Has WoW peaked?

[ArmedCitizen]

Age of Conan started pretty rough, indeed. They might have released it a tad bit early. But they have updates every Tuesday or something like that and their graphics, gameplay, animations, quests, spells, creatures, all the stuff that makes a fun MMORPG improves with each one. My brother has been playing the game since it came out. I've not played much into it myself besides an hour here and there but I can vouch that it has been dramatically improving. It still might falter from WoW a tad bit but it is eventually, and quite quickly, going to be greater than WoW in every way. This is coming from someone who had a level 70 until I couldn't afford it.

Of course, it will never beat WoW because it has too much of a hardcore fanbase of addicts but I feel it is still a better game.

 

[Prometheus]

Addicts can change drugs.

 

[Asehujiko]

That's what makes it fair, only pure skills, everyone can beat everyone not some Epic Arena Geared Affliction Warlock that's just DoT you up and ur dead


Just beacuse they have alot of time to spend on farming Arena.

Having to grind 2 days everytime you got jumped by your rock/paper/scissors superior =/= skill

There are other drawbacks as well:
-The only thing the majority of the community is interested in is how to be a dick as much as possible.
-The devs claims get more ambitious with every update but the only proof other then their word we got are some very low quality screenshots of some empty landscapes.
-10.000 players in a map that takes 12 hours to cross mounted using an fps based physics system with absolutely 0 instancing? "very scaleable system requirements" yes you could scale the sides of the router needed to play that, just bring some oxygen tanks, the atmosphere is quite thin up there.

Even if the technical problems get sorted, i wouldn't want to play a game almost exclusively populated by people who think they are superior beings(exact quote from their forums...) for harrasing everybody who doesn't agree with them.

 

[Ghostwind]

Um... we are talking about skill? There is not much skill in WoW. Sure, you can suck at it, but only if you are a total idiot because there is no way you can get to 70 without learning at least SOME of the right moves. But skill in WoW only goes to some extent, which is knowing what talents to spend and what abilities to spam when... and of course... what items to get. In the end, it's all about how much of your life you can waste in the shortest amount of time possible, and what items you have.

 

[quraji]

I've played WoW off and on for a while and I have to say that I personally find it very tedious and hard to play often.

The most fun time I've had playing were when I was first leveling up a character, and sometimes when I raid or do random stuff with friends. But there's a lot of time spent in between these fun times doing really boring stuff. For the most part you really have to be max level with good gear to enjoy the game, which is kind of lame, especially for people like myself who like making alts and whatnot.

I understand that content is more rewarding when you have to work for it, but I think WoW is a little over the top in that aspect. But, not only is it hard to balance content like that, but there's no way Blizzard can change the game now to make the end-game stuff more accessible and easier to achieve. Tons of people would be outraged about how they work so hard and all that (look at end-game raiding guilds complain and complain about good heroic badge rewards).

Anyways, I'm just trying to say that personally I seldom find myself in the mood to play anymore, so for me, WoW peaked a long time ago.

 

[punwisp]

I personally like Guilds wars, the games more about content then 50%+ time leveling, THEN you see some goodies, guilds wars focuses on content like end game content, though I think it would fit the game if it had at least 40 levels, 20 seems easy but its meant to be easy. Good graphics and everything. In fact lot of mechanics, messaging, looking at your char while equipping items, inventory they basically got it from guild wars. Though I don't like how you fight in guild wars, clicking someone and it auto attacks them, like you auto charge at them, it can get annoying. Though they have things wow should have had

Its very stressful having to spend like 2-3 months to get to 60-70 and then be able to experience fun, and the game is way to repetitive

 

[Asehujiko]

In fact lot of mechanics, messaging, looking at your char while equipping items, inventory they basically got it from guild wars.

So guild wars is older then diablo 1 then? that's the oldest blizzard game using the inventory/equipment model they still use now. The ingame chat is also alot older then you seem to think.

 

[ArmedCitizen]

World of Warcraft was out before Guild Wars, mate.

 

[Dakho]

WoW has peaked? I doubt it.

People think it's tedious/boring, but once you get to the end of the game it really opens up. Arena, as much as it messes the game up, is really fun. Going 2 on 2 with a buddy is always intense and exciting. Raiding is also quite awesome, because you have to strategize and work together.


Level up together with a friend/sibling, run instances, and do the cool quests (duskwood/dustwallow, great for alliance). Any game is gonna suck when you make yourself do nothing but grind for three hours straight listening to your power metal that all sounds the same.

Playing the auction house can be fun if you do it right, as well as trying to make some cash through professions. Fiddling with the economy is a nice break from the combat, and can prove to be fruitful.


So, I think WoW has a lot to offer if you look in the right places.



To the Skill Issue: There's plenty of skill needed in arena/raiding. Sure, not if you've done it a thousand times, and not if its gruuls/kara but, knowing what to do in it is key and responding to the boss right is key. It takes skill, or at least logic, to stay alive.

As for Arena, it does take skill unless you're a warrior (MS/spamstring), and even then there's coordinating attacks, finding positions to attack from and setting traps (shadowmeld hunter waiting while everyone charges for you, always the classic). It takes some thinking, not just 'lets juzt get em guyz!1'.


Oh, and WotLK is going to be awesome. FYI.

 

[quraji]

First let me say raiding is what I enjoy most about WoW.

That said, it gets lame repeating the same instances over and over and over again. The first time through a raid is very fun, because everything is a new experience. But after the first few times it starts to be boring and just a chore.

Not to mention that most guilds that don't take an unreasonable amount of attempts on new bosses usually have gear reqs, meaning grinding for badges and crafted sets.

And as for raids taking skill, most fights don't. They take proper knowledge, listening, and mild reflexes. This is speaking for most fights up to BT+ (I've only been up to Hyjal on my characters, but I've done a few fights in BT on friends' characters. Beyond that it may change but I don't know (and it matters only to a relatively small raiding population).


And yes, I think WotLK will be pretty awesome so I plan on playing again when it comes out. And yes, I'm making a Death Knight.

 

[Zurtrogx]

That said, it gets lame repeating the same instances over and over and over again. The first time through a raid is very fun, because everything is a new experience. But after the first few times it starts to be boring and just a chore.

Yes, I'd have to agree with that.

Anyway, when WoW was first released (around 4 years ago, I think) it was buggy and not as good as it is now. Agree?

AoC will probably take the same path. Sure, at the moment it doesn't seem as good as WoW, but it has only been out for around 2-3 months. I mean, after playing AoC for about a week, there are heaps of things that I've notcied which WoW has and AoC doesn't. Few things off the top of my head; WoW has a better Auction House, better chat, better petition service, better website (easier to navigate through), and a much better user interface. But, as I said, AoC has only been out for around 2-3 months, and, as ArmedCitizen mentioned before, there are weekly updates which make it better.

I do agree that Blizzard does have a much bigger fanbase, me being one of the fans. I may not play WoW anymore, but I still play Warcraft III and I am looking forward to the Warcraft movie which will be coming out.

I also do know that AoC doesn't have Dx10 yet (it will in August), but I wasn't aware WoW had Dx10.

I myself am not too impressed with AoC, sure it has very good skins, but the models have a jagged edge feel to them

I haven't actually noticed that.


Here is an article (on the AoC website) which I found about how "Age of Conan continues to dominate retail charts"
It is a short article. You should read it; shouldn't take too long.


Offtopic:
A difference I noticed between WC3 and WoW is that in WC3 Dun Morogh (dwarf/gnome starting area in WoW) doesn't appear on the map. It's just water.