New World is currently in beta and is already attracting thousands of players. The new MMO from Amazon is fun, but it is not comparable to established MMORPGs – at least that is the opinion of MeinMMO author Benedict Grothaus. Nevertheless, he is sure: If a game can “kill” the reigning champion World of Warcraft, then it is New World and only right now.
I have been playing World of Warcraft for over 16 years without any longer breaks. At the end of Vanilla, I started, and with The Burning Crusade, my WoW life really began, and to this day I am an enthusiastic progress raider.
In fact, raids are the only thing that keeps me permanently invested in WoW and, in my view, the best content that distinguishes the MMORPG from all others and the reason why WoW is still alive. However, there is a new challenger: New World from Amazon.
New World is currently still in beta and is set to launch on August 31, 2021. As it stands, the MMO is being received quite well:
- Over 180,000 players played in the closed beta, bringing New World to 3rd place on Steam
- 66% of you find the beta good, even if some minor issues are annoying
- Here on MeinMMO, New World is currently one of the biggest and hottest topics
The numbers are nice, but they still fall far short of the millions of World of Warcraft players. “Why do you claim New World could kill WoW?!” – Excellent question and one that will require a longer answer.
First of all: New World and World of Warcraft are fundamentally different. So much so that after my nearly 30 hours in beta, I would argue that New World isn’t even an MMORPG in the strict sense. Therefore, here is a brief explanation.
New World and WoW are actually two fundamentally different games
The new MMO never had the ambition to become one of the famous “WoW-killers.” New World is not a classic MMORPG, but mixes many classic characteristics of RPGs, MMOs, and survival games to expand them with PvP and PvE content.
Accordingly, there are hardly any similarities in gameplay. New World has no classes, little story, and no different races. WoW has massive raids and is based on a gigantic world that has already been elaborated in dozens of books and other literary works.
Nevertheless, there are certain commonalities that are not immediately obvious. These are important when considering why and how New World could indeed be a WoW-killer.
New World is more like WoW Classic
New World addresses the content that players experienced back in Classic and later in Burning Crusade quite precisely. Amazons MMO is simply slower, takes longer, and is also somewhat simplified:
- Quests are rather flat, mostly just: “Go there, kill X and collect Y” – and that again and again
- Crafting has an extremely high value, so much so that some of the best items are only created through crafting and grind
- The paths are long, and you endlessly run from A to B
- Classes or their substitutes are relatively simple, utilizing not too many abilities but differing significantly in gameplay
All points apply to both games. The fact that there are many players who enjoy the “WoW of the past” is clearly shown by the success of WoW Classic. And finally, the first expansion “The Burning Crusade” has even been re-released.
New World can therefore definitely cater to the “core” of WoW and excite players who have been in the game for at least several years. Long-term WoW players, like streamer shroud, believe that New World will succeed where WoW failed.
However, the more important thing is that New World is launching right now.
The ideal time to dethrone WoW
MMORPG players have been waiting for new content for years. Although there have been new releases from Asia, Western developers have not announced anything for a long time or have postponed games.
Now, in 2021, there is finally a decent influx. First, a new PvP MMORPG was released with Crowfall, and now a new MMO is coming with New World, which also addresses MMORPG players.
Overall, 4 new MMORPGs have already been released in 2021 that could potentially compete for WoW players.
MMO drought makes WoW vulnerable
In the long time before, there has been no large selection of MMORPGs with many players, at least not in the West. We primarily had:
- WoW as the huge reigning champion
- Final Fantasy XIV as a “western” Asian MMO and competitor
- ESO and Guild Wars 2 with significantly fewer players
- smaller competitors and niche games like Neverwinter and Lord of the Rings Online
While the big titles continually received expansions, updates, and content, they remained the same games. There was a lack of fresh ideas and MMOs that could hold players for long.
New World fulfills this need now.
Shortly after the beta started, something was added that probably nobody expected, but which could unexpectedly strengthen New World: a huge scandal.
Blizzard is harming itself, and it won’t get better
At the moment, Blizzard is dealing with allegations of sexual harassment and a toxic work environment. This all began with a lawsuit by the state of California against the company.
Within days, this conflict grew and took on larger proportions:
- Icons like Chris Metzen spoke out, saying: “We have failed”
- Videos from 10 years ago are haunting the executives
- more than 1,500 employees are standing against Blizzard
- work on WoW is even said to be completely at a standstill during this time
The WoW players are also reacting to the developments and the information they can catch. Many are upset; some are even starting demonstrations, in which they kill certain NPCs to make a statement.
The atmosphere is quite heated, and a significant problem may be that it already was. There have been repeated complaints about the new expansion Shadowlands and the current patch 9.1, the systems and features, or the technical condition.
This has led to several thousand players looking elsewhere – and finding something.
No MMO can kill WoW alone, but New World has help
Traditionally, no MMO has ever succeeded in “killing” WoW. One of the most famous “WoW-killers” was WildStar, which itself did not survive long. The problem with these games has always been that they wanted to defeat WoW at its own game: PvE content and gameplay.
In this respect, Blizzard has so many years of experience that it is hardly possible. The foundation on which new content for WoW is developed is already at such a high level that new games do not even need to try.
In fact, this “emulation” is one of the reasons why WoW-killers nearly killed the entire genre, as MMO guru Gordon Walton said.
However, New World is not trying to do just that but is pursuing its own approach. This alone is not enough to claw away the massive player base of WoW, but Amazon has help.
FFXIV catches disappointed players
The dissatisfaction has recently driven many thousands of players to Final Fantasy XIV. It started with big streamers like Asmongold, whose communities followed more and more players.
Final Fantasy has become a refuge for disappointed WoW players, growing steadily and even breaking some records. For a while, conversations in both communities were dominated by discussions about the games.
This ignited repeated disputes between fans of both games, which dominated the communities on both sides. But even if the players could not agree on which MMORPG is better, it is clear: FFXIV has gained many new players – so many that the CEO has even apologized for the success.
Final Fantasy itself could, just like New World, never kill WoW alone. The games differ too much, and sooner or later, most WoW players will return. At least for the moment, however, they are gone, and that could be enough for the “beginning of the end.”
If WoW dies, it will take a few years
Both New World and Final Fantasy, along with the sexism issue, are currently gnawing at World of Warcraft. None of them alone could bring WoW down, but all of them together certainly could.
However, Blizzard’s flagship will not be shut down overnight. If WoW dies, this process will take a long time, surely several years. Right now, however, the foundation for this is being laid.
Many core gamers have migrated to Final Fantasy but will return when they realize they do not find the same thrill there. However, when they want to come back, it is quite possible that the World of Warcraft they knew no longer exists.
New World will certainly be able to siphon off some of the old players as well as casuals, causing the WoW communities to shrink further. In the worst case, the guilds have disbanded, and the FFXIV returnees might suddenly be homeless.
In addition, Blizzard has already suffered damage to its image due to the scandal, from which recovery will take a lot of time and even more work.
This might even be the wake-up call that Blizzard needs to redirect WoW and still “save” it. But if any game is going to be able to dethrone WoW, then it is New World, and only right now – even if some players believe it is not yet ready:
Twitch streamer complains: “New World is not ready for release” – plays for hours anyway
