Is retail wow still a MMORPG or a MMO with RPG elements-Discussion Thread

Community General Discussion
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For me at least, retail wow feels like an MMO Action game with rpg elements. I just want to see what others think.

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WoW always felt like a MMO fist. :person_shrugging:

The only difference might be that the story has vehemently deteriorated in recent years. But purely in terms of RPG elements, this game is catastrophic. It’s 2024 and still no player housing, no dyeable armor, the armor in general looks painted on, and the customization options for individual races are abysmal and extremely limited, almost no emotes, etc. It’s just all very, very outdated and extremely limited.

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Whenever someone asks this, I just say look at the stats in your most favorite single player RPG and then look at the stats in WoW.

WoW has first person shooter stats.
Crit.
Haste = how fast your gun shoots.
Vers = do more damage instead of just dealing damage damage.
Mastery = reload faster.
Then the tertiary stats don’t matter because they are basically made to be nonexistent in WoW, they don’t want people interacting with them, why they are there I do not know.

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Retail stopped being an MMORPG over a decade ago. It, like FFXIV and ESO, are lobby games/stamp book collection games with lite MMO and RPG elements.

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I now look at it like this, if you want an actual MMORPG play any of the classic versions as they still have all the tabletop RPG elements in them (Vanilla Classic even more so). If you want a fast-paced action MMO with the LaCroix flavor of RPG then you play Retail.

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Besides WoW, there are also other games that prioritize RPG elements. Just as a side note. Outside the WoW bubble, there is still more. :sweat_smile:

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There is still MMORPGs it’s just the majority of them are made by indie companies. Most triple A companies just make post MMO lobby game WoW clones

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Any of them you would recommend? :eyes:

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When GW2 was released it wasn’t considered an MMO due to sharding. Over time this opinion changed and sharding technology was implemented into other online games.

If it is now accepted that GW2 is an MMO then there should be no question as to if WoW is an MMO.

WoW is an MMO.

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Some people will argue that Destiny 2 is a mmo and I don’t have time to lose arguing about words when people definition can mean everything.

For me wow barely meets the criteria when it comes to community and world content. It is mostly a lobby game for power progression. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t have some mmo aspects.

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Mortal Online 2 is a very good old school virtual world MMORPG with more modern directional combat. Sort of a spiritual successor to Darkfall/UO.

Problem is most MMORPGs don’t cater to casuals

I think most people looking for a more legit virtual word MMORPG are on the Ashes of Creation Hopium train

Season of Discovery is also very much cut from the same cloth as the old MMORPGs

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A neighbor said he likes D&D Online.

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I played Lord of The Rings Online for 11 years. It was mmorpg for sure. I was even on a role play server but there was roleplay on all servers. Good times. WoW in my opinion is an mmo with rpg elements that are mostly in our heads like back stories we make for our characters.