WOW WoW!!!

**x-dANGEr** · 07-12-2006, 19:04

I'm just stunned by the number of people WoW has drawn, and actually addicted into itself..

Just a quick question: Does anyone has anyidea how much money did WoW bring back to the releasers?

**tibilicus** · 07-12-2006, 19:35

Argh world of warcraft.. Argh!

**TB666** · 07-12-2006, 19:54

Originally Posted by x-dANGEr

Just a quick question: Does anyone has anyidea how much money did WoW bring back to the releasers?

Mean Blizzard ??
I would guess alot.
And to tell you the truth, I'm addicted too

It is alot of fun.

**Lehesu** · 07-12-2006, 20:49

More of a Guild Wars person myself. No monthly fees is nice, and the games doesn't contrive to make you have to play every day to get "leet" items.

**x-dANGEr** · 07-12-2006, 21:00

I think this game should be listed beside addictive alcohols, etc.. Why? Man.. It is addictive!!! A lot of my friends actually don't see the sunlight anymore because of it, which is by the way the reason I haven't played it, even for once. For I am really not a fan of being addicted.. !!!

**Spino** · 07-13-2006, 07:04

More like World of Warcrack...

Hi, my name is Spino and I am a recovering Wowaholic...

WoW claimed the better part of 10 months of my life until I recently went cold turkey. It so completely dominated my gaming time that I hardly played anything else, even my beloved wargames and combat shooters & sims. The funny thing is even though I realized early on that WoW was all about the accumulation of 'loot' packaged in mindlessly repetitive gameplay I couldn't help myself but keep playing. So as to define the term 'mindlessly repetitive' here's a typical example of quest progression in WoW:

Dorkus: Hail Jerky, bring me a green shrubbery!

Dorkus: Well done Jerky! Here's a few silver pieces as a reward and some XP. Now go forth and bring me 4 brown shrubberies!

Dorkus: Oh my, very impressive Jerky! Here's some more silver and XP! Now if you bring me 10 yellow shrubberies, a Superior Funk potion and a pair of soiled panties from the Witch of Slutovia who lives somewhere in Bowel Wind Canyon I'll give you one of these not-so-hot items you probably won't use along with more money and more XP!

Wash, rinse, repeat. Sounds silly but I'm being completely serious. There are very few quests in WoW that are truly memorable and fun to do. The overwhelming majority of quests require that you engage in mindless repetition by killing or harvesting x number of mobs (monsters) and mats.

Initially it was the sheer size and scope of WoW's gameworld that sucked me in and kept me playing into the wee hours of the night; there's an awful lot to see and do and it takes a long time to do it. Once my passion for exploration peaked and the thrill of raiding endgame instances began to wear off I found a new reason not to quit; I dove headfirst into the Battlegrounds (multiplayer combat) which (arguably) offers a less frustrating alternative to raiding by giving players a more direct path to excellent loot via rank and reputation progression. The Battlegrounds are damn fun but I eventually reached critical mass and couldn't stand the thought of devoting another minute to playing WoW.

When it comes down to it WoW simply doesn't offer much for level 60 characters to do other than farm, engage in the monotony of raiding the same dungeons over and over and try your hand at the Battlegrounds. Furthermore once you reach level 55 or so and join a guild that raids endgame instances (dungeons) regularly the time you are expected to log in and play per week actually goes up; no more playing on your own time like you did when your character was way too weak to go on endgame raids. It got to the point where I had to devote at least 10-15 hours of my night life every week (mainly weekends) just to be present for our scheduled raids and an additional 10+ hours for the Battlegrounds in order to progress in the ranks. This is the single worst part about playing WoW (and I suppose the most frightening aspect of mmorpgs), the virtual disappearance of a normal social life which eventually becomes replaced by the social interaction with other players in the game. This isn't too bad depending on whom you're socializing with but talking endlessly about the game (as many WoW players are prone to do) can grow old really quick.

When I announced to my guild I was quitting WoW I was shocked at how many people were actually happy for me and were seemingly jealous of my ability to quit WoW altogether. It seems lots of people look upon WoW as a regrettable addiction that is awfully hard to quit. Leaving my guild was the worst part about quitting WoW. I lucked into a great guild filled with a great bunch of people, most of whom took a healthier, casual approach to WoW and made the motony of endgame raiding a pleasurable experience.

I will say that based upon the design and gameplay of WoW I would be all over a massive single player rpg (no, NOT like Diablo, blech) if Blizzard ever decided to go in that direction. A WoW sized game world combined with real depth, the ability to actually affect the world events and a meaningful, overarching plot would be fantastic.

Geez, sorry about the long post. It felt good getting that off my chest though. If I can save just one person from the evils of WoW...

**Fragony** · 07-13-2006, 11:23

I am staying as far from MMRPG's as possible, I don't want to become a zombie.

**Spino** · 07-13-2006, 16:11

Originally Posted by Gelatinous Cube

One persons "Mindlessly Repetitive" is another persons.. well..Mindlessly Fun ;)

I really, really enjoyed the WoW Open Beta back when, and have been meaning to buy myself a copy when I upgrade my PC. Heck, I still play Diablo II ;)

I'm not saying WoW wasn't fun. It was fun for quite some time until I began to miss rpgs with more depth, story and less repetition. The massive drain of my time in exchange for nothing more than some fancy loot, rank & rep is what pushed me over the edge.

Originally Posted by x-dANGEr

Just one note Spino. I think your account is worth loads of real money, so you should sell it:

http://www.rpgdot.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2201230

Way ahead of you x-Danger, I have already taken inventory of my characters and took the necessary screenshots for an Ebay auction. Now I just need to get off my lazy bum and post the auction on Ebay. I can circumvent Ebay's policy of occassionally cancelling WoW account auctions by simply selling the game at a marked up price and throwing in my account for 'free'. I only wish my main character had more 'epic' items so as to increase demand. On the other hand my main is a warlock so there isn't too much competition from other auctions (warlocks are one of the least played and one of the most powerful classes in the game).

But geez, according to that article that one guy is on track to earn $120K per year just farming gold on WoW?!? That's insane. I wonder how many hours he puts in per week? It almost makes me want to keep my account and give it a try. Hell, if I could make an extra $20-30K per year just from playing that game a few hours a week it might be worth the effort.

**Navaros** · 07-17-2006, 10:43

Originally Posted by Gelatinous Cube

One persons "Mindlessly Repetitive" is another persons.. well..Mindlessly Fun ;)

That's the problem with all video games though. Eventually they become mindlessly repetitive no matter what. No game's content lasts forever, and once you expend all the fun out of the content, only mindless repetition remains. Even "mindlessly fun" will eventually morph into "mindlessly repetitive" sooner or later.

**Dorkus** · 07-15-2006, 20:02

Spino, excellent post, and a good reminder to me of why i have never taken up mmorpgs (have thought about it recently, given the dearth of good pc games).

but why bring me into this!?!?