Why WoW will continue to dominate MMORPGs

[Fleecy]

Why will WoW continue to dominate? MMORPG's like it a bit rough :P

You don't have to dominate like it rough you can also be a sub

[Alienenduro]

I think people so desperately want a game better than wow but it just isn’t happening. WoW is great, easy to setup and play from the get go. Ive played EQ, EQ2, EvE, DAoC, AoC, AO and a few others but WoW is the one that keeps me playing. I do really enjoy EQ2 but none of my friends play it anymore they are all on WoW. I cant see myself leaving WoW for a long time. Maybe the WoW beater will be another MMO from Blizzard?

[Jheusse]

I see Blizzard looking forward to having WoW and D3 side by side, their overall bottom line and market share improves with them both in the market.

Blizzard will have more paying customers with them both on the market. Sure some people will leave WoW for D3, but I'm going to guess they'll be offset by a larger number of people who will play both. D3 and WoW are different enough that I expect players will be able to justify both costs to themselves. This is particularly relevant since D3 will not be an MMO, most MMO players stick to one MMO at a time for the bulk of their MMO playing. I'm planning on buying D3 and continuing to play WoW. I might drop a few of my MB accounts, I dunno.

Blizzard will also be smart enough to set up cross promotions between the two franchises, whether it's a discount of a bundle or a free trial or what have you. That way fans of one of the franchises who have never gotten into the other get a "gateway drug" to give it a try.

Blizzard's success with WoW I attribute to a few things, mostly already mentioned:
1- Can be played on an extremely broad range of computers.
2- The lore built up through the previous games.
3- Blizzard has built a careful reputation that "there will be no wine before it's time", they've moved their ship dates to assure quality in the past, many gamers simply trust them that they won't release a game that doesn't rock, and will be patient with a ship date change because of that trust.
4- The game itself is very complex and very deep to master, but they have done a very good job of making the early game accessible to Joe Schmoe. You can fire up the game and start killing very easily. New blood is the critical factor in any endeavor's survival, and Blizzard has done an excellent job in making the game accessible.

[Nitro]

I don't know about you guys, but when I start a subscription for another game, I'll still play wow too, I won't stop playing it lol. It's not impossible to play two games in the same period, switching between them as you get a little bored of one.

I see blizzard offering a package sub for d3 and wow.

As for the wow dominance I think quite a few pvpers will eventually quit wow for darkfall online.

Darkfall Online is pure vapor, wont ever release. If by some miracle chance it does it will be a worse wreak than AoC.

[elo]

I see Blizzard looking forward to having WoW and D3 side by side, their overall bottom line and market share improves with them both in the market.

Blizzard will have more paying customers with them both on the market. Sure some people will leave WoW for D3, but I'm going to guess they'll be offset by a larger number of people who will play both. D3 and WoW are different enough that I expect players will be able to justify both costs to themselves. This is particularly relevant since D3 will not be an MMO, most MMO players stick to one MMO at a time for the bulk of their MMO playing. I'm planning on buying D3 and continuing to play WoW. I might drop a few of my MB accounts, I dunno.

Blizzard will also be smart enough to set up cross promotions between the two franchises, whether it's a discount of a bundle or a free trial or what have you. That way fans of one of the franchises who have never gotten into the other get a "gateway drug" to give it a try.

Blizzard's success with WoW I attribute to a few things, mostly already mentioned:
1- Can be played on an extremely broad range of computers.
2- The lore built up through the previous games.
3- Blizzard has built a careful reputation that "there will be no wine before it's time", they've moved their ship dates to assure quality in the past, many gamers simply trust them that they won't release a game that doesn't rock, and will be patient with a ship date change because of that trust.
4- The game itself is very complex and very deep to master, but they have done a very good job of making the early game accessible to Joe Schmoe. You can fire up the game and start killing very easily. New blood is the critical factor in any endeavor's survival, and Blizzard has done an excellent job in making the game accessible.

I'd like to 2nd point 4. I was over at a friend's house last weekend and his wife was playing and I noticed what god-awful gear she has. She's been playing for over 2 years now and her main has never set foot into a heroic/raid and has done very few of the level 70's dungeons. Still though she feels like she has plenty to do and loves to play. Now that's just one person but then I look at an old guild I was in. I hopped into their vent last weekend and was listening to them going through normal slave pens with a full group of 70's.... Naturally my first thought was 'pathetic' but these people were still enjoying the game even at this level. Their whole guild is like that. Sure some of them do Kara and they've tip-toed into a few other raids but still they all somehow find enjoyment on a daily basis just running around and being in the WoW world. Amazing.

[Nisch]

I've played most big name MMO's from UO and EQ all the way to WoW and AoC.

I find it amazing how many people playing WoW haven't heard of any of the big MMO's from past days.

When I say things like "Yeah I was playing DAOC"

The common response is "WTF is that?"

That just shows that Blizzard has done a good job at immersing players into the game of WoW so much that it blinds them to everything else out there.

I personally don't find WoW the best, but it is certainly one of the better ones.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

That just shows that Blizzard has done a good job at immersing players into the game of WoW so much that it blinds them to everything else out there.

I don't quite grok your point, here. Are you suggesting that people can "shop" for MMOs? Not sure about you but a lot of people I know have no clue that Everquest or DAoC or AC or any of the others even exist. They heard of WoW through word of mouth or online articles, got started and are loving it. These are folks that don't know what an MMO is, or that WoW is an MMO. They just heard of this game called WoW and started playing and enjoy the hell out of it.

It's nothing more complicated than that. I swear, some of you just try to find reasons to belittle folks that enjoy WoW (or other games) as is, even with (or in spite of) known flaws. Comes across as unhealthy, IMO.

[Nisch]

That just shows that Blizzard has done a good job at immersing players into the game of WoW so much that it blinds them to everything else out there.

I don't quite grok your point, here. Are you suggesting that people can "shop" for MMOs? Not sure about you but a lot of people I know have no clue that Everquest or DAoC or AC or any of the others even exist. They heard of WoW through word of mouth or online articles, got started and are loving it. These are folks that don't know what an MMO is, or that WoW is an MMO. They just heard of this game called WoW and started playing and enjoy the hell out of it.

It's nothing more complicated than that. I swear, some of you just try to find reasons to belittle folks that enjoy WoW (or other games) as is, even with (or in spite of) known flaws. Comes across as unhealthy, IMO.

How exactly was I belitting anyone??

I basically said that Blizzard has done a good job at keep peoples' interests. By keeping people interested, people don't feel the need to see what else is out there. That's human nature.

I fail to see how that is belittling anyone.

And you can't tell me that when WoW loses it's momentum that players won't try to find a new one, or "shop" as you put it??

I don''t see that as belittling either.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Apparently, I fail at communication. I should have hit the enter key after "It's nothing more complicated than that," as the second part wasn't really directed at your post.

Regarding the first part, I was offering the perspective that a very large number of people aren't "blinded" to other options because they have no idea that other options even exist and didn't know that other options existed even _before_ WoW. :P If they started not liking WoW, they'd go back to Zelda or Wii or adventure games or something.

[entoptic]

I feel you are all missing the big thing here.

WoW attraction is not only its ease of play but the fact that it is the first MMO to go mainstream. Everyone plays it because it appears to a larger audience then your average video game nerd.

They could poop in a box and if they market it well then it will sell.

Everywhere you look its WoW WoW WoW.

That alone makes the game huge. China has coke cans with WoW on it.

There are commercials for it as well.

Are any other MMO's doing anything remotely close to it?

All other MMO's in the past and in the future have/had small companies creating them which don't understand how to appeal to a large audience.

Look at all the games in the past. UO was huge cause not only was it the first but they had a base of games out before UO which grabbed a lot of users.

Blizzard had a huge fan base before WoW was even thought up.

The real reason WoW is huge and the rest aren't is money and marketing. they are the first to take a MMO and make it something bigger then a video game.

WoW is a culture that continues to bring in the masses. They made it big bizness while the rest went for chump change.

It's totally exceptable in the mainstream world to rock WoW shirts and hats.