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[Bodhesatva]

Legend11 said:
I have actually never played WoW since I know I would become addicted to it. What would you say is the secret to it's success? Basically what is it doing that is so much better than every other MMORPG?

It's significantly more casual friendly. A great counter example would be Ultima Online: in that game, when you die, you literally lose all of your gear. If you work hours and hours to get the gear you want and then make a mistake, poof, everyone steals your stuff. Imagine playing Mass Effect for 15 hours, dying, and having to start over. Yes, that is literally how most MMOs worked in the earlier days.

Of course, if you play the game constantly, that's not a problem. You can get it back in a week or so. But if you only play once or twice a week? That's months of work, literally. So we had games like UO and Shadowbane, where the super hardcore players like myself absolutely loved it, because we ran over everybody else. Then we had the people who played... say, less than 30 hours a week, who hated it because they constantly got steamrolled by people like me and had to start all over again.

In WoW, there is absolutely no penalty for death. None whatsoever. When that was announced, it was some revolutionary concept in MMOs, but today it seems obvious. The short story: you don't have to play WoW 30 hours a week to feel good about your characters. For most other MMOs, you're either hardcore or you're dead.

 

I'm sure the word "casual" instantly puts you off, Legend, but trust me, based on what I know of you, you are absolutely correct that you'd get addicted. A casual MMO is still more "hardcore" than practically every other game out there. In WoW, you can play 1-2 hours in a sitting and be productive. Amazingly, this is a drastic improvement over other MMOs, where 4+ hours are usually necessary to accomplish goals on a daily basis.