I personally believe it was because Blizzard had a very large following and a very good reputation at the time of it's release. The ease and accessability of the game allowed those fans to then introduce their friends to the game/genre. And because of the relatively low system specs at the time, almost anyone who had a computer could play it. Even non-gamers. I think that word of mouth REALLY helped. More than anything, really.
Also it was the first time a very very large company with a very very good reputation and a very very good idea of how to make a game they way they wanted to make it made an MMO. Most others at the time like EQ and UO were mainly either happy accidents or just a progression on a fairly successful game. Blizzard was the first Powerhouse to step in the field and make it out alive.
The real reason behind WoW's success is much more complicated than simply putting Marketing, good game play, art style, or lore.
The real reason is because blizzard spends millions and millions in R&D.
They spend money and hire some of the best behaviorists in the business to help make their games an addictive experience that keeps people hooked and coming back for more.
I know a professor at UCSD who has colleague's working for blizzard perfecting the reward system in the game. Everything about WoW's drop rates, to talent points, to mounts and even level progression and exp required is mapped out and underlined by a team of behavioral psychologists who are helping blizzard make the game what it is.
Here's an article of how classical and operant conditioning are used in slot machines simply replace things like flashing lights and small payouts of money as positive reinforcement with loot and small item drops.
these threads should just get deleted, this is redundant, do a search next time and just make a post instead of making another why did Wow make it thread
The truth behind the popularity of WoW has to do with one simple idea, you're either am MMO fan or you're a WoW fan. The majority of the playerbase of WoW likes that single game in the genre and not the genre itself, meaning they aren't even keeping up with the new MMO's on the horizon.
If you ask them if they've seen the latest news on Guild Wars 2 for example they'll more than likely look at you with a confused expression replying, "What's Guild Wars 2?" That's why these developers have been unable to clench the sub numbers they hoped they would.
It's harder to market something to someone who isn't even interested in what you are selling in the first place.
I learned this from a friend of mine, whenever I ask him if he's heard about any of the new titles coming out, he's says no. I tell him he should go to the main site for said title and check it out, he shrugs and says, " I'll check it out " but never does.
Yet he's leveled every race and class except DK to cap in the 4 years he's been playing WoW and has never even considered looking into another MMO.
Because it has more quests than any other MMORPG. It and its two Xps have 8000 quests. The next closest is EQII, which has 6000, and that's after buying 4 adventure packs and 6 expansions.
Many, many people play MMORPGs to do quests (and those that don't, play Eve)
many posters pointed out tons of reasons. i guess ill point out the reasons for me.
back before wow i tried many mmos, ffxi, eath and beyond. ect. many of those games were so harsh on beginers some like daoc at the time was a grind run to get to the fun parts. and many game sported the hurry up and wait senario aka ffxi where you spent hours to get somehwere to wait and do nothing because someone of the group had to leave. older games had the plague called time sinks.
when wow came out it killed tons of time sinks. your heroic warrior could actually feel as a warrior and not needed to be back by four other people to kill a bunny. wow didnt give that agroup against 1 mob that ffxi gave. much more it didnt punish new players who got into the game after many events have passeed.
wow came out freash and fun. the quests pushed the ongoing story. it was not just kill ten rats. there was a good reason to kill the mobs you were sent to kill.
timesinks where damn gone , harsh punishments were gone. how i hated due to lag or isp issues you get disconnected and because of that partymembers die, cuss you out insutl you because they lost exp. weapons ect. you had that prob in wow and well durability loss. the game was less stressfull.
wow was easy to get into but battles in instances was not always tank and spank which plagued may of the older game. istaria comes to mind that the biggest bosses in that game can even be soloed if geared correctly.
not only wow was popular, it had a seemless world save the instanced dungeons so you didnt have to wait for respawns. it hemmoraged quests and the lore was bleeding everywhere, tons of books in sm for example that you can read. even now litch kings quests there are many you take and you just see a story a progression of lore. wow has changed alot but it still has alot to offer. now it offers things for the desperate i need to become powerful right now people but the game can still be played normally
#2 is is definately NOT true. They nerf, then over buff then re-nerf far too often. This is a sign that they don't test out changes thoroughly. An example of this is when they buffed Ret-Pallies before Wrath, who usually ran out of mana after 1 fight. Then they never ran out of mana. *oopsie*
#3 is only partly true. You have to be pretty blatantly obvious about an exploit before blizz will cuz off a source of income. Before BC, a player actually made a youtube video of him exploiting in Dire Maul with a dwarf hunter. He never got banned. I've seen people hacking and exploiting many times and reported them with nothing ever happening.
#4 was true years ago. Unfortunately now WoW is dumbed-down to support only lazy players. Epic gear is pretty much almost given away. Pvp is a meaningless farm-fest where anyone can get an epic piece in a day or two. Don't have to actually go anywhere as the dungeon finder just pops you right where you want to go. Cuz ya know, using that flying mount is Just So Hard.
2. Blizzard does a great job on polishing the game.
3. Blizzard bans exploiters.
4. WoW supports a variety of different playstyles.
#1 is definately true. Agreed.. I think some still use Commadore 128s (sacasm).. lol
#2 is is definately NOT true. They nerf, then over buff then re-nerf far too often. This is a sign that they don't test out changes thoroughly. An example of this is when they buffed Ret-Pallies before Wrath, who usually ran out of mana after 1 fight. Then they never ran out of mana. *oopsie* Agreed, but I will give them credit that Blizzard is polished when it comes to quest bugs, and general game play..
#3 is only partly true. You have to be pretty blatantly obvious about an exploit before blizz will cuz off a source of income. Before BC, a player actually made a youtube video of him exploiting in Dire Maul with a dwarf hunter. He never got banned. I've seen people hacking and exploiting many times and reported them with nothing ever happening. BINGO.. I had personally given Blizzard the names of hackers that I witness trading stolen hacked items and Blizzard did nothing.. I still saw those same gold selling lvl 1 toons after all was said and done..
#4 was true years ago. Unfortunately now WoW is dumbed-down to support only lazy players. Epic gear is pretty much almost given away. Pvp is a meaningless farm-fest where anyone can get an epic piece in a day or two. Don't have to actually go anywhere as the dungeon finder just pops you right where you want to go. Cuz ya know, using that flying mount is Just So Hard. AOEfest is running rampid.. Holy Trinity for the Loss
But.. as one gent said already.. Accessibility.. just like McDonalds.. I would like to add the word "Simplicity" to that as well..
1. WoW runs on nearly any machine. 2. Blizzard does a great job on polishing the game. 3. Blizzard bans exploiters. 4. WoW supports a variety of different playstyles.
#1 is definately true. #2 is is definately NOT true. They nerf, then over buff then re-nerf far too often. This is a sign that they don't test out changes thoroughly. An example of this is when they buffed Ret-Pallies before Wrath, who usually ran out of mana after 1 fight. Then they never ran out of mana. *oopsie* #3 is only partly true. You have to be pretty blatantly obvious about an exploit before blizz will cuz off a source of income. Before BC, a player actually made a youtube video of him exploiting in Dire Maul with a dwarf hunter. He never got banned. I've seen people hacking and exploiting many times and reported them with nothing ever happening. #4 was true years ago. Unfortunately now WoW is dumbed-down to support only lazy players. Epic gear is pretty much almost given away. Pvp is a meaningless farm-fest where anyone can get an epic piece in a day or two. Don't have to actually go anywhere as the dungeon finder just pops you right where you want to go. Cuz ya know, using that flying mount is Just So Hard
to #2, I dont really consider balance polish, i consider it more the flow of the game, the imersiveness, the general quality. Balance, to me, is a wholely different animal, especially in mmos, you can never get it just right, especially if you dont have large scale testing. as for #4 with the introduction of the cross realm dungeons, the summoning stones were basically rendered useless (of course they could have put them inside the dungeons but W/E). before the system, about 50% of the group was to lazy to actually fly to any of the dungeons, I can only imagine with cross realming it would be worse. I dont know about you, but sitting around for 20 mins waiting for someone to get to the dungeon isnt that fun. But i agree, I miss the epic gear epicness feel. I was never a raider in vanilla maybe MC and ZG a hand full of times, so im not pining for past personal glories to return.
Comments
I personally believe it was because Blizzard had a very large following and a very good reputation at the time of it's release. The ease and accessability of the game allowed those fans to then introduce their friends to the game/genre. And because of the relatively low system specs at the time, almost anyone who had a computer could play it. Even non-gamers. I think that word of mouth REALLY helped. More than anything, really.
marketing
Retired : Daoc , Warhammer , WoW , Lotro , Tabula Rasa
, Everquest 2 , Aion, Eve , AoC , SW:Tor ( failwars ), Planetside 2
Waiting : Star Citizen
Playing : Star Citizen
FPS : Overwatch
Yt chan : https://www.youtube.com/user/raine187
Also it was the first time a very very large company with a very very good reputation and a very very good idea of how to make a game they way they wanted to make it made an MMO. Most others at the time like EQ and UO were mainly either happy accidents or just a progression on a fairly successful game. Blizzard was the first Powerhouse to step in the field and make it out alive.
The real reason behind WoW's success is much more complicated than simply putting Marketing, good game play, art style, or lore.
The real reason is because blizzard spends millions and millions in R&D.
They spend money and hire some of the best behaviorists in the business to help make their games an addictive experience that keeps people hooked and coming back for more.
I know a professor at UCSD who has colleague's working for blizzard perfecting the reward system in the game. Everything about WoW's drop rates, to talent points, to mounts and even level progression and exp required is mapped out and underlined by a team of behavioral psychologists who are helping blizzard make the game what it is.
http://blog.jodybrewster.net/2007/07/22/the-psychology-of-slot-machines/
Here's an article of how classical and operant conditioning are used in slot machines simply replace things like flashing lights and small payouts of money as positive reinforcement with loot and small item drops.
It could run on a Commodore Vic-20 with a cassette drive and dialup internet access.
2 reason s:
1) You can play it on an Etch-a-Sketch deluxe; and,
2) Parents did not have to upgrade their kids' crappy computers
Hedonismbot: Your latest performance was as delectable as dipping my bottom over and over into a bath of the silkiest oils and creams.
it's fun
these threads should just get deleted, this is redundant, do a search next time and just make a post instead of making another why did Wow make it thread
The truth behind the popularity of WoW has to do with one simple idea, you're either am MMO fan or you're a WoW fan. The majority of the playerbase of WoW likes that single game in the genre and not the genre itself, meaning they aren't even keeping up with the new MMO's on the horizon.
If you ask them if they've seen the latest news on Guild Wars 2 for example they'll more than likely look at you with a confused expression replying, "What's Guild Wars 2?" That's why these developers have been unable to clench the sub numbers they hoped they would.
It's harder to market something to someone who isn't even interested in what you are selling in the first place.
I learned this from a friend of mine, whenever I ask him if he's heard about any of the new titles coming out, he's says no. I tell him he should go to the main site for said title and check it out, he shrugs and says, " I'll check it out " but never does.
Yet he's leveled every race and class except DK to cap in the 4 years he's been playing WoW and has never even considered looking into another MMO.
Because it has more quests than any other MMORPG. It and its two Xps have 8000 quests. The next closest is EQII, which has 6000, and that's after buying 4 adventure packs and 6 expansions.
Many, many people play MMORPGs to do quests (and those that don't, play Eve)
Many MMORPGs just don't have that many quests.
WoW has a lot of quests.
R.I.P. City of Heroes and my 17 characters there
For me the key elements for WoW success are:
Easy to learn.
Easy to play.
Easy to run in almost any machine.
Your character looks cool soon.
You have clear objetives to work for.
Is seamless at least in most of the scenery.
In my opinion the fact the game is seamless most of the time it's a key element; becouse once people log in they soon feel inmersed in the game.
Its because of the damn /dance and the mesmerizing jumping
**presses space bar repeatedly**
Ha ha ha!
many posters pointed out tons of reasons. i guess ill point out the reasons for me.
back before wow i tried many mmos, ffxi, eath and beyond. ect. many of those games were so harsh on beginers some like daoc at the time was a grind run to get to the fun parts. and many game sported the hurry up and wait senario aka ffxi where you spent hours to get somehwere to wait and do nothing because someone of the group had to leave. older games had the plague called time sinks.
when wow came out it killed tons of time sinks. your heroic warrior could actually feel as a warrior and not needed to be back by four other people to kill a bunny. wow didnt give that agroup against 1 mob that ffxi gave. much more it didnt punish new players who got into the game after many events have passeed.
wow came out freash and fun. the quests pushed the ongoing story. it was not just kill ten rats. there was a good reason to kill the mobs you were sent to kill.
timesinks where damn gone , harsh punishments were gone. how i hated due to lag or isp issues you get disconnected and because of that partymembers die, cuss you out insutl you because they lost exp. weapons ect. you had that prob in wow and well durability loss. the game was less stressfull.
wow was easy to get into but battles in instances was not always tank and spank which plagued may of the older game. istaria comes to mind that the biggest bosses in that game can even be soloed if geared correctly.
not only wow was popular, it had a seemless world save the instanced dungeons so you didnt have to wait for respawns. it hemmoraged quests and the lore was bleeding everywhere, tons of books in sm for example that you can read. even now litch kings quests there are many you take and you just see a story a progression of lore. wow has changed alot but it still has alot to offer. now it offers things for the desperate i need to become powerful right now people but the game can still be played normally
wow is a well built game.
1. WoW runs on nearly any machine.
2. Blizzard does a great job on polishing the game.
3. Blizzard bans exploiters.
4. WoW supports a variety of different playstyles.
I've had my own thoughts on this for many years, but I saw a post a while ago that sums it up eloquently (sorry, I forget who posted it).
WoW is popular because it lets everyone win.
#1 is definately true.
#2 is is definately NOT true. They nerf, then over buff then re-nerf far too often. This is a sign that they don't test out changes thoroughly. An example of this is when they buffed Ret-Pallies before Wrath, who usually ran out of mana after 1 fight. Then they never ran out of mana. *oopsie*
#3 is only partly true. You have to be pretty blatantly obvious about an exploit before blizz will cuz off a source of income. Before BC, a player actually made a youtube video of him exploiting in Dire Maul with a dwarf hunter. He never got banned. I've seen people hacking and exploiting many times and reported them with nothing ever happening.
#4 was true years ago. Unfortunately now WoW is dumbed-down to support only lazy players. Epic gear is pretty much almost given away. Pvp is a meaningless farm-fest where anyone can get an epic piece in a day or two. Don't have to actually go anywhere as the dungeon finder just pops you right where you want to go. Cuz ya know, using that flying mount is Just So Hard.
In a word, accessibilty.
But.. as one gent said already.. Accessibility.. just like McDonalds.. I would like to add the word "Simplicity" to that as well..
to #2, I dont really consider balance polish, i consider it more the flow of the game, the imersiveness, the general quality. Balance, to me, is a wholely different animal, especially in mmos, you can never get it just right, especially if you dont have large scale testing.
as for #4 with the introduction of the cross realm dungeons, the summoning stones were basically rendered useless (of course they could have put them inside the dungeons but W/E). before the system, about 50% of the group was to lazy to actually fly to any of the dungeons, I can only imagine with cross realming it would be worse. I dont know about you, but sitting around for 20 mins waiting for someone to get to the dungeon isnt that fun. But i agree, I miss the epic gear epicness feel. I was never a raider in vanilla maybe MC and ZG a hand full of times, so im not pining for past personal glories to return.