World Of Warcraft: World of Warcraft vs. the competition

So why would you choose World of Warcraft over any one of the currently released MMORPG's that promised so much? It's been our experience that everyone under the bitmapped sun has pretty much boasted rich, lush graphics, dynamic environment and weather, superior leveling systems, tradeskills, ambient sound effects, exemplary customer service, and a free Ginsu® knife that slices and dices.

The promise was far beyond what we received: rich, lush graphical glitches, almost complete environmental darkness most of the time resulting in eyestrain, superior camping systems, tradeskills that gave us tendonitis from massive 'click sessions,' repetitive sound effects that drove us insane, semi-OK customer service, and well, maybe we didn't get that free Ginsu® knife, but we did get a nifty little action figure that is sure to be a chick-magnet for any 18-35 year-old male's mantle piece. Now, not all the developers of the MMORPG's that we have played are guilty of these crimes, but all of them are guilty of at least a few. Blizzard won't be any exception to this, but how they follow through on their mistakes will be what wins the hearts of the players who feel they have been burned before because they trusted big game companies to adhere to their word.

The trick is not to listen so much to the sales pitches of developers at press releases, interviews, message boards, and trade shows, because a great deal of that is littered with fluff. Fluff is nice to listen to, but let's face it, with this new generation of MMORPG's on the way, game companies' sales strategies are going to have to change. The general public is wiser now and has more experience beta testing and interacting with game developers. Stick with the facts. Pay attention to how early in development the information is given. Anything is subject to change before a game's release, but some facets of a game's development will remain resolute.

Keeping that in mind, let's look at World of Warcraft's competition -

( this topic focuses only on United States-released MMORPG's )

Ultima Online:

Playerbase = approximately 250,000+

What will help its playerbase remain loyal:

• Many of the people who initially began playing Ultima came straight out of top-down style games like Diablo. When games like EverQuest and Asheron's Call came out, many of these players did not wish to make the transition over to a 3-D environment via 1st person or over-the-shoulder 3rd person, preferring the three-quarter vantage point.
• One of the most intricate tradeskill systems of any MMORPG to date.
• PvP tactics that allow for a fun and varied range of fighting, player killing, and 'bounty hunting'.
• Interesting dungeons.
• Varied assortment of spells.
• Nice variety of house styles and custom decorations.
• Recent, major gameplay and content improvements.

• Many of the people who initially began playing Ultima came straight out of Blizzard's Diablo game. Many of these people trust them to make a great game and could leave in mass at WoW's debut.
• It's OLD. (1997)
• Limited PvP on a larger group / army scale. Most fighting is done one vs. one or many vs. one.
• Lack of regular, monthly significant content updates.
• Old graphics and the 3-D expansion upgrade turned out 'murky'.
• Awkward, blocky interfaces.
• You can kill a fire elemental using the fire-based spell "Flamestrike." =P
• Poor questing system. (somewhat improved due to recent patches).
• Too many useless spells in your spellbook.
• No new spells since 1997 (although the upcoming Necromancy patch promises a few)
• Necromancy was supposed to be implemented in 1998!
• The famous old MMORPG customer service joke, "I am sorry, there is nothing I can do" originated in UO.

Playerbase = approximately 400,000+

What will help it:

• Has a bestiary on par with Dungeons and Dragons. Strong familiarity.
• Epic storylines and quests.
• Massive expansions.
• Raids, raids, RAIDS!
• Interesting character classes and races.
• Huge social environment due to it's 400,000+ playerbase.

• Camping, camping, CAMPING! Yeeeeaaarrrrrrgggghhhhh!
• EverCrappy interface design.
• Ugly graphics and environments.
• Not a persistent world.
• It's OLD. (1998)
• Super crappy and linear PvP.
• The world is too dark. Players must obtain items to see better just to get around.
• Heavy experience penalties upon death.
• Some people who have played EQ feel they have demonstrated exemplary ANTI-customer service.
• It's typical fantasy. Not much of an artistic stylized flair like Warcraft.
• Massive nerf history.

Playerbase = approximately 100,000+

What will help it:

• Significant regular, monthly content updates.
• Allegiance system allowing patrons to gain experience from their vassals. Creates an interesting social twist.
• Skill-based system of advancement.
• Rich storylines of epic proportions.
• One of the best variety of quests of any MMORPG to date.
• Completely original, non-traditional bestiary and lore.
• Strong social, reputation, and trading system (Subway) developed within AC by the players.
• Over 500,000 square miles of virtual land in a persistent environment before the Dark Majesty expansion.

• It's a Microsoft game. Many people dislike them and will do anything they can to stay away from them.
• It's OLD. (1999)
• Poor character and monster models (although improved since the original models at release).
• Some players feel AC takes on a "work it out yourself" style of customer service.
• No banks for storage. Tedious 'muling' system.
• Killstealing, killstealing, KILLSTEALING. Moreso than the typical MMORPG.
• Unfamiliar bestiary and lore.
• Some dungeons are very cramped and very CAMPED.
• Some quests are complicated and require multiple large and/or high level organized groups to accomplish.
• Way too much buffing. (although recent patches improved this somewhat).
• Linear tradeskills system.

Playerbase = ?

What will help it:

• The only Sci Fi MMORPG on the market.
• Nice graphics, great environments, and weather effects.
• Great sound effects and music.
• Personal spaceships for faster travel.
• Huge cities, social environment, and opportunity for roleplay.

• Extremely super crappy launch caused entire guilds to leave simultaneously. Bad word of mouth stunted AO's potential growth.
• Some of the ugliest female models of any MMORPG to date. =P AO's recessive gene really shines through.
• Super linear and boring missions (quests).
• Large expanses of nothingness on the planet.
• Heavy lag in major cities for most people who do not have the most current optimized machines.

Playerbase = approximately 200,000+

What will help it:

• Fun, addictive Realm vs. Realm combat.
• Diverse and interesting playable races and classes.
• Exhaustive research behind racial and environmental lore and legends.
• Somewhat interesting and useful tradeskills system.
• Strong capture the enemy keep's flag theme with viewable statistics and ladders on Mythic's Camelot Herald website.
• Some people feel Mythic has much more commitment to the customer than its predecessors.
• Regular weekly / monthly bug fixes and content updates.

• Incredibly small realms.
• Limited character creation customization.
• Tediously long horse routes. Traveling across a tiny realm takes forever due to twisting roadways.
• Classes are largely dependent on other classes. 'Forced' group hunting significantly reduces solo downtime.
• Questing has been reduced to "bang monster, get magic item."
• No ongoing storyline whatsoever. No GM supported roleplaying.
• Terribly small 'copied and pasted' dungeons.
• Dungeons are overcamped.
• Groups typically only want healers and tanks (for example), but rarely a hunter or shadowblade. Demand for different classes is heavily unbalanced.
• Once you die in RvR, it takes forever to get back to the fight (if there is even a fight left to get back to).
• You cannot converse across realms (Except on PvP and Co-op servers).

Playerbase = ?

What will help it:

• Beautiful graphics, nice scenery, character/monster models, and environments.
• Streamlined interface...viewable area is maximized.
• Significant, regular monthly content updates to story, dungeons, quests, magic items, bestiary, etc.
• Allegiance system allowing patrons to gain experience from their vassals. Additional FREE XP is a huge plus.
• Skill-based system of advancement.

• Many people will need to update their computers with the latest hardware / software to handle the stunning graphical content in AC2.
• Different feeling to the game from the original. It's not the same game.
• Lack of content at launch. (subject to change tremendously by the time WoW goes retail).
• It's a Microsoft game.
• Not as many initial character creation options as its competition.
• Only three playable races.
• Smaller world than the original Asheron's Call.

All these previously released MMORPG's promised us the virtual world, and understandably, they fell short. Let's face it, they have no small task. They strived for perfection, but they could not achieve it. Consider how vast their game worlds are, and all the programming and behaviors behind landscapes, light sourcing, textures, wireframing, artificial intelligence, animation, character models, quests, story, character creation, game balance, etc. There are going to be mistakes, there are going to be broken quests, there are going to be bugs and exploits. The biggest difference in this respect is how quickly the company will respond to the issues, how timely and effectively they will implement a fix or change, and how honest they will be with the public.

So what can we tell so far that will hurt World of Warcraft against its competition?

• Blizzard's notoriety for being 'fashionably late' for release dates.
• It's ANOTHER Fantasy MMORPG.
• 'Blocky' geometrical inventory screens.
• Some aspects of Wow are ideas and functions based on its predecessors. Could be more original.
• Only five people per group.
• Hardcore Diablo, Warcraft, and Starcraft fans losing their 'MMORPG virginity' with WoW and giving feedback how World of Warcraft should be made. Veteran MMORPG'ers claw their own eyes out.

• Blizzard's notoriety for being fashionably late. While that can be a point against them, Blizzard is one of the few companies who have proven they had a GOOD excuse for being late.
• While some of the core ideas behind WoW are not completely original, this allows them to focus more on expediting a better game for us. They can work more on details contained within that core idea, giving more depth to their game. Blizzard wants to use some 'tried and true' ideas in MMORPG's and intends to refine them.
• There may only be five people per group, but groups can be LINKED TOGETHER! How many times did we have to be separated from our friends because of grouping restrictions and limited group chat? Most MMORPG's to date are not as guild-friendly as they could be. WoW just made a giant leap of progress for us.
• No zoning. It's a persistent world. No load times for most of the world. Probably will be similar to Asheron's Call; you can roam freely over most of the world without hitting invisible walls, and generally only have to zone into dungeon areas.
• While there will always be a newbie MMORPG virgin shaking his fist at the pixelated sky and screaming curses to the devs, this will be an interesting time for online gamers. Another hybrid community will be born when two different types of online gamers merge together more heavily in a social environment. A strange mixture of ideas and opinions will go into the collective mind that forms and develops World of Warcraft. This will help add to WoW's individuality within the genre.
• Casual gameplay! Previous MMORPG's required almost a professional level of time commitment to really get into the meat of the game. In a previous interview with Richard 'Jonric' Aihoshi, Bill Roper stated that World of Warcraft was targeted at casual and professional level gamers whether the player has 30 minutes or 30 hours to give to a single play session.
• Highly stylized, colorful graphics. As a graphic designer and illustrator, I have a great deal of respect for Blizzard's deviation from realism. So many 3-D games are striving to achieve reality with their games, but what some of these game developers are forgetting is that most people are playing these games because it is sometimes fun to escape reality. WoW's graphics are just plain fun to behold.
• A massive library of pre-established content based on the hit Warcraft series. Almost every MMORPG release has lacked content, leaving mid-high level players bored, usually ending in a cancelled account.
• Blizzard has MONEY. What does this mean to you?

1. Better customer service because they can afford a better CSR staff.
2. More frequent and timely updates, expansions, and fixes because they can afford and hire better programmers (and more of them!).
3. Better servers capable of handling the strain they WILL have.
4. More worldwide servers throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia for better international service.
5. Familiarity. Many, many online gamers know the Warcraft series intimately. Remembering old storylines and seeing them tie into WoW quests and lore will strum a chord in our hearts.

There are some really great-looking new MMORPG's on their way in the near future, so keep your eyes peeled here are Warcry for a follow-up article pitting World of Warcraft against games such as Star Wars Galaxies, City of Heroes, Shadowbane, EverQuest 2, and more!

Written by: Mark "juBBjuBB" Medianowsky