Indeed Torath. You are correct in the departments that you have mentioned. Nevertheless, you have failed to see (or at least to state) that all the games that failed spectacularly (very few exceptions) are trying the old formula. Why are all the games going after medieval fantasy setting when Blizzard pretty much perfected it. You will not make a more perfect perfection. Vanguard tried, AoC tried, hell even Darkfall will try. All failures because they are following Blizzard's own formula.

Everquest started the equation. Blizzard took it and made it better if not the best in the setting. Medeval fantasy is theirs.

Lastly, the more realism that is added, the worst the game becomes. Nobody likes the way that "realistic" pants in AoC look. There are none, they are short shorts.

Make a different setting, and make a belivable, yet unreal game.

 I am a big fan of the RP myself. GW never really stroke me as a game where people would spend more time RPing than actually PvPing. In my opinion, GW is more for the epic battles in the arena type of people. PvP is the biggest aspect.

Instanced world is a good implementation is plausoble but it has many of its own downfalls. Just like in any RPG, one must seek like minded people and have a great time. Therefore, that is my advice to all who wish to RP.

Too much realism can kill any game out there. The actual medeval times were far different then portrayed in such games. As the companies strive to make everything more realistic, they lose the essential part of the game. It is true that suspension of disbelief must be sustained; however, restricting the game just because of its lore is not the answer.

I have played LOTRO. The large amounts of quests along with slow progression has discouraged me. I would love to see some major implementations come into the game and I may consider returning once more.

 I have not heard such news until now. It is true that Pirate's Bay is indeed full of loopholes in their agreements and statements making them very hard to actually sue and get a valid case out of it. I don't see why they would even bother since the actual client to WoW is worthless. It is the account number and the login itself that people need to play the game.

Not counting the private servers out there, WoW client is basically useless without connecting to their main server from which people game. I don't see why Blizzard has to attempt to sue anyone especially after such a trivial matter. I doubt that they are doing this out of greed or avarice, I think they could care less. Just seems strange.

 All 10 million people cannot be wrong. There is something about WoW that is very appealing to a vast amount of people. Even after some people leave for other games, there will always be a rich fanbase. Even if WoW gets knocked down to 5 million, that would still be a huge amount.

Many people, seem to state that WoW will die the more people it gets. I think that the more people it gets, the more new servers are going to come around. That is probably the only real thing that will happen. I think that WoW will never truly die as EQ never did.

 I on the other spectrum actually dislike the new areas that were given in The Burning Crusade. I think that the old areas, though needing a revamp, are much better. They give me the feeling of the old school back when the skill and player honor actually meant something.

The new draenei and blood elf areas look something out of the sci-fi original. The zones for other races look and feel very traditional, as though they belong. May be just me, but I am looking foward to the next expansion because I think that the landscape will not look like some alien terrain.

The netherstorm is the particular area that I am not fond of. Seriously, it seems like something out of the half-life toward the end or something along those lines. Blizzard should definitely make some major changes in the good old Azeroth.

I have played ArchLord from beta and I must admit that I really liked the game from the start. I have long since stopped playing due to the game having me grind too much. Also the XP penulty really turned me away as well. I don't really enjoy dying once just to know that a few hundred monster kills went to nothing.

On the technical side, I never seen any problems. Sometimes I was not able to login, but I was never kicked off or lagged too bad. Once I remember there was an issue that nobody could walk but since then it has been resolved. I do think that the game should have stayed in beta for a little longer.

From my stand point, the game seems alright. Its just not my cup of tea.

 That is indeed a sad state of affairs. The subscription does very little for the $10 that you are ending up spending. The potatoes and the toffee are some of the most friquent drops that you cannot sell or do anything with unless you have collected enough of them to make the item from a recipe.

My suggestion is to significantly boost the subsribers' status. Give a title, some extra drops, and some cool novelty items at the very least. The player should feel that the money that is going toward the game is actually increasing or bettering his/her standing within the game.

I have played and found out the hard way that the subsriber account is not really worth it. Until they change, that remains a fact and people should really conserve their money instead of buying in-game potatoes.

 The original poster does have some valid points. Blizzard did indeed become the number one of gaming and they have achieved such a goal in relatively short time. Just as all successful companies out there say, "Why stop there?".

Microsoft is another company like Blizzard that is trying to cash on everything that they make. Just like Blizzard, when Microsoft came out, the other companies suffered due to very heavy competition and in the end they were not good enough. After initial success, a certain prediction of future doom falls into the perspective; therefore, while the glory is lasting, cash greatly on the idea.

Now Blizzard has multitude of different income sources. The card game, some share of the XPS coomputers, and even a share of the shirts and gear. All listed plus the biggest income from their prised game, sets Blizzard on top at least for now. Vivendi Games is definitely proud and happy to have such a productive department working for them.

Can anyone really blame them. Its their ideas and creations. Let them market the stuff as they wish; it funells more money into the economy. Again, it is up to the parents to buy the merchandise if they so choose.

Also, I am a big fan of the WoW card game. The rules and the objectives are very fun and innovative and a single game can take hours. If I knew about the card game without knowing about the computer counterpart, I would still play and enjoy it.