while the author has vaild points i agree that WoW is not going away any time soon and perhaps blizz may change the way they do things but highly unlikely.

I almost completely disagree with his article.

"Someone who can only play a few hours a day will not see the endgame raid content." "To be a top contender, a player would have to devote multiple hours a day to playing arena. This is not something a casual player could ever achieve."
maybe world of warcraft is no the game for you. you cant expect to play something casually on and off and become the best.
"The player vs. player system in the game is very lame compared to other games. PvP is just something you wander through, mindlessly, until you fulfill the time limit to gain the honor points to buy an item."
i dont think you are playing the same world of warcraft everyone else is, pvp is exciting and if you wander mindlessly through you lose. a lot.
"Instead of the three to four .... This is unacceptable."
for 10 million people its clearly not acceptable.

This isn't much better than most of the threads I see in the General Forums saying "WoW is dying!". Well, it can't last forever, nothing does. But, I think it's still got a lot of life left in it. I see the lifespan being another 5 years at least considering that there's another expansion due out by the end of this year.

WoW may not go away any time soon; however.. as i have multiple high level toons the new patches anger me to a great degree... people BREEZE thru to lvl 70 now becuz of all the patches... the get to the player cap of 70 and DO NOT know how to play their class. This makes those of us who have been at the cap for a very long time become elitists which Blizzard is ruining the game by making it so very simple.... and thats the way it is.

Nice Article and response by Zyuu.

I started playing WoW on one the last stress tests.Then on december,1 month later of the release date i got the game. I leveled to 60 in march that year and quickly joined a raiding guild. Back then it was "wiping" at molten core and completing your tier .5 set so we could kill lucifron faster. When the expansion was released i know for a fact that many guilds(mine included) disbanded because because of the new level cap and the complete transformation of being "top of the server" to just toons with "trash epics". i spent hundreds of hours doing raid content pre-bc,and this is just unacceptable.

Why would I do raid content in TBC if I know it will become trash by the time Wrath of the Lich King releases? Oh right, only 5%(my rough estimate) raids high end content and i gotta agree higher levels means Blizzard can hook up the new player for more months and get a few more bucks outta them.

Waiting religiously for a good MMORPG Contender to WoW. Not to play it specifically but to get Blizzard to get off the high horse and start making better decisions

You get articles like this once in awhile. It gets people's attention that's all. People have been saying WoW has been going down since it first released.

I am sorry but there isnt a single game out there that I have played that has match WoW for me. AND yes I have played every single new MMORPG out there and I still go back. Even WAR online sucked to me, played beta for like two days and never opened the game again.

As someone with a developing background, i can say that he is wrong about

"While my developing background is very limited in comparison to Blizzard, I do know that it’s easier to build off a foundation than it is to start a new one. I think it would have been a smarter move to release some new content and build it into the older content. Updating and adding to the content would make it a new experience. The time spent building new content could have been spent adding more details to the game."

it is not always easier, and even if it was, they still already had premade stuff and did just that, added to it, they took and added 1 new continent in theory they just took the same stuff and added to it, but copied the stuff to the new content (i.e monster AI, some graphics). To add in new content though, especially to older content, eventually has its limits and if they just took time to keep adding to those spots eventually it would come down to an average persons computers ability to handle such a content-intense area, then Joe Somebody with his premade comp from dell might not be able to play without getting a nice new graphics card and paying money to have someone put it in because he doesn't know how.

I agree with the both of you...A) WOW isn't going anywhere. Blizzard would have to make catastrophic changes to gameplay for people to simply walk away from it and even then, i think there would still be a few million die hards that would swear their undying fealty no matter what. On the other hand, as a relatively new player to WOW (since this past October) I COMPLETELY agree about this level capping and grinding in the PVP areas. I remember I went to Mulgore a while ago and killed off a few npc's in bloodhoof thinking that I'd be getting honor points for that, when in reality you get absolutely nothing? what's the point in me even bothering to kill them then? and what's the point in them killing me? Does it not work that way on RP servers? I assumed this was a given. IDK. Like I said as a new player, a lot of what he had to say was completely valid.

Hmmm, he must've been playing Alliance to come up with this bologna...

I've been playing for about two years now as a casual gamer. No i haven't seen much end game content, yes I cried when I had to trade out a Epic item for a green item with better stats, so what. It's my choice in how I play the game and to what level I put into it. I, like quite a few others, are not going anywhere. Will something better come out eventually?, yep. Until then enjoy what we have now. Don't spend the whole voyage waiting for the "ship to sink", enjoy the ride!

P.S.: It would be nice to see the old content made worth while again though :)

First, i agree with old content being wasted, such as raid instances like MC, BWL, AQ 20 and 40. These instances never get touched with the exception of a nostalgia run here or there. Naxx, at least on my server has been seeing some action from top guilds. The reason for adding new content though, is to keep the subscriptions of those who have completed all the new raid dungeons and are sitting bored. These players would stop playing of there were no new dungeons added. As far as someone "wasting" hours of raiding to have thier gear replaced in the next expansion, lol, what did u think u were gonna keep that gear forever? You do your raids, and get that gear, achieve satisfaction, but lets say there was never any new gear released, u would stop playing, meaning loss of subscriptions for blizzard. I agree that the gear u recieve from top raid instances shouldnt be as easily replaced in the new expansion though, ppl should have to work a little harder to recieve equal gear. People will come and go in this game, subscription levels will rise and fall, its part of the world. People will get bored, some will break that dreaded addiction that most of us suffer from, but in the end, World of Warcraft will continue on for many years.

Just skimming through that "article" I highly doubt the author has an real time in the game, or in MMO's.

What most "experts" dont realize is the number thing that keep players coming is the depth of the lore.

Just another badly put together "The sky is falling" article.

This was written by a noob. Sounds to me, like he thinks people who play casually should be as geared up as people who play 4 hours plus a day. Thats unfair to the people who are putting time in, I do agree that leveling speed should be increased again though, and not just from 0-60, but all the way to 70.

WoW is far from sinking, however I myself am looking forward to Age of Conan. Better graphics, more mature content etc. In the end I think what will bring WoW down to normalized MMO subscriptions are games that specialize in different accepts of gaming. IE; games with great graphics and mature content, pvp and pvp sub games that matter more, such as getting exp or even loot/drops from players. or guild house raiding that isn't instanced and feels more real.

Warcraft's biggest weakness is it tries to cater to everyone, people with weak computers, people under the age of 13, adults, casual gamers, hardcore gamers etc..

Reading this article made a very simple question pop into my mind, how long has it been since he last played? Leveling has been made a hella easier in Azeroth: i.e. Felwood quests at level ~50-52 giving 9-12k xp. Blizzard made Azeroth a stepping stone but it is never forgotten. I don't know about other guilds but mine visits the 60 end game all the time, clearing MC, AQ20/40 and ZG. Oh well as someone said before, "Just another badly put together "The sky is falling" article." ~ BlasterShot

First off, this guy should have realized that the lvl 60 content was experienced for over 2 yrs. 2 years of grinding the same damn instance for either your tier or your dungeon set. I think that's plenty of time spent on the end game content and they even made it easier with patch 2.3 you could probably 3-4 man most of the lvl 40-50 content.
According to that guy, if new players to the game take 6 months to level to 58/70 then honestly i think the people who've been playing this game for awhile and know what they're doing are better off, because they are the idiots that ruin pugs, don't know how to play their class even tho it takes em forever to get to lvl 70, and screw over BGs because they give the other faction free reign. I'm sure if they people who are new to the game and don't know how to play and cry about everything leave, everyone'll be happier.

The guy who wrote this seriously has to be an idiot, new content is a necessity so that games don't become stale and boring like console games. I'm sure plenty of people who farmed naxx for tier 3 were QQ'n about givin it up for a lvl 65 green or lvl 63 blue, but honestly that's the excitement about new content. Seeing the amazing new gear that'll shoot you up into the next lvl cap, new dungeons, new strategies and getting your guild together to take on new content that people havent downed before (for the raiders).
I'll agree that world pvp is kinda lame now, blizz did move in the right direction with halaa, auchindoun, zangar and hellfire. and in the wotlk there's a new pvp-wide zone with objectives, towns and everything. But having npc pvp kills bein worth anything is completely retarded, i don't know why people would be upset about that, because i would be more upset at the fact that if they did drop something dish out more honor etc, that they would be getting camped all the time for respawns and constant "LocalDefense: Ironforge is under attack" would be getting spammed like crazy so smart move on blizz for that.
but yah, wow's definately not goin anywhere soon and probably will shoot out 2-3 more expansions (come on maelstrom to kill sarg and emerald dream to kill...emerald dream...people and see malfurion ^_^_^_^ ) before it looses steam. I'm one of the people who are anticipated for warhammer and if it's amazing i'll play that and wow, if it's not amazing like most recent mmo's have let me down (poor hellgate london) then it'll be fulltime on wow again.

some guy tried to kill npc's at mulgore? lol wtf? why would you slaughter lowbie npcs

Well, let me put it this way, the sky is FALLING, but there is nothing there thats going to hurt when it lands on you. But there will be something sooner or later that is going to hurt WoWs subscription base in the millions. But it sure isn't happening before AOC/WAR.

Demorgoron, in the end you're either going to quit or the MMO is going to end. This goes with ANY MMO. According to your logic what's the point of even playing an MMO because eventually all the time you spent on it and all the gear and stuff you get from it is going to be meaningless trash anyways. It will be worth nothing and it'll be wasted time if you want to think about it like that.

Then again, if you spent all those hours for the gear and all that, then perhaps you were playing it for the wrong reasons. It's a game, it's supposed to be fun. You play the content for fun, the gear helps you get thru the content. If you were playing for the gear then perhaps you should look into real world stuff that gives you things that are actually worth something for your time.

________________________________________________________________________________
Quote: (OMally)
.."Hmmm, he must've been playing Alliance to come up with this bologna..."
________________________________________________________________________________

HILARIOUS!! i agree with OMally.. honestly, i want MORE content, Faster! hurry up with it Blizz - Outland is allready old news. Time to make yet, ANOTHER char