[MUD-Dev] DESIGN: WoW quests and content

[Sporky McBeard]

"Mike Rozak" <Mike at mxac.com.au> wrote

> In player-rant sites, WoW players often claim that its quests and
> content are much better than other MMORPGs, especially in
> comparsion with EQ2. (I havent tried EQ2 yet.) I don't understand
> why WoW players think its quests/content are so superior. (See
> below). Does anyone have any opinions about why players think
> WoW's quests are better than other MMORPGs?

People like what they like, but they sometimes have a hard time
verbalizing why they like it. I guess this is partly because we
don't have a proper vocabulary for making indepth critiques of
videogames (too many borrowed words that have multiple meanings -
like "gameplay"). As such, they are left to grasp at this and that
to try to explain, in supposedly objective terms, why they aren't a
moron for liking it and why you are for not liking it (I'm
exaggerating, but not by much).

Blizzard games have a nasty tendency to adopt other concepts without
much individuality or innovation (ie it's Warhammer meets Dune 2!!),
but still do them better than everyone else... it's just that nobody
can figure out why. No one aspect of WoW is exceptional in any
way. There's better graphics. Better combat. Better character
selection. Pretty much every individual element is done better
somewhere else.

The quest is just different enough from everything else out there
that it makes an easy explanation. It's not exceptional in any way,
except that it is more prominantly displayed. EQ2 has a very similar
system (with 50 quests at a time instead of a measely 20), but EQ2
has other things to do besides do quests. There is literally nothing
to do in that game that isn't quest related. Every inch of that game
is touched by at least three quests, so there isn't any reason to
explore yonder castle without having a quest to do it first. In
short, the quest system is in your face, so people think that is why
they like the game. You'll also see people who dislike WoW use the
quest system as their prime example (assuming they aren't hating it
because of four hour waits getting in and constant downtime).

Another thing to take into account is that there are a lot of people
who play WoW who haven't played many other MMORPGs. This doesn't
account for all people (especially professional game reviewers), but
in some cases, it is very likely that the quests are better than
what they've played before.

> What am I missing? (Perhaps I'm missing some quest/content-design
> subtlety.)

The only thing you are missing is the "why", which can be chalked up
to another case of people trying to justify their personal tastes.

- Sean Howard
www.squidi.net
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