Why hasn't there been any equivalent of exploring Azeroth for the first time, in any game in the last 20 years? Is the ability to create massive, immersive worlds in video games just a lost art at this point?

>>714099980 (OP)
Lightning in a bottle. It was the first MMO experience for most people and it was a good one at that.

>>714099980 (OP)
Wayward Realms could be good

>>714100247
I don't think that's the reason why the world is so immersive. Someone could be playing WoW for the first time in 2025 and still be blown away by the exploration in the game. Nothing else even comes close.

>>714100247
I played Anarchy Online, Planetside, and a few other MMOs before WoW. WoW was totally different. It felt truly immersive and massive.

>>714100353
This, playing it with my zoomer gf and its her first time and shes having a blast

>>714099980 (OP)
we had this thread yesterday but one reason is that WoW has two giant factions, and it also has multiple starting locations with choosing your own race and class on top of that
most giant open-world games have you play as a set character like Geralt or Link, and basically all of them have you start in the exact same place every playthrough; you can't just create a new character and adventure on the other side of the planet seeing entirely new things

>>714099980 (OP)
because you don't play video games anymore

>>714100353
Meh. I didn't even complete the free stuff

>>714100263
That shit isn't real, never was, never will be

>buy wow in 2007
>roll a hunter and start questing in the nelf start area
>bump into another lowbie and quest together for a while
>chatting about where to go and what there is in thew world, he asks if ive made the trek to ironforge yet which i havent
>spend the next 2 hours making the long journey through multiple different zones chatting and joking all the way
>finally get there and im blown away by the scale of it, walking up the path into this huge city built into a mountain, and how alive it all feels with so many people milling around, how active the chat was in the city, just everthing.
>hang out for a bit then he says theres another city nearby called stormwind we could see too, either we take the tram or trek it again.
>off we went for another hour

never experienced anythin like it in videogames before or since, it instantly ruined pretty much all games/real life for me for years. Havent played in near 5 years now but I still every now and then get the urge to give it a go. Hard to see the point now im an old man with a family and work commitments though.

I played asherons call 2 and it was also massive. Less polished, but exploring felt fun there. Its just that everything gets overanalyzed so quickly now. And it feels more or less like a requirement. Everything needs to be as efficient as possible. Little room for failing. Which makes things feel more guarded, more stream lined

>>714100504
this
the starting areas are a big difference to other rpgs and what's playing into "massiveness" of the world
this feels like 6 games in 1 (6 starting areas)

while in elder scrolls games as massive and open as they are, they always assume you're the same kind of faggot starting at the same place

>>714099980 (OP)
What I don't understand is how they are unable to do this again as a seasonal thing

>>714099980 (OP)
Every nu-game has to be "different" and "original", it's "bad" to combine and perfect the good ideas. Classic wow was pleasant to look at and easy to navigate with big planes that didn't lock you in tight corridors and It also didn't feel like parts of the zones existed because they needed mobs to kill but rather good world building. It doesn't matter anymore, gaming is over anyways.