Why is WOW so popular

[Mariakitten]

Because people like the sense of community, and its just plain fun.

 

[AceAngel]

I for one find it strange that people claim the game has 15M+ players.

Blizzard and most statics indicated over 11.5M players, and considering in markets, over implies between a couple of hundred thousand more, 15M is a WAAAAAY off figure.

So yes, I don't find WoW strange OR Blizzard OR the players, I find the people who claim such hyperbolic numbers to be the stranger ones...

I firmly believe that Blizzard uses the number of accounts that have been activated through a subscription payment for their "number of players". It isn't lying and you would be hard pressed to try and call it fraud of any kind in a court.

But that is the problem for me, all sources indicate between 11 and 12M players, not 15M, and 3M ain't a small number so scoff at. So why are many Blizzbots adding the 3M in the forumla?

 

[Nylis]

I for one find it strange that people claim the game has 15M+ players.

Blizzard and most statics indicated over 11.5M players, and considering in markets, over implies between a couple of hundred thousand more, 15M is a WAAAAAY off figure.

So yes, I don't find WoW strange OR Blizzard OR the players, I find the people who claim such hyperbolic numbers to be the stranger ones...

I firmly believe that Blizzard uses the number of accounts that have been activated through a subscription payment for their "number of players". It isn't lying and you would be hard pressed to try and call it fraud of any kind in a court.

But that is the problem for me, all sources indicate between 11 and 12M players, not 15M, and 3M ain't a small number so scoff at. So why are many Blizzbots adding the 3M in the forumla?

It's not some conspiracy. Some people just don't know the actual number, all they know is that it's in the millions, and make a mistake about the exact number. It's nothing to get worked up about.

Them saying WoW has 15M instead of its actual 11M, or however many, is not going to bring in or take away 4M players.

 

[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.

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.

I know all of that, but that's not closure, I'll be honest I'm a Blizzard fan boy, I love pretty much everything they do, I've read the books and still play World of Warcraft and have done since release. But it does nothing but screw over everything that happened previously and closure would be implying things like the Lich Kings reign was at an end when in fact it's not even close to being at the end.

 

[AceAngel]

I for one find it strange that people claim the game has 15M+ players.

Blizzard and most statics indicated over 11.5M players, and considering in markets, over implies between a couple of hundred thousand more, 15M is a WAAAAAY off figure.

So yes, I don't find WoW strange OR Blizzard OR the players, I find the people who claim such hyperbolic numbers to be the stranger ones...

I firmly believe that Blizzard uses the number of accounts that have been activated through a subscription payment for their "number of players". It isn't lying and you would be hard pressed to try and call it fraud of any kind in a court.

But that is the problem for me, all sources indicate between 11 and 12M players, not 15M, and 3M ain't a small number so scoff at. So why are many Blizzbots adding the 3M in the forumla?

It's not some conspiracy. Some people just don't know the actual number, all they know is that it's in the millions, and make a mistake about the exact number. It's nothing to get worked up about.

Them saying WoW has 15M instead of its actual 11M, or however many, is not going to bring in or take away 4M players.

But 4M is sure one hell of pocket change for Blizzard...I mean hell, SC2 was pocket change with it's 3M...

 

[Savagezion]

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.

WoW did nothing new to be labeled as you labeled. No other game like it? Like I said man, every other game was like it except a few stragglers like FFXI - and it really shouldn't be classified as breaking boundaries. Congrats for playing all the P2P MMOs. Do you know how many are out there? That means you are either lying to sound like you have final say in an MMO arguement or you are telling the truth meaning you wouldn't have time to give a full review of any of them. I don't believe you.

I see you claiming WoW as some revolutionary MMO when it did nothing revolutionary. Guild Wars tried stepping out of the box with instanced zones, a feeling of "campaigns", charactor rebuilding on the fly, no "best setup", no grind, etc. To me, that was polishing the MMO experience. Taking all the stuff alot of MMO players complain about and buffing it out. WoW made the same old content more accessible easier than Everquest did. Sped up the content basically. They "dumbed down" alot of the same ideas as other MMOs of the time. After that this was called polish.

The commercials came out after just shy of 3 years old. The point I am making about the television is it brought in new people. My own mother(53) is probably the best example when she thought she should try it out. I have tried to get my mom to play a few games like Halo and she can't do it and gets frustrated. She has a hard time playing the Sims and that is a game that is all her own interest. She has a problem grasping the controls and concepts behind games even with severe interest. Why did she feel compelled to try this MMO out? Because it is everywhere. Her very reason that she told me is because she saw it everywhere. Heard about it everywhere. WoW is shoved down your damn throat even if you are not a gamer. My grandmother(76) has inquired about it and she hates video games. So if I am a gamer and I don't like the game and think it is not good or revolutionary, yes I am a little irritated by the thing. Imagine if a title you thought was just "ok-but not that good" was being praised as "teh best game evar" and being shoved down your throat. People that hate WoW are vocal to make sure everyone can hear them over the game's ego it hasn't earned.

For you to dismiss the media shows a heavy bias on your own end. It is not that awesome... it isn't even next door to awesome. It lives in the neighborhood of "meh" but has a very large ego is all. Playing with friends in a game is fun and the lack of co-op games out there can taint one's view of how good a game actually is. Right now on consoles there is a huge outcry for Co-op games where people are even saying they would be willing to play sub-par games for co-op experiences.

"EQ was a horrible looking really really large time sink."
Ironically, this is exactly what I see WoW as. That is why I was playing Anarchy Online when WoW released. I was aware it was a cool looking really really large time sink. Is WoW better than Everquest? I guess, I didn't care much for Everquest either. That is like saying that the new Superman game is better than Superman64. (Since you spend all your time playing strictly MMOs I will take a stab and hope you are aware of that meme.) Basically, that this poo doesn't smell as bad as that poo to me.

 

[Kris015]

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!

It's still like any other MMO