Why World of Warcraft is Badly Designed

Written by: Simon Hill • Edited by: Michael Hartman
Updated Jul 28, 2009 • Related Guides: Warcraft | World Of Warcraft

This is a tongue in cheek look at why the World of Warcraft has terrible game design.

Popular Does Not Equal Good

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Can 11.5 million people be playing a game that is badly designed? Can Blizzard be wrong about anything when they are raking in so much cash? I’m reminded of that several billion smokers can’t be wrong poster. Yes you can definitely get millions of people interested in something that is badly designed or lacking in entertainment, the cult of celebrity and the pop charts provide ample examples. You can also be shamelessly mainstream and cash obsessed like the vast majority of game publishers who will happily shovel any old rubbish as long as it sells. Just because something is popular does not mean it is good. Now before you fire up that hate mail give me a moment to explain.

WoW is Dull

World of Warcraft has sucked in many of my friends over the years. They used to enjoy online FPS sessions, games of Pro-Evolution accompanied by a few beers and even, dare I say, some real life interaction at one of the many taverns littering the fine city of Edinburgh. Then they caught the WoW bug and suddenly they were sitting in nights weaving primal mooncloth. It became necessary to find out just what all these people saw in a game which looked to me like a cheap rip off of Tolkien. I tried playing it and was amazed to find the experience dull and unsatisfying. World of Warcraft features some seriously convoluted design decisions and at core the problem with the game is that it is designed to suit the developers not the players. This makes it even stranger to me that of all the MMORPGs out there WoW is the one that struck it big.

Time over Skill

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The number one complaint I have about World of Warcraft is the fact that it rewards time over skill. In fact there is very little skill involved in playing the game. There is only the mind numbing tedium of the grind. Perhaps one of the secrets of its success is exactly that. People are encouraged to play because they don’t have to develop their skills they can just play for a really long time taking on challenges beneath them in order to progress. This focus on time over skill (accomplished largely by quest based advancement) also works for Blizzard because it ensures people will try and put in as many hours as they possibly can and the servers are always buzzing. You often see quotes from WoW players saying things like “the real game starts at level 60”. So you’re asking me to play for days in order to reach the “real game” and I’m paying for the privilege of working my way towards something that promises it will eventually be enjoyable?

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Realgamer Jun 27, 2011 2:31 AM

There are only 2 types of WoW players...

THANK GOD I'm neither!

Milawe Aug 2, 2009 12:39 AM

Nail Meet Hammer!

Great article and hits a lot of the reasons I stopped playing WoW after being a huge part of the whole raid-oriented end-game in Burning Crusade. WoW is great for a sub-section of "hard core" gamers, and it's REALLY good for people who like to take their time leveling either by choice or by circumstances. Seriously, I have friends who took over a year to get to max level on WoW. They love the game, and if it took me that long to level, I'd probably still love it, too!

For me, WoW is too much of a solo-player's game until the end game. This boils down to the game being not much more than a quest grind until the end game. Then you're forced to group with a ton of people who quest grinded up in order to accomplish much further. A great deal of the people who quest grinded to the end game... well, to put it nicely, never really learned to play their class. They also did the whole grind either solo or with extremely temporary groups. I feel for these people, really, when they scramble to learn how to play in a group. Luckily, most roles in WoW boil down to a few buttons being mashed at the right time. As long as you're paying attention and have good enough gear, it's not that hard to learn.

In regards to the people who felt the need to get defensive about WoW, so what if the article puts it in a bad light? Just as there's a ton of people who agree with you and think that WoW is a great game, there's a ton of people who don't agree with you and think there's a lot of flaws in WoW. Why do we care? Because we don't want every MMO made to be a WoW-clone since we DO NOT LIKE that type of game. Other people do, but seriously, the majority of online gamers DO NOT play WoW.

So, feel free to play WoW. No one's stopping you, but you don't need to get your panties in a bunch because some of us want to speak out about the WoW-clones disguised as new AAA titles. :) One WoW is enough.

Carbo210 Aug 1, 2009 6:07 PM

Decent Topics, Bad explanation

Simon i agree with some things you said but you are lacking some key pieces in your article:

Your character experience

What time period did you judge the game? Personally I agree with what you said about the game being easy and the "wow virus". Ever since the latest expansion it has been down the crapper and lost all its aspects.

Also some things were excellent for some people. Me and my friends were on a great server and really got to know some of the other members we played with. Also the interface to most people is great. I use the interface kinda as the role model to how rpgs should feel. I can't even get through Oblivion and have trouble with fallout 3 because the inventory systems lack compared to my experience with the WoW one.

I think you are right to dislike the game. The endgame in the new expansion is so terrible which caused me to quit because of the rinse and repeat gameplay. Its sad to because the class I played (Shadow Priest) was so crippled for years and now its powerful but I can't stand to play the game.

I really think the game has lost its actual gameplay fun but the social interaction was always my favorite. I would play the game just for the professions and auction house.

If they change the raiding I would consider coming back but I doubt that will ever happen.
-Cheers

Jesma Jul 29, 2009 3:54 PM

Not to offend but....

There is more QQ here than Alliance trade chat. Thanks for bringing it to BH! How about everyone minds their own business eh?

Renmiri Jul 28, 2009 7:08 PM

Agreed but..

I've been playing WoW for over 2 years and am really bored with it. But there's nothing else out there. I mean no online gmae where I can play with my friends that is significantly different from WoW.

One thing that really got me was after levelling to 80 by myself I had to join a raiding guild to be able to do something. There is no endgame but also the "endgame" we get depends on other people's performance. Which is fun for a bit but then it gets:
raid to gear up, gear up to raid rinse repeat
Sigh...

Sennik Jul 28, 2009 3:40 PM

You're right, it is your opinion...

I seriously grow tired of people criticizing how others use their free time. If I play WoW and find it entertaining then why is that a problem for you? Better yet, why do you feel the need to write an article about it?

At my age when I get home from work the last thing I need is more stress from what you would call ‘skill’ games. My reflexes aren’t what they used to be so my FPS skills are quite lacking to what they were 10 years ago, much less what they were when Asteroids was brand new on the Atari.

I think it’s quite telling you reference in your second paragraph the fact that many of your friends have been ‘sucked in’ to WoW and that the level of social interaction is way down. I think you are lamenting the loss of your friend’s interactions and blaming it on WoW. It was their decision. Maybe they just didn’t want to hang with you anymore. Who knows. Point is sounds like they moved on and you didn’t.

Then you refer to the social interaction in the game and with your limited experience go on to label it as mostly bad. Well, MY anecdotal evidence begs to differ, and it is not any more or less correct than yours, just different. I primarily hang with a family we have been playing with throughout several games since 2003. When grouped with people we do not know, we always treat them with respect and generally get treated well in return. Yes there are exceptions but not more than about 10% of the people I have ran across randomly have been asshats.

So I say, enjoy what YOU want to enjoy and don’t mock others for what THEY enjoy. For one day you may be in their shoes.

User080609 Jul 28, 2009 1:44 PM

My Thoughts

I am an avid WoW player and have invested more time than I'd like to admit. Regardless, I will defend it.

The social aspect really is what the game is about. It is true that to go after the most difficult challenges in the game you need need the coordinated effort of a group. But this isn't often the random grouping of people you seem to imply. The guild system is there for this reason.
Guilds in WoW come in a wide variety, but usually fall into five categories (whether they realize it or not). There are PvP guilds and Leveling guilds that do what the names imply. There are also Social guilds that are pretty much a group of friends that do things together. Then there are Raid guilds, hell-bent on being the first to do something. The final type of guild is a Casual Raiding guild, which is a mix of the last two. They don't typically have the discipline or strict rules necessary to progress as quickly as an actual raiding guild, but they are a bit lighter to be around and usually strive to enjoy each others' company.

I am the GM of a decent sized Casual Raiding Guild. I can honestly say that we all enjoy doing things together. We get excited when we get the loot that you claim is the only carrot on a stick the game offers. But to us, the fact that someone upgraded their gear really means that we'll be better able to tackle the next challenge in our path.
The real reason we raid is for that sense of accomplishment we all get when we finally figure out how to get past that next challenge and open up new ones. These aren't solo accomplishments. It takes the entire group learning and understanding what is needed to make these encounters successful. The fact that we walk away victorious is the real reward. Yes, we alll work to improve our gear, but the first time something new is defeated, the loot is really secondary. We can come back and do it again another day for that. For now, we just want to see what comes next.

Simon Hill Jul 28, 2009 12:02 PM

RE: Why World of Warcraft is Badly Designed

Thanks for your comments Longasc and for clairfying the forced grouping issue.

I'm not calling you an idiot WoWman it is just my opinion, although the fact it is a business did not escape me at all, that's one of the reasons I think it is so bad, plenty of developers create games to make a fun experience for gamers and business is secondary, I prefer that approach, I'd like to see game in the art rather than business category. I don't think there's anything wrong with you for liking WoW, as I mentioned I have many friends that play the game but I do feel it is a negative influence on the industry as a whole and that's where the anger comes from.

As I said in the article I know some fans will be angered by what I have said and I invited you to tell me why you like it. I think it's interesting that you haven't mentioned a single reason why the game is good in your comment.

WoWMan Jul 28, 2009 11:25 AM

WoW - Someone's bitter

What I find more disturbing than all those people spending their lifes playing a MMORPG is people who don't play the game yet obsess over it to the point that they have to spend their life trying to ridicule it. I play World of Warcraft and enjoy it. Clearly, it is not for everyone but that does not make it bad. In my opinion your article has a very errogant tone to it. A tone that says, "If you don't see something the way I see it you are wrong and an idiot." I am not defending World of Warcraft, per se, I am defending someones choice to play it and enjoy it as they see fit. I will admit that WoW is not perfect - but what is?

One of the things that appears to escape you is that behind WoW is a buisness. Blizzard has an incentive to keep people playing an paying. It is to their advantage to release new content and raise the bar so people will keep playing. Just about any buisiness will do things like this to keep people coming back and spending their money. I don't see the harm in it. If you or someone else does then you are free to excercise you right NOT to play the game. It's as simple as that.

I just don't see any reason for you spewing such hateful comments and calling names just because some people in the world like something that you don't. It just seems odd to me that you make such an effort, not to make the point that the game isn't for you, but to make the point that the game totally sucks and anyone who plays it has something 'wrong' with them. It just seems strange to me.

Longasc Jul 28, 2009 2:47 AM

When Raiding became the "Endgame"

Raiding = Endgame.

This terrible equation is what became of the emergent raid gameplay of EverQuest. I am pretty sure 75% if not more of the people out there outright loathe raids and do them just to get the next shiny loot in the progress scheme.

Simon Hill is right, and the terrible thing is that WoW became almost synonymous with what a MMO is and how it has to be. Not everything is WoW's fault, some problems are typical MMORPG flaws like the grind and time over skill.

Class balance for PvP is something that is always a problem, but it is interesting how much imbalance people are willing to accept in WoW. Right now we have the "Age of Hybridcraft", and that my Warlock was and is and more and more became ever easier prey for Rogues was apparently never a problem either. By now it is the least played class, not only for this reason.

I unfortunately see no progress, nobody breaking off this scheme. Aion is a nice game for example, but despite a different endgame (PvP-RvR mixed with PvE factions) it still follows the same, empty hollow quests scheme. Kill 11 grizzles, bring 10 foozles. Raids also have a focus on tank and spank.

One thing that Simon Hill did not make that clear is the forced grouping. I think the issue is rather that after a game that consists of 100% selfish solo-play people are suddenly meant to cooperate as a team and form 10-25 man raids to get the next gear carrots!

This is really sad, but true: "It is based on a constant striving which can never be satisfied because if you reach the pinnacle it is instantly pointless and deathly boring. There is no grand finale. You will never get that carrot dangling at the end of the stick and if you ever do you’ll realise what a waste of time it was getting there."

Indeed, the journey is the destination here. It is time to think of a different progression model and endgame.

Why World of Warcraft is Badly Designed

Popular Does Not Equal Good

WoW is Dull

Time over Skill

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