selebrin wrote:
I'll believe it's possible to make a "wow-killer" when one of them manages to kill it. The game is heavily entrenched and the developers are willing to change things as they feel is necessary to improve. WoW will be competitive until they either purposefully kill it themselves of some other game manages the same paradigm shift that WoW originally had with EQ-style "long grind small reward" MMOs.
Also, "Are we at the beginning or the end of fine gaming history?" Really? We're in the middle. There were good games before WoW and will be good games after WoW, and it is horribly self-centered to believe otherwise.
Edited, Dec 11th 2011 7:58pm by selebrin
I very much agree with this view.
I would add the proviso that WoW has to some extent changed the playing field. I cannot see a return to the "slow grind" of EQ and the eastern MMOs. Although even EQ has speeded up the grind a lot nowadays.
Some recent attempts to topple WoW have gone too far the other way. I maxed out in Rift almost without playing and found the lack of depth rather quickly. So there is a real danger in taking it too fast and a definite distaste - apart from the die-hards - from going back to the grind. A lot of the problem WoW has is because the players can consume content far, far faster than they can create it. I am sure that there will be players at level 90 within 24 hours of MoP going live. Then they will start on the "I'm bored, gimme content" whine all over again.
Really we are playing the Audrey II of MMOs and there is no end until the entire world is consumed.