Why World of Warcraft No Longer Holds Any Appeals
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There are a few factors in play as to why the Mists of Pandaria announcement failed to ignite my passion:
'¢ I've pre-ordered Star Wars: The Old Republic. I'm looking for something fresh and new, with updated graphics and more importantly, a story I actually care about. I've mentioned before that I have very little interest in the Star Wars Universe itself. What does interest me is innovation, while surrounded by familiar elements.
'¢ Even if SWTOR fails to retain my interest after a few months, Guild Wars 2 is on the horizon. GW2 promises even more than SWTOR in terms of innovation when it comes to MMO mechanics. How well those promises are implemented remains to be seen, but it's safe to say that the thrill of something '˜new' will always divert interest from an aging but well established game.
'¢ World of Warcraft has never really had any '˜real' competitors. I'm not suggesting SWTOR or GW2 will be the death of WoW in any way they won't. They do, however, have the potential to carve their own niches in the MMO market with more success than the challengers which have attempted to do so before them. That's not to say MMO's like Dungeons and Dragons Online and The Lord of the Rings Online aren't profitable if they weren't, they'd no longer be operational. Plenty of MMO's have launched during my years as a WoW subscriber, but other than Rift, none of them have caught enough of my attention to persuade me to sub. Arguably, this is partly because I was still very invested in WoW at the time. Still, from my perspective BioWare is a company that can rival Blizzard in terms of creating amazing worlds and designing enjoyable games. They also have an edge when it comes to storytelling. All reasons I'm prepared to give SWTOR a chance.
'¢ Thinking of Pandaren results in my face distorting into an unfortunate expression. It's an odd reaction, sure, considering World of Warcraft has never been a particularly serious MMO, and Pandaren were introduced as part of Azeroth's lore in Warcraft III (I wasn't fond of them then either). I'm tempted to attribute this dislike to my age bracket (almost 30, or as my young cousins would say, '˜old'). Pandaren are quite obviously designed to appeal to a younger audience, but then so is much of WoW. Throw in the new Pokemon style pet mini-game intended for Mists of Pandaria and I believe Blizzard is shifting their focus towards a younger demographic. I'd be remiss not to acknowledge that plenty of mothers and fathers have no qualms at all with Pandaren, and are looking forward to playing them with their children. Similarly, I'm sure there are plenty of 30+'s out there who are genuinely excited for MoP.
