General Discussion

My arrogant rambling…

With a billion dollars in yearly WoW revenue, everyone knows Blizzard is planning to make another MMOG.  There would be a stockholder revolt if they wasted their talent producing another simple RTS to make $50 million when everyone knows they could make a $500 million MMOG with 3 million subscribers by the end of the first month.  It would be analogous to stopping at Spiderman 1.

The problem is that they would become their own biggest competitor as many of the subscribers would likely be lured from the WoW ranks.  The solution is to make sure their next MMOG is radically different from WoW.

Blizzard has a lot of experience with fierce PvP competition in their RTS games.  It is time they shake off their carebearish image and make a bold departure from WoW.  The incredible popularity of the PvP servers and of PvP on the PvE servers should make it clear what a lot of people are looking for.

My suggestion is World of Starcraft: a PvP-centric, sci-fi themed game with FPS combat and heavy RTS elements.  Terrans versus Protoss with the Zerg as the NPC realm that attacks both player species.  That combination is guaranteed to scare away the fantasy, auto-attack, role-playing crowd.

WoW is not successful because it is set in the “safe” fantasy genre.  It is successful because it is an EXCELLENT product.  I know that Blizzard could produce a game that is completely different from WOW but of the same quality.  And by being so radically different attract a whole new audience and minimize the leaching of customers from WoW.

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Originally posted by raykor

  There would be a stockholder revolt if they wasted their talent producing another simple RTS to make $50 million when everyone knows they could make a $500 million MMOG with 3 million subscribers by the end of the first month.  It would be analogous to stopping at Spiderman 1.

The

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Blizzard is going to fail it next release.

Failure for Blizzard means under 2 millions sold boxes.

Players are majoritarily angry at this end-game system.

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Originally posted by Anofalye

Blizzard is going to fail it next release.

Failure for Blizzard means under 2 millions sold boxes.

Players are majoritarily angry at this end-game system.

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The whole problem is, if they haven't started on it now, then we won't see it for another 10 years. 

Blizzard is the slowest company I know of to do absolutely anything.  Their arrogance hurts them in the longrun.  Let's see some examples...

1.  They are STILL patching WC3 and Diablo 2!

2.  How long has WoW been out?  And they still have yet to release their first expansion?  Albeit it is coming, but they not really adding anything new.  New lands (whoop), flying mounts (bigger whoop), 2 new races (1 being a near copy of another = lazy) 

3.  They are still in the "process" of re-evaulating classes in WoW.

The whole problem is a catch 22.  Blizzard makes great products, but the way they do it is they take forever to work on them and polish them up, especially before release.  And even then, when you get deep into it, they still need work.  MMORPG's need constant and frequent attention.  People expect quick patches, updates, and add-ons (expansions).  Blizzard being the perfectionists they are hurts them. 

I mean, Sony with EQ2 releases patches with new content, updated game mechanics, class revamps, and many many other things nearly 5 times as fast as Blizzard.  They are on their 3rd or 4th expansion now I think.  And it came out about the same time WoW did. 

Now, I'm not trying to compare the 2 games directly, just the way the companies run them.  Sony wins in this aspect IMO.  EQ2 is a good game, it's just a bitch to run decently. 

Point being, people get tired of waiting.  Life is short.  New games get released, and you don't want to wait for the patch that's supposedly coming 6 months down the road, for some new stuff on your already year old game. 

So...all that being said, IF we ever see a World of Starcraft, or any other game from Blizzard, either they better be working on it now, or I seriously doubt we'll see it in the near future.  I love how we see glimpses of games that's not due out for another 3-4 years.  Stargate Worlds anyone? lol

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Originally posted by raykor

It would be analogous to stopping at Spiderman 1.

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