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by Mike Schramm 
Sep 11th 2007 at 4:02PM
While both games are reviewed well, neither of them quite matches up to our favorite game. But as I'm sure lots of you know (I'm guessing that most of you have played either one or both-- I've only played Guild Wars), each game does have some elements that could give WoW a run for its money. Most interesting, LotRO is planning to put player housing in a future patch, and Guild Wars, on its latest product page, advertises "no loot stealing, spawn camping, and endless travel."
So while these aren't really "competitors" in the grander sense of player numbers (I'd say WoW's biggest competitor this holiday season might actually be Halo 3), they are definitely biting at WoW's heels in terms of features, and specifically targeting WoW's players with promises of what we've wanted for a long time. Other game companies are clearly getting better at figuring out how to attract the audience that World of Warcraft did, so it seems Blizzard's biggest challenge, from patch 2.2 to Wrath of the Lich King, will be to try and stay ahead of the curve of newer games and their new features.
[ via WorldofWar.net ]
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
Gillean Sep 11th 2007 7:47PM
I think EQ2 is still a competitor but WoW is soooo easy to learn you get people jumping in so easily.
Whenever WoW focuses more on solo content, midrange, content, more RP considering it's an RPG, and something other than raiding and raising level caps, I might reconsider subscribing again.
scott Sep 11th 2007 7:31PM
The closest mass market appeal I can see on the horizon is WAR. If mythic can pull it's head from out of it's ass and not have a huge nerf fest which was daoc, they should be able to put up respectable numbers.
AoC sounds good but niche, too violent the same with darkfall.
WoW is a fun and addicting game. I've played since beta on and off. But eventually I don't want a game to play.
I want a world to envelope me.
Which is what I think Darkfall will bring to the table.
Have to wait and see.
Michel Sep 11th 2007 7:49PM
I'm not a real "gamer", in fact I want a fantasy place to explore, read stories and adventures with friends.
so Halo is not really for me (it's surely fun, but I preferer to read a book than add an other game to wow)
I don't think WAR is a competitor to wow. WAR is _player versus player. great! but now entirely what is wow and not what I'm looking for.
I will say I want a world with immersion, feel of adventure, stories, characters and so on.
---
whatever, I would really like blizzard add Housing in wow. I'm hoping competition will force Blizzard to add more way to enjoy wow than only donjons and quests.
Zei Sep 11th 2007 9:16PM
One of the reasons why WoW has so many players is that it works on even sh*t computers.
You think WAR is gonna work on sh*t computers? Not all gamers have cash to shell out on even a half-decent computer.
PyroAmos Sep 12th 2007 12:31AM
warhammer online is their main competition. guild wars has a nice player base, but its a diferant style MMO. Its been a while since i read reviews, but i don't remember reading a good one aboud LotR online, and i htink their player base is pretty small. If i remember correctly, last review of it i read said LotR online only apeals to people who are fans of the books, and then, you have to be a big fan to overlook the short-comings.
On the other hand, over half the people I know in WoW are just tooling around on alts waiting for warhammer to come out. Making pvp and pve gear exclusive, requiring double the time to enjoy both parts of the game, destroying casual raiding and completly re-making pvp into 2v2, 3v3, 5v5 deathmatches rather than battleground based pretty much changed the entire game on a fundamental level ruining alot of the fun.
Vyrin Sep 19th 2007 11:49AM
WoW with henchmen would be heaven for bots.
ColonelChris Sep 12th 2007 7:08AM
I laugh everytime someone says "oh yeah, all current MMOs are crap but THIS one will wipe the floor with all of them". Actually, I've tried a lot MMOs recently and I must say: Every time I did that, I knew a little more why I play WoW.
Every current MMO has one or two advantages over WoW. But the other side of the coin is that these MMOs also have two or more downsides. WoW on the other hand is the most well balanced game I have ever played. It lacks a lot, but what's included, is great. It's fun and quick at the beginning, then later on addictive and impressive just because of the sheer number of cool items, the lore and the size and diversity of the game world. It has impressive music and architecture, nice models and texturing, very intuitive, responsive and confugurable controls and a great UI.
Show me a MMO which has all of this PLUS something that WoW lacks. There won't be too many.
Kahja Sep 12th 2007 10:26AM
lol Halo...
Can't say I'll buy another rendition of the tired FPS genre.
Evil M Sep 12th 2007 10:30AM
I'm looking forward to WAR myself, but was a little dismayed when I discovered it was completely PvP-focused. I like PvP but I like to have an alternative.
I'll probably still give it a try if my machine can run it, the classes sound fun and the visuals are very attractive.
Trakus Sep 12th 2007 12:19PM
I think of it this way: the MMO pie is only so big, every time a quality MMO or online-roleplaying game comes out it cuts into everyone's slice of the pie. A dozen people bail on that game for this one, it is in constant flux, but.....
The bigger the slice of the pie, the more there is to loose with each new game or version release. I think that most everyone can agree that Blizzard/WOW has a big slice of pie to loose. Quality has always been a hallmark of Blizzard releases. Only time will tell if gamers prefer this to the variety of other games on the market.
foofmonger Sep 18th 2007 4:10PM
WAR is WoWs competition.
WoW isn't that great of a game btw. I played from beta to about May, and while it was fun while it lasted, WoW has some serious issues in my book. WoW was in my opinion, the best before BWL came out. The game has been steadily going downhill with the constant adding of new high level content, and boring uninspired pvp instances.
WAR is shaping up to be the best MMO ever made. Yes, it is PvP focused. However, that is a good thing. If I wanted a PvE focused game, I'd play Oblivion or something similar. Which blows any MMO out of the water.
WoW was great when it came out, but its starting to show its age, and the lack of developer innovation. WoW feels more like an extension and refinment of the tried and true EQ formula. WAR seems like it is actually going to break from the tedious PvE grinding and constant end-game farming.
Mike Schramm Sep 12th 2007 2:53PM
There's a reason I didn't mention WAR in this article: because it's not out yet.
I'm not saying it will suck (in fact, I've played it, and it looks really good). But something that hasn't been released yet cannot actually be called a competitor. Everyone shouting the praises of WAR should probably wait for a release until they can tell which game is better.
Magma Sep 12th 2007 3:29PM
Lawl @ FFXI>Guild wars and Lotr.
bwest0526 Sep 14th 2007 1:27AM
I really think a lot of people are missing a MMO that is coming up that very well could bring more people to their computers to play an MMO for the first time and pull a lot of others away from their current MMO's to play as well...
Star Trek Online....STO could possibly bring in as many as 5-6 million players in the first month and top 10 million in a very short time. You know how many Trekies are out there, and they will want to be a part of anything that has to do with Star Trek, and possibly even more so with an MMO so they can actually LIVE the life even as a computer generated Vulcan!
STO for the Win!
http://www.startrekonline.com/