I Hate WoW, let's talk here

The capital H is for emphasis only.

I hate WoW, I do, very very deeply hate that game.
To be more precise, I dislike the game, and I hate what it as become. The name WoW is actually became more than its content. It became a standard for the industry; it became the basic comparison for every other game in the industry, cross-platform cross-system cross-gameplay.

People adores the game (which is fine) and refers to it all the time for any possible reason.

WoW as (most probably) more subscribers than all the other MMORPG, and maybe even combined. I know that, you can give me numbers. - My answer: Popularity is not always the proof of quality. Think "Beta Vs. VHS" and think "HD-DVD Vs. Blue ray", think most government, think Britney Spears, think Paris Hilton.. You get the picture.

Anyway this is a quick overview of why I hate WoW:
A little about the game + A lot about the phenomena = I Hate WoW

* Please bear my English, second language. Flame me, support me, anything you want, let’s talk about it here instead of wasting other good WoW threads out there.
* I did not create a Poll for this thread; I thought that the numbers are already known to everyone.

Discuss

 

Amen, brother. As a game alone, I find it okay, but I personally prefer Final Fantasy XI over WoW because FFXI looks more realistic (and it was my first MMORPG, so theres some sentiment in there too). What really pisses me off though is how whenever a new MMO comes out, it will always be compared to WoW. Before, game creators were free to experiment with their own mechanics and features. Now it's much more tempting to think inside the box that WoW has created. The only feature about WoW that I truly love is EXP rewards for quest completion, because anything to soften the gind to <insert level cap here> is a plus.

 

I like WoW as a game. It may be imbalanced and a continuous grind for everything, but I never played it enough to be bothered by this and it's based on one of my favourite series.
I hate and disregard what WoW has done to warcraft's lore. I pretty much don't count anything from WoW on Warcraft's account sine I've heard that race setups for original and reasons for NElf and Undead alliances. And that was way before game went live.
I also share your view on WoW's commerce. Not only it has a huge playerbase (especially for a game that isn't that good), but you have board games (two different games and expansions), card game, novels and lots more, all trying to get more money from WoW.
It did however a good thing in introducing a large ammount of people to MMORPGs, most of which haven't played another one before it, or even other games at all. That's a good thing for gaming as a whole.

What WoW needs now is competition, which may be provided by Warhammer Online. Even Blizzard is aware of it's potential and tries everything to not loose it's customers to Mythic (though some of these attempts fail miserably). No matter if you're interested at all, like, or hate Warhammer, it's success is important for the MMORPG market, since competition will likely lead to improvement in WoW too and may encourage other companies to try.
Ofcourse competition also means lots of fanboys crying over their beloved game and how much better is it than everything else -.-'

About comparing: What I hate about this is how a lot of people compare new MMORPGs (even games that aren't out yet!) to WoW as it is now, instead of how it was near launch

 

@ Kaaraa: I think you may have a point. Maybe WoW was so popular that it got the attention of a lot of new MMO players. Which like yourself to FFXI got attached emotionnaly to the MMO.

I played FFXI , great game, but has other serious limitation as well. Enjoyed it more than WoW still. RIP: Berc
Lvl 52 Galkan Paladin.
Thanks for sharing

@Meee: Thank you. There is a lot of point which I am all agreeing with you. Imbalance, lore development of Warcraft franchise. I think that grinding is not a bad thing though since it is essential to MMORPG. Yes it needs competition, you have some big names, Everquest2, that is good, but seems a tired franchise, it is getting old; Age of Conan that has a lot of new gameplay style, mechanism that MMO companies can get advantage from. I don't know much about Warhammer sadly : /

I think the part with the new players that got introduced is a good and bad thing. Good thing more gamers, more community. Bad thing, there is ALOT of fan boys that came out of this huge move, I think that the community is suffering more than it got enhanced with the massive new players on the market.

Thanks for sharing as well

 

i play a lot of WoW, though i would never consider becoming a raider or something, to me it is just another game, sort of like a new D2, nothing more, i enjoy quests for their Lore, though i must agree the Lore witers, i play it for three hours a week because it is a pretty enjoyable game.

but i agree with you that WoW isnt all as awesometastic as all people out there say. I often went and looked if other MMO's would be more enjoyable for me(note: i did not say better games)

and i would have to agree with you on th eboard game and the card game. the board game is just plain money sucking and the card game is a ripoff of magic(which i wouldnt mind if it was at least better)

 

I don't play WoW mainly because it's a time sink, plus the monthly fee, but it's a great game IMHO

 

I've never played WoW, and my only interest in it is because of the lore.

Which it often damages. From what I've read (previews, etc) they did good in the Ashbringer comics, but there's still a lot of damage to the lore.

 

I have never played WoW. Because i know if i do play, i will most likely get hooked onto it, and waste a lot of time.

 

you should never play WoW if you are quickly addicted or a social interacter(so neither darkone or Kurai), if you play it for more then 10 hours a week you are ruining your time

 

Well, after reading the title I was worried that this would just be another stereotypical flame against World of WarCraft, but after reading it I'm glad to see that you've actually given it some thought, even if I do find it a little irrational.

It definitely does have the most subscribers, but I'd be amazed of it had more than all the other MMO's combined. Anyway, just because it's popular, I don't see that as a reason to hate it, and also, although popularity doesn't mean it's the greatest game, it certainly doesn't mean it's the worst game. I'm also surprised to see someone bringing up Betamax. It certainly was smaller and all that, but I have heard that it did have some fairly major problems with it, which led to VHS taking the lead, purely because it was more reliable I guess.

All in all, I don't see popularity as a reason to hate World of WarCraft, even if it does result in things like comparing all other MMO's to it. The reason they are is because it's worked so well. Besides, it's not as though that's the only game people compare other games to. Whenever I play a new game I'm always comparing it to either World of WarCraft if it's an MMO, Diablo2 if it's an RPG, or Dawn of War if it's an RTS.

Besides, if you ask me it's because Blizzard thought outside the box that they were able to create such a revolutionary game. Just because other companies can't manage it now, you shouldn't hate World of WarCraft, otherwise you're just hating it for thinking outside the box, which is what you're actually wanting companies to do.

I do agree that World of WarCraft has messed up lore, but not in regards to the Forsaken aligning themselves with the Horde and the Night Elves with the Humans. I don't see it as being any different to how they introduced those races, keeping in mind that the Scourge and Forsaken are not the same, in WarCraftIII. After WarCraft2, WarCraft lore expanded like crazy. You could say that the Dwarves' allegiance to the Humans in WarCraftIII is the same thing. Until then, it was only Humans, Elves and Gnomes, and now Dwarves have joined them for no apparent reason other than that's just what Dwarves stereotypically do. The same goes for the Tauren to the Horde, except it's not so stereotypical, and the change from Forest Trolls to the Darkspear Trolls. It's just the way that the sides are constantly splitting and reforming, which explains the reasons behind the addition of the Night Elves and Forsaken to the Alliance and Horde.

The thing I hate about World of WarCraft lore is that it's simply not the same as it used to be, gameplay wise. Now it's all from the perspective of this one character experiencing things as they happen. Heroes, like the Lich King, Illidan, Thrall, the leaders of the Alliance, etc, are just sitting there, simply waiting to be inevitably killed in a later patch or expansion. They're no longer doing anything like they did in WarCraftII and III. If there's a WarCraftIV, which I'm sure there will be eventually, I hipe it takes a completely tangential plotline. Perhaps keeping a few of the minor characters just for the sake of flow, but a new overall storyline, allowing them to omit the mindless killings of World of WarCraft.

However, that said, Blizzard has said they're changing that in Wrath. They said it's going to be a lot more lore-based and immerse the players a heck of a lot more, so we (being jiffy and I, I guess ) will see how that goes.

 

"After WarCraft2, WarCraft lore expanded like crazy. You could say that the Dwarves' allegiance to the Humans in WarCraftIII is the same thing. Until then, it was only Humans, Elves and Gnomes"

Actually all four were involved around the Second War. Gnomes were rather behind the scenes though.

Dwarves were a bit more apparent than the other midgets.

 

I wouldn't, but I don't have the numbers

It's a trendy thing now to hate on popular things for no other reason than that it's popular. It makes you "cool"

Just a side note, comparing all RPGs to Diablo is a bad BAD idea. Most of them are nothing like Diablo

Any examples of this out of the box thinking? I'd like to see them

All other races had their reasons to join Horde and were explained pretty well in storyline (since wc2 anyway). By the way, there were dwarves in second war. I think they had the goblin sappers equivalent.
Forsaken only joined Horde to make another playable race and there's no way you'd fit them with humans after what undead did to Lorderon. Night elves joined alliance because horde got Forsaken. I remember the site saying something like "After the war NE were in need of allies" as a reason for them joining. WTF? They were fine without one for ages and now they suddenly need allies? Why not just isolate themselves like they always do, or keep minimal contacts with other races? And why alliance not horde? Both helped them at Mount Hyjal just as much, they have no reason to be on war with either.

 

About the Dwarves, my bad on that, they were the Gryphon Riders. Gnomes weren't behind the scenes, they had the Flying Machines and whatever the Alliance Sappers were.

World of WarCraft seriously can't have more players than all MMO's combined. Guild Wars alone has more than half what World of WarCraft has, and it's got pretty much the exact same target market. There are tonnes of other Asian MMO's, which don't really appeal to Western culture, which were developed because the Western MMO's didn't appeal to their culture. I think it's essentially a different payment system, but also gameplay. Ask marinefreak, despite not being Asian, he's still gotten into a fair few of them.

About Diablo2, I'm aware they're different, I just tend to use Diablo2 as the equivalent. I don't even really limit myself to comparing intra-genre, as a game is simply as fun as it is when you're playing it. You're obviously unable to compare them directly, but you can easily compare which you find more enjoyable, which would probably be why I relate others to Diablo, regardless of the differences. It's also a reason why I don't like FPS's. I simply don't find them as fun as RTS's and RPG's.

It's World of WarCraft that's the example of them thinking outside the box. It was completely revolutionary.

This'll sound plain stupid, but the Forsaken alliance does make sense if you accept that as the lore. I might have been wrong about the Dwarves, but all the other examples still stand. WarCraft isn't like StarCraft where there are defined races and factions. It's much more fluid, which, in my mind, makes it a bit more real. The Forsaken couldn't have survived on their own, and after the destruction of the World Tree, the Night Elves were crippled as well. It does make sense that they could have joined the Alliance and Horde, can due to convenience, they did. Even though everything still has to be done lore-wise, a lot of it is simply done gameplay-wise. WarCraft alliances are constantly forming and being broken as the story progresses. All you have to do is look at the unit in each game to see that, like Death Knights being on the Horde, then changing to being pure Scourge, like Orges originally being enemies, joining the Horde and then becoming enemies again, Goblins siding with the Horde all these years and then splitting off to become their own neutral faction, stuff like that. It does seem very odd at first, but as you progress through the game, it does make sense, which could very well be the reason for the misunderstanding in World of WarCraft, because the fan-base it had was steered towards being an MMO, so not all would have experienced the game as it is.

Another reason for the Night Elves siding with the Alliance is their absolute hatred for the Trolls. Well, I think it's the Trolls. Either them or the Forsaken, but they couldn't be put on the opposite side anyway as the paranoid and above all xenophobic Humans would never have accepted the Forsaken, hence them having to turn to the Horde.

 

I don't know how valid it is, but take a look at that:
http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart7.html

My point was that many RPGs are pretty much different genre than diablo, which is more of H&S than RPG imo

That's what I'm asking about, how is WoW thinking outside the box and how is it revolutionary in any way?

I've just said that.
About races, it may be just how you look at it. IMO some of these alliances were forced into lore to cater for gameplay (similar with warlocks), which is what I hate about it.

 

yes, but the leader of the forsaken kinda hates trolls as well

WHAT Ii dont understand is why these new ancestral tauren are gonna join the horde


Oh, and Meee that chart only has pay/month MMO

 

Ah well, these are the only one worth mention anyway (plus Guild Wars). This Korean "Free to Play" stuff is BS

 

Yeah, that's just subscriptions. It wouldn't count most of the Asian MMO's and also doesn't count Guild Wars either, which would definitely put World of WarCraft under fifty percent. Then again, that's only World of WarCraft subscriptions, so wouldn't count gamecard users.

World of WarCraft might not be considered as thinking outside the box now, but think of it back then. There was simply nothing like it. It was practically the first of its time, not to mention converting a whole lot of RTS players to a completely different genre, which would be hard to do, especially when they'd never attempted another MMO before.

About the races, basically the Forsaken were stranded and the Night Elves' homes had been destroyed and corrupted. Both wouldn't have been able to compete on their own, so the Forsaken turned to the Horde, not being able to be accepted by the Alliance, and the Night Elves, hating the Trolls or whatever, would have joined the Alliance. Otherwise they would have been too weak to fight and been wiped out.

@ ijffdrie. The Forsaken could not have possibly joined the Alliance, so couldn't be picky. They'd either be stranded and wiped out, or ally with a race they hated and survive.

EDIT: @Meee, again. They might look forced, but a lot of the race and faction changed from WarCraft1 to WarCraftIII were similar.

 

why wouldnt the forsaken have joined the alliance?

most of them are former citiziens of the elven kingdom and lordaeron, two of the most important members of the alliance

 

Races again, There was no reason for neither NE nor Forsaken to compete with anyone, they could just live their lives on the side and not get involved in conflict.

Whatwherehow?? I want examples, details, what is so revolutionary about WoW? First of it's time? Nothing like it? That's odd because thinking of back then, when I took first look at the game, I thought "it looks damn similar to DAoC" I'm not saying it didn't bring anything new. I just can't recall a thing that would make it a revolutionary game.
Drawing population has little to do with the game itself. It's gained popularity mostly by being made by Blizzard and based off Warcraft. I admit it IS a good thing, it's not just about RTS players, it introduced a HUGE population of people who didn't play MMOs before, people who hardly played games, or weren't gamers at all. And this is all great thing, I just don't see how that makes the game any better and especially, how does that relate to 'thinking outside the box'.

@drie: Forsaken are undead, Humans are xenophobic, racist bastards. Go figure

 

i see WoW more as the optimized thing inside the box, using only mechanisms that have been extensively tested in other games, with slight improvements