How did WoW dethrone Everquest?

[BRP2]

My personal opinion on it:

Why did WoW get so popular? Brand name and the fact, at least for the first 59 levels, it's easier than even the most basic of offline games.

Everquest came out when the market was young and undeveloped. And, whatever is popular in China rules the market. Get rid of inland Asia and WoW population shrinks to half and LineageI/II disappear. WoW still dominates the market by around 50% still.

Personally I prefer the depth of EQ style games. Which is why I currently play FFXI and only Vanguard interests me in the future.

 

[Thanee]

And, whatever is popular in China rules the market.

WoW already ruled the market before it was even released in asia, though.

At least IIRC, it was only available in the U.S. and (shortly afterwards) europe at first and topped every expectations, Blizzard had (and those were pretty high already, I'm sure, they are Blizzard after all).

Bye
Thanee

 

[BRP2]

Lineage I/II is likely to have quite a bit of ground on WoW if they had not released in Asia.

 

[Goodsport]

I'm bumping this thread back up in honor of my return to WoW last week (with the purchase of Wrath of the Lich King) after a 1 1/2 year hiatus from the game due to having been laid off from work at the time (I'm no longer laid off), though I'd already bought The Burning Crusade beforehand.

Has everyone's opinions here about WoW and other MMORPG's changed or stayed the same since the release of the game's two expansions? Has the game itself changed (if so, for the better or for the worse?)? Is Everquest 2 poised to make a run to recapture the MMORPG throne its franchise once occupied? Are more recently released MMORPG's such as The Lord of the Rings Online or Warhammer Online instead ready to take the mantle from WoW?


-G

 

[Darkwolf71]

I'm bumping this thread back up in honor of my return to WoW last week (with the purchase of Wrath of the Lich King) after a 1 1/2 year hiatus from the game due to having been laid off from work at the time (I'm no longer laid off), though I'd already bought The Burning Crusade beforehand.

Has everyone's opinions here about WoW and other MMORPG's changed or stayed the same since the release of the game's two expansions? Has the game itself changed (if so, for the better or for the worse?)? Is Everquest 2 poised to make a run to recapture the MMORPG throne its franchise once occupied? Are more recently released MMORPG's such as The Lord of the Rings Online or Warhammer Online instead ready to take the mantle from WoW?


-G

Necro much?

Nobody is taking the mantle from WoW.

DDO could have, but the biggest innovation they had turned against them. The combat in DDO is the best, most fun I have had in an MMO, but it required them to leave the 'turn' based system behind which required many many changes from the D&D rules. Which drove away many of what would have been their largest fan base. Shame. DDO is a fun game.

LotRO probably should have done much better than it has. Not real sure why, seemed like a decent enough game when I beta'd it but I had no desire to play it live.

AoC. IMO if any game should have been able to take a chunk out of WoWs hide it was this monster. The problem is, once downloaded it looks and plays like WoW with adult graphics and while boobies are nice, a King of RPGs they do not make.

Warhammer, I mention this one only because my best friend had this silly notion that it was going to not only damage but overtake WoWs subscription numbers. (Yeah, reality has set in for him, he still likes the game.)

Of course there is always:
EVE Online as someone said upthread two years ago, it is the Anti-WoW. It takes a very different mindset to enjoy the possibility of losing very very expensive ships in interstellar conflict. Never gonna be HUGE but it's an impressivly succsesful game considering the risks involved.


Edit: WoW was very much a matter of the stars being right. It's a good game. (I wouldn't say great but that's just me.) it runs very well on non-gaming PCs, it had a pre-existing fan base from B-net. It catered to both the PvP and the no-PvP crowds. (I'm not sure if it was the first to do this, but it was one of the first.) All these things came together and WoW exploded.

At this point there is no competing with WoW. There is only competing for the number two spot in the market.

 

[Kaodi]

I am going to go out on a limb (a very skinny, dry limb), and say that I think that if there is any MMO with the potential to unseat Blizzard, it is LEGO Universe. Of course, a number of things would have to be realized for that to happen, the most basic of which is the game must be good, of course. Really, really good.

 

[Steel_Wind]

While shooting to dethrone the most financially successful game in the history of human civilization (and yes, that's what WoW is) is hubris in the extreme, IF there is a title in development that could do it, I think it's BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic..

Not saying they will do it - but if there is a WoW killer spoiling in the wings, this is it.

http://www.swtor.com/media/vidcasts/viddoc001

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

I know I'm vastly happier now with WoW than I have been at any point in the past.

At TBC, it took me about 8 months from launch to get into the first 10-man raid.

I was in my first 25-man raid two days after hitting 80, and my small little guild of gold farmers and relentless alt levelers cleared 3/4 of Naxx on 10-man a month after the expansion (i.e. this past weekend).

*And* my ret paladin is useful. FINALLY.

I'm much happier now.

Brad

 

[WizarDru]

WoW was very much a matter of the stars being right. It's a good game. (I wouldn't say great but that's just me.) it runs very well on non-gaming PCs, it had a pre-existing fan base from B-net. It catered to both the PvP and the no-PvP crowds. (I'm not sure if it was the first to do this, but it was one of the first.) All these things came together and WoW exploded.

At this point there is no competing with WoW. There is only competing for the number two spot in the market.

Funny, that's what folks said about Everquest...once.

WoW was much more than being lucky at the right time. Quite the opposite, IMHO, and I've never even played the game. WoW has survived and thrived for several key reasons:

1) Continued a legacy from an established and popular franchise over which they had complete control (and had developed)

2) Provided a unique visual look that emphasized detail over style

3) Dramatically reduced the tedium of the leveling process, based on reports of my friends who have played WoW, CoX, EQ, EQ II, AC, AC II, DAoC, GW and others.

4) Offered free, regular content updates with dramatic storyline updates and considerably new material

5) Offered equally compelling PvE and PvP content

6) Has a Development team that doesn't seem to actively resent the player base

If anything, WoW should have been a second-ran after Everquest II. But as you can see here, even though EQ started with higher numbers, all EQ II did was leech players from EQ. WoW started with fewer subscribers, but ramped up FAST. By late 2005, no other game could even come close to it. And then it kept going.

There have been plenty of games that could have given it a run from for their money, but only WoW managed to grab the crown. They didn't luck into it...they worked very hard to get it.

Dark Age of Camelot, for example, offered realm vs. realm combat over two years before WoW arrived...but it never captured the popular imagination. EQ offered large-scale raids from nearly the beginning. Ultimate Online had PvP play from day one. Nothing in WoW is revolutionary...but the whole game is a well-executed package from beginning to end...and that's what's kept players in the game for years, now.

 

[Darkwolf71]

Funny, that's what folks said about Everquest...once.

Right, and when did EQ have 10 times the subscribers of it's closest competitor?

I mean, c'mon. Really.

As for your points, nothing you listed contradicts what I said. I have played the game. In beta, through the nightmare of a launch and for 6 or 8 months after. It's a good game. It is. I just don't think it is as good as the market indicates.

Obviously, I am in the minority in this. I am strangely OK with that.