WoW is the new Everquest?
Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. What makes this funny (in a sad way) is that Tigole and Furor were active (and vocal) Everquest players..
Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. What makes this funny (in a sad way) is that Tigole and Furor were active (and vocal) Everquest players..
2 comments:
How is being EQ "doomed"? It was the most successful Western MMO until WoW came along. WoW was pretty much already doomed to that role until the New New Thing. Perhaps you are suggesting that this expansion will send its subscriber numbers down to EQ's current levels?
I can understand folks hating on EQ and WoW. Heck, I have never paid for either. But my distaste for that particular playstyle does not mean that it has not been ridiculously successful in gaining and keeping subscribers.
Being the market leader is all well and good. But you leave your own game very vulnerable to the New New Thing if you make the mistakes mentioned in the article that I linked to.
Personally, I think that the mistakes can be divided into two rough categories. First, eliminating the influx of new players. No matter how good your game is, some people will eventually stop playing for various reasons. To maintain your subscriber numbers, you need new players. If the leveling process keeps getting longer and longer, it's harder for new players to join in and replace those who quit. Attunements and unmaintained midlevel content will only make the problem worse.
Secondly, there's the slow bleed of veteran players. One reason for this is the downward spiral of content churn. Content is always consumed faster than it's created. If the developers keep making old content obsolete the amount of available content will only keep shrinking. You'll start losing players who complain that they have nothing to do. A good alternative will lure the bored players away in droves. It's not a coincidence that many veteran WoW players started with EQ.
And don't get me wrong. I like WoW. I think it has been phenomenally successful in attracting players beyond the normal MMO player profiles. But I'd hate to see Blizzard make the same mistakes that SOE did. Especially when they have people in their payroll who should know better.
Post a Comment