More often than not, we see publishers claiming they are building a WOW killer on their hands and it turns out sorely disappointing in the end. Indeed they replicated many features of the most successful MMORPG, but could never replicate it's success.

First here is what I think why that is:

1. WOW is made by a publisher with a proven track record of making wildly popular games. Warcraft RTS series, Diablo Series and Starcraft have already cemented Blizzard into the gaming industry folklore. They created such successful titles that whenever they announce a new title, people sit up and take notice. Hype builds over time and most importantly, they take their time to create a title to make sure that they got it right*coughcoughDukeNukemForevercoughcough*. The result is that with every title published, sales records are broken, bringing the company to new heights. So much so that once Blizzard announces a new title, we all can expect 2 things:

               1)    Release date will delayed. More than once, if necessary.

            On the other hand, there are too many MMORPGs out there, made and published by different companies, some of them new with no titles in their company portfolio whatsoever, and people end up not knowing any of them. The only one that I can remember on a constant basis is “NCSOFT” for the Lineage Series. That's it. If you can't get people to remember your company, or your products, you'll have a hard time pushing it out to the gamer out there.

2. It is based on an already established franchise. The series started with Warcraft 1 and the story continues with each successive expansion and sequel, each getting more momentum and getting fans hooked along the way. Excellent titles with good storylines, relatable and somewhat endearing characters (to the right crowd) has won fans all over the world, and when they announced World of Warcraft, fans almost instantly knew that it would be a winner again

            For other MMORPGs, most of the time, they will have to base their game universe on media like comics, anime etc,with exposure to a limited part of the     world. They may be popular in the country where people actually know of them, but once you license it out to another country, all people will think of it as “just another MMORPG” because they have no idea what it was based on, thus limiting the game's appeal. Therefore the potential audience is reduced.

3. They got it right. World of Warcraft is not the only MMORPG out there then. But they were able to differentiate themselves from their competition. A wide open world with little load time, engaging quests (with scripted events), and forgiving leveling grind (compared to their competitors), natural control scheme and once again, based on the popular warcraft universe, won over casual, hardcore and even non-gamers. It is so hard for me to say everything that WOW gets right, because some of the little things they get right, you don't see it but its there, making your gaming experience more enjoyable.

            On the other hand, we have many games try in vain to replicate various aspects of WOW. Many of the quest systems I have seen in other MMORPGs mimic that of WOW, which is good, but they forgot that the quests by itself is just as important. There seem to be very little variety beyond “bring this to  that place” or “kill 20 of these things and come back to me”. I remember distinctively a quest in WOW where you have to storm a Night Elves Camp with NPCs. Making quests more interactive like this engages the player more in the universe.

            And I couldn't stress more of the the importance of getting a game right before releasing it. Many of the MMORPGs in Open Beta have already  implemented cash shops. Open beta games are far from complete. This although is business, but shouldn't one try to make the game better before even wanting to charge people for it? I mean, why should people want to pay for something that might not even work properly.

            Start giving the gamers their worth. Please.

     4.   By letting fans make mods for their interfaces, they are effectively letting the fans improve on what essentially is one of the most important, yet understated parts of a good title, on their own. WOW mods may not be as big and extensive as the mods we see for First person shooters, but it made the overall experience of the end user more pleasant and thus keeping fans happy, loyal and paying, all without wasting a dime on their side (I think).

What can I say? Some of the games I've tried wouldn't even allow me to run it in a window, or alt-tab to another window. I think we are still quite far  from mods ever happening yet.

I would like to stress that what I have said above are purely my opinions. I would also like to clarify that I am currently not playing WOW any longer, since quiting around 6 months ago. Since then I have tried many other MMORPG titles, both P2P and F2P, but have often been disappointed. Some have come close to being a very good title, but many others are not just worth the time. Over saturating the market with crappy MMORPG titles hurts the industry in general.

Meanwhile I'll just play Rappelz and sulk till I get a real WOW killer on my hands. :3

(edited: Formatting the text so it is more readable now. Somehow I can't get the text to show the way I want to and so this looks terrible. If you got to this far, thanks for bearing with me :D)