What If World of Warcraft had Never Happened...

[Srg56]

Allow me to pose a hypothetical question: what if Blizzard had never developed and launched the 2004 genre redefining MMORPG World of Warcraft? What would MMOs look like today? Would they still be Skinner boxes? Which game back then do you think would have picked up the mythical fourteen million players? What design and ideas from did game would have as a result become standard in the genre? (Ie, "WAR clones"?)

This isn't a thread about Blizzard developing WC4 instead of WoW; it's about what would have happened to the MMORPG genre had it never even existed.

They would have remained a niche genre, and maybe eve online would have inspired more sandbox mmorpgs. Themepark mmos wouldn't exist, that's for sure. Pretty good if you ask me.

[Nirawen]

They would have remained a niche genre, and maybe eve online would have inspired more sandbox mmorpgs. Themepark mmos wouldn't exist, that's for sure. Pretty good if you ask me.

Themepark MMOs were the predominant type and weren't on the decline before WoW so why wouldn't they exist without it?.

[Srg56]

Themepark MMOs were the predominant type and weren't on the decline before WoW so why wouldn't they exist without it?.

If it's not growing, it's in decline. Universal law. WoW brought in the non gamer crowd who generally scoffs at gathering 10 bear asses and comparing stats, so it greatly broadened the market. Many past or present WoW players picked it up because someone else they knew were playing, and for allot of the former it's their first GAME "game", not solitaire or candy crush.

[ComputerNerd]

Blizzard put the existing stuff into a nice package.
If they didn't, someone else may have done the same instead.
Apple did the same with the iPod and iPhones.

[Mister K]

I would surely be an amazing CS player.

[Nirawen]

If it's not growing, it's in decline. Universal law. WoW brought in the non gamer crowd who generally scoffs at gathering 10 bear asses and comparing stats, so it greatly broadened the market. Many past or present WoW players picked it up because someone else they knew were playing, and for allot of the former it's their first GAME "game", not solitaire or candy crush.

I agree with all of that but it just means WoW made it grow faster, there was still growth before WoW and growth after outside of it's influence.

[Hyral]

I would still be playing Ragnarok Online

Pretty much this. No MMO comes close to RO pre-renewal. I'd happily trade WoW for a new MMO market where open world and participating in end game from level 1 are more prominent than quest quest quest and then raid for the rest of your life.

[thewallofsleep]

I think several MMO's wouldn't have closed down. WoW siphoned a lot of players.

[Televators]

Impossible to say, but the EQ franchise would likely have remained on top, but with many suitors close behind. I remember CoH and GW1 quite fondly. Smaller titles would have had more staying power.

[anaxie]

Now what about Warcraft 3 not being made. Would the Moba genre even exist? What if WC3 didn't opt for hero units and an inventory? A small decision in development spawned a game genre.

Would WoW of even had over a million sub's if Warcraft 3 didn't focus on the hero characters? What about if diablo 2 never existed alongside wc3 to show blizzard is more than an RTS maker. There are lots of what ifs.

Frankly blizzard built the foundation to their success when they made brood war/D2/ and WC3.

[Wildmoon]

The genre will not be as big.

[theWocky]

If WoW never happened?

I'd still be playing EvE online and I would remember where the time from Sep 26, 2006 to late 2009 went a lot easier.

Damn, I got badly addicted.

[kail]

If WoW never happened, I'd still be playing EvE probably or maybe no MMOs at all until SWTOR and GW2. This is assuming little changes w/o WoW.

Chances are other MMOs will try their own thind instead of cloning WoW and one of them will dominate, betting it would still be a themepark. Also, there might be less MMO releases due to companies not trying to cash in on WoW's success.

[unholytestament]

I know many artists who probably wouldn't have gotten into porn.

[ParanoiD84]

Maby WAR would have been better seeing as EA made them rush it out to compete with the wrath expansion for wow. Then again EA.

[SavoirFaire]

Definitely two edges to this sword.

Overall I think someone else would have done what blizzard did, but just because of the IP angle of things, would never have set the bar as high as it was set. No other company at the time had the money plus the beloved IP that blizzard had. They took great advantage of a perfect storm. I think we'd be left with tons of niche games that people still played, and they'd work to cannibalize each other, but not bring in the more casual type that WoW has.

As I see it, WoW is/was/whatever so successful because at the start it not only smoothed the rough edges of the existing games, but made efforts to do things that other games had not tried as much. Questing to level was viable. There were no pure healer classes. There were no harsh punishments for death. The list goes on and on. WoW forced other games to be better, and at the very least, set the bar high for things like customer service, server stability, and attempts at balance.

Yeah, I know people will flip out over that, but the games that came before it (that I played) were not stable and had crap for customer service, and balance wasn't even a thought at all, much less an afterthought. UO/DAOC was what I played mostly. I honestly feel like some old guy talking about walking to school uphill everyday comparing UO's problems to WoW's problems. I loved the game (and DAOC) but they just could not compete with WoW. Blizzard did what blizzard does, takes genre's to new heights and sets bars there.

Now the problem WoW brought with it is that people have turned into copycats, and I think we've lost not only a lot of innovation, but bars have been set so high for other games that nobody can hope to reach them, and they end up dying premature deaths that may not have been deserved if people were more patient and/or more willing to break molds as the case may be. so perhaps WoW extended the viability of the MMO for another decade or two, but I think they'll fade away to niche games soon enough. It's a lot like the Wii, the genie was let out of the bottle, it did it's thing, and we'll never see it again.

[Nirawen]

I'll have you know good sir that DAoC was perfectly balanced, things like pre-change Reaver bombs and Savage trains required players of the utmost skill.. never before had such brave warriors push a button so skillfully & gracefully.

[Fuiking]

Allow me to pose a hypothetical question: what if Blizzard had never developed and launched the 2004 genre redefining MMORPG World of Warcraft? What would MMOs look like today? Would they still be Skinner boxes? Which game back then do you think would have picked up the mythical fourteen million players? What design and ideas from did game would have as a result become standard in the genre? (Ie, "WAR clones"?)

This isn't a thread about Blizzard developing WC4 instead of WoW; it's about what would have happened to the MMORPG genre had it never even existed.

I wouldnt have played any other games/sure as hell wouldnt have purchased a monster pc until much much much later. Might have played GW1 and Lord of the Rings Online until I would gotten bored of it, dont know, my future would be so much different

[mehow2g]

If you asked me in 2007 what I thought about the future of WoW I would have said it would be the best MMO for 20 years, however now it has absolutely destroyed MMORPG's in a bad way.

Today it is impossible for an MMORPG to in the Western audience to release an MMORPG game that does not hold your hand because people are so conditioned to WoW they expect that in any MMO release.

[Fencers]

Whatever was the next most openly accessible MMO would have taken World of Warcraft's place in popular culture.

WoW's killer feature is that it was so broadly open to many players.