Why does WoW maintain it's hold on some?

[Achaman]

imminent thread closing...

[Antipathy]

This thread has become an outright Rift Vs. WoW thread and really should be closed.

Especially when you consider that there's quite a number of misinformed and absolutely pointless replies by people who have either never tried the game or don't understand how a 2 month patch cycle changes a game significantly. All the "tried it at launch, too similar to X MMO" replies are a bit jaded.

preferences are just that, preferences, and the truth is that most people are too tunnel visioned to try or appreciate something that isn't identical to what they currently enjoy, and the irony is that when there are similarities, the exact feedback you get is "its too identical to what I currently enjoy".

Who cares why anyone else still plays whatever?

[tristannarutofan]

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.

That must be nice for the 5% of people who have done everything so far, but most people are still eating up the content that is out. Must be annoying to not finish one thing and then release more. Unless of course the stuff that releases early is just easy stuff and instead of giving it to you one chunk at a time they are giving you smaller chunks to make it "feel" faster.

And most people think "a choice of how many bosses you beat with a choice of how difficult it is" is better than "straight line linear raids". The reason they had to give a tank nerf in Icecrown is cus in ulduar they had a hard mode button and people LIKED that so they added hard mode to The Tournament and they geared people up to quickly.

[Itisamuh]

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.

Unfortunately, this pretty much sums it up. People never want to even give other games a chance, even when they themselves are no longer enjoying Warcraft, because of these reasons. Personally I think it is ridiculous, but the fact that over a stretch of time someone will have poured a ton of money into a subscription game does hold some merit. Having quit before, I know it is somewhat frustrating to reflect on the lost money and time. And yes, for whatever reason, Warcraft has the big player count, and many people seem drawn by that alone. After all, if it has the most players, it must have the highest quality....!!!

[Violent]

Some people like what you cannot understand them liking.

it doesn't really matter how long you stretch your post out. It's that simple.

[Thelxi]

For me what keeps me playing and paying, is a few simple things.

-Blizzard's customer support is unmatched by any other MMO out there, and it really nice knowing that no matter what you can always rely on top notch support. I realize this every time I invest time in another MMO.
-WoW is the most balanced and well tested MMO, no contest. Balance is far more valuable than people give it credit for.
-Raiding. Not much to say here really, very obvious.

Ofcourse it is also a special game aesthetically, but that is very subjective anyways. What many people playing now don't realize is that WoW's graphics were outdated and low-budget all the way back to when it was launched. Even back then many people's argument against WoW was it's lackluster graphics. Yet to this day people still enjoy how WoW looks, so Blizzard obviously did something right.

[Hypro]

I play because i have friends on there. + i dont want to put the time and effort i have put into wow into another MMO...

[Slipmat]

I'll take a wild guess and assume this Thread began life in some WoW friendly section and got moved to the Rift section?

Reading some of the clueless comments suggests that, people i've never seen before posting in the Rift section giving us the usual expert opinions, right down to the "i have a high end PC and find WoW's graphics are better"

Each to their own, but please don't come here spouting clueless nonsense when it's clear most of you never even played Rift, you don't see me trolling the WoW sections "debating" MoP do you?

[Sinshroud]

WoW has been a big part of my life. I'm 21 and I've been playing the game pretty consistently for 7 almost 8 years now. It's something familiar and it feels like a "normal" part of my life.

Each year I take a bit of a break, either just to stop playing games for a bit, because I'm too busy, or because there is something else I want to do.
I've never had a problem with not playing at all for a week or so if the need arises - I'm never drawn to the game in an addicting manner and I never chose to play WoW over going out with friends or working.

It's just the way it is. Each expansion I can feel like I'm playing a slightly different game, without needing to spend many frustrating hours learning new controls or understanding completely foreign concepts.

[Deleted]

¤ Game looks better, meaning that people cant run it on their computers. Everyone and their moms can play wow on their computers.
¤ Friends in game, if most want to stay the rest is going to stay... because playing with friends > trying something else for many people.
¤ Time spent is time spent, if you grinded your butt off on characters in wow... some people feel they rather stick to that than start fresh in a "similar" game.
¤ Less grind in wow compared to rift, and eternal grinding to see little progress is not fashion anymore... wow made gear easier to obtain and people get used to that.
¤ Meaning, even if it seems like many players want old tbc back, but the hard raids and dungeons at start of cata showed that most people are not that hardcore as they claim to be.
¤ If they want pvp on the side, wow offers more options, and pvp servers.
¤ People are satisfied with the game and when they are why bother looking at other games? When I played wow I never thought I would change game... well, I finally did and played several games, but I understand how people can feel
¤ Take Rift for example, not much marketing of the game which means it's hard for people to know it exists even if they are looking for a new game. The latest hype will propably get most of the players that are looking for something new to try.

That's my thoughts =)

[BenBos]

You have this game called Chess that has been constantly populated with +10 million active PAYING monthly players (except when a new Stratego game named D3 was launched and then it dipped for 3 months under 10M).

Everyone plays Chess: there are competitions in Chess, there are tournaments with real price money in Chess, everyone knows the language of Chess, Chess has the latest new Art in board and pieces.

Then there comes a game around that says ! Hi we are like Chess, we WANT to look like Chess, we offer Chess but with LESS options, LESS competition, LESS players and LESS pieces...

Why would anyone change to have LESS then what is already established as STANDARD for YEARS...?

---

btw OP: there are MANY MANY more things that are in WOW, that you can't find in Rift: I'll just limit myself to 2 "techniques"

- Phasing: hold on ... without phasing you couldn't even implement the present day pet Battles OR the growing Farmville side games in WOW, since phasing is personal WORLD changing ... without loading screens...

- Cross realm open world play: In WOW you now play with region wide open worlds... Meaning: your 1.000 people playing on one server are opened to multi millions at the same time in the WORLD of Azeroth (and may I say: like phasing without a loading screen in sight between servers...)

In fact you would be a fool to leave Azeroth now: WoW will never have any population problems after they will refine and tune this real time cross server world play...

[eschatological]

I don't think anyone argues that the graphical fidelity of WoW is superior to RIFT's.

But WoW has a superb, and, in my opinion, unmatched art direction (which is a much more all-encompassing metric, also subjective) that beats RIFT's. It even beats GW2, imo, and I love GW2. It's more cohesive, more emotionally captivating, more endearing, and sometimes even funny, or epic, or infuriating, or <insert emotion here>. A lot of that may have to do with us knowing these characters (as NPCs) for years, but when you can remember the (NPC) warchief as a insecure whinging emo from TBC, you feel a lot more for him, even if that feeling is merely the acknowledgement that he's changed (and possibly for the worse). When Sully mourns the death of his pet raccoon you met 1 minute earlier, you laugh. When you see Nazgrim or Admiral Taylor pushing the front of an unexplored land again, you feel the cyclic, slowly shifting tides of Azeroth rising. Occasionally, during any RP in a raid, I'll whisper to random raid members "We named him Dranosh..." and they'll burst into laughter on vent, because there's a history there. Sometimes when we're discussing a strat, someone will randomly say "I have calculated we have a 33.3 chance, repeating of course, for success."

Fencers was right, WoW has become a cultural entity. And I like RIFT from what I've played, and I continue to like GW2. But WoW is all-encompassing. It has defined almost a decade of gaming for me.

But then again, I'm an old man, and had a text-based MUD that started on Compuserve defining the previous decade before WoW for me. If people looked at that game now and rated it on the normal things (graphics: it has none, quests: LOL we grinded mobs, there were no quests, leveling, LOL it took me 8 years before I reached cap) it'd be considered farcical as a game, yet that and WoW have been some of my most memorable gaming in my life.

[theWocky]

Two reasons:

1. Familiarity
2. Investment

Yes, I guess you hit the nail on the head with that. For me, if the product is good and evolving, keeps me interested, I couldn't care less about moving on as I have no emotional attachment to games or characters, so I left my 12 or 14 lvl 80's behind and moved to Rift, tried GW2 and other single player games too. I play whatever - for fun. If Elder Scrolls turns out to be fun, will look at that too.

[Radoria]

Are any of you guys able to hold a straight face when you list the social aspect of WoW as a positive thing? Imo WoW has the worst videogame community of any game in history...by a LOT. I think Blizzard even acknowledged how shitty the community is and that's one of many reasons why LFD/LFR now exist. It seems to me that 90% of WoW's population is either a self promoting elitist prick who needs to tell everyone how awesome they are as often as they can or a clueless moron who will never know how to play their class. Most people in WoW only care about what you can do for them, and they feel compelled to brag about whatever they can within the game in order to feel good about themselves. How often do you see someone post a DPS meter (without someone else asking to see it) without that same person being on top of the meter? Once in a blue moon...

I'm thinking about giving Rift a shot and half my reason for doing so is because of the community within WoW.

[theWocky]

¤ Game looks better, meaning that people cant run it on their computers. Everyone and their moms can play wow on their computers.
Rift has a low detail, cartoony mode too.

¤ Friends in game, if most want to stay the rest is going to stay... because playing with friends > trying something else for many people.
valid point. no comment

¤ Time spent is time spent, if you grinded your butt off on characters in wow... some people feel they rather stick to that than start fresh in a "similar" game.
valid point.

¤ Less grind in wow compared to rift, and eternal grinding to see little progress is not fashion anymore... wow made gear easier to obtain and people get used to that.
I disagree on this. Grind is pretty normal and I would argue less tiresome than WoW as there is more to do. Progression is linear and with patches come "shortcuts" to get ahead to catch up to guildies.

¤ Meaning, even if it seems like many players want old tbc back, but the hard raids and dungeons at start of cata showed that most people are not that hardcore as they claim to be.
To some degree, I agree with this.

¤ If they want pvp on the side, wow offers more options, and pvp servers.
Rift has alternate forms of PvP that WoW does not have - and pvp servers as well. World PvP is alive on Rift servers as there are daily PvP world objectives and also no flying mounts.

¤ People are satisfied with the game and when they are why bother looking at other games? When I played wow I never thought I would change game... well, I finally did and played several games, but I understand how people can feel
valid point.

¤ Take Rift for example, not much marketing of the game which means it's hard for people to know it exists even if they are looking for a new game. The latest hype will propably get most of the players that are looking for something new to try.
Yes, I think it will entice a new batch as I see server population already growing.

My comments in bold.
I'm sincerely not bothered "what" game people play. I am not trying to say one game is crap or the other. I am just puzzled as to why people don't try new things and in particular, what Rift does not have that makes it less appealing.

I agree with Fencer - as is evident by some people who take "personal" offense to negative comments about their preferred mmo - that it is a cultural/social thing which goes deeper than just a game.

[Deleted]

After trying most of the new games that's been coming out through the years nothing have really given me the same feeling WoW have.
You may say how much Rift have changed since it's release but that doesn't really matter to me since I didn't get an interest at all.

There's alot of biased views in this thread and honestly if you enjoy Rift stick with it, if you still enjoy WoW do the same.
The problem I got with some Rift players are the ones trying to show off some superiour standard, claiming this and this is so much better.
Sure in your opinion but it doesn't make it a fact, very much like the bible..

Rift is still a young game and we'll see how it plays out, I personally don't like it but I can still see it grow beside WoW and accept players for liking it.
There needs to be no discussions or reasons why you still play a game, it's based on opinions and feelings, nothing else.

[Eremiel]

The X-factor is familiarity. People have invested a -lot- of time into WoW. Both socially and into their characters. Abandoning that is hard, even for an objectively 'better' game.

It's pretty much that simple.

[Hakto]

I tried Rift and could not stand it.

My question to you is why does Rift maintain its hold on some?

[Deleted]

Are any of you guys able to hold a straight face when you list the social aspect of WoW as a positive thing? Imo WoW has the worst videogame community of any game in history...by a LOT. I think Blizzard even acknowledged how shitty the community is and that's one of many reasons why LFD/LFR now exist. It seems to me that 90% of WoW's population is either a self promoting elitist prick who needs to tell everyone how awesome they are as often as they can or a clueless moron who will never know how to play their class. Most people in WoW only care about what you can do for them, and they feel compelled to brag about whatever they can within the game in order to feel good about themselves. How often do you see someone post a DPS meter (without someone else asking to see it) without that same person being on top of the meter? Once in a blue moon...

I'm thinking about giving Rift a shot and half my reason for doing so is because of the community within WoW.

The community in Rift when I played was betterish than wow, sure the guild I was in left because of guild drama... a boosted scrub nerdraged and sucked the air out of guild leaders. I didnt pve in rift but if I wanted there were several guilds all with people that would help me gear up. Probably because it's hard to find well geared players and if you want to get a raid group going you need players and to get players you have no choice but to try gear the interested ones up :P

But I understand wow community, if you play with friends it's always ok. But last nail in the coffin for me and my friends leaving wow, we gave up on pvp after complete neglection on blizzards side and decided to start raiding and found a pvp guild that brought all of us in. Unfortunately it was a guild made of boosted scrubs, lowest dps guild leader, lowest healing guild leader brother... and when we killed ragnaros they kicked me and my friends out saying they were going hardcore and they were the right people to do it and we weren't. Me and my friends didnt have energy to look for another guild and pvp still faced neglection and playing the AH was just boring with lots of gold and nothing to spend it on. We left and never went back. Progress for our former guild members after we left? LFR cleared... and nothing else, that's how hardcore they became We still laugh about it every now and then

[Jerot]

I'll start off by saying a large part of my positive experience with WoW isn't the game itself, but the people I play it with. Honestly if it came down to the game standing on its own, I'd drop it in a heartbeat. But being in a guild filled with people I know from real life really adds to the experience. I bought Rift when it came out and had only one other friend to play it with. I think I got to around 35-40ish (If I remember right) and ultimately decided that while it was really cool, and had some interesting features, it wasn't different enough from WoW to make me want to pay another subscription fee. Especially when you factor in friends, time already invested into WoW, $$$, ect.

I never had the chance to experience raids (Other then large-scale outdoor rift events/bosses) so I can't really compare there, but I will say there are some pretty good ones in WoW (Kara, Ulduar, Ect).

*Edit*

Two reasons:

1. Familiarity
2. Investment

Coulda saved some time if I read the rest of the replies, Pretty much this^.