General Discussion

In his MMOWTF column this week, Dan Fortier takes a look back at the year 2007 and some of the news stories that dominated MMO headlines.

Actually I lied...it’s only the end of the year. You can call shenanigans on my little hyperbole there if you like. Now that I’m fat with the Christmas ham and spoiled by the awesome presents, I can get back to work making enemies in my weekly column. Let’s all take a moment or two and share the fond and horrible memories of the year that was 2007.

It seems like the year just started, but as it comes to a close and I look back at the stories that made me laugh and cringe, there really is quite a lot that happened. The year started off with the release of the Burning Crusade that had been delayed from its original release date. This obviously didn’t hurt the sales figures at all as it broke several records on its first day tally of 2.4 million copies sold worldwide. Staggering as that number is, it pales in comparison to the first bid by William Shatner’s agent when he was approached about doing a WoW commercial. (“But....I’ve...never even.....played an online game.....before!”)

Over the course of the year Blizzard made headlines again several times when they sued a RMT company called Peons4Hire over spam tells being used to advertise their gold-selling and power-leveling services. We all know Blizzard hates those farmers, but its interesting that they chose not to sue them over RMT directly but another TOS/EULA violation instead. Perhaps their high priced lawyers found some kind of legal ground to stand on finally. They followed this up later in the year by announcing a merger with Activision and dropped the word about another MMO in the works in the coming years. That’s all for your yearly WoWWTF, We now return you to your regularly scheduled Year End review.

Read it all here.

I like the Trade Mark next to "The vision" lol.

"Sony Online took the reins of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes this year bringing an end to the Sigil led development cycle. Unfortunately the Vision™ was obscured with a blindfold and a cigar and ultimately shot dead by the firing squad of an unfinished launch."

I lol'd.

After that they took this vision and put it on lifesupport... after a few amputations... just to continue the suffering. Vanguard,  Neo, and Chewy are now all roommates.

"In related news, CEO of SOE, John Smedley offered an apology for the NGE while stating that to change back to the old system would be just as unfair. Although the people burning for their sins in Hell were thanking him for the change of weather, I doubt it did little to appease those unhappy with change in the first place. All that toxic sludge might go under the bridge if the rumors of a new Star Wars franchise emerge...Here’s to hoping for a light at the end of that tunnel."

When change comes way by means of a lobotomy then I'm sure people are going to be unhappy. I for one think change is good when it's positive. Maybe we need a change in writer of this column, as that sounds positive to me.

If you are going to talk about this past  year, you seem to have missed the only major MMO that was released successfully this year, Lord of the Rings Online.

While I am not a subscriber, it was launched probably as smoothly as any MMO ever.  While not everyone's cup of tea it is still a very significant MMO in the genre today and it was a mistake to ignore it.

I think you should also have addressed the bombardment of the industry with all the free to play asian MMO's.  Also a very significant factor.

Originally posted by Dwarfman420

"Sony Online took the reins of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes this year bringing an end to the Sigil led development cycle. Unfortunately the Vision™ was obscured with a blindfold and a cigar and ultimately shot dead by the firing squad of an unfinished launch."

I lol'd.

After that they took this vision and put it on lifesupport... after a few amputations... just to continue the suffering. Vanguard,  Neo, and Chewy are now all roommates.

Originally posted by Suvroc

"In related news, CEO of SOE, John Smedley offered an apology for the NGE while stating that to change back to the old system would be just as unfair. Although the people burning for their sins in Hell were thanking him for the change of weather, I doubt it did little to appease those unhappy with change in the first place. All that toxic sludge might go under the bridge if the rumors of a new Star Wars franchise emerge...Here’s to hoping for a light at the end of that tunnel."

 

When change comes way by means of a lobotomy then I'm sure people are going to be unhappy. I for one think change is good when it's positive. Maybe we need a change in writer of this column, as that sounds positive to me.

The best change John Smedley could offer to SOE or to the MMO industry is to exit both.

They could easily do classic servers without "unfairly" taking the NGE away from the 25 people who would still play it the day after they opened.  There isn't a rational argument against Pre-NGE servers because it's the fairest option. 

Of course the real reasons why they don't are twofold:

1. Smed and company would be embarassed because ANY opening of classic servers WILL result in a de facto rollback because the NGE servers will empty.  Completely.  They simply won't risk that.

2. The (current) SWG Dev team isn't capable of maintaining an online version of rock-paper-scissors much less a complex skills based MMO.

Originally posted by Ozmodan

If you are going to talk about this past  year, you seem to have missed the only major MMO that was released successfully this year, Lord of the Rings Online.

While I am not a subscriber, it was launched probably as smoothly as any MMO ever.  While not everyone's cup of tea it is still a very significant MMO in the genre today and it was a mistake to ignore it.

I think you should also have addressed the bombardment of the industry with all the free to play asian MMO's.  Also a very significant factor.

LOTRO is most signicant not for the fact that it's a success (by pre-WoW standards), but in that  it is proof that the "let's clone WoW and get  millions of subscribers" concept that has the whole MMO industry on a death spiral right now is invalid.

Sure, LOTRO is a decent game, but it's WoW with a Tolkien skin.  Well done and polished WoW clone+HUGELY popular IP= 300-400K subs.  THAT is what is scaring everyone else who are working on their pet WoW clone project that isn't based on such a popular IP...

The other two notable WoW clones in development are WAR and AOC.  One wonders if part of the reason for their delay is that the publishers have been smart enough to recognize this and are making their games less so, because if both those games fail, the idea that WoW clone=World Domination is deader than the Charleston.

2008 is going to be a very interesting year.  And I seem to be alone in predicting that it is going to be a VERY bloody year for the industry as startups like PE die at an accelerating rate, and that even longime players (like SOE) may not even survive.  The VC money is drying up now that the rose bloom is off the WoW clone.

2008 is going to be very much like the 2001 "Dot Bomb" for this industry.

There simply are too many games that are out or in development that are TOO similar chasing too few potential customers. 

Very good review of the past year in MMORPGs and the various noteworthy events.   It's easy to lose track of some of the stories (like the Dark and Light fiasco) but this was a nice summary.

Although I do agree with other posters that Lord of the Rings should have gotten some mention particularly when Turbine's CEO got fired, seemingly for c