Let’s face it: World of Warcraft is the standard to which other newly minted MMO’s are compared. It’s the elephant in every room in every competing developers office. Because, as we’ve no choice but admit, every other major MMO is competing with WoW. Sure, to some extent with each other as well, but the prize is the amazing subscriber numbers that Blizzard has been able to amass. While we’ve seemed to move on past the point where every significant launch is heralded as the ‘death knell of WoW’ (Aion, Rift, SWTOR, etc), there’s always still that cautious eye raised towards the king of the mountain. Will it be dethroned or will the latest challenger fail to even shake its lofty perch? Of course, even with its pet behemoth, Blizzard has to be concerned when a new contender arises. And they’d be fools to not take a few preemptive strikes… (more…)