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What percentage of WoW's success you believe is because of Warcraft RTS?
MMOExposed
Member RarePosts: 7,387
We all know WoW is the most successful sub based MMORPG/MMO in the west.
But for me, I didnt play Warcraft RTS until after WoW. WoW lore made me interested in learning about these other characters in the story.
I wonder how many others, that were part of the large WoW support, also never played Warcraft RTS.
What percentage of WoW's success you believe is because of Warcraft RTS?
If not the Warcraft RTS popularity, what about WoW brought in the success compared to other games that came before WoW, during WoW launch window, and far after?
But for me, I didnt play Warcraft RTS until after WoW. WoW lore made me interested in learning about these other characters in the story.
I wonder how many others, that were part of the large WoW support, also never played Warcraft RTS.
What percentage of WoW's success you believe is because of Warcraft RTS?
If not the Warcraft RTS popularity, what about WoW brought in the success compared to other games that came before WoW, during WoW launch window, and far after?
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Comments
Indirectly, I would say quite a lot, as one of the major strengths of WoW was (and still is) the lore that was built-up by the RTS games (and other sources) over many years. If they had started with an new IP, even with the the same gameplay mechanics, they could not have made the world feel as deep, rich, and historied as it did and players would not have been as excited for major characters such as Illidan and Arthas.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Personally i believe it all started with Battle.net,continued with their kids and friends and a cult was formed.
I could write a novel of all the times i have heard people go fanatic over Blizzard with absolutely no logical sense what so ever.Just 2-3 days ago,well night watching a Twitch streamer.he said "i just love Blizzard games,i'll buy every game they release".So even if it is complete crap,he will buy their games,so when i see stuff like that,i remember it and it reminds me of how Blizzard is popular for all the wrong reasons.
I have seen top streamers like SJow like Reynad ,straight up say FK Blizzard, i hate Blizzard and yet keep on playing their games religiously."popularity" it makes streamers money and like an infectious disease it grows that virus out of proportion.I still remember standing in line at EB games ,can't remeber what game i was buying,but it was the young boy ,maybe 10 ,talking to the clerk that stood out.Clerk asked im "so you like Wow eh?",you know what his response was?He said "idk me and my friends are buying it because all the kids at school are playing it".
So point is,don't go trying to figure out Blizzard's success because there is a long lsit of reasons and almsot nonoe of them have anything to do with quality game design,not "polish"not creatvity,Wow is even short on game ideas other games have,so yeah,don't try to make sense of it.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
My first guilds during vanilla on Proudmoore were all ex-EQ players and my guild on Blackrock were mostly all ex-Jumpgate players.
Take EQ2 that was its "big" competitor. Both released about same time. When I tried EQ2, none of the races are fleshed out at all. Its very hard to find story. The world itself isn't that immersive either compared to Warcraft's world. The problem with EQ2 I find is there isn't really an overarching story like in WoW, so its kinda mindless roaming around. If there is one, they DEFINITELY don't do it as good as WoW, cause I got to endgame and if EQ2 actually has in-depth lore, they sure did a crappy job at showing it to people.
It wasn't just the lore, story and immersion either. It was how beautiful the world itself was, and because of the graphics style it went with...is STILL beautiful.
Look at EQ2 today, it was a beautiful duckling (considering time it was released, looked fine for that time period of MMOs) and turned into a fugly ass disgusting duck that is mutated and can barely walk. WoW started off as a cute duck, EVERYONE (mostly) liked the cute duck (meaning everyone could play WoW even on a bad PC)...and now today is a beautiful grown duck. Because of the graphics style WoW chose, it will look great even years from now.
It wasn't just the graphics and art style either. It was (ignoring the overpopulated launch no one expected and the issues that caused)...for years before WoW games released buggy, incomplete and terrible. WoW came out, and while had some bugs/issues, it was so smooth, stable and felt VERY polished. Of course the overpopulated launch caused issues, but every MMO company wants THAT to happen.
There wasn't a single MMO before WoW that launched with as much polish. Name me one with more polish launched, and WoW was far more polished at launch. Say otherwise, than prove it. WoW was for years nicknamed the king of polish and how all future MMOs should be at launch.
But it wasn't just the polish either. The game was just pure fun. There was underwater combat...AT LAUNCH. You could swim underwater, and the "world" beneath the land was beautiful. GW2 does good underwater combat, but WoW was only one before GW2 that did the best swimming, and underwater combat.
In fact, when a NEW mmo does NOT have underwater swimming, I log off and go "fuck that archaic shit. Did they learn nothing from WoW?" And never play it again.
My first memory was Fileplanet beta for WoW. I made a troll (started in orc area at the time), it was a beautiful area. But what sold me on WoW, was running and then swimming to Sen'Jin...the most beautiful area I ever saw in an MMO...going underwater (and I was like "holy shit you can fuckin' swim underwater.) that was my exact words, and then I could do COMBAT underwater and ("okay, I'm sold. This is the game. Am I dreaming? IS THIS A FUCKIN DREAM) again my exact words and I said bouth out loud...and the underwater was beautiful.
I got off beta right at that moment, knowing WoW was THE game, waited for WoW launch, played (and still play) many years later. Of course I play other MMOs now and then, and other games.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
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Brand loyalty.
I was in EQ2 and WOW beta which had no nda. Anyone could go to the site and watch vids but you could not post unless you were in the beta.
The battle. Net players really didn't get WOW or mmo's but of course that all changed imo when Burning Legion introduced instance PVP.
That was the foundation of WoW's success: they converted millions of players from their RTS into the MMORPG genre. Blizzard killed the RTS as soon as they had all those players paying a monthly sub for WoW. They never looked back...
But I believe Diablo influenced its success even more, in fact I would say that WoW initial fan-base was made mostly by Diablo players (WoW killed Diablo 3 production and fans were starving for a new RPG).
Most of Warcraft fans didn't actually get WoW, as Warcraft 3 was essentially a pure Strategy game while WoW was an RPG.
One thing I can say though it's that in 2004 Blizzard was the "cool" Company and had a huge following because of its games (Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo), so it wasn't difficult for WoW to become an instant success (the fact that WoW was actually good helped player retention).
Warcraft had a huge following. Starcraft was the better RTS though.
It took place in Durotar region, where you could actually adventure around, with Rexxar and friends, helping Thrall and them establish the region as Orgrimmar.
Anyway, the point is that WC3, very directly, built up WoW.
I believe WoW would have been a successful game, regardless, due to how fluid and polished it was, but it never would have come close to the massive population it acquired without the previous installments and huge brand loyalty they had already earned.
However it was only part of the reason that made it succesful for me, among other reasons was that I found the game very enjoyable and it was something new for me. You could say earlier Warcraft games was 100% reason I gave WoW a try but why it was success for me was combination of many factors.
I could only guess how many others like me tried WoW and stayed.
Now, especially when the beta launched, the Blizzard name, Warcraft, Diablo no doubt got people attention and got them to try it. As the beta ran however it became a force in its own right.
It ran for c. 9 months in the US with the EU beta starting a few months later and running beyond the US launch. It was slick and it started to be talked about. A lot. Discussions about rest experience say when it was added; the art style; how it compared to other games - not just Warcraft but mmorpgs and other games as well.
Which is also, imo, why WoW survived the day 1 meltdown; people knew by then that there was a game.
Blizzard is well known for high quality, well-designed games that people played and continue to play even 10+ years after their launch. There are very few game companies that can claim the same thing. Basically, Blizzard is a company that knows exactly what they're doing. I don't enjoy World of Warcraft anymore and even though I purchased Overwatch I don't much like that game either and have stopped playing it too. But you know what? They're solid games and they're the quality I'd expect from Blizzard. Personally if somebody told me Blizzard put out a new game I'd at least give it a look because I know it's going to be a quality experience.
Of the initial popularity I'd say at least 10%. Most people I knew at the time, especially those who liked fantasy things, had or played the RTS. Not WC2 or 3 as much as the original. Even if they didn't play the game the name was recognizable.
From there the rest of the success came from having a good product, injecting it into pop culture (WoW and BBT), and making a decision to lower the ability to play to include the children of the original playerbase. IMO the last point was pivotal in gaining the total success that it has.
It had initial hype but it was nothing compared to what happened a year after launch. That's why warcraft rts is a minor factor when it comes to wow's colossal success.
So when I heard Blizz was making a MMORPG I had to try it based on their previous track record.
Funny thing, while I enjoyed WOW at first, my experience in that game along with Starcraft 2 (and Diablo 2 really) now puts Blizz in the camp of Devs I won't buy games from.
Not because they don't make good games, of course they do, but their designs don't mesh with my more eclectic tastes.
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