WoW isn't dead.

WoW isn't dying.

WoW hasn't been turned into a newt; even if it did I'm sure it would get better.

Yet if you were to read many forums or many comments on blog sites (not bloggers themselves) you would be forgiven for thinking that WoW is the MMORPG equivalent of that aged film star from the 1960s whose best years are behind them and all they have are the memories of that glorious period.  Once again this is the rantings of a vocal minority that spew forth their personal opinion as the gospel truth to all and sundry that care listen - or even those that just happen to stand around for too long in the vent channel.

The World of Warcraft is in fantastic shape people, it really really is.  Does that mean it's perfect?  Of course it doesn't, in my own opinion I still think their are many improvements that Blizzard can and should still make but their is a reason that Warcraft is still the industry's biggest triple A MMORPG and why the closest competitor in years is effectively a WoW clone in a new setting - in fact it even has to reference Azeroth in its own advertising campaign to make waves.  I'm not having a downer on Rift (in case you haven't guessed what I was referencing) as from what I hear it is a good game but of reasons it became popular the most striking features are a) it's like WoW so therefore instantly recognisable and intuitive b) it's WoW in a new setting with new storylines which makes things interesting for people who have been adventuring in azeroth for the past six years or so  and c) because it isn't WoW it does have a greater leeway to experiment with new mechanics in an attempt to push the boundary; WoW has over 12 million accounts so it's always a case of damned if you do and damned if you don't - Rift has a fresh slate to try out new things.  Let's also be clear, RIFT is far from perfect itself and there are plenty of complaints about how it runs and things getting repitive there very quickly after reaching a certain point.

But from my view, there is no way Rift is a WoW killer; it's too much of a clone for that I think but there's definitely a few things Blizzard could learn from Trion.  From my guildies' perspective many of them play Rift but they do it as a way of breaking up their gaming.  Most of them are hardcore MMORPG fans and it isn't unusual for some of them to play several MMOs at once (I just don't have the time for that) - WoW is their first love but on a non-raid night it's nice to travel somewhere else.  Personally I break my game time up by playing completely different genres, it's all down to personal choice really.

Oh but what about all the bloggers that have given up lately?  That aren't playing anymore?  That have closed down their sites?
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The blogosphere is precisely that, it is a pretty well interconnected but limited sphere within the internet with a focus on WoW.  It is sad that some bloggers have closed down their sites, quit the game or just stopped posting.  I will definitely miss Larisa's posts, in fact I will probably miss her most of all, she was a giant within the blogging community.  She achieved this through her undoubtable talent and her personal warmth which made her such a joy to read...

But she hasn't quit WoW just yet, it might happen soon but not yet.

Righteous Orbs stop blogging but they're both still playing (or at least that was the impression I got from their final post).

Krizzlybear decided to stop the game, but he didn't leave on a sour note about how the game was broken or dying a death.  In his own words "There's so much still to do and love, but to keep doing so will come at a cost of missing out on new opportunities."  Syl wrote an extremely touching post about logging her character out for the last time (although I note that Sylvara was not deleted, just simply put to rest in Elwynn).  I strongly suspect we will still hear Syl's insightful voice around the community for a long time to come, of which I am glad.  Tessy has also said goodbye to the game (and so too to WoW blogging) but I note in all of these there is no venom about the game, there is no harsh criticism of failed mechanics or broken encounters.  These venerable members of our community have been blogging for a long time and they've been playing for even longer.  Whilst I'm sad that they're no longer part of the WoW blogging community, their departures do not signal the end of the game and I'm quite sure they would be the first people to tell you that. 

Hell I challenge you to find a game that you've played consistently nearly every day for the past five or six years and tell me that playing it now is the same as when you played it for the very first time.  And whilst old players pass on, feeling they've experienced all they want or need to from Azeroth, there are a plethora of new players join the ranks of the WoW community.  And the same is true for WoW bloggers, if you haven’t seen already then go look at Blog Azeroth and welcome the scores of new bloggers eager to join the community and mark their mark by writing about a game they love.  On top of that, many of those old stalwarts are still here and tapping out their thought and feelings just as before - I give you Manalicious, Gnomeaggedon and Big Bear Butt to name but a few.

Cataclysm was the fastest selling PC game of 2010 ever, for the first time in my memory we had people joining guild who had literally never played before that expansion.  PCGamer recently did their final review of Cataclysm (they usually delay MMORPG review or re-review them because you never really know how an online game will pan out until a few months in at least) - it was Editor's Choice with a shiney 93%.  It also placed second in their 100 Greatest PC Games of All Time… SECOND PLACE!  IN THE 100 GREATEST PC GAMES OF ALL TIME!  UP FROM RANK 14 LAST YEAR! SECOND PLACE PEOPLE!  It was the only MMORPG in the top ten, it beat out those gaming giants Half Life 2, Counter Strike, Team Fortress 2, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and its own stable mate Starcraft 2.  It was only beaten by Deus EX; that is because Deus Ex is hailed as the Holy Grail of PC gaming (if you’ve never played it, do cos it’s very, very good).

This, again, isn’t to say that WoW is perfect, it’s not, but it’s leaps and bounds ahead of most of the competition, it has a fantastic player base and for every person that decides that they have had their fill of adventure in Azeroth there is always someone new taking their first wonder filled steps around the world.  And there are many more who have played since the first day of release that still find the Azeroth wondrous and fun.

For my own personal gripes with Cataclysm, I found the leveling from 80-85 was too short compared to past expansions and there wasn’t enough in terms of end game content – there were far less heroic dungeons released this time round compared to the previous two expansions.  But that doesn’t make me feel that WoW is dead or dying, cut Blizzard a break – they completely remade Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms and all the quests in them.  And they rehashed the entire talent trees for all classes and implemented two new races with unique starting areas.  Do you have any idea how much work and effort that takes?  Something had to give somewhere.  So archaeology is a bit boring, personally I could say the same for fishing but some people love it.  So rated BGs haven’t panned out as well as we all hoped, but is the game any worse for having them included?

In many ways I think our favourite green haired Gnome mage hit the nail on the head with this post right here and if you find that the world is losing its sparkle in a post Cataclysm Azeroth then maybe it isn’t Blizzard’s fault; just maybe it’s yours!