What would it take to tople WoW from its throne?

[gigastar]

Activision running itself into the ground so hard that it took Blizzard with it would do the trick.

That and Giuld Wars 2 seems to be a good contender for the MMORPG throne.

The key thing is timing, WOW offered the right thing at the right time, and because people have invested so much time and love in that world its hard to turn your back to for a new MMO

Yeah, thats true. Get into one MMO, never truly get out again.

 

[Ickorus]

I think Guild Wars 2 is going to be the game-changer for MMO gaming; the game is so good and so polished that if they charged a subscription fee nobody would question it but they're not going to be doing that, it's coming in Buy-To-Play.
I believe them doing this will cause many a veteran MMO gamers to question why they're paying a subscription fee when they can play a different game just as good as WoW for a one time fee.

 

[babinro]

The key thing is timing, WOW offered the right thing at the right time, and because people have invested so much time and love in that world its hard to turn your back to for a new MMO

This.

I think WoW is a one time deal in terms of massive success in the subscription genre. Even project 'Titan', Blizzard's next MMO shouldn't expect to reach that level a popularity.

Just like most other MMO's I suspect Titan will have huge launch numbers for a few months and the players will find themselves going back to the community they loved in WoW. I'm sure Titan will be wildly successful, but I seriously doubt it'll hold a candle to WoW when it comes to a successful longevity.

Time will continue to fade WoW into the background, like it has EQ. It won't come from the release one just one expansion, content patch or competitor's MMO.

 

[DiMono]

The same thing that would topple any other game: a better game that's better maintained and better marketed, for a better per-dollar value. You basically just need to convince people that they'll have more fun in your game than they do in WoW, and then prove it by delivering what you promise. The reason people go back to WoW after the free trial ends isn't that they don't want to pay for an MMORPG - they've proved that by paying for WoW. The reason is that they've decided they'd rather pay for WoW than the other one. You just have to put out a product that they'd rather give their money to.

 

[RJ 17]

To everyone saying that the only thing that could beat WoW would be WoW 2, I don't think that game will ever come. The problem with basing your game off of one of your already successsful franchises is that it limits the content you can do. Granted, they're coming out with the 4th expansion now, but look at what the content is focused around: Mists of Pandaria. Yes, people had been asking for the Pandarens to be playable ever since Blizzard made an April Fools joke about it...but the fact that they're now taking that joke and making it the basis for the next expansion shows that the creators are running out of steam.

By my tally there's officially no more villains left in the series. Arthas: dead. Illidan: dead. Kael: dead. Burning Legion: dead. And now even Deathwing - who should have been dead already, if not trapped in Outland - is dead.

As a former WoW player, I can attest to the fact that much of WoW's popuarity does indeed come from the "social" aspect of the game...not necessarily the fact that it's kept fresh and exciting. Yes, they do release content patches every few months, but in between those the game becomes more like a job in that it settles into a routine. "Do dailies for a few days, raid night, dailies for a couple more days, raid night, rinse and repeat." Yes there's a lot of content between starting a new character and making it to the level cap, but once you get to the top ofthe mountain things start to get mind-numbing and repetative.

At least they did for me.

In all honesty, I do beiieve that the only thing that could beat WoW would indeed have to be World of StarCraft...though I think making that game would be uniquely challenging to make. But sooner or later there just won't be anywhere new they can go with WoW without REALLY pulling things out of their asses...so beyond that, Father Time will indeed likely be the one who finally kills WoW.

 

[Exterminas]

A better game than Wow.
Sorry, the the truth is that sad and simple.

While WoW is far from perfect, it cleverly hides it's mistakes behind hundreds of hours of gameplay. Unlike certain other MMOs, where the flaws start jumping at you even before you hit the maximum level.

 

[Bobic]

In a way, hasn't WOW already been knocked off the throne?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114283-League-of-Legends-Muscles-Past-World-of-Warcraft

 

[Weealzabob]

Prostitutes in cosplay giving their services away for free worldwide. That would probably distract a fair portion of players.

But seriously, I think that time, and perhaps another great MMORPG that revamps the genre and can draw WoW players away, are the most likely things to wear WoW down.

 

[hoboman29]

It would take a game that's funner than WoW and accessible to new souls. Also they need to stop being WoW or they will just want the player to want to play it instead.

 

[direkiller]

In a way, hasn't WOW already been knocked off the throne?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114283-League-of-Legends-Muscles-Past-World-of-Warcraft

lol isint a MMO
and there have always been games that have sold more then wow so i dont see how you can compare the two

 

[TilMorrow]

Maybe Project Titan? Granted it's being developed by Blizzard as well but it only seems like a game developed by Blizzard can be the only thing that will actually be able to kill their top game. Though saying that TOR may actually be able to match blows with WoW. It feels... fresh I guess. Though I guess only time will tell.

Also people who are mentioning WoW2, How on earth would they make it? WoW is WoW. Unless some BS such as alternative dimension is used then I don't think there will ever be a WoW2.

Additionally, people saying action orientated gameplay will kill WoW's hotkey gameplay. APB = FPSMMO/died and revived as a FTP. Rusty Hearts. FTP. RTaction will not be killing WoW anytime soon.

 

[Kreett]

About 2 - 3 more years.

 

[Bobic]

In a way, hasn't WOW already been knocked off the throne?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114283-League-of-Legends-Muscles-Past-World-of-Warcraft

lol isint a MMO
and there have always been games that have sold more then wow so i dont see how you can compare the two

I'd argue that that's up for debate. The escapist clearly considered them worth comparing and Steam lists its MOBA games as MMOs so it isn't that clearly cut.

Also, sorry to pick on you, but it mildly annoys me that over half the escapist gets this wrong. You mean than, not then. They're different words.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

It is has already happened with LoL(may not be an MMO but it is still killing it), SWotR and all the new MMOs coming out along with its current declining user base.

 

[BENZOOKA]

An MMO that isn't anything like WoW. Because they are all so very similar and naturally implement many things from the undisputed king of the genre.

I don't like MMO's at all though.

 

[VladG]

In a way, hasn't WOW already been knocked off the throne?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114283-League-of-Legends-Muscles-Past-World-of-Warcraft

League of Legends isn't an mmo, and it's free to play. I myself have some 20 accounts over level 5 and I'm a fairly casual player. The 30+ million players is pretty irrelevant.

What I think will finally kill WoW is time. It has way too much inertia to just be "killed" by a single game (just look at ToR, it had the biggest dev budget of any game ever, and it's set in one of the most popular fictional universes in the world, and it hasn't killed anything yet), and it's been out there for so long that it's the default place for mmo players to go. Fresh new mmo comes out, you play a few months, you get bored, you go back to wow for a few more months. Next fresh new mmo comes, same deal. People are getting tired of WoW and I imagine it's user base will slowly decline (mark you, it's going to take a long time, it's a massive user base) until Blizzard finally pulls the plug and will stop releasing content.

And don't even think that will happen anytime soon, Diablo 2 got a new patch just 4 months ago, and it's got a fraction of the player base WoW has.

Titan and Diablo3 might play a part in it too, but it won't be enough.

 

[Keava]

Just read someone's thread about The Old Republic and someone responding to him made a pretty good point in drawing out the lifecycle of an MMO. It comes out, there's a big rush for it, everyone's happy. A few months later the free trials from the initial rush start to end and players aren't interested enough to continue and pay for it, so they go back to WoW. It plugs along for a little while longer before finally saying "screw it" and going free to play.

This applies to all MMO's that are not WoW.

That got me thinking...just what would it take to knock WoW off the throne of the MMO? Everquest used to be known as Evercrack because it was so ridiclously addictive. Then WoW comes along and just straight up steals people's souls. Any thoughts on what kind of MMO could possibly beat WoW? Would it be based off of an already successful franchise the way that WoW is based off of WarCraft or would it be an original concept? What features would you implement?

Nothing. WoW will eventually burn out on it's own, and no game, no matter how much hater/fanbois will cry, will ever change it. It's not because WoW is the best on market, it's not because other games are worse or too much like WoW. The reason is much much simpler - People invested whole lot of time in WoW.

Back before 2004 MMO market wasn't exactly big, decent internet connections still were rare and available to those that actually bothered to look for them. MMOs back then well even more of a niche. Then came WoW. With tons of advertisement, basing on popular RTS franchise, made by beloved studio of many. At first it was pretty slow, pulling numbers not really that much different from EQ, but over months, as the word of mouth grew and more people had better internet it exploded.
8 years later, even someone didn't play all that time, the character became an investment of sorts. Not just having sentimental value, but a year of playtime on it costed the player ~180$. For many You will have to multiply it by 4-5 years. It has established community, established content, and went through tons of iterations over the time.

Now, when new MMO comes it starts form scratch, You won't have 10 raids, 30 dungeons, polished PvP system, defined guilds, etc. This leads to pretty simple issue for players. If the new MMO doesn't really offer all that innovative game play on polished enough level, why start from scratch when You already have everything in that other game You spent 500-600$ on?

That's also why DoTA2 won't kill LoL. People invested time and money in LoL, why would They move to DoTA if the gameplay isn't all that much different and They would have to build up their prestige and experience from scratch?

 

[Odbarc]

The two worst things I have about MMO's are this;

1) Grinding. When you gotta run around in one area and solo monsters endlessly, that isn't fun.
Even in a group, taking on the same monster 1v1 over and over again is BORING.

2) WoW clones. It's when you log into a game for the first time and know exactly how to play because it's nearly identical to WoW. WHY would I (or anyone else for that matter) want to switch from WoW with all their awesome gear, friends, guilds, ect. to start over in another game with nothing?
And they definitely cannot give you the Blizzard quality or attention.

 

[Gatx]

In a way, hasn't WOW already been knocked off the throne?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114283-League-of-Legends-Muscles-Past-World-of-Warcraft

lol isint a MMO
and there have always been games that have sold more then wow so i dont see how you can compare the two

I'd argue that that's up for debate. The escapist clearly considered them worth comparing and Steam lists its MOBA games as MMOs so it isn't that clearly cut.

Also, sorry to pick on you, but it mildly annoys me that over half the escapist gets this wrong. You mean than, not then. They're different words.

But also the way they make money is different - microtransactions vs. subscriptions. While LoL may have a lot of players, how many of them actually buy stuff? Obviously a sizable amount since they're still in business, but still, not everyone is paying. It's more of a feat for WoW to have so many players after telling them they need to pay every month.