Comments on That's a Terrible Idea: Why is World of Warcraft Easy?

You should also include social skills. MMO’s used ...

2010-01-07T14:57:45.470-05:00

You should also include social skills. MMO’s used to require large groups of people to achieve end game objectives. By reducing the number of people required to raid and get high end gear from 40 to 25 to 10 WoW has continuously nerfed the need to have any kind of social skill. Now with the new cross server LFG system you can be a complete social retard and still get into group content.

A lot of MMO games are simply juvenile power fanta...

2010-01-07T04:15:55.627-05:00

A lot of MMO games are simply juvenile power fantasies made manifest. In WoW, I can be heralded as a hero and perseverance is really all that is needed to succeed. It's an intoxicating rush that appeals to the part of us that never advanced beyond the teenage years. It also appeals to people who find their daily life a bit too complicated, so they appreciate having a lot more control in the game.

The other problem is that very few people are really skillful. As the old joke goes, about 50% of the people are below average. Catering to that group with lower ability means getting bigger numbers than others did. (Of course, people don't like to be reminded that they lack ability, so you get people lashing out at statements like this.) People who want games to challenge them have to accept that this is a niche interest.

I think the most difficult part of forming groups ...

2010-01-06T23:05:51.371-05:00

I think the most difficult part of forming groups in World of Warcraft (and other non-instanced games) had been keeping a group patient and interested for the time required to corral five of them. A bad experience after an hour of tedious bargaining sticks in the brain more readily than a bad experience after an instantaneous "pop".

Battlegrounds have apparently experienced much the same transformation.