "WoW clone" yet what is it that makes WoW so enduring and keeps people coming back? 

    I honestly think it was the timing. WoW came out when MMOs weren't so popular, and they had a product that played well even though it was filled with bugs, it was good enough to grab peoples attention while they worked out the issues. Now a days everyone expects MMO's to come out and play as smoothly as WoW plays now which is really hard to do. The game as been out for 8 years. That's 8 years of post production making tons of money to throw at their cash cow. If WaR came out instead of WoW at the time, i'm sure everyone would be playing that instead.

  • ArakaziArakazi Member UncommonPosts: 911

    There is a lot of snobbery and hate on this game. But I think wow is still one of the best themeparks out there despite the poor expansions. I remember when I first got out the noob area and made my way to Stormwind. I remember thinking how alive and colorful the game felt. I also remember my first griffon ride which at the time was pretty cool. The game made EQ2 look boring and old. WoW was by far one of the most charismatic and distinct games out there, people slate the cartoony graphics, but at the time of release the world looked lively and colorful, it wasn't dark and oppressive even in the plaguelands. The monsters looked almost comical and so did most of the toons out there. It simply screamed "this is just fun". 

  • trinixtrinix Member UncommonPosts: 51

    There were a few reasons why WoW did it so good while others have failed. 

    Most important was it was the time that first gen mmo's were done. A lot of first gen MMO players wanted a new MMO and the games that were released between were nice for a while, but they needed a new EQ, UO or a new AC.

    WoW brought new players into the market. Blizzard had a trackrecord that made sure certain players would join, they used an IP that would sell great, warcraft and it was there own IP so people trusted them to handle it with care.

    EQ2 was too late and too complex. The game was fine, but releasing so close after WoW and a system normal gamers couldn't understand, too harsh, too much not WoW, made the game lose the first round. After the first round Smedley wanted to Wowify the game and made it worst for a while, losing more people while waiting for WoW players to look around for new games.

    Wow works on everything. Everyone can play it, everything is easy and when it's released it's kinda hard but after a month everything turns into a carnival ride, so players get free loot. You can see yourself increasing in levels and in gear and everyone can be good, some content some players will never see, but most of it will be seen by everyone who wants it.

    Modding. Modding the UI made it accessable to a lot of players, released pressure on raid leaders as everyone was getting instructions and stuff like that.

     

    But while they did a lot of things good, I can't say they did everything good. Some of these things sounded good, but turned out to hurt them in the end, dropping them now to 8-10m subs, still not bad, but the game will drop further.

    Free content patches, don't kid yourself. WoW's content releases are the worst, EQ expansion releases are a bit too fast, but at least you get something. Free content patches from WoW are delayed releases from the expansion. Expansions in wow take too long, you see a big peak around the release of a new expansions and a big drop after 3-4 months after an expansion is released. They could have increased there money if they just released a bit faster. 

    Also EQ is free. It has been free for years. The last one or two expansions are the only expansions you have to buy. The rest is free. You pay your monthly fee and don't have to worry about buying any expansions to buy up to lvl 80ish nowadays. In WoW, you can hold off buying expansions if you don't want a new race/class yet, just like EQ and you don't need expansions until you hit those zones that require them of course. The problem is, imho, you need to buy them all. There was a great deal, get every expansion for free and boosted to level 80, but that brings me to the next problem of the game.

    It's all about the endgame. Back in the days, I spend 4 years just having fun in EQ1. There was no need to rush to 60. There were always people around me, I had my problems finding groups, but I was almost never online alone in a zone. Nowadays, if you talk about EQ2, WOW, Rifts, NWO, etc, almost every game only talks about endgame. People are also talking about finally done this leveling, but I really love the leveling, hate when it ends, as you have to sit in town wait for hours and hours to find someone who is going to run a dungeon again and again and again. The fun of continueing to level, spending time exploring new worlds and stuff like that, I miss it in the end game. Making it the worst part of most MMOs. I named EQ2 in there, but I haven't reached endgame content with my rogue at any point and while I didn't always have it easy finding people around, I did enjoy the main level content a lot, good lore.

     

    But I can keep going, the point is yes WoW did it better. They won. A lot of people liked it, but all of  their customers didn't exist before WoW was released and most of them wouldn't have enjoyed a MMO, or don't like MMO's (many returned to their rts/fps/other games after they were done with WoW). WoW created it's own players and kept those players close. Most of them hop back and forth waiting for expansions to go back and do the new thing again and leaving after that again. Like the old days, where you would buy the new warcraft expansion, play it for a few weeks, months, maybe a year and then put it away and go play other games.

    WoW will remain, players will go back to WoW for another 2-5 years at least, the game will exist for another 10-20 years (look at EQ1, still running acceptable after 13/14/15 years??). But more genres will bland into MMOs. People will be scattered over more games and more games will be played. I doubt we will see another WoW anytime soon. They did it at the right time and with enough resources. I doubt Titan will do the same as WoW did, as they miss the momentum to do it. They will bring new players into the genre again, but with so many already playing it, it will be harder to beat the first kiss experience.

  • brackatchabrackatcha Member Posts: 24

    The question was answered well previously in this thread...they captured mass by being in the right place at the right time with the product with the most mass appeal at the time. They then reinvested in the product, released timely content updates and voila!

    What do they do better now than other MMOs....

    1) Graphics - dated, defintely not a positive for this game anymore..even the art style, at this point, has become old and tiremsome.

    2) Questing - sorry, many other MMOS do this better with dynamic events or deeper story arcs

    3) Character Developlment - Skill Tree = at one time a very strong feature..now it has been dumbed down beyond any real consideration

    4) Leveling - eh, I can't think of any reason that leveling in WoW is more captivating than other MMOs

    5) End-game - not knocking WoW's end game..but I definitely don't think theirs is any better than the standard MMO released today. WoW does offer a lot of options at end-game; none of them particularly captivating however.

    6) Combat- they probably have the smoothest combat/animations of any MMO..so yes an argument that they do this better is justified.

    7) LFG Tool - some view this as a negative, I dont. WoW has the best LFG tool out there.

    I am not a WoW hater..I recently quit after getting two toons to 90 and realizing I just didnt want to spend my limited gaming hours doing the same crap I have done for years in this game; it is now old and stale and there really is not a fix for that.

     

  • AnthurAnthur Member UncommonPosts: 961

    You take

    - existing IP (Warcraft)

    - low hardware requirements

    - smooth running game

    - good marketing

    - the right time

    - incompetent competitors

    mix it and shake it and there you have your success. WoW started the MMO hype train in the West. As soon as they had their initial customer base word-of-mouth did the rest. What MMO would you choose, the one your friends already play or another one ? So it just got bigger and bigger.

  • korent1991korent1991 Member UncommonPosts: 1,364
    Originally posted by Asariasha

     

    Originally posted by korent1991

    to be honest... only thing they do better are - PC requirments. You can run that game on a toaster :D

    everything else they have now is just the result of living on the fame of past.

    If the game was bad, it would not entice millions of players to rejoin with every new expansion. The game is awesome for the majority of players. Derogating Blizzards accomplishment is enviousness - nothing else.

    yeah, you mean the numbers which state that every expansion sells less and less copies and that with every new expansion there's less and less subscribers?

    just take a look at the ratio of subbers vs number of copies sold on each new expansion. Those numbers will give you the feeling of how the game is doing in western market and the numbers aren't showing a good trend.

    "Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life."
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