Yeah, I'm sure it had nothing to do with the teeming masses that played D2, WC, SC, etc.
It was entirely due to the simplified gameplay and low requirements!
I don't think anyone is dismissive of your statement, I just think it is so completely obvious that it doesn't bear repeating ad nauseum. Yes, part of WoW's (or Runescape's) success is due to accessibility and streamlined experience. It will also be part of its unraveling if in the expansion we have PVP performance similar to Tarren Mill / Southshore, with zero foot view radius and sudden popping in of 50+ enemies. That optimization is frankly impractical, and Blizzard already has a penchant for shoving people into instances.
Besides that, the market in general was/is in a rut. Nothing out there even competed with the amount of game you get out of WoW at such a minimum sys requirement level. Let's talk about how accesible WoW is post-60...
Accessibility simply encompasses more than you're giving credit to: graphic consistency, clearly cut and unique races and areas, built in strife rather than player instigated strife, railed questing with big blinking lights "go here next!," Dungeon Crawl Lite[tm], ease of soloability no matter which class you are, offline auctionhouses, tradeskill lite now with no failures! and a nice and cheap, endless supply of cash for in game currency in case you were ever too bored, lazy or decadent to gather it yourself.
Just because you open the door to more people via lax hardware requirements doesn't mean they're going to come in.
Re: Why WoW won.
Yeah, I'm sure it had nothing to do with the teeming masses that played D2, WC, SC, etc.
It was entirely due to the simplified gameplay and low requirements!
I don't think anyone is dismissive of your statement, I just think it is so completely obvious that it doesn't bear repeating ad nauseum. Yes, part of WoW's (or Runescape's) success is due to accessibility and streamlined experience. It will also be part of its unraveling if in the expansion we have PVP performance similar to Tarren Mill / Southshore, with zero foot view radius and sudden popping in of 50+ enemies. That optimization is frankly impractical, and Blizzard already has a penchant for shoving people into instances.
Besides that, the market in general was/is in a rut. Nothing out there even competed with the amount of game you get out of WoW at such a minimum sys requirement level. Let's talk about how accesible WoW is post-60...
Accessibility simply encompasses more than you're giving credit to: graphic consistency, clearly cut and unique races and areas, built in strife rather than player instigated strife, railed questing with big blinking lights "go here next!," Dungeon Crawl Lite[tm], ease of soloability no matter which class you are, offline auctionhouses, tradeskill lite now with no failures! and a nice and cheap, endless supply of cash for in game currency in case you were ever too bored, lazy or decadent to gather it yourself.
Just because you open the door to more people via lax hardware requirements doesn't mean they're going to come in.