Why is WOW so popular

[Hateren47]

WoW is not only fun. It's absurdly customisable and there are a lot of helpful addons you can download and play around with. No 2 WoW client look the same, unless you stay with the standard UI and why would you do that? It's also very well done for a western mmorpg and it's constantly being developed. The grinding is almost non existent as you always have a quest to do (even though it might be kill 10-25-100 or this and that and return here) and some of the dungeons are simply amazing. I loved running Karazhan even after level 80. All in all it's a 9/10 game which is really high, considering the size and functionality of the game and genre. And the artwork is gorgeous. If you want an easy pick up and play mmorpg WoW is what you are looking for.

-WoW player for more than 3 years, clean now.

 

[technoted]

It's fun and those of us that loved Warcraft 3's story enjoy the closure that WoW has and will continue to offer.

You don't find it fun and that's ok. WoW doesn't care. It has 10 million others to feed off of.

What closure that it offers? I've been playing the Warcraft series since Orcs and Humans, my second favourite game of all time and I have got no closure from WoW, all I have got is confusion from the lore and the feeling that a big chunk of the story is missing.

OT: I think it's so successful because it is well made, been around a long time, has a good community and has pretty much redefined the MMORPG genre.

 

[WestMountain]

People that doesn't have a hobby like grinding because they want a "meaning of life", they grind and get better and better and by that they feel that they accomplish something for once because they dont accomplish anything IRL.

And there's some people who are just strange and thinks it's a fun game

 

[The_Prophet]

Because people are retarded enough to be cash cattle for Blizzard.

Haha, you want cash cattle? Go check out Perfect World International.

Words of wisdom, my friend.
OT: I do have to admit that WoW can get a bit boring during the earlier levels (Mulgore, just... Mulgore) but the changes they're bringing in Cataclysm are going to make leveling so much more fun.
Also WoW has a good lore so some people are into that.
EDIT: OH! I haven't experienced too much grind in WoW, what are you people on about?

 

[Bat Vader]

My friend gave me a 14 day trail for wow but i got so bored i never played it again. I don't get why so many people pay for something like that. Can anyone explain

Just because you did not like WoW does not mean other people will not like it. Everyone has a different opinion on what they like and dislike.

 

[gl1koz3]

WoW... is... something I despise just for the sake of doing this.

Now we need a thread, why people still keep telling that tastes can be different. If it's kinda common sense. Unless you're some sorta Hitler and don't get over the concept... How many psycho leaders do we have here?

 

[MarsProbe]

Chances are, you played your 2-week demo alone (as if an experienced player [your friend] will go all the way back to "noob" areas just to play with one friend... or re-roll to try something *gasp* different!), and therefore you got little out of it.

Considering the newbie zones are literally one portal and a five minute ride at most from Dalaran/Shattrath, uh, yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if an experienced player went back. I know I did a couple of times.

I've done that a few times, though running through deadmines as a level 70 did begin to drag after a while . I also took my friends low level hunter to Terokaar Forest, just to show him what it was like. He got in a fight with a friendly spider or something, and lost.

But yeh, WoW was/is fun, that's all that really needs to be said.

 

[slipknot4]

My friend gave me a 14 day trail for wow but i got so bored i never played it again. I don't get why so many people pay for something like that. Can anyone explain

Did you get past level 10? [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/98245-Only-30-Percent-of-WoW-Players-Get-Past-Level-10] Didn't think so. Wow is a great game, no objections. It has some balance issues and minor flaws but it's mad fun if you foresee those things.
But again, he game is about building your character and giving yourself a connection with it. Not trying the trial and giving up on the first 5 quests.

 

[Engarde]

I personally don't want to touch the thing. Not only does it require you to PAY to keep playing, I'm not exactly in MMORPGs.

Besides, Minecraft is much more addicting, in my opinion.

Minecraft is horribly addicting, oh god. And then I lost all my diamonds to creepers undergound in the dark, and then I had to mine for more, to get diamonds, to mine for more diamonds....
It is also very creepy when mining and you run out of torches, open into a cavern, and hear hordes of undead and spiders. Best survival horror ever.

 

[Aeshi]

Lots of content,low system requirements and the fact it's available for just about any OS among other things

 

[Arisato-kun]

It's fun and those of us that loved Warcraft 3's story enjoy the closure that WoW has and will continue to offer.

You don't find it fun and that's ok. WoW doesn't care. It has 10 million others to feed off of.

What closure that it offers? I've been playing the Warcraft series since Orcs and Humans, my second favourite game of all time and I have got no closure from WoW, all I have got is confusion from the lore and the feeling that a big chunk of the story is missing.

So the fact that Illidan made his move in BC from Outland into Azeroth had no merit? What about the defeat of Kael'Thas?

Most importantly, what about Wrath of the Lich King?

Spoiler

The combined forces of the Alliance and Horde assaulting Icecrown? Arthas luring all these champions to create a powerful undead army to conquer Azeroth with? Tirion Fordring shattering Frostmourne and Arthas dying in the arms of his father?

Let's not even begin to forget that we're going to have stories expanding into The Emerald Dream and possibly The Maelstrom in Cataclysm.

There's plenty of lore to be found and enjoyed and closure to be had. You just gotta look.

 

[Serenegoose]

I think there's a lot of reasons that Warcraft has the popularity it does, but I'll list a few that immediately come to mind.

1: It's already the most popular. This means that you're guaranteed to find people to play with if you're willing to look, which is, from what I've read, why many people stay for so long. "For the guild."
2: When it came out, it was the most polished MMO out there. I believe, personally, that it still is. It took the core concepts that MMOs had established and bound them up into a very well designed package. Then it continued to polish it for... how long now. 5-6 years?
3: It offers something for everybody. Those who just want a diablo fix can go out, hit monsters, get xp, get loot, sell loot, do quests, etc. Those who want a more community minded experience can have that, too. I personally feel it does cater the endgamers a bit overmuch, leaving the mid-levels hanging, but we'll see how Cataclysm changes that.

 

[Vrach]

My friend gave me a 14 day trail for wow but i got so bored i never played it again. I don't get why so many people pay for something like that. Can anyone explain

Gets better and more addictive the more you play. Also, for the same reason Facebook is popular. WoW just gives you something to do while you're socializing.

As for "why is it better than the other MMOs", it just has more people. It's a snowball effect, gets bigger the more it rolls down the mountain. It had some good fun with original WoW and TBC, now it's scraping the bottom of the barrel for casual players, so I'd say we're likely to see a very fast downfall in popularity in the next few years, considering the number of MMOs that are about to do everything WoW does and more.

 

[Bretty]

OP: WoW was an MMO that came out when there were no other MMOs like it. The watershed of the MMO industry.

I have fun PvPing but I guess you didn't get past lvl 15? lol.

ROFL, no offense man, but every other MMO was like it. Ever hear of Everquest as a prime example? WoW once upon a time was reffered to as an "Everquest clone" the same way that so many other games are called "WoW clones" today. Everquest wasn't the only one though. Many others used that same system... actually almost all of them did.

It is true that WoW had a somewhat more polished approach to the system. But the polish was not near as much as most WoW fans would have someone believe. The polish didn't really come until later when it had already blown up.


OT: Dude, WoW is the Paris Hilton of gaming. It is famous for simply being famous. It was smart marketing is what it was. Don't let anyone fool you by saying it has to do with attributes to the game or anything of the sort. I was there when it was released and followed it all the way. I was playing Anarchy Online when WoW came out and to this day remember when WoW started getting popular as it was when I started to pull away from MMOs. Everyone was going to WoW because, ironically enough, everyone was going to WoW. I did not like WoW, so this left me in the cold. I found my way through on CoH and Guild Wars to scratch an itch when I wanted the MMO experience. (Both are games that tried to pull away from the things I didn't like in old MMOs... the very things WoW embraced.)

But my point is basically, people really grew interest in WoW when WoW started spouting how large it's "community" was. Which made it grow, which drew more people, which made it grow, etc. WoW took a big step by advertising on television. That may seem small but WoW was the first game to fervantly advertise their game on television. And you are now seeing other companies start to catch on with more and more money being put into television commercials for video games.

This whole topic has given me an idea to branch off into a different thread about MMOs in general that I may toss up here later this week.

Over opinionated much?

I played EQ, but EQ didn't exactly bring the numbers that WoW did, even the first year of WoW saw more players on at a time than EQ ever had. Blizzard make great games, well polished, story driven (well used to) EQ was a horrible looking really really large time sink. WoW looked great, great story, and actually fun.

I played EQ for two years and WoW since Second Closed Beta. I know MMOs, I have played all of them (minus the free ones).

So, for me, WoW was the watershed in MMOs. You talk about the TV ads but WoW wasn't even on TV until the game had been out for 3-4 years? WoW did a lot right... but you seem so hugely biased to actually see it. You state things as fact when they are nothing but opninion, makes you come off as an ass. WoW became so popular BECAUSE IT WAS GOOD, as more people go to an MMO more people follow. You make it sound like people only play it because it is their and people are playing it, which is a stupid assertion.

 

[Bretty]

What, EQ? Give me a break.

 

[Bretty]

OT: what happened to fluffy chicken 1?

OP: WoW was an MMO that came out when there were no other MMOs like it. The watershed of the MMO industry.

I have fun PvPing but I guess you didn't get past lvl 15? lol.

Ehm yes there were other MMO's like that..

Like EQ? Give me a break!

 

[theSovietConnection]

Because its fun? This might shock you but people have different a taste then you do.

Exactly. Now that this shocking revelation has been made, can we stop asking this question?