WOW, Have MMORPGs gone past their boundaries?

In light of the Kotaku article release today, World of Warcraft attempts to lure back it lapsed players by granting returning players an instant jump to level 80 and a mount. Players who are currently playing WOW and use their Scroll of Resurrection on friends and guild members will also be privilege to receive an epic spectral mount once the player re-starts their subscription. The new expansion of WOW does revamp the world within the game of WOW, but it doesn’t change the game itself. With two additional races, new mounts, new race/class combinations, new monsters dungeons/raids, and the level cap raised to 85 one can re-explore the world with a new villain: Death Wing.

New Villain: Death Wing

The only question really is can all these new added features reverse the dwindling amount of subscribers to the game? How long does WOW expect these attention-grabbers to last? Will one mount or 7 day free trial at a level 80 bring back the slowly deterring players? If they have moved on to bigger and better things, what hope can you expect they will return and then pay for game they already left? This is the challenge many MMORPGs must face in order to stay demanding and entertaining. By taking into account what a player hopes to see within a game, developers can offer more of what gamers expect games like WOW to aspire to.  

To be honest the whole jump to level 80 seems grubby. Yea, I’ll play a game for 7 days for free at level 80, but I won’t buy it after. I’ll tweak with it and test out the new world and mounts, but I don’t see myself re-investing in a game I’m just not that into anymore. I know I might just be one, but who’s to say I’m not one of many?

I still have high hopes in World of Warcraft. Maybe, just maybe, they’ll get me to come back. Till then, I’m playing something else.

Check out more articles on Video Game Culture by clicking the tab menu.