Multiplayer has a unique aspect A.I. just can't accomplish, direct interaction and unpredictability. Till HAL 2000 can think and respond like any human, multiplayer will definately be king to any games criteria Also, I was one of those kids last to be picked for a team in school. Multiplayer allows anyone that games the same chance as the next guy whethher he is disabled, obese or just plain ugly, to join a team and prove him/herself. In these cash strapped times, pay to play is a stretch or even unavailable to some loyal gamers. I was hooked into the Blizzard franchise for over 3 years . After the purchase, fees and upgrades totaling up to be too costly to justify any game, I will not pay to play ever again.

after playing with somewhat dated hardware 6 months after wow's release, athlon thunderbird 1.2G, ati 9000 pro and 1G sdram, I noticed better visual and detail stimulation but no improvement on game play upon upgrading to a newer "mid-range" system. I now run a meager athlon 2.2G (oc'd to 2.6G), ati radeon X700 Pro and 512Mhz of DDR. like I said it didn't improve game play, but the visuals and detail were even more stunning running max everything. on a side note: half-life2, battlefield2, farcry and a couple other resource hogs improved greatly and gameplay became more fluid with settings boosted to max. I don't need the latest / greatest system like some folks do to feel better than the average geek. careful planning and thorough investigation of components will yield a better than average mid range system stepping lightly into "hi-end" territory for a fraction of the cost (latest upgrade including mobo was about $550 and i run 4 HDD's with that meager set up).