Ok stop being immature and playing the "why are you posting here" card.  I post here for the same reason most people do.  They are bored with what the market has to offer and really want a new mmo to come out.

I recognize wow for its quality and other factors above other games, but I am ready for a new game.  The problem is the market is filled with crap right now.  There are a few decent games, but they all play nearly identical to wow minus half the features.  Been there done that.

I don't let my yearning for a new type of mmo cloud my objectivity however.

i still love how everyone compare games by their taste,

and you wonder, why we get such games as aoc/war/ra3/200 games by ea/and about another 90% of games released in last 2 years

noone looks at games by quality,polish or content included.. oh look

i like star wars.. etc wow suxs

i like ships , eve ftw wow suxs

i like hardcore pvp darkfall owns ( even if its not out and we all known it wont be out feb 25 )  thus wow suxs

i like ncsoft ( what a shit company ) etc blizzard suxs.. thus i hate wow

i like hardcore.. wow is too easy, i was like lvling 1-20 .. without deaths.. thus wow is easest mmorgp there and thus i hate it

i like original, wow is stealer.. thus i hate it.. why dont you hate your cs/halfile/quake/crysis.. most of them are steales of such old games as delta force /soldier of forture.. probably first real shooters out there..

99% of rts are stealers, from warcraft/dune

all of xboslive/xfire/skype/whatnot .. are stealers from good old windows messenger..

i had fair share of games to play, there are only few quality games that can actually be called games

most of them blow big time.. tho

i dont say wow is best.. but its surely in top 3.. and if you disagree your blind and ignorant idiot

wow have huge content/polish beyond any other game , wow was hard game in first 2-3 years of its life.. it wasnt tbc, or wotlk that made wow grow to 11mln

it had 8 mln before tbc..

its not easy to access to play content that made wow shine, its polish/smoothness of gameplay that made wow what it is now

GO LOTRO FANS , compare wow controls/movements combat to lotro ..

go PVP FANATIcs compare your generic pvp bash fest to wow skills/spells/balance  ( yes balance in wotlk is bit off.. but it didnt got to 11 mln just in wotlk )

go visual freaks. compare aoc/lotro graphics to wow .. yes.. they are more detailed.. , but at what cost.. lotro distance rendering is pathetic, lotro aa is pathetic, characters looks retarded

aoc glictches all over place, performance problems  ( was at release atleast ) , instanced, 0 colision detection, try moving around city, forgot its name now.

wow is still one of best looking games.. if you actually enable it to full, ( half of ppl dont even turn on full filtering an all other stuff. they sit on theirs 1 aa/af instead of 8, and wondering why game looks bad

im not much of eq/daoc gamer.. as i was still young back then

general problem, is that noone looks at game quality , you either love it or hate it, lets agree half of this forum is disgrunted trolls, those who hate everyone

would you believe me. if i would said ppl actually likes red alert 3, oh sorry, im sure 80% of  ppl reading and trolling in this post loves red alert 3, cuz they never had taste of what is real rts game, made with quality, not naked chicks

thats about how wow bashing is..

you guys saying that those ppl didnt try another 20 games above it.. there is reason , they didnt.. 80% of them are totall crap,

worthy games that can be called games.. up to date is.

lotro , eve, wow ,war ( yes yes, its broken unbalanced, you hate or love it, its still have 5x quality of any of those top 20 games ) , aoc  ( yes i hate for buying it, im thinking why i wasted 3 months playing it, it lacks that or that.. but it still have 5x quality of any of those top 20 useless games )

you could say l2 comes to this list too, was once good game, maybe few others

but comparing 10 years old game to game that was released year ago. and saying first is better is bullshit..

thats what is called fanatism, asheron game cannot be better than wow, not in quality, not in polish or customer support, you maybe love it more, you maybe hate wow, but it wasnt better game.. it failed after all

its same as saying delta force was better game than crysis or half life, maybe it was for me.. i had like every expansion of that game.. played countless hours 10 years ago, more than played crysis or hl2, was it better game? no it didnt had 10% of quality crysis orhalf life have..

Originally posted by Smikis

i still love how everyone compare games by their taste, ....

... i dont say wow is best.. but its surely in top 3.. and if you disagree your blind and ignorant idiot ....

 

You love that everyone compare games by his/her taste. You are not doing it? I think you are doing it too.

And if you are saying that WoW is surely in top 3, I realy have to disagree (i will say it is in top 10 for me maybe), I'm not blind and I think my friends would not say I'm an ignorant idiot. :D I realy dont know why almost every WoW fan who is posting here cant live with that that other players like something else.... I think that those are ignorants.. :) We are just saying that for us is not WoW best or one of the best MMOs. Is realy that hard to live with diferent opinions of other players?

The only reason why wow could be in any kind of top 3 is because it has a huge pop and there is a lot of stuff ingame. Which deosnt mean that this game has a lot of endgame stuff to do.

I'll honestly say WoW is still a good game, better than alot of the terrible grinders I've messed with and I've played about everything at this point. It's just WOTLK compared to Vanilla wow or even BC is a shadow of it's former self. I will never know why they created DKs in such a way to conflict with the use of existing classes, it was just poor balancing and unwise class design. If they were what they were originally slated to be, an anti hot class slash tank that would get eaten by Warlocks then this would not be a debate as far as pvp goes. Instead they turned their would be counter class into court jesters and made burst so high heals didn't matter, again just poor design as far as pvp goes. Also the decision to decide what spec is pvp and which ones are pve were a big mistake, you know full well the Enhancement shamen and Warlocks didn't roll to dungeon raid all the time, that was a slap in the face.

The current devs are strangers on a prebuilt ship, they implement changes based on how they "feel" the game should turn out, only that obviously conflicts with the initial design intent. It's like Spock was replaced by a Homer Simpson. Many of them understand the game engine, but don't know the mechanics behind it, I doubt the current line up could even have created WoW on their own.

WOTLK is like the Phantom Menace, alot of people haven't been able to accept the fact that it's bad yet.

 I don't know enough about to population here to predict why WoW is 20 something.  That said, in my experience, WoW is very popular amongst those for whom it is their first MMO.  It remains popular with those who have tinkered with a handful of other MMO's.  Both of these things are true because the core gameplay of WoW is incredibly accessible, and smooth, and many other MMO's fail badly at bringing out a polished game.  Blizzard has made an exceptional product for getting people who aren't MMO vets into the genre.  We should all be willing to admit this.  It's simply true.  That said, amongst people who have played many MMOs over many years now, WoW tends to lose out.  I suspect that this is a by-product of the very accessibility that makes WoW popular.  That accessibility comes at a cost in sophistication, and individuals who are very experienced in the MMO market tend to have more refined tastes in their game choices.  To cite an extreme example to make the point, lots of MMO vets are fiercely dedicated to EvE-online, and they are so precisely because it is the most complex, nuanced and sophisticated games made.  That said, for many people it is also a real drag.  I think what spurs on the WoW-hate crowd is that WoW gets innapropriately used by many as the standard against which all other games get evaluated.  WoW is a good game, but to someone with a real passion for MMO's it just seems a bit off to evaluate other games in terms of how well or badly it aproximates WoW.   It is this that leads to the McDonalds/Spears comparisons.  

Originally posted by tayschrenn

Originally posted by Sharajat

Originally posted by tool089

No there isn't.  There isn't a PC game that is better-selling than WoW.  WoW has sold more copies than any other game.  Not than any other PC game, not than any other MMO.  Than any other game.  Ever. 

eh? What?

WoW = 9.1 million sold (est)

Sims = 16.08 million games sold.

Than any other game ever?......

Top 9 best selling games of all time are over 20 million copies sold.

Number 1 = Wii Sports with a touch over FOURTYTWO MILLION

WoW comes at number 37 on the list.Not even in the top 10 !!!!!!

Thanks T

 

 

dude.. wow have 11-12mln suscribers at the moment, means active players

and you saying 9.1 mln sold ROFL ,

ok lets say we have 11.5 mln players now, all of them bought original copy = 11.5 sold, atleast 10 mln by now bought tbc, lets say 20 mln now, by now probably 7 mln bought wotlk ( 3 mln were sold in first 24 hours ? )

i wont even go into the fact that game have been released for nearly what 5 years? ,i can easily say that there probably been 20 mln copies of orignal game sold,

get real, wow probably sold 30-50 mln copies.. i wont even go into the fact that, you can count every 2-3 months ( depends on your game price standart ) into new game. considering there been around lets say 8 mln ppl paying that for 5 years by now.. numbers go to umhz dunno.. 500 mlns? more.. probably ..

i rolf at your facts.. 9.1 mln copies sold.. yes.. 30 mln another copies just started growing on trees..

Originally posted by Smikis

Originally posted by tayschrenn

Originally posted by Sharajat

Originally posted by tool089

No there isn't.  There isn't a PC game that is better-selling than WoW.  WoW has sold more copies than any other game.  Not than any other PC game, not than any other MMO.  Than any other game.  Ever. 

eh? What?

WoW = 9.1 million sold (est)

Sims = 16.08 million games sold.

Than any other game ever?......

Top 9 best selling games of all time are over 20 million copies sold.

Number 1 = Wii Sports with a touch over FOURTYTWO MILLION

WoW comes at number 37 on the list.Not even in the top 10 !!!!!!

Thanks T

 

 

dude.. wow have 11-12mln suscribers at the moment, means active players

and you saying 9.1 mln sold ROFL ,

ok lets say we have 11.5 mln players now, all of them bought original copy = 11.5 sold, atleast 10 mln by now bought tbc, lets say 20 mln now, by now probably 7 mln bought wotlk ( 3 mln were sold in first 24 hours ? )

i wont even go into the fact that game have been released for nearly what 5 years? ,i can easily say that there probably been 20 mln copies of orignal game sold,

 

get real, wow probably sold 30-50 mln copies.. i wont even go into the fact that, you can count every 2-3 months ( depends on your game price standart ) into new game. considering there been around lets say 8 mln ppl paying that for 5 years by now.. numbers go to umhz dunno.. 500 mlns? more.. probably ..

 

i rolf at your facts.. 9.1 mln copies sold.. yes.. 30 mln another copies just started growing on trees..

I rofl at your spelling.

But, WoW having 11.5 million subscribers doesn't mean they have sold that many units. If I remember correctly, Asians don't have to buy the game, they just pay for the time they play, which Blizzard counts as "subscribers". This means that only the 4ish million Western subscribers are guarenteed to have bought a unit.

Originally posted by Abrahmm

Originally posted by Smikis

Originally posted by tayschrenn

Originally posted by Sharajat

Originally posted by tool089

No there isn't.  There isn't a PC game that is better-selling than WoW.  WoW has sold more copies than any other game.  Not than any other PC game, not than any other MMO.  Than any other game.  Ever. 

eh? What?

WoW = 9.1 million sold (est)

Sims = 16.08 million games sold.

Than any other game ever?......

Top 9 best selling games of all time are over 20 million copies sold.

Number 1 = Wii Sports with a touch over FOURTYTWO MILLION

WoW comes at number 37 on the list.Not even in the top 10 !!!!!!

Thanks T

 

 

dude.. wow have 11-12mln suscribers at the moment, means active players

and you saying 9.1 mln sold ROFL ,

ok lets say we have 11.5 mln players now, all of them bought original copy = 11.5 sold, atleast 10 mln by now bought tbc, lets say 20 mln now, by now probably 7 mln bought wotlk ( 3 mln were sold in first 24 hours ? )

i wont even go into the fact that game have been released for nearly what 5 years? ,i can easily say that there probably been 20 mln copies of orignal game sold,

 

get real, wow probably sold 30-50 mln copies.. i wont even go into the fact that, you can count every 2-3 months ( depends on your game price standart ) into new game. considering there been around lets say 8 mln ppl paying that for 5 years by now.. numbers go to umhz dunno.. 500 mlns? more.. probably ..

 

i rolf at your facts.. 9.1 mln copies sold.. yes.. 30 mln another copies just started growing on trees..

 

I rofl at your spelling.

But, WoW having 11.5 million subscribers doesn't mean they have sold that many units. If I remember correctly, Asians don't have to buy the game, they just pay for the time they play, which Blizzard counts as "subscribers". This means that only the 4ish million Western subscribers are guarenteed to have bought a unit.

ye my poor spelling, i made that post in half of minute, clearly i didnt pay much of attention to spelling

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10103951-52.html

2.4mln record by tbc in first 24 hours, 2.8 mln new record  by wotlk in first 24 hours, =5.2 mln copies in first 24 hours with both expansions, just expansions just in 24 hours,

any more facts.. with your  4 mln copies sold..

Originally posted by Smikis

Originally posted by Abrahmm

Originally posted by Smikis

Originally posted by tayschrenn

Originally posted by Sharajat

Originally posted by tool089

No there isn't.  There isn't a PC game that is better-selling than WoW.  WoW has sold more copies than any other game.  Not than any other PC game, not than any other MMO.  Than any other game.  Ever. 

eh? What?

WoW = 9.1 million sold (est)

Sims = 16.08 million games sold.

Than any other game ever?......

Top 9 best selling games of all time are over 20 million copies sold.

Number 1 = Wii Sports with a touch over FOURTYTWO MILLION

WoW comes at number 37 on the list.Not even in the top 10 !!!!!!

Thanks T

 

 

dude.. wow have 11-12mln suscribers at the moment, means active players

and you saying 9.1 mln sold ROFL ,

ok lets say we have 11.5 mln players now, all of them bought original copy = 11.5 sold, atleast 10 mln by now bought tbc, lets say 20 mln now, by now probably 7 mln bought wotlk ( 3 mln were sold in first 24 hours ? )

i wont even go into the fact that game have been released for nearly what 5 years? ,i can easily say that there probably been 20 mln copies of orignal game sold,

 

get real, wow probably sold 30-50 mln copies.. i wont even go into the fact that, you can count every 2-3 months ( depends on your game price standart ) into new game. considering there been around lets say 8 mln ppl paying that for 5 years by now.. numbers go to umhz dunno.. 500 mlns? more.. probably ..

 

i rolf at your facts.. 9.1 mln copies sold.. yes.. 30 mln another copies just started growing on trees..

 

I rofl at your spelling.

But, WoW having 11.5 million subscribers doesn't mean they have sold that many units. If I remember correctly, Asians don't have to buy the game, they just pay for the time they play, which Blizzard counts as "subscribers". This means that only the 4ish million Western subscribers are guarenteed to have bought a unit.

 

ye my poor spelling, i made that post in half of minute, clearly i didnt pay much of attention to spelling

 

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10103951-52.html

 

2.4mln record by tbc in first 24 hours, 2.8 mln new record  by wotlk in first 24 hours, =5.2 mln copies in first 24 hours with both expansions, just expansions just in 24 hours,

any more facts.. with your  4 mln copies sold..

 

ROFLMAO. Yeah, cause there is NO WAY any of that 2.4 million that bought TBC could be the same people in the 2.8 million that bought WOTLK. Looks to me like it's the same 2.4 plus .4, which is not 5.2. It's 2.8.

Unless you are just talking about the total number of boxes (to figure the money blizzard made), which doesn't relfelct the number of people buying them because, as I said above, the same people are buying both items.

A chinese mate of mine was practically playing WoW for free back in the days when i was playing on EU wow. he paid something close to One Dollar every month.. if i had to rationalize it, i'd say that blizzard is actively seeking larger sub numbers no matter if those subs are equal to each other in payment or not.

just felt like adding that point, i dont care really if i get bashed/flamed/cheered etc. Save ur breath ^^

I haven't played all twenty-something games that rated higher than WoW, I've probably played 5-10 of them though.  

It really depends on what 'better' means doesn't it?  

If you want to use the McDonalds analogy - more people eat at McDonalds than a local four or five star restaurant in your area, but I bet the local bistro rates much higher on any 'foodies' list with MickeyD not even placing.   The same goes for Walmart - the best no, but more people shop there than a boutique.  More people drive Toyotas and Fords than Ferraris.

I like WoW,  I play WoW and I enjoy Wow!  

1. Is it the best out there, no.  I actually prefer EQII, but don't play it anymore.  
2. Is it easy yes.  So, why is easy considered evil?  
3. Can casual a few hours a week to dedicated hardcore raider play yes.
4. Anyone can play - 12-90 (the oldest on record is a couple in their mid 80s) 
5. Is it fun yes.  You can jump in and enjoy yourself from level one.  You can also spend hours crafting a character and building him/her into a BG twink, epic raider or ?  
6. Is it polished yes.  The graphics are cartoonish but not hard on a PC, making it more accessible for everyone, the music so-so, humor
7. I find lots of cute references from Haris Pilton, to 300, to the many other pop culture references nice comic relief.  The bloody dancing is both lame and funny.  Blizzard doesn't take itself seriously but provides ENTERTAINMENT!
8. Can Blizzard please all 11+ million - no!  As many people that hate Death Knights there is the other camp that love them.  You hate the nerf bat on this instance, well others like it, etc., etc., etc.

The failure that most people talk about with WoW is it isn't hardcore pvp.  Well hardcore pvp appeals to a small percentage of people in the MMO genre.  I like pvp and have tried it on every MMO that I've played (EQ2, GW, WAR, AoC, LoTRO, WoW) but those are not classed as truly hardcore pvp by the hardcore advocates so more fail!

Anyway, the way I view it - statistics can be skewed depending on how a question is asked and answered.  If you like WoW, play it.  If you don't - there are many other games out there so go and be happy.  

Spend your time and money where you want - troll forums, play games its your choice!

Too long thread to read, but just to comment on the first post:

Game ratings usually don't contain (all) the points that are key to game's success, such as "Accessibility" and "Soloability". And I think a rating of "Meeting Expectations" might be in order too, as some games are just hyped so much that any fault with the game will make people disappointed, even hostile.

Thus the rating a game receives based on the categories given will not correspond properly to the popularity of the game. And I guess there has already been some discussion in this thread at how poorly the community on these forums represents the MMOG community as a whole. ;-)

I think the numbers are skewed on this site because it's in the western hemisphere. I bet the voting is completely different on an Asian site since the vast majority of WOW subscribers are Asian. Ofcourse, it would have to compete with some of those Korean grind fests that are popular over there too, so it might be a toss up there... Who knows really.

I''ve played WOW as well. I think it is a great "first" MMO. I'm just not a fan of the gear grind / raid fest / huge time investment needed to reach the end game content. IF, I were younger and did not have the responsibilities I have now ( kids, work, on-call, little league....etc) I might have a different opinion. On the other hand, WOW caters to the casual player too, as long as you can content yourself with never being able to see the best end game content or gear.

So... um... yeah

Originally posted by atheodorej

 I don't know enough about to population here to predict why WoW is 20 something.  That said, in my experience, WoW is very popular amongst those for whom it is their first MMO.  It remains popular with those who have tinkered with a handful of other MMO's.  Both of these things are true because the core gameplay of WoW is incredibly accessible, and smooth, and many other MMO's fail badly at bringing out a polished game.  Blizzard has made an exceptional product for getting people who aren't MMO vets into the genre.  We should all be willing to admit this.  It's simply true.  That said, amongst people who have played many MMOs over many years now, WoW tends to lose out.  I suspect that this is a by-product of the very accessibility that makes WoW popular.  That accessibility comes at a cost in sophistication, and individuals who are very experienced in the MMO market tend to have more refined tastes in their game choices.  To cite an extreme example to make the point, lots of MMO vets are fiercely dedicated to EvE-online, and they are so precisely because it is the most complex, nuanced and sophisticated games made.  That said, for many people it is also a real drag.  I think what spurs on the WoW-hate crowd is that WoW gets innapropriately used by many as the standard against which all other games get evaluated.  WoW is a good game, but to someone with a real passion for MMO's it just seems a bit off to evaluate other games in terms of how well or badly it aproximates WoW.   It is this that leads to the McDonalds/Spears comparisons.  

best post in this topic :P you are damn right dude :) as first mmo its good game but for advanced players it can be boring.

Originally posted by Azzataky

Originally posted by atheodorej

 I don't know enough about to population here to predict why WoW is 20 something.  That said, in my experience, WoW is very popular amongst those for whom it is their first MMO.  It remains popular with those who have tinkered with a handful of other MMO's.  Both of these things are true because the core gameplay of WoW is incredibly accessible, and smooth, and many other MMO's fail badly at bringing out a polished game.  Blizzard has made an exceptional product for getting people who aren't MMO vets into the genre.  We should all be willing to admit this.  It's simply true.  That said, amongst people who have played many MMOs over many years now, WoW tends to lose out.  I suspect that this is a by-product of the very accessibility that makes WoW popular.  That accessibility comes at a cost in sophistication, and individuals who are very experienced in the MMO market tend to have more refined tastes in their game choices.  To cite an extreme example to make the point, lots of MMO vets are fiercely dedicated to EvE-online, and they are so precisely because it is the most complex, nuanced and sophisticated games made.  That said, for many people it is also a real drag.  I think what spurs on the WoW-hate crowd is that WoW gets innapropriately used by many as the standard against which all other games get evaluated.  WoW is a good game, but to someone with a real passion for MMO's it just seems a bit off to evaluate other games in terms of how well or badly it aproximates WoW.   It is this that leads to the McDonalds/Spears comparisons.  

 

best post in this topic :P you are damn right dude :) as first mmo its good game but for advanced players it can be boring.

Nope this is a common misconception.   Many veterans of the genre play and enjoy WoW.  This is highlighted by the fact that the leaders of many of the top guilds in WoW come from an Everquest / DAoC background.

The game designers themselves are from high end raiding guilds from these games.

But yes, there are a lot of noobs.

The 'WoW is starter MMORPG' is pretentious and false, considering it pretty much wipes the floor with other games in catering to many different kinds of playstyles and schedules.

Catering to many different styles is exactly what's wrong with it. By trying to attract so many different types of gamers, it is fialing in answering any of those types' special needs (which are usually extreme). Therefore it has become a game with mediocre raiding experience, mediocre pvping experienece, and a mediocre overall game. That is why people describe it as the Starter MMO; it is so mediocre in every style of gaming available in MMOs that starter players can see/feel/decide what type of gamers they are before finally giving up on the game evolving to suit them and move on to another MMO that is more "specialized".

That being said, the only genre available for post-WoW gaming is the mouse-n-click hard pvp MMO (ie EvE). Much ground is to be covered by other specialty MMOs for those still-stuck-in-wow-gamers (wsad hard pvp, hardcore pve raiding, etc).

Originally posted by Ziboo

If you want to use the McDonalds analogy - more people eat at McDonalds than a local four or five star restaurant in your area, but I bet the local bistro rates much higher on any 'foodies' list with MickeyD not even placing.   The same goes for Walmart - the best no, but more people shop there than a boutique.  More people drive Toyotas and Fords than Ferraris.

You might have a point if other mmos made ferraris or were 5 star restaurants.  What makes other mmos 5 star restaurants in comparison? 

All fantasy mmos right now pretty much serve the same 'menu items'.  They all pretty much charge the same price.  It isn't like one game is fast food just because it is popular and games that are significantly less popular are offering fine dining that caters only to people of refined taste. 

In fact wow was the mmo that brought the term 'polished' into the genre.  That is just another way of saying high quality and attention to details.

Now in contrast to that, how many mmos have launched and immediately lost 50-80% of their initial customers in a few short months?  Losing 500k+ plus subscribers in a few short months doesn't sound like a quality dining experience to me.  If the "food" was so good and cost the same price, I'm pretty sure most of those people would be long term customers. 

That isn't even touching on what happened to most games populations after wow released.  I don't think people ran away from the steak and glass of wine just to eat big macs. 

Originally posted by Smikis

i still love how everyone compare games by their taste,

i dont say wow is best.. but its surely in top 3.. and if you disagree your blind and ignorant idiot

 

lol,

wow is the most popular game.  It's the most accessible.  but the best or in the top 3?  Wow caters to the lowest common denominator and soccer moms lettin them have a shot at wrecking people.  That's why it's where it's at. 

After the leveling is over it's quite an average endgame and actually pretty crappy.  You choose from proken PvP in battlegrounds where people just want their token or running the same instance over and over again.  No depth beyond gear.

Originally posted by Malvolentia

Originally posted by Smikis

i still love how everyone compare games by their taste,

i dont say wow is best.. but its surely in top 3.. and if you disagree your blind and ignorant idiot

 

 

lol,

wow is the most popular game.  It's the most accessible.  but the best or in the top 3?  Wow caters to the lowest common denominator and soccer moms lettin them have a shot at wrecking people.  That's why it's where it's at. 

After the leveling is over it's quite an average endgame and actually pretty crappy.  You choose from proken PvP in battlegrounds where people just want their token or running the same instance over and over again.  No depth beyond gear.

That is where I think you are wrong.  Wow doesn't focus its catering to one specific group by exluding everyone else.  Instead it offers many varied playstyle paths to many different groups.  Hardcore, casual, group, solo, pve, pvp.  It is so dominant, because it offers good gameplay in all of those areas.  Obviously no game will satisfy everyone, but wow sure does a great job of offering more game options to more people that any other game.  That is why it attracts new and experienced players alike.  

Those other superior games (which you constantly fail to example) don't offer anywhere near as much.  Most of the market is also filled with incomplete and unfinished games which makes it easy for wow to retain its large playerbase.  That is why they don't have anywhere close to the same level of success.  Even though the total number of people in the market has exploded, only 1 game ha surpassed the old benchmark game of eq.

I really wish that were not the case, but this is the world we live in.