Skill-up's

[Nazrakin]

I can't agree with several of the falsities your have mentioned. It felt like an alpha because it was released in a not finished state and was very unpolished. A lot of people did quit because the servers were super laggy to the point where mobs would kill you and you can't even target them because of some terrible server issues. Not everyone quit because of those reasons but a decent handful of them did. Actually the combat and all that wasn't too bad and if you go and look at multiple reviews that was one of the things that kept the games score around a 5 (out of 10) and not any lower than that. At the base of it all it had a entertaining combat system to it and personally although I like the new combat better I still miss having multiple base attacks to use at will.

If it was simply a case of the game being unfinished then it would be perfect by now. Instead, Yoshida and his team are purging the game of nearly every gameplay implement that the original design had. Those things are being ripped out for one reason: they didn't work, and they are being replaced by tried and true systems that have proven to work.

The people that didn't quit because of the server issues quit because everything else outside of combat was not finished and like you said some of the ideas weren't flushed all the way out. So there was no content, leveling up sucked at the time because gaining exp was totally random. Etc etc etc, the list goes on. Even as though things have changes the current engine is what keeps the game from reaching greatness.

I'm not going to pretend like I know why every single person quit the game. What I do know is that every MMO has server issues at the start. WOW had a lot of the same problems that made it impossible to enjoy at times. People stuck with the game because they could see the potential. What I also know is that you don't tear apart systems that are working fine. It would make no sense for Yoshida is get rid of things like fatigue and physical levels if people were so in love with them.

First of all the questing system was around before WoW came out, it is a common MMO streamline to get added into games because it is effective and generally (though opinions differ) a more enjoyable and rewarding system.

The questing system was absolutely popularized by WOW. None of the other major players at the time used such a system. WOW was the first to fully embrace it and now every major MMO on the market follows the exact same design.

I already gave you content finder though that is a streamline feature in all the new MMOs these days as well. Free companies? What did that come from? I haven't seen that in an MMO before, especially WoW. Hard modes, I can give you that one as well though it also is yet another streamline feature, something to challenge the hard core players. So anything else besides the common streamlined features that most players expect in a new MMO? I guess I fail to see how that makes a game like WoW. I forgot to address crowd control, really? Every single RPG I have ever played has crowd control in it.

I don't even see the point in arguing this. You're just going to dismiss everything as "common streamlined features" -- even though none of them were ever popular in the genre before WOW. I'm sure you're right though, the developers aren't looking at WOW and other successful MMOs at all; everything is totally fresh and new. 2.0 is going to revolutionize the MMO genre with brand new gameplay ideas that have never been seen before...