14 DAY TRIAL // World of Warcraft is a true online phenomenon, having over 11 million subscribers to date. It is the most popular MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) out there, and is the title which brought online gaming to the masses, offering the great Warcraft universe created by Blizzard in a form that is very attractive to all types of gamers.
The game has generated a large part of Activision-Blizzard's profits which have seen an ascending trend. The game is so popular largely because it is playable on almost any PC or Mac configuration, and also has localized versions which further attract users into playing this online game.
We have already seen the launch of the game's second expansion pack, entitled Wrath of The Lich King, which showed us just how popular WoW is, as a lot of people braved the cold just to get their hands on the expansion at midnight. We reported on launch that although expectations weren't high, quite a lot of people showed up and expressed their wish to play the game as soon as possible.
Such hardcore players from professional gaming teams Nihilum and SK Gaming have formed an elite super guild and went on to tackle the three most difficult raids in this new expansion. Needless to say, they succeeded and defeated the Naxxramas, Eye of Eternity, and Obsidian Sanctum in just three days.
But after completing such epic battles, the members of the team did express their worries as Blizzard isn't offering as much content aimed at hardcore gamers, instead focusing on more casual ones. “We are proud to declare that all WOTLK PVE raid content has now been cleared. This is both a moment of triumph and a cause for concern. The question in all our minds right now is if we could do this, how soon until the rest of the top guilds in the world clear all the raid content that WOTLK has to offer? Did Blizzard miscalculate in the tuning of these encounters? Or is this Blizzard folding under the weight of a large casual player base that demands to be on equal footing with end-game raiders?”
Some pretty valid questions, but as most industry critics think, Blizzard is clearly going to focus on casual players (more numerous) than on hardcore ones, and will give less demanding challenges.