Eric Replied

I think it wouldn’t hurt to go over what I think Blizzard did right with World of Warcraft (WoW). I’ve been a WoW player for about a year and a half now. I spent something like six months as Alliance on Eredar, and then another year as Horde on Eredar. Here’s to another year of WoW.

And there’s a good set of reasons that urge me along for the upcoming year:
+ Consistency in new content - New stuff keeps the game fresh!
+ Consistent attempts to “balance things out” - no job really ever stays at the top forever.
+ Little Details around Azeroth and the Outlands - Flavor Text, Little bits of Lore, etc.
+ The game is tuned to run on a variety of systems and not just the nextgen PCs.
+ Blizzard is always improving the way the client works.
+ The game caters to a wide variety of people - it’s not just about hardcore players.
+ The game stays lighthearted while still being very engaging at times.
+ Looking to the community for consistent feedback.
+ Testing their game publicly before patching.
+ Smoothness in Battle Mechanics - Many people might not even realize how well this is done unless they’ve played many of the other games out there.

Oh, and the biggest factor for why I enjoy WoW so much is summed up by Calencia:
“The one thing Blizzard has done well more than any other MMOG I’ve ever played–you get to feel like a badass from the get-go. When you first zone in, you’re not naked. You’re not armed with a sponge bat and dressed in paper underwear. You don’t spend your first hour stomping on cockroaches and stabbing rats and other non-heroic tasks.

No, in WoW, from the first moment you’re taking on bandits or zombies or pony-sized animals or demons. You feel heroic, even though at level 1 you’re the farthest thing from it. ”

Yup, that’s right.  Everyone gets a chance of actually looking impressive.  It’s not a “hardcore” player thing only.  Every player has the opportunity to become a hero… or something like it.

Here’s to you, Blizzard. Great job. You’ve made the game a template for others to copy for years to come.

Inspiration: Elitist Jerks Forums - Things Blizzard has Done Well

-ERP-

Saturday, December 29th, 2007 at 4:18 pm.
Filed under WoW.
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