What will keep you playing World of Warcraft the next couple of years?

[dope_danny]

The story interesting me, honestly the 10+ year old "holy trinity tank and spank a big model in a circular room" combat has gotten real stale for me.

[waddlez]

Wildstar flopping and a new class would get me onto Blizzard's next expac. Also releasing Titan IP info so I know what I'm waiting for.

And maybe pushing esports for more than just sc2.

[suicidebears]

1. Faction imbalance
2. Server population balance
3. Getting out into the world more
4. Redo paladins. I cant stand current ret and holy power/inquisition.
5. Too many raid options. 10/25 normals should be entry into raiding with hard modes for hardcore niche base.

[Frogged]

Assuming some real competition did come along, the only thing that would keep me attached to WoW would be the focus on gameplay over profit from Blizzard. Things like the Celestial Steed or the new transmog helmets could be put at the ends of long, interesting quest and achievement chains. More personal involvement with your character, along the lines of my idea I posted on Battle.net. I like to define my characters when possible. A good example of this is Guild Wars 2 in which you have the option of Armor Dyes. It would be nice of WoW had more unlockable armor skins that were earned by doing certain things within the game. Unlockable mounts similar to What a Long Strange Trip It's Been, without the gating of years.

Essentially, stuff to do other than raid for the week and log off until reset. All while everyone has exact copied and pasted Best in Slot armor sets and typical (read: Paladin T2) transmog. The only thing you earn in this game anymore is achievement points. It would be nice if armor skins, mounts, hairstyles, or any sort of other flair were also included. Not in an exclusionary "raid Heroic mode or you don't get any" way, but something that you actually worked for and earned, even if it was as simple as completing Loremaster, or reaching a certain Brawler's Guild rank.

I want to be able to log into the game and have something that I'm slowly working towards and isn't critical to gameplay. Any game that can capture that will grab me easily. Achievement points don't do it for me as much as 'tangible' objects.

Edit: Another awesome idea I had was player housing that involved decorating your home according to what you've accomplished within the game. That would be incredible for me, even if it was just phased for myself.

[Roulette Kneebasha]

I'm seconding the need for 'Friends' being an option, but also RP. As a roleplayer I'm invested in my characters and it makes the whole game more enjoyable/addictive. I imagine playing without the RP aspect could get boring but between my characters, my guildies, and all the great stories my server comes up with together -sometimes utilizing and sometimes despite Blizz's writing- I don't see myself quitting anytime soon.

[twh]

If I have a job and can afford leisure activities/hobbies such as WoW.

[Greed001]

Probably the same things that kept me playing for the last decade.

[Aeryana]

I bought and played TSW for 3 months after the initial release, then MOP came out. I am so mad at myself for going back to WOW to play MOP and not sticking with TSW. I recently got back into it and am having more fun doing missions than I ever could doing WOW quests.

Yup! Only played for two months... darn yous GW2! Hands down my favorite questing system -- but I must concede that... yeah, the game is almost entirely based around daily quests (AWESOME daily quests). Their version of heroic 5 mans are far and away some of the most fun I've had with a group of somewhat strangers (family always #1). My only regret is that I could have had Panoptic Core at this point... love that outfit.

Uh... yeah... basically I think WoW is a solid game. I honestly love MoP and think 5.3 has taken away pretty much all of my PvE gripes (specifically regarding dailies), but I think most people just want something new. WoW is still WoW, it's just getting a bit stale after playing it so long. But that's just like, you know, my opinion, man.

[Daws001]

Time is the biggest thing for me. I love WoW but between work and school, I'm just not at home to play it a lot. And when I do get home, I'm either not in the mood/tired or have a bunch of homework to do. However, there are moments throughout the day (lunch, in-between classes, etc) where I would love to have like a pet battle app or a farming app. Those are just fun little activities in WoW that keep me hooked and could totally translate into the smartphone/tablet world. And they'd require an active WoW sub to work so there you go. Keeps me playing.

I hope it's something at least being talked about at Blizz. It seems like a no-brainer to me. Be able to do pvp pet battles on your smartphone or tend to your farm on your tablet. Le sigh.

[lettuce]

Lack of good competition. lol