Blizzard explains the success of WOW

Discussion in 'General Gossip, Troll Wars & Game Development' started by LadyHydralisk, Sep 6, 2006.

  1. LadyHydralisk

    LadyHydralisk Lurker Not From Round Here

    For students, a small article detailing what Pardo thinks made World of Warcraft a success.

    I found this quote to be quite astonishing.

    Full article:

    http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=10773
     
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  2. parm

    parm Just barely adequate One Of Us

    He has a fair point: I started out playing WoW on my almost 3-year old laptop (Intel onboard graphics, no vertex or pixel shaders). I /kept/ playing because it worked and, other than PvP combat, it was broadly speaking possible to play it on my laptop, old and creaky though it was.

    If it had proven unplayable, I wouldn't have bothered subscribing. And I wouldn't have had the friend code to pass onto my mate, and he wouldn't have had one to pass on to his mate and... about 20-30 people wouldn't be playing it right now - at least some of whom are playing it on dodgy old hardware too.
     
  3. LadyHydralisk

    LadyHydralisk Lurker Not From Round Here

    Well, that shows how much I know. It's a good insight you have there. I have never played World of Warcraft. I was under the impression that it was a hardware-heavy game from the screenshots. Interesting.

    The only thing, oddly enough, that kept me from playing was the long ears on the night elves. I just don't care for them aesthetically. Which is both unfair and picky.
    [-(

    In Anarchy Online, the game was so unbelievably buggy that, while I enjoyed the beautiful city setting tremendously, my computer had a hardware upgrade and the game stopped running...I finally fixed it but by then I think I was fixated on something like The Sims...

    I went back a few years later to try it again, but I had worse bug problems than before. My CD was all scratched up so I downloaded a free copy off of their site. I run stuff like Doom 3 or Half-Life 2 perfectly, so I'm not sure what the deal is with that. He's definately right about not going back after a bad first impression...after an overnight download I wasn't about to go into my system and work out the problem for an old game I had a wave of nostalgia for.

    Maybe Blizzard will make "World of Starcraft". I would laugh if that was announced...and play it, avidly, of course.
     
  4. Dredge

    Dredge Doomsayer One Of Us

    I think the starcraft fans would invade france if that happened. Starcraft fans want more Starcraft. Not an FPS or a MMORPG. (This doesnt mean they cant be made, however not doing another RTS in favour of them would be madness I Tells ya!)
     
  5. Chasmodeus

    Chasmodeus Gaming God One Of Us

    TRIPLE POST POWERUP!
     
  6. danpaladin

    danpaladin Will Wright One Of Us

    stubborn much? :)

    i never picked it up because i saw it decimating people's freetime and i am someone who can easily be sucked into that, too... given the right game.
     
  7. Mox

    Mox Gaming God One Of Us

    Actually, I don't think Starcraft fans (also known as the population of South Korea) would want a Starcraft 2 either :)
     
  8. Mera'din

    Mera'din Lurker Not From Round Here

    I'm certainly one of the only people I've known that hasn't been sucked intom the game, so they've obviously doing something right. The game is just not aesthetically pleasing to me though. Looking at it makes my eyes burn, and at $15 a month, I'd rather they not do that.

    The SHEER popularity never ceases to amaze me though. 7 million is a lot of people no matter which way you look at it. I've never been an MMO person regardless, but it's amazing what they've done and if they can attribute it to little things like that, then it is definately something to think about.
     
  9. Krogothe

    Krogothe Lurker One Of Us

    I'm also one of the only people I know who hasn't been sucked into WoW. I've seen whole families sitting back to back playing WoW together. I'd rather be outside, since I'm in front of a computer all day.
     
  10. Erusuwasu

    Erusuwasu Lurker Not From Round Here

    --
     
    Last edited: Oct 23, 2007
  11. Sehyron

    Sehyron Nintendo's Freakin Ass One Of Us

    definitely true.. the ability to play single player made Wow enticing to me... for an extra month that group thing killed the enjoyment out of FFXI... I don't always want to deal with twats.

    I just would never permit myself to play many months with the same game doing pretty much the same thing over and over again. only exceptional game have the right to get my attention for about a month. Wow had 2... it's pretty impressive..
     
  12. parm

    parm Just barely adequate One Of Us

    Yeah, the fact you could solo was a big draw for me. Conversely, once I hit the endgame and it was necessary to group all the time and the opportunities to solo basically disappeared, I lost all interest. I just don't have that kind of time.