Just curious,
Blizzard devs will be keeping an eye on "competition" games like AoC and especially this one, WAR. I am wondering if they are going to re-think WotLK and see if they cant "revamp" thier game to keep the hardcore players interested and potentially attract new players - the problem with WotlK is that it is only geared for high end - they need new races and starting areas to attrack new players - or are they just biding time with thier "Secret MMO" being WoW 2 - making it gameplay and graphics better than AoC and WAR combined? I know this is a WAR forum, but am wondering what the WAR fans have to think about this!?!

To be honest, I don't think those games can be considered as any greater threat against Blizzard. Maybe WAR, but certainly not AOC. Time will tell.

Blizz will definately keep an eye out on the current market and future. But to change wotlk its too late for that now. But they  a new class, DK, is coming out with wotlk,  pvp area with sieges ect.... So i think they are kinda being influence/countering the release of War and also hearing the players cries for a new class....

They already have two new race for their last x-pac.

And dont forget, blizz keeps adding new content with each patches, so they can cpntinue to improve the game as and when they deem fit.

 Ultimatly they still have their new mmo coming, which i believe will not only try to do better than War or AoC, if AoC continue ti improve, but also other mmo coming out in future, eg. bioware mmo.

To be honest I could care less what Blizzard does nowadays and the only quality game they are creating right now that I would want to get is D3.  Even then they are screwing it over with WoW like graphics and having it influenced with horrible art styles like unrealistically large swords and crap like that.

Originally posted by KnightHawk63

To be honest I could care less what Blizzard does nowadays and the only quality game they are creating right now that I would want to get is D3.  Even then they are screwing it over with WoW like graphics and having it influenced with horrible art styles like unrealistically large swords and crap like that.

WoW is a fantasy game, so unrealistic dosent really fit in here. For the graphic and art style, we've been thru it thousand of times.... let it rest.......

Blizzard is a business, they will be watching. They pretty much set the standard so my guess is new stuff and better things to come.

I usually judge games by how fun they are to play rather then if the swords are unrealistic. If the game is fun, I don't really care if the graphics are that bad. Wow has a unique art style found in all the warcraft games.

The reason D3 has similar art styles and the same reason it took forever to come out is because the orginal devs broke off and made Flagship.

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Originally posted by Elsabolts
Blizzard is a business, they will be watching. They pretty much set the standard so my guess is new stuff and better things to come.

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If by set the standard you mean took everything everyone else had done before and slapped a new name on it yeap!

Blizzard will continue to drag down pvp into smaller and smaller areas and these esports events. I am sure someone will like it but I am not one of them. I started playing WoW because I thought it was going to be like DAoC... large scale world pvp... boy was that ever wrong. It's more like EQ1 with the worst parts of Quake thrown in.

I don't think World of Warcraft has the agility to adjust itself to compete with new competition - the thing about the 10 tonne elephant in the room is he can't turn around :P

World of Warcraft is what it is and I don't think it'll change much. 

Originally posted by RJO_

I don't think World of Warcraft has the agility to adjust itself to compete with new competition - the thing about the 10 tonne elephant in the room is he can't turn around :P

World of Warcraft is what it is and I don't think it'll change much. 

You got it...it is what it is.

No,i have actually mentioned this before.Blizzard is a follower weather blizzard fans like to admit it or not.They will only copy some one else's success.Or they will rehash old games they feel they can muster enough of a following just from old blizzard fans.Stuff like starcraft /diablo they might re vamp ,otherwise they will wait and follow up on someone else idea,as they did with EQ.

Remember when everything blizzard was free to play on there F2P network?[battle.net ]i believe it was called,well soon they saw SOE charging and making money off of EQ,they decided hey maybe we can make money off the same idea.They quickly put together WOW,and although it was inferior to EQ,it soon gathered a craze of followers that soon snowballed as everyone and there friends were following each other into the game.

Blizzard is at the point now ,where they have to charge for everything they make,there overhead is just too massive.So putting out an inferior product now will hurt them badly.Now is a very bad time to put out inferior products because so much of the gaming public is MUCH more knowledgeable than when WOW came out.At that point most gamers still had only seen stuff for consoles and were awestruck by anything that came out,not the case anymore.

To sum it up,do NOT expect anything ground breaking or unique to come out of the blizzard camp,you can bet on it.

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Originally posted by laresloci

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Originally posted by RJO_

I don't think World of Warcraft has the agility to adjust itself to compete with new competition - the thing about the 10 tonne elephant in the room is he can't turn around :P
World of Warcraft is what it is and I don't think it'll change much.

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You got it...it is what it is.

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I disagree. I think Blizzard has given WoW the flexibility to do whatever they want with the game. Originally PvP wasn't even in the game, and now it's a huge part and hosts its own tournaments. They can turn the game around in the blink of an eye, and nullify everything in the past if they have to. I think they have proven that to us by now.

As to whether or not they will, I don't think so. No game has come anywhere close to even threatening to affect WoW's userbase, so they won't need to. Current devs just don't understand what it is that makes people play WoW.

I Switched to VG recently and played WOW before. I would have to say Blizz feels the presure. In the last few patches WOW has got easier and easier each patch. Now they changed mounts from lev 40 to 30 and cheaper. So that means more people leveling faster.

People have said the Blizz is a company and companies need to make money. More people they can get to 70 the more people that stick around for the expansion.

Originally posted by arctarus

Originally posted by KnightHawk63

To be honest I could care less what Blizzard does nowadays and the only quality game they are creating right now that I would want to get is D3.  Even then they are screwing it over with WoW like graphics and having it influenced with horrible art styles like unrealistically large swords and crap like that.

WoW is a fantasy game, so unrealistic dosent really fit in here. For the graphic and art style, we've been thru it thousand of times.... let it rest.......

Reread what I wrote before you make me look like I'm bashing WAR, thanks.

Originally posted by Celestian

 

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Originally posted by Elsabolts
Blizzard is a business, they will be watching. They pretty much set the standard so my guess is new stuff and better things to come.

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If by set the standard you mean took everything everyone else had done before and slapped a new name on it yeap!

Blizzard will continue to drag down pvp into smaller and smaller areas and these esports events. I am sure someone will like it but I am not one of them. I started playing WoW because I thought it was going to be like DAoC... large scale world pvp... boy was that ever wrong. It's more like EQ1 with the worst parts of Quake thrown in.

 

Yup, Blizzard just slapped their name on the same ideas used a bunch of times before and has 10 Million players while everyone else has a fraction of that=)  Ya sure.  For some reason, BIGGER names like StarWars, Matrix and LOTR together couldn't manage to muster up those numbers.  Stupid me=)

WoW survives because teh devs are intelligent.

When Vanguard announced flying mounts they released bunring crusade and epic flying mounts,

War announces they are going to have world seiges, lich king announces similar features.

WoW does what all mmos should be doing, expanding their games so it can keep up with the future of mmos. MMO are supposed to be games played for years, people shouldnt be looking for the next mmo every year. 

All these retarded threads about the next WoW killer, and stupid shit like this thread im replying to now are pointless... the only WoW killer, is WoW, and that goes for all other mmos. The only way an mmo can die is if the dev team kills it. By not releasing a good game, or by making no effort to keeping the game up to speed with the current demands of the community.

Its the reason why WoW does better then EQ2, lineage 2 etc. and there are a few othrs. There are a lot of MMOs with potential to be as good as wow, but a lot of them wont make the little changes requried to draw in the masses.

What have we learned from WoW? -

- People like to Quest

- People like to party

- People like to raid

- People dont want to raid if it takes more then 25 people

- People like pvp

- People like to have something to show when they pvp

- people want braging rights

- people like being able to see their characters when they are offline

- people like to level up

- People have no interest in spending 2 years just to hit max level

- people love hitting max level in 3 weeks to 1 month

- people easily forget that taking 2 years to get a full set of epic armor is the same as spending 2 years to hit max level

- thuus .. people prefer end game item farming instead of farming to get to end game.

- people love auction houses, so much so that any new mmo that doesnt have one is an instant fail

- people need class diversity,   and skill diversity.

- people like character customization, but not as much as class and skill diversity, if there was a choice between the 3, character customization would be at the bottom.

- People like fast paced combat

- people like full control over their UI

There is a hell of  alot more, but if you look at what ive listed and ask yourslef, did wow create these features? hell no, they took them from other games. Like final fantasy , everquest, vanguard, city of heroes, etc etc.  and thats how it should be really.

Find the features that other players are willing to drop your game for and add them to your game before they decide to leave. Lets face it, if people can do what they see in another game in their current game why the hell would they want to change game.

Nothing was taken from age of conan because it has nothing worth taking and nothing that can translate into wow use.

I dont play wow anymore, but i do follow their updates, trust me, whe warhammer and aion come closer to launch, you will see a lot more of those features making their way into wow gameplay, if they can work in WoW they will be put into WoW.

And im telling you from now, Warhammer is very player specific, that game is made for the pvp'er /  casual pvper, and if it steals any portion of WoWs player base, thats the portion it will steal. Yoou dont have to be in beta to see that. If you dont enjoy pvp, you probably arent going to like Warhammer int he long run.

You make some points. Though a lot are obvious or points that are more for people starting out in MMO's. Unfortunetly WOW did not start any of those points. They maybe polished a few, but never started them. I have said this before, but WOW has changed a lot in the last year or two. Sadly it has changed to the worse.

Blizzard has no competition LOL

Originally posted by Wizardry

No,i have actually mentioned this before.Blizzard is a follower weather blizzard fans like to admit it or not.They will only copy some one else's success.Or they will rehash old games they feel they can muster enough of a following just from old blizzard fans.Stuff like starcraft /diablo they might re vamp ,otherwise they will wait and follow up on someone else idea,as they did with EQ.

Remember when everything blizzard was free to play on there F2P network?[battle.net ]i believe it was called,well soon they saw SOE charging and making money off of EQ,they decided hey maybe we can make money off the same idea.They quickly put together WOW,and although it was inferior to EQ,it soon gathered a craze of followers that soon snowballed as everyone and there friends were following each other into the game.

Blizzard is at the point now ,where they have to charge for everything they make,there overhead is just too massive.So putting out an inferior product now will hurt them badly.Now is a very bad time to put out inferior products because so much of the gaming public is MUCH more knowledgeable than when WOW came out.At that point most gamers still had only seen stuff for consoles and were awestruck by anything that came out,not the case anymore.

To sum it up,do NOT expect anything ground breaking or unique to come out of the blizzard camp,you can bet on it.

What I can't for the life of me understand is how the REST of the MMO industry can screw up this so simple plan to have 10 million subscribers?  I mean c'mon, how tough is it to take a great game or 2, change a few things here and there, slap your name on it and sell millions?  I mean WTF are these other developers doing?  OMG it can't get any easier than this.  Why are they waisting millions of dollars on games like Conan and Vanguard when all they have to do is reverse engineer the best ideas from all the existing games and slap their name on it?  What are you THINKING Funcom?  What are you THINKING Sigil?  What are you THINKING Mythic?  Did you miss the memo?  Here it is RIGHT HERE!!!! This guy spells it out for you in 4 paragraphs and he's not even a developer!!!!  You IDIOTS!!!!!

/sarcasm off