Like I really give two craps what "kills" WoW I can explain it like this:

The ONLY thing that will end WoW's reign is time.  Look at what gives it staying power:

1) It runs on almost any machine.  Working class people don't have to spend money on a bigger and badder rig.  Kiddies don't have to beg mommy and daddy for a new computer.

2) It's far enough ahead it can dictate the market like it has been doing.  ie: cut deals on box sets, expansion upgrades, monthly subscription fees, etc etc

3) They come out with expansions in a timely order.  Just around the time the bulk of the people playing are growing weary on the treadmill or have reached the "carrot"  they put the prize a little further away. 

4) Marketing.  Marketing.  Marketing.

These are a few (but not all) and I'm fairly sure everyone who is familiar with this discussion gets my point. 

I think AoC will do well in a niche market like SWG and LOTRO and other well known IP driven MMO. There is a dedicated following and it sound like the game is well made. I haven't tried it because Conan just isn't my thing( though if and when I upgrade my rig I might give it a go). But as far as being a WOW-killer, I think it's unlikly. WOW is a sucess because it appeals to the masses where as AoC and other more recognizable IP's cater more to it's fanbase.

Even though I'm not playing WoW anymore but are going to play AoC, i can tell you for sure that AoC won't kill WoW, nor anything will in the upcoming year(s).

WoW is a great game just get over yourselves..... We all had our fun in there so respect it for when you loved playing that game, whether it was simplistic means or for others, it was well polished and did a great job on trying to pretty much give everyone a nice piece of the cake.

Anyway this is getting old and stupid.

Hate WoW for all you want, it ain't going anywhere but up it seems. Even though that you, I, and many others will be playing AoC very soon, WoW will still grow and will still be the king of the hill. That's just how it goes and why bother with it anyway?

Enjoy whatever game you like, i know i do.

Originally posted by Zorndorf

 

Originally posted by efefia

 

No, just no.

 

WoW hit 10 million because it's fucking dumbed down crap that anyone from 5-105 years old can pick up and play. Sandbox mmo's will never appeal to an audience wide enough to threaten WoW's numbers. I prefer sandbox by far but expecting one to surpass WoW anytime soon is crazy.

Perhaps, just perhaps could it be that it has a very good game design?

 

These millions PAY to play for years on end.

I know the reason of this Wow succes BTW

Since TB, Wow is the ONLY MMORPG on the market where the PLAYER decides HOW he plays the end game AND still gets rewarded.

He can be 20 minutes on line or 20 hours but there is always tons of DIFFERENT stuff to do. He does NOT have to do raids or dungeons or quests or battlegrounds or Arena or level professions.

 Instead HE can choose HOW he plays the game and still gets rewards to advance his avatar.

Arena is even becoming an e-sport for some.

Wow is so much more than your stand off the shelf doing PVE stuff series of  quests these days.

The player has in fact a choice now.

WoW is successful because it runs on almost any pc that someone may have lying around, it's bug free, it's got tons of content and it's solo friendly (mostly), it's easily accessible and it's got some longevity. It's that simple. Simple, pretty much sums up WoW and most of it's playerbase lol

Originally posted by Wharg0ul

Originally posted by dantep6

Originally posted by Wharg0ul

nothing will "kill" wow. As the OP stated, UO is still online, and being played. So is EQ1, DAOC, AO, and most of the classics.

AoC will steal a good amount of players from all games. Some will not like the active combat mechanics, some will not like the fact that they need a real PC to play it. Most will fall in love with it though, and stay.

I think we'll have a couple million playing in a few months, and will probably stay around there. It's an amazing game, and I'm sure people around here consider me a "fanboi", but realistically I doubt more than a couple million people will meet the AoC target audience criteria.

Couple million ?  You sir have very high expectations, Don't hold your breath waiting for the first million to show up.

I have high expectations because I've been playing the game, and I know those expectations are realistic.

The steep system requirements and yet another crumby launch on the part of Funcom will also help to lower the initial sub numbers. My guess is about 500K at launch and at the 3 month mark 250 - 300K. I dont forsee this game ever breaking the 1 million mark tbh.

S

Originally posted by Zorndorf

Well guess what, Wow is now at 10.7 million (end of first quarter 2008) subscribers.

They added 700 K active (paid) subscriptions in 3 months time.

That 3 months gain alone is more than TRIPLE  the complete current subscription numbers of LOTRO. Makes you think don't you.

Those of us who play Wow as of patch 2.3 know exactly why gamers just keep paying to play.

Those that don't play Wow just have no clue why. I have to laugh at players posting here  that didn't even play the end game. Lvl 66 etc...LOL

It just shows they don't know the game. Couldn't care less because I am convinced with the launch of the Lich King even 12 million is in reach.

 

/rant over

 Seriously guys, a WOW killer?

I'm sure WoW will be around for a long time.

I've never played it because it just doesn't interest me.

Anyway why are people wanting it to go away? I'm sure allot of people enjoy it. Especially if they're playing an mmo for the first time.

Like any game, or any thing for that matter... new people will play a game and people that have been playing for years will eventually move on.

Well, that's my 2 cents so if you don't agree with me

For those of you saying without a doubt AoC won't achieve such and such numbers, when WoW released did you think it would have 10 million subscriptions worldwide ever? I seriously doubt it. 

Also for those that claim AoC will only have a niche market because of the IP, I supposed none of you had ever heard of the Warcraft franchise before Wow /sarcasm off

I'd say given the fact that WoW has pulled so many people into the genre, anything is possible as far as subscription numbers go.

Originally posted by waverat81

For those of you saying without a doubt AoC won't achieve such and such numbers, when WoW released did you think it would have 10 million subscriptions worldwide ever? I seriously doubt it. 

Also for those that claim AoC will only have a niche market because of the IP, I supposed none of you had ever heard of the Warcraft franchise before Wow /sarcasm off

I'd say given the fact that WoW has pulled so many people into the genre, anything is possible as far as subscription numbers go.

Will AoC run on pretty much ANY system?

Is AoC friendly to children or parents who play MMOs with their children as a family unit?

In case you are in ANY doubt, the answer to both these questions is a resounding NO and those are two of the biggest reasons that WoW is such a huge success subscriber wise.

S

AoC will not beat wow numbers for a simple reason.  The M rating.  There are alot of full families playing wow togehter.  Now the parents may go and try AoC but the parents will not bring their kids over because of the blood and gore.

Think of it this way.  WoW is geared toward botht the young and old while AoC is geared to mature players.  That right there limits the market.

Now is it possiable that AoC can catch WoW? Sure anythings possiable but its very unlikly we will ever see another a game reach WoW like numbers. 

WoW just hit the market at the perfect time with the perfect format for new and old players to jump in and play with little or no experence in gaming.   As much as people (including me) bash WoW, WoW is a good game build around a user friendly Interface and user friendly game play.

There are more reasons why AoC will not kill WoW but I will not go into them.

Originally posted by Sharkypal

 

Originally posted by waverat81

For those of you saying without a doubt AoC won't achieve such and such numbers, when WoW released did you think it would have 10 million subscriptions worldwide ever? I seriously doubt it. 

Also for those that claim AoC will only have a niche market because of the IP, I supposed none of you had ever heard of the Warcraft franchise before Wow /sarcasm off

I'd say given the fact that WoW has pulled so many people into the genre, anything is possible as far as subscription numbers go.

 

Will AoC run on pretty much ANY system?

Yes, just maybe not at high settings.

Is AoC friendly to children or parents who play MMOs with their children as a family unit?

I know what your getting at, but let me ask you a question to answer this.  How many copies of GTA4 have already been sold?  Rating means nothing nowadays. 

In case you are in ANY doubt, the answer to both these questions is a resounding NO and those are two of the biggest reasons that WoW is such a huge success subscriber wise.

They are only a resounding NO in your eyes, because you don't want to see anything else.

S

I never said, AoC would kill WoW or surpass it's numbers.  I simply commented on some of the arguments that people are using to claim AoC will have poor numbers or lower than expected.

Originally posted by waverat81

Originally posted by Sharkypal

 

Originally posted by waverat81

For those of you saying without a doubt AoC won't achieve such and such numbers, when WoW released did you think it would have 10 million subscriptions worldwide ever? I seriously doubt it. 

Also for those that claim AoC will only have a niche market because of the IP, I supposed none of you had ever heard of the Warcraft franchise before Wow /sarcasm off

I'd say given the fact that WoW has pulled so many people into the genre, anything is possible as far as subscription numbers go.

 

Will AoC run on pretty much ANY system?

Yes, just maybe not at high settings.

Is AoC friendly to children or parents who play MMOs with their children as a family unit?

I know what your getting at, but let me ask you a question to answer this.  How many copies of GTA4 have already been sold?  Rating means nothing nowadays. 

In case you are in ANY doubt, the answer to both these questions is a resounding NO and those are two of the biggest reasons that WoW is such a huge success subscriber wise.

They are only a resounding NO in your eyes, because you don't want to see anything else.

S

I never said, AoC would kill WoW or surpass it's numbers.  I simply commented on some of the arguments that people are using to claim AoC will have poor numbers or lower than expected.

Nah, its a resounding no because AoC just doesn't have what it takes to sustain numbers that high. The only time it will be anywhere close is in the first month.

Maybe you like playing games on low settings but I dont. I am no WoW fan, in fact I've played it for a maximum of 4 or 5 days, but AoC won't even come close. LotRo didnt come close and it is a far more polished game that was released in a far better state than AoC.

Im not saying AoC will fail miserably, I suspect it will maintain a decent sub level, but the numbers you and some of the other people in this thread are spewing out are insane, unrealistic and unattainable for a game like AoC.

Keep thinking it will break 2 million or even 10, it won't. No amount of raving fanboism will change that.

S

It will do fine but when fall hits, it s numbers will drop alot. I know more people playing AOC waiting for WAR and other games and will leave when they come out so we ll see on that. I know even more saying they ll play both , but when WAR comes out alot will cancel to get the initial rush of a new game. Then i can almost guarentee some won t resub to AOC due to the fact they like WAR better. Some will resub to AOC and drop WAR. if this game maintains more then 500 k i would be shocked, 200-300k i would say in 4-6 months, then even more game are coming out.

AoC does compete with WoW.   AoC is for adults.  Kids can remain in WoW kiddyland.

I don't see much change either way. What matters is AoC getting enough subscribers to make a profit and I don't see FunCom having much trouble with that.

I think to many companies/people get hung up on trying to obtain WoW subscriber numbers as if that bar is the only way to to judge whether a MMO is sucessful or not. Fact is you can have a far smaller subscriber base and still make really good money running your game.

Not a single line of code is yet written in a game that will beat the 10-million benchmark set by WoW.  That doesn't mean that WoW was that wonderful.  It was just at the right place at the right time to capture the simple gaming preferences of the new-to-computers nintendo crowd.  The handful of us that played pre-WoW are still around, we are just diluted out by the kids that swarmed the MMO world after computers became cheap enough to become a child's toy.

No game is going to beat the 10-million record simply because the number of players are now going to be spread over a wider range of games.  There was a void in developement of MMOs in the early-00's.  That left WoW with no real competition.  WoW's only competition were games writen in the early 90's and were seriously outdated compared to the computing power that was available by 2004.  A gap like that will never happen again.

Many of the people that played in UO, EQ and Asheron's Call see the mid-2000's as the dark ages of MMOs.  Yes, WoW brought in people until they were stacked on servers like cord wood, but it also set back MMOs by perhaps a half decade or more.

The expectations of the early MMO players were not met by the bland, lack-luster games that have come out since the late '90's and early '00's.

WoW captured the console-creatures as they migrated from their TV toys to the internet.  WoW expanded the market, but did nothing for developing the MMO genre. 

Most of us early MMO players have been waiting for the damage that WoW has done to slowly heal.  With each new game that comes out, we click the 'Play' button, biting our lip, holding our breath, hoping beyond hope that the depth and excitement that was the early MMO experience has moved past the nintendo level of play that is WoW.

i don't think wow is ever going away. theres just to many people out there that prefer the fantasy world over a more realistic one. cant blame them though, the real world does kinda get pretty boring.

Originally posted by WiccanCircle

Not a single line of code is yet written in a game that will beat the 10-million benchmark set by WoW.  That doesn't mean that WoW was that wonderful.  It was just at the right place at the right time to capture the simple gaming preferences of the new-to-computers nintendo crowd.  The handful of us that played pre-WoW are still around, we are just diluted out by the kids that swarmed the MMO world after computers became cheap enough to become a child's toy.

No game is going to beat the 10-million record simply because the number of players are now going to be spread over a wider range of games.  There was a void in developement of MMOs in the early-00's.  That left WoW with no real competition.  WoW's only competition were games writen in the early 90's and were seriously outdated compared to the computing power that was available by 2004.  A gap like that will never happen again.

Many of the people that played in UO, EQ and Asheron's Call see the mid-2000's as the dark ages of MMOs.  Yes, WoW brought in people until they were stacked on servers like cord wood, but it also set back MMOs by perhaps a half decade or more.

The expectations of the early MMO players were not met by the bland, lack-luster games that have come out since the late '90's and early '00's.

WoW captured the console-creatures as they migrated from their TV toys to the internet.  WoW expanded the market, but did nothing for developing the MMO genre. 

Most of us early MMO players have been waiting for the damage that WoW has done to slowly heal.  With each new game that comes out, we click the 'Play' button, biting our lip, holding our breath, hoping beyond hope that the depth and excitement that was the early MMO experience has moved past the nintendo level of play that is WoW.

 

i agree with all but 1, other games will hit that number not because every player will play them like we saw with WoW but because the gamer population is constantly growing and growing fast. Granted its not likely that we will ever see the % of total gamers playing a single MMO like that again and I think that is what you where getting at.

You are dead on that WoW came when there was no compitiion to MMOs, even I tryed it but quickly became board and whent back to DAoC and even toyed with EQ and others while stand by looking for the next AC or DAoC to hit the stores.

Every new MMO that comes out does get better. . . and by the way I must say that I agree 100% that WoW though fun for a few is possibly the worst "MMO" I have ever played, its a good game here and there but its little more than Mario online (I do like Mario dont get me wrong)

While we are bashing on WoW let me talk a bit on what WoW did do well, WoW's UI is the best I have seen, they did a great job on there UI over all and I think or at least hope some of what was learned there will hold over into new games (not by UI I mean the HUD of the game not the mechanics per say)

WoW also runs rather smooth, granted much of this is due to the low end style of the game but there are some tid bits around effcency that we can see here, not to sugest that a game shouldn't look as good as it runs (WoW to me is the worst looking MMO on the market given its generation) I should expect that I can have good looking graphics, good game play and good performance and would prefer a balance among the aspects of the game than to have a game that looks awsome but runs like crap or a game that runs perfectly but looks like crap (there are other aspects but as you might have noticed my typing sucks )

I do think WoW was damaging to MMO genre but at the same time did bring some new blood to the genre which over all I hope will pan out to be a good thing. I wont say I hate WoW it has its points but know I dont hold it as anything more than a fair game. For note my fav MMO was DAoC (I still play it) my first was AoC; I started with MMOs I think was in 2000 possibly 99 though I was a RTS and RPG guy well before I was into MMOs

I would'nt go as far as saying "Killer", But crippled might be more suitable.

Originally posted by drarkanex

can't we ban anyone that says "AoC is not a WoW Killer". please, can we...  i'm getting sick of all the WoW players that are younger than 17 trolling these forums.

are you freaken retarded? or do you just lack a brain lmfao you just labled the very reason aoc wont be a wow killer :P duh just look at the age group aoc is targeting ffs :P