Kicking up a storm: The Escapist on Blizzard

The WoW article was written by one Mr. Michael Zenke, better known as Zonk, caretaker of games.slashdot.org. Great read.

"the real gem is the World of Warcraft article."

Gem. Hah. Is in the Diablo II chat gem. Get it? I'm so bored...

The escapist is such a well written magazine. If only the monthly mainstream magazines like EGM and what not could write like this, and on topics of interest like these.

While WoW was a great game when it came out, the routines Blizzard is doing with their instance runs is killing it.

I have stopped playing it after over a year and a half of playing, but for some reason I don't regret it.

However I am really looking forward to The Chronicals of Spellborn (http://www.tcos.com), a really nifty indy game that has a lot up it's sleeves.

Check it out :)

In my opinion, the greatest reason for success of WoW is the Warcraft Universe itself. It's widely known and loved, provides excellent memories for gamers from their first ventures in the lands of Azeroth from their RTS experiences, and having the Blizzard brand label is a great draw. While a casual fellow might not even know of Verant/Everquest, or place "nerd" steretypes on folks who play that, Warcraft is very universal and appealing. It itself is an invitation to play a game with a world/company that is a little more "mainstream"

Given that, I think the 'WoW killer', whenever that comes, will follow the same path. They will have a universe that is well known and loved, and use that to create their MMORPG- and hopefully do take a more innovative path and shed the archaic EQ guise

I'm a casual gamer. WoW's appeal to me was that I didn't need a high end system to play. Despite some complaints from others, to me the graphics look great. I assume to go any higher would mean getting a new computer.

As popular as the WoW universe is most of my family and friends who don't play games don't have a clue what Warcraft is. If it were name brand that equated success, we'd all be playing Star Wars Galaxies.

WoW is simple, fun, and addicting.

ok. i know the writers for the Escapist are very good, and very professional.. BUT, is it just me or are the articles usually so dry and drawn out that they are a chore to get through?

i like reading, have since i was 4 years old, and it's difficult for me to get through an article in The Escapist unless i'm either really interested in the subject or really concentrating.

it's a shame, really, because the articles really are very well written. too bad they just don't go donw easier.

I suggest Maplestory as a great mmorpg in place of WoW. I've played both for some time but decided to cancel my WoW account to have more time with Maplestory. Mapleglobal.com