Granted I’m not playing WoW NEARLY as much as I used to, I’d no-life this game from sunrise to sunset when I could.
I think most people play WoW for, or to maintain, their collections.
I certainly do.
Gameplay-wise I’m on SoD or something else entirely, not much in retail for as I’m a predominantly a PvP player and DF hasn’t been great in that regard.
TWW is giving us solo queue Rated Battlegrounds, a-la Battleground Blitz, so I’m fairly excited for that.
Not as invested in the lore as I used to be, because they kept fumbling the ball, again and again.
If I didn’t have my awesome collection of stuff anchoring me to WoW, I’d be off in FF14 or some other MMORPG, most likely.
I only really have time for one MMO, and since it’s been WoW for almost 20 years now, I doubt it’d change unless they pulled another Shadowlands or something.
That being said, I’ve already played through several MMOs and WoW certainly won’t be the last.
Riot’s MMO got delayed for being “too similar to WoW”, so I guess I won’t see an alternative for a good while.
OP, I thought of an analogy. It’s like playing and studying chess throughout your entire childhood, learning openings, practicing tactics for years, maybe getting like 1800 rating. Maybe you’re also active on the chess forum and know people who play it seriously and bond with them over it.
Then you hear about Shogi (or Final Fantasy 14). It’s kind of similar, has sort of similar ideas and works in similar ways, but the thought of playing that seriously and re-learning everything, making new history with it, retraining your brain, finding new friends to play it with, when there is no need to, when you can just keep playing chess, makes no sense.
Only been here since Aug 2017, personally, but the reason Im still here is the game is so vast and has so much to do.
the mark of a great game is replayability, which WoW has.
I think WoW’s diverse content catalog captures a lot of players for a lot of different reasons.
Classic WoW and Retail WoW are basically not even remotely close to being the same game, and capture two different types of players. Now that Classic progression servers are into the post-Classic pre-modern era, there’s now three distinct and very separate video games all covered under the WoW subscription.
I do think that after Shadowlands, the MMO community has dispersed a bit across multiple games, but Blizzard runs three of the most successful MMORPGs in a market that’s really not that saturated, all under one umbrella. Like sure, you have XIV, ESO, GW2, all of which are great games in their own right, but Retail, Classic Seasonal, and Classic Progression are all individually just as big and successful as each of the formerly mentioned games.
The WoW audience is also frankly just getting old. When you get into your 30s with a family and career to worry about, you don’t really enough time overhead to seek out and try new games. There are a lot of WoW monogamers who just don’t play other games, because their lifestyle doesn’t give them the bandwidth to explore the modern gaming ecosystem.
At the end of the day, I hope that most of the people playing WoW are playing it because they enjoy it as a video game, not because they’re addicted or lack the capacity to try new things, but I know that hope is something of a pipe dream. There is a vocal baseline audience of WoW that will play until the servers close, and I find that somewhat concerning, because it removes incentives for Blizzard to innovate and pull the game up to the standards of a modern RPG.
Can you give some specific examples of games that do this, that aren’t blatantly vaporware or p2w eastern MMOs? MMOs have always looked like hot trash.
The last time we really saw a surge of western MMOs was the early 2010s, and graphics were never a priority. Games like Wildstar and Rift died by hyperfocusing on pleasing niche sub-communities, and then realizing that these communities weren’t where the MMO money was, then rapidly swapped focus as they floundered and eventually sank. Games that survived that era, GW2 and ESO, really aren’t that visually impressive at all.
Most other games don’t have graphics or stories that appeal to me. And most phone games and iPad games are cheap and boring plus require you to pay to make progress at a satisfying pace. I think they are made for people with no attention span or time to invest into a game. Like I’d play it if I was waiting in line somewhere vs at home for fun.
Coming home and playing wow brings me the same joy as a warm blanket and a nice coffee. It screams “it’s time to sit down and chill”
Everything is so familiar to me in wow now too. I look forward to my routine and seeing the characters I like! Oh and all the sounds! Lol
For me, it’s as close to D&D without it being turn-based, in video game format.
The fantasy idea of wielding x, y or z is simply fulfilled, and the combat action isn’t horrible.
SWTOR also has some of those core aspects, but it feels a little clunky, which may be the engine and/or may be the toaster I try an play it on, but both games have a fairly decent combat action gameplay which is I guess enough for me if the full ideas from D&D are to be absent. I do prefer the combat action over having a turn based option instead, that’s for sure.
Sure I’ve played RTS games, but they’re a slight bit different in my view. Their combat action is similar but the guts of the rest of the game can be considerably different, which is why most don’t get designed quite like WoW.
D&D concepts coupled with real-time combat action. It provides that same feel, except that it’s not turn based and that’s a huge separation from turn based combat, which is part of the draw.
Any game that can strike that balance will have my attention.
People still like WoW? In the similar vein people still play GTA SA today. Or GTA 5 even.
I still play and like WoW because it’s the only MMO i ever come back for, despite other MMO’s trying and vying to get my attention.
GTA online is awful, TES:O is pointless because of Skyrim existing with mods and such, Fallout 76 is… Fallout 76, Destiny 2 is fun for the first 3 hours and it got a little old, DC universe just exists, Star Wars:TOR is fine but all it does it reminds me of WoW and Dragonage and the better time that Star Wars has extended canon, GW2 is pretty good if you ignore the fact it’s an MMO and pretend it’s some cool odd console RPG from the 2006’s (not to replace WoW, but as an addition), and FF14? Didn’t care for it.
Excellent Observation and comparison. You get a 
