Largely considered the biggest MMO, World of Warcraft (WoW) has controlled the market in ways not seen in years. But has it's time come?
Still running on the old $15 a month subscription model and graphics that are looking more and more outdated every year, the mighty WoW may soon collapse to newer ideas. Such as the Free-to-play microtransaction model put forth by Nexon and Turbine. Or the setting, the Tolkeinesque medieval fantasy world once a hallmark of the genre pales in comparison to the Sci-Fi settings of Star Trek and Star Wars: the Old Republic.
Yet WoW is still hailed as lord and master of the MMO world. I believe it is time for a coup.
WoW offers no features unseen in Free-to-play games such as Dungeons and Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited and the Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO is not yet free, but it will be soon) other than celebrity endorsements. So why do so many cling to it like a newborn babe to its mother?
Additionally, in order to play WoW, one must first purchase the software, then pay $15 a month just for the privilege of playing the game you own! Furthermore, when one pays $15 a month, if you forget to play your fill that month or can't, that's $15 wasted. I have barely touched my copy of DDO in the last 3 months, if it hadn't been free, i would be out $45 for my lapse of memory. Perhaps the "addictive" quality of WoW is not because of enjoyment, maybe they're just trying to get their money's worth!
Other games have innovated and created fresh features in the tired old grinding gameplay of WoW. Aion: Tower of Eternity gives you wings and lets you fly, Vindictus plays like a Hack-n-slash action RPG, and in LEGO Universe players literally build the world around them.
Only time will tell what fate awaits the emperor of MMORPGs.
Part of the issue is that when WOW was new it was very different from what else was available on the marketplace. It instantly drew in players that now have invested thousands of hours into the game. These people who have played they game for so long aren’t simply going to abandon all they’ve achieved just to save $15 a month. As a side effect the large community continually brings in new players because the allure of so many people playing is appealing.
I haven't played LOTRO either, but DDO claims it has the best combat and i've been playing solo the whole time, except later on it is harder without friends. I tried the 14 day trial of WoW and i didn't think it was worth my money. one quest was to bring a guy coffee! in DDO the quests are much more epic at lower levels.
Yay, today is talk about WoW day.
In early 2008, WoW hit 10 million. By the end of the year it peaked at 11.5. I think early 2009 it was rumored at very close to 12. Then Blizzard, always touting their rising subscription numbers, went silent on it. Because they were bleeding out subscribers. 11 is nothing to sneeze at, but for a game that had since release been building numbers exponentially, it's dropped and been stagnant for a year. For all that the existing player base pulls new people in, people are leaving.
I don't think it will be overturned any time soon -- in the entire history of videogames there has never been something like WoW. It is successful beyond all sense. It could go on forever. But I also think it may eventually be a victim of it's own success, because it's created a market where there wasn't one, and the more other MMOs come out that cater to different user fantasies, people who have been primed on the style of game may move to something else.
You're looking to overthrow WOW? Viva la revolution!