Originally posted by: Skacer
Originally posted by: VashHT
Well, all of the stuff you listed is mostly personal preference, and has no real measurable standard. Graphics? well most people say WoW's graphics are total crap, but some people like it, again personal preference. Music/sound definitely personal, not everyone likes the same music. Quests/storyline, even difficulty are all personal preference. The only one you listed that I wouldnt consider personal preference would be class balance, but then again most people complain about WoW being unbalanced as well. You cite raiding as a measurement, but only in a sense of whether it has it or not. Of course how well it accomodates raiding is personal preference as well, some people love raiding but think the WoW raiding system is crap, some people think its good. I would agree WoW is my favorite MMORPG I have played, but I would definitely say all of my reasons for like it are personal preference, and not based on some kind of absolute golden standard.
Whether you like the graphics may be personal preference, but there are some standards. Do they look uniform? Are they complete? Any missing images? Do they run acceptably or is the engine terribly coded?
The music, is it there? Does it have unique music for most zones or just 1 song it loops everywhere? Are the sound effects unique? Are the high quality or low quality?
How do you think magazines review this shit, by tossing a coin up in the air and going "I feel this game is pretty nice". No, they judge it against it's peers and how it matches up. If WoW comes out with a questing system and then Auto Assault comes out with barely any questing system. People can say that AA didn't meet the standards setup by past titles, the base level of expectations for the genre. Like making an FPS where you can't jump.
"some people love raiding but think the WoW raiding system is crap"
And for that person's opinion to be worth anything they have to justify it with something. Crap in comparison to what, a fictitious game you made up in your head that has a really good sounding raiding system?
You think difficulty is personal preference because you are thinking small scale. As in, I think this guy should be a little harder, and I think this guy should be a little easier. But what about large scale as in, Is this guy even killable? How come my level 1 can kill this level 50? And you are thinking small scale because the MMO you are attempting to complain about is one of the most polished MMORPGs to ever be released in the genre. You don't have any concept of actual broken gameplay.