I know what you’re talking about, Bosstone. I’m kind of like that, but given my limited play time, I limit my goals. I got to the point where I felt my limited goals were not attainable, so I was faced with scaling back those. It sucked the fun out. Also, the pace of new content left me feeling more and more disconnected from the majority of the game.
I’ll give WoW a try again someday, if STO loses its appeal or SWTOR doesn’t pan out.
I had a bit of a conversation about this with my-friend-the-tank the other day, and I think I was able to drill down to why the new content, while awesome, utterly vexes me.
The old content was mind-numbingly boring at times, but it was consistent. Kill X using buttons on your bar, or loot Y by clicking on them, until you reach Z kill/items. Go to the yellow question mark. Repeat. For someone like me, who prior to this had no experience with anything more advanced than Super Mario All-Stars, this was easy enough that I was able to progress. Once I got to some of the new content in later levels, there were things like vehicle quests and big NPC battles. Those were harder, but since I’d grown invested in and comfortable with the world, I was able to adapt.
The new starting area quests are more varied. This is good for holding interest, but may be somewhat bad for complete videogame noobs. And I’ve always sort of thought that that was who WoW’s best demographic was; relative noobs to videogames who were looking for something with a low baseline of complexity (though, admittedly, it gets a lot more complex if you raid; not everyone raids seriously, though).
I imagine that if you’re into strategy and being challenged, however, that WoW is probably really awful at the low levels. And it certainly leaves something to be desired on the coherent storyline page (though that’s more due to the fact that I get bored with a zone before I get done with the quest line. Not WoW’s fault!)
I played Everquest for years and years and so when I tried WoW, it seemed pretty much like a watered-down version of EQ on “easy mode” to me. I think I got bored with Lord of the Rings Online for the same reason. More orcs, more goblins, more trying to find a slightly better sword and breastplate. I might enjoy WoW more now that I don’t have six hour blocks to spend camping a rare spawn but the conceit is still there. City of Heroes is my game now, partially because it doesn’t conflict with my impressions of fantasy-based MMORPGs.
I pretty much agree with you entirely. I downloaded the 10 day free trial for WoW and was done with it after about 45 minutes.
I am fairly certain that I am the only Doper who is still playing Guild Wars with any regularity. Unfortunately, the game is dying and really only played with people who are maxing titles to get ready for Guild Wars 2. Personally, I got out of PvE at an okay time so I was able to get r9 but it is harder and harder to play HA or GvG for a noob. Don’t even get me started on things like AB or JQ where the waits can drive me to tears. At this point I am going to go back to PvE and try to get GWAMM for my ranger.
I love WoW, but I also play Saga of Ryzom as well.
Just can’t seem to really get into LOTRO. The price was right for it, though.
I’m a big Warcraft fan, but I agree about WOW. It does seem to me like an uglier but more popular Guild Wars.
I’m really just idling around with everything till Diablo III comes out, though.
WoW is like McDonalds - it isn’t overrated, its just very popular for what it is. Its a good game, but I’m not sure it deserves to have INCREDIBLY HUGE subscription base it has.
Character customization sucks. Especially since our primary game is CoH where you can do almost anything to your character.
Travel sucks. Really, ten minute griffin rides are not my idea of playing a game.
But part of the deal of having that really huge subscription base is they’ve put a dollar bill printing press into the offices at Blizzard. That means that while other games get a development team that can tweak, Blizzard can pretty much throw as much money towards development as they wish. A game with a huge subscription base can support a lot of content - some of it will be popular and everyone will have done. Some of it will be obscure but loved by a few. But if they want to do Cataclysm, they can…most game companies just can’t fund that level of change to keep things “fresh.”
Also leaving because I don’t need the game to change with Cataclysm. “Fresh” isn’t my thing in gaming - I’ll play the same content over and over again - I’m looking for mindless. And both of us are going back to CoH. Brainiac4 doesn’t like WoW as much as I do (and it took me a while to like it), and I can’t switch back and forth with ease.
A lot of WoW’s popularity comes from its popularity. It’s the same snowball effect facebook has.
It’s far from overrated though. It’s just accessible, popular and well-polished (at least compared to its rivals).
Also, can’t say GW1 is even in the same ballpark as WoW. Though, I’m rather excited about GW2, and hope that it’ll hold me over until Blizzard’s nextgen.
I both like and dislike WoW. I like that it has boatloads of content and storylines, that it’s full of other people doing things and making it feel like a world, and that it’s got huge potential for customization of equipment.
I dislike that everyone looks the same, that professions and playing auction house lead to obsessive behavior that makes it feel like a second job, that it feels so damn slow moving around, and that the art is so blobby and awful.
I understand why people play it. I’ve played three times now - during the beta, post-BC and post-LK, and it was fun. But it wasn’t fun enough to keep me in with all the frustrations. I just don’t have the time for it.
I always struggled to enjoy WoW, even from launch. After the magic of the colorful graphics and musical score wore off, I began to smell the stink of repetition. By the time level 20 rolled around, I was bored out of my mind. In most traditional sword-and-magic fantasy games, I get bored at level 20. That’s when large grouping used to become the only way to feasibly survive.
I also hated the lack of customization. I don’t like being forced to have pouty lips and a gigantic bustline, and I could never get into the Horde side (we had a brief, successful stint when they introduced the blood elves) at all.
Now I’m apathetic. I do like how it plays on Snow Leopard (I’m a Bootcamping Mac), with all the little extras, but the game just couldn’t win me over after playing it again last winter.
And here’s the real problem! I don’t like PvP. I don’t like raids. I don’t like guilds. I don’t like quests to get ridiculous-looking armor. That’s end-game WoW all over!
So, City of Heroes was my choice for awhile, but that game suffered many of the same issues. At least I could -attempt- to look unique. That game was ruined by two things: a bad stint with some friends of my husband and the advent of Champions Online.
I don’t agree that Champs lack story. It has plenty of lore and every faction has a detailed storyline, it’s just not as apparent and often lies buried under puns and humor. I don’t mind that at all. You have to dig and read a little outside of the game.
I’ve tried just about every MMO on the market, from DAoC to FFXIV to Horizons and Ryzom, and I have to say that Cryptic is my favorite studio.
Champs has everything I want, even support for the most nerdy roleplayer. You aren’t stuck with a power set. You can even fine tune your powers and revamp your character entirely if you end up needing to for story purposes or even on a whim. NOTHING is locked. And while you do see a few freaks, most people are happy just to be typical. Good! I stand out more.
I’ve also recently taken a shine to Star Trek Online for many of the same reasons, with the added bonus of a really catching ship-battle system. I never was into Trek, but this game changed my mind. Now I’m even watching the shows to learn more.
And while I really want Bioware to turn me into a believer, I’m having my doubts about SWTOR. I fear it’s going to be closer to WoW in terms of shallow appearances and play style, but I won’t turn away until I’ve actually tried it.
I tried Champions Online. I really wanted to give it a fair shake because, hey if I like this game better, why not play it?
I couldn’t even make it out of the trial. I have never played an uglier MMORPG. I’d rather play Everquest with the original graphics than play CO again.
Champs definitely has a “strongly flavored” art style. It’s a weird combination of comicky and realistic. And the simulated cell shading is eye catching. Personally, I like it, but I empathize with anyone who doesn’t.
The end game of WoW is what you make of it. I did things like quested in low-level zones, worked on skills (especially fishing and cooking), and built up a few reputations. If you’re not concerned about get the latest-greatest gear (and I wasn’t), there’s a lot to do.
I’m curious as to what you do like in an MMORPG. As someone that has only played WoW I’m kind of at a loss as to what you want to actually do in the game world if not PvE or PvP.
Cybering, obviously.
Well, one can say Champions has none of what Kaschua dislikes. 
I mean, I’ve followed a lot of reviews and travelogues about Champions, and I don’t even know if there IS an endgame to it. Nobody ever makes it that far before giving up in disgust.
I like Guild Wars because it’s very story based and the abilities and powers are very strategic. It’s all about group dynamic, soloing can be done but it is very difficult all the classes are balanced and you get the levelling out of the way early all the expansions are full fledged games in their own right (with the exception of Eye of The North.) it may be a bit of a shock coming from WOW where all your powers are readily available but the system is better plus the online is free which is a plus.
WoW is the best game I’ve ever played. It didn’t start to get old until 100+ hours of my life were down the toilet, and even then only slightly old.
What got me down was realizing that I’ll never ‘beat it’. If I get no signal that I’ve completed something, then I’m liable to continue doing it until I die. I quit WoW sort of for the same reason I quit smoking: it’s one of those things that, as long as I have demand for it, I’ll never be satisfied at any level of consumption.
I like PvE - but I also don’t like PvP. I don’t like raids. I don’t like guilds. And yeah, the whole “the best armor looks really STUPID and you need to play for HOURS with IDIOTS” drives me crazy. For the most part the MMORPG world is a chance for me and my husband to play together. And we usually sit in the same room and talk. He left WoW before me and I continued to level a character to the endgame solo for the most part. I didn’t have “the best” stuff. But I also didn’t play with Mr. “Hey, I’m going to aggro the whole next room and bring them back before dying and then quitting for the night.”
This is tough to resolve at this point, because, while WoW originally was able to appeal to new players more easily, right now a lot of their player bases consists of people who’ve played for years and are on their 10th alt. The balance between keeping their player base interested (and they’ve pretty much hit the jackpot in terms of MMO player base, so this is important) and attracting new players (which is important, but I do wonder how many of their new players are now being recruited by their existing players- getting friends and family to play, and thus being able to help them through the rough bits) is something that they’ve had to struggle with since BC.
I have been playing WoW for five years, and I really think the thing that keeps me playing is far less the quest mechanics and leveling (which really takes up little of my time) than it is the social aspect. I really, really like my guild and many of the people I’ve played with over the years, and the importance competence and sanity among one’s group mates can’t really be overstated when you’re talking about end game, group-based play, whether it’s pve or pvp. And finding that is a total crap shoot, especially for people with limited play time.
Much must have changed since release, then. Used to be that the classes were so unbalanced that those who could stun and those who could hide were the undisputed rulers of PvP. Tanks in particular were so underpowered that no one wanted to play them and PvP devolved into a bunch of invisible players waiting around city entrances until someone not invisible tried to run through the gauntlet of sneak attacks they were powerless to defend against.
The hide ability (and the entire RvR experience of keep and relic taking) was so hopelessly broken and exploitable that one guy could single-handedly hold off several groups of players trying to take a keep with little to no risk to themselves, even against other sneak classes.
On the rare occasions mass combat between large groups did break out, clerics and bards (IIRC) would decimate anyone and everyone around them with their stun combos that were nigh unresistable and meant instant death if you failed to resist even one.
To WoW: I never got into it because I played EQ and EQII, and WoW always seemed too cartoon-y.
I enjoyed the immersive quality of MMORPGs, and the graphics really took me out of that. I started with MUDs, went on to Neverwinter Nights on AOL with its pixelated graphic awesomeness, and on to The Realm in all of its 2D glory and eventually on to EQ. To me WoW was, graphically, a step in the wrong direction…
I lost interest in MMORPGs as a whole though because the endgames are all the same and WoW seems to be no exception.
