It's been said a billion times on these forums, but I thought this gamespy article said it very succinctly:

A Simple Recipe for Success

* Polish: It's a polished experience, with plenty of attention to the little details.
* Heritage: Diablo, Warcraft, and Starcraft fans all had good reasons to give it a shot.
* Timing: It launched at the perfect time, with great buzz behind it.
* Accessibility: Low system requirements, thanks to the focus on art over horsepower.
* Solo-friendly: An online game that can be played solo from start to finish.
* Easy: It's friendly to new players, who can jump right in on the fun.

Sounds about right. Their release timing is what really screwed over EQ2 imo

Originally posted by Ihmotepp

It's been said a billion times on these forums, but I thought this gamespy article said it very succinctly:

 

A Simple Recipe for Success

* Polish: It's a polished experience, with plenty of attention to the little details.
* Heritage: Diablo, Warcraft, and Starcraft fans all had good reasons to give it a shot.
* Timing: It launched at the perfect time, with great buzz behind it.
* Accessibility: Low system requirements, thanks to the focus on art over horsepower.
* Solo-friendly: An online game that can be played solo from start to finish.
* Easy: It's friendly to new players, who can jump right in on the fun.

1,000,000,001 times now...

Thanks for posting.

Yes but now that it's done that, that recipe will not work for up and coming games.

This should be stickied just so its not posted 1,000,000,002 times :)

Originally posted by Lustmord

Originally posted by Ihmotepp

It's been said a billion times on these forums, but I thought this gamespy article said it very succinctly:

 

A Simple Recipe for Success

* Polish: It's a polished experience, with plenty of attention to the little details.
* Heritage: Diablo, Warcraft, and Starcraft fans all had good reasons to give it a shot.
* Timing: It launched at the perfect time, with great buzz behind it.
* Accessibility: Low system requirements, thanks to the focus on art over horsepower.
* Solo-friendly: An online game that can be played solo from start to finish.
* Easy: It's friendly to new players, who can jump right in on the fun.

 

1,000,000,001 times now...

Thanks for posting.

 It's been posted a billion times, but not succinctly.

Originally posted by GamerBen

Sounds about right. Their release timing is what really screwed over EQ2 imo

No SOE screwed EQ2 over.

Originally posted by Ihmotepp

succinctly.

I don't know what that word means...

So I'm gonna take it as an insult.

Originally posted by Ihmotepp

* Solo-friendly: An online game that can be played solo from start to finish.

Who has soloed Sunwell Plateau?

It actually all boils down to two very important reasons. First is Blizzard's superior PR concerning WoW. There are TV commercials, magazine ads, huge in-store displays and much more that Blizzard does to promote their game. People who would never play a MMO are playing WoW for the very reason that it's a lot more known than any other MMO. Their PR campaign for WoW is much larger than any other MMO. Second is accessability. WoW has such low system requirements it will run on almost any system out there including laptops. This was the main reason a lot of people picked up WoW instead of EQII. WoW just ran better on their lower end systems.

Love 'em or hate 'em Blizzard knew what it would take to make a successful MMO at the time and they are still going strong with no signs of slowing anytime soon. Even if you don't like WoW you have to give it credit for opening up this genre to people who would have never played games like EQ, DAoC or UO. This has caused this genre to be competitive with the FPS and other single player gaming genres. Something that the limited scale MMOs that came before could have never done. This has sparked a lot of interest in the industry to become involved that never would have happened if it wasn't for WoW. Now we have many MMOs to choose from as a result instead of just a handful like there was before WoW.

I personally have mixed feelings as to how WoW has affected the MMO industry. It has had numerous good and bad effects. I love the fact that there is a whole lot more games to choose from now but hate the fact that most are solo-player oriented and are stuck in terminal easy-mode. In my opinion what came before WoW was first generation, WoW and everything since is second generation and we are still waiting for the third generation of MMOs to hit. That won't happen until someone releases a game that redefines what a MMO is just as WoW did.

Edit: I feel I need to explain my last sentence a little. WoW didn't do anything revolutionary to redefine the genre. What WoW did do to accomplish this is making the game a whole lot more solo friendly and they got rid of harsh death penalties. This is a trend we see in almost every game since WoW and not a whole lot before. These two simple game mechanics redefined what a MMO would be from that point on.

Bren

People will never leave Wow. Just like some will never leave EQ.

10 million people will not give up 4 years of sole crushing grind and "Uber loot" that took months of their life to get using said grind. Most do not like the idea that games can be fun, and rewarding, with out devoting large stets of time, they do not like this reality as it invalidates their "Achievements" and "Skill".

They have been conditioned by blizzard, and will not submit to the reality that they have done nothing but devote gobs of time, for very little entertainment,

The hook, was they were simply the best alternative at the time, and have a high production value, and love some pavlovs dog.

My favourite point on that list is "polish." It's my main gripe with too many MMOs today. There really isn't an excuse for interface text overlapping, spelling errosr in the UI, countless grammatical errors in quest text etc. It should be an event finding a spelling mistake in quest text in my opinion, and I'm yet to notice one in WoW.

You guys act like there is a simple reason(s) for WoW's success.  There isn't.  If there were newer games would have similar success. 

That being said I'll you some of the things that made WoW a blockbuster hit.

The World.   The world is the Warcraft RTS's games brought to 3D life.   Most other games feel generic and randomly generated.   While in WoW it seems like thought was behind the placement of individual trees, rivers,  and dwellings and so on.    This creates an illusion of a vibrant living world not a stale lifeless one.

Fun.   Blizzard made an effort to keep what is fun in MMORPGs and throw out the stuff that wasn't.   Some examples  In EQ  there could be long down times after fights (I used to keep a book handy or do some exercises while I waited)   also in EQ skilling up crafting was a huge chore.   Games should be fun not work.

Graphics.  Beautiful artwork makes WoW stand out compared to other drab games.   Being accessible for the majority of gamers is just a huge bonus in WoWs favor.  

Accessibility and UI.   WoW is very easy to start playing from day one even by MMO novices.   But it has alot of hidden complexity.   This is a very important point.  If the game was just light and simple, players would grow bored quickly and move on.   While there has been alot of churn WoWs player base has stayed firm or grown for 4 years now.

While there are a host of other reasons why WoW is such a success.   I think the above are very important ones that are often overlooked.   And they aren't easily copied by another MMO company without alot of resources and committment.   Except the fun part  no game should include gameplay elements that are tedious.

WoW is an mmo made by a company known as Blizzard in order to get over 9000 players.  Game revolves around doing over 9000 raids for epic phat loot only to get 1 piece of it(if at all that).  Only for you to repeat said process till you finally know that truth that you will die alone.  Also note that WoW supports the slave trade and prostituion.  Now thats innovation, amirite.

Originally posted by Brenelael

It actually all boils down to two very important reasons. First is Blizzard's superior PR concerning WoW. There are TV commercials, magazine ads, huge in-store displays and much more that Blizzard does to promote their game. People who would never play a MMO are playing WoW for the very reason that it's a lot more known than any other MMO. Their PR campaign for WoW is much larger than any other MMO. Second is accessability. WoW has such low system requirements it will run on almost any system out there including laptops. This was the main reason a lot of people picked up WoW instead of EQII. WoW just ran better on their lower end systems.

 

Love 'em or hate 'em Blizzard knew what it would take to make a successful MMO at the time and they are still going strong with no signs of slowing anytime soon. Even if you don't like WoW you have to give it credit for opening up this genre to people who would have never played games like EQ, DAoC or UO. This has caused this genre to be competitive with the FPS and other single player gaming genres. Something that the limited scale MMOs that came before could have never done. This has sparked a lot of interest in the industry to become involved that never would have happened if it wasn't for WoW. Now we have many MMOs to choose from as a result instead of just a handful like there was before WoW.

 

I personally have mixed feelings as to how WoW has affected the MMO industry. It has had numerous good and bad effects. I love the fact that there is a whole lot more games to choose from now but hate the fact that most are solo-player oriented and are stuck in terminal easy-mode. In my opinion what came before WoW was first generation, WoW and everything since is second generation and we are still waiting for the third generation of MMOs to hit. That won't happen until someone releases a game that redefines what a MMO is just as WoW did.

 

Edit: I feel I need to explain my last sentence a little. WoW didn't do anything revolutionary to redefine the genre. What WoW did do to accomplish this is making the game a whole lot more solo friendly and they got rid of harsh death penalties. This is a trend we see in almost every game since WoW and not a whole lot before. These two simple game mechanics redefined what a MMO would be from that point on.

 

Bren

I have to disagree with you.   EQII had the advantages.   It was the next generation successor to the biggest MMO of its day (EQ).   It was made a company that had experience making MMOS (SOE).   EQII should have been a big success.   But it was released too soon (and not very well designed SOE improved it quite abit later but was too late)  and failed big time.

While WoW only had Blizzard's name behind it (granted that is huge).   It only had around 300k subscribers when released but great word of mouth (the best kind of advertising) made it shoot up quickly.   Its growning pains were caused by unforseen servers loads not a flawed design.    The Blizzard media blitz didn't come till later when it released it had a huge hit on its hands.

All the TV ads would not have helped EQII at the start  because it was just not a well put together game.

Lets go back 4 1/2 years.  WoW did not have TV commericals then and EQ2 had a ton of advertising.  Remember Heather Graham as the voiceover?  However EQ2 ran like crap out of the gate, including for myself.  I played EQ2 first for awhile and its performance was poo. 

You guys are correct that there were no TV ads for WoW in the beginning but you couldn't pick up a single gaming magazine or go to a single gaming website without a huge WoW ad staring you in the face as soon as you opened them. Also when WoW went retail Blizzard supplied stores with huge colorful displays to help sell the game. Also just having "Blizzard" on the box was a huge selling point as they already had a huge following for their previous games.

At the time EQII and WoW were in development I was watching both games very closely as I was a longtime EQ player and a huge fan of some of Blizzard's previous games. I tried both games but I was already into Lineage II and at the time it's performance blew both games out of the water. I ultimately stuck with Lineage II as it played better and had better visuals than both games(A matter of personal choice). I have however returned to both games(EQII for about 6 months and WoW for over a year) since Lineage and found both to be enjoyable. I'd have to say however that WoW was just more fun overall for reasons I can't quite define.

Bren

Originally posted by Ihmotepp

It's been said a billion times on these forums, but I thought this gamespy article said it very succinctly:

 

A Simple Recipe for Success

* Polish: It's a polished experience, with plenty of attention to the little details.
* Heritage: Diablo, Warcraft, and Starcraft fans all had good reasons to give it a shot.
* Timing: It launched at the perfect time, with great buzz behind it.
* Accessibility: Low system requirements, thanks to the focus on art over horsepower.
* Solo-friendly: An online game that can be played solo from start to finish.
* Easy: It's friendly to new players, who can jump right in on the fun.

Many of us have been discussing WoW's accessibility and user-friendly (log-in-and-play) successful features for years now.

Blizzard is an underestimated element to this (success), at least in my view based on PERSONAL experiences:

1. Company does not try to rip you off.
2. Free play time for prospective customers. (edit:  obviously tied-in with marketing)
3. Firm stance against gold-farmers.
4. Willingness to change.
   1. PvP element (enlarged the pie).
   2. End-game with options (not just raiding).
   3. New class concept; new PvP options.
5. Of course, certainly not least, excellent marketing (I love their videos, personally, and would be first in line for a movie).

Blizzard would be wise to keep its reputation. 

Originally posted by Ihmotepp

It's been said a billion times on these forums, but I thought this gamespy article said it very succinctly:

 

A Simple Recipe for Success

* Polish: It's a polished experience, with plenty of attention to the little details.
* Heritage: Diablo, Warcraft, and Starcraft fans all had good reasons to give it a shot.
* Timing: It launched at the perfect time, with great buzz behind it.
* Accessibility: Low system requirements, thanks to the focus on art over horsepower.
* Solo-friendly: An online game that can be played solo from start to finish.
* Easy: It's friendly to new players, who can jump right in on the fun.

Get the picture? Go troll to get your post count up somewhere else.

Solo friendly in a multiplayer enviroment.

What trash.