In a recent interview with WIRED, World of Warcraft Game Director Ion Hazzikostas gave his thoughts on the evolution of WoW and the ever-changing landscape of MMORPGs.
The article notes that in the earlier days of WoW, the “right way to play the game” wasn’t always clear. As many of you know, you’d have to stand in the middle of a settlement and see if anyone wanted to group up with you to take part in content.
Ion reflected on this,
“There were no rules. There was no right or wrong way to play. Just you and your pet wolf, as a hunter, trying to make your way in the world and figure things out from there.”
As the interview wore on, it notes that over the years, the game’s systems began to streamline. As a result, leveling up your character became much faster. To that end, the completion and experience of epic raid bosses were something only a few players initially experienced,
“Epic raid bosses were something only a small percentage of the playerbase got to experience. Today, a large share—something like over half—were able to defeat the biggest multiplayer raid encounters the game has.”
The article continues, covering off topics like social chat, guides, walkthroughs, wikis, and what exactly WoW means to various players.
On that note, you can check out Mike Morhaime’s comments on the declining popularity of MMOs, and J. Allen Brack’s indirect response.
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