Finally over my wow addiction

[Mercbeast]

I in general dislike EQ-clones of which WoW is the pinnacle of that style of MMO.

I like more sandbox open world FFA PvP games. They are just an entirely different experience and in my opinion much more enjoyable at all levels of the game. One of the big pluses to those style MMO is that they are not carrot on stick games. The reward for playing is dynamic social/political interaction between groups of players competing with each other for finite resources. It's like a giant game of paintball where you fight over ammo reloads ;p

Unfortunately the success of EQ and WoW has really retarded developer imagination when it comes to MMOs. There are very few games like that around and most of them are small budget and have their own problems based on being so small.

[Chivalrous]

Many people seem to like WoW and EQ and other theme-park style mmo's, you cant really blame other developers for trying to make a game as successful as wow, though they'd had been better off making more unique games.

There are ways to challenge and engage yourself in these theme parks and also enjoy stress free play at other times. I find competition is what is addictive for me. I can't play LoL or SC2 because I find myself 2 weeks later with stick it notes of build orders and unit abilities plastering my walls and stuck on my forehead and no job. RTS is highly addictive for me, while MMOs aren't quite due to their allowance for a slower pace, in my experience.

[Lyonheart]

though they'd had been better off making more unique games.

I disagree. If you look at all the games who have tried to "do it different" or unique, they have had limited sucsess..ie Conan..tera..etc.. I think the only MMO that will ever be anywhere near the sucsess of WoW would be a game that would have all the greatness WoW has and more. Things like the smoothness/responsiveness of combat.. how fluid everything works.. mounts, ground and flying... the open world ( curse CRZ though..arrg! ) The amazing macro system..addon community etc... No other game has "matched' any of those features. A lot of games come out the gate TRYING to be different, then later morph into half ass attempts of a WoW clone. If a game leaves out any feature that WoW has.. it will not be as successful. Players have gotten used to them, and miss them in other MMOs, the proof is in the number of players who play a new MMO (example SWtOR ) then return to WoW.

IMO, if you take flying mounts ( as just one example ).. developers do not like them.. because "you skip all that awesome content they spent so much time on". F that! I prefer to see it from the Air! I know a lot of players, especially PvPrs, would be happy to have flying mounts removed.. but WAY more people LOVE them. So when a game leaves that feature out.. its handicapped itself from the start. You cant make an MMO and not have at least the same features, and the only way you can compete with WoW would be to have those features and do some of them better.. if that is even possible! And maybe have a thing or two unique that people will enjoy.

[heyaz]

I enjoy the RPG aspect of WoW, the constant upgrading of your character, grinding, acquiring new loot and such. That's something that's been intrinsic to RPGs forever. Of course people complain about having to grind, and gear up, and all of that, and the WoW devs have done their best over the years to create some kind of balance to where gear, loot, and achievements are actually attainable and if one method isn't viable for you, they try to put in alternatives. There are still things that I'd love to have, that over the years I just realized given limited play time and energy are not worth my time.

A lot of these MMO's that have come and gone have listened to the whiny player base of WoW and other MMORPG's and done exactly what they wanted to different extremes depending on the game - removing the grind and constant upgrading of your character, normalizing levels and gear in PVP, etc. Some went too far and removed the whole RPG feel of the game entirely and you end up with a half-assed MMO-something-or-other that doesn't satisfy if you want to play an RPG, nor a FPS, nor a RTS.

Personally I enjoy a lot of the grind, buying new PVP pieces every week, and working for things I want in the game. Some things I deemed not worth my time even though they'd be cool to have (heroic raid gear, rare mounts, titles, more alts, duplicates of classes so I can gear up multiple specs, this and that). The game has changed a lot over the years and unless you're going T2 pvp or bust, or heroic progression or bust, you have options and can get pretty good or even great gear without quitting your real life. Hasn't always been like that.

I guess though, if you can't be satisfied with achieving a small set of goals... and not touching every aspect of the game, if when you aren't playing you worry that your pve gear isn't as good as your pvp gear or you still don't have exalted with this faction or you don't have this mount yet, or you need to farm another 10000g for the best enchants, or you're missing an epic gem, or what I think is the worst of all - wanting every class at max level with all the gear.... then yeah it's probably not going to be healthy or even fun to continue playing.

[MadMilitia]

The grindy aspect of the MMO is something I've hated for a long time. If there is a grind, it should be something that makes sense to the lore. MoP really didn't. We killed Deathwing. Why is Pandaria a step above that? The quests are unimaginative and lax. Nothing really seems coherent to me. So it just feels meh.

In my head the way Pandaria was presented, it could have been the first sandbox continent for WoW. That being a place where nodes are captured, fortresses constructed, razed and pillaged and Sha some meat puppet to beat on in between PvP conquests. If they didn't have this huge PvE gorilla in the room they could have done that. Once the narrative turned to 'We must kiss and make up or the big bad Sha will destroy us all' I tuned out. I hate that shit.

Comparing it to how EQ worked, much the same in some regards. Some of the grinding there didn't make sense but EQ was different in that it was our first. The magic of that being the first was still intact. Some feel that way about WoW because it was their first. But once you've done it you don't want to do it again.