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  1. #1
    Herald of the Titans theWocky's Avatar
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    Why does WoW maintain it's hold on some?

    I agree that subjective opinion is subjective - just read the bit in red if you want to know what I'm trying to get at.

    Now, I assume this will become a flame war, but this is a serious question. I used to play WoW for years, but then tried Rift and fell head over heels for it. In the past, I used to take breaks from WoW, now the MoP expansion hardly stirred any emotion. I now take the occasional break from Rift and I anxiously await Storm Legion.

    I took a break briefly prior to the "Water" event patch and came back to find a very different, better game. If you leave for a month or two, you can bet your butt that you will come back to a LOT of new content.

    While Rift does not have ranked PvP or Arena (oh, and the pet battles - which I am sure we will see soon if enough want it), in my personal opinion, it exceeds every other aspect of WoW and has many new features.

    It shamelessly copies the best features from other games and improves their own customer experience. For example - multiple loot was just taken from GW2 and put in. AoE loot I think was it's idea. Selling grey items to vendor with a click, auto-loot of gold from mobs. Daily Raids from TBC.

    The release version was relatively bug free and the game now at version 1.11 makes 1.0 release look like a completely different game. The number of improvements, content added is amazing. Now, version 2.0 has tripled the size of the world and I am like a kid at Christmas waiting to see it.

    I truly, sincerely cannot fathom the popularity of WoW. Have any of you tried the trial and seen how 1.11 looks, how much there is to do?

    The lore in WoW is not any better than the whole "dragon" / elements saga in Rift, so I don't get it. Graphics are better, in my opinion (I have a decent PC), so what is it, guys? Seriously?

    EDIT: I do, of course, agree with the "If it's fun, why stop playing?". I guess I didn't convey myself correctly. I am just puzzled as to what "Rift" lacks that "WoW" has ? I guess my intent was to find the "x" factor as I see a development team that pops out content every 6~8 weeks and an attitude (in the last expansion) of indifference from the Blizzard team. I used to have 9 (4xUS, 5xEU) WoW accounts, but switched as I saw a (in my opinion) a better game with a more active development team. So I had to wonder about everyone else. What is the "x" factor?
    Last edited by theWocky; 2012-11-13 at 07:06 AM.

  2. #2
    People like and enjoy playing the game, simple as that.
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  3. #3
    Legendary! Airwaves's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by theWocky View Post
    in my personal opinion, it exceeds every other aspect of WoW and has many new features.
    This whole thread has no meaning. Both wow and rift are good games i have played both. The "hold" on wow is the fact that people have put years into there account so can you blame them for not wanting to leave?
    Aye mate

  4. #4
    Some people just like different things. My boyfriend used to play rift and made me try it out. It wasn't really interesting to me, but he loved it more than WoW and it helped lead to him quitting wow.
    I'm not entirely sure why I like WoW, but I know I'll stop playing once it stops being fun. I'm so busy with school atm that I cant log on a lot so I'm not getting burned out like some are.

  5. #5
    The Lightbringer Hanto's Avatar
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    Should it be rocket science as to why people play games they like?

  6. #6
    I am Murloc! Phookah's Avatar
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    I played the Rift trial, and wasn't terribly interested. Looked like what I've been doing in MMO's for years, why switch and lose all progress when I still enjoy it?

  7. #7
    I think it's a bit more than just "people enjoy the game".

    I look at it more like somebody who's used to eating McDonalds every day for dinner and saying "It's cheap, fast and tasty! Why should I even bother with anything else?"

    You also have to consider that many long-term players aren't ready to give up a massive investment they made into their character(s), especially when it comes to these "competitive" players who define themselves based on how well they're "progressing" against other players.

    That's something you have to consider with WoW vs other MMORPGs these days... WoW isn't much of an MMORPG these days - but a competitive gearing-up action game. Other MMORPGs (particularly Rift, ES:O and the next Everquest game) are going back to their roots of being sandbox fun and about cooperation, not competing against your neighbors.

    ...and there's one thing many American's can't seem to break easy is this ridiculous habit of wanting to be better than their neighbor. >_<

  8. #8
    For me, it all comes down to gameplay. You can have all the features known to MMOs in your game; the best graphics, the richest lore and the most frequent content updates ever. But if your game doesn't feel good to play, then I won't play it.

    I have been sent back to WoW time and time again for this very reason. I am tired of WoW. Bored to death of it. Yet, every time I attempt to play another game, I am disappointed almost immediately by the way it feels to play. I don't understand how an 8 year old game can play so much more fluidly than any MMO that has come out since.

    Once developers start designing their games with a "gameplay first; features later" mentality, only then will we start to see WoW lose it's grip on the genre.

  9. #9
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    Basically, your post is : why do people still play wow when rift is superior in everything ?
    Well, it's just like, your own opinion, man (like the Dude would say).
    In fact, most people who played rift returned to wow because they thought it was better, or left for GW2 in search of greener pastures, or quit MMOs altogether.

  10. #10
    Look up the definition of subjective and objective. I will give you a hint, a person's opinion on a game is not objective.

    I have tried both and currently play WoW since I enjoy WoW more right now. The game has more pick up and do stuff feeling to it, if I want to play for 30 minutes or all day. Rift, while still accessible, doesn't have that feel for me. -shrug- I am sure my thoughts on the matter will change in time.

  11. #11
    I like wow for the same reason you like rift, cause you do. I tried rift and it just didn't do it for me. Maybe some of it has to do with timing. A new MMO requires a lot of effort to learn. There is also the fact of the effort you have in the older MMO that you just don't want to abandon.

    You like Rift, enjoy it, don't worry about why I still like WoW.

  12. #12
    Herald of the Titans Pancaspe's Avatar
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    To me Rift looks like Polar Express, I hate that, and would never consider playing it. I love the look of WOW, that is why I prefer it.
    @Ghostcrawler:Some advice: [My pet issue] is why there were sub losses is one of the weaker arguments players use. Players don't have that data.

  13. #13
    Since this is apparently a WoW vs Rift thread:

    Because I've played WoW since November of 2004 and spent countless hours of my time in my characters. I cannot just walk away to play what is essentially more WoW, without the characters I've known over the years, and with a graphical system I don't enjoy and nothing but ugly character models. In my opinion, of course.

    I have a mid-high end PC and I think WoW's graphics are superior, because I don't like Rift's graphics. I don't like how ridiculous it feels when I jump in Rift. I don't like the odd way the camera pans. I don't like ANY of the character models. I don't find the environment interesting, and I don't find doing the *exact same* quests I've done countless times in WoW interesting either. I don't find another two faction system interesting when it's the exact same as WoW's. Basically all of the same reasons I don't like Rift listed here also apply to Age of Conan, (with the exclusion of factions) SWTOR, and every other "Better Than WoW" game that's come.

    I'm so tired of the 12 year old attitude that "moar polygons is bettar!!!!oneone" WoW, in my opinion, has a far and away better art direction.

    Rift = WoW with a handful of new additions and a different graphical system. Not nearly enough difference to pull me away unless I was malcontent with WoW, which if and when I become malcontent enough to quit WoW entirely, I will be leaving the genre, because no new MMO has appealed to me.
    Last edited by Dirgon; 2012-11-13 at 07:05 AM.

  14. #14
    Herald of the Titans theWocky's Avatar
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    [*]The social aspect of the game when you're in a guild and/or playing with people you know or have come to know.
    Yes, I see that too, but most of my buddies also stopped playing. True, most of the guilds I was in Cata folded, so yeah.
    [*]The end game content is well done and there's quite a bit of it, whether it's raiding, PvP or achievements.
    I partly agree here. Content cycle was a bit too sluggish for me.
    [*]Many have dedicated much time and effort into the game, which dissuades them from leaving.
    In spite of having so many lvl 80's and my my main, 85, I never really had an issue with dumping and moving on.
    [*]Rewards for doing tasks in the game help people continue playing.
    Don't have much to add on this. In Rift, you have a veteran vendor that allows you to "unlock" things the longer you've been playing. Other than that, I think both games offer quest rewards for rep-grinding, etc.

  15. #15
    The Unstoppable Force DeltrusDisc's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Oogzy View Post
    Multiple reasons.

    • The social aspect of the game when you're in a guild and/or playing with people you know or have come to know.
    • The end game content is well done and there's quite a bit of it, whether it's raiding, PvP or achievements.
    • Many have dedicated much time and effort into the game, which dissuades them from leaving.
    • Rewards for doing tasks in the game help people continue playing.

    There's more reasons, of course, but those are some of the easiest to point out and most common.
    Except Rift has each of these counted for - if not handled even better, such as the end game raiding content, which is arguably superior to WoW's. (It's far more impressive, linear, and just all around has better attention to detail.)
    "A flower.
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    Quote Originally Posted by mmocd061d7bab8 View Post
    yeh but lava is just very hot water

  16. #16
    The Lightbringer
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    Playing with friends guildies.

    Working hard on building your character and achievements.

    Something to do since nothing has replace WoW yet.

    Constant updates and expansions for the game to keep it going.

    Competitiveness in PvE and PvP.

  17. #17
    Oogzy is pretty accurate. And one major thing is the fact that its WoW. Pandaren are fun, Trolls are fun. Big shoulders are fun.

    And as for graphics and the Dev team.....

    One of the things i hate about other MMO-s are the stupid hi- res realistic graphics. Its to much information all at once, it all kinda muddles together. Save the leaves with actual veins and fur or w/e for exploration games (and by that i mean Skyrim or the like) The more cartoony (though getting more and more high res) graphics in WoW are easier to handle. When they put thousands of useless NPCs, realistic thingamabobs and wide open realistic spaces in a game (im thinking of Warhammer and LoTR here) It seems so big, huge and intense. And not in a good way. In more of a "what am i missing". its not an MMO but Skyrim is a Good example. Its so easy to pick up a hundred quests and get lost. Great graphics here and there but AI that doesnt match up.
    All else i can really say is that when playing LoTR or Warhammer It felt like i was playing a game where you where essentially watching a movie and you where controlling the main character with puppet strings.

    Super Mario 3 is and always will be a one of the best games in the world, Right there next to Super Mario World. And they dont have "good" graphics.

    And i dont know what this is about the Dev team. Maybe i didnt pay as much attention during cata? cus for the past few years they have been responsive and on the ball, with sometimes major news updates every day or two. Perhaps it is the released content? Cus i'm dreading 5.1 because i havent even gotten into a raid yet (i should be starting Raid finder this week) though i'll be further delayed by hoping to get my Horde to 90 before 5.1 comes.

  18. #18
    The Unstoppable Force DeltrusDisc's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ave07 View Post
    Playing with friends guildies.

    Working hard on building your character and achievements.

    Something to do since nothing has replace WoW yet.

    Constant updates and expansions for the game to keep it going.

    Competitiveness in PvE and PvP.
    Are you aware that if WoW's updates are considered "constant" than Rift's would be considered, going back in time and adding stuff in...

    Seriously, WoW gets updates every 6 to 8 months, Rift gets updates every 4-8 weeks.... oh but now WoW gets 5.1 a month and a half in? We'll see if that sticks - also, it's because Blizzard feels actually threatened, I think. Rift has had 11 updates over the past year and a half, BIG, HUGE content updates. Blizzard has noticed this and adjusted accordingly.

    Rift's PVE is far more competitive at this point than WoW's, sorry to say, linear raiding that doesn't have each boss with 3 difficulty settings > non-linear with 3 settings of difficulty.
    "A flower.
    Yes. Upon your return, I will gift you a beautiful flower."

    "Remember. Remember... that we once lived..."

    Quote Originally Posted by mmocd061d7bab8 View Post
    yeh but lava is just very hot water

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by DeltrusDisc View Post
    Except Rift has each of these counted for - if not handled even better, such as the end game raiding content, which is arguably superior to WoW's. (It's far more impressive, linear, and just all around has better attention to detail.)
    Well right there the only thing you've pointed out that is better, is arguably not better, I dont see a reason to even try it. Why would i go try this new game that thinks it can kill WoW, who's only purpose is it has better graphics, when I have a druid and shaman to level?

  20. #20
    Two reasons:

    1. Familiarity
    2. Investment


    The biggest, most important thing to know about World of Warcraft is that it is more of a cultural entity than it is a game. The impact, awareness and social gravity of WoW is beyond anything in the MMO genre currently.

    A lot of people play WOW.
    A lot of people are comfortable in WOW.
    A lot of people invested a lot into WOW.
    A lot of people friend's play WOW.

    Et cetera.

    At the end of the day, MMOs are as much about social connections as gameplay when it comes to retention. Actual quality of game has no bearing in this discussion whatsoever.

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