Changing MMOs

I've posted before about the lack of truly new content in World of Warcraft these days. Don't get me wrong, WoW has a lot going for it. However, as someone who's been playing the game since open beta back in 2004, its getting really, really stale. If you break it down to its basics, WoW is the same now as it was back then. For the most part, there has been nothing truly new and innovative since the game released. The first expansion gave things more of a casual focus (even moreso as the game was patched after Burning Crusade's release), but still retained the same type of content - PVE leveling, raiding, reputation grinds, PVP grinds. There was no way to progress your character at max level besides gear, in which you would need to participate in one of the aforementioned grinds to obtain.

Then, we look forward to the next expansion - Wrath of the Lich King. I'm all for adding new zones, 10 new levels, new dungeons and all the usual fare. But all it is is a fresh coat of paint on an already stale set of gameplay mechanics. I don't mind the same type of play, but things need to be really changed up, some new and innovative content needs to be added to keep things fresh. It doesn't have to be something that is new to MMOs in general, but just new to WoW. And, from the looks of it, nothing of the sort will be introduced in the upcoming expansion. I have a feeling Blizzard is resting on its laurels because its king of the hill in the MMO world at the moment. That's a bad plan, if you ask me. Its not good for WoW and not good for the MMO genre in general.

What I see right now by looking at the MMO landscape is that there is at least one current MMO that might be a silent contender to give WoW a run for its money. Mind you, nothing for a very long time will outsell WoW, but I do think other MMOs will be successful and pull subscribers away from WoW. One of my largest pet peeves with the WoW community is that the hardcore fanboys think that all other MMOs fail because they aren't as popular as WoW. That's far from the truth. Turbine's Lord of the Ring Online is more successful than they ever imagined. Why is that? Because it has new, interesting and innovative content and doesn't sit around releasing the same types of content. It has been out for almost exactly a year now, and I've seen it evolve more in that year than WoW has in over three years.

Looking to the very near future, we have games such as Warhammer Online and Aion on the horizon. Will these games outsell WoW? Not for several years at the earliest. Will they be successfull and give WoW a run for its money? I surely hope so. The first expanson for LotRO is set to come out sometime later this year and they're innovating again, just like they do in almost every patch. They always have something that makes you go "Wow!", which is something World of Warcraft rarely does for me (the one and only time that has occured that I recall is the events surrounding the opening of Ahn'Qiraj, way back in early 2006). Just check out these tidbits from the Mines of Moria expansion to LotRO (from the Wikipedia entry on the game):

"The Mines Of Moria will be one of the greatest environments of any RPG yet. Creatures will use the environment to their advantage, such as sneaking through dark water or jumping out of the shadows. Parts of the mines will change to reflect your progress...You will not be able to teleport throughout the mines, causing you to feel trapped."

That just sounds really cool to me, especially the bolded items. I don't see any real new, cool changes coming to WoW...ever (unless Blizzard gets their act together).

All this being said, I will likely stop playing WoW, at least until the expansion, and move over to Lord of the Rings Online in my spare time. But still, I'll probably focus most of my gaming time on console games I've been wanting to play for a while.