I've been looking but can't find you a timeline for the patches. I don't know how you can compare the two, though. It would be like comparing apples to oranges. What would your criteria be? Length of time it takes to conquer the new content? Amount of gear released with the new areas? Land mass size? Number of releases?
I'm not sure how you'd compare the games' free content. I don't think releasing dragon world bosses could compare with the release of an entire land expansion and story-driven quest line. I also don't think releasing new instrument types can compare to releasing a raid dungeon.
So, do we agree then~ that free contents from both games are not comparable and it's a bad idea to bring it up at the first place ?
I can agree that they can't be compared. However, since I have played both games, I can say I have enjoyed the LOTRO free content more than WoW's. I felt that LOTRO content adds to the 'whole picture' of the game where WoW's content just seems to 'be' there.
Quantity or quality - the only people that could really argue the point I guess are those who play/have played both games' free content.
Saying that LOTRO is more than Wow in both content and game play value on a Wacrraft Forum (!!!!) is kind of trolling. And saying that the copycat LOTRO is even more than Wow is, is a real laugh. I saw the patches and 'books" of LOTRO and they don't come even close to WOW's content. Just click above on the free content Blizzard delivered over these years. The difference in content is staggering. LOTRO is not even a close second. And just to show the quality difference between WOW and LOTRO: In TBC Outland and now in the new Litch KING expansion, you can fly your personal epic mount and fly all over the continent and land everywhere you want (complete seamless open world- no loading screens). This background loading in a FULL 3D landscape is complete UNKNOWN in the world of LOTRO and takes MASSIVE amounts of more programming time than the pseudo 2D frontiers every other fantasy MMORPG offers these days. So IF there is fast food involved it CERTAINLY is with the LOTRO side, because of lack of these new developped techniques used since The Burning Crusade.
I actually never even noticed this was a WoW board so I am sorry. You are right about everything. WoW is the greatest game ever... Ah hell I just can't do it.
You 'saw' the patches and books... as in physically played through them? Or read a summary about them? For shame. I have played through the content released pre-TBC and can HONESTLY say that none of the content can add to the whole of WoW like the book updates add to LOTRO's big picture. Aside from the Emerald Dream, there is nothing that has been added to the game pre-BC which adds to the overall lore or the big picture of WoW. All the free content is a hodge-podge mish-mash of stuff added for different levels to give them something else to do on their way to grind-fest lvl 70 rep and faction.
Incidentally, there are no fully 3D landscapes in LOTRO because it doesn't fit the lore. In Middle-earth, there were not underwater passageways or flying mounts used to go places.
Asking Turbine to add flying mounts would be like asking SOE to add Jedis as a profession in a game that takes place after all the jedi in the galaxy were obliterated. And we know SOE would NEVER do that
Incidentally, there are no fully 3D landscapes in LOTRO because it doesn't fit the lore. In Middle-earth, there were not underwater passageways or flying mounts used to go places.
Asking Turbine to add flying mounts would be like asking SOE to add Jedis as a profession in a game that takes place after all the jedi in the galaxy were obliterated. And we know SOE would NEVER do that
Actually, there is flying mount in Lord of the Rings and it would fit the lore perfectly had it been implemented in LOTRO.
***Spoiler warning to those who haven't read/watch Lord of the Rings***
Did you watch/read Return of the King ? Tell me, how did Frodo and Sam escape after the ring was destroyed ?
WoW is great at what it is.. a stepping stone MMO. with being fun, approachable, very little learning curve. So when you take step to next mmo you will be less intimidated.
WoW is great at what it is.. a stepping stone MMO. with being fun, approachable, very little learning curve. So when you take step to next mmo you will be less intimidated.
Yep, and that's why every other MMORPG launched in the last 3 years failed completely against Wow - in playing hours and number of players.
The standards were raised that high.
From playability over polishment to choices of play in both PVE and PVP and progress of characters.
In fact the ONLY MMORPG upgrades that bettered Wow were the patches now reknown to the present day players of Wow. More in particular patch 2.3 and 2.4.
They made the game far more open to choices than standard (raid) Vanilla Wow ever was.
The only negative point is that the Arena gear and some battleground gear have some rate requirements now (patch 2.4).
It's the only big error the design staff made from a commercial point of view (you motivate players to keep on paying to play the game - never discourage them), but apparently the designers thought they could pull it off.
A lot of those frustrated Arena losing players look to Warhammer just for this reason. No one likes to have his head turned in on a silver plate in every arena fight (and don't get stuff).
Pity, but for the rest it's as hardcore or softcore as you would like to play it - in every meaning of the word.
Raiding in EQ2 or any other MMORPG is a laugh compared to the overdevelopped end game of Wow_WotLK , as is PvP btw.
The standards were raised that high. From playability over polishment to choices of play in both PVE and PVP and progress of characters. In fact the ONLY MMORPG upgrades that bettered Wow were the patches now reknown to the present day players of Wow. More in particular patch 2.3 and 2.4.
I disagree
the forthcoming Achievements will enable WOW to go beyond a "level and gear" game
- something that WOW has been lacking in for over 3 years
I got tired of seeing that "other" thread so I'm starting a new one. If you like the game, feel free to post your comments here instead of in that "other" thread. 1) Everyone can play it. You don't need a new PC to play it, you don't even need a new graphics card and you can still get a decent framerate. 2) It works. I don't crash to desktop. The quests can all be completed. If I actually have an issue like accidentally giving a bind on pickup item to the wrong person in Kara or accidentally deleting the wrong character, I can open a ticket and it will be fixed usually within an hour or 2. 3) It's kept up to date. Patches come out every month or 2 that add additional content, update the interface, add new features, etc. Every couple years a new expansion comes out with a bunch of new content, new races, new classes, new professions, new skills etc. 4) Servers are always active. Everytime I log in there's tons of people in game. I have a list of about 20 friends and there's almost always somebody playing. I put stuff up on the AH and within 48 hours it's sold. If I need something, I can search the AH and find it. 5) It's complete. For PvE there's role playing, questing, raiding, professions, trading and reputation rewards. For PvP there's battlegrounds, dueling, arenas, world PvP and tournament play. 6) It's user friendly. I can play alone or in a group up equally well and both offer great rewards. There are no harsh penalties for getting killed which means I don't spend a bunch of time trying to reacquire something I've already acquired. Leveling up doesn't take a lot of time so I always feel like I'm progressing even if I can only spend a couple hours a week playing. 7) It's fun. Lots of little extra's are added like holidays, world events, the faire, and a fishing tournament. 8) It's beautiful. Whether you are 5 or 75 you can appreciate a world filled with knights, damsels in distress, dragons, sorcerers, magic, dark castles, earie graveyards, majestic mountains, breathtaking waterfalls, zeppelin rides, vast oceans, etc. 9) It's addicting. Whether you are just a casual player or a hard core raider it will keep you entertained for hours and keep you wanting to come back for more. 10) It's cheap. It costs about the same to play WoW for a month that it does to go see a 2 hour movie, buy a soda and popcorn and pay for the gas there and back and I never have to leave the comfort of my own house. For entertainment value it's hard to beat.
1. True
2. True
3. Don't you have to pay for new expansions?
4. Same as most other mature MMORPG.
5. PvP without risk is boring imo.
6. True
7. Fun? I certainly didn't find the level grind fun.
8. True if you like cartoon graphics.
9. Grind, grind and grind. I certainly didn't want to come back for more. What's the point of all this?
I got tired of seeing that "other" thread so I'm starting a new one. If you like the game, feel free to post your comments here instead of in that "other" thread. 1) Everyone can play it. You don't need a new PC to play it, you don't even need a new graphics card and you can still get a decent framerate. 2) It works. I don't crash to desktop. The quests can all be completed. If I actually have an issue like accidentally giving a bind on pickup item to the wrong person in Kara or accidentally deleting the wrong character, I can open a ticket and it will be fixed usually within an hour or 2. 3) It's kept up to date. Patches come out every month or 2 that add additional content, update the interface, add new features, etc. Every couple years a new expansion comes out with a bunch of new content, new races, new classes, new professions, new skills etc. 4) Servers are always active. Everytime I log in there's tons of people in game. I have a list of about 20 friends and there's almost always somebody playing. I put stuff up on the AH and within 48 hours it's sold. If I need something, I can search the AH and find it. 5) It's complete. For PvE there's role playing, questing, raiding, professions, trading and reputation rewards. For PvP there's battlegrounds, dueling, arenas, world PvP and tournament play. 6) It's user friendly. I can play alone or in a group up equally well and both offer great rewards. There are no harsh penalties for getting killed which means I don't spend a bunch of time trying to reacquire something I've already acquired. Leveling up doesn't take a lot of time so I always feel like I'm progressing even if I can only spend a couple hours a week playing. 7) It's fun. Lots of little extra's are added like holidays, world events, the faire, and a fishing tournament. 8) It's beautiful. Whether you are 5 or 75 you can appreciate a world filled with knights, damsels in distress, dragons, sorcerers, magic, dark castles, earie graveyards, majestic mountains, breathtaking waterfalls, zeppelin rides, vast oceans, etc. 9) It's addicting. Whether you are just a casual player or a hard core raider it will keep you entertained for hours and keep you wanting to come back for more. 10) It's cheap. It costs about the same to play WoW for a month that it does to go see a 2 hour movie, buy a soda and popcorn and pay for the gas there and back and I never have to leave the comfort of my own house. For entertainment value it's hard to beat.
Each of your points:
1. True...But eventually everyone will need to upgrade..thats what technology is all about, either get with it or get left in the commodore 64 era.
2. True.. well sort of, people still crash for various reasons, not as much as other new mmo's..but it isn't new, been out for a few years. (remember when WOW 1st went live...eeeek)
3.True.. although the content may be new the concept is still the same...race to lvl cap, back to the grind.
4. True.
5. True.
6.Very True
7. False.. The game was fun the first 2 years,, after that for me it was rather boring, nothing new, grind or pvp<--same as grinding.
8.False..I love games that spend a good amount of time on the graphics as well as content..WOW clearly offers none of that.. its 1 big cartoon filled with looneytoons for characters.
9. True..Yes it was addicting for the 1st few years but I play an average of 4 hours a week now..
10.True
If people find the game fun, interesting, exciting, etc etc thats totally up to them. I think WOW is dead where it stands, and the expansion will just be some more icing on the dead cake..
WoW expanded mmo market and opened a new page to the mmo business. Thats a fact. I found my game where i have fun with my friends . Did you , my dear hater ?
So compare and you"ll see the Wow player has had a LOT of free updates (and not even small ones), certainly comparable with other MMORPG"s. Here is the info of 4 years of MAJOR patches (massive isn't it ?) ...AS you can see, Wow is already now on the 16th (!) free "book" of massive content updates. Not even talking of the addition of a handfull quests/professions per update. and EACH of these 16 has mostly 3 to 4 huge sub contents.
During that same time period, EQ2 had 46 major patches that added new content. Since release, LOTRO has had 4x as many as WOW in the same time period.
And as someont noted in another thread someplace, WOW has many times the number of subs as other games, yet it is barely keeping up, and in some cases falling behind.
You would think that since it is making 25x as much money that there would be at least 2x as much new content.
1. True...But eventually everyone will need to upgrade..thats what technology is all about, either get with it or get left in the commodore 64 era. 2. True.. well sort of, people still crash for various reasons, not as much as other new mmo's..but it isn't new, been out for a few years. (remember when WOW 1st went live...eeeek) 3.True.. although the content may be new the concept is still the same...race to lvl cap, back to the grind. 4. True. 5. True. 6.Very True 7. False.. The game was fun the first 2 years,, after that for me it was rather boring, nothing new, grind or pvp<--same as grinding. 8.False..I love games that spend a good amount of time on the graphics as well as content..WOW clearly offers none of that.. its 1 big cartoon filled with looneytoons for characters. 9. True..Yes it was addicting for the 1st few years but I play an average of 4 hours a week now.. 10.True If people find the game fun, interesting, exciting, etc etc thats totally up to them. I think WOW is dead where it stands, and the expansion will just be some more icing on the dead cake.. Wotlk: 1. Race to 80 2. 6 million + DK's running around the server 3. Back to the grind. 4. Wait 3 more years.
Guess what: Wow is number one again in the sales department of NEW games ))
Meaning even IF you would be right: it will just be expanding the next two years (your own theory btw).
But you are certainly wrong in what WotLK offers:
5. A very new achievements system (which takes the pressure out of the levels in future expansions)
6. Organised open world PvP (with world rewards for conquering battle keeps) in full air land battles
7. Choice for smaller guilds between 10 men raids and 25 men raids (a blast for the smaller guilds)throughout the complete expansion - with adepted token systems.
8. Add to these the result of the impact of the newer 2.3 and 2.4 patches (daily quests in ALL branches of the game - from professions to world PvP to BG's to solo play)
9. graphics improvement: have a look at this very high speed and tense PvP fight .... WITH the new graphics system in WotLK
(watch the scenes in the middle and the dynamic shadows. Makes WAR look like a 8year old PvP fight)
and you end up having a blast even you wouldn't want to miss because everyone and his cat will be joining in, meaning RL friends will be there and you will miss all the new fun.
Your choice of course, you can always play Conan or thin air games.
So compare and you"ll see the Wow player has had a LOT of free updates (and not even small ones), certainly comparable with other MMORPG"s. Here is the info of 4 years of MAJOR patches (massive isn't it ?) ...AS you can see, Wow is already now on the 16th (!) free "book" of massive content updates. Not even talking of the addition of a handfull quests/professions per update. and EACH of these 16 has mostly 3 to 4 huge sub contents.
During that same time period, EQ2 had 46 major patches that added new content. Since release, LOTRO has had 4x as many as WOW in the same time period.
And as someont noted in another thread someplace, WOW has many times the number of subs as other games, yet it is barely keeping up, and in some cases falling behind.
You would think that since it is making 25x as much money that there would be at least 2x as much new content.
There is not.
Calling all 46 of Everquest II's game updates as major is just flat out wrong. Most of the patches are just game mechanic tweeks and bug fixes. WoW has had 16 major content patches and each of those typically have about 3-4 sub patches each, but you don't hear people saying WoW has had 64 MAJOR patches do you? There is a world of difference between a content patch and a normal patch that just fixes and tweaks the game.
Blizzard is releasing content slowely so it can be properly tested. I know that is a foreign concept from someone who lives in the world of SOE, but that is why all of their expansions and updates are so hit or miss. Blizzards takes its time to make sure they can get things working as best as possible before releasing it to the masses. Even SOE has stepped back from rushing out their crap expansions and has slowed down, because as John Smedly even says "Quality suffered".
Quantity is not greater than quality in this case. I really wish that having lots of money somehow meant Blizzard could magically make time not matter in the development and testing process, but so far it is working. It would be nice if expansions came out a little sooner, but I will take finshed slow releases over rushed buggy ones any day of the week.
I agree that WoW is the walmart of mmo's but that is only because the time and effort that Blizzard puts into a quality game. Not that walmart has any quality just a comparison.I quite playing wow a few months back to play age of conan. i quite playing age of conan 2 weeks later why? because it was half finished and sucked really bad. Not sure why AOC sucks so bad but it just goes to show another reason why WoW is still on top. The only reason I am not playing W.O.W at this time is because I have decided to step away from MMO's till WoW WOTLK comes out. Which I hope will not have 10 million bugs and half finished like some other games have released lately but given blizzards rep i doubt it.
It's the Wal-Mart of MMOs. It's big, it attracts tons of customers, and, more often than not, smaller games don't get a chance to really flourish because of it. Though I believe you meant "Bind on Pickup", because you can trade Bind on Equip items.
It's big and attracts alot of customers BECAUSE its simply so well-done.
Name me 1 MMO that has the same amount of polish.
It's not revolutionary in design, but its simply a better product.
Running along Ashenvale, hearing grass crunch beneath your feet, if you summon your horse you can hear the pounding hooves, it's simply BETTER.
I used to play CoV, great game, but wasn't even 1/4 as deep as WoW just on the PvE side.
I used to play Eve, great game, but wasn't even 1/4 as deep as WoW just on the PvP side.
So compare and you"ll see the Wow player has had a LOT of free updates (and not even small ones), certainly comparable with other MMORPG"s. Here is the info of 4 years of MAJOR patches (massive isn't it ?) ...AS you can see, Wow is already now on the 16th (!) free "book" of massive content updates. Not even talking of the addition of a handfull quests/professions per update. and EACH of these 16 has mostly 3 to 4 huge sub contents.
During that same time period, EQ2 had 46 major patches that added new content. Since release, LOTRO has had 4x as many as WOW in the same time period.
And as someont noted in another thread someplace, WOW has many times the number of subs as other games, yet it is barely keeping up, and in some cases falling behind.
You would think that since it is making 25x as much money that there would be at least 2x as much new content.
There is not.
Apparently it takes more than money to make excellent content, Blizzard has a 10+ year reputation as a slow but high-quality developer, they dont do "fast" development.
We only hear about WoTLK now, that its in beta, but how long were they working on it? Probably since the release of BC.
Comments
I've been looking but can't find you a timeline for the patches. I don't know how you can compare the two, though. It would be like comparing apples to oranges. What would your criteria be? Length of time it takes to conquer the new content? Amount of gear released with the new areas? Land mass size? Number of releases?
I'm not sure how you'd compare the games' free content. I don't think releasing dragon world bosses could compare with the release of an entire land expansion and story-driven quest line. I also don't think releasing new instrument types can compare to releasing a raid dungeon.
So, do we agree then~ that free contents from both games are not comparable and it's a bad idea to bring it up at the first place ?
I can agree that they can't be compared. However, since I have played both games, I can say I have enjoyed the LOTRO free content more than WoW's. I felt that LOTRO content adds to the 'whole picture' of the game where WoW's content just seems to 'be' there.
Quantity or quality - the only people that could really argue the point I guess are those who play/have played both games' free content.
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I actually never even noticed this was a WoW board so I am sorry. You are right about everything. WoW is the greatest game ever... Ah hell I just can't do it.
You 'saw' the patches and books... as in physically played through them? Or read a summary about them? For shame. I have played through the content released pre-TBC and can HONESTLY say that none of the content can add to the whole of WoW like the book updates add to LOTRO's big picture. Aside from the Emerald Dream, there is nothing that has been added to the game pre-BC which adds to the overall lore or the big picture of WoW. All the free content is a hodge-podge mish-mash of stuff added for different levels to give them something else to do on their way to grind-fest lvl 70 rep and faction.
Incidentally, there are no fully 3D landscapes in LOTRO because it doesn't fit the lore. In Middle-earth, there were not underwater passageways or flying mounts used to go places.
Asking Turbine to add flying mounts would be like asking SOE to add Jedis as a profession in a game that takes place after all the jedi in the galaxy were obliterated. And we know SOE would NEVER do that
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Weither WoW sucks or not is a personal opinion, not a fact.
Kinda pointless trying to prove it, unless someone cares about why you like WoW or not.
Incidentally, there are no fully 3D landscapes in LOTRO because it doesn't fit the lore. In Middle-earth, there were not underwater passageways or flying mounts used to go places.
Asking Turbine to add flying mounts would be like asking SOE to add Jedis as a profession in a game that takes place after all the jedi in the galaxy were obliterated. And we know SOE would NEVER do that
Actually, there is flying mount in Lord of the Rings and it would fit the lore perfectly had it been implemented in LOTRO.
***Spoiler warning to those who haven't read/watch Lord of the Rings***
Did you watch/read Return of the King ? Tell me, how did Frodo and Sam escape after the ring was destroyed ?
Hell, there is even a page at wikipedia dedicated to it.
***Spoiler warning ends.
*edit: added spoiler warning
WoW is great at what it is.. a stepping stone MMO. with being fun, approachable, very little learning curve. So when you take step to next mmo you will be less intimidated.
Yep, and that's why every other MMORPG launched in the last 3 years failed completely against Wow - in playing hours and number of players.
The standards were raised that high.
From playability over polishment to choices of play in both PVE and PVP and progress of characters.
In fact the ONLY MMORPG upgrades that bettered Wow were the patches now reknown to the present day players of Wow. More in particular patch 2.3 and 2.4.
They made the game far more open to choices than standard (raid) Vanilla Wow ever was.
The only negative point is that the Arena gear and some battleground gear have some rate requirements now (patch 2.4).
It's the only big error the design staff made from a commercial point of view (you motivate players to keep on paying to play the game - never discourage them), but apparently the designers thought they could pull it off.
A lot of those frustrated Arena losing players look to Warhammer just for this reason. No one likes to have his head turned in on a silver plate in every arena fight (and don't get stuff).
Pity, but for the rest it's as hardcore or softcore as you would like to play it - in every meaning of the word.
Raiding in EQ2 or any other MMORPG is a laugh compared to the overdevelopped end game of Wow_WotLK , as is PvP btw.
I disagree
the forthcoming Achievements will enable WOW to go beyond a "level and gear" game
- something that WOW has been lacking in for over 3 years
EQ2 fan sites
1. True
2. True
3. Don't you have to pay for new expansions?
4. Same as most other mature MMORPG.
5. PvP without risk is boring imo.
6. True
7. Fun? I certainly didn't find the level grind fun.
8. True if you like cartoon graphics.
9. Grind, grind and grind. I certainly didn't want to come back for more. What's the point of all this?
10. Cheap as any other MMORPG.
Each of your points:
1. True...But eventually everyone will need to upgrade..thats what technology is all about, either get with it or get left in the commodore 64 era.
2. True.. well sort of, people still crash for various reasons, not as much as other new mmo's..but it isn't new, been out for a few years. (remember when WOW 1st went live...eeeek)
3.True.. although the content may be new the concept is still the same...race to lvl cap, back to the grind.
4. True.
5. True.
6.Very True
7. False.. The game was fun the first 2 years,, after that for me it was rather boring, nothing new, grind or pvp<--same as grinding.
8.False..I love games that spend a good amount of time on the graphics as well as content..WOW clearly offers none of that.. its 1 big cartoon filled with looneytoons for characters.
9. True..Yes it was addicting for the 1st few years but I play an average of 4 hours a week now..
10.True
If people find the game fun, interesting, exciting, etc etc thats totally up to them. I think WOW is dead where it stands, and the expansion will just be some more icing on the dead cake..
Wotlk:
1. Race to 80
2. 6 million + DK's running around the server
3. Back to the grind.
4. Wait 3 more years.
I love when someone posts "I loved it for 2 years and then I got bored".
Wow, you think?
WoW expanded mmo market and opened a new page to the mmo business. Thats a fact. I found my game where i have fun with my friends . Did you , my dear hater ?
And how many other games have you played to compare it to?
During that same time period, EQ2 had 46 major patches that added new content. Since release, LOTRO has had 4x as many as WOW in the same time period.
And as someont noted in another thread someplace, WOW has many times the number of subs as other games, yet it is barely keeping up, and in some cases falling behind.
You would think that since it is making 25x as much money that there would be at least 2x as much new content.
There is not.
Guess what: Wow is number one again in the sales department of NEW games
))
Meaning even IF you would be right: it will just be expanding the next two years (your own theory btw).
But you are certainly wrong in what WotLK offers:
5. A very new achievements system (which takes the pressure out of the levels in future expansions)
6. Organised open world PvP (with world rewards for conquering battle keeps) in full air land battles
7. Choice for smaller guilds between 10 men raids and 25 men raids (a blast for the smaller guilds)throughout the complete expansion - with adepted token systems.
8. Add to these the result of the impact of the newer 2.3 and 2.4 patches (daily quests in ALL branches of the game - from professions to world PvP to BG's to solo play)
9. graphics improvement: have a look at this very high speed and tense PvP fight .... WITH the new graphics system in WotLK
Wow see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YE6Jga_8ho
(watch the scenes in the middle and the dynamic shadows. Makes WAR look like a 8year old PvP fight)
and you end up having a blast even you wouldn't want to miss because everyone and his cat will be joining in, meaning RL friends will be there and you will miss all the new fun.
Your choice of course, you can always play Conan or thin air games.
During that same time period, EQ2 had 46 major patches that added new content. Since release, LOTRO has had 4x as many as WOW in the same time period.
And as someont noted in another thread someplace, WOW has many times the number of subs as other games, yet it is barely keeping up, and in some cases falling behind.
You would think that since it is making 25x as much money that there would be at least 2x as much new content.
There is not.
Calling all 46 of Everquest II's game updates as major is just flat out wrong. Most of the patches are just game mechanic tweeks and bug fixes. WoW has had 16 major content patches and each of those typically have about 3-4 sub patches each, but you don't hear people saying WoW has had 64 MAJOR patches do you? There is a world of difference between a content patch and a normal patch that just fixes and tweaks the game.
Blizzard is releasing content slowely so it can be properly tested. I know that is a foreign concept from someone who lives in the world of SOE, but that is why all of their expansions and updates are so hit or miss. Blizzards takes its time to make sure they can get things working as best as possible before releasing it to the masses. Even SOE has stepped back from rushing out their crap expansions and has slowed down, because as John Smedly even says "Quality suffered".
Quantity is not greater than quality in this case. I really wish that having lots of money somehow meant Blizzard could magically make time not matter in the development and testing process, but so far it is working. It would be nice if expansions came out a little sooner, but I will take finshed slow releases over rushed buggy ones any day of the week.
I agree that WoW is the walmart of mmo's but that is only because the time and effort that Blizzard puts into a quality game. Not that walmart has any quality just a comparison.I quite playing wow a few months back to play age of conan. i quite playing age of conan 2 weeks later why? because it was half finished and sucked really bad. Not sure why AOC sucks so bad but it just goes to show another reason why WoW is still on top. The only reason I am not playing W.O.W at this time is because I have decided to step away from MMO's till WoW WOTLK comes out. Which I hope will not have 10 million bugs and half finished like some other games have released lately but given blizzards rep i doubt it.
It's big and attracts alot of customers BECAUSE its simply so well-done.
Name me 1 MMO that has the same amount of polish.
It's not revolutionary in design, but its simply a better product.
Running along Ashenvale, hearing grass crunch beneath your feet, if you summon your horse you can hear the pounding hooves, it's simply BETTER.
I used to play CoV, great game, but wasn't even 1/4 as deep as WoW just on the PvE side.
I used to play Eve, great game, but wasn't even 1/4 as deep as WoW just on the PvP side.
During that same time period, EQ2 had 46 major patches that added new content. Since release, LOTRO has had 4x as many as WOW in the same time period.
And as someont noted in another thread someplace, WOW has many times the number of subs as other games, yet it is barely keeping up, and in some cases falling behind.
You would think that since it is making 25x as much money that there would be at least 2x as much new content.
There is not.
Apparently it takes more than money to make excellent content, Blizzard has a 10+ year reputation as a slow but high-quality developer, they dont do "fast" development.
We only hear about WoTLK now, that its in beta, but how long were they working on it? Probably since the release of BC.