WoW is likely one of the greatest games of all time.

[Skildar]

I've loved how this game has evolved and will continue supporting it as it still gives me good emotions to me and my friends.

The events that have happened to the developers this last decade are a real shame... I want to make them pay and at the same time I don't want one of my favourite game to pay the consequence... conflicting and unfair

[arkanon]

I've loved how this game has evolved and will continue supporting it as it still gives me good emotions to me and my friends.

The events that have happened to the developers this last decade are a real shame... I want to make them pay and at the same time I don't want one of my favourite game to pay the consequence... conflicting and unfair

You want to make them pay.....but instead directly support them financially? If you "want to make them pay", do it - stop supporting them and dont give them a cent of your money.

[KOUNTERPARTS]

This game, like many others, has the ability to not only keep people playing it even if they hate it... but also to keep people engaged with it when they have been done playing it for quite some time. It's like that "living rent free in your head" argument.


WoW is GOAT'd with the sauce.

[ParanoiD84]

I can see there being a very strong argument for it being the best / one of the best MMOs, but i think it falls well short when compared to ALL games from ALL genres.

Yeah sounds about right there is just too many amazing games on the market these days and wow and blizzard in general have been lacking lately too but it's probably still the best mmo though there is not much competition in the mmo genre perhaps FF XIV but i dont play that so dunno but many people do and enjoy it.

I can see why people think it though with so many years invested.

[enigma77]

Yeah, hard to argue against that.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Not much of a debate. It might not be for some people. But to say it wasnt for a lot of people for a very long time would be kinda crazy. Even its creators are shocked.

[Relapses]

It kind of is in the same way The Simpsons is the greatest sitcom of all time

I'm reminded of this video by Drew Gooden regarding SNL. There's a lot of confirmation bias in a topic like this.

[Itori]

The thing about WoW was when it was created it was done back when blizzard was a company of gamers who made games that they themselves enjoyed and thought everyone else would enjoy. They grew up on games that would inspire them to make the genre better and they did. Everyone at the time of WoW's release could tell the game was heavily inspired by everquest, ultima online, and so on and just took the ideas and made them better. Honestly I wish this was still the case. No matter what game comes along in the future I will always enjoy my WoW memories with friends and probably still come back to the game in hopes that they get better.

[Kumorii]

That is true.
Being one of the greatest of all time is more like a Hall of Fame sort of thing. I don't see it as a current ranking list that gets updated. It certainly is up there among the greatest. And just because you have bigger playerbase, like COD or FIFA or hell, even PUBG (which is the most played game ever) doesn't mean you are among the greatest because it's more than playercount imo, even though I would probably put CoD and PUBG in there.

[Mysterymask]

Not in your top 10 yet you have an account and post on its fan site. Seems weird.

....well yeah not in my top 10 doesn't mean I don't like it it just means in my 10 favorite games wow isn't there... definitely top 50 though. I'm sorry I don't find wow better than MGS3, FF9, MegaMan X, Super Metroid, Guilty Gear Accent Core, Street Fighter 3rd Strike, Castlevania Symphony of the Night, Terranigma, and Chrono Trigger...I'm sorry I didn't meet your gatekeeping reservations because if I were to list all 50 wow would probably be somewhere in the mid 40s you're right and I'm wrong

[Gumble]

WAS...... was one of the greatest games

[Dustdevil]

I agree, one day I hope they make a World of Warcraft Reforged. Classic WoW but with completely upgraded to modern graphics. The other day I was in the Deadmines in VanCleef's room. Just imagining how awesome cavern would look upgraded, especially the Pirate ship.

[exochaft]

This game, like many others, has the ability to not only keep people playing it even if they hate it... but also to keep people engaged with it when they have been done playing it for quite some time. It's like that "living rent free in your head" argument.


WoW is GOAT'd with the sauce.

While there may be some truth to it, I think it's an exception and not the rule. If you actually hate a game, you'll stop playing it unless you've been conditioned to play it (i.e. an addiction or some other negative reinforcement). Constantly doing something optional that you hate isn't healthy in the long term, and whatever keeps you coming back despite the hatred is likely not a good thing either.

Only reason I still try to keep semi-active with WoW despite having quit in Shadowlands was because I know how good the game can still be, but it hasn't been that way for years. Dragonflight shows some signs of improvement, but there's still a bunch of fundamental issues with the game that need to change before it can even get back to a state of where it once was. I personally got tired of giving Blizz a chance and listening to promises that ended up being empty, so despite my love for the game it once was I deemed it way healthier to just quit until the game returns to a better state (if it ever does).

I don't contest that WoW should probably be at the very least in contention for GOAT when it comes to MMO's, but that's more referencing its former glory days... and certainly not when it comes to games overall. Its historical impact in the MMO genre alone cannot be understated, but there's nothing really about the current WoW that's either groundbreaking or impactful. I wish it weren't the case, but there's nothing I can do about that.

[arkanon]

This game, like many others, has the ability to not only keep people playing it even if they hate it... but also to keep people engaged with it when they have been done playing it for quite some time. It's like that "living rent free in your head" argument.


WoW is GOAT'd with the sauce.

Big difference to most other games though - there is a cost to play - the subscription. Plus, your progress pauses the moment you stop playing while the game moves ahead, meaning getting back in can be discouraging for some, considering the bulk of the game happens at endgame, while for most games you enjoy, you can sit down and play an old save, start a fresh game, try a new difficulty right from the moment you hit play, and from the moment you hit play, you are playing the game, not working towards the end goal of being able to....play the game.

Thats what keeps people interested even when they have stopped playing - for some, maybe many, it is a topic they are still interested in, and would love to see the game shift back towards something they would enjoy playing.

This isnt really the case for some other greats, like Doom, Mario Bros 2, Sonic 2, Tetris, etc. Yes, speedrunners etc are still engaged, but for the most part those are games you just slap in and hit play and enjoy - nothing has changed, the game is the same it was 10, 20, 40 years ago.

[Shmazard]

People definitely have strong feelings for WoW and it shows by the anger they put out towards changes in the game.

[Khaza-R]

Not in your top 10 yet you have an account and post on its fan site. Seems weird.

I don't think its weird at all. I like WoW. I have fond memories of it, but its probably not in my top 10 either.

That's nothing against WoW. But if we are talking about every video game ever, there's a just a lot of really great videos games out there.

[Mysterymask]

This game, like many others, has the ability to not only keep people playing it even if they hate it... but also to keep people engaged with it when they have been done playing it for quite some time. It's like that "living rent free in your head" argument.


WoW is GOAT'd with the sauce.

I think a lot of that right now is a few things

1. End of the day there isn't a lot of games like wow...you want a different platformer or fighter you have a myriad of options. Other MMOs are so much different from eachother that if you like the aspects of wow but nothing else you really are kinda stuck with wow. FF14 lacks the more challenging raids, customizability, and pvp wow has and doesn't really have any desire to add it either but goes miles past wow in it's accesbility and story beats.

2. MMOs dont end in a traditional sense and demand a lot of your time....it's hard to move from one game to another and not feel your abandoning everything or basically starting back from square one. One of the reasons the wow clones kinda suffered

3. MMOs that don't do as well just kinda disappear. I mentioned Street Fighter 3 as one of my favorite games ever. Commercially that game failed and failed HARD if it was an MMO it would of ceased to be but now it's one of the most beloved games in the franchise. In a genre specific example Star Wars Galaxies and City of Heroes are absolutely beloved and now you can't play them outside of private servers.

[Leyre]

WoW was revolutionary

Yeah, in removing any sense of danger regarding bosses, now every mmo has bosses inside instances rather than having people fight for the right to kill them, yuck

[TbouncerT]

Big difference to most other games though - there is a cost to play - the subscription. Plus, your progress pauses the moment you stop playing while the game moves ahead, meaning getting back in can be discouraging for some, considering the bulk of the game happens at endgame, while for most games you enjoy, you can sit down and play an old save, start a fresh game, try a new difficulty right from the moment you hit play, and from the moment you hit play, you are playing the game, not working towards the end goal of being able to....play the game.

Thats what keeps people interested even when they have stopped playing - for some, maybe many, it is a topic they are still interested in, and would love to see the game shift back towards something they would enjoy playing.

This isnt really the case for some other greats, like Doom, Mario Bros 2, Sonic 2, Tetris, etc. Yes, speedrunners etc are still engaged, but for the most part those are games you just slap in and hit play and enjoy - nothing has changed, the game is the same it was 10, 20, 40 years ago.

I dunno, there are games like Elder Scrolls (not the MMO) and Witcher games, where either myself or others would get to a point in them, take a 6+ month break and try to come back just to end up starting over. At least with wow you don't feel obligated to do that (sure to could with the others as well, but they lose more of the immersion among other things) and just keep going. plus your last paragraph (Doom, Mario, Tetris part), those are by far on the simplistic side of gaming. which is why they're super easy to pick back up. This is why comparing an MMO to single player games (even traditional multiplier) is a little silly.

- - - Updated - - -

Yeah, in removing any sense of danger regarding bosses, now every mmo has bosses inside instances rather than having people fight for the right to kill them, yuck

Instances are the way to go (especially for bigger group content). Have you tried War in New World? There are reasons why they moved that route...
Heck, there are also reasons why Guild Wars is like that too, and that is even worse than WoW's.

[melzas]

Just look at the amount of people who supposedly have quit the game but keep browsing forums/fansites and have opinion on the content even though they no longer play.

How many other games you know that keep people so invested they can't let go even if they no longer even enjoy the game? If wow was "oh so bad" people would just move on but nope. Everyday we have hundreds of posters, even here on mmochamp who claim to quit X expansions ago but keep getting info on wow nearly on daily basis.

That is the true sign of one of the greatest games. It impacts your life even if you stop playing. Kinda scary and cringy though.