Gah, yeah I remember those days too. My poor druid lol. It was easier as a necro

 

-----signature-----

For me, its all timing.


WoW was a product of absolutely perfect timing. It came out right about when the big 3 were fading in popularity, EQ was amazing and i loved that game to death but i got lost in the huge guilds and i think only the HARDCORE guilds and members around 04 were really rockin things, but i feel EQ was sort of thinning out in popularity around that time.


Asherons Call was another that was big, but Turbine didnt really give the game the longevity it needed and by 04 i think AC was pretty down and out.


And then DAOC, the love of my MMO life...started off fierce and just amazingly. But they really hurt things badly with killing off Emain, ToA wasnt really what the game needed, and i feel they dropped it for WAR way to quick which again was around the time WoW was coming out.


And i think "so" many people were eagerly waiting for that next big thing, WoW was on the way and i think the timing was impecable...everyone jumped aboard and i think the popularity is also because nothing has been good enough to trump it in a large large way.


Ive been through so many MMOs and of course all have their good and bad, but nothing has given me years of enjoyment like the old original pioneer MMOs.


So in my opinion timing was really what made WoW what it is and it just built from there, the popularity i think was just meant to be with that game.

 

-----signature-----

I think one of the biggest problems with DAOC was that the vocal minority thought that RvR was so great, where the majority thought it was crap and avoided it. Looking at the stats demonstrated that while most people had multiple 50s / maxed crafters etc, few people went beyond RR3 or so. After RR5 it really thinned out, even though you could get to it pretty easily.

People only RvR'd for RAs / character advancement. I recall a time when RPs were not being granted, and no one bothered to go out.

I'd have to disagree it was timing because of the numbers. You could take all of the players from EQ, AC, UO, DAOC and it wouldn't add up to the numbers WoW had. MMOs were still very much a niche. The name Blizzard is what brought in the numbers plain and simple.

People keep saying that was was such a great game and that's why it succeeded. But if you look at the market then, had WoW been released by another studio that didn't have the player base Blizzard had, do you really think it would have done as well?

I'd have to disagree it was timing because of the numbers. You could take all of the players from EQ, AC, UO, DAOC and it wouldn't add up to the numbers WoW had. MMOs were still very much a niche. The name Blizzard is what brought in the numbers plain and simple.

People keep saying that was was such a great game and that's why it succeeded. But if you look at the market then, had WoW been released by another studio that didn't have the player base Blizzard had, do you really think it would have done as well?

It's just like SWTOR, how many times I've read it wont suck cause its BioWare. BioWare has its fans. Personally I think DA2 sucked compared to the original and BioWare has no experience with MMOs. But there are people that will buy it just because it say BioWare on the box.

From all the descriptions I have been told, was that SWTOR is more like a KOTOR with multiplayer options then like a WoW type game. Lots of campaign story etc...





Partly people RvR'd for RA's. I know plenty that just went out for a good time to RvR. RvR was hell of a lot more fun then ToA. And I farmed the hell out of ToA and other areas. The only thing that made ToA bearable was our group(s). RvR was still the best thing DAOC had going, before and after ToA (even today probably).

Early days it took a long time to reach RR5. That changed and later patches after ToA you could reach RR5 in a couple of days.

Taking mythic's other mmo. Reason War failed so hard was that after racing to tier4 there was little content and the RvR was not that good (too much balance and other issues). Game just got less fun the higher the tier. If they spent more time fleshing that out before hand it would of had a better lasting appeal.

 

-----signature-----

Early days, 10-15 days /played was decent to get a character to 50 (short of very unusual circumstances). On the other hand, you could hit RR3 in a week of RvR just going out a couple hours a night at prime time, and easily hit RR5 in a few weeks. Compared to the time it took to get a character to 50, it was trivial.

And yet, so many people had multiple 50s, and so few statistically had > RR5.

The information that was available at the time was overwhelming in demonstrating that as the advancement slowed, people stopped doing it entirely. Even RR5 was a bit of an oddity, especially before the RR5 class ability was added.

Prior to RAs, 50 people (total!) was considered "zergy" on one of the most populated servers. Once the treadmill was added though, participation went up, but only until people stopped gaining new abilities. RR6 was pretty much single digit territory per server per realm IIRC. Think about that. As stated RR5 was pretty easy to hit. RR6 on the other hand while only being double RR5, had dramatically fewer players who had achieved it.

Back when WoW came out in 2004, it was quite simply an amazing game in terms of zone design, the cartoonish artwork style, and the easy questing system. The original leveling 1-60 experience was incredible, especially on PvP servers before battlegrounds when large battles would occur just for fun. You were not forced to group just to hit max level, which for us ex-AC players here at IGN was a major selling point. That set up alone was enough to keep many of us entertained for years.

 

-----signature-----

Well, the reason i say timing is also because popularity traveled. I think that on top of the "coolness" factor for alot of the kids hitting abour 12-15 years old around 2004.


Think about it, if there was lets say 8 million people playing MMOs combined and a good 5-7 million stopped and went straight to Blizzards game, and the game was solid too so it wasnt a bad game by any means...the word of mouth spreading, the friends getting friends to play, the new crowd of younger kids coming up....its all timing.


Blizzard is also a part, i mean im not sure if my post gave off the impression it wasnt Blizzard...i mean Blizzards game itself did it, but they timed it perfectly...i dont see what would be wrong with that.


All those players playing WoW built over the years, the numbers they have now im sure wasnt a day 1 number...i know there was alot but theyve continued to grow. The combonation of a good MMO, the death of many other MMOs at the same time and Blizzards name on it, to me is what made WoW the juggernaut that it is.

 

-----signature-----