*edit*
Upon reading comments, some clarifications. WoW was a lot of people's first MMO, and as someone said, WoW didn't invent a lot of the things I originally stated, but it did bring them to the masses. It did make them the "standard" for MMO's more so then any other game. Hence, my perspective that WoW was the "first" to bring these things out of the niche market that MMO's once were, before WoW. I thought I had made this clear, I'm sorry I did not. And to someone who said this was my first MMO, please read part 1 and part 2 :)
*edit*
World of Warcraft.
There is little doubt that nearly every single gamer has heard of it. Most if not all MMORPG players have played it. Many non-gamers have probably even heard about it. I'm sure every South Park fan has!
We all know how big and successful WoW is. We all know the numbers; we here at MMORPG.com have probably all played it. That being said, I'm not going to go into any details from my experiences. Instead, I'm going to try and determine what WoW did for the genre of MMORPG's as a whole.
WoW really brought the practice of quests into being. Quests, quests and more quests. We all know the formula; go here and kill x, go there and talk to y, go there and gather z. WoW also brought something else new to the genre. An easy to pick up, generally considered fun to play, content driven MMO experience that no one else had ever done before.
WoW had the advantage of the Warcraft IP and the Blizzard name. From the Warcraft and Starcraft RTS series to the highly popular and successful Diablo series, people knew that Blizzard knew gaming and knew they put out quality products. Even WoW "haters" can agree that no MMO launch was as successful and well received by the masses as WoW.
WoW featured a lot of game play systems and features that were very friendly to the non-elite gamer, a lot of new innovation to the previously niche market of MMOs, and they were really the first to push the marketing machine into overdrive (and still do today.)
WoW spoiled a lot of things for the MMORPG genre. It had a great launch, and as we saw with Vanguard or other titles with poor launches, it can instantly kill a game. The quest system (at first anyway) gave players so much more to do then simply grind mobs. Now, when we are presented with a game without a good quest structure, it's labeled quickly and simply as an "Asian grind-fest" or something similar. As much as we may hate to admit it, we've gotten used to the idea of a bountiful supply of quests and other story driven experiences. This is the complete opposite of the "sandbox" nature of MMO's before WoW. Look at LotR, TR, AoC, WAR, EQ2, or any other MMO with a clever acronym. They all have quests, quests, and more quests thanks to what WoW did to the MMORPG market. Is this a bad thing?
WoW became the giant of the MMO genre as games like Halo became the giant of the FPS. Every new game after WoW was labeled a "WoW killer" and wild speculations were made (and continue to be) about what effect this game or that will have on WoW's subscription numbers. But none have been able to shake WoW from its top spot in the MMO world. Truthfully, with a new expansion on the horizon, I really don't think anything will. Even with awesome looking games like AoC and WAR coming out, I don't expect either (or any other upcoming MMO for that matter) to be able to shake the solid foundation WoW has made. About the only real competition I see for WoW is Starcraft II, but, it's still Blizzard so they don't care!
Few can argue that leveling a character through the many zones and quests of WoW (at least the first time around) was a grand experience unlike any other MMO has delivered. But then when you got to the end-game, when your character was at max level, what next? The grind.
What else did WoW do? It taught us to chase the carrot on the end of the stick more so then any other MMORPG. New levels meant new gear and new spells, new areas meant new gear and more quests and new levels and… it is a grind all unto itself. Even PVP, the great "competitive" play that isn't supposed to be a grind, became one. We were now grinding Honor points for gear upgrades and medals, grinding Arena points for gear upgrades. And of course there is the raiding game, taken directly from the EQ following minds of the developers. You put the raids in a progression with better and better gear, getting people to log on night after night after night in pursuit if their next big upgrade.
Add in the reputation grind, money grind, crafting grind, and any other grind you can find in WoW and what you have is a winning financial formula. Notice I said winning financial formula, not winning game formula. People will keep playing to keep advancing and keep getting better and better gear. Add new expansions and updates here and there, and people will continue to pay and play for the next big upgrade. To some, this is enjoyment enough. It keeps people hooked, but is it truly good gameplay? Did we ever see gold farmers and power level services before WoW? I didn't personally.
WoW taught us that timed played, the actual amount invested equated to the best gear. Sure, skill was a factor. You had to learn how to deal with different situations in raids and in PVP, but in general any lack of skill could be made up for by exceptional gear. WoW taught us that upgraded gear was the end all objective of MMORPG gameplay. As much as you and I may disagree, most of us here are guilty of following the guiding parental hand of Blizzard and enjoying it for a time anyway.
I think the most important thing WoW did for MMORPG's was force us players to ask ourselves a lot of hard questions. In the time before WoW we complained about lack of polish, about lack of content and lack of direction. Blizzard gave us that in mass, and at the time few complained. Now, years later, we complain about the lack of variety, meaningless PVP, and forced content progressions. I'm not going to mention people bickering over class imbalance; all games have "perceived" imbalances due to personal bias.
So what do we want now?
From what I have heard, we want meaningful and competitive PVP. We also want more variety in content, less reliance on equipment and more on skill, and less grinding. New games like AoC and WAR promise us this and more, and hopefully they do deliver. But what else do we want? Blizzard gave us everything we wanted back then and more, but now our wants and needs have changed and the next "generation" of MMORPG's plan to fulfill our new wants and demands.
Where do we go from here? What's next?
In part four, I'll fill you in on where I think MMORPG's are going and where I think they should go.
Part four: "A step forward" coming soon to a blog near you!
User Comments
I don't even know where to begin to disagree with all of this. First off, EQ2 was released before WoW, and the features discussed in this piece were already there in beta long before WoW went public. It just isn't true that every game before WoW was a sandbox...the move towards more questing was happening all over the place.
Also, SoE with the original Everquest probably invented the notion of constant expansions and loot inflation, leading to obsession with gear. It was already doing that before WoW was released.
Blizzard was brilliant. They learned from the previous generation of games, and they created a game that perfectly embodied a set of principles that others were also trying to develop but never with the kind of success of WoW. This is why I find the whole "WoW-clone" concept to be absured...next to nothing in WoW is original. It is a bundle of pieces artfully combined into a successful game. (Personally, I couldn't stand it, because it reminded me of the annoyingly fan-service obsessed Lineage II, another game that beat WoW to market and had many of the features mentioned in this piece.)
However, WoW did not arise in a vacuum, it was not the first to include any of these features. It just was the first to successfully combine them all in a great package.
Also, I didn't try WoW right away because I kept hearing about insanely long server queues. I am not faulting Blizzard for not realizing just how hot the game would be, but the roll-out wasn't as perfect as people remember.
I have to agree that I also DISAGREE with the OP. All I see here is how "WoW tought us this" and "WoW taught us that". Like Vickykol said, WoW wasn't innovative with new feaures, it just took the best features of other MMO's, made it user friendly to 13 year olds and people with less time to play.
Wow didn't teach us to chase the carrot at the end of the stick, it wasn't the first MMO to offer power leveling and gold, it wasn't the first to introduce quests, etc, etc, etc. It's really obvious to see when blogs like this are written by those who most likely came into the MMO market at a later date (IE, they played WoW, HEARD about other MMO's, and came to the conclusions based on what others have said.)
I will agree with one thing, Blizzard did spoil the MMO market. They spoiled new comers to the genre with the fact that there is no challenge. When was the last time you heard someone say "Dang, the adventure from 1-70 in WoW was a rough one! So challenging!" I, nor anybody else I have seen....ever... has said anything close. I have, however, heard people say "Dang, I have four level 70's, I'm bored with WoW"
Innovative? No. Marketing genius? Yes. Less challenging, easy to play= more subscribers. Challenging, time consuming= less subscribers.
I have played mmorpg's sence eq1. Now i agree with somethings on all the posts and disagree with others. First I did play wow and came to conclusion that it was a kiddie game built for gold farmers and 13 year olds. It however did completely rework the way quests and quest xp impacted your player. Ergo eq1 if you quested for xp you where truely a idiot.
I am a student at a unamed school getting a gaming and simulation dagree. I believe blizzard wanted to do one thing and one thing only, Make heeps of cash as quick as possable. The life span of mmorpg's is def in the "chasing the carrot". You have zero impact on the world. You do the same mundain things everyone else does. To get the same gear. Only dif is how much time you have to put into it vs what the next player can put in.
People call me crazy in class as i build my final demo for grade. I wont five any of my personaly howned ideas away but I will say the mmo community needs to totaly rethink things and walk away from the carrot. No more quests no more holding kids hands and no more look mom I am lvl 50 in 8 days. Games should be worth what i pay for them. My time invested should leave me feeling as if i made a difference in the game world. People play mmo's to be someone other then themselves to be more then what they can be in real life.
So in closing i say the one thing WoW did do was find a way to take all the adventure out of a online adventure fanti mmo, replace it with cool colors and quick levels. And yes we all baught it hook line and sinker. I mean look at LoTr. Mirrior image craptastic WoW remake. Don't bash me just pick it apart and truely look at the titles out now. You know it's true.
I must agree with vickykol, u say that wow bringed all this new thinks to MMO genre, but u don't say that EQ2 already had it all.. it gives me an idea that everyone just Love WoW and Hate EQ2... i think that WoW has taked EQ2's glory and this isn't right...
nice read, and i generally agree with most of it.
i've played WoW on and off since release, and also played eq2 for about 4 months. I loved them both, but eq2 just could not keep me interested. I'm one of those rotten soloers with limited time. But I forced myself to get into a raiding guild and did a ton of it before TBC was announced. The level raise killed raiding for me, pvp grinding sucked, and i quit.
Came back for TBC to level a couple toons to 70, then when it came time to raid endlessly I quit again. And now that they've announced another expansion and level increase I'm soooo glad I didn't start raiding for all that gear that will be sharded just like all my original lvl 60 raiding gear that took me sooo long to aquire...all those wasted late night raids I could have been sleeping through! ha ha ha
idk if i'll get the new expansion...maybe if i'm really bored.
updated disclosure at the beginning. This was written from a perspective. That perspective being that WoW may have not been the first to do some of things, it may have not taught us what an MMO is first, but from the perspective of millions WoW was the first, and WoW WAS the first to bring these concept to the masses. Please take perspective into consideration before bashing. And no, WoW isn't my first game (read part 1 and 2).
EQ2 may have been out first, other MMO's may have had quests, and I know EQ started the raid progression grind..
But none of the those games changed the MMO market like WoW did, that is undeniable, hence why the subject of these posts is "The State of the MMORPG" as I discuss was many (most) consider to be the "big" step in MMO gaming. Hence why I don't include games like Eve and DaoC and EQ2 and Asheron's call.
I will include Guild Wars and City of Heroes/Villains in the next piece for specific reasons.
you do know WoW was an eqclone right? with basically a revamped pvp system (still not better than DAoC's rvr system, which is older) WoW was not inovative in any ways. the problem is that blizzard had the warcraft name and a great marketing campaign. it was most people's first MMO and the only MMO they knew. and they based thier "MMO expertice" on what they heard and only saw in the WoW world. I've been playing MMO's for probably 7 years now. I've played most of the major ones. and i have to say all WoW did was make MMOs more mainstream and invite all these immature 12 year olds.
now to say it was inventive or others copied off WoW is just wrong. WoW was a dumbed down, sugar coated, easy knock off of all the other MMO's. most everything you stated was clearly wrong. WoW was inventive in thier marketing campaign and nothing more. and thier questing system sucked compared to MMOs that were already out.
anyone who has played WoW as thier first MMO and only look at games coming out and syaing "wow rip off" please be quiet and look into the past.
WoW WAS AN EQ CLONE!
I know WoW was an EQ clone. I know EQ came first.
But do 99% of people call LOTRO an EQ clone or a WoW clone?
What I'm trying to say is that WoW has become the "standard" by which all others are compared.
It's perspective lol.
I am here for you heerobya. Your correct and the rest are wrong. They seem to want to take simalarities and call them the same. I played eq 1 eq2 and wow on release. eq and eq2 had quests yes. Eq2 had alot more. However in eq2 it was a much harder game after grinding on launch for about a week i was lvl 25ish maybe a bit higher. WoW slamed you with quests and turned the xp tap on high. Totaly handing you the game with ease through a intence quest route packed with mountains of xp. Eq2 you did have quests but you still spent alot of time after 20 in groups camping areas searching for drops or mobs and the levels came so much slower. So yes WoW was the first to sugar coat the mmo exp and make it asy for people to level. They knew if they got people in the door all they had to do is dangle a epantion and new gear sets in peoples faces and blame people stayed . I am not going to argue these points all day. I am right. My life and future is in gaming i study and pick games apart like no one else. I sit in game and ask questions and take serveys of players and friends. Trust me WoW was the very first game to say oh here is a ton of xp solo all you like and forget the world around you. Now before people smart off yes one could group for instances but you did not ever have too. Too prove this i leveled a ud rouge from 1 to 60 and never grouped no not once and yes LoTr is almost a carbon copie of WoW. You can try to sqwint your eyes and say no this is this and that is that if your a fan of another game besides WoW or eq2 or ect... The facts are there I played them all.
Ok,
I think Vick said it all. Realize if EQ2 had come out in the state it is at now , we wouldnt be having this discussion as is. Blizzard has its numbers because those that never played MMO's on Pcs were the minority. Most of thePC playing universe played games like diablo and warcraft. So when WoW was annoced all those players flocked to it because they new about it and said wow, i have to try this. This is the biggest reason for the numbers over the rest of the MMO's out. It was a first MMO for them so they stuck with it because they were never exposed to the original EQ. Forget not that AO and EQ started this all. That all said WoW took all the stuff that drove the lazy MMO players to complain ( they are the majority ) and they made a simple but fun game. They gave you the direction of each quest ,got you there with no travel time and made it so you could solo it. Majority of people love easy mode. Not to mention in EQ and AO there was hardley anyone under the age of 18 playing those games. WoW got younger kids who played Warcraft on there PC's to tell all there friends about it. So if your talking quantity of players WoW gets that hands down. What EQ2 has done in the last year is outstanding if ya havent givin it a new try i think you would be as surprised as me to find what a great game it now is. People now have a better option to the fantasy cartoon that is WoW. Just MOP
Attributing WoW's success to Blizzard's pre-existing player base isn't totally honest. Maybe a milion people played because they were Blizzard fans, but word of mouth and marketing, and accesiblity are what made WoW successful.
I wouldn't call it's launch significantly smoother than EQ1. Does it still take 5 minutes to unfreeze when you go near an Auction House?
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