www.mmonut.com (http://www.mmonut.com)

Yep, it's there and it's based on the game as it is right now.

No, it's none too kind, though I wish I could have written it higher, I feel there are way too many issues that need addressing with that game.

Anyhow, whether you agree or disagree with it, please feel free to speak your mind under the World of Warcraft section on my forums. :)

Your reviews are pretty nice, I enjoy a lot reading them :)

Lani

Thank ye kindly :)

No offense, but that's a pretty horribly inaccurate review of WoW as it stands today.

I beg to differ. Been playing the game since early beta infact. I've seen it at it's peak and at it's lows hehe.

Then again, with over 7 million playing, I'm sure you're going to get many different opinions.

In the same paragraph, you complained about lack of content and the presence of instancing. Would you actually rather them have made it a FFA like EQ, where you'd have never seen any of the content?

I highly doubt you've been on a KT kill. There's plenty of content there to experience. Naxx is probably the best content in any MMO today.

The review reads like a disgruntled player from about a year and a half ago, when there actually was a lack of end game content. Today, those complaints just aren't accurate at all.

I've seen it at it's peak and at it's lows
Eh? http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart1.html

Hehe, and whoever gave me a ding on my rep for my sig, have the guts to post yer name. :p

In the same paragraph, you complained about lack of content and the presence of instancing. Would you actually rather them have made it a FFA like EQ, where you'd have never seen any of the content?

I highly doubt you've been on a KT kill. There's plenty of content there to experience. Naxx is probably the best content in any MMO today.

The review reads like a disgruntled player from about a year and a half ago, when there actually was a lack of end game content. Today, those complaints just aren't accurate at all.


Eh? http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart1.html

UGH! I've gone from start to finish, both on Alliance and on Horde, on both PvP and PvE servers. I've been to MC, BWL, Naxx, etc, etc. Blah blah blah, and it's just that....BLAH!

Yes, I'm a disgruntled player, and damn good reason to be! The game started out as the the end all, be all. If you read my review in full, you would see that it was up until only recently that I would have sold this game to the world if need be. I find that a company that has enjoyed the success it has, should be at least able to:

a) Provide meaningful and varied content to a vast and varied player base;
and
b) Provide at least mediocre customer service instead of relying upon automated email messages.

The only players that seem to be looked after (and I use looked after VERY loosely) are the hard core players, of which I was one. I didn't leave the game because it was bad but because it was BORING and old. I got sick of paying money every month for the same stale stuff.

Enough money goes into Blizzard coffers to help fund newer content and methods of game play. There are no excuses. It's a case of Blizzard either leading, following or getting out of the way and letting someone else take the lead in the MMO market.

As far as MMOChart goes, again if you looked at my review, you'd see that indeed I addressed the fact that a LOT of players are sitting around, waiting for the next big thing. They figure that they could do worse, and sadly they are right. The whole point of my review is based on WoW, as it is now. I'm not contesting WoW's subscription base, I'm contesting it's lack of quality and upkeep.

That being said Burning Crusade could help bolster this. Sure it'll take them past the two year mark, however it might offer the change and difference that players deserve. Or it could offer more of the same, and Blizzard will charge even more money for the same mundane experience.

If the later is the case, then they open themselves up to the many, MANY new games out there that will be vying for their dollar. WoW might have brought MMO numbers to new heights, but it could very well be newer games that will keep them there and maybe even surpass them.

That being said Burning Crusade could help bolster this. Sure it'll take them past the two year mark, however it might offer the change and difference that players deserve. Or it could offer more of the same, and Blizzard will charge even more money for the same mundane experience.


I'm in Beta and can attest to the bolded portion. There is nothing "new and exciting" in the expansion. There is more content, but this content is no different than the current content. This is neither good nor bad, but if you think the expansion is going to revive any lost desire you might have to play WoW, seriously think again.

If anything, after being in the Beta and seeing it for what it is, I have lost much of my desire to play the game.

Disclaimer: These opinions are based on my limited view of what beta has exposed me to over the course of three weeks.

The DKP listings (http://www.endgameonline.org/dkp/listraids.php) for the guild you'd been posting in your sig have no mention of AQ or Naxx. In fact, it doesn't even look like they can clear MC. I think you're overstating your experience, to back up an argument based on year and a half old angst.

The vast majority of the player base hasn't come anywhere remotely close to exhausting the content currently available in WoW.

I'm in Beta and can attest to the bolded portion. There is nothing "new and exciting" in the expansion. There is more content, but this content is no different than the current content. This is neither good nor bad, but if you think the expansion is going to revive any lost desire you might have to play WoW, seriously think again.

If anything, after being in the Beta and seeing it for what it is, I have lost much of my desire to play the game.

Disclaimer: These opinions are based on my limited view of what beta has exposed me to over the course of three weeks.
Check out Shadow Labs or Shattered Halls on hard mode. At level 67, it's like taking a butter knife to a gun fight, but it's still so much fun.

For that matter, even Underbog and Mana Tombs are pretty good times on normal mode. You can run most instances fully in 30-45m. That's not more of the same. It's fixing exactly what people have been complaining about in regards to the old instances for some time now.

The later quest lines are very well done too. I usually just click accept and look at the boiled down objectives, but they're interesting enough that I've found myself actually reading the quest text lately. The Greatmother one in Nagrand is great.

And, who doesn't love bombing people from a wind rider?

I overstate nothing, however since I don't actually play the game anymore, how am I supposed to prove this to you? If you doubt my integrity, then simply stop reading my reviews as they carry no merit with you anyways, right? I will however tell you that I have, in fact, played those instances. It's not like I go around bragging about my exploits in WoW at the local bars and pubs. :)

That being said, this isn't about me, this is about a game that has ruled the roost for two years, and might continue to do so, but even they (they being Blizzard) realize they need something new and fresh, otherwise they risk losing players.

The same arguements arose when EQ was at it's height and WoW was on the way. People got defensive picking up for their game of choice (not a bad thing!), but ultimately EQ paid the price simply because WoW offered a new, fresh experience. The new WoW expansion could infact cement it's place at the top for years to come, I'm not debating that. My main problem with WoW is the fact that Blizzard has not really done a whole lot to keep the game fresh and exciting, and that their customer support is outright dismal.

IF the new expansion does its job, then I'll offer a new review (or have someone who will be playing it offer the review, depending on if I go back to the game or not) and rate it accordingly.

I'll admit it seems harsh only because I started the site recently, so I can only really offer a review as the game is right this moment.

If I had reviewed the game in speculation it would have been Ecstatic's across the board, upon release it would have been Ecstatic's for the most part (the server queues were nuts!), even six months after the fact it would have been good. However, there's been little done with the game that would warrant it keeping those good ratings. This is why I'm actually hoping BC will fix this. That expansion, by rights should have been released a year ago. The hero classes should have come out. Battlegrounds should have been more than a silly PvP sandbox to be exploited by the elite players. There are so many should haves.

It's unfortunate that it's taken this long to release this expansion. I had hopes that this game would have held the crown for at least as long as EQ did (I place EQ still holding it's crown at 6 years of reigning as THE MMO). However, between Sigil, Mythic and Funcom, all three showing very promising AAA MMO's, Blizzard could be in trouble. Notice, I say could. If I could predict the future, I'd be a millionaire, but I'm only going on past experience.

Anyhow, I'm off to write my EvE Online review. I hope that this clears things up. To those that took my review personally, it's nothing personal. However, if you want to discuss this further, please, PLEASE come to my forums and discuss this under the World of Warcraft forum, I'd love to get not only the players point of view from here on the Ayo Ro boards, but get some discussion ramped up from players from all over the globe if at all possible.

however since I don't actually play the game anymore

just my 2 cents brother, but how can you accurately review a game you dont play anymore. You are baseing it on past experiences which in WoW change with every point release.

I can only really offer a review as the game is right this moment.

...

however since I don't actually play the game anymore
Without you even saying you'd quit, it was still obvious you weren't reviewing the current state of the game. That was my point originally, not that you should or shouldn't like the game. If you're going to write a fact based review like that, you should at least get the facts right.

just my 2 cents brother, but how can you accurately review a game you dont play anymore. You are baseing it on past experiences which in WoW change with every point release.

So you are saying that there has been MONUMENTAL change to the game in the last month? Just curious, because it's less than 30 days since I last played WoW. :)

I am hoping that by the time the expansion comes out to have someone else actually write the review for the game from that point on. The only review I can offer on the game is as it is up to exactly 24 days ago (when I stopped WoW completely, and started EvE Online full time). Rest assured that it is in the players best interest that these reviews are written. I'm sorry but Blizzard should be doing more for it's players for the amount of money they make off of them. /shrug

How much are they really making off their players? To keep simply their forums and webservers up probably costs oodles. Of course there's also a few hundred servers. And their Asian market is probably running at a loss where people play something like $.50 per month to play.

Ok, well lets look at it this way, say that no one buys a new box from here on in and we round down the numbers to 7 million.

We multiply that by $15 US a month rounded off (If you can show me actual figures from Blizzard stating that they are only charging that amount from their Asian customers, I'd LOVE to see it. What the hell did I just spend $15 a month for?!?! :D )

7,000,000 X $15.00 = $105,000,000

Now, I'm no Accountant, but 1/10th of a billion dollars a month is a lot of money, in ANY piggy bank. Yes they had to stand up new servers, but that was a result of supply and demand. They didn't stand up the servers and then wait for new customers. They stood them up to actually address the fact that they had server queues in the 1000's.

I've not even taken into account the money that they've made off the retail boxes/initial start up fee. Heck, they got $100 off me for the collectors edition. They only made 75k of those, that alone is $7,500,000 before the game even released!

Naw, these guys are making more money than any other MMO developer out there for a single game. I'm sorry, if it was the guys who make EvE Online, who only have 350k subscribers, I'd be a little more lenient, but come on! It's Blizzard! Their Headquarters is built upon mountains of money and the souls of small children! (This is a joke! This is where you laugh now!) :p

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70573-0.html
Its not exactly something they hide or anything.

There aren't and haven't been server queues in the 1000's in months, if in fact ever.

They only made 75k of those, that alone is $7,500,000 before the game even released!

Yeah, paying the salaries of around 100 people for a few years as they develop a video game certainly doesn't cost money or anything. And lets talk about the fact that Blizzard has investors who ponied up the cash to get the game made - a lot of this money isn't sitting in some vault being horded over by Chris Metzen or anything stupid like that. If you're gonna sell your site as a professional site, we need to hold you to a higher standard than joe shmoe who writes about video games. And if its just joe shmow who writes about video games - you have no audience because no one will care.

Wow Fanboys dont agree with a review? OMG game over. It's a review, the person's view of the game, just like any other review on any other site. Hell I dont agree with everything in MMORPG.COM's review of Everquest 2.

It would be like me writing a review blasting EQ2 for not having PVP.

It would be like me writing a review blasting EQ2 for not having PVP.

That statement makes no sense. EQ2 didn't have PvP, however it does now. It's a shame that SOE and Blizzard couldn't meet somewhere and merge thier efforts.

WoW started VERY strong, and sort of waned as time went (no expansions).

EQ2 started shaky, but as time went on developed into a really great game with loads and loads of content in the form of expansions and adventure packs. Yes they cost more, but I don't mind paying more if the game is going to continue on and mature.

I'm not saying WoW isn't doing this, I'm saying they need to pick up the pace. How long before the next expansion? Will the market wait?

WoW has done a LOT for MMO's, I'll give them that, but it doesn't excuse Blizzard for being slow on the draw in the content department or the customer service department. Like Mog has said, it's just my opinion. I'm sure there are PLENTY that disagree with me, but I'm sure there are a lot of people out there thinking the same thing as well.

It's a shame this discussion isn't on my boards though, this is really good stuff! :)

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70573-0.html
Its not exactly something they hide or anything.

There aren't and haven't been server queues in the 1000's in months, if in fact ever.



Yeah, paying the salaries of around 100 people for a few years as they develop a video game certainly doesn't cost money or anything. And lets talk about the fact that Blizzard has investors who ponied up the cash to get the game made - a lot of this money isn't sitting in some vault being horded over by Chris Metzen or anything stupid like that. If you're gonna sell your site as a professional site, we need to hold you to a higher standard than joe shmoe who writes about video games. And if its just joe shmow who writes about video games - you have no audience because no one will care.

Ok, lets disect this for a moment...

1) You link a site that merely mentions WoW in passing. China is a HUGE market, however I still don't see anything in there about people in Asia getting a near free ride in the game.

2) If you've never been in a Queue of 1000+, then you are LUCKY! When I restarted on Cho'Gall, it was the norm! It being a new server, a lot of people wanted to get on there and start fresh due to overcrowding on other servers. If you were not logged in by around 6PM PST, then you were waiting sometimes upwards of an hour or more, waiting for the queue to drop from the 1000's. The highest I've ever been has been at around 1400+. Granted, it eventually went away, but it took the better part of a month to do so. VERY frustrating, but good for them, it shows there's LOTS of of interest. Good for business.

3) Ok, so salaries and overhead. There are only so many office spaces in the Blizzard HQ and other buildings. Lets also keep in mind they are a reasonably successful developer in their own right. Lets not forget little known games such as Diablo, Diablo 2, Starcraft, Warcraft, Warcraft 2 and Warcraft 3. Some of the infrastructure was already in place for years. Yes an MMORPG is different from a standalone, but a lot of the concepts are very similar, not to mention the back story has already existed for the better part of 10 years.

You show me a company that complains of not making money after it drags in over approximately 1.2 BILLION a year from monthly subscriptions alone (based on 7 million X $15 X 12 months, this number is approximate) and I'll show you a bunch of morons, because they're wasting money somewhere. I can assure you that Blizzard is showing numbers in the black unless they're paying their programmers FAR higher than what other companies are. I mean, we're not talking about doing good, we're talking about the board of directors doing an irish jig in the boardroom! It doesn't take a financial genius to see this!! World of Warcraft = License to print money.

4) Sell my site as a professional site. PLEASE show me where I'm marketing this site as a professional site. Really. This is a hobby for me, always will be. If there would be a time in the near future where I would be able to make a living off of this site, I would be truly blessed.....but this is VERY unlikely. Like everyone else on this board, I work a regular job, spend time with my wife and little boy, play some online games, and I form an opinion based on my experiences. I then sit down and write about them. I am not an English major, I most certainly am NOT under the employ of any competition of Blizzard. (If you do know of any such company offering to pay for reviews, I'm all ears!!! :) It has to beat computer sales!!!)

I've paid for the site out of my own pocket. I've invested my own time, thought and heart into everything that is going on with it. It might not be much to someone who's been working in media for years and years, but it's mine and I love it! I'm starting to get local attention, and hopefully will get more people involved.

It is my hope to eventually have people dedicated to specific games. I hope to have a WoW writer dedicated to all things WoW. It is my hope that eventually, I will merely be the one looking over the stories for editing purposes. It is my intention to eventually comment on the MMO industry as a whole, writing on games that seem to be in the A and AA grade level (ones that not a whole lot of people play, but could use a boost from a site such as mmonut.com).

I AM a Joe Schmoe who writes about video games. I write all of my reviews from the point of view of a player. A player with real life concerns and issues, one who's job ISN'T writing about MMORPG's. See the real life charm there? ;)

There is one thing I agree with, and that's holding me to a higher standard. I might not always agree with any of you, but please, PLEASE keep critiqueing. I need to do two things if I'm to keep this site going:

1) Build a tougher hide. I take stuff WAY too personally, though I have to say the comments here have been very constructive. More criticism please!!!

2) Writing style. I'm not a writer by trade. I try to take what's going on in my head at the time I'm sitting down and writing my reviews and transfer that to the site. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it needs work. It'll get better in time.

Please keep the feedback coming, believe it or not, both positive and negative comments are welcome. I am by no means an expert, but simply a gamer that isn't afraid to stand back, look at the company I'm paying to entertain me, and ask the question "Why?"

EQ2 didn't have PvP, however it does now.
Precisely.

Your gripes about WoW's lack of content would've been very accurate a year and a half ago. Not anymore.

1) You link a site that merely mentions WoW in passing. China is a HUGE market, however I still don't see anything in there about people in Asia getting a near free ride in the game.
It's different in different markets. I'm pretty sure in China they pay by the hour. Most Chinese WoW players have multiple accounts, but pay very little per month for their actual playtime.

In other markets, there are per-seat licenses sold to gaming cafes where most people play. I think the Korean accounts are mostly these.

The $15/mo accounts are a minority of their overall subscriber base, IIRC.

There aren't and haven't been server queues in the 1000's in months, if in fact ever.

Warsong was over 1k multiple times before they started splitting servers.

Precisely.

Your gripes about WoW's lack of content would've been very accurate a year and a half ago. Not anymore.

Sums it up well. You can definetly tell that the author doesn't play the game anymore.