Doom of World of Warcraft?

I found an interesting article today about the World of Warcraft and the possibility of it becoming a long term success. There is no question about its initial success, however its long term success is in question due to several issues that the article talks about. For example: Levelling is too easy, Soloing content is too easy, and lack of complex socialization in the game.

While I do not know if I agree with everything in the article, after having played WoW since its release I do agree that the socialization aspect is not there to the degree that it is in some of the other very successful online games. The article is well worth checking out, and I would be very interested in hearing comments from other players regarding it. I have setup a forum thread to discuss it here.

World of Warcraft is a tremendously successful game. Its subscriber numbers are reaching peaks that threaten even the lofty Korean Internet Café centered Lineage series. Those of you who are stuck behind overloaded servers, don't despair: I can see WoW's success as being a very temporary thing. What's the matter, Geldonyetich, afraid of a little success?

For a moment, forget about subscriptions numbers. It's hard to determine how accurate they are anyway. Instead, let us talk game design and how this contributes to retention.

The complete article can be read here.