Can WoW even be classified as an RPG anymore?

[liberaet]

The world and characters in this game are very static. The game design in general is very lazy and lacks creativity because of the developer's cheapness.

There's little interactivity with the world. There's little actual decisions you can make in this game.

It's all very streamlined, you just go through a bunch of systems to acquire gear and whatnot, the same systems everybody else goes through, with no deviation or individuality or player agency at all.

Even the "quests" aren't quests, rarely are any of them more than kill X boars and bring me their asses. Nowadays they don't even bother adding proper quest text, it's literally just 2 paragraphs full of filler sentences that boil down to "I need boar asses for this".

So how exactly is it an RPG? Cause you level up and get xp and unlock stuff? Doesn't that make Call of Duty or Fortnite an RPG too?

Have to agree with you on this mate.

[yani9841]

But mine cuts out shit like Zelda which is an action/adventure game, not an RPG, your's doesn't cut out anything, except games like bejeweled.

I see this is just going to go in circles splitter/clumper style.

I mean hell, I don't know if you've seen some of the resent bejeweled entries. They have loot and experience and levels too!

[beanman12345]

I see this is just going to go in circles splitter/clumper style.

I mean hell, I don't know if you've seen some of the resent bejeweled entries. They have loot and experience and levels too!

they likely have a story then, in which you play a role, so fuck it right?

[yani9841]

they likely have a story then, in which you play a role, so fuck it right?

well the Candy crush one does. saving teh candy kingdom or some such with every few stages changing the main theme or how you clear the fucking candy.


Note, my point wasn't trying to point out the clear defining traits. I was pointing out that what you said was a key indicator of "RPG" state was present in far more than just "RPG" material and has been for some time.

The difference between an action-adventure/Survival-Horror/RPG isn't so definitive you can point to a short list of features.

[beanman12345]

well the Candy crush one does. saving teh candy kingdom or some such with every few stages changing the main theme or how you clear the fucking candy.


Note, my point wasn't trying to point out the clear defining traits. I was pointing out that what you said was a key indicator of "RPG" state was present in far more than just "RPG" material and has been for some time.

The difference between an action-adventure/Survival-Horror/RPG isn't so definitive you can point to a short list of features.

Yes they are different in the key aspects I laid out. This isn't fucking hard dude.

[Adamas102]

RPG does not mean you have choice, it means you play a role of a charecter.
usually that ends up meaning the game gives you choice, to allow you to play them as you wish.
but some of the oldest RPG's you had no choice, you played as this charecter, you have these skills, you use them.
The only choice you had was "Do i spend X gold to buy this better piece of gear? that gives me more attack?"

Based on that definition the vast majority of video games would be considered RPGs. No, clearly just playing a character is not the defining part of what makes a game an RPG. Choice is indeed what differentiates playing a character in say Baldur's Gate vs playing a character in Super Smash Bros or playing as 007 in Goldeneye. WoW has some RPG elements in so far as you're playing a character through a narrative and you can KINDA make choices in how you progress, but as is the case in MMO's those choices are very limited. It's RPG lite at best.

[Rogue Karl]

Its riding the line... I would say it is still an rpg but it seems like it wants to become a action looter game very badly.

[WowIsDead64]

There are plenty of RPGs that have scaling difficulty. Final Fantasy Tactics is a beloved tactical RPG where enemies scale to your level, meaning you never overlevel the game's content and can even get into situations where progression is impossible. Skyrim is another off the top of my head that likewise has scaling enemies. Are you going to tell me that isn't an RPG?

Leveling/progressing to outlevel/overgear some enemies and start being able to defeat stronger ones - is major part of RPG. And gumbas always have the same difficulty level in Super Mario Bros, no matter, if it's 1st level or 8th. Trying to keep game challenging, because "easy game is boring", no matter what, isn't always good thing. Because players play RPGs not because they're hard, difficult or challenging.

[MoanaLisa]

A typical RPG game is more co-operative than competitive. The introduction of so many competitive elements to the PVE game has come as a distraction from role-playing. Competition is by nature human-competitive instead of character-competitive. RPG's from the start, i.e. D&D and its descendants, were primarily co-operative in nature. The farther away you are from living in your character, the farther away from being an RPG.

[sam86]

ehm... yes!?
i can understand u argue about the MMO part since it has massive single content, but to question the rpg element that's weird
if other games imported rpg progress doesn't make rpg any less rpg, if anything it make FPS (or whatever other game it is) less FPS since it has rpg elements in it

wow is rpg, it has less rpg than before but it still has a lot of rpg, the problem is in its mmo nature, that seems to be dying more with each exp

[aeuhe4yxzhds]

You play the role as a character and progress that character. It's definitely an RPG. Not as many role playing elements as I'd like though.

With that logic Call of Duty and its multiplayer component is an RPG.

And we all know that call of duty isn't considered an RPG.

[Flarelaine]

God OP, you just never relent with the WoW/Blizzard hate do you. Every single day there's another reason you hate wow.

Haters gonna hate.

[Raisei]

The world and characters in this game are very static. The game design in general is very lazy and lacks creativity because of the developer's cheapness.

There's little interactivity with the world. There's little actual decisions you can make in this game.

It's all very streamlined, you just go through a bunch of systems to acquire gear and whatnot, the same systems everybody else goes through, with no deviation or individuality or player agency at all.

Even the "quests" aren't quests, rarely are any of them more than kill X boars and bring me their asses. Nowadays they don't even bother adding proper quest text, it's literally just 2 paragraphs full of filler sentences that boil down to "I need boar asses for this".

So how exactly is it an RPG? Cause you level up and get xp and unlock stuff? Doesn't that make Call of Duty or Fortnite an RPG too?

It is funny that I knew without opening that this would be another of your hate threads, thinly veiling your dislike of basically every aspect of the game in a rhetorical question. Someone is definately paying you to open these.

What you are talking about is World Quests, which are held simple because they are meant to be done quick and repeated. No one would read the quest text of a daily quest on their third time doing it anyway.
The more traditional quests during leveling do still have a story behind them, like when you disrupt Ashvanes exploitative weapons manufacture and free enslaved children and the oerarching plot of Jaina returning to Kul'Tiras and Ashvane trying to take the power from Kathrine.

The world is btw the most "alive" we have in any MMO out there. Boralus teems with life. People go around, chat, do things. On some corners you get to eavesdrop on conversations. In the beginning there were some hidden Jaina meeting over the city, some with Tandred and Kathrine, now we have people discussing the end of the Blood War and Sylvanas and the future. Soldiers returning from War glad to be alive to meet their families.
Do you get to interact with any of that? No. Because this is not a single-player RPG, the world is a background, you and the other PCs are the protagonists that should interact.
Nothing about Boralus feels lazy or cheap.

Making decisions again has to be limited because (despite what you may believe) the game is played by many people who own the world together. If everyone could make decisions that affect the world then there would be millions of different Azerothes that had to be catered to. The alternative would be to make WoW basically a single-player game with some group content on the side. Then story can be focussed and you do not need to care about others. This has basically been done by SWTOR, they kicked any kind of challenging group content to tell a single-player story, the result is that the raiding community is dead and the game is only still around because it has the name "Star Wars". And even there a ton of the story is on railroads with just a few decisions that actually matter .

WoW's focus has always been on group content, so this will not change, no matter how much you whine. Roleplayers have always and will always make their own thing anyway and from the popularity of RP still in the game (I constantly see groups) I think they are doing absolutely fine.

[ano2024]

Based on that definition the vast majority of video games would be considered RPGs. No, clearly just playing a character is not the defining part of what makes a game an RPG. Choice is indeed what differentiates playing a character in say Baldur's Gate vs playing a character in Super Smash Bros or playing as 007 in Goldeneye. WoW has some RPG elements in so far as you're playing a character through a narrative and you can KINDA make choices in how you progress, but as is the case in MMO's those choices are very limited. It's RPG lite at best.

This guy gets it. A logical and rational man.

[Kumorii]

Yes.. That simple.

[MrLachyG]

This guy gets it. A logical and rational man.

so you ignore everyone who disagrees with you, and cherry pick the one response that kinda agrees with you to reply to. I mean if all you want is a Yes Man then why didn't you say so?

[WowIsDead64]

With that logic Call of Duty and its multiplayer component is an RPG.

And we all know that call of duty isn't considered an RPG.

RPG is actually small model of real world, but in fantasy world. You should live as your character. Your character should reflect your personality. You should make choices and progress. And so called "game mechanics", like scaling, that try to make game "better" from game design point of view, i.e. making it more competitive or challenging, just make it worse as RPG. There is nothing bad in game mechanics per se. But overusing them is bad for RPG genre, cuz it turns RPG into arcade, i.e. game, that is tuned around gameplay, not other factors, like immersion.

[Soon-TM]

WoW was never a real RPG, but rather the ultimate theme park. Even so, in Vanilla/BC, devs tried to conceal it the best they could. From Cata onwards, they simply stopped pretending that they cared about the RPG in MMORPG, and called it a day.

Btw, the loyalist/rebel "option" in BfA is a TERRIBLE example of RPG. The overall story isn't affected by your choice, as isn't your toon's either. Not to mention the "just play along" meme

[Laqweeta]

It's pretty much just a casino at this point.

I think this sums up the thread.

[Beloren]

You play the role as a character and progress that character. It's definitely an RPG. Not as many role playing elements as I'd like though.

Correct. And a lot of work is in the art and visual presentation. Don't dis the whole product because the story and quests in game don't measure up to facilitating that. Senior development chose to only focus on the gaming systems primarily, and didn't feel making sure the Role playing elements and l ore/story quest presentation was anywhere as detailed or well put together.

That's why it seems that way.. on the one hand having incredible world zones, racial aesthetics and kit sets, but then almost zero info in gmae or expounding on that.

It's funny how other games do this part quite well, but don't go to anywhere near the length blizzard does for the harder stuff like the art, aesthetics etc.