agree, its difficult to count unique players

when Guild Wars announced 2 million a year later, Factions was already released

http://www.guildwars.com/events/press/releases/

 there was no bundle packs on the Factions launch  - that happened later

when GW announced 3 million, Nightfall had already been released for 2 months

battlegrounds are cross server but not sure of popularity at level 90

a year ago - the level 39 bracket was popular on Freeport server but i have no idea if its still popular

best bet is to join a guild that does battlegrounds

Originally posted by pierth

I'm definitely more curious about the title now that I've seen the trailer. Is there any word out on how large group sizes might be? From the trailer it looks like it's a multiplayer ARPG but I'd imagine if there were raids with 10, 20 or more players I could see it being a MMO-ARPG. A 20 man raid on a Diablo-esque boss could wind up being a giant charlie foxtrot though.

there hasnt been much info

David Brevik is being heralded as the creator of this game

http://www.marvelheroes.com/game-info

Marvel Heroes is a free-to-play MMO Action RPG created by David Brevik, the visionary behind Diablo and a team of industry veterans assembled specifically for this project.

Marvel Heroes combines core gameplay elements of Diablo with the expansive library of characters from the Marvel Universe.

• Engage in Action-RPG-style gameplay, but in an MMO world.
• Team up online with your friends, or play solo.
• Randomly generated environments are different every time you play.

Originally posted by BartDaCat

WoW "borrowed" so many features from Diablo, I always thought WoW kind of WAS a Diablo MMO in some respects.

The new class skills/spells they implemented with Diablo III would lend themselves to a killer MMO though, especially something like the Witch Doctor.  What a fun bunch of abilities that class has!

I always felt the same, that WOW was a Diablo inspired MMO

D3 mmo could easily work -- no end to the number of Demons/Devils/Abominations

Originally posted by DiSpLiFF

I'm sure GW2 will be coming out with an offline mode right?

see some people compare D3 offline to GW2

GW2 is a persistent world mmo ..

Originally posted by tuppe99

Let's say a AAA company decides that it is becoming ludicrous that they have to throw 100s of millions at developing a MMO and run a major risk of never making that money back.

So they now decide to rather develop a MMO where having 100k - 200k subs would still turn a profit.

City of Heroes ran for years with only 150-200k subs -- at a profit

wasnt a series but i enjoyed the heck out of Master of Magic  (fantasy version of MOO)

strategy series ive enjoyed:

- Heroes of Might and Magic

- Age of Wonder

- SpellForce

Originally posted by Uhwop

the gov forced a deadline of june 2013 for the release of the MMO.  No way it's done by then, and even if they had something they could release, you know it's not going to be ready enough to succeed.

One way or the other, it's a doomed company.  The gov. is making sure of that.

i havent followed the latest news this week

but McFarlane stated 2 months ago -- that the mmo would be releasing this year

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/03/16/todd-mcfarlane-says-project-copernicus-coming-this-year/

Originally posted by Adamantine

If its a MMO, though, very likely the players would, at some point, "win", thanks to being completely immune to Zombifiaction and being able to kill each and every Zombie in the game.

depends

if its like Jeff Strains game, resources and shelters may be limited and will find that other players may also be your enemy

other info from same link

http://www.tentonhammer.com/undead-labs/interviews/jeff-strain/May-16-2011

Is it just zombies or are there other frights out there lurking in the dark?
We are not re-skinning orcs and calling it a zombie game. At its heart, the zombie genre is about survival in the face of societal collapse and the complexities of human relationships in the face of dwindling resources. That is the experience we hope to recreate, so don’t expect to encounter 20-foot boss zombies, mutated Werebears, or emo vampires.

That said, the greatest enemy in any apocalypse scenario is often our fellow survivors.

Just as in the world today, most people are basically cool, but a few can be real douchebags. The zombie apocalypse would probably amplify those personality traits further, drawing a clear line between people who have your back, and people who would be happy to stab your back. While the fundamental conflict is “humans vs. zombies”, you can bet we’ll be working in the human conflict as well.

Originally posted by Homitu

Guild Wars sales are absolutely relevant, with perhaps several stipulations pertaining to just how drastically different the games are.  GW is also an MMO, at least according to my definition, though others may not agree.  I was only referring to all the D3 talk, which would be about as relevant as Mario Kart Wii selling 32 million copies if it didn't at least share the same platform as GW2.  

i agree

GW seemed like a mmo to me too (even tho ANET never made that claim)

Guild Wars was similar to Dungeons and Dragons Online in respect to

- alot of instancing, only see many players in outposts

Originally posted by SlothnChunk

Class4 by Undead Labs will be an open-world, sandboxy zombie survival horror MMO.

http://www.tentonhammer.com/undead-labs/interviews/jeff-strain/May-16-2011

We want to drop you into the heart of a zombie apocalypse and let you put your personal survival plan to the test in an open world, with no predefined quest paths, no levels, no corridors, and no canned character progression; just you, your plan, your equipment, and your wits.

http://undeadlabs.com/

regarding D3,

the 1st day sales of 3.5 million did not include the 1.2 million Annual Pass subs from WOW

D3 was available for preorder 2 months prior to release  (March 15 2012)

Guild Wars

2 years ago, GW had exceeded 6.5 million units

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/31/guild-wars-surpasses-6-5-million-sales-sequel-will-be-released/

but that includes all units,  different campaigns, and the one expansion

Originally posted by FrodoFragins

Their strategy was never to come out before other ARPGs.  It was in development forever.  ARPGs have always been pretty scarce and hard to make a profit with.  Titan Quest was a decent game with zero marketing and the developer went under.  Dungeon Siege 3 was developed by a different team, came out with horrible controls on the PC and was largely ignored.  TL came out but was a short term game.  TL2 should have been released last year and they've probably lost a ton of sales by taking so long.

i doubt TL2 lost much sales in being slow to release

in the last 4 years,

seems like there has been only *two* fantasy action RPGs (D3 and DS3) on the PC -- plenty room for more

diablo3 first day sales sold 3.5 million vs  Cata's 3.3 million

I'm confident that Panda will sell well

but I'd be surpised if Panda first day outsells Cata - but time will tell

Originally posted by Atlan99

Grab the 14 day trial and see for yourself.

link for trial

http://darkageofcamelot.com/trial

the D3 1st day sales, including preorders, narrowly beat Cata 3.3 million

first day sales 3.5 million  (does not include annual pass)

http://www.gamezone.com/products/diablo-iii/news/diablo-3-sells-3-5-million-copies-in-first-24-hours

the above link doesnt work as direct link, so here's another

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/05/23/3-5-million-people-bought-diablo-3-in-the-first-24-hours/

Originally posted by Coolit

It's really no surprise considering they gave a free copy away with a wow subscription if you signed up for 12 months gametime.

annual pass only accounted for 1.2 million of those users

-- that still leaves 5+ million in sales

http://www.gamezone.com/products/diablo-iii/news/diablo-3-sells-3-5-million-copies-in-first-24-hours

i havent seen any preorder claims beyond ANET saying they had a few hundred thousand playing the beta

http://www.neogamr.net/news/guild-wars-2-already-generating-high-pre-order-sales

as a new company, the original Guild Wars sold one million during its 1st 6 months

http://www.guildwars.com/events/press/releases/pressrelease-2005-09-22.php

im expecting GW2 to sell at least double that with all the name recognition it has now