MMO's, why can't they beat World of Warcraft?

[Vohn_exel]

It's because they want to BE world of Warcraft. If they want their game to be the "next big thing," they need to go their own way. Fantasy could still probably be done but they need to make their own battle system, their own point systems, ect. Find a way to make a game unique and you won't have to beat WOW because you would probably BE the next WOW.

 

[Bobbity]

I think Extra Credits covered this rather well a while back, but it's mainly because most MMOs take the form of RPGs, and that market is pretty much dominated by World of Warcraft. People have poured years of their lives into that game, and they're not going to leave it just because something shiner comes along and takes their fancy. The thing is though, there's not anything shinier. Sure the graphics of new MMOs may be better, but that's about it. For the most part they're simple WoW clones, but without the decade of development and infinite resources of Blizzard-Activision backing them.

Of all the MMOs to come along though, I will admit that TOR has the best odds of - well, not beating WoW, but surviving and doing well in spite of it. So long as the game is different enough, and interesting enough, then it may just pull it off.

WoW killers are basically myths though, and the term was pretty much coined to increase the hype surrounding new releases. The reality is that no game likely ever kill WoW, but the playerbase may drop off after time, and Blizzard may start shifting its focus to Titan. WoW will most likely never be killed, but it will eventually shrink and eventually die.

That having been said, it's not going to happen for a long, long while yet.

 

[WorldCritic]

I think if another decent MMO had come out around the time of WOW's release then it would have had a chance, but WOW has been out for years and at this point it's likely that no new MMOs will dethrone it even if they are incredible.

 

[GamemasterAnthony]

I think one of the few things that will dethrone WoW is a game that already has a pretty popular fanbase to begin and has already has some modicum of success even before turning into an MMO. So...The Old Republic MIGHT have a chance if it stays true to the original KoTOR.

However, and it's been mentioned several times already here on The Escapist, there is another well known and very popular game series that a LOT of people think should be made into an MMO. If it is turned into one...it would DEFINITELY outdo WoW since it's already gained much popularity amongst a very wide fanbase AND has already shown great appeal in regards to PvP play.

Do I really have to mention it again? Alright. Ladies an gentlemen...the MMO that will definitely outdo WoW is an MMO of...

Pokémon.

 

[80Maxwell08]

I don't think it'll happen but I'm probably underestimating how much people like StarWars because, although I love the movies, I don't like the games. Even KotOR is only just playable. I think it's definately Bioware's worst game.

How exactly is KOTOR "just playable"? Personally that was their best game for me. The clear good and evil choices fit there more than anywhere else because that was basically the difference between jedi and sith. Although I admit I don't know how balanced the different skills and force powers are due to never noticing anything but enemies dying. But I seriously want to know why you think it's their worst game.

 

[SteewpidZombie]

The no.1 reason MMOs fail to kill WOW, is because they don't have FREEDOM like WOW. At level 1 I can travel from 1 continent to another on foot through just sheer determination in WOW (Of course dieing countless times during the trek). Other MMOs tend to be more, 'You can't go here, your level 1' or 'you can't go here unless you buy this mount'. Another advantage WOW has is the social'ness of the players. As soon as I leave the starting zone I encountered like 30 people hanging around the first town.

I don't play WOW anymore, but I still agree that it is better then the majority of Free2Play MMOs. The only problem with Pay2Play MMOs, is that most people can't afford to pay for them (Like myself), and most have steeper learning curves or people have invested too much time, money, and effort into WOW.

 

[omicron1]

Because WoW has most of the target audience sewn up, and the people playing Wow really don't want a different game. They like playing WoW, for the most part, so anything that comes along and wants to beat the big guy has to offer not only appeal (a new setting, a clever gimmick) but also quality, content, and staying power if it wants to overcome the investment and familiarity the WoW players have with their existing game. And quality, content, and staying power are very difficult to obtain before release, let alone to the level that WoW, a seven-year-old game, has managed to build.

 

[MetallicaRulez0]

2 problems arise, each one feeding the other.

1.) Publishers see WoW and want that type of success, so they try to copy it.
2.) You can't feasibly copy what WoW has implemented over it's 10 years and however many hundreds of millions of dollars that has been put into it. It's an insurmountable advantage in favor of WoW.

So basically you get all of these half-assed WoW clones which obviously fail, because why the fuck would you play a WoW clone instead of WoW itself? That makes no sense. That's like playing Power Gig instead of Rock Band.

The only way to succeed in the MMO genre is to innovate, try something new, and definitely go Free-to-Play. WoW has essentially cornered the market on subscription MMOs for the time being.

 

[Infinite Loop]

The MMO as we know it, will always be dominated by WOW for many reasons already stated.

The thing about revolution it's never predictable and usually occurs before anyone has realized it. Nobody will see the WoW-killer coming, it will just happen.

Nobody knew Rome was falling until it was ancient history.

 

[Canon Fodder]

Personally, I think the main reason that WoW stayed on top was the sheer amount of time and money that went into it. How many games did Blizzard release since the release of WoW(not including it's expansions)? Will any other game maker sink that much money and time into a MMO(before WoW, Blizzard had several hugely sucessful games that made it so that they could take a break for a while. I still know people who play Diablo II!)? I've seen some of the other MMO's, and they might be pretty, but they seem to be more boring than the starting areas for WoW. The ability to run on a POS computer is definatly a bonus for WoW.


Also, WoW has a custimizable PvP, PvE settings.

 

[Ladette]

You can't dethrone WoW. The only way WoW dies is if Blizzard does something stupid to drive the fans off, or if they release another MMO.

The biggest problem with all these so called "WoW Killers" is that they're just to much like WoW, but without the large community. You see it every time a new MMO comes out on the WoW forums. You get a bunch of "I QUIT!" threads and then two months later the people who left get bored and come back.

The best bet for an MMO to thrive in a world with WoW is to be different but still good enough for newbies to the genre. For all its faults, WoW is easy to pick up.

 

[bader0]

the problem is wow has had so much time to find out what it needs to do to be popular, when wow first came out it was sooo bad compared to what it is now but the thing is blizzard is very good at deciphering what its fans want and now wow is so established. To put it simply blizzard has a 6 year head start and no-one else can enter the market because no other games can be as polished. the only thing that could potentially topple wow is if an mmo came out with a better core gameplay mechanic or if blizzard made a new mmo. Will it happen? yes. Will it be star wars? well maybe it depends how they play it as long as they dont try to do wow better than wow they have a chance.

 

[Rohammad]

The thing about Wow is that it's easy to get into and has so many people who play it, that even those new to MMO's are bound to have at least 1 real friend to drag them on there. It's hard to take a huge chunk of 11-12 million people away from a game that they've put so much time and effort into and start anew, especially when Wow takes and improves on other failed MMO's innovations and is constantly adding new content with every patch.

The only way WoW can be killed is if it kills itself.(Probably been said a million times but is the most likely scenario)