Exactly.  If Blizzard would make a MMO that isn't simplified, dumbed down, and made easier at the whim of whiners then maybe they'd have a winning product like they did when world of warcraft FIRST launched.  When I play I'm not looking for the epic level god mode difficulty but when I go through the entire game to lvl 70 get bored sell my account, and then later get a new account and go wow WTH are they doing making it easier...it was SIMPLE the first time.  If people think they need a speedy way to max level then they are not enjoying the game and just trying to be the *best* and that is why you get these people at really high level who can't do an instance as they have no clue what they are doing.  When asked how they got to where they were...oh I have friends who helped me level.  Also, they need to implement Everquest's skill up system for weapons and stuff, power leveled people by friends would then have a hell of a time leveling their weapons on stuff that might give them xp.  It's just my two cents, take it or leave it, but seriously, look at Eve Online, they make the tutorial clearer to understand and that part simplified which is great, and give people a few bonuses early on, but then it's all gritty hard spend time to skill up in real time.  That game is great for those who like spaceship combat and aren't as good at twitch gaming like some people are.  So there are good things about world of warcraft and bad things, and we all differ on which things are good and bad.  Me, WoW is just bad, it was great, then it got ok then they might have just prepackaged a pile of dog crap and put it on shelves with WOLTK.

Hopefully Blizzard rips off some Ultima VII, The Black Gate & Serpent Isle lore and gameplay off, along with what was good about UO, basically the exact opposite of Wow, a game that actually has depth, but knowing blizz I won't hold my breath

Originally posted by Razimus

Hopefully Blizzard rips off some Ultima VII, The Black Gate & Serpent Isle lore and gameplay off, along with what was good about UO, basically the exact opposite of Wow, a game that actually has depth, but knowing blizz I won't hold my breath

What ever Blizzard has decided to do, its likely to be rather successful(in terms of profit).  The Ultima series was a great deal of fun, its too bad that UO turned in to such a total gankfest.   As for "depth", that doesn't tend to be what the mass market  finds appealing. They obviously like WoW, or Blizzard wouldn't have close to 12 million players as we approach WoW's 5th year.  For all of WoW's faults(which are legion) its still a good game up to level cap.  Then its only raiding and/or PvP.

Originally posted by darkbladed

I hate when people say "warcraft is a ripoff of warhammer" or "lotro is a ripoff of wow" or "XYZ is a ripoff of everquest".

 

Seriously...

Everything is a "ripoff" of something.  Maybe every fantasy book/game should pay dungeons and dragons a royalty then.

And maybe people should sue DnD as they took 90% of thier monsters etc from mythology.

 

Really, theres nothing new under the sun, just different ways of viewing things.

 

I can some up with a creature out of my head like a "peanut with tentacle legs and one eye" and people would say Im ripping off a cyclops, mr.peanut, and an octopus.

 

Really unless Blizzard broke into the top secret warhammer mmo studio and stole blueprints and code it isnt a "ripoff" and anyone who says otherwise is an idiot as everything is influenced by something; music, movies, games, laws, language EVERYTHING!

QFT.

Thank the gods.  I was wondering if there was one damn person left on these forums with one OUNCE of common sense.

Originally posted by girlgeek

QFT.

Thank the gods.  I was wondering if there was one damn person left on these forums with one OUNCE of common sense. 

And there's something to be said about why the Warcraft franchise is so successful versus the people they've supposedly ripped content wholesale from. Blizzard makes the genre easy, approachable and fun for the most part. It looks good, sounds great and makes for acceptable fiction... at least until we got to the space goats, but that's another matter entirely.

Frankly, we should be thanking for Blizzard and Warcraft. Whether you like the product or not, it's popularizing the MMO as a genre. An MMO with TV spots featuring Mister T and William Shatner for cryin' out loud. It's also half the reason you have so much competition in the market place. I'd even go so far as to say WoW is the only reason you have a Warhammer MMO to play right now, such is its influence; but that's purely IMFO.

Take pot shots at game all you want, but they've been the benchmark for the last four-some years for a reason.

Originally posted by armanth13

Exactly.  If Blizzard would make a MMO that isn't simplified, dumbed down, and made easier at the whim of whiners then maybe they'd have a winning product like they did when world of warcraft FIRST launched. 

You make it sound like they dont already have a "winning product". I would argue that its dumbing down and simplification is a large reason why it has more than 5x the subs now than when it launched.

What gamers need is more devs designing games for niches. Instead of trying to make a game all things to all people and failing miserably, fill a niche.

Nah I just find that something I found easy to start was made quicker to hit max level and has been made overall easier with each expansion.  I don't deny it's popular, but I quit because of the easy factor.  I want a challenge, and except for raiding and pvp there isn't a challenge, and pvp depends on whether your side actually has a strategy and sticks to it or just works like most and runs around like a chicken with their heads chopped off.  The only other thing I don't care for, and this is pretty much universal, except for everquest, was why have RP servers when 90% of the players don't RP.  I used to play on Kirin Tor and I was part of a RP guild known as The Academy Of The Arcane, we were one of maybe 4 known rp guilds on a RP server and most other guilds would advertise and most wouldn't even bring up the level of RP they were, and some would even say *no* to rp.  Everquest had a flag you could turn on and it actually did something and gm's took a hand on servers and did some stuff at random special quests, items, monsters.  World of Warcraft has gm's for when there is a problem, and they don't help by injecting in content like everquest did.  I don't want a cookie cutter version of world of warcraft that is a true ripoff of everquest, but there are a few everquest things blizzard should incorporate...most people don't even realize you can, but if your not human you can turn on the non-common language and talk and there is no way for humans or other races to learn the language.  It took a while in everquest but you'd see people communicating in hours in foreign tongues so they could learn it.  And if dumbing the game down and simplifying it got them more subscribers great, but to people like me who found the game easy in the beginning, with my mage, then making it even easier attracts younger players and I'm sorry but the games have ratings on purpose and numerous times I've been in zones to find someone talking about being able to pwn someone because they are only lvl 65 and oh "I'm 80" I could really destroy you.  I complained to the only guy online in the guild that had a real rp name, and he was new to the server and said that he was the oldest in the guild the rest including the guild master were under 18.  I told him to run from the guild, as reputation spreads fast and your name associated with a guild like that would get you less group invites.  That's the other problem, and I'm not anti-kid, and not all of the people under 18 playing are like that, and people well over that can be the same way, but it happens.  

Id love to see what will they do, anyhow, new stuff always for the best.. Isnt it ?

It'll be ok whatever it is they are doing, though I'm guessing the UI will be strangely familiar.

Well, yeah I guess, since its from Blizzard ^^