What Exactly Is Wrong With World Of Warcraft?

[Rewold]

Everything you do takes such a damn long time. Leveling, getting armor and all that. Getting to a dungeon once a week sounds stupid...

 

[Kragg]

WoW is a great game. I believe its one of the most social gaming experiences out there.
The developers communicate with the players on a daily if not hourly basis.
The game is constantly being tweaked and improved

Theres really nothing bad I can say about it aside from the fact that it demands a lot of free time. However the fact that WoW is an Mmo pretty much makes the time issue a no brainer.

In regards to the community bias here, I personally feel that there's a lot of Valve and Bioware supporters, but not many blizzard/activision fans.
Everyone has their opinions, so sometimes thats just how it goes depending on who you talk to.

To be honest Blizzard has a lot of fan-sites as well as its own main forums, so I imagine most Blizzard supporters frequent those sites as opposed to the more generalized gaming forum that is The Escapist.

community is an argument, but to find the good people you have to wade through some pretty horrible ones, and if you get 8 million people of course you will find some good ones

but think of this, you are all playing the same game, you have some of the same interests if not most ! youd think you would all get along better infact, in the REAL WORLD youd have a better community if you interacted with them more, people online are just worse versions of themselves

(i didnt know activision had any fans )

and on the subject of fansites, to be recognised as such there are some pretty strict rules they enforce, notice how they barely ever say anything bad. This was why that warcraft radio station had so many issues with it

 

[Kragg]

Well I only got one complaint and that is it gets rather boring, but I shall explain that...

To me wow is a surreal work of art, it's the closest thing to immiatating life that we currently have. You experience(and get to remember) birth in the game, you get to grow up(If you started out a noob like I did)slowly learning from everything around you, learning lessons, making friends and pwning shit if you learn fast.

You then become an "adult" and either give birth to a guild and becoming a parent or become really good and become the cool uncle who shows noobs important stuff like shooting soup cans with a BB-Gun.

Then after usually one generation (expantion) of wow you become an old person and nostalgia(spell check) and bordom kicks in. All these kids with their DK's, dailies, Arena gear from raiding and Rock and rolling have it easy and should get off my old content's lawn.

Then you pass on, find something new (drugs, RL friends, Evony Online, porn) and laugh at the whole lot of them and their sad exsistance.

TL;DR Wow=Life and everyone who laughs at wow players are dead on the inside.

nice try, but no, this goes for every game you play for as long as this imaginary person (you?) has played world of warcraft for, its not the game, its time spent

 

[Kragg]

WoW seems to me like a kind of wannabe mmorpg, because from what I've seen there are alot more complex and better mmos out there. It's like people who only play call of duty and call themselves gamers. I don't consider them video gamers at all.

WoW is not complex?

Alright, then, if it is not complex, then tell me the optimal rotation for generating the maximum amount of threat as a paladin tank, and why it is that way. What is Exorcism's role in that, and with your rotation, what is the best sort of weapon to use, a slow or fast weapon? And why?

WoW is simple to learn, but it's a lot more complex than you give it credit for. And it's not 'easy mode' when you're trying to dodge all manor of environmental effects, adjust position of the mobs for maximum output of damage and minimum input of damage, while making sure all your basic cooldown abilities are being used in a timely manner (i.e. every global cooldown.)

Of course, this is without considering the fact that complex and good are not the same word. Rolemaster is a complex roleplaying game. It is also terrible for most players. Most 'complex' MMOs are needlessly complex, confusing things like 'corpse runs' and 'grinding for days for a level' and 'You lose xp for dying' and 'useless abilities that are traps for the player' with 'difficulty.'

Difficulty implies that some sort of skill is involved.

Punishing a player for actually bothering to try to play and learn your game is making the game difficult to like, not difficult to play. Critically speaking, unlikeability is a bad trait for a game.

well this just proves that its as complex as riding a bike really? you learn it once and never look back, i suppose patches change things up once in a while. its basic "dont stand in the fire" gameplay and rotation combat

 

[MadeinHell]

It has the same problem MOST mmo-s have.
1. It's punishing in the way that after you die you spawn as a ghost (which is not bad) many miles away... it's especially annoying if you die in mountains or somewhere because you CAN'T climb mountain's or fly as a ghost (which to me is completely ridiculous).

2. It sucks MONTHS of your life just to get some "OK" weapons and armor (I know there are people capable of getting required items in weeks or even days but I'm thinking about people who actually have a life) and while you might feel powerful thanks to it there is one thing every MMO has that kills the mood. There are dosends or thousands (and in case of WoW even milions) of people who did the same...
That's why I like single player experiences, while you might not have that much "social" fun as in MMO's you still feel badass after getting the uber weapon and armour. Because in YOUR game you don't walk past a dude who got the same thing as you 5 months ago.

3. WoW actually covers that fact quite well but deep inside almost every MMO is A GRIND-FEST. If you like playing jrpg's you will like it. But I hate jrpg's and I really dislike grinding. That's why I stop playing most MMO's even before I reach half of the maximum level. Only MMO I know that actually doesn't force you into grinding is... EVE online. Sure there ARE grind missions but you don't have to do them. You can spend the entire game in safe sectors trading if you want.

 

[ezeroast]

i guess it depends on who you play with, i used to play a couple of years ago. Had a blast with a good friend. He started a new char and we lvld up together. When we reached the top lvl it was all raids and gear. Not something i have the time or patience for.
He got massively ahead of me with raid gear while i just sat in pvp battlegrounds.

Got bored very quickly. It truly is a great game when playing with friends. Other than that its a case of 1 mistake and your a noob. I dont like that kind of pressure when i'm playing games. I play to relax and enjoy myself. Its not a second job.

Edit: i dont hate it, i may even go back one day for a screw around. But not for long.

 

[nmatters]

THE GRINDING!

 

[oppp7]

People see it as being too popular and big, and so they can't get any kind of recognition or notoriety on it. It's the same reason people don't like anything getting too popular(example: the Escapist).

 

[Arawn.Chernobog]

I hate it because I never see my buddy anymore since he got it.

It is deliberately designed to be addictive and exploitative of peoples' obsessive, compulsive nature and it sucks peoples souls out through their eyeballs in a way no other game/MMO does.

people only get addicted if they want to

 

[DefunctTheory]

Grinding like no ones business (Good for some, bad for me).
Unbalanced PvP.
Classes in constant flux.

That's the big three downers for me.

If you have to ever grind in wow, you are doing it wrong.

You jest, right? Kidding maybe?

Taken the number of people who play WoW for PvP, and you have the minimum number possible that spend there days grinding. Take the number of people who are playing to the game, total, and you'll be closer.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

It has the same problem MOST mmo-s have.
1. It's punishing in the way that after you die you spawn as a ghost (which is not bad) many miles away... it's especially annoying if you die in mountains or somewhere because you CAN'T climb mountain's or fly as a ghost (which to me is completely ridiculous).

2. It sucks MONTHS of your life just to get some "OK" weapons and armor (I know there are people capable of getting required items in weeks or even days but I'm thinking about people who actually have a life) and while you might feel powerful thanks to it there is one thing every MMO has that kills the mood. There are dosends or thousands (and in case of WoW even milions) of people who did the same...
That's why I like single player experiences, while you might not have that much "social" fun as in MMO's you still feel badass after getting the uber weapon and armour. Because in YOUR game you don't walk past a dude who got the same thing as you 5 months ago.

3. WoW actually covers that fact quite well but deep inside almost every MMO is A GRIND-FEST. If you like playing jrpg's you will like it. But I hate jrpg's and I really dislike grinding. That's why I stop playing most MMO's even before I reach half of the maximum level. Only MMO I know that actually doesn't force you into grinding is... EVE online. Sure there ARE grind missions but you don't have to do them. You can spend the entire game in safe sectors trading if you want.

1. At least in the last expansion, if you die in a particularly mountainous zone in northrend, you're given a flying ghost to return to your body, so they partly addressed that problem

2. Too true, however I feel WOW at least offers a range of things to do, you can level thru questing, or dungeon crawling as a group, or PVP in battlegrounds, or you can do arena matches. IF you aint in the mood to level, there's achievements to chase, you can try to become a tycoon thru playing the auction house, max out your professions, chase that rare mount you'd always wanted (my mage is finally in place to start work on her motorbike), or just explore the world.

3. Entirely guilty as charged. However, they're making it easier for newbies thru the recruit a friend system, and for veteran's alts thru the heirloom system. My warrior's doing just fine with 20% bonus XP and quality shoulder and chest armour.

 

[Akihiko]

It's fun for a time. But after you play it for so long, it gets very boring.

I used to play WoW religiously about 5 years ago, back when it was just Vanilla WoW. Quit not long after TBC though, upon realising, it was the same stuff, just reskinned. The mechanics are still there, and were still boring. Go kill *Insert mob here*. Go fetch *Insert item here*. Just they were glorified a bit, or worded differently, to make them seem different. The PvP and End game content never changes either. Both of them are worse than ever. Back in the old days, raiding and pvp used to be fun, yes, you'd get serious guilds, but even during raids in those guilds, you would chat, have a laugh, joke around, etc. Yet now, it's all full of elitism. Only the officers can talk and such. I don't play games to have it as a job, I play them to have fun...

 

[TriggerHappyAngel]

because i hate all MMO's that require you to grind monsters by just clicking on them -_-'

(thank god for Monster Hunter Tri and TERA online! )

 

[SenseOfTumour]

One thing I would say, and I'm opening myself to a tidal wave of ridicule from the raiders here, is that I run a casual guild devoted to levelling and being a friendly welcoming place for new players and alts, as in we won't ridicule someone and shout 'lol nub' for asking where Mankrik's wife is, or the like.

But I nipped onto an alt on another server and got invited to a guild run of TOC 10, and damn, I've done the weekly heroics, no problem, but the two giant worms who are the second round of the tournament, just seemed like absolute chaos and seemed like so much to keep alert to. You've got to do the regular kind of fight, but one worm stays still and drops paralysing poison on your group, which takes them out of the fight for about a minute, and it takes them about 5 seconds to die, if unable to defend or heal. The other one is moving around using a burning poison. Then just as you sort of get used to it, they burrow underground and swap roles, all the time there's so much chaos going on you can't follow half of it. The burning poison counteracts the paralysis, but it seemed by the time someone had gone 'I'm frozen' they'd nearly be dead.

Anyways, maybe we were just too low geared for it, or maybe we need a lot more practice, but damn, I can see why raiding ends up being so stressful and I can see why me and my guild have always avoided going that way, it's a lot easier to enjoy the game when you know a little mistake isn't gonna cause 24 players to die and blame you.

note I'm not anti raiding, I just don't think it's for us, and by the number of ex raiders who've joined our guild, I sense there's quite a few people burnt out on it and happy to enjoy the lighter end of the game instead.

 

[WitherVoice]

Couple of things.

1: WoW is not addictive. You play every waking moment, then you're trying to escape something in this world. WoW provides an excellent way of doing that, by giving you a simpler world with obtainable goals.

2: Grinding is a word that is thrown around far too much... lemme see here.

Grinding like no ones business (Good for some, bad for me).
Unbalanced PvP.
Classes in constant flux.

That's the big three downers for me.

If you have to ever grind in wow, you are doing it wrong.

You jest, right? Kidding maybe?

Taken the number of people who play WoW for PvP, and you have the minimum number possible that spend there days grinding. Take the number of people who are playing to the game, total, and you'll be closer.

"Grinding" has for me always been the act of repeatedly doing something you do not care to do in order to reach something else. Age of Conan was HIGH on this, where after you'd done every available quest EVERYWHERE you still had to gank hundreds of mobs to get to the next level and get more quests. THAT is grinding. If you have quests, then the degree to which they are grinding depends on whether or not you want to do them. If you don't, they are a grind for you, and WoW is probably not for you. Me, I look forward to the new quests in the new expansion, because some will be fun to do, some will have an interesting narrative progression, and overall it'll be great fun to see it.

3: Yahtzee has it right. WoW, like most every multiplayer game out there, is as good as the people you play it with (I believe he said that a review would be of your friends and not the game). As such, you find a guild full of people you like, you play with them and enjoy yourself, it's great fun. A lot of people have said that it's "simply an IRC channel with some background activity", and to an extent I agree... but what's wrong with that?

Basically, WoW is a huge game with lots of exploring you can do, lots of interesting little quests, quirky characters and whatnot. With the ridiculous amount of content, not all of it will be pleasing to you.

So, what's "wrong" with WoW? Nothing. It's just popular. Popularity breeds contempt, so those not on board the train, those who do not enjoy, will deride others for doing so. It is the very definition of mainstream. All in all, though, those who "hate" WoW are a vocal minority.

On a side note, here's what's wrong with every other MMO out there: general chat is filled with people trying to convince themselves that they are right in not playing WoW, going "Aww, server crashed and cost me an hour of progress. Ah well, at least I'm not playing WoW", or "Oh damn, this mob is bugged and I can't complete the quest. Gives me time to ***** about how much WoW sucks though". It's the console wars all over again...

 

[Bealzibob]

Well I only got one complaint and that is it gets rather boring, but I shall explain that...

-Devilish Snip-

TL;DR Wow=Life and everyone who laughs at wow players are dead on the inside.

nice try, but no, this goes for every game you play for as long as this imaginary person (you?) has played world of warcraft for, its not the game, its time spent

I take it that's meant to say "this goes for every game you play for as long as this imaginary person hasn't played world of warcraft befor" and your right that every player enters a life cycle when starting as a noob in a game but I've only experienced such an stunning array of life-like experiences from MMO's (sinces thats the point) and wow seems best equiped for it. Game wise it's generally painful, unbearably elitist and boring. I quit early this year so i'm not trying to defend it too much, just explain my experience with ze wow.