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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Whizbang Dustyboots" data-source="post: 3088106" data-attributes="member: 11760">Essentially, it boils down to one word: Polish.The art looks like it's done by actual artists, instead of some guys who know how to use a 3D art program. Characters have a purpose in the world beyond killing rats. Blizzard put in fewer game elements but makes them work really, really well instead of promising pie in the sky that never comes as an apology for the half-ass job that's here today (EQ1 is still waiting on its player housing and gambling in High Hold Keep, for instance). And Blizzard's devs are keenly interested in what works in their games (and others) and refining that over time (just look at how the three battlegrounds improved as each was released, with Arath Basin reeking of understanding why the other two are a mixed success at best).Oh, and for the people who don't like raiding, Burning Crusade has the equivalent of more than 30 dungeons when you count separate wings of a dungeon (like Dire Maul is essentially three dungeons in one) and that's before you add in variable difficulty levels for each, adding replayablity. Blizzard learns from their own games as well.And with cross-server battlegrounds, no one has to wait more than a few minutes for PvP in Arathi Basin or Warsong Gulch and even Alterac Valley has a reasonable wait now. I never climbed the PvP ladder in the past, because I didn't feel like waiting two hours for a 10 minute match, over and over again all night. Instead, I can log on in the morning before going to work, play a match or two, go to work and even squeeze in gameplay during lunch.And, yeah, it doesn't hurt that Blizzard guilds have been among the most successful in every MMORPG to date. They know every MMORPG, in and out, both their gems and their warts.There's a great transcript of a Rob Pardo presentation at Raph Koster's site that explains Blizzard's design philosophy. Even if you don't agree with all of Blizzard's design decisions, the fact that actual logic and analysis is involved is nice and, unfortunately, kind of unusual.</blockquote>

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