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[Steel_Wind]

It's more than polish, it certainly isn't the art (cartoony art direction in WoW was a smokescreen to reduce system requirements)...

It's about design. WoW is simply a better designed game in every way.

Blizzard is the only Quadruple A developer. It spends gobs of money on design and gets it right. They keep their eyes on the prize at all times. Every element of the game is created and polished with one thing and one thing in mind only:

How does this make the game more fun?

That's it; that's all. They sometimes make compromises on a design feature that does not pass the fun test (games are, in the end, the art of the possible, even at Blizzard) but they do not choose a feature based on some ideological view of what is consistent or what "should" it be?

They choose a feature because they think it's more fun. That's the only ideology at work.

Second to that, they don't tell you how to play. They let you choose a play style and generally work towards supporting that play style - whatever it is.

So yes there is less grinding. Yes it suports more casual players at lower levels. Yes it suports more individual PvE. Yes it looks campy and kinda cool. Yes it is a stable game. Yes it has lots of Diabloesque features in its magic items.

But really - all of that ignores the creed behind Blizzard's designers: make it more fun and then polish it to a sparkling diamond.

Which just goes to show you, in the PC Games business when you get right down to it, there is Blizzard and then there is everyone else...