I had never touched a warcraft game until WoW beta, I have since played them all.  I was into diablo 1 then 2 then LOD in a big way

Originally posted by Slybacon

I had never touched a warcraft game until WoW beta, I have since played them all.  I was into diablo 1 then 2 then LOD in a big way

You should try War3, it's pretty decent.

I don't care for multiplayer, personally, but the SP was great.

Originally posted by GameOvr

 

Pure bumbling and no market testing. Sure some may have been vocal about Panderan. This is not the same thing as do you  want an expansion about nothing than the Panderan.

 

It's no wonder, about 50% dislike the expansion, and due to hubris and not following sound business practices, they will end up paying for this.

This.

Before WoW came out, the Warcraft 3 (and later Frozen Throne) community site had a little writeup on Panderans. It described them as these super secretive race that came from this mystical land. Heck they were so rare, you had to go through so much trouble to even see a relaxation area of theirs in Warcraft 3.   

And now, you're gonna have the whole of Azeroth and Outland crawling with them. I know that Blizz has butchered Warcraft lore since WoW's release time and again, but this is something else. 

I think the news of the expansion would have gone down much easier if they kept the Monk class but made panderans non-playable. 

Originally posted by Razeron

Starcrap RTS playerbase + Warcraft RTS playerbase + Diablo 1 playerbase + Diablo 2 playerbase + 70% of EQ1's population = WoW's vanilla population

"starcrap" alone had a huge player base

Originally posted by Nadia

Originally posted by Razeron

Starcrap RTS playerbase + Warcraft RTS playerbase + Diablo 1 playerbase + Diablo 2 playerbase + 70% of EQ1's population = WoW's vanilla population

"starcrap" alone had a huge player base

http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Best_selling_Blizzard_games

StarCraft including Brood War expansion (9.5 million),  2006 sales figures

 

the first 5 months of WOW, March 2005,  wow subs were only 1.5 million

(this included North America / Europe / Korea)

http://www.gamershell.com/companies/blizzard_entertainment/219363.html

China was added in summer 2005, bringing the total to 3.5m

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=5989

 

 

 

wow didnt reach 8 million until Jan 2007  (BC launched the same month)

http://eu.blizzard.com/en-gb/company/press/pressreleases.html?id=2443765

 

 

WOW was successful for many reasons,

Blizzard's preexisting franchises being only one of the reasons

 

Oh, wow.

That wasn't intended to be a "hard total" of the figures, but having those pools to draw from is the key to the majority of the games' success.

The already established IP was one reason why WoW succeeded.

Sure many fans of the Warcraft series went on to play the MMORPG a few other reasons was its accessability on low end computers, the fact that it was much more polished and convenient than other MMO's of the time and its features. It also has a stronger advertising campaign than any other MMO which has led to its mention in pop culture, television and the news. Think about the numerous stories that have been on tv about people getting addicted to it because its such a great game in their eyes, that wouldn't discourage viewers from playing, it would probably encourage them, especially if they were gamers.

Blizzard's popularity from it's franchises drew in the attention of many non-MMO gamers initially. The ease of gameplay (relative to other MMOs at the time) and polish kept them playing and spreading interest of the game to non-MMO/non-Blizzard fans.

I gave WoW a chance for 2 reasons. 

1. I was a Blizzard fan due to the Diablo games

2. WoW was supposed to be a more casual friendly MMORPG and after hating every single second of my Everquest gaming itme (played with real life friends) i had to try it out.

I was not disappointed. WoW was an incredible game, i would still enjoy it if i hadnt gotten tired of the slow paced combat.

I enjoyed it for 6 years tho. I was never a Warcraft or Starcraft player although i had played them a tiny bit.