Do you find WoW boring?

[Insanity]

Okay, I've been a MMO gamer since Ultima Online. I love the genre, but find World of Warcraft to be among the worst one out there. I swear I'm alone on this since so many people play it, but it is such a boring game. Questing has to be the worst idea ever invented for leveling. My friends can quest for hours, I do two and I'd rather play solitaire than do another. So I was curious, do you guys find WoW boring too?

 

[Jennywocky]

I loved it for about two years... but once I got over it, I was done. I've been trying to force myself to play for the last six months, just to see my friends I miss seeing.... and the last time I logged in was Feb. I probably have only played about 5 hours altogether since last Oct/Nov.

I think it's a wonderful game, but yes, it gets old after awhile.

 

[Waterstiller]

Yes.

Aside from the socialization, I don't see why an INTP would like the actual game. I played it for a few months when it first came out because my friends were playing, and it got old. It's the same exact thing over and over again for better and better items; as an INTP I looked ahead and imagined what it would be like to be at the top level, with the best armor, the most money, and all my spells.. and promptly stopped. It was a lot of fun when first exploring the world and going through a new instance but that was about it.

I guess that can be applied to how I view life in general. I wouldn't mind test-driving driving a Mercedes or something but I don't need to own it. And that mindset cuts out a lot of grinding.

 

[Artifice Orisit]

I guess that can be applied to how I view life in general. I wouldn't mind test-driving driving a Mercedes or something but I don't need to own it. And that mindset cuts out a lot of grinding.

I got bored with it before I even bought it

Games (MMOs in particular) should include anti-grinding mechanics and broaden the game experience to include acts that are performed for the sake of fun alone; such as the ability to write text onto an in-game book or have controls for manually controlling a musical instrument (though I imagine the mortality rate for practicing musicians will be high).

 

[Kuu]

^ what he said.

I've never been a fan of MMOs, and I'll never be.

 

[Cryss Winters]

I tend to find just about everything boring, eventually.

 

[Vatroslav]

Never played it, never liked it... if I've had started, I would be bored in a month thats for sure...

 

[bdubs]

I have been played a different MMO each summer for the past few years. A handfull of friends and myself like to spend some of the summer playing with each other online in whatever game seems the most interesting at the time. I normaly start just as school is letting out in June, but no MMO has held my interest through August. Oddly enough, I have yet to play World of Warcraft.

In my experience MMOs either break down into long bouts of "grinding" the same action in order to level up, or run out of late game content after a few months. I would not give these games a second glance if not for the fact that it allows me to interact with some friends I otherwise would not be able to spend time with.

 

[Nevermind]

I got bored with it before I even bought it

Games (MMOs in particular) should include anti-grinding mechanics and broaden the game experience to include acts that are performed for the sake of fun alone; such as the ability to write text onto an in-game book or have controls for manually controlling a musical instrument (though I imagine the mortality rate for practicing musicians will be high).

I agree completely. Writing in-game books and being able to use real skill and creativity in your work would be great.


I love the idea behind MMOs. To have a vast new world to explore full of real people that I can interact with or even kill without dealing with the nuances of real life is awesome.

..but of course, after I have explored everything I can as a beginner, I get stuck at a point where the only way to access anything new is through mindless grinding. This drives me insane and I just give up.

I think a MMO mixed with FPS aspects would be great. I like First-Person Shooters because there is no grinding. It's all about how fast you really learn and how good you are at certain things. You get better while having fun, there is no boring grind.

Furthermore, in an FPS, the smartest person can win through superior tactics and out-smarting the enemy. In a MMORPG such as WoW, intelligence is completely irrelevant and, more often than not, the game rewards people for being stupid, mindless drones. To me, this is backwards and dumb.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

I have not heard of a single MMO that sounds interesting, but I do think there is hope for the concept. They just need to give ME a chance to tamper with it. Or Cognisant.

 

[Artifice Orisit]

Ideas thus far:

1. Real time skill based combat and diversification of the game into non-combat aspects of role playing e.g. politics, business management and player-to-player entertainment such as in-game theatre.

2. Completely re-invent the combat system so that victory is dependent upon a player's tactical skill and make the game more risk driven.

3. Make an MMO version of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. then give the players very limited resources to fight over and, to put a cherry on the sadism cake, include monsters that are simply too powerful for any single player to have a hope of defeating.
(The more skilled a player is the further they can get into the zone, thus the game becomes less about becoming personally powerful, which is impossible, and instead trying to somehow reach the mythical "centre" by any means necessary)

 

[Cryss Winters]

Genius.

If we all actually banded together, would we be able to make enough noise to make the 'perfect' mmo made?

 

[Artifice Orisit]

If we invaded the forum of a game developer's site, presented our ideas in a semi-professional game design document and made a collective effort to support it, I suppose so.

Although I doubt we will ever agree on what the "perfect" MMO would be.

 

[preilemus]

maybe the only reason I say no is because i never got to the max level. my parents deemed the game"destructive" to my well-being, so level 80 still has some allure to me

 

[inerTia]

My friend dragged me into the game, despite me seeing what will happen down the road, as such cases, while leveling up it pretty much was exactly as I visioned it, level up get items, now that I have the weapons, whats the point?

Besides that I pretty much stopped while grinding the levels at level 20, it was pretty painful leveling(mind you I was also power leveling). To speak of it mmo's to me, seem to be the ideal office day job grind simulator, Im suprised people can stand the grinding desk job. It sure does remind me of life. "Life the grind simulator"

 

[Jenn]

I guess I'm in the minority. I like it. My husband and I have had an on-again-off-again relationship with the game since its release. I think the quests/scripting are quite clever and fun.

I also like the high-level content- the coordination that must go into defeating boss encounters, but inevitably I always ended up in a guild that kept ramping up their raid time until I couldn't/wouldn't keep up with them, and I'd quit for a while. In recent months we joined a guild with some RL friends who are willing to high-end raid, but limited to 2-hour segments a couple times a week, which is just perfect IMO. I don't enjoy playing for more than a couple hours at a time, whereas I can play a tabletop RPG for a 6-8 hour session and be perfectly happy.

 

[Devercia]

A big no to WoW. There are better MMOs out there, or atleast were.

I prefered Dark Age of Camelot, though it had many of the same faults as WoW. The PvP /could/ be excellent a times, challenging the player to be aware of his surroundings, and what he could do for the team best. Unfortunately the Malee classes kept being more and mroe marginalized with new spells of epic awesomeness. I think it was good in its early days, but some Ss got ahold of it and started inserting content that simply did not fit. FOrinstance, the game is based on Aurtherian, Irish, and Norse legends with some high fantasy thrown in. Then an expansion based on atlantis came out, and all the weapons and armor went from something half way practical to barnicle armor and coral swords. The extra content was mostly a reward to the WoW style raiders to spend endless hours getting items of pwn to beat everyone else without trying. It was so loathed that they made servers that removed all of that packs content, minus the graphics enhancement.

WWII Online was awesome. It simulated an entire front of war and featured some pretty advanced physics for the time. The fact that it took as much as 15 minutes to get to the battle required an enormous amount of patience, so there was a pleasent lack of the usual douchery associated with online gamers. This was compounded by the fact that a singleshot was almost always fatal, and most often you died without ever knowing where your killer was, who he was, or how you died. It lead to people actually employing tactics, and haveing a great respect for their avatars life by putting the fear of death in the player.

 

[Zaltana]

I enjoyed WoW and actually got to see some end game content (2 level 80's horde and alliance side). I am actually a bit miffed that I stopped playing as I had achieved so much in game.
Most of the reason I did play though was for social reasons. My guild was basically made of individuals who knew each other in real life and had there spouse or significant others playing. Of my guild member I personally met 95% of them and still actually hang out with them since I quit the game. Mostly I played as it allowed my then boyfriend (now fiance) to spend time together. We scheduled many a dates in WoW.

I ended up quitting since it was taking a big toll on my life's priorites. Trying to study for the LSAT and making it on time for raids just didn't work.

 

[Invoke Ninja's True Power]

never played it, never will. seems like too popular a trend for me
Star Wars:Knights of the Old Republic 3 is supposed to be an MMO, if so it will be my first one

 

[Tyria]

WoW is blizzard's cash cow. It's unbalanced, consumes a great deal of your life, and installs things on your computer that have no right being there.

 

[Invoke Ninja's True Power]

WoW is blizzard's cash cow. It's unbalanced, consumes a great deal of your life, and installs things on your computer that have no right being there.

All the more reason I stand by my decision, I have enough games I'm addicted to

 

[Latro]

Ehh...I enjoyed it (played 2005-2006), but I largely enjoyed just chilling with guildmates more than anything (this was all I did for my last few months of play), and then having stuff to click on as I did it (making awkward silences simply nonexistent). The main issue IMO is that it's just stupidly easy but very lengthy, making it boring for fairly long stretches. That and the lack of dynamic gameplay due to the lack of game world alteration via player action.

Personally, the concept that I am most interested in in an MMO is a game with the following:
Sandbox elements up to and including the possibility for substantial player world alteration
FFA PvP anywhere
Full loot (partial loot COULD be acceptable depending on implementation but full loot is preferable)

The sandbox elements being the most likely things to be different from possible game to possible game. (Note that IMO the latter two are necessary for the former to function properly given a reasonable amount of development effort.) I looked forward to Darkfall for 3 years for this reason but it didn't turn out as planned; at this point I am more casually/pessimistically looking at Mortal Online in the same regard.

 

[Linada]

I enjoyed it for a little while. I like getting to know the world, but after that it got old very very quickly.
Has anyone ever played Eve Online? I love it for all the politics and the way a lot of it can be and is influenced by the players. The only thing that's even remotely grindable is cash, and that really means very little on the grand scale of things.

 

[Firehazard159]

I agree completely. Writing in-game books and being able to use real skill and creativity in your work would be great.


I love the idea behind MMOs. To have a vast new world to explore full of real people that I can interact with or even kill without dealing with the nuances of real life is awesome.

..but of course, after I have explored everything I can as a beginner, I get stuck at a point where the only way to access anything new is through mindless grinding. This drives me insane and I just give up.

I think a MMO mixed with FPS aspects would be great. I like First-Person Shooters because there is no grinding. It's all about how fast you really learn and how good you are at certain things. You get better while having fun, there is no boring grind.

Furthermore, in an FPS, the smartest person can win through superior tactics and out-smarting the enemy. In a MMORPG such as WoW, intelligence is completely irrelevant and, more often than not, the game rewards people for being stupid, mindless drones. To me, this is backwards and dumb.

Darkfall is kind of the FPS / MMO thing. Imagine Oblivion engine/gameplay combined with ultima online ideology, and you have Darkfall online. It does have a little bit of a grind to it, but not as bad as other games. The problem is it's full loot PVP, so you almost have to have a group to be successful in it. You can make it alone, it's just... really tough.

I used to be in one of the top ten worldwide guilds back in the level 60 days, when Naxxramas was the main level 60 instance. Once I got there, I got bored, and haven't really had the same enjoyment since reaching that level. I never got all the gear, I just played with the best people, was satisfied with that and quit.

I play off and on now just for the social interaction, and back when I played more heavily, mostly all I'd do is jump around or fly around chatting to guildmates or random people. Never really accomplished anything.

 

[Latro]

I enjoyed it for a little while. I like getting to know the world, but after that it got old very very quickly.
Has anyone ever played Eve Online? I love it for all the politics and the way a lot of it can be and is influenced by the players. The only thing that's even remotely grindable is cash, and that really means very little on the grand scale of things.

Yes, I have; I played it off and on from August 2006 to March 2009, with a lot of trials and a few active accounts. My most recent and longest account went from May 2008 to July 2008 then October 2008 to March 2009. I mainly got frustrated as my corp became serious about a particular operation (which actually didn't pan out) which would've required me to grind about 250 mil in order to participate (mostly because I didn't have a BS at the time, and we needed 2 of them). This operation was going to comprise pretty much all of our operations for a week (though it would not have been a problem for someone to not show up, that person would've been left in the dust for a week, basically). Then after that I just plain could not get into a fleet with them or with other people in FW, and no one would join when I tried to make a fleet. I'm considering trying to get back into it after the fall semester starts (I don't think letting it consume the rest of my summer and then suddenly having to lessen my activity when the semester starts is a good idea). Fortunately I already have a pretty solid character, so it wouldn't be too hard to get in (though I almost certainly would need to find a new corp).

That said, conceptually I absolutely love the game. The implementation has some faults, however.

 

[Linada]

I played Eve almost since it came out actually, with life induced breaks. It's interesting seeing it develop over time. I havn't played the last year, and not really kept up with update. In general they do try and balance the game as best they can, but of course it's hard to make everyone happy.

I got lucky with my corp. Very cooperative, very understanding when you can't manage something. With MMOs it's incredibly important to find the right people to play with. There are enough solo games out there otherwise.

 

[Ahava]

God yes. My ex was an obsessive fan-boy and forced it on me for about a month or two. Never again. What disturbs me most of all is the fact that all of the hours that were wasted meant absolutely nothing to him.

I much prefer puzzle games (Peggle/Hexic) and violent ones (Fallout/GTA) to WoW.

 

[James Black]

My friend bought me the game, and its expansions. He then paid for a few months of the game for me. I hit level 29 with a Hunter. I can't stomach logging in anymore.

 

[Shizaru]

Lurk mode, disengage.

I thought I'd share my experiences with WoW here, but it looks like everyone else said the same

I've tried multiple MMOs in the course of many years, but always dropped them either during the trial or the first month of play. I recently gave EVE a shot since there was a sale on Steam, and I've stuck with it. The thing with all the MMOs I dropped was they neither challenged me nor made me feel like a part of the universe they so enthusiastically advertised. But EVE has done both of those things for me. I also played the hell out of the first Guild Wars. There is no 'universe' to that game, but the semi-linear structure was enough to challenge you to keep searching for a better functioning, more efficient skill set and party setup.

 

[Cogwulf]

I don't want to play WoW because how successful you are is 99% how much time you spend on it, and 1% skill.

Blizzard is never going to change this because as Crimson Knight said, it's their cash cow. If WoW rewarded players for intelligence or skill, lots of people would stop playing it. All the players without skill would quickly stop playing it because they wouldn't be able to succeed just by spending hours every day staring mindlessly at the screen.

 

[Toad]

Actually, doing Raids and killing bosses takes a lot of teamwork, organization, and strategy.

It's not just straight attacking the boss. Each boss needs to fought a certain way.

 

[Legionnaire]

No. I love WoW, it is my life. I tried some of the other mmo's and they all fail in comparison. I wasted 20 bucks on bloody guild wars and it sucked, the graphics sucked, the fact that it takes a year or so just to reach lvl 20 which happens to be the lvl cap, sucks as well. Despite being associated from ncsoft as well, City of Heroes/Villains wasn't too bad. But I still missed WoW. I thought bout leaving WoW for Star Wars: The Old Republic when it comes out or Stargate Worlds but with the new expansion of Cataclysm coming up, forget those.

 

[Latro]

I wasted 20 bucks on bloody guild wars and it sucked, the graphics sucked, the fact that it takes a year or so just to reach lvl 20 which happens to be the lvl cap, sucks as well.

Wait...what? GW's PvE content is notoriously short by MMO standards. As in, well under under a week of playtime (by that I mean a literal week of playtime, 168 hours spent) to get to the level cap. Unless you're playing very casually (168 hours in a year is not even 4 hours per week), this shouldn't be happening, at least by what I've been told.

 

[Madoness]

Somehow I've never gotten into it. Never played it.

 

[Legionnaire]

Wait...what? GW's PvE content is notoriously short by MMO standards. As in, well under under a week of playtime (by that I mean a literal week of playtime, 168 hours spent) to get to the level cap. Unless you're playing very casually (168 hours in a year is not even 4 hours per week), this shouldn't be happening, at least by what I've been told.

Sorry guess I was misinformed by the gw "cultists" who told me it took them a whole year to get to 20 and yet they also told me to embrace its lore, read all the quests, study the gw storyline, thats probably what held them back so long. But still I hated gw, I was stuck with prophecies, I couldn't buy any of the other stand alone expansions since my computer wouldn't be able to run them. I also like to make characters based on myself and seeing how they facial designs for each class (yes I say class because in wow professions are things you get to earn money, enhance your toon, gather items for materials you craft or for quests, etc) and the closet to my facial appearance was a warrior. But overall I just didn't like the gameplay, I didn't like how much ram it used to download. I had no friends, all of them were back on at WoW and like I said I missed WoW. Graphics were much better in WoW, despite being cartoon-like which I happened to like.

 

[Mars]

my 2 cents is thus

Do your brain a favour and play EVE online. in comparison wow is as bland as frogger, having played both and got bored of the 'wow' factor eve appealed due to the learning curve that has a devilish reputation

 

[polyopulis]

i was a shadow priest and i gave up at lvl 66 1 month after the first expansion came out, didn't even get to 70. when the second expansion came out and my brother got it, i made a deathnight and did the deathnight starting quests. i found them to be boring.

there is no depth to the game therefore i find it boring. all it really is is achievements and socialization.

 

[travelnjones]

Give Dungeons and dragons online a try

They are changing the model to allow free play on the 9th. Its a very different style of MMO.

ddo.com

 

[Bennett]

I thought it was kinda fun while leveling up, when you're exploring new lands and learning the backstory etc (especially questing in Northrend), but as soon as I hit the level cap I was bored of the game and out within a week. Endgame really just didn't appeal to me.

 

[ProxyAmenRa]

I couldn't get passed level 2 on wow. I am glad I was not the person who bought the game. I have nothing against RPGs but I prefer something that is faster, more intense action and involves strategy.

I am a fan of RTS.

 

[ktp]

WoW is very fun until the endgame. Then it becomes a grind, whether you PvE or PvP. That's when it stops being fun.

 

[Latro]

WoW is very fun until the endgame. Then it becomes a grind, whether you PvE or PvP. That's when it stops being fun.

It's always kind of a grind, but it doesn't feel nearly as much like that when you're leveling, yeah.

 

[shoeless]

yeah it gets stale fast. i only ever started playing because my brothers did, and i played for several years on and off... its okay when you're with people, but soloing, it's very much ugh.

 

[dbtng_thomas]

I played WoW enough to level a couple characters up to about 75 and then quit. Tried it again a couple times, but it didn't interest me any longer. It was like any other game I've completed; I was done.

I played Eve Online for about 1.5 yrs. Still kick them $15 every now and then to mess around with it for another month. Eve's got more staying power because the complex and interesting aspects of the game are the players themselves ... that and the anti-grind skill leveling system. Strange thing about Eve is that the look and feel of the game is dull and dated, but interacting with the people is so engaging.

- dt

 

[Darby]

My friend forced me to sit down and play it, I played like the first two missions, and one was to kill 3 people or whatever from an outpost, so I did. along with everyone else, and then I went back, got my reward, and then they told me to do it all again and kill their leader(which I already had). That pretty much ruined the game for me, and besides, I like games like Starcraft far more (RTS' ftw!)

 

[RubberDucky451]

WOW is grind central

 

[Adymus]

WOW is grind central

Something tells me that wasn't supposed to sound as sexy as it did.

 

[Latro]

Something tells me that wasn't supposed to sound as sexy as it did.

Damn Adymus, I wasn't expecting THAT...

 

[Anthile]

I ranted about MMOs today morning on the IRC channel so it might sound redundant to everyone who read it.

My main problem with MMOs is that to me those games are simply RPGs which are stripped off everything I find enjoyable about them: interesting characters, enthralling stories, character development, immersion and impact on the game world.
Was is left is the pure game mechanic with some blah blah around to make it less dry. That might be enjoyable for a time but in the end it's not heading anywhere. It's like a treadmill surrounded by pretty wallpaper compared to a hiking tour. I am interested in uncovering secrets, explore long forgotten places and to experience absorbing storyline and not in clicking random monsters to death that have never done anything wrong. As long as the overall MMO gameplay remains that primitive and witless, I don't see myself playing those games in the near future.
That MMO with the name Vanguard had some interesting concepts to break out of the common formula but it was too demanding at its time and hopelessly bugged. I think it doesn't even exist anymore. Maybe in the next generation there will be something for me. Like the upcoming Otherland game.

 

[SpiralHacker]

...and also boring are the people who play it....

oh and nice avatar anthile, great film (Moon)