Hello fellow gamers,

Titel says most. I'm just curious. My opinion of the game is personally not all that good.

I'm aware that a large group of the player basis is 16 years or younger but still. what 5 mil players all in all?

-Arngorf

Why?

1) Easy to learn.

2) Accessibility - it runs on a McGyver Built Computer

3) It is pretty much bug free.

4) Graphics are appealing to most.

5) Polished product.

6) Fun to play.

Did I miss anything?

Two other points which play a Big roll.

The movement of your Character and attacks are very fluid

The User Interface is very clean and customizable, especially with the recent update it makes setting options a dream compared to some other games

A third point it is *very* casual friendly.. blizzard has been adding more and more content to appease to the masses and its worked, they may have lost some Raiding / Hardcore fans like my self, since its changed alot from what it was at 60, but Blizzards a company and they're goal is to get the most people playing the game and they do it well.

1. You can play it on a microwave oven.

2. A Chimp could learn how to play it without much effort.

WoW should be the perfect gateway drug into MMOs, but unfortunetly someone got in their heads that it is the best game ever made and that all future MMOs should be as much like it as possible.

Casual friendly for sure yes. I prefer blood and gore (mmmmm... goooore..), and the enormous overating of the game is sickening. Cant wait to play AoC. I just hope the player base wont be as young and imature as many are in WoW, in fact I hope AoC will be so non-casual it will make teddy-bears cry. /beg

I just cant see it. its too toonish. Theres a lot more parts of the game that I dont like but hey. It doesn't help whining does it?  no! But i must admit that the game runs impressivly smooth..

It's very easy to learn. My brother started playing not too long ago and he hasn't played any kind of RPG in about 10 years yet he was able to pick up everything about it in a day. Any type of gamer that sees the commercials and gets WoW on impulse wont be completely lost.

Low system requirements. Super high end graphics are actually a BAD thing in MMOs. Those gamers that got WoW on impulse will be able to run WoW on their 5 year old lap top with few sacrifices.

Accessibility. No "velvet rope" features. Meaning, there is no feature in WoW exclusive to hardcore players due to mechanics. Just a low end part and a high end part(like a normal riding mount and an epic riding mount). This let's casual players participate in all aspects of the game.

Art style. The graphics may be poor on a technical basis but they convey an art style. Games like EQ2, Vanguard and the upcoming Age of Conan are technically superior but look quite bland and generic.

I'll jump in on the bandwagon on this one.  I personally keep going back to it because of the flawless interface and gameplay.  I also like games with good macro systems.  WoW barely makes it in there for the good macros.

Most finished MMOs I played felt like large beta test.  The characters never moved fluidly.  No customization.  Small glitches during combat would occur.  Unoriginal instanced dungeons.  The list goes on and on.  I think I've played a total of 3 MMO games felt complete to me.

If Disney makes a new movie, everyone walks into cinema to watch it.

Why ?

Because its Disney !

Same goes for Blizzard.

That, in the end, is all I have as explanation for the success of WoW. Certainly not quality. WoW is a horribly colorful cheap comic style graphics MMO with all the bad faults of Diablo 2 repeated, like a lack of endgame and overly simplistic gameplay.

Originally posted by Teala

3) It is pretty much bug free.

Thats nothing but a myth. VIsit any WoW forum and read what they think about "bugfree". People who cannot log into their server for more than a day, for example - not really a bug, but an example of the bad maintenance WoW has compared to some other MMOs.

As others have already mentioned it got good graphics, is relatively free of bugs, easy to learn and it's quite hard to stop too. Once you've started playing you will always want to get the next epic gear. Otherwise we also got this - very important - reason.

And they got in on a South Park episode : )

Otherwise its good because its easy and without challance so everyine can become a hero?

Originally posted by daarco

And they got in on a South Park episode : )

Otherwise its good because its easy and without challance so everyine can become a hero?

Yea. I just dont get why ppl get that feeling. The truth is that you will allways be "nothing" in wow. hurray i got full set of high tier epics, like, 300+ others on the same server.. U go flash it for everyone in Orgrimmar or Ironforge but nobody seems to care. perhaps on rare occations a lvl 1-20 will say "wow you look flashy", but thats it.

It's that great because of the people who didn't play MMORPGs before WoW.

You run WoW on a high end system and...WOW....

With a great sound card, you hear the jingling of mail on a warrior.  Running a dual core with an 8800 GTS, the detail blows you away.  I have every setting maxed and it runs very smooth.

Another thing I really like is the socializing.  Get in a good guild and you have a guild bank, raids or just a dungeon crawl here and there.

I have played DAoC, CoH, UO, EQ, EQ2, Eve, EnB (my favorite), Jumpgate (still have an open acct) and a few more, but WoW has kept me playing.  It is just a fun game.  Granted, I am only level 66 and still questing, but once I max out, then I will PvP more.  I only play a few hours a night, so I never get burned out.

LOL...When I was playing UO in 1998-1999, I actually called in sick to GM my blacksmithing.  When I think about it, I still have my UO account open because of my huge house I have.  Pop in there to check on things.

Anyways, WoW is the grandaddy of mmorpg's in my opinion.

Originally posted by Arngorf

Originally posted by daarco

And they got in on a South Park episode : )

Otherwise its good because its easy and without challance so everyine can become a hero?

Yea. I just dont get why ppl get that feeling. The truth is that you will allways be "nothing" in wow. hurray i got full set of high tier epics, like, 300+ others on the same server.. U go flash it for everyone in Orgrimmar or Ironforge but nobody seems to care. perhaps on rare occations a lvl 1-20 will say "wow you look flashy", but thats it.

LOL, you are playing MMORPG's for the wrong reason if you feel the need to stroll around and fish for compliments about your gear.  Suggest you go out and try to prove something in the real world, then you can buy a Lexus or something..... and look like 2 million other Lexus owners.  I suppose you wear designer clothing too. 

But back to the OP.  WOW is a ton of fun, plays on just about everyone's computers, has many different things to do, and yes, even has an end game despite what other posters have claimed.  (they're called raids, feel free to try a few)

I had good fun while I was there, but eventually reached the end of what I wanted from the game and moved on. (happens to me everytime)

I love WoW. I've recently returned to it for the third time with a Blood Elf Paladin (44 as I write this). I like all the options.

If you like questing, you can quest.
If you like to grind, you can.
If you like battlegrounds, you can go it alone or in premade groups and if you play alot you can earn their gear.
If you like instances, there are plenty.
If you like crafting, you can...or if you just want to make money, mine and skin and get wealthy.
If you like lots of items, there is plenty of inventory management, and the more you play the more there is to sell, disenchant, trade and equip.
Like to join up and quest in groups, then join a guild; you can meet lots of people on WoW who share your approach to the game.
Like to make money, use the auction house to your advantage and become an expert trader.
Getting tired of your character, roll another with a completely different set of strengths, weaknesses, and skills and abilities.
Take any of your characters down different talent trees to significantly change that characters' capabilities.
Don't find WoW challenging enough? This one alway makes me shake my head. It's true that at some point every character I've played has been able to beat individual MOBs 4 levels above me; but not multiples. If you aren't challenged, take on multiple higher level MOBs. Still not challenging enough...go into instances alone or venture out on your own on a PvP server. I can promise you that, no matter what your skill level, you can find challenges if you look for them.
I've tried almost all the MMOs, starting with UO when it was first released, and have returned to several of them multiple times. WoW is still my favorite.

Originally posted by Teala

Why?

1) Easy to learn.

2) Accessibility - it runs on a McGyver Built Computer

3) It is pretty much bug free.

4) Graphics are appealing to most.

5) Polished product.

6) Fun to play.

 

Did I miss anything?

This pretty much sums it up nicely. I'd like to also add that I was a WoW hater for a very long time. This was mainly due to the fact that I played it during Beta and the community back then sucked pretty bad. There were about 10x more trash talking WoW kiddies back in those days and it just soured my first impression of the game so I didn't subscribe after Beta was over. For a couple of years after I had convinced myself that I hated the game as I saw it as something of a fad. I'm not the type of person to get into fads or anything that is popular just because it's popular(the snowball effect) so I shunned it and stayed away.

About 6 months ago a friend of mine after about 6 months of constant begging convinced me to subscribe so I could play the game with him and I have to admit that I'm having a very enjoyable time playing. The game has matured a lot since my beta experience and even though there are still trash talking WoW kiddies around they aren't in my face constantly like they were in Beta.

Bren

I like WoW, because most of people on this site hate it. If for no other reason than that.

1) Quality, polish, detail. 

As soon as I created my character and began the narrated fly-by of my starting area, I knew  I was taking part in something special.

2) Low system specs.  Vanguard and EQ 2 won't run on my PC.  WoW runs great.

There is only one reason.  It's the most popular.  That's it. 

And don't ask, well how did it become that most popular.  But if you are going to ask that, because of the name blizzard and it was ok.  And many people had been waiting to try a MMO but Everquest had a bad rap for grind.

If someone who has never played a MMO before decides they want to try one out, which one do you think they will try?  One with 10,000 players.  Or one with 10,000,000.  When interacting with others is important and no one likes to see a dead server.  Most people with go with the most popular one just because that's where everyone is.

And running well on older machines also allowed then to get such huge numbers.  Image that 80% of all people who want to try a MMO have a machine that can only run WoW.  That's a huge number.  Sure I just made it up, but there was a year where the only newish MMO I could run was WoW, and I build my own computers. 

Knowing people go where to people are in MMOs and making a game that physically allow the most people including Mac users was the smartest MMO move in history. 

And any company that puts graphics ahead of playability (Run-ability )  in a market where popularity matters will fail. Fail Fail Fail and Fail again.