Grouping isn't required to level no, but it IS required to do any of the end game content. Dungions like Molten Core, Blackwing Lair, and AQ require well organized groups of about 40 people. This is where good guild structuring comes into play.
In WoW it seems the thing is you level to 60 mostly solo, learn what the hell your doing with your class, then if your lucky you can do end game content with a guild.
If you can make a high level in 1 min, that's great, but you have nothing invested in it, hence no false sense of accomplishment, and thus quick boredom/burnout. Ever used cheat codes for a game only to stop playing it a day or two later? The reason WoW is doing well is because people feel like they are doing something, like they are accomplishing something. Without that false sense of accomplishment, WoW would crash and burn fast.
They looked at the market and saw that things like a false sense of accomplishment, character customization, group activity, and the ability to easily edit the UI, and a complex storyline that you can either dive into or completely ignore and still love the game, and more and more content provided via free patches. These were things that people had craved and loved and begged for for years. So they rolled them all up into one game.
To other developers: Don't complain about it, make something better. Trust me if you make a super badass game, people will buy it. If your game isn't selling, it just might not be as cool as you think. Or in the words of WoW players:
Cry more noob. Learn2Develop
I tried a few versions of gimp just for fun a while back. My problem was I could not get it to recognize the pressure sensitivity from my tablet, turning my tablet into a very expensive mouse. That problem alone makes the gimp pretty worthless to me. It should be noted I'm not a professional, art is just my hobby.
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Grouping isn't required to level no, but it IS required to do any of the end game content. Dungions like Molten Core, Blackwing Lair, and AQ require well organized groups of about 40 people. This is where good guild structuring comes into play. In WoW it seems the thing is you level to 60 mostly solo, learn what the hell your doing with your class, then if your lucky you can do end game content with a guild.
If you can make a high level in 1 min, that's great, but you have nothing invested in it, hence no false sense of accomplishment, and thus quick boredom/burnout. Ever used cheat codes for a game only to stop playing it a day or two later? The reason WoW is doing well is because people feel like they are doing something, like they are accomplishing something. Without that false sense of accomplishment, WoW would crash and burn fast.
They looked at the market and saw that things like a false sense of accomplishment, character customization, group activity, and the ability to easily edit the UI, and a complex storyline that you can either dive into or completely ignore and still love the game, and more and more content provided via free patches. These were things that people had craved and loved and begged for for years. So they rolled them all up into one game. To other developers: Don't complain about it, make something better. Trust me if you make a super badass game, people will buy it. If your game isn't selling, it just might not be as cool as you think. Or in the words of WoW players: Cry more noob. Learn2Develop
Which is why I forked over for photoshop. Via the old stock and upgrade route.
I tried a few versions of gimp just for fun a while back. My problem was I could not get it to recognize the pressure sensitivity from my tablet, turning my tablet into a very expensive mouse. That problem alone makes the gimp pretty worthless to me. It should be noted I'm not a professional, art is just my hobby.