A fully 3-D Runescape will one day be the downfall of WoW. The kiddies shall mass, be afraid, be very afraid.

The closest thing to a WoW beater is HKO...

You cant beat WoW in its own market space, but you can take another market space, and do the same thing. The young/casual market has a much greater potential than the current WoW market, and someone will hit it off big there, and be the next WoW.

5% as good as world of warcraft. That amounts to taking a grinder to my teeth. That game sucks. ?  I wouldn't really look past the power of newer companies offering things people want. You know at one time there was no microsoft.

I can tell something by reading this person's post though. They have never, ever programmed in their life. If they had they would understand how different the landscape is now than when WoW first started. Let's go over a few things about WoW.

1. WoW has been out around 4 years, and yet still has tons of glitches and security issues. Now after that long a game should be free of bugs. We buy a game in a video store, that has not been in development for 6 years, and we expect it to be free of bugs. During my first week of playing wow I consistently encountered bugs. When I asked about then, I got nothing. I have screen shots of enemies that were killed, yet they just stood there completely immune to damage. They wouldn't drop or count as a kill. Iron, and herbs, growing inside trees? That game had more bugs than a 20$ hooker.

2. The mechanics behind the game are subpar. The game hasn't brought anything new to the world. Their graphic engine is poorly made, the db is slow, and yes I could go on.

3. The use of spyware to spy on the people paying to play their game. WTF, who thought it would be cool to spy on the people paying you to play your game. If you are worried about cheating there are many more options available to a big buisness like blizzard.

4.  The community support, well there really isn't any community relations to speak of. Occasionally you have some person post on their forums in blue text about how they are going to change the game. Like it or not.

If I really need to keep on going I can. WoW is a horrible game, and it has subscriptions because the choices available to people are:

a. Not well known to the average user. This is a big company that pulled in many blizzard fans. They have the money to run commercials often and put up tons of advertisement.

b. Not as simple as familiar as WoW in some aspects. People get used to a certain aspect from rpg games. Then that translates over to what they expect from mmorpgs. They expect the grind up to a high level with huge numbers flying around.

Sure you can put down Warhammer, but that game hasn't been released for 2 months yet. According to Electronic Arts, WAR has sold 1.2 million copies and has 800,000 registered users as of September 30, 2008. ^http://news.ea.com/portal/site/ea/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ndmConfigId=1012492&newsId=20081030006325&newsLang=en

I think games like Stargate:Worlds, and Knights of the Old Republic are going to put that final nail in WoW's coffin. If you want just look at the planned expansion content. They are already copying from Warhammer, just like they copied most of their content from other companies.

I think there are games that could kill WoW its just the fact that people 2nd guess them and don't even give games the chance and just push them aside like yesterdays news. I do think that sometime in the next few years there will be a game so well developed that WoW will just be like a bug that gets squished and tossed away. Now i can't say when this will happen but it will most certainly happen. The reason no cash shop game can live up to this is because well its a cash shop game and you will have to pay more then $15 a month to fully enjoy the game since you do not have access to everything in game. 

The only thing in my MMO history i regret is leaving Final Fantasy XI to play WoW because my older bro said it was worth it. Now i think if people gave Final Fantasy XI a chance it could easily topple WoW but people don't like to be forced into grouping so people just over look it. I had more fun in 2 weeks on FFXI then i did the 3 years of playing WoW I'm just upset it took me 3 year to figure this out.

All I'm saying is there are games out right now and even some in the future that have the the goods to kill WoW its just the fact as stated people just don't want to give WoW up since they have been playing for years and moving on to a new MMO just doesn't feel right.

I have not played a single MMO since quitting WoW just because there are none that have that certain something. Now over the past few months i have been talking with some friends from FFXI and really considering going back since it is the only game that i ever had fun on. Right now its a 99% chance i will because i don't ever want to play WoW again it just gets boring after awhile and i don't play games that don't keep me entertained every second I'm playing. So again there are and will be WoW killers it just you the we as gamers have to give the games the chance they deserve.

i agree with tenetke i would love to see kotor put a large stake at that vampire called wow xD

People will be getting loans soon. It's not going to last forever.

I'm thinking the thing that beats WoW won't even be an MMO.  It will be a hybrid game that combines the best features of WoW without all of the inconveniences of the 'massive' online format.  In other words, it will share more in common with Diablo and Halo than WoW.

I come to this conclusion because WoW itself abandoned or seriously curtailed all of the aspects that distinguished MMOs from their action/adventure counterparts: things like avatar customization, crafting, roleplaying tools, and immersion.  In fact, the only things that really separate WoW from Diablo are the 3D orientation and the inability to create a private instance online.

It seems to me that the audience that wants WoW isn't interested in the shared server aspect; if anything, it gets in the way.

Wait until MMORPG companies take a lesson from the advertising industry and hire psychologists and sociologists as advisors to MMO game design.

WoW was made by amateurs stumbling around in the dark - there are so many more options MMORPGs have yet to explore.

Of the 11 Million Subs that WoW has 6 Million of those are in Korea so its going to be intresting to see how AION affects those sub numbers over in Korea. The US only has about 2.5 Million and when All Points Bulletin comes out I think that 2.5 Million will be hit hard. I dont think any other game has a chance though only time will tell though.

If anybody does not know what All Points Bulletin is its going to take the Grand Theft Auto style game and make an MMO. Its from the makers of Crackdown and its looks very good.

---

Originally posted by Talin
I have a better tagline:
Bored poster rehashes stale topic.
Nothing to see here, just a waste of characters....

---

I laughed.

Originally posted by Zayne3145

Originally posted by Ravanos

you know what will beat WoW? a game that will probably make the genre even more idiot friendly than WoW. A game that dumbs down the genre even moreso than WoW so you instant gratification gimps can play 5 minutes a day and still get super uber gear.

heres the game that will beat WoW

you log in and you are given a couple of options

option 1) what character would you like to use?
option 2) what level would you like to achieve today? (if you are max level please use the "Endgame" option)

endgame option 1 - Would you like to achieve a new piece of armor? please select set piece (chest, legs, gloves ect) and the quality you would like (green, blue or purple)

Endgame option 2 - would you like to get a new weapon? if so choose your weapon of choice (bow, sword, shield ect) and the quality you would like (green, blue or purple)

once you go through all that you get a "Please Wait" .... and get the message ...

"The options you have chosen will take *X*  hours to complete ... please do not turn off the computer while we automate your leveling/gear gathering process."

so this way all you casual gamers dont even have to play at all ... you can really let the computer do all the work for you.

 

Lol, you jest but this reminds me of an argument I had with a guildmate of mine. He was talking about how he plays on his friends account so that he can experience high-level battlgrounds. I was arguing that it defeats the point of playing the game and that the whole point of levelling is that you learn your class. I ended up getting so frustrated that I asked whether, given the choice, he would opt for a system very similar to that outline in the above post. He said he definitely would.

A little piece of me died inside that day.

Oh my god. That is truly horrific. (im serious)

WoW has not been growing in western countries for some time now, thinking that it will still be on top in ten years is just plain absurd. It takes a long time for mmos to die, EQ, Linage and UO were all at their peak five years after they were launched, and there are still people playing them. It's the same thing with wow.

It may take an even longer time before some other game beats wows subscription record, but rest assured, there is no chance in hell WoW will still be the biggest mmo five years from now.

Funny, everyone was saying that about EQ a few years ago.  Blizzard just looked at what the marketplace had available and made it much better.  Wow is not undefeatable, it has issues like any game in this genre, just that no one to date has improved enough on them to justify players to move.

It is a shame, 2008 was supposed to be the year that the great challengers of Wow, came out.  So far it has been more fizzle than substance.  While War is probably the best of the lot, it's pve is so limited that it will never garner that much support. 

There has been a lot of speculation about the recent announcement of Kotor, but early press releases pretty much indicate that Bioware is bringing another Wow Clone to the marketplace.  It remains to be seen if they can innovate enough to break some of Wow's hold on the marketplace.

Other than that, I would look overseas to the asian market.  They have such massive playerbases that someone will eventually have the funding to make a really good game that will be impressive on this side of the pond too.

To the OP:

Yes WOW is on top but only because of the ease of  some aspects of gameplay and subs, other than that there are other games better than WOW with different gameplay aspects that are far better. Lotro, WAR, and EVE are 3 of them. If Darkfall ever makes to prime time and they way the "Darkfallinatics" describe the aspects of gameplay it should be better than WOW.

I think in about 2 years the subs will start dying off and server mergers will begin. WOW was a good game and did very well, but nothing lasts forever.

Greetings,

Well i've seen many people speculating and saying bad things about WAR, in my opinion i'm gonna still try it anyways, i've played WOW for 2 years and an half so i've nothing to lose. I'm tired of wow, people play what they like to, they won't just stop playing it because you don't like, it doesn't work that way, besides of all negative comments about WAR i'm gonna try it and take my own coclusions, that's what everyone should do.

It's like "We will never know the taste of a cake if we don't eat it"   

Hugs People [[]]

After having played WoW, EQ2, Vanguard and many other mmo's I agree that WoW is going nowhere anytime soon.  It's mostly due to their unbelievable marketing strategy and the fact that just about any pc can play WoW without any problem.  More importantly is the fact that it's the perfect noob game also.  Super easy to level up on which sucks you in and by the time you've invested so much time into your character you don't want to leave the game.  There are many games out there with unbelievably better graphics and gameplay, but you must have skill to play them and a pc that you didn't buy off the shelf at Walmart.  That is why WoW will remain on top for many years to come. 

(Former World of Warcraft addict, currently trying to find a game that takes real skills)

Originally posted by Dynamo112

Originally posted by Zayne3145

Originally posted by Ravanos

you know what will beat WoW? a game that will probably make the genre even more idiot friendly than WoW. A game that dumbs down the genre even moreso than WoW so you instant gratification gimps can play 5 minutes a day and still get super uber gear.

heres the game that will beat WoW

you log in and you are given a couple of options

option 1) what character would you like to use?
option 2) what level would you like to achieve today? (if you are max level please use the "Endgame" option)

endgame option 1 - Would you like to achieve a new piece of armor? please select set piece (chest, legs, gloves ect) and the quality you would like (green, blue or purple)

Endgame option 2 - would you like to get a new weapon? if so choose your weapon of choice (bow, sword, shield ect) and the quality you would like (green, blue or purple)

once you go through all that you get a "Please Wait" .... and get the message ...

"The options you have chosen will take *X*  hours to complete ... please do not turn off the computer while we automate your leveling/gear gathering process."

so this way all you casual gamers dont even have to play at all ... you can really let the computer do all the work for you.

 

Lol, you jest but this reminds me of an argument I had with a guildmate of mine. He was talking about how he plays on his friends account so that he can experience high-level battlgrounds. I was arguing that it defeats the point of playing the game and that the whole point of levelling is that you learn your class. I ended up getting so frustrated that I asked whether, given the choice, he would opt for a system very similar to that outline in the above post. He said he definitely would.

A little piece of me died inside that day.

 

Oh my god. That is truly horrific. (im serious)

It already happened. Have you guys heard of WOW private servers? On private servers, you can get 3x-10x to 100x the xp/loot compared to the official servers. On some, you can  get instant max level char with epics.

The only reason why private servers do not replace WOW is that a) they are not guaranteed to be up, and b) there are tons of bugs.

Originally posted by Ozmodan

Funny, everyone was saying that about EQ a few years ago.  Blizzard just looked at what the marketplace had available and made it much better.  Wow is not undefeatable, it has issues like any game in this genre, just that no one to date has improved enough on them to justify players to move.

It is a shame, 2008 was supposed to be the year that the great challengers of Wow, came out.  So far it has been more fizzle than substance.  While War is probably the best of the lot, it's pve is so limited that it will never garner that much support. 

There has been a lot of speculation about the recent announcement of Kotor, but early press releases pretty much indicate that Bioware is bringing another Wow Clone to the marketplace.  It remains to be seen if they can innovate enough to break some of Wow's hold on the marketplace.

Other than that, I would look overseas to the asian market.  They have such massive playerbases that someone will eventually have the funding to make a really good game that will be impressive on this side of the pond too.

AION will be that game

I think MMOs are like movies.

You get a

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Star Wars
Lord of the Rings

and every once in a while you get a

Pulp Fiction

Originally posted by happyclappy

Dream on people it is not going to happen. Today you can't get a loan for a toouthbrush let alone a video game that might be 5% as good as World of Warcraft with 1% of their staff. It always baffles me when someone who doesn't want a WoW-clone waits for an indie developer to come up with "something completely different" and off the wall. How is that going to happen?

It is like a paradox, you can't beat WoW by being the same as WoW because why not just play WoW which won't close down in X years. But to make "something completely different" likely means that this game is nowhere near the quality level of WoW and is more risky and therefore less likely to be supported.

Exactly what game is everyone waiting for to surpass WoW, it is not going to happen. Even EA and Games Wokshop with multi-million budget couldn't even get 10% of WoW's number. Does everyone think there will be a sleeper hit from an indie developer that has fresh ideas or is a new concept or does something really cool.

"Oh yeah EQ2 will beat WoW" (1 month before both games released) These forums were littered with WoW vs EQ2 threads months before and after both games come out.

Let's try sci-fi yeah cos that work out well for EnB, Tabula Rasa and HG:L and Auto Assault..

"WoW vs AoC" - lolz

"WAR is coming" WAR came and went.

It doesn't matter what game you compare WoW with. WoW will always be on top I predict for at least 10 years. It now has 11 million subscribers and has been out for nearly 4 years and to suggest that its population will shrink enough for another MMO to usurp it is ridiculous.

Whatever game anyone suggests I will laugh at like some megolomaniacal James Bond baddie. You may as well just play WoW.<---or play a game that fits your style/prefrances/life style

{ Mod Edit }

(highlighted text)

High Subscribers, thats not always a good thing IMO. I got into wow when it hit around the 1-2million mark. After it started to increase rapidly  in population/popularity...the community started to get more how we say unstable/uninviting (and I'm not bad mouthing all the community btw ,just speaking form personal exp.).

some people dislike wow because it is so popular or looking for that WoW killer...when they should be looking for a game they enjoy to play. Most of the MMO's i have played have been a combo of a good  game and friends playing 50/50 Friends/The game .I enjoyed WoW but got burned out after 3years. I have Came back to Wow here and there cause friends wanted to hang out and Kill/Quest/Have fun.

Games Played:

Final Fantasy 11,WoW, EvE, City of heros&Villans,Guild Wars, WAR, AoC, Tabula Rasa, D&D online