If Blizzard would have spend more attention to the lore of the game, the game would have been superb.
Then again, about 90% of the WoW players doesn't mind the lack of lore at all.
Anyone tried Age of Conan by chance? It looks like a really promising MMORPG, and I might be serious competition for WoW, even though it has very high system requirements.
tried it, it is indeed promising, but it lacks .... uhm .... hard to explain, It doesn't feel complete, doesn't feel like I'm working toward somewhere, that I have a reason to be that badass peasant turned into even badder arsed warrior. The game talks about war ofcourse, but you don't feel it. I could say the world feels thin.
The instancing doesn't help, and the new combat system gets old quickly. Visually its the best out there, but I don't think it can ever compete with WoW.
mmorpg's don't have to replace WoW, they don't have to improve WoW, they need a concept, something new that can get people hooked without comparing it with WoW. WoW is a very multi faceted game. And you just can't compete with it without taking a gigantic risk in expenses and time to create it.
If you can't release a game that is nearly as elaborate as WoW is, you won't be able to touch it. Not if it basicly the same game.
AoC's combat system isn't enough, it could have been much better implemented, but you can't change a core gameplay mechanic overnight. Spellweaving feels like a weak attempt to give caster classes something new aswell. But its all the same, except that you need to bash a little more buttons to get something done.
I'd like to have seen Assasins Creed combat system in AoC, combined with Dungeon Seige, Warhammer type leveling, the more you do a certain (trick) the better you become at it. Let's a move like parry and kick... the more you parry, and then kick an opponent the more effective it becomes. But you could aswell parry and stab, or disarm or whatever... Anyway, let's go buy a button to push on stays the excact same no matter how fancy your combat system is, if in the end you have to click the button you just bought. If you can't manage that, don't try and improve on the system mmorpg's today commonly use. Innovate something else.
