world of warcraft, my opinions

[broadband]

well im not sure how call this, the english isnt my native languaje but anyway, i ant to say that time ago i played and leavedit when i was around lvl 40.

but what i want to say is this, i played warcraft 3, that dragged my into WoW, i think the idea was good, but ended being the mold of the mmos made of reinforced steel, and yet its one of the most successfuls and made thepeople to know more about the mmos.

one of the mains thingsthat dragged me in that game was the storyline, in frozen throne they leaved a great cliffhanger if thats the word, the gameplay was simple, but thegame just survives thanks to the adictive act of raid and lvl up.

the storyline was abandoned, and the interesting characters in it, downed to just dugeon bosses and decoration, the truce that had the horde with the alliance or the Jaina explorers, was forgoted, having no aparent reason or explanation for those who played warcraft 3.

well besides that the graphics and all that, where cartoonic and good enough to me, i like the cartoon style, except how huge where the bare hands of the male humans, and maybe some body proportions of the male night elf, but anyway, and besides of thati never saw a interactive emote that involved 2 players or something that.

well i think thats all, itwas a good idea that perfomed in a very bad way

 

[Adrenicide]

WoW is just an EQ clone, don't hate on it, hate on the developers that came from big EQ raiding guilds to apply their vast and superior knowledge of how MMO endgames should be, mainly raid or die. The WC3 storyline is hinted at occasionally, in the trailer it says "the uneasy truce between the Horde and the Alliance has dissolved, leading to war" or something along those lines. The cartoon graphics are cool, but I'd never considered graphics like that on par with how Warhammer Online is looking, the WoW moderators call the two different styles, but I find realism and cartoon aside WAR looks outstanding and makes WoW look cheap.

MMOs are in a bit of a rut for the time being, many new players to the genre are being introduced to WoW with no other MMOs to gauge it by, not like when EQ, UO, DaOC, AC, etc. were competing together, not all at the same time mind you, but they didn't have the monopoly that WoW has on the MMO genre. This will unfortunately lead to WoW clones for a while until another MMO can make such a drastic innovation with such a polished look and bug free environment that it will rob a large portion of WoW's fan base. LotRO did a pretty decent job, but it's only taking casuals away because of its casual style. WAR can only expect to steal the PvPers, so for now we get some MMOs that will take portions of WoW's base but WoW caters well enough to everyone that it will survive for some time.

Then we have Blizzard's new unannounced Next-gen MMO, that could also make things interesting depending on if the development crew is made of any of WoW's current crew or not.

 

[Azile]

WoW was a great gaming experience while you were playing with your friends, all working together trying to reach that magic level of 60 when you would be able to do all those really cool dungeons together. And then came level 60 and you started to get borded of those few instances and everything started to go to hell. Raiding guilds, morons, guild drama and most of all, WoW started to feel like a freaking second job that you actually felt bad if you were not able to show up and "help the guild" for 3,4,5 or 6 hours every night.

After taking a break, leaving the guild, Burning Crusade was ordered and everything was fun again, playing just with a few friends. And what happened then? You hit level 70 and basically had to start raiding again or abandon every thought about ever getting any new items again.

After a short stay in yet a few guilds I stopped playing, promising myself that I would never ever touch this blasted piece of software ever again.

I've been WoW free for over 6 months now and although the thought have occurd to me, there is no way that I'm getting the next expansion, no matter how great it will be, it will still be the same thing in the end.

 

[soladrin]

i played till lvl 28 and by that time i was already so bored with it that i sold my acc to a class mate back then ~~

 

[p1ne]

After seeing a friend lose an entire academic quarter to Lineage, a repetitive clickfest with amazingly hideous graphics, I made a solemn vow to myself that I would never play MMORPGs - a vow that I have kept. OK, I guess I tried the Ragnarok Online beta for about a week.... just long enough to make sure it was about as fun as going to hell and being punished by having to spend eternity searching the Earth for every single one of your discarded toenail clippings.

Every once in awhile I start to feel like maybe I'm not being fair by not even trying WoW, then I see a testament like Azile's here, come to my goddamn senses, and go back to playing more interesting games.

 

[soladrin]

After seeing a friend lose an entire academic quarter to Lineage, a repetitive clickfest with amazingly hideous graphics, I made a solemn vow to myself that I would never play MMORPGs - a vow that I have kept. OK, I guess I tried the Ragnarok Online beta for about a week.... just long enough to make sure it was about as fun as going to hell and being punished by having to spend eternity searching the Earth for every single one of your discarded toenail clippings.

Every once in awhile I start to feel like maybe I'm not being fair by not even trying WoW, then I see a testament like Azile's here, come to my goddamn senses, and go back to playing more interesting games.

Ragnarok Online actually was fun... i played it for 5 years XD but yea, that was mainly because of the community not so much the game itself, i took over a year to reach max level and in the other 4 years we just sat around talking.. kinda like a fancy chat program hunting shite whenever we had nothing to talk about.. it was rather fun, i miss the old times...

 

[Agent_4]

I agree with Yahtzee that WoW is my second job. I currently have a lvl 70, 58, 34, and some characters lower than lvl 20. I love World of Warcraft and all of the friends I have made on there. I've even known people for more than a year now, that is what makes WoW fun. You need to be in a guild and get to know people and chat with them like in real life in order to enjoy the grinding of WoW.

 

[squirrelman42]

I completely disagree that WoW has no storyline. The story is about YOU. YOU are the HERO of the Horde/Alliance. The game is about YOU and the physical trials you endure, the people you help or ignore (I'm looking at you Billy Maclure), the plots you foil, the villains you face, and how ultimately YOU defeat the most dangerous foes that threaten Azeroth. Many of the characters are there and I really look for the quests and the side storylines (the defias brotherhood, the ever growing tensions b/w Horde and alliance, the ever growing Steamwheedle Cartel). Many people just see the quest as a way to level up, but it really is a way to live the life of a hero. Choose who you help and watch your reputation grow.

I'm not saying the game is perfect. I've gotten up and walked away from it for up to 4 months at a time, but that Heroic Story makes me feel more than just a wageslave. It's not Solid Snake doing this, it's not Master Chief, it's not Mario or Link or Crash Bandicoot saving the world, it's YOU.

 

[MacCarth]

I played until level 40 and got my horse. Then, as I was riding it around the beginner-level areas, I thought to myself "I just wasted like..three weeks of my life" and promptly cancelled my subscription.

 

[Girlysprite]

For all the time wasting arguments...All games are more or less 'a waste of time'. I mean, you don't reach anything in the real world by playing them, and that is what they are about. Just having fun and relax. Now if you quit because you do not enjoy the gameplay, that is another matter.
By the way, I do enjoy WoW, and I play just casually with a bunch of friends. It look pretty, the gameplay is relaxed, there is a nice change in area looks...The gameplay stays more or less the same, but I discovered that that is the case with most MMO's.

 

[KaynSlamdyke]

I'm going to side with the topic starter on the feeling of being missold the concept of WoW. Warcraft had a rich history it built out of the obvious Warhammer and Tolkienesque setting it was based on and built something that was it's own by the time it got to the masterpiece that was Warcraft III, building a world so steeped in lore it was truly one of the shining examples of good storywriting (as the games industry expects anyway) in a game.

And then WoW took the lore, shoved it into an Everquest engine, and butchered it as far as I was concerned. My interest in WoW died with Ahn'Qiraj. Guess what everyone, all the history doesn't matter because we've got giant bugs running everything. And then they brought the fantasy aspect down a peg by making all the prayers and holy powers run through interdimensional pixies and I lost all respect for it.

It did the opposite of every MMO. Instead of build a world with the game, it took the world and poked arround with it to make it stick. Where's that uneasy peace idea that was sorted out by the end of Warcraft III - where's that opportunity to fight against the Burning Legions in a tattered alliance between the Horde and the Alliance? Where is that neutral race aspect I was hoping for.

Where did that innovation, and that ability to recycle the old and create something new go?

 

[soladrin]

I'm going to side with the topic starter on the feeling of being missold the concept of WoW. Warcraft had a rich history it built out of the obvious Warhammer and Tolkienesque setting it was based on and built something that was it's own by the time it got to the masterpiece that was Warcraft III, building a world so steeped in lore it was truly one of the shining examples of good storywriting (as the games industry expects anyway) in a game.

And then WoW took the lore, shoved it into an Everquest engine, and butchered it as far as I was concerned. My interest in WoW died with Ahn'Qiraj. Guess what everyone, all the history doesn't matter because we've got giant bugs running everything. And then they brought the fantasy aspect down a peg by making all the prayers and holy powers run through interdimensional pixies and I lost all respect for it.

It did the opposite of every MMO. Instead of build a world with the game, it took the world and poked arround with it to make it stick. Where's that uneasy peace idea that was sorted out by the end of Warcraft III - where's that opportunity to fight against the Burning Legions in a tattered alliance between the Horde and the Alliance? Where is that neutral race aspect I was hoping for.

Where did that innovation, and that ability to recycle the old and create something new go?

i completely agree with you and like to add this, my biggest quarrel with WoW is that not some hero from the story line, but just your random tard with a cape and some stupid name can just go around and kill off MAIN CHARACTERS, characters with untold power which hold a great signifigance in the story, just get humiliated and slaughtered by random hicks. At that point i said fuck you blizzard.

 

[KaynSlamdyke]

...my biggest quarrel with WoW is that not some hero from the story line, but just your random tard with a cape and some stupid name can just go around and kill off MAIN CHARACTERS...

Amen.

It's the tagline I remember someone assigning MMO's. "They're worlds where you can all be heroes... just not THE hero".

So my response to the nice person (squirrelman42) who claimed that WoW's storyline should be a personal thing, I'd agree with you only if the game supported that kind of thing. I can't run Stormwind. I can't launch a raid on Oggrimmar that'll last. I can't even run my own stall despite being a trained blacksmith, cook and leatherworker. I can't run my own demon worshipping cult despite being able to summon demons by myself.

I can't do anything that hasn't been pre-scripted. How is that my own story? Why make me this underpowered retard, and why force me to be in a group of forty people to kill a dragon? Has anyone ever read a book where the protagonist was a mook four ranks and two files into a dragon raid? Has anyone ever cared about those people? We barely cared about the guy who got the lucky shot in on Smaug in the Hobbit. Why would we care about playing a token mook in a world this rich - a world we can't effect.

There should be a punishment for letting down your dreams in this way.

 

[GrungeHead]

The thing i hate about WoW is that its pay to play. $40 every month to play a last generation game that largely gets by on sensationalism (Much like Harry Potter). Even if it was free i wouldn't play it anyway because of the incredible grind and time it takes to reach the level cap so you aren't looked down upon for being a noob. You can call me a noob, WoW nerd, but at lest my legs aren't vestigial sausages dangling from my office chair.

 

[Fire Daemon]

I don't like WoW or any other mmorpgs for a few reasons.

1. I beleive they are not worth the price.
2. they eat up too much time
3. mmorpgs are not (in my opinion) fun, they are a chore.
4. They take credit from well made games and tend to dominate the fantasy market.
5. The create a bad image of gamers spending all there time infront of a PC eating chips (see South park Make love not Warcraft)
6. They took away my friends and wont give them back

 

[Copter400]

You just have to be the right sort of person to play an MMO, the sort of person who really gets into a detailed alternate reality, the sort of person who enjoys grinding because it gives him time to think (not neccesarily in a relevant or intelligent manner, though), the sort of person who becomes so obsessed they draw their characters and plan out their next raid while outside. I know this, because I fit in all those categories. If I only had the computer specs, I'd get WoW and never do anything again.

 

[Saltiness]

Just pointing out that while WoW may SEEM like a grind, it's nothing compared to other MMOs.

It's still a grind, no matter which way you try to cut it.

My ultimate problem with WoW was there was so very much implemented into the game just to waste time. Oggrimmar's city layout comes to mind of stashing the blacksmith/engy as far away as possible from the bank and auction house. Or how meaningless things have progress timers, while I can understand the realism of my character hammering an anvil taking time, god damn just save me 5 minutes of nothing and stick them in my inventory already.

 

[raankh]

I got tired of WoW around level 16 (which of course took an eternity by WoW standards, really not a first-time-user-friendly game) and did the washing up instead. After a weekend of cajolery, that's satisfying grinding.

I'm still waiting for a MMOG that will draw me in. I've tried sucking the WoW ennui outlet, but I just don't get addicted. Apart from the incessant calls "OMFG ARMOUR FROM HELL, COMPLETE WITH ROD AND ELF PR0N 3141592654g!" and mediocre quests (people don't even read the descriptions ffs) there isn't any content.

If I'm going to be playing with my friends anyways, I don't need the MMO aspect. Meeting new people to play with? That's what online lobbies and forums are for.

If I'm to hop on the ephemeral bandwagon I need gameplay content that doesn't explicitly require an MMO aspect, but where the MMO aspect is an implicit pre-requisite of that content! That is to say, the core gameplay could not be done without MMO. And not just a standard game forced into such a mold.