If people are willing to dish out the money and they enjoy the game, then it is worth it. No one has the right to tell someone whether their investment is worth it or not. Its all opinion based. With subscriptions, they are able to have more stable servers, regular and improved maintenance, and it enables them to work on and release patches with new content (for free) throughout the year. And WoWs patch content load has always been something I enjoyed. When I played f2p MMOs, they'd maybe do a big patch once a year, and it'd be stuff like "We've got 5 new quests! There's some new items in the cash shop, mobs now drop this single new armor set, and we added 3 new hair colors to the character customization!" But with WoW, you get new dungeons and raids, stuff like that what I consider new content.
And I never paid that much for WoW... lol. Cyber Monday is a great time to buy WoW. Never paid more than $10 for an expansion except for Cataclysm. I paid $37 for that. WoWs expansions have always been the biggest I have ever seen in MMOs. They always add an entirely new continent with about 10 new zones, 5+ new dungeons, raids, a new race, a new class, new main boss, quests that are always improving and fun, continuation of the story, etc. And then year round, they continue adding to that. And one of the things that has put WoW on top is its ability to continue updating their game at a consistent rate is because of the money put into the game.
And slight correction, the subscription base varies depending on how long you want your subscription to last. Most players don't pay $15 a month. Basically the longer your overall subscription package is, the less you pay per month. This is to benefit loyal and regular players. Subscriptions are a dying method of gaining money, but at the same time... MMOs that don't do subscriptions tend to have cash shops, and with experience, loyal players of f2p MMOs dish out just as much in the cash shops yearly as a player of a subscription based MMO would pay for subscriptions. Not to mention games that have free to play mixed in with optional subscriptions, freemium, or cash shops often lead to unfair advantages and disadvantages.
And no durr all MMOs have back stories and lore. But it doesn't mean its quality or vast. I'm not sure if Runescape's lore could quite compare to the amount in WoW, and this is an unbiased statement since I don't play MMOs for the lore. But WoW was the first MMO that did entice me to look more into the lore. The franchise has been around since the 90s, and WoW came out in 2004. The back story and history had already been well established, and when WoW came out, it just expanded even more. There's novels, comic books, and there's even a movie in the works.
As for the combat system... there's been a lot of argument over that in the past few years. The thing about WoW is that being a successful player in that game is like an art. There's a lot of elitism. And you had to be a practical scholar in your class and with your skills to be successful. If you don't have the right rotation, or if you're missing something in your build, your DPS could drastically go down and playing is going to suck for you. But in the recent expansions, Blizzard has began giving more into new and casual gamer demands, overall dumbing down the game for the loyal players.
You're judging WoW for what it is right now. And right now, MMOs are a dying breed of games. They're crapping MMOs out all year round, but at the same time, none of them seem to be a consistent success, at least to the extent that maybe Everquest or WoW had. WoW is your classic top notch MMO (and this is based on statistics), and part of the reason that WoW is beginning to flop is not necessarily because it's a bad game. It's still surprisingly a great game despite its flaws and it still has a massive player base world wide, and it will for awhile unless Blizzard pulls the plug.
But with different varying multiplayer online games coming out, MMOs are losing what was once solely their appeal. The combat in MMORPGs has always been lacking because the game never revolved around the player. The player is a small part of something bigger. Hence, the holy trinity, which is typically limiting unless the game has duel specs or ones class is a hybrid. MMOs are trying to step away from the holy trinity and make their combat more singular and action based, but so far I have yet to see a MMO perfect this. And to be honest, I don't think anyone will. It seems when they excel in something, they lack in another. And when there is a negative, it's like the players just focus on the negative, and those who tolerate the negative and play for the positives are called blind by the other players. Again, a game is worth it as long as you're having fun. The second you stop enjoying a game, no matter what it is or how much you've invested, you should stop playing. But don't hate on those who still enjoy it.
Thankfully there's hundreds of them out there to choose from. But one consistency I notice over the past 2 years is that a company will hype up a game claiming they're bringing something new to the table, and they do, but it's not enough and the game ends up flopping. No MMO has been anywhere near as much of a success as WoW has, and the closest in the past few years has been Rift, and they're basically riding WoWs back, seeing what WoW is doing to tick off players, and promising the opposite. That's not what I call innovation though and it'll fall once WoW has fallen. My point being is that I think even with innovative features, different play styles, stories, systems, etc. all of the highly anticipated MMOs the past couple of years have completely flopped. But other multiplayer games, such as LoL, have been on the rise. I think people are just hoping for the nostalgia of classic multiplayer games that are typical MMOs, yet they don't want to play a MMO anymore because no matter what, they are just losing their appeal. This is where WoW has been receiving criticism, because they aren't innovating, despite being one of the most innovative games years ago. For what MMOs have been in the last decade, WoW was the holy grail of MMOs, and now its typical, better than most, but typical. But WoW was made in 2004, the player base is massive. It's an older out-dated game that was the epitome of MMORPGs for the decade and will probably forever be the game that comes to mind for MMOs when we've long evolved past the classic MMO genre. To get with the times, Blizzard probably have to make an entirely new game. The game is just too old and the player base is just too large to just up and completely revamp it. Because those who are currently playing are playing it because they like it as it is, so they cannot just change the game entirely for these players (and customers). So Blizzard is taking the route of making an entirely new game. When that happens, WoW will likely take the path that all MMOs take. They will coast, the player base will drop, the game will likely go f2p, and it'll just slowly go hide in the shadows with Everquest.
But my opinion still stands. As it is right now, WoW is still a great MMO, and it is the one I've enjoyed the most. Not to mention, it was my last resort game at the time and I always made to try out other MMOs over the years while still playing WoW. My friend tried getting me into Runescape back in 2008, and I couldn't stand it. I've played many MMOs and it is one of three that I absolutely refuse to return to (the others being MapleStory and City of Heroes).
MMOs vary per person as they all have their ups and downs and bring something different to the table and players play MMOs for different reasons. WoW was always good to me. I've always been a MMO connoissuer, I've probably played 20+ MMOs, and I'm not one of those biased Blizzard fans. Out of all of the MMOs I've played, WoW was the most challenging (end-game) and enjoyable. I know its reign over the other MMOs is coming to an end, but it's still good for what it is and the dying genre it represents.
Your support makes Blue Moon possible (Patreon)
