Being a WoW fan doesn't mean you're an MMO fan

I just want something new. WOW was the culmination of everything that worked in MMO's prior. But since I haven't seen any serious innovation.

Also after all these years i'm sick of the grind, and wish someone would do something else. I'm paying 15 bucks a month, I shouldn't have to work so damn hard to get to the good stuff.

Working hard and playing a MMO like it is a job was one thing back in the day when everything was new and experiencing everything for the first time. Now it's just a chore and a job i pay to be able to work at.

Hoping SWTOR changes things and add's some new life to this industry. 2008 was very disappointing.

He's absolutely right- WoW Tourism has indeed pidgeon holed our loved genre of videogames.

Real fans are old school dkp users, like Ultima or Everquest.

Or sci-fi mmos like Anarchy Online or SWG.

Syncaine is just bitter that his mmo of choice isn't being adopted by the slobering masses (WoW players who don't appreciate a good mmo when they see one apparently). I only had to read like 3-4 posts a while back from him before I realized he was just looney - why does massively give him so much traffic?

The thing the article seems to assume is that the previous MMO crowd is best and unique. While WoW has brought a different kind of MMO fan to the table, it doesn't mean they aren't MMO fans. I think that one thing that Blizz was smart about is that they made a game that allowed you to play a lot on your own, but encouraged group play along the way.

In an MMO, sometimes I like to do my own thing, but I always like to be able to come back and hang with my guild/clan/alliance/etc. and do something with them. People like playing together - but an MMO that can encourage both kind of play is best because you have a wider audience.

Here's why I disagree with this. WoW made it so that I can no longer play a regular rpg. I am a full blown mmo fan now because I just can't play a game that I don't feel i'm building some sort of permanency to. It's sad but I actually feel productive playing an mmo.

Now, in fairness, i'm currently playing eve online as well, but that would not have happened were it not for WoW. Maybe I don't fit the mold of what's being discussed, but to me I think most wow players are in the same boat. Accessability does not mean bad mmo.

What the article should say is that being a wow player does not make you a hard core mmo lover. That would be more realistic. WoW allows mmo lovers with less time to still be able to participate.

HackJack try playing WoW all the way to 80 unlike other games it does not end there you got tons of endgame and Blizzard always working on more you can do PVP and PVE!

I mostly think that Blizzard is dumbing down the old content to get more people to 70 so they can enjoy the lich king content and the batch system updates are so more people get to see the Battle against the Lich King! I not known about EVE I did not play like I seen screen shots where the interface look hard to understand. So I can not really say anything about the game.

"WoW Tourism" a term used to hide the fact that the modern wave of gamers are unlikely to tolerated flawed or rushed games for more than the first "free" month.

There wasn't anything wrong with the Diku mud style for MMO's, at least not for a number of gamers who were quite happy with it.

It's like suddenly getting a huge influx of FPS fans who complain that actually having to aim the reticle is just too tedious and we should concentrate more on weapon stats and movement. So suddenly all the new FPSes have auto-aim and practically play the game for you.

Some people like it, some people hate it. Just because YOU don't like the DIKU mud style doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it for others.

WoW introduced a bunch of people to the genre who wouldn't normally have tried it, simply because of its popularity. This is fine on the surface, but these people suddenly want every other MMO to be the same as WoW, and as Syncaine says, though they may think they're MMO fans, they're actually not.

Take a look at WoW now and how it was 4 years ago. It barely resembles an MMO, with the designers frantically trying to wallpaper over any sign that it ever once was an MMO.

If that's what you want from a game, great, but don't go saying everything that calls itself an MMO has to suddenly morph into a social network with some cartoony graphics over the top and the personality of an abused labrador.

The problem is ....
for MANY player ...
Blizzard made the perfect MMORPG
.... from a technical point of view.

And they just keep adding: they simply take the BEST common feautures and add them to the 800 lb Gorilla.

Latest? Dual specs and experience gains trough PvP with joining BG's from anywhere.

Simple. The others just can't follow and when they introduce new concepts ... they don't make it that perfectly integrated like Blizz does.

In War the above 2 principles were cripled because Experience gains in "BG's" killed the RvR and the BG's were single server (resulting in some non played BG's because not opening).
Blizzard introduces them and wham ! it's an enhancement an another BIG choice in playing.

That's good ol' Blizzard folks: a perfectly oiled machinery crancking out more and more patches to perfection.

No matter what amateur comments say : the subs speak for themselves !

Jack, tsk tsk. I was once known as the premier WoW addict. Took part in the Beta Stress Test back when. Four level 80's and not even ONE a DK. Well let me tell you I thought like you maybe even more extreme. Till last Friday. I thought Warhammer was dumb, I thought AoC was lame.., etc... that is till last weekend. Someone bumped me hip to this thing called Aion. I signed up for the closed weekend beta event, actually got in and was soundly humbled. I went in thinking nothing nothing on this planet could ever even come close to the fun I had in WoW from day one of its inception. I was wrong.
The character creation is second to none anywhere right down to the color of hair in some off hue unknown previously to man. The game play even at lower levels can be a challenge much like WoW used to be. Mobs have elite bosses at higher level that your group will in fact wipe on. This is not even a dungeon or instance we are talking about here. It looked at felt 7000% better and it was only a beta. Although it has been played in asia for sometime now. I loo forward to this game actually, flight at level 10 with a set of your own wings and if you think level 10 is easy to get here, then you don't know Jack (oops). The capital city for my faction was Epic in every sense of the word, hundreds of players running and flying to and fro, and very little lag ! Too say the least I was humbled and at the same time actually impressed by its attention to detail and tough stance against dumbing it down for the WoW fanboi's who invaded the beta Forums.

Further I think Blizzard is actually sweating somewhat as mentioning it in the realm forums got my account a round of ban along with several other players. Keep getting the message " your not allowed to post on this account" lol. Yet this is the same company that had the brilliant and very creative idea to make everything look brown in WoTLK even if you wear blue it looks somehow drab. Or who doesnt seem to care enough anymore to have a GM respond to your in game concerns in under 72 hours at times. Who thinks that player base will always be there etc.... well I can tell you one of my accounts is going the way of the great white buffalo and maybe both if this Aion thing works out. So far large player base even for a beta and a poll conducted in there somewhere had 347 WoW players leaving for it. Whats more even asking a direct question to a developer , gets you a response from said D team member. Like something else in the old days.

Any how sorry for the 9867 crit hit from the wall of text. However to say WoW is the only thing worth it out there in my new opinion is just silly. Too say WoW is ahead of the curve is also retarded. To say WoW is original well....really do you want to go there?