Well, hardly. Why? Because Blizzard had turned out the mentallity of MMORPG players to demand same thing as WoW...

For instance, look what happened to GW2. Even they went WoW's path because majority demanded it to be the same as WoW, while devs said that they want it to be different. But i guess it is the population and profit that have the last word.

This being said, i dont think that even Titan will live up to that popularity. Sure, many will buy it only because it have that "Blizzard" stamp on cover (same as for Diablo III) but considering Blizzard's design desicions for last couple of games (and even they confirmed "RMAH being implemented in their future titles") Titan will be hardly ever popular as WoW was. Especially now when you got MOBAs being more and more popular...

On other hand, we may see Elder Scrolls Online being somewhat close, only because it is Elder Scrolls and stuff, but i am eager to see how that story will end up. I wont be surprised to even see Pandas in TESO (Zenimax: well, herp derp, Pandas are popular in WoW, if we add them we will regain some of WoW's audience).

I'm not sure how much money it makes but in terms of sheer numbers playing it Maple Story had in 2009 92 million users . I think World of Tanks has 40 million . How many of these are active remains a good question . But in some terms WoW has been surpassed already .

In terms of subscription based success . I think WoW will eventualy be beaten. It may take many decades to happen though .

Advancements in technology such as 3d , cloud gaming where the internet takes over the processing power from a computer , mmo frienly consoles and even artifical intelligence (which many experts think will surpass human in 30 years ) will all have an effect on the mmo genre .

Imagine a game that has depth without the need for 3d glasses , that can be played on a low spec machine with amazing graphics with mobs that can actually think for themselves .

Sounds like science fiction now but I can say with some degree of certainty such games will happen will in our life time .

There is no doubt that eventually an MMO will be as successful as WoW . Just a matter of time ( maybe a long time )

In reply to the title of the thread alone. NO SMEGGING MMO WILL EVER REACH THE NUMBERS SMEGGIN WOW HAS OR HAD EVER REACHED AND IT DOESN'T SMEGGING NEED TOO!!!!

DEAR SMEGGGING SMEG OF SMEG!!!! Not every single mmorpg in the history of the business needs to sky rocket to trillions of billions of millions of gabagiliiions of subs to be remotely fun and or playable/subscribeableoleoleol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Either smegging play WoW and be happy with your smegging decision or play whatever is the equivilant!!!!!!! smegging jumbo buggers!!!

Originally posted by RefMinor

Originally posted by velmax

Originally posted by parrotpholk
In a simple word....no

True!

+1

WoW was a polished product launched at the right time to pick up the millions, there is nothing about WoW that is so far ahead of the competition, it relies on inertia and familiarity.

^^ Agree.  There is alot of Psychology behind WOW.  The Music, colours, the leveliing "Ding", Lootz, etc  that make it addictive.  Having recently purchased GW2, although it is awesome, I sometimes wish it had more WOW factor in it. 

Originally posted by bingbongbros

In reply to the title of the thread alone. NO SMEGGING MMO WILL EVER REACH THE NUMBERS SMEGGIN WOW HAS OR HAD EVER REACHED AND IT DOESN'T SMEGGING NEED TOO!!!!

 

DEAR SMEGGGING SMEG OF SMEG!!!! Not every single mmorpg in the history of the business needs to sky rocket to trillions of billions of millions of gabagiliiions of subs to be remotely fun and or playable/subscribeableoleoleol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Either smegging play WoW and be happy with your smegging decision or play whatever is the equivilant!!!!!!! smegging jumbo buggers!!!

LOL

Originally posted by Undeadly

Originally posted by RefMinor

Originally posted by velmax

Originally posted by parrotpholk
In a simple word....no

True!

+1

WoW was a polished product launched at the right time to pick up the millions, there is nothing about WoW that is so far ahead of the competition, it relies on inertia and familiarity.

^^ Agree.  There is alot of Psychology behind WOW.  The Music, colours, the leveliing "Ding", Lootz, etc  that make it addictive.  Having recently purchased GW2, although it is awesome, I sometimes wish it had more WOW factor in it. 

what in the hell is wrong with you people? WoW wasn't a polished product in the least, it was a complete mess at launch and it wasn't the right time because at that time there was about 3 mmorpg's to even choose from.  The "Ding" as you so gracefully put it was stolen from Everquest, along with the lootz, and the etc!!! 

Who in their right mind would even think of attributting ETC to wow? what is this world coming too.. my god.  You smegging wow borg people need to be taken offline.

Just my opinion friend.  After playing pretty much every MMORPG out there since "Shadowbane"  I am inexplicably drawn back to Blizzard's creation.  

Populations Increase + Time + More and More MMO's being created = Yes, Eventually / I dunno these game devs. are pretty unoriginal.

Next question will WoW ever be as good as Anarchy Online? Answer Never!

Maybe it will but don't hold your breath, it won't be anytime soon. WoW's position as #1 classical western MMO is fairly safe imho because...

1) Being #1 by a large margin gives Blizzard enough time to copy any sucessful innovation some other studio comes up with.

2) Having the largest population is a huge advantage. It's same as with, say, Facebook. Google+ is a great platform but if 90% your friends are not moving from facebook... and exactly the same applies to WoW.

3) Many people may disagree with this one but I think WoW is the most polished product out there in terms of overall experience. Major new MMOs are released almost every other month yet they all fail to provide same level of product quality.

* WoW runs well even on poor-spec PCs. I think this is one of the most important things to succeed with MMO yet many major games fail big time in this respect (e.g. Rift)

* The graphics. Some people hate it's low-polygon and some people hate the "cartoony" style. But at least it has a style and artistic value. Many other games are just generic pseudo-realistic meh.

* The music. It's a good music. And it's not guaranteed in MMOs. Get decent headphones, listen to LOTRO music and then listen to WoW music. Those two are just incomparable.

* Game mechanics. Another highly underestimated thing. WoW is very responsive and makes you feel like you really control the character. And it does not matter how it achieves it (by faking some stuff client-side). It actually works!

* The game is attractive to both children and adults. I agree with what someone else already mentioned - there's definitely a lot of psychology involved.

* Easy to learn, hard to master. It's extremely accessible but there are still plenty of things that are really hard to achieve. Many people think WoW is easy but that's just because they didn't set themselves hard enough goals.

Now I'm sure I sound like a diehard WoW fan. Actually, no. I play a wide range of games. I like EVE. I like Rift. I liked LOTRO before I moved from PvE to basically PvP only. But at the same time I must say I compeltely understand why WoW is #1. It's because it IS the best product out there.

So the only way to beat WoW is to actually stop with PR bullshit like "No more elves" and actually make a product that is at least equally good. Then, perhaps, given time, it can beat WoW. After all we could use something fresh, it's getting a bit old...

TL;DR - WoW delivers best overall experience. To beat WoW, someone actually has to make something equally good first.

Originally posted by Prenho
A true MMO with 10K players > WoW with its 10KK kids.

Funny... too bad that by far the typical WoW player is an adult in the mid to late twenties.

As for the topic, WoW was a real fluk.  It showed up on the scene and dominated the competition which entrenched themselves tremendously.  Eventually they will lost it's hold but likely not anytime soon.  Right now slowly bit by bit their consumers are leaving for other things.  WoW is a dated game and eventually it will "retire" much like EQ and Runescape.

no

Originally posted by Prenho
A true MMO with 10K players > WoW with its 10KK kids.

OP isn't talking about your personal preference but a MMO more successful than WOW financially.. OP is not about your shitty indie titles with 5K to 10K players. Those are dime ina dozen and frankly they are all crap.  Atleast read the OP first before replying.

no