with every year we get a new contender for the crown . its just thus far its a bit like watching boxers take on mohamid ali in the 70s . warcraft seams pretty unbeatable . but you see its getting older and it can only pull out so many tricks out of its hat before someone deals a knockout punch . lol

i think by the time warcraft 2 is released a lot of people will have moved on  to other mmos . by that time they ll be available on consols .

 if cloud gaming technology ever comes in it wont really matter what system you have at home because every system will be able to play every game . that will revolustionise mmos more than ever . 

i can see the pay to play subscription based format becoming far more flexable in the future .

i think we ll see 1 week sub options . less costly monthly subs . mircotransations become common place as the years go by .

i know a lot of you will disagree with me now but your wrong simple as that . two years ago i was saying ddo should be free to play with item shops etc . most people disagreed and look whats happened .

the mmo market is like any other market in the world .

things change with time .

how i think wow should end .... with one almighty meteor coming down and wiping out the whole sorry mess warcraft has become . lol

They should spill beer on the servers.

Yeah, Blizzard could keep making expansions for WoW for another 10 years but why?
EQ1 still has expansions being made for it but does anyone care?
After Sargeras returns and we kill him what would there be left to do? It will be around 2015 by the time that happens so why drag it out further? The MMO genre, the video game industry, even the world will be very different by then so end it with Sargeras and be done with it.

Wow already died for me the second I logged in and saw the generic and cartoonish graphics. Not too mention the overly simplistic quest system and boring story. I guess you can't kill something that is already dead now can we :p

Love or hate WoW, it will end someday. Everythign does.

When that day happens, should there be a huge titanic shutdown event like in Tabula Rasa, or should people just play normally until the day they pull the plug?

I think there should be some kind of huge event to mark the end. But then, I also feel any MMO that shuts down should make the server code available either for purchase ($50 server package) or open source. An old, dead MMO isn't going to truly cannibalize users from a new MMO. But at least people who put years into a game and a community don't have to suffer it being ripped away.

In my opinion, a massive all-realms-vs-all-realms all levels PVP showdown, in Hellfire Peninsula. I can't even begin to imagine the mayhem that would ensue. But this would be the way to go, establishing once and for all which faction will inherit  Azeroth.

Not friendly for the PC but I would buy 8Gb or RAM just for that one event.

Just shut down the servers.

WoW will die when they run out of idea's. I mean so far they have done wounders to attract players with there easy to learn combat and lvling system.  I cant really comment on graphics becase its a smart move on there part to make them easyable runnable on almost any computer avaliable. They have a very sound plan toa ttract players, but untill we get board of the same old shit diffrent day it will be around for years to come.

well i would say if i was an MMO i would want to go down with a bang. reset all the characters to lvl one but let them keep there gear in the inventory. then send all the high lvl mobs into the citys and towns and just let them destroy ever player on the server. Kinda make a dawn of the dead end world idea. Sure it would crash some computers but think of the fun of that last day.

As a hypothetical, I think the company should give subscribers that were subscribed 'til the last month of server shutdown a free 2 month subscription for the next game they release.

A goodbye fan faire would be nice, but honestly most people can't make it to these events due to traveling & cost.

I think that everyone should be destroyed in some sort of catyclsm.   As an MMORPG is supposed to be a persistent world, it should only end if everyone living in it dies.  But I don't think WoW or any other sucessful MMO should end, it should simply evolve.

 Wow should end with everyone being mailed complete sets of Tier 100 artifact (red) gear and weapons.  Then give everyone 2 hours to stand around the mailboxes and auction houses of the major cities admiring each others gear/weapons...the same items that everyone else will have, ironically.  Then have a server shutdown countdown and have a contest to see who can tell the most Chuck Norris or ur mom jokes in the trade channel before it happens.  The winners gets a free tshirt from the WoW gear store, and a months supply of Mt. Dew fuel!

This seems like a reasonable extrapolation of that game as it is now.

Do you realize some of us could never see the end of WOW?

EQ is still active after 10 years and it had less than half a milion players at its peak. And it was at a time where computers doubled their power every year.

Now WOW is 4.5 years old, it could go on for another decade, with just one update of the graphics engine. I woulnd' be surprised if it lasted for 20 years or more. Blizzard permitting of course.