WoW did one thing that every game since has introduced, and that's the ability to quest through the game rather than blindly grinding the next dungeon for EXP. They made gear easy to get, raids smaller, PvP bigger, and introduced an auction house. Battlegrounds allow you to play FPS style games like capture the flag and battlefield style point holding. Lore was more easily found, and already well known from the Warcraft games. Down time while soloing was practically removed entirely, and soloing was possible by all classes, not just select casters. The game was simply much more user friendly, you could pick it up and play for a few minutes and actually accomplish something worthwhile. For the casual gamer, which is a much larger percentage of the pool of gamers, WoW was the best, easy to pick up, easy to solo when you can't play long enough to form a group, and easy to form a group when you do want one.
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