Would MMOs have been better off if WoW was never made?

[Deleted]

Even if people compare every MMO to WoW, if you like that MMO, what does it matter?

[RicardoZ]

Before WoW came along everyone was happy. We were all playing Ultima Online, DAoC, Everquest, FF XI, and possibly a few other games Im forgetting that I didnt try. We didnt compare games to each other and we were happy playing what we were playing.

That is some very revisionist history. You're starting all of your thoughts off on a gigantic anecdotal assumption. Good luck with this thread.

[Buxton McGraff]

No. WoW doesn't kill other games. Other games just simply aren't as enjoyable as WoW, so they don't last. WoW doesn't keep other games from becoming good, other games do that by rushing their release/content and putting it on the market as an unfinished piece of shit.

[Fencers]

Yes and no.

Yes, the genre would likely have fewer vulgar concession within MMO design had WOW not become popular. The flip-side is World of Warcraft obviously made MMOs far more popular than their original target audience allowed.

[RicardoZ]

WoW was my first MMO and it's what drew me into playing MMOs. I imagine it's like that for a number of people, and I think it's pretty obvious that WoW's responsible for drawing MMOs into the mainstream.

My first MMO was The Realm from Sierra Online, then I played Pirates of the Caribbean Online for a while which was actually REALLY good considering...and WoW pretty much owns them all. As seen in my other thread, I honestly believe WoW to be the greatest game ever made.

[Tekkommo]

That is some very revisionist history. You're starting all of your thoughts off on a gigantic anecdotal assumption. Good luck with this thread.

The person makes lots of weird threads, even one where they said online gaming was dying (it's never been stronger, all games released have online mode). Starting to think this is a troll.

[wariofan1]

Well, frankly the MMO genre would be nearly dead without it, because without WoW MMOs would never have gained the immense popularity it has gotten over the years. If you discard WoW even now there aren't any other MMOs out there with a big amount of players, without WoW there would have been even less. It would either be dying or be dead.

[Treeskee]

WoW is probably one of the better things to happen to the MMO Genre has a few people have said, it opened the field up to a much wider audience.

[Lilly32]

WoW was my first MMO and it's what drew me into playing MMOs. I imagine it's like that for a number of people, and I think it's pretty obvious that WoW's responsible for drawing MMOs into the mainstream.

And without previous MMOs WoW would have never been made.

---------- Post added 2012-12-24 at 09:04 PM ----------

That is some very revisionist history. You're starting all of your thoughts off on a gigantic anecdotal assumption. Good luck with this thread.

Well if there wasnt a WoW yet or any other newer MMOs released after WoW then those are obviously the only MMOs available to play. I mean people certainly werent playing Rift or GW2 back in 2000.

[Valeron]

Well, the mmo community would be a lot smaller. Love it or hate it, WoW has brought in a lot of players that would otherwise never have played an mmo (including me).

[grandpab]

I think it's a yes and no answer. I think it's great because it created so many MMO players, but I can't really say I'm impressed with any mmorpg released right now. They all seem kind of stale to me. I feel like more devs should have been willing to do something entirely new and different instead of just trying to recreate something we've got just with an added special gimmick. Then on the other hand would we even have as many devs as there is right now if WoW didn't exist?

I just don't like where MMOs are right now and I think until truly "next gen" MMOs start being released I'll probably never really play them like I use to, years at a time.

[Maggibesti]

There wouldn't be any other MMO Game out yet. Every single one of the current MMO's are WoW steals. And no i'm not saying WoW is the original source of all features. But they improved all features in older games so much they took it to the next level almost. Then other games take the WoW ideas, and make them worse then WoW. Why would you play a WoW copy, start fresh in a poorly designed game with not even close as high budget as Blizzard puts into it, and then leave your 5-8 years experience at WoW. I'd rather stick with WoW, enjoy some parts of it, then starting fresh, but feeling like you're not enjoying anything at all. What games need is a fresh new ideas, great upkeep and stop trying to beat WoW.

[Erolian]

If WoW is good enough to cause that effect its pretty clear we wouldn't be better off without it imo.

[Joshdatroll]

Before WoW came along everyone was happy. We were all playing Ultima Online, DAoC, Everquest, FF XI, and possibly a few other games Im forgetting that I didnt try. We didnt compare games to each other and we were happy playing what we were playing. Then in 2004 WoW is released. Fast Forward to 2012. A game cant be released without it either being called a "WoW-killer" or "just another WoW clone" People want to compare new games that havent been out for even a month to a polished game thats been out for 8 years. No new game stands a chance when it comes out because all these idiots expect it to be just as refined and bug free as WoW is. Also you cant say a new game is better and more fun than WoW without some idiot fanboy going "If it was so much better why doesnt it have 10 million players?". Would the MMO genre have been better off if WoW never existed?

Happy? You obviously didn't play EQ2. The last panel of this week's Dark Legacy Comic sums up my hate for that game. Ultima wasn't that great, neither was FF anything-MMO. Like others have said, if it wasn't WoW, it would have been another game.

[Ianus]

if there werent warcraft 3 i wouldnt play wow at all..cause i was curious what happend after third war

[Every Pwny]

Maybe. I think companies creating MMOs are under a lot of pressure to try to be as successful as WoW so they might end up trying to make their games a lot like wow that end up being lousy (Warhammer was the biggest disappointment to me). Then again, I wouldn't want to be stuck with games like FFXI. It's hard to say, for MMOs I enjoy wow (I've been really disliking the story from Cata onward though, seems like the quality has really gone downhill), but you or I don't know what could have been.

[Sj]

The more I think about it, the more I think MMOs would've gained popularity without WoW. It wouldn't have been at the same scale or pace, but they were already gaining in popularity by 2004 anyways.

[Chirri]

And without previous MMOs WoW would have never been made.

---------- Post added 2012-12-24 at 09:04 PM ----------



Well if there wasnt a WoW yet or any other newer MMOs released after WoW then those are obviously the only MMOs available to play. I mean people certainly werent playing Rift or GW2 back in 2000.

1) Duh

2) The gaming industry didn't require WoW to be made in order to make more MMORPGs. I don't know where you get the idea that without WoW, no other MMORPGs would come out. EQ was big but dying, SOE was putting out EQ2, FF Online was out, SW:G was out, CoH was out (to be followed by CoV), nevermind all of the other games that had been cooking for a while already.

WoW made MMORPGs "mainstream," but they were already here and already clawing at one another for players. They all wanted to be the new big MMO; EQ made a huge splash in a tiny pond, and other companies wanted to make a bigger splash in a slightly larger pond. WoW pulled a tsunami on everyone, and overshadowed a lot of other games, but WoW was never the only game in town. WoW pulled off something beyond anyone's wildest dreams and sped the whole thing up a good bit, proving there was a great deal of profit to be made if companies could come up with a good mix in their game.

A lack of WoW wouldn't have hurt or helped the gaming industry, it simply would have kept things to the slower pace the other games have been shuffling along at. (they weren't getting it right then, they're still not getting it right now)

Also, to other posters' point - were you even playing these kinds of games back then? There was so much bitching between the different games as they each came out, you'd have to have either not been in the communities back then, or have had your head in the sand not to recall the insults, name calling, and questioning of intelligence.

[Deleted]

No but it would have been better if they had stopped updating it after TBC or maybe early Wrath and instead made a new MMO. I think WoW has had a good influence on MMOs overall but I also think WoW stopped being a real MMO sometimes during Wrath and instead just became an instanced multiplayer game which everyone is trying to copy now.

To me, the definition of MMO is not a game with lots of players but something were players make the world by working together or against each other, not the company that makes the game. WoW just feels like a super easy and long single player game where you can chat with others if you want. Players don't really influence anything there. You can just leave all the chat, never talk to anyone and still wouldn't miss any part of the game really. This is what I think has a really terrible influence on future games and reduces the chance of a real MMO, where players make the rules and you have to work with others coming out.

[Azerox]

They would look beter, but wont BE beter