Is MMO-Champion spoiling WoW?

[Flappy]

Every day I come to these forums and see a generally unhappy group of individuals who are constantly praying for the downfall of Warcraft. The moaning ranges from "That feeling just isn't there anymore" to "This game has nothing to do for me anymore" and I can't help but feel that MMO-champion is the reason behind this. Let me explain.

Yesterday the Lunar Festival came onto the servers and in between battlegrounds I decided, "what the hell, never done these before so I might as well give it a whirl." I dive in headfirst, and realize that I've never really looked into this event other than it grants "The Elder" title, a title I was never particularly interested in. As I'm going along my merry way completing quests it's then that the feeling hits me, that feeling that I too thought I had lost some time ago in The Burning Crusade. The feeling most people say they've lost and why the game can never be the same. You know what I'm talking about.

That's when the revelation hit--I was having a good time doing this event that I had never done before and never bothered to look up in MMO-Champion. While the event itself may not be some huge hit, the freshness (well, to me at least) of it provided that old WoW feeling. So I didn't look it up on MMO-champion about all the shortcuts or how to skip all the head scratching and get right to the title. Guess what? I had fun. Genuine fun. Totally hit me out of the blue.

So my question to those out there:

Is the knowledge (or spoilers) that mmo-champion provides about each event, boss encounter, patch, or expansion taking all the surprise out of WoW? Is it the foundation on which all the whining has been built?

I challenge you to go do something in the game you've never done before or read about on MMO-champion, tell me how it turns out.

[pickley]

Why not, it seems like everything else is killing WoW...

[-Zait-]

People are always gonna bitch and vent about things they hate about WoW, MMO champ just happens to be a spot where they do. If you want worse look at the actual forum.

[Anthas]

I think all of the unhappy players come here to collectively complain because nobody does anything about it. There's an infraction here and there, but in general, people get away with whatever they want. I can honestly say there has NEVER been a single day when I haven't seen a negative forum post at the top of the homepage. Not once.

If the game truly isn't fun for you, just quit. Don't look at other people's excuses, just quit.

[Flappy]

People are always gonna bitch and vent about things they hate about WoW, MMO champ just happens to be a spot where they do. If you want worse look at the actual forum.

Yeah but it hasn't occurred to you that maybe the reason they are bitching is because the knowledge MMO-champion has provided has been the equivalent of someone spoiling a great movie?

[HikariOblivion]

To a certain degree, I think so. Wealth of information, in general, is expected, especially in things like raid fights and whatnot. Look at the Lich King for example. How does the fight end? Most of us know this. Most of us knew it before we ever saw it ingame. But wouldn't it have been absolutely crazy, to NOT know the win conditions of the fight? To bring him down, get close and past the third phase, and suddenly get one-shot and locked from resurrecting because the Lich King has your soul? Wonder with confusion and curiosity what just happened?

I really, really wish I had.

[Chingylol]

I bet only 1-2% of the general wow population even know about mmo-champ. Theres alot of people ive come across in game that had no clue what it was.

[jinsu]

and if mmo-champion wasn't here you think that everyone would just be oblivious to the game again? LOL

[Flappy]

I bet only 1-2% of the general wow population even know about mmo-champ. Theres alot of people ive come across in game that had no clue what it was.

Even if it was just 1-2% of the WoW population (a conservative estimate IMHO) that's still around what 100,000-200,000 people?
200,000 people could easily "/2 Deathwing dies, thrall shoots him in the face with the dragon soul" and ruin it for the rest of them.

---------- Post added 2012-01-24 at 03:48 AM ----------

and if mmo-champion wasn't here you think that everyone would just be oblivious to the game again? LOL

That's not what I'm saying at all. There will always be a site around like this one. I'm saying I think people would enjoy the game more if they didn't intentionally flip to the last page of the book before starting to read it.

[Deleted]

Like myself, I believe a large chunk of the MMO-Champion forum goers are people who don't have an active WoW membership going.

[jinsu]

except you clearly mentioned mmo-champion about 5 times. It's the same thing for any game, movie, book, anything that can possibly be "ruined" by being told information before experiencing it. If they can't create content that is exciting and interesting to see/experience even after knowing what goes on then that's their problem. Just like when there is a film adaption of a book, people know what is going to happen but the film can still be a great experience because the director/actors/producers whatever know how to create good films

[gnomeface08]

I think it could be possible, actually. Forums like MMO provide a place for people to come voice their discontent, and other people read it and think, "Heyyyy, yeah, I should be mad about that too!" The result is thread after thread of the exact same ideas, expressed in varying degrees of constructiveness. Or, someone comes to the forums and sees that self-proclaimed pro players are throwing around words like "baddies" and "scrub" and they feel the need to jump on that bandwagon right away to establish their superior image. It's kind of a shitty cycle.

It's not killing the game so much as it's ruining the community.

[Necrolepsy]

MMO champ killing WoW... that's some good meth you're smoking.

Only Blizzard can kill wow (and they're doing a damn good job of it).

MMO champ is just lacking in news posts lately because there's nothing to give to the public except recaps from Blizzcon 2011. Blame blizzard and their neglect of the game, the game isn't even in beta yet so don't expect a release until at least September.

[MoanaLisa]

I guess that really depends on how many people are actually posting about WoW in any given time period. That would be an interesting piece of information to know. I'm guessing that it's less than 5000/month total so no, MMO-C isn't killing WoW.

Most people in the game don't read forums. I don't take them all that seriously although the amount of blisteringly stupid stuff I see makes me worry about some of the people posting.

[gnomeface08]

except you clearly mentioned mmo-champion about 5 times. It's the same thing for any game, movie, book, anything that can possibly be "ruined" by being told information before experiencing it. If they can't create content that is exciting and interesting to see/experience even after knowing what goes on then that's their problem. Just like when there is a film adaption of a book, people know what is going to happen but the film can still be a great experience because the director/actors/producers whatever know how to create good films

Hmm, I dunno about the film/book comparison. Being excited about the film adaptation of a book suggests that you've read and invested yourself in the book. That is, you've experienced the story first hand and are now seeing it interpreted visually, oftentimes varying drastically from your own perceptions of what you read. In that way, the experience of watching the film is both totally new and involves something you've experienced already.

With patch notes, boss videos, etc, you're getting snippets of all the big parts of the action, all the bread and butter of the content. You simply know what's going to happen at every turn. There are no new interpretations or building upon of experiences; it is what it is.

[Deleted]

In a way, you are right. Though I would refrain from using the word "Killing" and replace it with "spoiling" instead.
After all, you don't want to know the end of a movie or book before you have seen/read it yourself.

[RAGINGBRODADDY]

yes it definitely is

[Voidgazer]

It's not just MMO-champ, it's the online databases and guides in general. It takes away any possibilities for exploration and excitement.

Rich API and open GUI modding is what made WoW so great and undermined the adventure feeling at the same time. And it was already discussed here.

[Eorayn]

Why not, it seems like everything else is killing WoW...

Best signature ever xD

OT: I get that feeling sometimes. Rarely. But its fantastic.

[Howard Moon]

Well in a way I agree with the OP.

Not necessarily just MMO-Champ, but any online guide which reveals a game's tactics and mysteries. Having all this knowledge beforehand can make the game less fun IMHO.