World of Warcraft... Just aint the same =/

[Xaixis]

Ok, I used to be one of those crazed WoW players. You know what I mean, staying up all night, waking up early, failing school because I played too much... etc, etc, etc.

Well that was a few years ago, after a bit I quite, about a few months after the BC, I was really dissapointed to see wow take a whole new spin. Blizzard seemed to turn the game in the worst. Originally WoW seemed to just be an escape, a world were you could level at your own ease, play with your friends, fun end-game with real outdoor pvp (Blackrock, Silithus,) It seemed like everything was exciting, where you raided with your guild, not against 25 man raids, but other cities and enemy territories... often.

With the BC it seemed that Blizzard put the focus directly on end-game, and even making that more solo and less community driven. It seemed as though the leveling from 60-70 weren't supposed to be for leisure, or enjoyment, but rather speed leveling, trying to get the most xp as quick as possible, and doing it solo, without help.

I remember playing Original wow and being able to easily pick up a few people to do some quests. And at that I would make a few friends. During BC when I tried to get some people to play with they seemed to shrug me off, "go away I need to finish this quest, I can get more stuff if I solo it."

Anyways, it seemed that WoW lost it's gameplay... it's feel. I was really hoping that they would try to reincorporate this back into the WOTLK but I guess it just wasn't possible. BC seemed to have ruined the game's mentality. No longer was the game a simple world in which you could quest with your friends and have fun small communities and guilds, but it was more of a powerhouse, in which everyone wanted to get to the highest level and then raid, raid, raid, raid. And then after that bg, bg, bg, bg until they get the top epics.... which by the way everyone in the server already has. Also it seems that Blizzard continually jips us out of any new armor. They tend to constantly use the same armor simply recolored. I expecting a change but all they did was add maybe a few pieces, but in the end, they all ended up looking just flat out barbaric, it wasn't like in original wow where the top armor actually looked sophisticated in a way. I think that the game is trying to appeal more to the younger generation (me I guess).

It really is a shame because that is what made the game so successful in the first place. In no other game was there that kind of mentality. Now it seems just like every other game.

Anyways, I just wanted to know what you guys thought about it. If any of you were around for the "good-ol'-days". See if you share my thoughts.

 

[___]

The whole move to open up the end-game to the casual base was a direct response to all the whining the majority of players were doing about the end-game being inaccessible to casual players and small guilds. Take it or leave it. I quit the game for different reasons, mainly that I saw the same cycle of an issue being addressed by one group of developers (the people developing expansion content) and then constantly regressed and broken by the other group (the people developing patch content).

In response to the desire for end-game content for small guilds and casual players, the expansion team created heroic instances and more small-scale raids, with a challenge level and reward equivalent to that of entry level raids. The patch team rolled back the difficulty of heroic instances and scaled up the power level of large raids, then failed to develop new heroic content in pace with large raid content, quickly obsoleting the concept.

In response to the brokenness of the PvP system, the expansion team introduced arenas and a ladder system oriented toward time rather than skill, with a 10 match minimum in order to rank. The patch team increased the cost of Arena rewards to such a degree that it was impossible to remain competitive without a major (read: eat, sleep, Arena) time investment in Arena, completely contrary to the original intent.

In response to the desire for structured outdoor PvP, the expansion team introduced world PvP goals. The patch team failed to support them in a meaningful fashion.

Take any place where a problem was solved at the release of the expansion, and it was almost definitely broken within months of release by the patch team. Druid scalability? Fixed, broken, fixed, broken again. Paladin non-healing roles? Fixed, broken, broken, broken again, then fixed and broken. Mages? Fixed, broken, left broken. Etc. Etc. Etc. I got sick of it, quit playing.

 

[Yaxor]

This is the main reason why i quitted WoW.

I started from level 1 to play with other two friends. We always had the same ammount of experience trough the game. We did EVERYTHING togheter. We started the game as a funny thing to do togheter. Infact, because of the exp reduction of the party system, we spent 3 months to hit level 70. Azeroth was fun, full of great ambientations and fun instances. But when we hitted 60... I was trying to do the Mount quest (I was a Paladin, the other two guys were a Warlock and a  Hunter) and the Warlock mate too. Just then i realized that all the people for the ol' good instances were not there. They were always in the Outland, questing like crazy to hit lvl 70 and go raiding Karazan with their guild.
When I hitted 70 too, i realized that the game was no more what appealed me back 3 months ago. There were so many things to do, and all of them were:
-Farming Honor and get Epic PVP Set
-Farming Arena and get Epic Arena Set
-Use the Arena set to go the first time to Instances pre Karazan
-Get PVE Equipment
-Go to Karazan a million times before you get your first uber Equipment
-Get full t4
-????
-Profit


No. We all decided that nothing of those thing appealed us, no one of those things we really wanted to do. We wanted a game to enjoy, and WoW started lacking of enjoyment and become full of time-loosing, go to bed at 1AM because of Raiding etc etc. We always played the game as casuals (see 3 months for hitting 70, while nerds in 2 weeks hits 70), we never bought golds (one of those things that I hate) or farmed Honor (a bit sometimes  :tongue but we always remained casuals. And Blizzard decided that WoW is an Hardcore based game, if you are a Casual you won't have any real rewarding thing to do. Every instance have his own damned prequests to do. Prequest that you have to do other quest and other quest.... too much confusing, too much hard.

Blizzard, I really hope you can make your Next Gen MMORPG great as WoW but with the things that we all hate about it.

 

[Anopob]

Well, it was a bit obvious this was going to turn out the way it did. I always liked WoW because of its openness and its freedom (eg. you don't really have to do anything, you can quickly level and do end-game quick or stall to level up your professions first, etc.), but it only advanced to be more competitive. I never liked the idea of honor/arena or whatever, and although that's mainly just me I always thought that was why WoW was so competitive because it's always a race to whoever can get the epic gear first.

 

[Talaho]

I started playing WoW ages ago before Burning Crusade came out and I honestly think the gameplay is still there. The playerbase however is not. It still feels like the old days of playing with a group of friends and exploring a massive world, there still is a magical feel to it that a few players work to bring out. But the game's playerbase has changed a good deal in my opinion, and with it the game changed because of the way that companies work and in this case a change that people can take or leave. I am still playing but I might just stop once Diablo III comes out. Right now Blizzard has a still salvageable game in my opinion, but its gonna take a lot of work. If worse comes to worse WoW will eventually decline and stay alive by sheer fanboys alone much like Everquest I and II before it.

 

[zeldrak]

I stopped playing WoW about 2 weeks ago. Not because i don't enjoy it mind you, but because i don't really have the time to spend grinding. Right now, i got a part-time job for the next 6 months, and school too, so that leaves me with barely enough time to be with my friends, girlfriend and family. Even if i enjoy the game, you need to be dedicated well enough to actually get anywhere in it.

Right now i have a 55 Hunter, and a 60 Death Knight. And while I enjoy these, I fear that I'll quit playing because I simply do not want to spend mindless hours trying to reach 70 or 80 as this won't be what brings money to the bank -.-

As much as I enjoy Online gaming, WoW is one of those games that one needs to have time to play. I love RPG's and such, and I enjoy the idea of having a huge world to EXPLORE. and not mindlessly kill X monsters to get X level to get a party to raid X dungeon to get an epic set that i'll probably drop the game the month after -.-

I'm really going to wait for Guild Wars 2 and Mabinogi: Heroes. Nothing can surpass my expectations from these 2.

 

[Ricoman]

I bought WoW 2 months after it came out. Those first 6 months were like living a dream; the perfect gameplay, graphics that arrested your attention and melded you into a living, breathing world that had some fun storylines woven throughout the whole thing. Finding friends to run low-level instances was FUN because everyone was new and experiencing everything for the first time. I remember the first time getting STEEL ARMOR on my paladin and thinking I was "Da Shiznit". LOL.
        But once I hit 60 (this was before BC hit when the level was capped at 60), the game turned into a grindfest. Got REAL boring. So I left.
Came back a year or so later, and got my mage to 70, found out "Hey! It's back to grind, grind, grind again. WTF."
        Outlands were fun for awhile, but it still came back to grinding again. I just don't have time to do "Find, Kill, collect. Rinse. Repeat infinitely."
        WoW started out as a magical place for me to go explore, find, hunt, etc. Now it's more of a grind sweatshop. G'Bye WoW.


PLAYS TAPS.

 

[Xaixis]

Exactly, it seems that once you hit the top level, then its all about grinding and grinding. I think that Blizz really needs to work on this because I miss the game I used to love.

Interesting to see what the community thinks. I remember my self in your shoes.

 

[psiclone]

WoW is fine the way it is, wtf. If it wasn't, there wouldn't be 10+ million people who play it. Zeldrak basically hit it on the nose: if you don't have time, then you can't play this game. There's nothing wrong with it, you just need time to dedicate to it. However, WoTLK expansion is very nice, because, now, you can get your epic PvP/Arena gears by multiple ways, instead of just grinding for arena/honor points, and one of the ways is VERY easy. On the flip side, if you don't have a 70+, you can't do anything from WoTLK, yet.. I've never had a problem with WoW, the only thing I hate is how unbalanced PvP is, at least, I used to. Again, the simple questing gear you get from WoTLK quests makes your character very valuable. For example, at 75, my disc priest can heal all instances (so far) with no problem, and I hardly have to stop for mana (which was a huge deal in BC and regular WoW). With 13.8k mana and almost 570 spirit after buffs (plus 222 when my trinket goes off, which is very often), mana is very easy to come by, now. The best part about the new PvP/Arena gear is they finally added spirit to the gear, so now holy priests/resto druids can better benefit from it.

My Priest (add another 50 to spirit from buff).

 

[Skyla Doragono]

WoW is fine the way it is, wtf. If it wasn't, there wouldn't be 10+ million people who play it.

Just because there's ten million plus losers that play it, doesn't mean there isn't something wrong with it.  It just means there's a lot of nerds living in their parent's basement.  I hate these kind of arguments; nothing is good because it's popular, dammit.

 

[psiclone]

All I'm saying is, Blizzard is doing something right to keep people playing.

And I'm not living in my parent's basement, I'm living in my own place with my girlfriend, tyvm.

 

[dadevvtsvre]

And I'm not living in my parent's basement, I'm living in my own place with my girlfriend, tyvm.

...except she never said you were?

Anyway, I've never played WoW. I've thought about it many times, just out of boredom, but from what I've heard the playerbase isn't exactly very good (but then again, there aren't many MMORPGs that have good ones either) I don't think I'll ever play now though, grinding is horrible.

 

[Xaixis]

WoW is fine the way it is, wtf. If it wasn't, there wouldn't be 10+ million people who play it...

Um... I think maplestory has around 50m or something like that.

Also I never said I hated WoW, in fact I still play it during my spare time. But I miss the way the game used to be.

 

[Prexus]

WoW is fine the way it is, wtf. If it wasn't, there wouldn't be 10+ million people who play it...

Um... I think maplestory has around 50m or something like that.

Also I never said I hated WoW, in fact I still play it during my spare time. But I miss the way the game used to be.

Considering Blizzard holds the world record, at 11.5million, I doubt that Maple Story had 50million.

You can say it is a low quality game all you want, but you can't say its a bad game. A game's job is to entertain, and WoW successfully entertains millions of people.

 

[___]

WoW is fine the way it is, wtf. If it wasn't, there wouldn't be 10+ million people who play it.

Just because there's ten million plus losers that play it, doesn't mean there isn't something wrong with it.  It just means there's a lot of nerds living in their parent's basement.  I hate these kind of arguments; nothing is good because it's popular, dammit.

I donno, I mean if you're the kind of person who's going to enjoy a linear MMO you already rank in a particular category of people. The fact that WoW is so successful indicates something about the quality of gameplay. That doesn't mean everyone is going to like it; the Sims, the GTA series (3 and beyond), and Kingdom Hearts are all wildly popular games amongst their targeted crowd and yet completely unappealing to anyone who doesn't fit the target. So, WoW's not for everyone, but for the people it is for, it does a good job.

Still, there's only so much you can take. I played it since beta, did just about everything, basically got sick of the game's parameters and expectations changing cyclically. I play games competitively, but i don't consider "who can sneak the most play time at work" or "who can alienate friends and family most effectively" a competition. The constant promise of skill over time, and then the repeated selling out of that promise, is too much to bear.

Really though the genre is fundamentally flawed. The business model is wrong: I pay 15 dollars a month, he pays 15 dollars a month, I play 10 hours a month, he plays 180, and 90% of newly developed content is targeted at him. Makes sense that he gets more content, he chews through it faster, but why are we both paying the same price when I am getting 10% of the attention? The gameplay model is wrong: I play 10 hours a month but I have vastly superior skill (okay hypothetically), he plays 180 hours a month in order to grind the goods he needs to compensate. Seems to me skill should be the deciding factor, not time investment. The economic model is wrong: there is a basic fundamental fact that things that have value to people will be paid for by people. That means that there will be transactions for in-game goods outside the game; it is impossible to prevent this or even make it  difficult enough to stop most of the people who wish to do it from doing it. Ten years or so of experience since Ultima Online proves this unequivocally. If the game's economic model does not take this into account and deal with it appropriately, it will instead be damaged and distorted by it. Cultivating the mentality that it's wrong is self-defeating; it's like saying the wind is wrong and getting morally outraged when it starts blowing. Economics is a force of nature, it must be dealt with.

I could go on. Basically though, the linear MMO as it's currently envisioned and executed is always, always going to be a broken game because it tries to be many things it's not and tries to satisfy too many people at once because the expense of developing running one demands a broad user base for success.

 

[Xaixis]

Nope I was right, 50million players (world-wide on all their servers). I'm not saying that I hate the game, I unfortunately play. I just wish that they would somehow develop more of their content towards what I've posted.

Also I agree with N and think that they should expand their content vertically as well as horizontally. What I mean by this is to improve their old content and update it as well as create more content parsay.

An example would be the barrens. The barren's quests are extremely boring... kill 15 of this, 9 of that, 4 of them. Not really much to go for, more of a grind-feast than anything. I think they should improve the area as well with add instances for added fun. And maybe do this for all the areas as well as add new areas to level.

 

[Prexus]

After re-reading Acti-Blizzard's press release, they hold the record for paid subscriptions. Seeing as Maple Story is free, they aren't accounted for.

But if number of players isn't enough, they also hold the record for fastest selling PC game of all time (with Wrath of the Lich King selling 2.8million copies in its first 24 hours, and 4 million copies in its first month.)

Additionally, the average 'life-span' of an MMORPG is 5 years. Blizzard is going on its fifth year now showing stronger sales numbers then the previous year, not just for its expansion but for the base game and its first expansion.

 

[Xaixis]

Hm... cool, theres some facts that are pretty interesting.

Lol I think that the game with more IRL friends. I would play a whole lot more if like my friends played.

 

[Prexus]

When I log onto WoW and none of my friends are on, I log off. Its boring to play a social game alone.

 

[Jstreet]

WoW is fine the way it is, wtf. If it wasn't, there wouldn't be 10+ million people who play it.

Just because there's ten million plus losers that play it, doesn't mean there isn't something wrong with it.  It just means there's a lot of nerds living in their parent's basement.  I hate these kind of arguments; nothing is good because it's popular, dammit.

Obviously 10+ Million people think that the game is good, or else they wouldn't buy it. There is no universally perfect game. What defines a "good" game from a shitty one if both have an equal amount of audience, sales, etc. Opinions. You have yours and those who think WoW is a good game have theirs.