A lot of decent MMOs have been around during recent years, but WoW still remains king. Why is that?
I think it’s because of their budget. They can afford to roll out a high-polished product with the best raids in the genre.
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I’d say it’s mainly inertia at this point.
Besides their raid content (which might now have reached the point of way too overdesigned for its own good), they’re inferior in most other respects to newer games, including increasing overlap from non-MMOs.
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Azeroth appeals to the masses and has established itself as the best world to spend your gametime in.
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It’s not the best, but MMO players are the most invested in it.
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I think because its one of the most earliest MMOs to really take off and be successful. On top of a reputable developers behind three flagship titles. It also offered itself to be able to help other MMOs to get ideas from and make their own spin.
I also see that investment also makes a big impact on keeping players in with WoW’s veteran-type system which allows you to keep going if you ever decide to roll new characters but keep some benefits you collected over the years.
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It’s not the budget, it’s the momentum and notoriety.
MMORPGs in general tend to congregate in clumps more than other games, simply because of their social aspects. No one wants to join a dead game, not even solo players.
That being said… some could argue that a couple of other games are poised to take WoW’s crown if it doesn’t live up to expectations.
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Most other MMOs are not that good. Ofc some are.
And WOW has been the TOP mmo for a while that other mmos tried to be like so I guess people would naturally come look at this game first.
Not to mention the already large playerbase it has.
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There are a few major reasons, but a lot of it is a mountain of small intangible things that add up to make WoW feel “right” somehow… things that few other games (not just MMOs) nail.
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The backlog of “content” + the extreme focus on endgame dungeons and raids.
WoW does World Content about par for the course at best, absolutely awfully at worst. That’s not a selling point.
WoW does Graphics slightly behind par for the course at best, potato status at worst. That’s not a selling point, even if the art style keeps it from feeling as dated as it is in reality.
WoW does storytelling significantly worse than than almost any other game, period. There are rare exceptions, but as a whole, WoW falls flat here. Definitely not a selling point.
But when people get to Endgame? Dungeons and Raids. They’re always relevant, there’s always a ton of them, they’re always mechanically solid. That’s a realistic perk for WoW, and it’s one that ensures people have something to do long-term. Too many other MMOs focus too much on early-game content that dries up quickly for experience players.
And when they DO finish the endgame content? Well, there’s 13 or so years of older content to explore, be it for the stories, the transmog, titles, pets, achievements, or just curiosity. Not my cup of tea, but plenty of people get enjoyment out of almost nothing but that sort of collection-based gameplay. Vanity.
That, and WoW has a well established playerbase that isn’t going to disappear anytime soon, even if it’s in decline. An MMO with a healthy population is a selling point on its own. People don’t want to invest time into an MMO that could be dead in 6 months.
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I think also because it has an expansive universe.
The pure abundance of lore is incredible. It is apparent based on the youtube comments of their cinematic that many people no longer play the game but still love to follow the story and see where the universe of wow goes.
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WoW is like McDonalds. It’s established and a household name.
Is it the best food out there? No. But it’s familiar and I know what I’m getting.
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Most well known. Lore that extends well before the mmo. Team that has lots of experience with the genre. There’s a lot of reasons.
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Because it isn’t some garbage Korean P2W MMO like the majority of MMOs out there.
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Accessibility. There is something for everyone to enjoy. Very wide appeal from the art style to the gameplay and lore.
I’d have to agree. It’s not that they’re the best, they’re just the biggest dog on the block and that has weight. I mean, Marvel and DC have been proving they can’t write worth a squat. Yet they’re still seen as the big dogs. Not because they’re the best, but because of sheer numbers of characters in their roster. And because they’ve been around a long time.
And just because a company has been around a long time it doesn’t mean they’re good. It just means that they’ve managed to avoid drawing too much negative attention to themselves that would destroy most companies.
Blizzard these days is just Big.
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it’s because you can’t beat something that is original
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Actually, you can. Happens all the time. Someone creates something new and unique, but its not something that people WANT.
Just because its “original” doesn’t mean that it is automatically the best.
And just because ten other people have done it doesn’t mean its the worst. I mean, look at romance movies. They keep selling, in spite of the fact that you can almost write the plot just from knowing a few facts about the setting and the characters.
And yet people keep going to watch them.
It’s putting your personal spin on things that make something Interesting, not whether its something Original.
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WoW isn’t even in the top 3 MMORPGs currently except in revenue which no one cares how much people spend on WoW tokens or server transfers.
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Inertia.
Scale.
I think WoW’s simplicity had a lot to do with it. And I don’t mean it’s dumbed down, l mean it is a very straight forward game to figure out. The systems and game play are kept easy to understand but still have enough depth that they can keep the min maxers attention. It’s that that appeals to a huge variety of players.
Other MMOs either needlessly over complicate things or don’t make things clear enough.
Take Guild Wars 2 for example. It’s not too different to WoW in general game play but it’s end game isn’t obvious. WoW makes it clear you are supposed to do at end game. You raid, M+, world quest ect. GW2 end game is mostly achievement hunting, and that can be very fulfilling as an endgame but no where in the process of leveling to they let you know that. So you hit max level and stand there and say what now?
The other thing WoW really has going for it is the absolute massive amount of third party support and information available. You can find out anything about WoW at the drop of a hat. Places like Wowhead, Icyveins, Raid bots, Petopia, even Raider IO just don’t exist or aren’t nearly as comprehensive for other games.
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