I didnt want to go off topic for the SWTOR thread but a comment within that thread made me wonder.

What is it that has made WoW so popular?

What does WoW have now that others do not offer. There really isnt anything new (original) that WoW introduced that I can really point to and say, "Hey, I want to play this game because of..." and especially want to players to stick around for.

 

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I personally think it was more about the company that put it out vs. the game itself. MMOs were a niche, Blizzard already had a HUGE following for their games, so when they release a MMO there already a huge base for the game. People that would have never paid monthly for an MMO were now willing because it was a Blizzard game.

Partly the company and its established playerbase - and the demographics of that playerbase - and also the fact that they took all the tried and tested features of MMOs, dropped the bits that didn't work and assembled in one game all the bits that did work in an extremely polished way.


The shame is that they then dumbed the whole thing down to the point where many players of other MMOs now find it impossibly tedious to play WoW while its own players flatter other games by trying them out but can't stick to them beyond a few days because they can't cope with a normal MMO, let alone an old school one.


That game really does have an awful lot to answer for, and the shame is that if you could tolerate the cartoony graphics it really was a decent game to begin with.

I think it's choice of animation style is a big reason. They went with a bright, cartoonish, fun look that appeals to a very large age range and types of people. The graphics are simpler, so even as you turn down the settings for lower end computers the game still looks pretty good. And since it didn't go for the cutting edge realistic look, even as the game ages, the graphic style still looks relevant and modern (and they do update the engine and add features regularly).

I think this bright, colorful, cartoon style really appealed to a lot of people, even a lot more than ever really cared about the Warcraft name.

And Blizzard seemed to have the resources to make sure the game was fairly polished when it was released and remains that way.

Geez, now I want to start playing it again. Haha.

I agree but didn't want to start down the WOW dumbed down the MMO genre road

Not to completely over simplify it, because I believe many factors played a role, but ultimately it's the right company at the right place at the right time.

 

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If you played earlier games, it is easy to see why WoW kicked ass.

 

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Or later games. So many feel sluggish / have poor UIs (no excuse for that imo). Many shoot so high with their graphics that they have performance issues or lack a consistent art style as well. AoC had a nearly 30gb install if memory serves, and the UI looked like something out of a 10 year old MMO. Really, 30gb and you cant even make a decent interface?

You can't just make a poor copy of WoW and then expect it to do well. Sure any random company can throw together a solo questing theme park MMO, but when its inferior in terms of quality why would I want to play it. I'd say its not so much that WoW kicked ass but that other games failed to get even the obvious correct.

That's pretty much the whole of it.

 

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Given the goal to sell boxes and hold subscriptions... some decisions the past few years have been flabbergasting. They don't have to cater to me for me to appreciate their game as a solid release... but I can count on one hand the releases that didn't have big time issues that should have been obvious to whoever was funding them.

 

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