World of Warcraft, why is it so popular?

[The Kangaroo]

Oh, for christ's sake, another one of these...

BECAUSE THEY FIND IT FUN.

This.

What's This?

 

[Sharpeye42]

I do not know why but most of my friends tried it and just got bored of it in a couple of days.

 

[Ezzay]

What's This?

I think its pretty self explanatory what i was referring to.

 

[Computer-Noob]

It's a very user-friendly MMO. Character creation and building is complex enough to be interesting, but easy enough to figure out. The game has plenty of content appealing to every gamer's personal level of seriousness (both in available playtime and tolerance for complicated tactical play). The game runs on lower-end computers. The graphics are decent. The community is huge, so the potential as a social platform is enormous.

In other words: it's fun.

I had the same experiance as you, played the 14 day trial and while slightly amusing I really couldn't see the point in paying for the full game.

Oh, for christ's sake, another one of these...

BECAUSE THEY FIND IT FUN.

Well obviously not everyone finds it fun or we wouldn't be having this conversation. cause I certainly didn't.

Of course not everyone finds it fun, but that wasn't the question. The question was why the game is popular. The answer: because a lot of people find it fun.

No, the question was why people play it when i found it to be a bad game and gave good reasons for that

Good reason? Did you even DO any PvP? You would have been level capped at 20, where could you have experienced PvP, other than battlegrounds? And ONE battleground at that, and that isnt a very good representation of the whole game. And how is the Ally vs Horde thing contained only to PvP, how would you even know just by using the trial? And FFS, QQ more about grind. If you want a casual game that requires no time at all, buy a Wii. If you REALLY think that those early levels were non-stop grind, your MMO experience must be made up of awful games, or just games that are purely casual, requiring no effort. Oh, and the whole thing about how everyone ends up looking the same, early armor skins will do that. Why? Because Blizz would prefer to give variety and cool weapons/armor to people who will spend a lot of time, and therefore money, on getting them. Thats how big companies, with big MMOs, that give constant updates, stay in business.

 

[IamQ]

It was good when it was released, and it hasn't lost it's old fanbase yet.

It's like counter strike. Counter Strike was good when it was released and their old fanbase is still going strong with it.

 

[IrrelevantTangent]

Because the game has an immense amount of replay value, it's by far the 'best' MMO in the industry, there are millions of players, it doesn't require a fancy computer to run on, and the gameplay is rock-solid.

Trust me, I've played it before- if you're going to play an MMO, play WoW.

 

[The Kangaroo]

Because the game has an immense amount of replay value, it's by far the 'best' MMO in the industry, there are millions of players, it doesn't require a fancy computer to run on, and the gameplay is rock-solid.

Trust me, I've played it before- if you're going to play an MMO, play WoW.

I disagree, I tried a free to play MMO called Runes of Magic, it was basically WOW except with a far improved class system in which after you hit level 10 you can take a secondary class. I played it until level 20, got bored and stopped.

 

[The Kangaroo]

What's This?

I think its pretty self explanatory what i was referring to.

The anti WOW threads?

 

[Ham Blitz]

I'm not fully sure, people like different things, but I actually liked the game for a little while(the 14 day then free month). For me, I had freinds playing at the time, and we messed around doing things together, which is what kept me in. Once they quite I got bored of it...

 

[The Kangaroo]

I played for about 3 months, in my experience it's the community that makes the game. You go in, meet a couple of people at low levels, make a few friends, then suddenly it's no longer *you* playing WoW. It's you AND your gang of 9 or 10 mates who you've met along the way. When I played, I usually ended up questing with the same 4 or 5 people. A Nelf Druid called Drudio, a Dwarf Healer called Hike, a Nelf Rogue (who was about 10 levels above the rest of us) called Mythra and a Dwarf hunter called Gwyrion. If I played WoW without them, it was boring as anything. Once they came online however, the game just came alive. There was actually some thrill for me knowing that I'd tanked that last area so well that no-one else had come away with a scratch.

When I played it I needed some people to help me with a quest and they said "roflwat a n00b" with the lack of spacing and everything.

 

[HAVERSHA]

I watched my friend play it for three hours once. I didn't like the look of it at all. The creators were clever, they managed to create a levelling system where it takes ages and a lot of subscription fees to get to the highest rank. People get addicted to leveling up to get new weapons and Armour.

 

[ragamuffingirl]

I see why it would be fun but, if you ask anyone a question, no matter how small, they answer with a smart ass comment. I hate the word newb and noob or however silly people like to make fun of someone who just started the game. Seems like a weird thing to make fun of, maybe I'm missing the point on what newbies are.

 

[The Kangaroo]

I see why it would be fun but, if you ask anyone a question, no matter how small, they answer with a smart ass comment. I hate the word newb and noob or however silly people like to make fun of someone who just started the game. Seems like a weird thing to make fun of, maybe I'm missing the point on what newbies are.

It's an odd, odd world

 

[Gyrefalcon]

It's popular because it gives people a sense of achievement and it does it without too many bumps in the road. You level up pretty steadily, get new equipment fairly easily, there are lots of people playing so it is pretty easy to fall into a group you enjoy, and when you are high level you get to take out bigger and badder nasties for cooler equipment.

I did my time in EQ with the spell book while meditating, hell levels, forced grouping to level up, and griefers/scammers/trainers galore so I can understand not getting into WoW but I do understand why people love it.

The game is easy to get into for anyone, that's why it's popular. The average person doesn't want to do hours of tutorials to learn how to play. WoW is so easy to get into that anyone with half a brain can play it.

Thank you.

Are you saying that it is in essence, a casual game, like Wii Fit or something?

It really spans the range of hardcore and casual games because it can be played however you want. The genius behind WoW is that it doesn't force you into playing it in any particular way, you can group, you can solo, you can play different classes and play each of those in different ways. You get to choose a faction, a race, and enough customization that you can feel a little unique.

I didn't play for very long because I was burnt out on MMO's but I recognized how dangerous the game was to my continuing education so I put a stop to it after a couple months. The things that made me love Everquest turned people off entirely so when they changed the game to be more appealing to a wider range of people I lost interest. WoW is that idea advanced to the next level in that it appeals to all kinds of players.

I used to know people in EQ1 who would spend untold hours working on tradeskills. They would get the skill to max, make the best stuff and then sell it for crazy amounts of money and then not use it. It was impossible for me to hold onto money in that game, the second I got some I went bartering in North Freeport and turned 5 plat into an item worth 10 plat and then spent the next month poor but satisfied with what I had. I couldn't even comprehend why you would spend so much time amassing vast amounts of fake money and not blow it on stuff you want but for them the act of making things and using that effort to create wealth was the reward.

A fine point but for a lot of later quests in the fourteen day trial, unless you grinded for like 5 hours you HAD to go as a group and as for the customisation, I already mentioned that everyone invariably ends up looking extremely similar as their is only a certain number of armours that any reasonable person would buy.

I've lost friends to WoW. I went with City of Heroes instead in hopes that it wouldn't be quite as addictive. But the basic premise is the same. My first character in CoH wasn't a good build, it was REALLY hard to level. I fought a looooooong time and got very little reward. Later a friend talked me into trying a different build and it made all the difference.

So, I would say, once you have a character type you like that is fun for you to play, you can then start exploring the world and missions with more wonder and less frustration. After that you tend to start teaming and finding people who have compatible play styles and you really start to enjoy it. It's not "just" the game but having the camaraderie of others as well that makes it more addictive. And that part of the experience I don't think you were able to fully tap with the 14-day trial.

And please, quit with the "casual" term. People play this thing religiously for months on end. You don't tend to pick this up, turn it on, play for a couple of hours, and start all over again the next time you turn on your machine. This ISN'T Bubble Bobble or Pac Man! "Casual" is used like a swear word to dismiss any game someone doesn't like around here. Some threads say a game isn't "hardcore" if it doesn't include a high body count. Others claim a game has to require several hours of dedicated play to be "hardcore". Here it's being called casual because it isn't "as hard" as other "hardcore" MMO games. Easier doesn't mean the same as "easy".

Gamers aren't so accepted in the mainstream that they can afford to alienate each other by implying that one person is not as dedicated as another based on the games they choose to play.

 

[Kiutu]

You're an action oriented gamer apparently. WoW is for RPG/MMO gamers.

 

[The_Echo]

Because WoW is a drug, and like drugs, some people get hooked, and others don't see the point.

In case you don't like analogies, though, I've prepared another sentiment.

They enjoy the game. Why? Hell if I know. They just do.

 

[Da_Schwartz]

Exposure, fanboys, Advertising, reputation, uninformed gamers that don't know enough about the other solid mmos out there.

 

[ragamuffingirl]

I see why it would be fun but, if you ask anyone a question, no matter how small, they answer with a smart ass comment. I hate the word newb and noob or however silly people like to make fun of someone who just started the game. Seems like a weird thing to make fun of, maybe I'm missing the point on what newbies are.

It's an odd, odd world

Very odd indeed.

 

[The Kangaroo]

And please, quit with the "casual" term. People play this thing religiously for months on end. You don't tend to pick this up, turn it on, play for a couple of hours, and start all over again the next time you turn on your machine. This ISN'T Bubble Bobble or Pac Man! "Casual" is used like a swear word to dismiss any game someone doesn't like around here. Some threads say a game isn't "hardcore" if it doesn't include a high body count. Others claim a game has to require several hours of dedicated play to be "hardcore". Here it's being called casual because it isn't "as hard" as other "hardcore" MMO games. Easier doesn't mean the same as "easy".

Hey First of all, people played Pac Man religiously and I am in no way dissing the casual game industry as I play many casual games such as Peggle.

I called it casual because there wasn't much of a leaning curve apart from how to play certain classes.