State Of The MMORPG

Hmmmm... I keep hearing ramblings of the new Conan game from Funcom. What's with the sudden hype? Is it the release of the beta that creates a general interest? Perhaps the release of the game on both PC and Console (360) provides a greater depth to the possible community of players... And we all know that more players equals more fun, amirite? Maybe it's none of those things. Maybe everyone's just grown tired of WoW and are in desperate need of a new way to live their life - play their game. Did I say live their life?

I'm going to put it on the table now. What is the current state of the MMORPG? With WoW subscriptions setting records, is it possible for any other game in the genre to overtake the mammoth? Are any new games adding features that might drastically change the experience of social games like Age of Conan and World of Warcraft? Judging from the hype of Age of Conan, I'm thinking the answer is yes.

[Age of Conan]