Yeah. There won't be any WoW-killer.  Both players and industry should stop once and for all to 'look' for game that will replace WoW. There won't be one. 

No mmorpg in prediciable future will replace WoW as single hegeomon looking at small fishes from big mountain. 

WoW will continue to lose subscribers and eventually WoW will be forced to stop (at least ffor a while) milking WoW-players for server transfers and just close / merge some servers.

There will be few games more popular than rest though so big difffrence like WoW vs. everyone else won't happen again.

Besides WoW-like themepark model is seeing it's demise.  It still have power to gain players ,but this gameplay model with "end-game" and instance grind will have less and less power to keep playerbase occupied.

That's why initial flood of players and mass quits after few months.

If that does not change mmorpg's genre will lose overall number of players - most to other mmos / games , some might leave gaming completly. Freemium / f2p won't be able to stop that if games won't be more diverse.

Besides imho mmorpg popularity already peaked and will be in decline for some years ahead.

Some playerbase already migrated to MOBA games, some will migrate to MMOFPS / MMORTS , normal multiplayer games or single player games, casual games or leave completly.

Oversaturation of mmorpg genre, halt  of playerbase growth (if not redution of playerbase size) and recession in west that always sooner or later hit 'entertaiment spending'.

Think some studios will have (some already did) to change from producing mmorpg's to produce diffrent kind of games , some will have to close, etc

That playerbase that will stay will require product more suit to their tastes and bit less casual.

Bubble is bursting and imo genre need this.

What is a “WoW Killer?”

Blizzard.

Well, with SWTOR just released, Guild Wars 2, Archeage, The Secret World, Firefall, Planetside 2, TERA all being teased to come out within the next year or two, and WoW already on the decline with last year's subscription number drop, I can't imagine our era of the death of WoW is too far away...

A game that goes back to the roots (no clone) or brings new mechanics that work would be a WoW killer

Originally posted by Serelisk

Well, with SWTOR just released, Guild Wars 2, Archeage, The Secret World, Firefall, Planetside 2, TERA all being teased to come out within the next year or two, and WoW already on the decline with last year's subscription number drop, I can't imagine our era of the death of WoW is too far away...

UO, Meridian 59 and Everquest are all still up and running.

The only true death of Wow this side of 2025 would be if Blizz released Wow 2 and at the same time closed down the oldWow servers to get the players to move. That is not likely but not impossible either.

Wow will be dethroned as the king of MMOs pretty soon but it wont die. It will in fact be one of the larger MMOs for years unless Blizz really f***s up those pandas.

My bet is that Wow will lose 15-20% of the players each year like it have the last year which means it will be a game with millions of players a long while yet.

How to be a WoW killer...

 Stop being a WoW imitator.

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, "Wow is already good at being WoW". People who truly love like WoW will NOT choose your game over WoW because WoW is closer to WoW than your WoW clone can ever be. The best you can hope for is to pick up WoW's scraps that have either become burnt-out on WoW, or didn't like WoW much to begin with.

It would be a game that like WoW is a fluke in the industry. it would congeal angry players like WoW did when SWG revamped and 250k very angry gamers seen that to destroy sony and the people behind the combat upgrade,we needed to move to WoW and make WoW reviews stellar even though in truth it was just another crappy grind fest.

it was all about timing as well. in time WoW will suffer the sony revamp syndrom like SWG did and it will die away by it's own hand in time.

Of course it will have it's die hards like the NGE folks but not many years from now blizzard will roll out it's own WoW killer and the old gal will go the way of 2 servers and full free to play.

it's ironic but age happens.

WoW killer? Thats easy

Greg "the scrub" Street

definitively not SWTOR ...

 MoP is a WoW killer

Originally posted by Icewhite

What is a “WoW Killer?”

Blizzard.

 

!!!!

Old age/time.......Thats about it for WoW....I mean UO is still kicking....It will happen.

Well.. no one's asking for permadeath here right?! Just a good, HUMBLING pwning ^.^ Even WoW isn't the best at their own arena and I think there is potential for a build that can put up a good fight and outmatch WoW in the collective and competitive world of MMOs. ~V~

Originally posted by Icewhite

What is a “WoW Killer?”

Blizzard.

 

This.

Originally posted by theniffrig

Originally posted by Icewhite

What is a “WoW Killer?”

Blizzard.

 

This.

 

^^

Blizzard will eventually produce its own 'WoW killer'.  The expansion of WoW through many years of patches and releases has produced many undesirable side effects.  The amount of time a new player takes to reach end-game has been kept constant across all major releases resulting in a dumbing down of previous releases.  For example, with each release after BC, Blizzard must dumb down the leveling through BC (levels 61-70) in order to keep the total leveling time a constant.  This dumbing down process creates large continents in which many zones can be entirely skipped in the leveling process.  Leveling from 61-70 in BC can presently be accomplished without ever setting foot in half the zones.  It will only get worse with each new release of WoW in order to maintain that constant leveling time.  This is only one of many undesirable side effect of expansions.  As such Blizzard will eventually have to create a new MMORPG and allow its WoW player base to migrate to the new MMORPG.  The new Blizzard MMORPG would have to take care not to lose old WoW players in the process while attracting new WoW players.

IMHO a "WOW Killer" is not a game or a company that will definetelly close the game forever. There are a lot of older games that still have their player base playing actively and still got some updates.

To me, a "WOW Killer" is a game that will make its' own fame and gather so much attention that it starts beeing the game to be comparable with all the times people talk about MMORPGs. A "WOW Killer" is the one game that everyone talks about because it brought so many new players to the genre and, at the same time, builded a community of "newbie-haters" only because that game was the first one those new players started playing as if it was the first done in the genre. A "WOW Killer" is also a game that players will always say it's perfect because it has X of player base and the flaws are what makes the game a good game, while other players say that game is bulshit because it has the same flaws saw before and it got nothing new or nothing good in it besides one or 2 things.

In other words, a "WOW Killer" is THE game that will take all the reputation given to WOW, good and bad, making WOW a game with only a few active player-base and some new players trying it, where the only have reputation it has is about the good things it had when it was famous and forgetting about all the bad things after 2-3 years.

We are all going to die, and as our society matures away from religion, we are all starting to realize that when we die, we have nothing but an eternity of black nothingness to look forward to. This is depressing , and can consume you if you dont control it somehow. The best method of control, is to occupy your mind to ignore the truth of whats coming.

The next game that will kill wow needs to be a major feat of programming that can encompass more than just a few continents with dungeons raids and bla bla bla. It will need to merge genres. 

Take Eve Online's space game, Wowlike ground game, Tera's political game, with some open world sandbox+theme park concepts - then do the impossible and make it all ACCESABLE to all types of gamers like World of Warcraft has so elegently accomplished.

Dont ever forget to focus on society to find the true key to building a game thats lets people escape real life. And never forget the vocal minority replys to threads and starts threads and voices their strong opinions. The silent majority , you dont hear.

Wrath of the Lich King did it for me

The therm is taken too literally, it simply means an MMORPG which will topple WoW as the king of P2P MMORPGs.

And honestly I dont think that such a game can exist because for that too happen Blizzard has to screw up and screw up the game so much that a substantial number of people leaves the game. So the only one that can "kill" WoW is Blizzard or time, eventually the game will become so old that the majority of people will simply move on. However after 7 (?) years that still havent happened yet.

And finally No. SW:TOR will not topple WoW, not by a long shot.

WoW killer?  Blizzard management.  But perhaps not as one might be thinking.

I think the transition process to a WoW 2.0 is already started.  Speed runs of randoms over and over is now the fastest progression in the game.  Once at cap, it's heroics then raids.

Given that Blizzard could nerf dungeon runs as the primary leveling choice, and has not, I can only assume that this as the optimal form of leveling is intentional.

Grind for XP is gone.  Questing for XP is nearly gone.  WoW 2.0 is (or will be) a lobby based dungeon grinder.

disclaimed: gross generalizations are never absolutely true.  Just my opinions based on what I've seen in game.

Originally posted by ActionMMORPG

WoW killer?  Blizzard management.  But perhaps not as one might be thinking.

 

I think the transition process to a WoW 2.0 is already started.  Speed runs of randoms over and over is now the fastest progression in the game.  Once at cap, it's heroics then raids.

 

Given that Blizzard could nerf dungeon runs as the primary leveling choice, and has not, I can only assume that this as the optimal form of leveling is intentional.

 

Grind for XP is gone.  Questing for XP is nearly gone*.  WoW 2.0 is (or will be) a lobby based dungeon grinder.

 

disclaimed: gross generalizations are never absolutely true.  Just my opinions based on what I've seen in game.

WoW was streamlined into one big framework for running instanced dungeons and battlegrounds. Alot of people play WoW only to do that and only because of that.

Sadly almost whole mmorpg genre followed.

It will backfire badly imo. Only then genre will see a change.

"WoW Killer" is simpely a label people attach to an upcoming game in a delusional thought that X game will surpass WoW in success who hate WoW or Blizz plain and simple.

Time. As time progresses there are more and more reasons to move on. No one game is going to do it, but as long as developers continue to march forward and work an creating new ideas, there will be a steady progression of people leaving the game. GW2 is going to change a lot of perspectives alongside other games like TERA, TSW, and F2P games. The market is flooding with options and people will find more and more virtual places they prefer to frequent.

Last Nail in WoW's coffin will be hammered in by:  GW2

The only question to me is whether WoW's dynesty will outlive the genre.  No D&D killer ever emerged in the pencil and paper world - the entire genre eventually faded into the background first.  Will the MMO industry eventually fade into the background as well, even as a plethora of niche games reach market?

Until the gaming industry gets it through their thick skulls that they can't keep giving us more than the same, there will be no wow killer. Next gen is NOT "more of the same with different graphics". 

Hmm... WoW killer.

Sorry if I am disqualified as a member of "everyone" but I am not looking for a WoW killer. I have played a number of MMO's including WoW (and I enjoyed WoW for what it is) but my personal preference is the level field PvP of Guild Wars.

Played WoW to join some IRL friends and enjoyed the PvE, but to me WoW PvP was a geargrinding joke compared to GW. Some seem to enjoy that and by all means: More power to them.

Currently (in my country) stores have the Cataclysm expansion in their bargain bin (at 8-9 €). I picked it up and resubbed but uninstalled after a few days.

For a newcomer WoW seems expensive. "Battlechest" + "Wrath of the Lich King" (too old to be found in the bargain bin = OOP (online overpriced purchase). If anything is a "WoW killer" there is your suspect.

2004 graphics and gameplay does not warrant the online price of: Battlechest = €15 + WotLK = €20 and (for those not familiar with bargain bins) + Cataclysm = €30.

Thats €65 for 1 month of rather outdated gameplay and netbook class graphics... Upcoming "expansion" will add another €30-40 to that... WoW is not getting killed. It is ever so slowly committing suicide.

I truly wish WoW could bring something more. Some of you said it up there - the management killed it for me as well. I don't want to see it dead. I want to see it improving in the future. On another note, maybe a killer would be some new mmorpg from Blizzard. Because they are good at it.

EQ and Ultima Online are still around.. thus I'm left to think that WoW will probably exist and evolve until either MMOs die.. or I do. They do evolve the game (for better or worse) and really there's no reason to stop doing so.

Funny thing is.. if there is a WoW 'killer'.. it will probably come from Blizzard. Theres nothing coming out that I see that will single handedly take it down.

Originally posted by ajaxee

We are all going to die, and as our society matures away from religion, we are all starting to realize that when we die, we have nothing but an eternity of black nothingness to look forward to. This is depressing , and can consume you if you dont control it somehow. The best method of control, is to occupy your mind to ignore the truth of whats coming.

 

 

All mmorpg threads should be prefaced with this kind of bleak existentialism. A post after my own withered heart, bravo!

waiting for next Blizzard MMO aka "Titan"; and still, I have my doubts that it will kill WoW lol

In my opinion nothing needs to kill WOW, because for me WOW was crap and dead to me from day one. I could careless what their subscriber numbers are. I play a game and stick with a game because I enjoy the game. Not just because its popular with the general public.

Originally posted by purewitz

In my opinion nothing needs to kill WOW, because for me WOW was crap and dead to me from day one. I could careless what their subscriber numbers are. I play a game and stick with a game because I enjoy the game. Not just because its popular with the general public.

 

This is how i feel too.. and I still get "o.0" whenever I tell someone that I never once subbed to WoW (played Beta and that was it)

As much as people claim to hate the game though, it's too late.. We had our chance to determine the path for the industry.. We could have fed EQ tens of millions of subs, or even Ultima.. We could have even fed Anarchy Online millions of subs and created a different standard as to which mmo's are blueprinted these days..

But as a force, we have already spoken with our wallets (well not mine, but yours)..

Stop all the BS.. Nobody wants WoW to die.. Many of you spent years working on your characters and there is nothing they could release these days that would make you wanna give them up for good..

When Blizzard has taken enough sub dollars, they can transfer the game to F2P and once again rack in millions more dollars..

It's here to stay and so are all the games that want to be it..

I remember when WoW came out, everyone was looking for an EverQuest killer.  WoW may have grown a lot larger than EQ ever was, but it still has not killed EQ.  It is still out there kicking and screaming.

My point is that there is no game that will kill WoW.  I really don't even think there is a combination of games that will do the job.  Will there be a game bigger than WoW?  Someday, but I have no clue what that game will be like.

I'm WoW killer. I killed my WoW folder for good

A wow-killer is not a game, it's a perspective. When players and developers realize what crap they're putting out and playing then it'll change. yay!

I never took the term "WoW killer" as something that would it shut down, just something that would beat it in subs.

Let's assume Blizzard is a woman. What would u do to her?

Is next week's column going to try and disect the casual / hardcore arguement or try to put those terms to bed?

A more interesting discussion would be why people continue to use the term wow killer.  For example, mmorpg.com tends to write a lot of words about current and past mmos and how they differ from WoW, yet each mmo is basically a clone or very small variation on WoW's general hotkey gameplay.

My personal opinion is that the community continues to use WoW killer in hopes of someone designing a non-hotkey mmo that is fun to play, has some depth to it and is polished at launch (AoC and DCUO being examples of good ideas and half baked games).  I enjoyed WoW through TBC and played through LK.  I played Rift to the level cap and it's all the same.  I've enjoyed MMOs, but mind numbing, hotkey mashing, time = accomplishment has gotten very stale and it's been that way from almost 6 years for me and a lot longer for EQ veterans.

When is the MMO genre going to progress into something new and interesting?

Originally posted by SBFord

This week's WoW Factor touches on a oft-discussed topic. Everyone is always looking for that game that will be a "WoW Killer" but what exactly does that mean? We take a look at the elusive "WoW Killer". See what we think and then weigh in with your own thoughts in the comments.

Last week’s article caused quite a stir in the comments section and many of you derided the piece as either a roundabout method of talking about SWTOR or just a bit of bait for the community to start fighting the good fight. While many of your comments and opinions were a bit depressing to me (as this is an editorial, i.e. an opinion piece, and the content of each article is subject to me and me alone) I am glad with the discussion that sprouted around the last WoW Factor, explicitly in the talk about what constitutes a “WoW Killer.” So this week I’m going to display my outline and framework for what this mythical being must be to fulfil all of our speculation.

Read more of Joe Sanicky's The WoW Factor: What is a “WoW Killer?”

I don’t envy whoever it is that writes the dictionary…poor bastards!

             There is a WoW killer and its called "Mists of Pandaria".... Can't be anymore direct than that :))))))))

When I think of a "WoW killer", I think of a game overtaking it with active players, not one taking WoW out behind the shed and putting a bullet in its brain. Basically, the "WoW killer" will be the next number 1, regardless of how WoW is doing.

Wow = 2 realms...Make one with 3.

Wow = no housing...Make one with housing.

Wow = instanced pvp...Make persistant pvp.

WoW= pvp has no purpose other than for you...Make it so pvp reflects on your realm in benefits.

WoW = cartoony...Make this one more adult/medieval themed in imagery and aesthetics.

WoW= a lot of sillyness...Make this one very serious.i.e., no MC Hammer Orcs or Michael Jackson dancing elves.

WoW= pretemd RP servers where at best a name violation makes the server rp...make real rp servers where community can get warnings for public chat that is out of character.  Don't like it?  Don't roll on it.

WoW= World of WARcraft yet the war was really a joke...Make this one have actual territorial/castle takes.  Make a battle map that really shows that something is being lost or gained in the battle between realms/factions.

WoW= classes are mirrors on both sides...Make this one have unique classes. Watch Spike TV's Deadliest Warrior show (very popular) and get some ideas.

WoW adds expansion packs that make your hard work for gear pointless by increasing level cap...Keep level cap at about 50 and instead of adding zones until the lower zones become skeletal, focus on adding on to what you have and increase the immersive quality and sense of depth.

WoW= you cannot change the world in any way, neither can you give to it or take from it...Make this one capable of building structures, towns, cities, castles, etc. (**Very hard to leave a game that you have put tangible change in).

---------------------------------THERE YOU GO.

Talks about something that everyone knows about, over-elaborates on the subject, and tries to use it as content for their dying colum section. The question, "What is a WoW killer?" - A game that will knock WoW out of the most played mmorpg slot.(?) bam, article done.

The subject itself is my complaint; for everyone else, It's like me saying, "What is a Bear killer?" - It sure as hell isn't The Grizzly Man. A decent hunting gun can take one down if you shoot it between the eyes. In the end, we all know this is true... but who the fuck cares?

What takes out WOW will be a hunger strike by Chinese gold farmers and a panda.

What is a WoWkiller? Age.  As the game gets longer in tooth-or horn, depending on ur race- more will leave.  WoW has not had a substantive change in the last 4 years except making all the stuff that us old-timers had to grind for cheap.  It's a pleasant diversion if you're not looking for a challenge, but it does get old.  Add to that the fact that so-called "wowkillers" of the past tend to be cheap clones of WoW, and even an upscale new Sci-fi one that even I had hoped would be different...Wasn't :(  

The thing, IMO, that is bringing down the whole MMO genre is equality.  I'm sorry, but the Evil Priestess or Sorcerer ALWAYS got cut down by Conan or Sonja.  Period.  No battlefield medics(except MFR navy medics) have any chance of surviving a one-on-one with a seasoned Spetznaz.  Drop the whole nerfing tanks to make it easier on healers, and a whole bunch of people will cry, so it will never happen.  But it should.  People are beginning to look for a more realistic virtual experience. 

No single game can be a WoW killer.  Rift tried, pretty hard, but was just "meh" in the end.  We should stop looking for both the wow and the "WoW Killer" factors, and find the games that fit us.  Even some of the WoW clones are great in their own right, and once TOR gets the kinks worked out, it will probably be a great(er) game as well.  

Originally posted by Comaf

Wow = 2 realms...Make one with 3.

Wow = no housing...Make one with housing.

Wow = instanced pvp...Make persistant pvp.

WoW= pvp has no purpose other than for you...Make it so pvp reflects on your realm in benefits.

WoW = cartoony...Make this one more adult/medieval themed in imagery and aesthetics.

WoW= a lot of sillyness...Make this one very serious.i.e., no MC Hammer Orcs or Michael Jackson dancing elves.

WoW= pretemd RP servers where at best a name violation makes the server rp...make real rp servers where community can get warnings for public chat that is out of character.  Don't like it?  Don't roll on it.

WoW= World of WARcraft yet the war was really a joke...Make this one have actual territorial/castle takes.  Make a battle map that really shows that something is being lost or gained in the battle between realms/factions.

WoW= classes are mirrors on both sides...Make this one have unique classes. Watch Spike TV's Deadliest Warrior show (very popular) and get some ideas.

WoW adds expansion packs that make your hard work for gear pointless by increasing level cap...Keep level cap at about 50 and instead of adding zones until the lower zones become skeletal, focus on adding on to what you have and increase the immersive quality and sense of depth.

WoW= you cannot change the world in any way, neither can you give to it or take from it...Make this one capable of building structures, towns, cities, castles, etc. (**Very hard to leave a game that you have put tangible change in).

---------------------------------THERE YOU GO.

 

What the hell is wrong with you posting that picture of "road kill" in a gaming thread? Is a flattened dead animal with its guts showing really needed to make a point?

One thing that makes WOW so strong is that WOW will run on anything and anyone can play it.

My friend has been playing WOW for years, it run great on his old XP computer but he can't run Age of Conan we just tried.

He will have to buy a new computer the move on.

But to the main point, no one is going to get the kind of enthusiasim that WOW did until they come out with something new.

Every game I've tried for years is just WOW with better graphics.

I really wan't something new, I have my own ideas but no one would listen.

But it is posible to make a fasinating game that isn't just about leveling, and getting better gear.

The interesting part can be the game itself.

You need mystery, surprises, exploring and a long term goal to keep you going, not more elves.

Originally posted by MikeMoss

But it is posible to make a fasinating game that isn't just about leveling, and getting better gear.

The interesting part can be the game itself.

You need mystery, surprises, exploring and a long term goal to keep you going, not more elves.

 

Guildwars 2?

Originally posted by Icewhite

What is a “WoW Killer?”

Blizzard.

Almost. But its more honest to say Ghostcrawler.... ^^  For quite some time now, the only threat to WoW has been Blizzard/Ghostcrawler.  From what I've heard, they've already lost more than three million players. If that had happened to just about any other game, they would be DEAD.  But "tis just a flesh wound" for WoW. ^^  It will be interesting to see how long this decline continues for. At some point, the investors/suits are going to panic, and then things could get rather unpleasant for our least favorite Dev... ^^

For a game to called wow killer by me.. it would have to gain a larger sub base then wow (which would most likely also mean they managed to take most of those subs from wow).

Originally posted by windsoul44

Last Nail in WoW's coffin will be hammered in by:  GW2

 

negative. GW2 is free to play. you stay subscribed to WoW, and play GW2. Many people will do that on their free time (including me). The only thing i see GW2 can and would do against WoW is (if its very successful) to keep showing devs that subscriptions are not the best way to have a good game going on, not anymore.

Gamers will kill wow..

These days people expect more and more from online games and there comes a time when they are fed up with "5 levels, new epics, and pandas" every ½ year.

WoW Killer, is an ape-like cryptid that purportedly inhabits forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. WoW Killer is usually described as a large, hairy, bipedal humanoid.

Scientists discount the existence of WoW Killer and consider it to be a combination of folklore, misidentification, and hoax,^[3] rather than a living entity, in part because of the large numbers thought necessary to maintain a breeding population.^[4][5] A few scientists have expressed interest and belief in the creature, with the opinion that evidence collected of alleged WoW Killer encounters warrants further evaluation and testing.^[7] The illusive WoW Killer remains one of the more famous examples of a cryptid within cryptozoology, and an enduring legend. 

About a third of all reports of The WoW Killer sightings are concentrated in the Pacific Northwest, with most of the remaining reports spread throughout the rest of North America.^[11][30][31] Some WoW Killer advocates have postulated that WoW Killer is a worldwide phenomenon.

WoW2 anyone?

I dont give a balls about wow because i dont like themepark games so I dont care if it dies or lives.. all i want is for companies to stop trying to copy it and do their own thing.. sicne wow nearly every AAA MMORPG that has been released has basically been a copy of WoW with a few slightly different things.

Companies need to start coming up wit new ideas, why would people leave wow a very stable game with tons of content to go to a new very similar game thats full of bugs and has no real content ?

By a WOW killer I imagine a game the will replace WOW in GB2WOW :-))

A WoW killer is when someone says, "WOW," and a person goes around killing them.  Get it? WOW killer :-p

See you in 2015´s "Why is wow still alive" thread.

I beg you all to answer this question: What computer operating system will kill windows? answer that and we shall have the answer for wow killer...

blizzards next mmo will kill wow

and thats probably the reason they havent released a new one

i recon they would have a 90% of all the players who ever played wow now thats one hell of a lot of buyers

just ask yourself if a new mmo came out  made by blizzard which recived  90%+ reviews would you not buy it

ive not played wow since burning crusade but i would buy a new one

all the people i used to play none of them  still play  now  but  i cant think of one who wouldnt buy a new blizzard mmo

tbh blizzard is sitting on  a cash  cow of a new mmo

To many companies try to copy so much of WOW. Once a company goes back to the old style mmos and all its features and does the opposite of WOW. Then there might be competition. I think so many games are released trying to mimic the WOW game. But they forget to understand WOW did something no other mmo's did before its time: they marketed the kids. Only way i see WOW being killed, is go back to the older genre, and for most it will be new and exciting.

Maybe

A pointless term, used to rile up anger between WoW fans and those who dislike it. WoW's success was as much good timing as great game. Put those together and it is still here today.

There will never be another MMO as big as WoW, simply because MMo players are now like migratory birds flocking from one MMO to another. They will never stay with one MMO long enough to establish it as happened with WoW.

I don't know what a WoW Killer is but I know what it isn't, and it's called Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Not even BioWare could steer away from WoW cloning. We basically got BC-era WoW with a coat of Mass Effect on top. Now I won't lie, I like the game for what it is, but it blows as an MMORPG. It feels like a co-op RPG that runs like a dying turtle. Sigh.

I seriously can't wait for ArcheAge and Guild Wars 2. Now those two names are actually doing alot more to evolve the WoW forumla (or more accurately, the EQ formula.) There's still hope for us jaded MMOers yet.

Originally posted by tazarconan

Let's assume Blizzard is a woman. What would u do to her?

Kick her out of bed.

Originally posted by ActionMMORPG

WoW killer?  Blizzard management.  But perhaps not as one might be thinking.

 

I think the transition process to a WoW 2.0 is already started.  Speed runs of randoms over and over is now the fastest progression in the game.  Once at cap, it's heroics then raids.

 

Given that Blizzard could nerf dungeon runs as the primary leveling choice, and has not, I can only assume that this as the optimal form of leveling is intentional.

 

Grind for XP is gone.  Questing for XP is nearly gone.  WoW 2.0 is (or will be) a lobby based dungeon grinder.

 

disclaimed: gross generalizations are never absolutely true.  Just my opinions based on what I've seen in game.

 

It's because people have tried questing and it's just not fun anymore. We've done our part of questing, whether it's leveling up another character or doing daily's. Questing is boring by itself and is even penalized if you do them in a group. Encouraging players to play together in an MMO isn't a bad idea. If only other game developers would understand that we play to have fun and not to be bored, they could create a lot of potential WoW killers.

The ones that are out now are just a big fat copy/paste joke

With the current addiction I don't see there being a "WoW killer," some people just don't want to leave after all the time they put in.  The things that make WoW good are it's story/well done scripts/ and smooth(easy) gameplay.

The games coming out will only chip away at the Wow community, maybe forever or just temporary.

Boredom is another thing to dwindle the population.  They either grow tired of doing the same thing, the expansion wasn't to their liking, or they just realize there's more to life then on the computer and burn up in the sun.

Time is the biggest killer - More new games come out, maybe blizzard introduces another mmo that draws you away, technology finally overpowers your senses as you see that Wow is mediocre compared to the newer games you've been playing.

But for now WoW's staying, it's size will drop slowly but that will take awhile before it's finally submits.

Originally posted by Jack_Target
Panda monks are the WoW killer for me. Of all the cool ideas Blizzard could have chosen, why this?

I suspect a branding PR company came up with this idea.

They're from Warcraft 3. They're nothing new.

After quitting WoW for 4 years, I have just now returned. I dont rush through games, and tend to read every bit of text given to me. Therefore, Cataclysm was very refreshing. It is like meeting up with an old friend again, and catching up on what has happened over the years. After trying just about everyting on the market, WoW is the only game that can cater to my playstyle. I work 12, sometime 13 hour days, yet I am able to log in to WoW 2 hours a night and feel a sense of accomplishment. Even though there are other games on the market that may be able to do the same thing, there are none that have the amount of content offered by Blizzard. 

Originally posted by finnmacool1

What the hell is wrong with you posting that picture of "road kill" in a gaming thread? Is a flattened dead animal with its guts showing really needed to make a point?

 

Agreed. That picture was a display of extremely tasteless humor. There are plenty of other ways (graphical or not) mr. Sanicky could use in order to get his point across.

WOW has 10 million subscriptions, its massive.

But to make a good game and keep it you don't need 10 million subscriptions to keep, it is totally not neccesarry. Even 1 million is a lot.

There are lots of good succesful games, even free ones earning thousand times less, and still having players enjoying the game.

The end to WoW will come but it has made soo much money that I'm sure they actually don't even care anymore, im sure in the darkness they are making a WoW 2.

Activision. Sorry, couldn't resist that.

Why would you want WoW to be killed? It may be the biggest MMO, but it is certainly not the best LOL. Good developers can do with less money and create something more fun. More content and all. Kkthxbye!

WOW is like a dinosaur,it's dead just hasn't realized it yet. what is the news about wow,nothing. the graphics have longed sucked,the story was ,there was a story?gameplay was bad.frankly i never did see the big love of wow. for so many people,why did the servers seem empty?

When blizzard inevitable creates a new WoW MMORPG that will be the current generation WoW killer I have no doubt, in 5 - 10 years tech like CryEngine 2 will be low spec, if they improve on their tech to this level and pickup the mechanics that they have now and improve on them from the start I have no doubt it will be a game many ppl will play.

But for now "Titan" seems to be the next best thing on the horizon, I dont know what it is but I am pretty sure I will buy it, cause it will carry the polish of blizzard games and provide fun levels through the roof.

There are a few nice things on the horizon, GW2, TERA, ArchAge just to name a few but I doubt they will pull any players from the WoW crowd I can see them having the sort of moderate success SWTOR has.

Blizzard to me is like Apple in a sense they have a formula that just works for their fanbase, and its unlikely someone is going to buy another game whether or not some more hardcore audience thinks is better if its not made by them, the same way most ppl that have an IPhone wont buy a Samsung Galaxy Nexus even tho it has much higher specs and most ppl consider it to be better. Its all about brand awareness and the platform that they provide which ppl enjoy.

I used to think that time would be the "WoW killer", but as I see the younger generation leave the game to start living their life, I'm seeing new players in their 30's and 40's come in to replace them.  Usually this is the first MMO they've even tried and they seem to like it and tell their friends to try it.   I see Warcraft only picking up steam with a new age group. 

i cant even get why it's needed a WoW-killer...........let the game die naturally, in the meantime enjoy the new games that come and stop worrying about Blizzard........that focus could be used in other things, every game has to die someday, let Blizzard enjoy their time until the innovative MMOs start to absorb their users......

There were times when there was only one brand of beer sold in the shop... it is obvious there will be plenty of WoW killers in a few years and focusing on different aspects of the game but better. Personaly I am tired of the monotonous end-game. It is plain stupid to run the same dungeons 20 times. There is only one solution: random dungeons like in roguelikes. Replayability is huge.

If you count LoL, you might as well count RuneScape. I hear RS currently has 10 million active accounts per month.

The "roadkill" pricture wasn't needed.

Originally posted by maplestone

The only question to me is whether WoW's dynesty will outlive the genre.  No D&D killer ever emerged in the pencil and paper world - the entire genre eventually faded into the background first.  Will the MMO industry eventually fade into the background as well, even as a plethora of niche games reach market?

 

Uh to point out since DnD realeased its 4th ed. Plenty of other role playing systems have been gaining ground namely, Gurps, D20 modern, Pathfinder, Shadowrun, and Star wars Sagas as main contenders.

What we really need is an MMO that is unlike any MMO and like every MMO. A revival of the genre if you mind. We need a virtual world much like in Ultima and SWG where plenty of people can play for different reasons and still get something huge out of it all. A game that bridges realism with fantasy and connects the players in such a way unseen. We need an MMO that allows the raiders to raid, the pet groomers to groom pets, the achievement hunters to hunt, player killers to kill, bounty hunters to hunt, and socialites to be social! But have them all depend on each other in such a way unseen in gaming history. Incorporate an MMO circle of life, the living breathing online game everyone can come and enjoy.

More people DONT play WOW than play WOW

Make a MMO that is nothing like WOW to attract them

Originally posted by FrostWyrm

How to be a WoW killer...

 Stop being a WoW imitator.

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, "Wow is already good at being WoW". People who truly love like WoW will NOT choose your game over WoW because WoW is closer to WoW than your WoW clone can ever be. The best you can hope for is to pick up WoW's scraps that have either become burnt-out on WoW, or didn't like WoW much to begin with.

 

I can agree with this,

Only problem is then we have all the people who say great new game but now can you add( Easy mode dungeons,LFG tools, mods,faster travel from a-z, barber shops,duel spec, ect...

Guess you see my point.

I myself would love an old school EQ1 game but not have the quests where you need to stare at a tree for 48 hours waiting for a MoB who may or may not spawn to drop a ring you need. If they can do that,i'd be happy.

I hate writters.  That wasa page of nothing.  From the title I expected to read a list of features that would define the game the killed WoW.  Instead I read a writters description of each strand of lint plucked from his navel.  The true Title of thisa waste of time and space; "A list of the ways gamers will not define the demise of WoW."

I was playing PlanetSide when SWG came out.  I was playing SWG when WoW came out.  On that day I was the one player on my SWG server, 1 player.  Wow has over 400 servers, when that number drops to 300 I'll know the end has begun.  When that number hits 200, ALL you writters will say, "See we tiold you it was gonna happen and you didn't beleve us."  When it reaches 100, the beast will be dead.  Until that day, I will continue to play and enjoy WoW.

Server population and merger will hereld the end, the rest of your list is just meaningless stinky smelling BS.

Hmm yea i kind agree with the article but NONETHELESS i "hope" for a WoW killer(as in a single game), not becouse i wanto see WoW dead (well that too>.>), but because such a game is what i yearn for and desperaly want to play.

you dont need to write a book about it, a wow killer is anything as a result of competition that results in originally, innovation and superior quality for the customer and generates revenue for the company that developed it (improvement, not copying)

Never understood that urge of so many people, to think about anything as "killer" of something else. IMO, they have problem between their ears.

So, I really love swtor, but hope it never kills wow as I love also a lot wow. And I also hope nor swtor nor wow kills Rift as I love also a lot Rift.

I have been always in search for something fun to play in spare time. Enjoying a lot wow, then rift, ... never prevented me to try all new games. But so far my epic search end with this trio: wow, swtor and rift. And for the first time, and have been playing really a lot, once I got this trio of really superb games .... I finnaly do not feel any strong need for more.

For long years to come as it looks all I will need will be this trio with future expansions. As I'm altholic, I will be more then busy even without endgame.

"WoW killer" is simply another MMO that will improve on the genre (in large ways) and siphon off enough WoW players causing more to follow suit no matter how much more garbage Blizzard can churn out until the ol' cow is finally dried up.

I'm a tad confused on this question, which seems to interest a lot of people.

But are they interested because they want an mmo that can compete or suprsede WoW with a fresh take on things? Or do they want to see a break-away from the theme-park trend?

I still think WoW is the most solid MMO I've played to date, more fully-fleshed so to speak.

My biggest disappointments in WoW how they shamelessly raped Warcraft's fantastic lore, built off of the RTS genre. They've really milked it dry and, I for one, would really like to lay the poor soul to rest, what's left of it.

I want a WoW-killer because I want a game that can deliver the same level of quality, and at the same time break away from the theme-park trend and step onward into the brave new world of sandbox

I don't give a damn whether WoWs dies or lingers, my one and only concern is that the MMO devs grow a pair and stop recycling the same package. And yes I see some peopl are finally testing new boundaries, like SWTOR and GW2, to name 2

Ah fuck this topic, I'm tired of hearing about WoW. I hope Blizzard drop their daycare centre act for Titan

WoW killer is due to come out this summer. It's called Mists of Panderia

as someone said wow is slowly commiting suicde themselfs, wow started out as a game with its own style and flavour but now, it seems they havent got a clue wow used to be cloned but it seems wow is doing the cloning now, 1 example is the pokemon type system their bringing  in MoP, instead of making ther own version they have just gone al out an copyed it. another thing that is helping them along the way is the pandas, i know they have been in  the lore of the game for ages but there are some things you just dont do, you can but you dont. example of this is the DBZ movie, it can be done but it sodent but they did it and it failed the same may occur here, it wont all out kill it but may cause severe hemorrhaging

I don't know. WoW is a major comfort zone for a lot of people. My best friend and his son played during vanilla and quit for BC. I played from BC, but I always tried to get them to come back. 2 years later, I've moved on and they are back in WoW again with 85s and asked me to come back. I really don't want to play WoW again, but I thought about it because it would be fun to arena together.

Then I thought $15 to reactivate but $25 per toon I want to transfer to their server...for a game I really don't feel like playing...nah.  I tried to get them to play another game like SWTOR, Rift, anything, but they just weren't into trying anything new with all the time and effort they have invested into their toons.

Most people find a comfort zone and they like to stay in it. Only a small percentage of us (like people who are part of this mmorpg.com community) are into trying new mmorpgs. So, only WoW can kill itself, or Titan. No game that copies WoW will do it even if  it leeches substantial portions of WoW's sub base.

EDIT: If WoW had free transfers like Rift, I would have resubbed. But apparently, they are making more money through these player "services" and cash shop stuff than from subs. No, I don't have a link, but I read it somewhere on the internet ;)

:) not SWTOR thats for sure

Originally posted by gilgamesh42

:) not SWTOR thats for sure

Haha yep.  That's for damn sure.

Originally posted by munecaroon

A game that goes back to the roots (no clone) or brings new mechanics that work would be a WoW killer

 

 Yah it's Called Dark Age Of Camelot, plz do another

Pandas are the true wow killer :P

The only real WoW killer will be Blizzard, no one else. 'WoW competitors', sure, enough. WoW killer? Right... >.>

Have another drink, it's on me.

Originally posted by Skuall

Pandas are the true wow killer :P

i not a fan of wow anymore and havent been for years now because of how "easy mode" it has become but how is giving a game more races / classes a bad thing..and in wows case how could this make it even more worse than it has already gotten? sure it may seem funny to poke fun ..but rly? explain? jealousy is a bioch and i rly dont see why any game has to die..everyone complains about wanting something new..and when its released its damb near a carbon copy of wow and everyone wants / loves it..imo they just need more options in mmo's flooding the market with these theampark mmo's is what has nearly killed the genra and has totally killed off some games to boot

mmorpg's NEED sandbox games

mmorpg's NEED ffa pvp with no questing

mmorpg's NEED theampark games

mmorpg's NEED moabs games

instead nowa days devs / companys are rushing out as quik as possible to pump out a theampark game cuz they know "hey wow did cheap / simple..maybe we can make a quick buck?! and who knows it may be a huge hit"  we need every type of these mmo's not making some sick twisted hybid of a game that is utter crap..we need some devs out there that can stand for making something other than "THE FLAVOR OF THE MONTH" or of the year and put some verity back into mmorpg's..but it seems no1 is in it for making something worth while ..just making the all and mighty quick buck / payday

I totally agree, what killed WoW was blizzard. LOL. The game was great when it was first released, but they had to ruin it with these new developers..that have no clue what the game was about

People need to get over whatever next MMO is going to be a WoW killer and understand the only wow killer is blizzard's own next gen mmo/single player game.

New MMO devs need to take everything wow's done right holding onto those millions of subscribers and learn how to improve on what wow has done right. SWTOR is on it's way to become WoW's biggest competitor. Now it's up to the new MMO game to be better on those concepts and the way they evolve with the players.

are you all stupid if you are saying that eavery game is a wow clone? ware there no mmorpg games before wow? and mabey all of you shuld try living a real life rather playing???

Theres been no Ultima Online killer yet ;) .

If we are talking about a game that will overtake WoW in terms of popularity of course there will be a WoW killer eventually its only a matter of time . WoWs subs are decreasing theres other mmos coming out all the time and eventually one will overtake WoW in terms of subs numbers .

Essentially every mmo thats released is a WoW killer even if it doesn't finnish it off it offers another  option for the disgrunted WoW player and thus is another nail in its coffin .

But I would agree the most damaging thing to Warcraft has been Blizzard itself . I've just read they are going to accept product placement in thier games . Although I doubt we'll see Coca Cola adds all over Stormwind .

Then again with the Pandaland expansion I wouldn't rule anything out from Blizzard .

if you just can't stand playing WoW any longer just kill the game for yourself and stop playing it.  i don't see the deserate need for the game to actually die, its not like game companies would all of a sudden start making awesome games.

(not saying other games aren't good, some are good some are bad :P)

in all honesty as a former wow player of 4 years. as well as many other games (3x 1 tarabite hard drives full of ftp ptp and mixed games). the only wow killer will be Blizzard.  hands down the points at which their game's player base lowers the most from long term players (3 month or more playing the game short term players come and go every day as people just trying out the game) is from content patches not fixing issues that the community or just members of it wish to be addressed. 

"you cant please every one" but blizzard trys to and when some one trys to make every one happy they will undoubtably make at least one portion think they werent given enough attention.

take the dungon finder that was released during wotlk. 

many casual and smaller guilds found it to be as valueable as a lump of gold being thrown into their hand via patching.  it alowed them to get groups quickly and progress with out haveing to wait for hours for people to get online or to find a pug that wouldnt fall appart ont he last boss of a dungon. 

however many people who had worked hard in game to progressed to get their guilds able to raid the raid dungons found that it was kind of insulting to their hard work that people were now able to if they had time farm the 5 man dungons and get the last content patches gear for just a few days or weeks worth of work. 

to fix this cata comes out and they up the dificulty of the dungons by takeing back some of the aoeing abilities of mainly tanks, and adding in a lot more specailized fights with both bosses and sub bosses (ie pulls that required a stragity other then just spank the tanks target).

doing this you lose a lot of the casual base who now have to gear up to level 85 blues or higher to do heroics where as for the last 1.25 or so years they only had to be in level 75+ blues or 80 greens to get level 80 heroics (mostly because dungon finder would get them into the dungons with a level 80 who had raid gear for healing or tanking and the dungon would be easly won).

but then the hard core gamers were happy with that of corse this is just looking at one feature the other features of the game get taken into effect and you can see that even though many are loyal to wow (hell i was) blizzard cant hold them all due to trying to bring new content, haveing it feel fresh and polished, but still easly accessed while chalenging. 

here are just a few of the groups they try to please every content patch/change to the game.

hard core gamers, hard core gamers that insit on haveing 2 or more maxed out raid ready charactors (im adhd i understand how these feel), casual players who want to have some raiding, casual players who just want to do the smaller stuff and enjoy time with others they likely know in rl (something dungon finder hindered in its implimentation of being battle group based and not server based *shurg*) and you have the new players as well as the returning players who all want to be able to progress with out spending a year for every year the game came out to catch up to the current commonly played content (ie i dont mind levelign a toon for 1-2 months to get to the level cap i know its slow for some but fast compared to others, however i dont care to freaking level more then 20 levels with out some grouping involved, i have rpgs for that i dont play an mmo to be alone i love to say i soloed XXXXXX mob but i love more to say my raid downed YYYY dungon with little to no trouble)

one last thing, if you belive in a wow killer then you probly dont realize the history and current state of mmo's ultima, daoc, eq1 (heck eq2) these games are still being played on servers today, mostly for subscription fees at or near bliz on wow.  players will continue to play wow even after another game comes out in the next 5 years (i dont see it holding top spot longer then that) that will have bigger account numbers, but it likely wont be one that blocks multi boxers as 99% of them are still on wow beacuse they enjoy the challenge of playing more then 1 account at a time and i dont know of a good game other then wow that lets you do that any more.  5x accounts 75 dollars a month + expantion rev's = a few botters would more then pay for most of the games out there that block it and are dwindleing.

if panda's are the true wow killer then why is star wars still being, played, read about, watched on tvs, watched as movies, perchased as toys, figures, posters and 100's of other merchandise options after JAR JAR BINKS? panda's wont kill wow they are just a scape goat for your lack of being able to type out your issues with wow.

I'm going with this to the servers. 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0lvp7a7pmk

Effective if a little messy.