To someone new, it would be too overwhelming.

Yeah I get the feeling it is in its dying stages kinda like EQ years ago.

For as many hours as you'll log playing it, it's a very good balance of sophistication and simplicity. It's complex enough to stay interesting, simple enough to figure out what the heck you're doing after a while.

not to sure about wow being to complex. I actually see it as the opposite.
If your a new player, your focus in the game is actually to see all the cool new lands and actually experience the leveling path. Your not attempting to rush to 80, or micromanaging stats. In that regard it has become easier and dare i say, more fun.
Leveling through tarren mill/alterac mountains is a good example of this. It used to be populated with elite ogres which took a group to kill and even then it wasn't a sure thing. Now, you can solo the place easily. Also, a lot of the old world is much less populated, leading to a character being able to see everything without having to worry about being ganked all the time.
I've noticed the difference no my alts and it's huge. I'll actually quest in stv and tarren mill now, where as before, never.

Define complex because I'm failing to understand what in this game meets my definition.

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Q u o t e:
Yeah I get the feeling it is in its dying stages kinda like EQ years ago.

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lmao, WoW isn't going anywhere for a long, long time buddy.

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Q u o t e:
For as many hours as you'll log playing it, it's a very good balance of sophistication and simplicity. It's complex enough to stay interesting, simple enough to figure out what the heck you're doing after a while.

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Exactly, and with all the help, stickies, websites, links, armory and whatnot...its as hard as you want to make it.

WoW is simple

WoW Forums are complex.

As long as the newbie stays away from forums and min/max guides they will love the game. Once they get used to the game and understand the mechanics then they should jump online and upgrade their character via min/maxing strats.

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Q u o t e:
Yeah I get the feeling it is in its dying stages kinda like EQ years ago.

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EQ just put out another xpac. Long lingering death I suppose.

Game is only complex if you try to min-max or to play Arenas.

It's fun if you only play to have fun.

Complex? Are you kidding me? This game is so simplistic for a MMORPG it's ridiculous. Blizzard practically holds your hand throughout the entire leveling process and with things such as Thottbot, Wowhead and Quest Helper/Carbonite, you can level without putting anything in but time.

Play EQ. Even better, play it when it was at the beginning stages, then come back.

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Q u o t e:
Define complex because I'm failing to understand what in this game meets my definition.

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Complex, defined as : "where the heck should I go to optimize my playtime for maximum reward?"

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Q u o t e:


its as hard as you want to make it.

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Possibly the answer right there.

In the realm of PvP, it does get complex. Most spells that become added with each expansion or patch are usually in attempts to make PvP more dynamic and expanding. PvE is still fairly simple, I don't think any class/spec uses more than 4-5 spells during a raid, which is reasonable (having raided with shaman, DK, rogue, priest, druid, and mage so far). PvP on the other hand makes use of a greater arsenal of abilities, especially reactionary and defensive cooldowns that might not see much use in PvE.

PvE is pretty easy for anyone to pick up, especially with all the guides that tell you exactly how to play your toon: gems, glyphs, stats, spell rotation, etc. That's all mapped out and all you need to do is be aware of the encounter for the most part.

It's only as hard as you make it out to be.

I just did RaF and leveled side by side with a new player and introduced the game to my boss nad he plays now and did it all on his own but we talk about the game a lot and here are my thoughts on this:

1) The game has a learning curve but to level and even run a few dungeons here and there the game is simple enough to figure out to play but then gets complicated when you want to excel and be a good player.

2) The game gives you new skills and abilities and quest lines the way it does for a reason, to get a few more things to experiment with and enjoy every few levels.

3) Since Vanilla WoW was new to my friend, he didn't feel a huge rush to get to the end and get uber loots, he enjoyed leveling with me and really liked exploring and experiencing Azeroth.

4) It is getting overwhelming to roll alts because we know everything we are going to have to do to level, gear, enchant, gem, profession, raid the char just t o be a good alt but new players don't think like this until they start rolling alts.

TLDR - I don't think its too horribly overwhelming yet and the game paces the learning curve well enough to go from simple to complex as you level.

I feel that the level of complexity really differs on play style and level.

Complexity gives rise to emergent behavior.

That's when the *really* fascinating stuff happens.