Any of y'all play World of Warcraft? I played it for about 4 years on and off. Basically I played vanilla to 60, heavily raided BC, and got the lich king on farm in Wotlk then quit b4 Catalysm came out. It seems to me that WoW has ruined the MMORPG genre for many reasons. I remember when WoW first came out and I logged on and was absolutely astounded by the huge and lush environment and I was immediately hooked. 4 years later, the game has devolved into casual noob crap. I'm not sure if cataclysm is like that but Wotlk certainly became so. The reason WoW has ruined the MMORPG genre is because it absolutely is currently the best MMORPG in the market. Just by the sheer number of subscribers, you cannot argue that it is the most popular online rpg. Yet because of this consummate mastery of the toolbar MMORPG and constant downgrading of the difficulty ceiling, WoW has ruined the MMO market. Developers are hardpressed to create innovative RpGs that can capture the WoW market without making it an imitation of WoW. Two games that were both innovative MMORPGs, tabulate rasa and hellgate London, both shut down because they could not compete with WoW. For myself personally, I grew sick of how easy WoW had become and the once lush environments that I fell in love with questing in and exploring have become boring and jaded looking. However as i tried to branch out into other MMORPGs, I realized that I was comparing them all to WoW and none of them held the candle to WoW. Either they were Asian microtransaction anime grindfests or mere rip offs of WoW (champions online). Since I can't stand WoW now, none of those other games held my interest. I just hope that guild wars 2 and the old republic can break the vicious monopoly that WoW has on the MmORPg
Market. What do you guys think of WoW's affect on MMORPGs? Sorry for the bad structuring, I wrote this on my iPhone.

Not really. If WoW is making other mmo's look bad in comparison to it, then WoW is actually doing you a favor by having you NOT waste your time.

Last edited by blakraven66 at 3:01 am, Aug 11 2011

I understand what you are saying about wow, but can you really blame them for being the best in the genre? They have a monopoly simply because nobody has has made a better game. I recently quit wow because it has become stale to me but its up to the market to make a better game. Is it wow's fault nobody else can make anything else that holds a candle to it? Also the reason wow started catering to casual players is because they are a bigger market. A business decision to include a larger part of the demographic, which is where the future of gaming content is heading. Hardcore players only encompass a very small minority. I for one want to see SWTOR succeed and steal people away from wow. More competition means better games for us gamers. Wow isn't going anywhere until blizzard decides to kill it. Nothing else has the capability to do this.

Certainly, most MMORPGs are WoW copies. Though I don't think WoW is at fault here. Blizzard created a great game, and ever since then no one even tries to create different. A lot of people are fed up with WoW, so it wouldn't be too difficult to break into the market with something just as good, but very different. But there's no one who even tries. They all just go for the easy way with the smaller, but more certain success.
And there are a lot of things, for what you simply cannot blame WoW. I tried playing Aion for a short time... It has a really interesting world concept. Half of the world is always in light, and the other half is always dark... Wonderful, something new, and exciting! I began play on the dark side, and what do I find (near the starting zone)? A sunny jungle. In a place where the sun never shines.
The problem isn't WoW, but the brainless developers. It's not that WoW is too good. The problem is that all the others (that I know of) are trash (or very near).

ed: btw, my answer in the poll: No, but most new MMOs are a clone of WoW

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Most MMORPGs aren't WoW clones, they're clones of FF XI,
but certainly, WoW is the bane of
MMOPRGs in the sense that beating it is next to impossible and
no pay-to-play-game has been able to get close to it, although many have tried but
utterly failed and therefore gone F2P. Not that it matters for me, since
the only MMO game I really cared for was Ragnarök Online.

That's like saying CoD ruined shooters. It hasn't, it's just the most popular one, and many shooters feel like they need copy it to get sales.

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If WoW hadn't been successful, there would likely be much less of an "MMO genre" to speak of.
After all, tons of companies started MMO game projects for the simple reason that WoW was such a huge money-making machine.

I don't begrudge Blizzard their success, but I'm a bit disappointed that most AAA video games end up being shooters (like CoD) or MMOs (like WoW) - genres I never (shooters) or no longer (MMOs, since playing WoW excessively for ~2 years) hold any interest in.

Most MMOs have always been about the same the thing about WoW was that they did it slightly better and now all MMOs are even more the same copying or trying to improw on the same concept without any success since it only more of the same. Im keeping my eyes on Guild Wars 2 at the moment since they seem to be the only one making an attempt on some changes, hopefully there will come some more MMOs soon with some inovative ides as the concept of massive multiplayer too interesting to get lost.

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*Wall of text crits you for 9001 D* (lol, it's okay, I forgive you)

I wouldn't call it the bane of the MMO genre...even if it is a juggernaut.
I think the greatest challenge for any company trying to break into the MMO market is coming up with something WoW hasn't - and even then, they've got to make sure Blizzard can't top it...which is pretty hard.
Probably one of the reasons WoW became so big is that when it first came out, it was huge. It had no equal. A few years on and it's already caught the hearts (and souls) of millions. Due to the sheer number of players, newbies to the genre are almost forced to play it as their friends/family are already playing it. Trying something different would be like outcasting themselves.

Having said that, several upcoming MMOs look promising. I, for one, am still waiting for Blade & Soul. D3 is coming back with arenas (hoping that b.net stays free). Firefall looks pretty fun too.
Part of me doubts that SW:TOR can kill WoW though...mainly because all the other alleged WoW killers of the past turning out to be pretty dull.


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Everyday I'm tumblin'

The fundamentally sad problem with World of warcraft is that it really STILL has no equal. This is what I mean by it ruining the MMO market. Blizzard has made some of the BEST online games in the history of online gaming. Diablo 2 was once the most played online videogame (Guiness 2002) and now WoW is the most subscribed MMO.

It comes down to the fact that World of Warcraft is the archetype of MMORPG gaming. It consolidated the archetypes of tank, dps, healer, and such. Most games on the market have systems that are similar to WoW but just slightly more subpar that you'd be wishing you were playing World of Warcraft again. It's not so much that you're outcasting yourself by playing something different, it's when you go WoW you really never go back.

Before I started world of warcraft, those Asian MMO grindfests were my shit. I didn't know any better and spent hours farming creep and thought it was great entertainment. After playing the quest system in WoW. I was like OMG, I don't NEED TO KILL 50+ mobs to get gold (play auction house) and level?!?!?!?! Yet as I became a more experienced WoW gamer, the questing system itself became a grindfest and I grew weary of it.

The only way to break WoW's hold on the MMORPG genre is to innovate past it. WoW is a phenomenal game, probably one of the most influential MMORPGs in the history of gaming, but by being the current end all MMO game, it ruins the taste of all other games that struggle and ultimately fail to emulate it.

I think the only way to break this stale mate in the MMO market is not to create reskinned WoW clones, but to truly innovate a new and truly unique game play experience, but give the player the same level of immersion that WoW did on a different scale.

I've been following TOR for awhile and I really hope it lives up to its hype. So far the gameplay videos definitely seems incredibly fast paced and engaging, something that WoW will NEVER and has NEVER achieved.

Diablo 3 will be awesome. I LOVED HACK AND SLASH RPGS, but the same problem occurs that ALL new HACK AND SLASH's ARE BASED ON D2. WHY BLIZZARD DO YOU MAKE GENRE DEFINING GAMES THAT NO ONE CAN EMULATE.

I never tried WoW, but i don't think it kills the mmo genre. Myself for example; I have seen videos and stuff on WoW but i prefer playing something like Maplestory since the art is a lot cuter. So if you prefer WoW over any other game, then every other mmo might seem lame, but that's just preference.

i guess ppl who grew up with Ultima Online said the same thing when that game dominated
only reason it never reached as many subs as Wow was that
internet was kind of new
internet cost ALOT
computers were not that common
the view on gaming have changed ALOT

it kind of seems like you do not like mmorpgs [anymore if ever] so why look for other such games

and since we live in a capitalist world
copy the most successfull item on the market as much as possible
=easy money
making something new/diffrent means putting in ALOT of work,money,time and most likely end in failure

yeah probably, they did really lower the difficulty level on WoW (especially when you get the addons the game's a cake walk), but it still was really addicting o.o, but i still think it is the best MMO on the market (never gonna play it again though), although i do think Star Wars: The Old Republic might actually be a formidable foe for WoW, the game designers for Star Wars make some great rpg games (mass effect).

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Quite a while before I ever played WoW, I was playing Everquest. My very first MMO (and being one of the earliest, I'm sure that applies to many people) and it blew me away. Since I was rather young, that was one of the defining things of my childhood. I wasn't very good at video games, and it took me two years before I even reached level 30 (not that I played very frequently, since my dad was usually hogging the computer). EQ was a mysterious world where most of the fun for me came from exploring. This was back before the answer to everything could be found with a quick google search or a convenient mod; I even remember using hand-drawn maps that my dad scribbled down in a notebook, and being amazed when he found a mod that let him import other people's hand-made maps into the game.

So for me, WoW doesn't even really feel like an MMO. Granted, not many games today play like the EQ of old. (Technically the game is still running, but I haven't touched it in years, and by now it's changed to the point that I can't even recognize it. And EQ2 isn't that great.) But it makes sense that MMOs have evolved this way. Because seriously, who likes grinding mobs for hours on end, having to do a corpse run when you die, relying on your stupid malfunctioning compass skill to navigate, needing to eat and drink, and having to actually find and figure out quests? Actually, plenty of people. But most of them play MUDs. The general public, however, likes WoW. If you want to play an old fashioned MMO, go find a good MUD/MUSH.

(But if you're just referring to the way WoW has changed since it first started up, then I can't really comment. It's all the same to me, really.)

can't say anything bad about WoW, their support service was the best too, I got hacked once due to my own failure for using the same password with all my account in many forum with the same account name. After making a ticket I waited 3 hours a GM appeared, then I wait for like 15 min because he need to investigate the case, after that I get all my lost items, golds, etc back all at once, I remember same thing happen to my brother back then when we were playing Ragnarok Online, it took them 1 month to solve the case, that's way too long.

not to mention the control is very responsive unlike the majority of F2P mmo, that's production quality, and they are trying their best to listen to the community regarding game balance and stuff, never happen in any korean mmorpp.

but still wow is slowly dying, it was fun but yeah after a while you will just grew out of it.

there will be new wave of next gen mmorpg, we will see how they will fare.

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