Is WoW Still Immersive?

[Deleted]

Flying mounts and LFD are the two main culprits.

Flying mounts do allow you to bypass a lot of obstacles which hinders the immersion. They are too convenient to throw away now though.

[Deleted]

MMO are not really immersive in general. WoW is not really an exception

- - - Updated - - -

They are too convenient to throw away now though.

Sadly *sigh*

[Deleted]

It is immersive when you play it in short sessions, and preferably not every day. All in all, less immersive than in TBC and Vanilla, but hordes will come and say that this has to do with the age of the game. And I will disagree and endless protection of one's views will ensue

[Deleted]

It is immersive when you play it in short sessions, and preferably not every day.

I have taken a few breaks in the 7 years I have played and I can definitely say I have felt more immersed in the game upon returning almost every time. Could lack of immersion actually just be a sign of WoW fatigue?

[Hooked]

I was absolutely hooked on this game until the end of wolk. During cata I began to get less hooked. Mop I have took some time off and may never come back. I think what started pulling me away was initially the sweeping changes to the talent tree beginning in cata. It was like relearning a new character and I wasnt feeling it. The constant nerfs every patch also annoyed me to the point of losing interest. Once I lost interest its hard to get it back or even want to get it back.

[Jaylock]

TVLodge: One thing that I think Blizzard did horribly was the NPC sharing mechanic without having to be in a group. It just further creates a solo, single player experience rather than encouraging grouping up and socializing in game. The game is essentially a solo game with some multiplayer aspects, further perpetuated by dropdown menu gameplay.

Its like ordering from list of food on a menu, and you just wait a bit and it is delivered to you while you sit there doing nothing. This game lost its immersion since the end of WoTLK with the introduction of dungeon finder, and most recently raid finder.

*Jaylock thinks his two cents goes very far with this discussion.*

[Deleted]

One thing that I think Blizzard did horribly was the NPC sharing mechanic without having to be in a group

Isn't this only for certain elite/rare mobs?

[Haytham]

It can be immersive if you try to make it that way.

But the game itself is not anymore,the quest text and reasons you do a quest is presented in a bad way,the cutscenes are badly implemented ( Uldum is a good example ),multiple cutscenes has the main character of that particular event talking with voice acting while all others around him have no voice acting and just pop text in your face endless.

The leveling experience is dumbed down allot,thus resulting in a bad exploration feeling.You do half of zone and are thrown in another with no exploration whatsoever.

The open world should be your biggest challange to overcome while leveling,not a playground you rush through to do isntanced content at max level.

No,WoW is not immersive.

[Deleted]

The leveling experience is dumbed down allot,thus resulting in a bad exploration feeling.You do half of zone and are thrown in another with no exploration whatsoever.

The leveling is certainly dumbed down a bit especially, as I mentioned in my OP, with questhelper now in the game as a default.

The best explanation for moving to the next zone in most cases is something like 'we need your help here because farmer Yoon lost his knickers'.

It isn't that bad but you catch my drift.

[Strakha]

I think things that ruin immersion are multiplicative.

BoA items for instance make you not care about most upgrades until 85(or 80 if you have no upgraded chest and shoulders). Before BoA you were actually interested and attached to your items, you'd get a new sword and it was shiny, looked different and did more things for you. You liked your new upgrade, until your next one. It was a good experience.

I actually made a new character the other day just to play solo, no instancing or pvp, just quest with no BoA, no extra help from alts and it is the most fun I've had playing in years. My new green item I find is actually something I care about. Fights seem more dangerous, there are things I can't just steamroll without thinking.

In short if you want a more immersive experience, get out in the world more and get into dangerous situations and fun adventures, you never know who you will meet on the way and what item might become your new favorite thing when you aren't jacked up on BoAs. It may take longer, but this is about having an experience, not about racing to 90 which is stale and artificial feeling at best.

TLDR : It's not that long, read it.

[Valeron]

I never found MMO very immersive. Why? The boar i just killed respawned 30 seconds later. That boss I killed is back again (dungeon/raid reseting)

This. Also chat in general will ruin any sort of immersive atmosphere as well.

[spectrefax]

It can be immersive if you try to make it that way.

Anytime I see this reply to this discussion, it truly baffles me. I mean, gamers, saying they need to make a game immersive? Does anyone else fail to see the logic there? A gamer (read: customer) shouldn't "have" to make a game (particularly an MMORPG, which was borne from an immersive experience) feel immersive. It either is or it isn't.

But the game itself is not anymore,the quest text and reasons you do a quest is presented in a bad way,the cutscenes are badly implemented ( Uldum is a good example ),multiple cutscenes has the main character of that particular event talking with voice acting while all others around him have no voice acting and just pop text in your face endless.

The leveling experience is dumbed down allot,thus resulting in a bad exploration feeling.You do half of zone and are thrown in another with no exploration whatsoever.

The open world should be your biggest challange to overcome while leveling,not a playground you rush through to do isntanced content at max level.

No,WoW is not immersive.

I agree with the rest. WoW started losing immersion after TBC and that boulder has just been picking up more steam as it rolls downhill through each expansion and every new queuecraft element they add. WoW's been done for a while now. RIP.

[GrieverXIII]

They killed immersion for convenience a long while ago.

[Strakha]

I agree with the rest. WoW started losing immersion after TBC and that boulder has just been picking up more steam as it rolls downhill through each expansion and every new queuecraft element they add. WoW's been done for a while now. RIP.

Queues are my issue too. I always try to encourage my guildies to just roll an alt and sit out of the queues and just enjoy the game but they're all "Why would you want to do that?" Yes.. why would you want to play the actual game, instead of just waiting for instances? Queuecraft is an apt term, it makes me sad that people just ignore the outdoors of the game and just sit in town waiting for the game to come to them.

That's why immersion is dying, people aren't even playing the game beyond instances, their immersion relies upon repetition and lack of socialization.

[RicardoZ]

It totally depends on you. If your playstyle is to zerg your way to max level and get gear, then no, it probably won't feel very immersive.

If you actually go through each zone following the storylines, suspending disbelief, exploring new places and learning more about old ones, then yes, WoW will be a very immersive experience.

To answer where I think you're going with this, I'd say that the developers are probably nudging us in the less immersive direction, since the majority of players seem more interested in simply getting better gear than they actually are in story progression and character development.

[SL1200]

Phazing and crz break any sense of immersion. Chase a flagged player from one zone into another and he just disappears. Often the same thing happens because of phasing. Not being able to help friends with quest because they're in a different phase sucks, and it breaks any sense of immersion.

When blizzard pays lip service to immersion, i only laugh at them, because it's apparent to me they don't give a shit about it.

[Hubbl3]

WoW was never immersive

[Deleted]

The game used to be immersive.

In my opinion, it no longer is. The game got too many menus, and too many instant teleportation services. The game is pretty much ''fool proof'' now, and there aren't many decisions to be made. There's not much in this game that can make you think anymore.

As an example, this is how I thought back in Classic days. No, this is not rose-tinted-shit-glasses, I know what I'm talking about.

''I should think this through or else I will die and get a repair cost, and I should try to save as much money as possible for my 60% speed mount. Before I pull this pack, let's see if it is a group quest, if not, is it red colored for me? No? Alright then, are there any other enemies around that could screw me over if I attack this quest mob? Hmm, there is this couple that patrols around, maybe I can pull the quest mob over here to avoid them, or kill them before I engage the quest mob. Alright, let's see if I can boost myself some with an elixir to increase my strength, and let's be sure I got a health potion, and a mana potion too.''

Yes, that is how many quests was back in Classic, and for myself, I found that immersive, to think things through. Today, there's nothing like this, there's just engage, spam your shit and complete the quest.

Enemies are even marked as elite mobs, when they aren't even worth to be called elite mobs. Elite mobs was something to be afraid of back in the days, very few could solo them at the same level, and actually required at least 2 to 3 players to down if it was a hard group quest.

[spectrefax]

If you actually go through each zone following the storylines, suspending disbelief, exploring new places and learning more about old ones, then yes, WoW will be a very immersive experience.

To answer where I think you're going with this, I'd say that the developers are probably nudging us in the less immersive direction, since the majority of players seem more interested in simply getting better gear than they actually are in story progression and character development.

I remember when all this stuff was what the whole RPG genre was about - I mean, that pretty much was the entire reason for buying/playing an MMORPG - exploring, story, plot, trials, growing your character and interaction with the world. If you didn't want to do that stuff, you didn't buy the MMORPG. It really makes me /facepalm Blizzard and their new Facebook-game version of WoW. Oh well.

[Deleted]

Whilst doing some shado-pan dailies on my monk the other day I realised I did not feel very immersed in the gameplay. I made the effort to start reading the quest text and instead of listening to music, turn on the in-game sound. This, as silly as it may sound, actually made me feel far more immersed in the gameplay as a whole. I think immersion is still a part of the game but Blizzard may have directed us away from that immersion in certain ways.
Below are some immersion makers as well as immersion breakers which I have come up with through research and personal experience:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paHdhZTdAlc

Immersion Makers

• Reading Quest Text
• Playing the in-game sound instead of other music - this allows for good in-game atmosphere

• Playing the game with friends

Immersion Breakers

• Questing that holds your hand to the point where it becomes brainless (Questhelper)
• Lack of group questing - Isle of Thunder is an exception
• No encouragement to speak to other players (most of the endgame can be seen through LFD/LFR which requires no communication) - HC scenarios are a start however
• Dead realms. Results in a lack of server community, thus a loss of in-game immersion

So you may have noticed that I listed next to nothing other than HC scenarios and Isle of Thunder questing as recent content to encourage in-game socialising. It, as far as I can see, really does come down to the player to immerse themselves in the game.

Unfortunately it seems there is a lack of encouragement on Blizzards part to socialise with other players. In my opinion this is a huge factor in immersing oneself in the game. I think Blizzard may have dug themselves a hole with the LFR/LFD systems. Unfortunately the convenience of such features are now taken for granted by most players and I can see why - why would you ask a random person on your server to run a dungeon instead of the other one on a different realm?

Is it completely down to the player to immerse themselves in WoW now? Or can Blizzard implement more features that aid in-game immersion, or encouragement of it for that matter, as a whole?

If you don't like it then don't play... Blizzard aren't forcing you to play and you know what? guess what? MoP is the most immersive the game has ever been in absolutely every aspec of the game. So to summerise, WoW is the most immersive its ever been and anyone who disagrees with what I say (word for word) shoud take off their rose tinted goggles because its just lol.