Is WoW the best MMO on the Market?

[Coffeh]

Several times over the years as I've taken breaks from WoW I've played a variety of other mmos, but they always paled in comparison to WoW. Recently once again I quit WoW and shopped around about a dozen mmos. For the first ever I can say WoW is definitely not the best mmo on the market. It's incredibly dated. Other games are finally as responsive as WoW. Many have far better combat, obviously better graphics. Bigger and more intersting worlds. WoW does have that overall polish that comes from 13+ years, but the biggest thing it has going for it is simply all the time that players have invested in it already. It's hard for people to walk away from all that time and advancement. Aside from that the game really don't have much going for it.

[Feanorris]

Exactly this.

WoW both vivified and killed the MMORPG genre. It's quite unique in the history of gaming: I have never heard of another game to which all competitors in the whole GENRE were compared... and many failed because "not WoW."

Interesting phenomenon.

Couldn't agree more...

Everyone will compare everything to WoW when setting standard for MMO.
Many will rage quit but will get back just to have some good game time (and then rage quit again >.< )
WoW is phenomenon in deed.

[Deleted]

Most sucessful does not equal best. FFXIV is objectively better than wow in everything beside PVP, race variety and item bonuses. And does not have a glamour(our word for transmog) log. Yet.

Better graphics
Sub races
Better story
More ways to level
Better music
Housing
zero need for alts
more interesting profession system
patches and expansion have much more stuff in them and come with at maximum four months between them.

Objectively? How can you, as a single person, be objective? Not possible at all, even if your Enstein, Tesla or any other of great minds of our time.

[WowIsDead64]

It was in the past. Now Blizzard slowly turn it into another generic F2P MMO. Only positive thing - Blizzard still have enough profit to support it, so they try to stretch it's agony. For example, as I remember, it had taken just several months for Wildstar to first switch from P2P to plexes and then to F2P. Yeah, Wow can stay in such state for years. But game will never improve - degrade only.

[opposing critter]

The thing with WoW is that so many people have put so much money into the game, that they do not want to lose that investment of time and money. This keeps them playing. This is a large part of why WoW has so many subscribers, it is human nature to not want to give up something you have put many years of time/money into.

That was the hardest part of my quitting WoW, the 'letting go' of all the investment I put into the game. I still have urges to get back on the game to do new events to get stuff that are not permanently obtainable.

Don't get me wrong, the game is good, but it certainly caters to a specific crowd.

For me, the graphics don't really do it for me anymore. They are not really getting better, with the technology (obviously this is an engine limitation). Yeah, they add more polygons to models, but it's still the same 'cartoony' look. Which many people like. And people love that it can run on 10 year old pieces of shit.

I prefer stuff that looks more real and not as 'cartoony' was WoW (Black Desert Online, FFXIV, etc.)

This 100x it's hard to drop a game after so much time and money has been spent on it.

[Christonya]

Wow is defiantly the most popular for sure, but I would still argue that gw2 is a better game overall.

[Deleted]

you ask that in a WoW Forum... what will be the answer? YES!

[Deleted]

stuff in bold isn't objective.

It was already discussed earlier. Art style is subjective, but on a pure technical level the FFXIV engine is a decade ahead of wow's. And it shows. The writing quality is subjective, but if you play wow now from 1 to 110 the narrative breaks all the time. The worst offenders are trolls and the TBC races, but everyone beside demon hunters have it rough.

To those who have played FFXIV: what does WoW do better? Why would WoW be considered better than FFXIV? I do love WoW and always will, but I know good and well that FFXIV does it better.

As someone who likes FFXIV far more, I prefer the wow races. They have really beast like races not just humans with one or two differences. Also I like how gear has different bonuses beside adding to your attributes.

Meh, the "i can do all the things" angle of FFXIV is one of the main reasons I won't bother with it.

And that's a completely valid oppinion. But now in wow you kinda need to get all 36 artifacts to get the full picture of the story. That can be bothersome for some people.

Objectively? How can you, as a single person, be objective? Not possible at all, even if your Enstein, Tesla or any other of great minds of our time.

Yes I can. And so can you. Most of these categories boil down to numbers, that can be objectively measured. Does each race have zero sub races, or two? Are there zero housing districts or three? Did it take six expansions to release 3 new classes or just one?

Others like graphics, story or music are more difficult, but those are already being discussed.

[CaptainV]

So what is ?

At this current time the general consensus is that there isnt really an alternative.

The game isnt popular because its good, the game is popular because the other mmo's out there are about on par with it in terms of entertainment value. That being said, FF14 is doing pretty well at the moment and could honestly be considered the second most popular game making it the most successful of today. GW2 is also doing pretty well for itself despite its ups and downs which again, suggests its still an equal successor.

The thing is, rather than there being "one" specific better MMO, there are many "decent" ones that are just as good if not better than WoW at the current state of WoW itself.

Ive used this metaphor before but I do like to enphasis it because its a good one to make a point.

If you think of WoW as the great Roman Empire in its rise years ago, then todays WoW is the Western Roman Empire in its fall, with final fantasy 14 (rather aptly an eastern game) being the Eastern Roman Empire that has its own way of running things.

There are many smaller tribes and large empires that are slowly growing in WoW's shadow, from the small province of Britian (Wildstar) copying the success of its predacessor but with little expandability to the flourishing Sanassid Empire (Guild wars 2) which is rich in wealth and promise and new thinking.

Scattered across the land are various smaller factions but they are still thriving decently, RIFT, SWTOR, ESO, BDO.

And even more new ones are comming too, Crowfall being one example, Im aware of at least 2 other MMO's that are being made too, like Star Citizen.

The big threat has yet to come into play, but there will soon be a Hun, a faction that is so great and so terrifying it will bulldoze WoW into the floor, shattering its legacy forever. Right now that faction hasnt yet arisen, but its something everyone is waiting for.

And its likley to come into existance, soon.

[TheFirstOnes]

You seem to be taking this way to seriouslly and going way to defensive considering I've said very little.

...What?

I'm just pointing out constructive criticism to you...

Nothing else...

[unbound]

WoW is the best MMO in the same way that Subway or McDonalds is the best restaurant. By far the most popular, but not nearly as satisfying as other products out there.

Similar to McDonalds, WoW has the advantage of people having played it since they were children. It is comfortable, brings feelings of nostalgia despite being a shadow of its former self, and has plenty of people to play with because of the first 2 points. And, to be fair, sometimes all you want is a crappy pack of nuggets to get you through the day. WoW serves that purpose.

[Tackhisis]

The course of the game development over the 2 last expansions took a nosedive to shit, but at the technical and implementation level WoW is impeccable.

[HeiAggra]

WOW is not perfect but it's the best out there and it will be for a long time still.
No other MMO as the response to commands that wow as. It's the best i ever seen.
It's easy to pick up.
7/10 IMO

[Deleted]

Yes it is.

[Deleted]

Just like to add FFXIV got in the Guinness World Records for best musical score in an MMORPG

[Krille]

Tried many different MMOs out there but in terms of gameplay and implementation (execution of content) WoW is by far the best. Many other MMOs are absolutely smashed with gamebreaking bugs and awful class balance. There's just nothing that can keep up with WoWs standard on many levels.

[Deleted]

stuff in bold isn't objective.

Story I agree, and maybe graphical style, but lets be frank. Nothing in wow even compares to the visual effect FFXIV has during some of the boss fights.

[Deadite]

Nah. I would rate it possibly third currently and fifth of all time.

[Golden]

Simple question. In your opinion, is WoW the best MMO on the market today?

If not, what is in your opinion?

I think the better question is whether any MMO out there is actually growing...or are all MMOs in decline?

[cface]

WoW is the best MMO in the same way that Subway or McDonalds is the best restaurant. By far the most popular, but not nearly as satisfying as other products out there.

Similar to McDonalds, WoW has the advantage of people having played it since they were children. It is comfortable, brings feelings of nostalgia despite being a shadow of its former self, and has plenty of people to play with because of the first 2 points. And, to be fair, sometimes all you want is a crappy pack of nuggets to get you through the day. WoW serves that purpose.

I don't agree with what you're trying here at all. I would love to play other MMO's, but I simply do not have time or will to put in the effort it takes, to get to know them. I know wow, it's easy for me to jump into and know how to socialize and jump into raids and what not. A new MMO just have this big wall for me, I can't be arse to do what it takes and read pages upon pages, thread after thread, guide after guide to immerse myself into it. So there it is, I only know WoW, and it's easy for me cause I know the world.

To go test a new restaurant, takes zero effort, just a bit money. I'm sure I'm missing a lot of good MMO's out there that could be much better for me.