What Makes WoW Tick?
Soon, the next chapter of the WoW legacy will be upon us when Cataclysm releases on December 7. Sitting high upon the throne of the world of MMOs, the latest expansion for WoW has many a gamer clamoring to get their hands on it. 
Forget that this game will celebrate it’s 6th anniversary later this month, as old as Methuselah in MMO gaming years. It’s worldwide popularity has barely dropped below epic numbers over the years.
I have always contended that what helped WoW climb to be King of the MMO mountain was mostly timing. Sure, I know you MUD players were already old pros at hooking up virtually for some gaming and I know WoW was not the first MMO. I’m talking now about how WoW helped open up the MMO world to the “casual” gamer and blew MMO subscription numbers out of the water. Released in November of 2004, the climate for MMOs couldn’t have been better. Computers at home were now more common as opposed to being that shiny high tech toy reserved for only the true techie (or egghead, depending on how you want to call it).61.8% of homes had access to a computer compared to only 22.8% a decade before. More importantly for the MMO genre, more homes were wired. According to US Census data, 2003 showed 55% of homes in America had access to the internet, up from 41.5% in the year 2000.
Evolving from AOL chat rooms and the like, MMOs didn’t seem so foreign to the casual player any more. We were 
waking up to a whole new virtual world, where chatting and socializing with “strangers” via electronic media didn’t seem so weird. (Okay, my mom still thinks you are all stalkers and axe murderers and worries incessantly about my safety if she hears me on Skype with any of you). There wasn’t a lot of competition in the MMO world in 2004. City of Heroes launched in April of that year. Going head to head and labeled as the two “current generation” MMOs was EQII and WoW, released November. There were other MMOs active at the time, but the market was definitely limited in comparison to today’s standards.
WoW was perfect for the casual gamer, at least initially. 1-60 was easily managed with a couple of hours in the evenings. The graphics, while “cartoony” to some, were beautiful and simplistic at the same time. More importantly, it would run on many systems without problem, further advancing it’s popularity. Post 60, the game took a sharp turn to hard core, with day long Molten Core runs. Some of the casual gamers left. Others were quickly converted from sweet casual gamers to hard core, “I want my shiny purple epics, Biatch!” players. And so then they were hooked.
If timing is what helped launch WoW to the astronomic popularity it has enjoyed, it doesn’t really explain what has kept it there for the last 6 years. A few points that I think have helped WoW stay on top of the heap follow:
- Being amicable to lower end systems and slower internet speeds certainly helps it. Look at some of the minimum system specs required for some of the newer MMOs. You don’t have to break the bank to play WoW.
- The game is international, with the most current subscription numbers boasted at over 11 million across the globe. I can’t find any realtime numbers, but I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that WoW is probably in more countries than any other MMO on the market.
- They have been strategic in their marketing. William freaking Shatner? Mr. T and his Night Elf Mohawk
commercials? Ozzie Osbourne and the Prince of Darkness?! Super Bowl commercials? They know how to keep the enthusiasm for their game going. Hell, the Toyota truck commercial that one year had me wanting to play again. “There’s no trucks in World of Warcraft!!” - Phat lootz and uber elite status symbols. They play to the “keeping up with the Jones’ mentality” that so many of us have. I once ran Uldaman 12 times with one of my guildmates just to get some ring he just “had to have”. I still hate that place. It was like an addiction for him. And they have built upon that with cool looking mounts, pets, gear, etc.
- That “first love” effect. Because WoW was so many people’s first love when it comes to MMOs, they just keep going back to it. Think about your first MMO love. What keeps you away from it? Oh, it’s no longer alive, huh? Ok, if it was, what kept you away? Dated graphics? WoW is showing some age. Oh wait, Cataclysm is updating some of those graphics. Population? Never a problem in WoW. Have they ever shut down a single server? I know Stormrage, where I rolled on day one is alive and well. They’ve added new races, hero classes, new zones, soon to be 3 full expansions, new professions, new gear, new instances, flying mounts, epic mounts, vanity items… More than enough to tempt you to go back and check out all the new moves that first love held you captive with for so long in the first place. I’ve read many a post and Tweet from people who had sworn of WoW forever, only to be caving into the deep seeded temptation to experience Cataclysm.
So what do you think? Love it or hate it, WoW has truly done something unique and ground breaking in the MMO world. What do you think makes WoW tick? And are you feeling that lurid temptation creeping into your mind, whispering for you to come back to Azeroth for one last cataclysmic ride?
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“And are you feeling that lurid temptation creeping into your mind, whispering for you to come back to Azeroth for one last cataclysmic ride?”
Until the next expansion. xD
Do you think there will be another expansion? Updates, yes. But they are working on their new MMO. I’m wondering if Cataclysm will be the last real expansion for the game. Hard telling. It will of course, be determined by money.
Things that make WoW universally appealing:
1) Clear short-term goals with tangible rewards.
2) A solid, non-instanced world with discernible biomes and multiple environments.
3) Interactive capital cities that make you feel you are in the middle of something big, not putzing around an instance with ten people in it.
4) Megalithic structures that are awe-inspiring.
5) Rational travel structures that add realistic distance for game play.
6) A sense of real advancement as you play, both in-game and out. If you make it to 80, you know how to play.
I loved exploring in Vanilla WoW. Some of the areas were truly beautiful. It wasn’t so much fun post vanilla, at least not for me. Because at that point, it felt like there was more pressure to level to end game to keep up with everyone else. But, that may just be me.
I sort of disagree with the idea that timing really had much to do with it. SWG launched less than a year before WoW and had a much larger fan base to grow from, and they only managed somewhere around 300k subscriptions at it’s peak. EQ2 launched a month before WoW and as the reigning champion of MMOs one would think they had the best shot at bringing MMOs into the mainstream.
I think what it all really comes down to is craftsmanship. Blizzard puts a fine polish on every detail and it’s unmatched in any MMO. They consistently create a high quality experience for their fans and they’ve been rewarded with loyalty.
I believe EQ2 launched November 4, 2004 and WoW launched November 23, 2004.
And to clarify, I’m not contesting that Blizzard has put out a good product and I believe they have done more than most MMOs to maintain the game. I just believe the timing was perfect for one game to make the push that Blizzard did. Maintaining it is all Blizzard’s good development and marketing.
I failed to mention that they also released the game as Mac compatible. I actually joined a guild that was all former Clan Lord players. All coming to WoW Vs other MMOs simply because they could play it on their Macs.
Have to disagree Grok. SWG had tons of things going against it. It was a graphics hog at the time and it honestly wasn’t a very “Star Warsy” experience. Sure, there were moments, but while it had some great qualities for an MMO, it wasn’t the well rounded Star Wars “ride” that fans of the universe wanted. Plus, at the time MMO’s were still a very niche thing on the rise, and WoW’s success is in part from the PC gaming fan base they already had in place.
By all accounts, EQ2 SHOULD have been the big MMO champion, but it was fighting itself. SOE still had a very large and loyal player base in EQ1 that they were asking to move to another game.
But I totally agree with what you ended with. Blizzard is fantastic at looking at what’s happening in the market, finding something that could be better, and then putting a high quality shine on their own version of it.
Actually you just proved my point Slurms. If it was “mostly timing” that paved the way for Blizzard’s success then Star Wars also would have benefited from that timing too. I argue that timing had nothing to do with it, and quality had everything to do with it. SWG failed to deliver on that.
I’m also not suggesting that you were deriding Blizzard in anyway Maeve. I just don’t know if I completely agree with the timing argument.
I agree completely with all your other points though! Especially the “first love” factor. It’s just such an easy game to fall back to when you find yourself disenchanted with what you’ve been playing.
Right, it wasn’t just timing. But the time was right, if you see what I mean. Had SWG had lower spec requirements and followed the lore better along with over 50% of us having internet access at its release, would it have climbed to the heights of WoW? I don’t mean to imply Blizzard only got lucky. They did the right thing at the right time.
I guess my question is this. If EQII had “cornered the market” back in 2004 and WoW was a new game being released today, would it climb to the same astronomical number of subs that it has now? Impossible to answer, I know. But it was that thought that generated my post. Perhaps we will see with Blizz’s next MMO.
I agree that it was a combination of more accessibility and timing that made WoW popular initially. I remember there being a lot of issues with server lag and stability the few first months (that stupid bug where you were stuck in a looting position was the worst), largely due to the their unexpected success, so I don’t think that polish had a whole lot to do with their initial success.
I think the reason why WoW has stayed so popular is because of social inertia. A lot of the people that started the MMO genere with WoW aren’t really MMO-gamers, they’re Blizzard fans or WoW fans. Either they burn out and go back to other non-MMO games or they keep playing just because that’s where all their friends are.
I’m with you on that one Blue Kae. I bought WoW solely as a Blizzard fan originally and man was the launch buggy. I know the game has the perfect polish Grok references now, but it definitely was nowhere near it at first. It’s funny, people talk about MMO launches not being “as smooth as WoW’s” but frankly their launch was terrible…as you said, they had an unexpected amount of fans buying their game.
Perhaps you’re right about the Blizzard fans giving it a huge boost at launch. I didn’t have that perspective as WoW is the one and only Blizzard game I have ever played.
I definitely fell into the “new to MMO gaming” category when I picked up WoW. I often wonder if I had played it first rather than CoH if I would have played WoW more steadily over the last 6 years. I love CoH, but there just isn’t enough to keep me going back there. WoW, on the other hand, would. But it simply isn’t my first MMO love.
Despite the server issues the game absolutely had the quality I’m talking about when it launched. The music production, the animation and graphics, the instances…. I remember walking into Ironforge for the first time and being blown away. Hell, half the reason there were server issues was because of how much more popular it was than even Blizzard expected. Certainly it wasn’t perfect, but that Blizzard magic was definitely there from day 1.
Maeve, I see your point now and I guess I didn’t catch that in your first post. I can see what you’re talking about in terms of it being the right game for the right time.
The thing I’m really curious about is can Blizzard do it again. I don’t think they’ll be able to because the market is so different now, it won’t matter how high quality their next game is when it comes out.
i was going to say something similar to blue about a critical mass of people creating a social environment that kept people joining up and staying. now i just feel unoriginal.
Grok,
I agree with you, remember the first time in Ironforge or Stormwind and was completely blown away. The music, the look, it had what I call the “Disney” touch, attention to detail and a nice polish to it. I think that had a lot to do with attracting a lot of non-MMO players and even a lot of non-gamers to the genre.
It will be interesting to see what Blizzard does next with WoW or their new IP.
I recently re-activated my account and will be re-rolling with the Multiplaying Group for Cataclysm. I am looking forward to seeing the changes to the places I know so well and leveling through new content.
16 comments
“And are you feeling that lurid temptation creeping into your mind, whispering for you to come back to Azeroth for one last cataclysmic ride?”
Until the next expansion. xD
Do you think there will be another expansion? Updates, yes. But they are working on their new MMO. I’m wondering if Cataclysm will be the last real expansion for the game. Hard telling. It will of course, be determined by money.
Things that make WoW universally appealing:
1) Clear short-term goals with tangible rewards.
2) A solid, non-instanced world with discernible biomes and multiple environments.
3) Interactive capital cities that make you feel you are in the middle of something big, not putzing around an instance with ten people in it.
4) Megalithic structures that are awe-inspiring.
5) Rational travel structures that add realistic distance for game play.
6) A sense of real advancement as you play, both in-game and out. If you make it to 80, you know how to play.
I sort of disagree with the idea that timing really had much to do with it. SWG launched less than a year before WoW and had a much larger fan base to grow from, and they only managed somewhere around 300k subscriptions at it’s peak. EQ2 launched a month before WoW and as the reigning champion of MMOs one would think they had the best shot at bringing MMOs into the mainstream.
I think what it all really comes down to is craftsmanship. Blizzard puts a fine polish on every detail and it’s unmatched in any MMO. They consistently create a high quality experience for their fans and they’ve been rewarded with loyalty.
I believe EQ2 launched November 4, 2004 and WoW launched November 23, 2004.
And to clarify, I’m not contesting that Blizzard has put out a good product and I believe they have done more than most MMOs to maintain the game. I just believe the timing was perfect for one game to make the push that Blizzard did. Maintaining it is all Blizzard’s good development and marketing.
I failed to mention that they also released the game as Mac compatible. I actually joined a guild that was all former Clan Lord players. All coming to WoW Vs other MMOs simply because they could play it on their Macs.
I loved exploring in Vanilla WoW. Some of the areas were truly beautiful. It wasn’t so much fun post vanilla, at least not for me. Because at that point, it felt like there was more pressure to level to end game to keep up with everyone else. But, that may just be me.
I agree that it was a combination of more accessibility and timing that made WoW popular initially. I remember there being a lot of issues with server lag and stability the few first months (that stupid bug where you were stuck in a looting position was the worst), largely due to the their unexpected success, so I don’t think that polish had a whole lot to do with their initial success.
I think the reason why WoW has stayed so popular is because of social inertia. A lot of the people that started the MMO genere with WoW aren’t really MMO-gamers, they’re Blizzard fans or WoW fans. Either they burn out and go back to other non-MMO games or they keep playing just because that’s where all their friends are.
Have to disagree Grok. SWG had tons of things going against it. It was a graphics hog at the time and it honestly wasn’t a very “Star Warsy” experience. Sure, there were moments, but while it had some great qualities for an MMO, it wasn’t the well rounded Star Wars “ride” that fans of the universe wanted. Plus, at the time MMO’s were still a very niche thing on the rise, and WoW’s success is in part from the PC gaming fan base they already had in place.
By all accounts, EQ2 SHOULD have been the big MMO champion, but it was fighting itself. SOE still had a very large and loyal player base in EQ1 that they were asking to move to another game.
But I totally agree with what you ended with. Blizzard is fantastic at looking at what’s happening in the market, finding something that could be better, and then putting a high quality shine on their own version of it.
Actually you just proved my point Slurms. If it was “mostly timing” that paved the way for Blizzard’s success then Star Wars also would have benefited from that timing too. I argue that timing had nothing to do with it, and quality had everything to do with it. SWG failed to deliver on that.
I’m also not suggesting that you were deriding Blizzard in anyway Maeve. I just don’t know if I completely agree with the timing argument.
I agree completely with all your other points though! Especially the “first love” factor. It’s just such an easy game to fall back to when you find yourself disenchanted with what you’ve been playing.
I’m with you on that one Blue Kae. I bought WoW solely as a Blizzard fan originally and man was the launch buggy. I know the game has the perfect polish Grok references now, but it definitely was nowhere near it at first. It’s funny, people talk about MMO launches not being “as smooth as WoW’s” but frankly their launch was terrible…as you said, they had an unexpected amount of fans buying their game.
Perhaps you’re right about the Blizzard fans giving it a huge boost at launch. I didn’t have that perspective as WoW is the one and only Blizzard game I have ever played.
I definitely fell into the “new to MMO gaming” category when I picked up WoW. I often wonder if I had played it first rather than CoH if I would have played WoW more steadily over the last 6 years. I love CoH, but there just isn’t enough to keep me going back there. WoW, on the other hand, would. But it simply isn’t my first MMO love.
i was going to say something similar to blue about a critical mass of people creating a social environment that kept people joining up and staying. now i just feel unoriginal.
Right, it wasn’t just timing. But the time was right, if you see what I mean. Had SWG had lower spec requirements and followed the lore better along with over 50% of us having internet access at its release, would it have climbed to the heights of WoW? I don’t mean to imply Blizzard only got lucky. They did the right thing at the right time.
I guess my question is this. If EQII had “cornered the market” back in 2004 and WoW was a new game being released today, would it climb to the same astronomical number of subs that it has now? Impossible to answer, I know. But it was that thought that generated my post. Perhaps we will see with Blizz’s next MMO.
Despite the server issues the game absolutely had the quality I’m talking about when it launched. The music production, the animation and graphics, the instances…. I remember walking into Ironforge for the first time and being blown away. Hell, half the reason there were server issues was because of how much more popular it was than even Blizzard expected. Certainly it wasn’t perfect, but that Blizzard magic was definitely there from day 1.
Maeve, I see your point now and I guess I didn’t catch that in your first post. I can see what you’re talking about in terms of it being the right game for the right time.
The thing I’m really curious about is can Blizzard do it again. I don’t think they’ll be able to because the market is so different now, it won’t matter how high quality their next game is when it comes out.
Grok,
I agree with you, remember the first time in Ironforge or Stormwind and was completely blown away. The music, the look, it had what I call the “Disney” touch, attention to detail and a nice polish to it. I think that had a lot to do with attracting a lot of non-MMO players and even a lot of non-gamers to the genre.
It will be interesting to see what Blizzard does next with WoW or their new IP.
I recently re-activated my account and will be re-rolling with the Multiplaying Group for Cataclysm. I am looking forward to seeing the changes to the places I know so well and leveling through new content.
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