What they're doing makes sense to be honest. WoW is aging, and showing that age more and more. A game that has held this much popularity is always going to have players (look at Ultima Online and the original Everquest), however as we see games actually developed on the same scale (instead of merely claiming to be) and better technology, WoW's audience is going to erode.
For all of the EA Louse stuff, understand that the upcoming "Old Republic" is launching with a development price of 300 million as of the last time we saw a number attached (and as months have gone by, I'm guessing that went up). It has a quality developer, and unlike other MMOS this one is hardly being rushed out, meaning it's liable to be able to match WoW for quality and a consistant artstyle to help it keep going when the bells and whistles start to wear down.
Blizzard doubtlessly doesn't know more about "Old Republic Online" than we do, but I'm sure they see which way the wind is blowing, especially with WoW's age (which people shouldn't forget). Other MMOs have failed by being relatively cheaply produced, and being rushed out the door, 90% of the time it seems the people making them were lying outright about what the game was going to have (Age Of Conan anyone?), that isn't the case here, and $300+ million buys a lot of content as well, so it's not likely that people will finish the content in 2 months and then go back to WoW for a better endgame grinding experience. I mean it could fail, but there is always a negative buzz about new MMOs this close to release.
Blizzard's plan seems to be to have their new MMO under development now, so that way when "Old Republic Online" steals a lot of WoW's thunder, it won't be all that long until they release a new product that they are hoping will steal the thunder of "Old Republic".
The two things that bug me about this are as follows:
#1: while they DO still exist, single player computer RPGs are comparitively rare, and with my gaming habit I tend to finish them fairly quickly. I love grouping and raids, after all it's what keeps me coming back to WoW even now, but I also want a good amount of solo content for when I want to play myself. I also REALLy dislike forced grouping, and situations where you have quest chains that you can do solo but then suddenly require groups to finish. I tend to get wary when I see games talking about their social aspects, and grouping, and PVP but nothing about the solo experience. I find few things more annoying than an MMO where I need to be attached to the hip of other people constantly to do anything. I play a lot, but sometimes that's only in short bursts, and grouping doesn't work well with that.
#2: It probably won't happen, but I really want to see WoW put out to pasture. I want this because of my love for the game, as opposed to the opposite. I really, really, don't want to see them cash-milk it into oblivion well beyond it's time. I'd rather see a satisfying ending, and a dignified, upbeat retirement (perhaps for a WoW 2 someday after Titan) rather than seeing the game turn into a parody of itself, propped up on life support. I don't think ending games like this only when they are no longer turning a profit is the best idea to be honest, atleast not for the property. Besides even from a financial perspective when your dealing with the long term (game competition over a span of years and decades now) it's probably better to keep people wanting more for potential sequels. That's my thoughts at any rate, I personally play, but REALLY think they should have considered retiring the game after "Lich King" as I'vre said before. I know why they didn't (I'm not stupid and don't need it explained to me) but that doesn't mean I agree with them.
At any rate, it's hard to get hyped about any of these upcoming MMOs because really "Old Republic" doesn't even have a release date other than "probably in the next couple of months" (Second Quarter) but without any massive advertising blitz, pre-order gimmicks being shouted everywhere, and the rest of that stuff, I'm hardly holding my breath. Each time it gets pushed back it becomes harder and harder to care about news, since we've been doing this for years now. With "Titan" they seem to be announcing it waaay too early. It's interesting info from a business perspective, but as a gamer it's not like it's a product I can care about. For all I know it's a virtual pet MMO where you groom titanic animals like "Clifford the Big Red Dog" and spend real money on virtual pet supplies and costumes, and get together with other players in "kennel clubs" and PVP through pet shows... hey it could be that, because we know exactly zip about this. I hate cash shops but Blizzard is probably looking at the news too and going "hmmm, $1400 spent on smurfberries, I wonder if we can sell kids virtual puppy kibble for three times that much by putting a Blizzard logo on it".
For all of the EA Louse stuff, understand that the upcoming "Old Republic" is launching with a development price of 300 million as of the last time we saw a number attached (and as months have gone by, I'm guessing that went up). It has a quality developer, and unlike other MMOS this one is hardly being rushed out, meaning it's liable to be able to match WoW for quality and a consistant artstyle to help it keep going when the bells and whistles start to wear down.
Blizzard doubtlessly doesn't know more about "Old Republic Online" than we do, but I'm sure they see which way the wind is blowing, especially with WoW's age (which people shouldn't forget). Other MMOs have failed by being relatively cheaply produced, and being rushed out the door, 90% of the time it seems the people making them were lying outright about what the game was going to have (Age Of Conan anyone?), that isn't the case here, and $300+ million buys a lot of content as well, so it's not likely that people will finish the content in 2 months and then go back to WoW for a better endgame grinding experience. I mean it could fail, but there is always a negative buzz about new MMOs this close to release.
Blizzard's plan seems to be to have their new MMO under development now, so that way when "Old Republic Online" steals a lot of WoW's thunder, it won't be all that long until they release a new product that they are hoping will steal the thunder of "Old Republic".
The two things that bug me about this are as follows:
#1: while they DO still exist, single player computer RPGs are comparitively rare, and with my gaming habit I tend to finish them fairly quickly. I love grouping and raids, after all it's what keeps me coming back to WoW even now, but I also want a good amount of solo content for when I want to play myself. I also REALLy dislike forced grouping, and situations where you have quest chains that you can do solo but then suddenly require groups to finish. I tend to get wary when I see games talking about their social aspects, and grouping, and PVP but nothing about the solo experience. I find few things more annoying than an MMO where I need to be attached to the hip of other people constantly to do anything. I play a lot, but sometimes that's only in short bursts, and grouping doesn't work well with that.
#2: It probably won't happen, but I really want to see WoW put out to pasture. I want this because of my love for the game, as opposed to the opposite. I really, really, don't want to see them cash-milk it into oblivion well beyond it's time. I'd rather see a satisfying ending, and a dignified, upbeat retirement (perhaps for a WoW 2 someday after Titan) rather than seeing the game turn into a parody of itself, propped up on life support. I don't think ending games like this only when they are no longer turning a profit is the best idea to be honest, atleast not for the property. Besides even from a financial perspective when your dealing with the long term (game competition over a span of years and decades now) it's probably better to keep people wanting more for potential sequels. That's my thoughts at any rate, I personally play, but REALLY think they should have considered retiring the game after "Lich King" as I'vre said before. I know why they didn't (I'm not stupid and don't need it explained to me) but that doesn't mean I agree with them.
At any rate, it's hard to get hyped about any of these upcoming MMOs because really "Old Republic" doesn't even have a release date other than "probably in the next couple of months" (Second Quarter) but without any massive advertising blitz, pre-order gimmicks being shouted everywhere, and the rest of that stuff, I'm hardly holding my breath. Each time it gets pushed back it becomes harder and harder to care about news, since we've been doing this for years now. With "Titan" they seem to be announcing it waaay too early. It's interesting info from a business perspective, but as a gamer it's not like it's a product I can care about. For all I know it's a virtual pet MMO where you groom titanic animals like "Clifford the Big Red Dog" and spend real money on virtual pet supplies and costumes, and get together with other players in "kennel clubs" and PVP through pet shows... hey it could be that, because we know exactly zip about this. I hate cash shops but Blizzard is probably looking at the news too and going "hmmm, $1400 spent on smurfberries, I wonder if we can sell kids virtual puppy kibble for three times that much by putting a Blizzard logo on it".
