Heya I wanted to provide my 2c as someone who is primarily into MMO games after swapping from books in my teens.
A big aspect WoW gives to me is a local community unmatched and unlikely to ever be matched for a country as small as Australia.
There have been other MMOs that have tried but the reach doesn’t last (FFXIV you’ll have difficulty getting the latest alliance raid done as an ordinary player).
So with that aspect here are my reasons why WoW does well:
Large amount of catering to many different types of players
Established and relatable franchise
Able to maintain subscription and readily get returning players through promotions and special events
Really good combat
In nearly 4 years I’ve not seen a completely ‘dead’ day even on the forums. There is usually something to talk about - WoW maintains relevancy
Always the game people talk about even on other MMOs lol (especially during my NW stint)
Having played other MMOs here’s where it’s lacking:
interpersonal bonding ingame isn’t as strong
catering towards roleplay players until recently hasn’t really been a thing. Other games which have embraced this have huge communities almost wholly surrounding roleplay
Haven’t played it since ARR, but I really did like their takes on Paladin gear. WoW is definitely my preference, but there’s more than a few areas I’ll give FFXIV a solid win on. I love their fantasy artists.
FF14 is a better MMO, WoW is just better at dopamine hits from the gear grind lol. Between the two, FF14 is the one that is still pushing heavy use of group activities while in WoW you barely need to even look at another person.
As for the other games, I either didn’t play them long enough or its been so long that I have that I can’t compare them anymore. I’m still holding out hope for another game. The Chrono Odyssey devs took all of that feedback from the last alpha test to heart so I’m at least a little hopeful they will fix a lot of the issues before the next test but we’ll see.
I enjoyed FFXIV raids and dungeons, people would actually talk to each other instead of the addictive urge to speedrun everything.
I felt personally though that the FFXIV storyline is overrated. People told me it got good at Heavensward but I certainly didn’t see anything special in it.
SWtoR killed my interest when they cust serv “accidentally” deleted about 10 hours of progress because the game bugged out and trapped my character in an instance.
FF14 I I played as far as one could for for free. I didn’t feel the urge to continue and invest money.
GW2 and ESO are the only ones and pop into when there is a lull in wow content. Mostly GW2 but they thing that really keeps me ultra casual with GW2 is the 40+ different currencies you need to keep on top of. WoW has nothing on them when it comes to currencies.
But I have no real desire to start spending money and serious time on another mmo.
I typically circle around WoW, ESO, New World, and occasionally GW2.
WoW is at the top of that list, having the best combat and progression goals.
ESO or GW2 are where I go if I want a break from the progression/performance nature of WoW and want do some RPG questing.
New World has the most immersive world, the feel and ambiance of being out gathering or doing simple tasks is amazing, especially the sound design of the game. Unfortunately the endgame content is pretty bland and the gear system IMO is one of the worst around. I’m also not that good at the action combat so that doesn’t help.
I’ve played CoH/CoV, GW, GW2, Warhammer, Conan, Wildstar, Rift, Aion, FF14 and Albion and like/liked them for their different themes and trying to make their classes unique.
But WoW still remains my main MMO because of Tauren and still having to get achievements and mounts to get.
ngl im enjoying xiv dawntrail more than i had in years. idaf about its trash story until they kill off the scions specifically graha tia, yshtola and thancred.
imho i think they should have never added wuk and let koana, erenville and krile take a bigger role or wuk do something else. i don’t really have an issue with her besides her reminding me of naruto lol but she is kinda meh but not worth me making death threats over
I have tried every MMO that has ever existed. The only 2 that matter are WoW(retail) and FFXIV. Anything else doesn’t actually matter and pretty much never will.
That said, only 1 of these 2 is actually a good MMO, and it’s not WoW. If the housing proves to be successful, then I can see FFXIV taking a huge hit, but at the same time, I know there are certain reasons why there won’t be an “FF exodus” in a similar way to WoWs mass exodus.
The promise of the housing is a bit too grandiose to believe. I am expecting bugs, crashes, and not actually being able to get a house when all of it is actually here.
I also have massive concerns as the blatant alliance favoritism and biases continue. If Silvermoon is made neutral, then housing is not going to be enough to keep me here any longer. I am tired of the horde not mattering, tired of my race being butchered to appease actual whiny children. Unless Blizzard plans to restore faction identity(especially for belfs and probably nerf nelf and dwarf racials), then I truly just won’t care anymore.
I also think for the better part of 5-8 years, WoW has not reigned supreme at all and I think the people who post here are extremely delusional in trying to believe that it has.
You still have your character you just cant play on the new player/cross play servers. Theyve done a coule server transfers since then so you will need to select a new server when you log in.
as an ordinary player).
