World of warcraft is dying and how to save it.

Yeah. There won't be any death knells- it'll probably be a long, gradual decline, not something done by the emergence of a new MMORPG.

Yeah. It'll really be more like somebody wakes up five or ten years from now and goes "huh, nobody really plays WOW anymore. How 'bout that."

And, of course, there's always the chance that Blizzard actually will offer up something new and exciting, such as actually making the player's actions count.

You know, people rag on Runescape a lot, but if there's one thing I can give it, at least it has a good quest system that actively changes the game world around you, if only in a localized way.

Now that I think about it, from what I remember of Runescape, lots of bits in the mechanics were kinda shit, as were the graphics, but everything else about it was actually quite good.

The main problem people have with the game is the grind.

Yeah, I was mentally including that under "mechanics."

I reckon if they reduced the grind, and possibly updated the graphics so it looks okay, and maybe offered up more free content, they'd be set.

Probably. I think they did increase the graphics at one point back when I played.

Though they're doing okay for themselves, from what I hear.

Yeah, the graphics got a large bump some time ago, and they are still giving graphical updates to certain areas.

That said, I'm not someone who cares about graphics as much as art style. I've seen plenty of high-polygon-count, HD-textured games that, aesthetically, pale in comparison to even Super Mario 64.

So I'd be just as happy for them to spend that time working on content.

Honestly, I think the decline of World Of Warcraft is essentially a good thing. As much as it's obviously a great game in its own right, the MMO genre is filled to the brim with imitators. Even in the context of fantasy MMORPG games, there's so much more that could be done that isn't. Between the cost of making an MMO and the suits demanding to get their investments back, getting the MMO industry at large to do something else has been such a slow process that it essentially is yet to happen.

Wakfu, Spiral Knights, Runescape

And those are just the popular ones. You also have non graphics-based ones like Kingdom Of Loathing, more platform-y type RPG's like Dragons' Nest, etcetera.

There's a whole bunch of MMORPG's that aren't World Of Warcraft clones if you look around, each with a substantial playerbase.

But how many more out there are? One of my biggest disappointments concerning upcoming games, for instance, is that The Old Republic looks to be World Of Warcraft in Star Wars' clothing. Plenty of free to play MMO games are entirely based on Warcraft, too. Hell, the entire expectation of turn-based combat with loot-based statistics is very much a restriction implemented by the success of the game.

There are some non-clone MMO games out there for sure, but not half as many as there should be considering the potential of the genre.

Woah, woah, don't jump the gun on it being a World Of Warcraft clone yet. Plus, it's been advertised as being heavily based on structured questlines; that at least would definitely set it apart from World Of Warcraft.

Over in Korea the biggest influences for the 2010 and 2011 batch are actually Dynasty Warriors and Monster Hunter. A lot of smaller releases still mimic World Of Warcraft but high profile titles like Blade & Soul, TERA Online and Continent of the Ninth have largely switched to hack and slash gameplay.

edited 3rd Nov '11 5:04:20 AM by Recon5

Not a whole lot. Off the top of my head, I can name a few that are inspired by World of Warcraft- Eden Eternal, for example- but they have substantial differences that set them apart.

One of the few games I can think of that I could call a clone of World Of Warcraft is Runes of Magic.

I used to think this way, but when I took a look into the design philosophy, I was heavily disappointed. They threw away a lot of the things that were great about Knights Of The Old Republic, probably most damningly the versatile character creation. Where it was once about melding your statistic choices with feats and skills, now it's gear choices meeting skill trees.

^^ Those sound interesting. I've always liked the idea of real-time combat MMO games, given real-time games being more skill-based than build-based.

^ One more disappointing clone game is The Lord Of The Rings Online. Too many common factors; turn-based combat meets gear and tree-based characters. High Fantasy setting. Toonesque, exaggerated visual design.

edited 3rd Nov '11 5:24:17 AM by MadassAlex

Lord of the Rings Online is often noted for that, and it hasn't really developed itself exactly because of that. It is noted more for its' roleplaying community than its' powergamer community like World Of Warcraft is, though.

Instead, wander over and take a look at Dungeons and Dragons Online. As an MMORPG based on the Dungeons and Dragons d20 system, it differs quite significantly from the World Of Warcraft system.

I'm not going to claim that many MMORPG's aren't inspired by World Of Warcraft. What I am saying is that there are many successful games out there that aren't inspired by them; that many of the games that are inspired by it try to explore new options, at least; and that even with World Of Warcraft being the juggernaut of the MMORPG industry, there is still a lot of room for people to take their games in different directions, as we are already seeing.

Take a look at Uncharted Waters. It's an MMORPG that differs greatly from the stock standard.

There is variety.

The combat in DDO is technically action based but the pacing is a bit too deliberate and random factors still play a role, just like in D&D. Also like in D&D, it's completely possible to twink to the point where skill isn't necessary.

EDIT: Just checked up UWO and you're right that it isn't like World Of Warcraft. Instead, it's like FFXI.

edited 3rd Nov '11 7:01:21 AM by Recon5

We have a World Of Warcraft thread already. We don't need more.