Michael’s Techbox

1. Rule number 1: Before You read any further, know that WoW defines an MMORPG, if its not WoW then its not an MMORPG, period. Try to clone WoW, if you can’t copy every last detail, extract and use as much of the original game as possible.
2. Its really important you develop around all the stereo-typical races players have come to expect, never release a game without the usual suspects (Elves, Dwarfs, humans, etc)
3. Its equally as crucial that you continue to reuse all the old class types, Warriors, Paladins, Mages, Druids, etc. While we’re discussing classes make sure you limit each class to use only certain gear and weapons. It would be blasphemous if  a warrior somehow managed to learn a spell. Equally as blasphemous would be a mage that might have muscles and be able to wear plate armour. If you get stuck revert to what WoW did.
4. Have mounts in the game, always call them mounts, because mounts are mounts. Limit the player’s ability to climb on a mount until later, late enough for him/her to be crying out in frustration for the mount. Make prior mount walking speed as slow as you can possibly make it. Even if 3-4% of players leave the game due to this slow walk speed, most players love starting off gimp.
5. Include all the typical melee weapons for the warrior class (don’t even think about inventing new ones), and make sure all the spells in the game are based on the same tried and trusted elements (Earth, Fire , Wind and Water). Every other RPG does this, WoW did this, what makes you think you’re special?
6. Thinking of releasing a truly good and up to date RPG thats based in the future, something mindblowing? Retire from game design, what the world really needs is ANOTHER WOW CLONE, and don’t you forget it. Be like WoW, be like AoC, be like EverQuest 1 and 2. Be like Oblivion, Be like WAR, ALL the rest of em. Think Medieval, Swords and Magic, nothing else exists to you.
7. All NPC’s must always stand around looking dumb, if the NPC chops wood, let that NPC chop wood indefinately, never needing to break for food or drink. Remember NPCs are pixels and because of this can stand around for as long as it takes without ever needing to take a toilet break. just code NPC’s like they are in WoW.
8. Make the monster AI really stupid, every single monster of its kind should respond in exactly the same way every single time, they should also stand around looking stupid until directly attacked, they should stand around looking at the wall, until the player gets close enough to them, then they can run out and attack. Any mobs standing more than 10 yards away from an active fight should also just stand around picking their noses, waiting their turns to be killed.
9. Make all monsters carry stuff and gold. It makes perfect sense to players – crocodiles also need cash? Why not have them drop some silver. Good thing that wolf you just killed was holding some mana potion. And that Dino just dropped that Exceptionally rare blue sword.
10. Include an unparamounted number of mobs for the player to kill and grind through, make sure the mobs are all mindless idiots that drop stuff (maybe), make sure you include enough of these grindable mobs in the game to really give the player a good grind for his money, remember all players love senseless grinding, if you get stuck – refer to WoW.
11. Reuse the same questing mechanics as what you’ll find in WoW, either (a) walking from a->b (b) slaying a certain amount of mobs (c) slaying mobs to gather a certain amount of X (d) slaying some boss mob
12. Implement a really poor and unbalanced PVP system. Anything will suffice, players aren’t really expecting too much.
13. Include a complex crafting system, thats really taxing on players time. At the same time make sure all the very best gear drops from boss mobs. Make sure you include an auction house where the players can sell this rare gear. Include lots of hype about crafting in the marketing material for the game, so players will think. Crafting IS important, it is ESSENTIAL to reach a high level of my craft to make gold or items.
14. Make a lot of areas inaccessible, yet include them on the map giving the impression that the game world is larger than it is.  Remember if you get stuck think WoW.
15. Brainwash players into thinking they’re playing the ultimate game, give them lots of marketing material to swallow, they’ll play your game for 4-5 years before realising they’ve been dupped into playing just another WoW clone.

Lastly don’t call your game WoW, WaR or AoC, but your game must comply with the 3 letter acronym naming convention. WoW did this, so should you!

WoW (World of Warcraft) is the most worlds most popular MMORPG. As a gamer I decided I would try WoW, this is what I experienced.

MMORPGs are stagnant

I’ll start off by saying that ALL MMORPGs are very similar and the genre is stagnant, has been for a long time. The mass continue to pay because there just isn’t anything better on the market at this time. Its this blend of mindless grinding and the same restated class and ability system that MMORPG fans have come to enjoy, and expect in an RPG. You’ll notice most MMORPGs on the market are really just WoW clones.

WoW is simplistic

I don’t really consider WoW to be that deep a game. No matter what Race or Profession you decide to play in WoW, and no matter what so called hard-core WoW gamers will tell you, the over game elements are so simplistic that its a bit laughable. Whats laughable is that people boldy talk about WoW with statements like – “Indepth fun and interactive quests”, “Unique Character Creation”, “Complex Game World”. If you’ve actually played WoW and if you have an IQ over 120, then you’ll agree with me, the challenges in WoW are so simplistic that the average 8 year old could easily master WoW.

The game breaks down into:

• Levelling – this essentially breaks down into (questing/grinding or just raw grinding).
• Exploring – WoW is huge, there is no doubt about that, but don’t confuse HUGE with complex, WoW areas are made up of Zones, and typically each zone has a level range (how convienient) of mobs. I will give credit to the designers of these Zones, they look good, but I always found the game world looks semi dead, sorry to say. Maybe its because the NPC/U’s just stand around looking stupid. Maybe its because the graphics are a bit old school. Maybe its because once you’ve been to a zone, you know exactly what to expect.
• Upgrading gear – Upgrading gear in WoW is pretty satisfying, the Auction house offers an easy way to get gear, and gold is easy enough to get hold of.
• Guild life – This is the usual story with any MMORPG, logging on and talking to guild mates mainly about : yup you guessed it WoW. I’ve played a few MMORPG’s and most people that you interact with in the game only want to talk about the game.
• Talent tree and upgrading spells, etc. Its nice when you upgrade your skills, because you can start fighting back with some pride, but then what happens? The mobs get harder and higher level, so you remain constantly uneffective until really late in the game. I found I was avoiding unnecessary fights just because of the sheer energy it took to take down a mob.
• Crafting, Fishing etc – a nice touch but boring and repetative as hell to upgrade these skills.

Despite all this WoW can be addictive

I noticed that a lot of people get addicted to WoW, and I wondered why this was. I mean lets face it the PVP system is kinda lame, and not balanced at all, the game could easily be mastered by 8 year olds, so why do full grown men/woman end up spending years of their life in this game, some players averaging 8-11 hours a day in the game? I think that the sheer size of the game is what gets people hooked initially. Most of the game play is boring, average, repetative and a grind, but every now and again the game administers a dose of fun to the user, and its this does that keeps the user hooked and keeps the user coming back for that little bit more. Most gamers new to WoW will put up with the repetition waiting to see when the “real fun” starts. Perhaps some people are just so lifeless that grinding is fun to them.

The varied characters are another main reason behind the addiction. Blizzard have constucted WoW in such a way that all the classes  have some good features and some really crap features. This means that not one choice of class is ideal, while you’re levelling your class to level 70-80, you’ll find a lot of other players in the game who will tell you they have the perfect class – Shamans can walk on water! Shamans don’t need a mount they have Ghost Wolf, etc. If you’re not careful you’ll want to try out that class too, because now you think you’re missing out on something. Thats the danger of WoW wasting your time, its a long way from level 1-80, and if you intend to become a WoW expert, you’re going to have to spend time playing each class till level 80, and that my friend is a lot of grinding.

Would I recommend WoW as a game? Short answer, No!

Long answer: Read a book, watch a documenary, go for a jog around the block, essentially do anything but waste your time playing WoW. Almost all the WoW players I know say that they enjoy the game, but see the time played as wasted, and if they could do it all again, would never have started playing WoW.