Blizzard's Next-Gen MMO An "Enormous Investment"

[rsvp42]

So what, they're going to compete with themselves?

I was thinking about this, but Blizzard isn't retarded. They may be going for something vastly different from WoW. Something that's a lot deeper and appeals to the guys like me for whom WoW is pure Kryptonite due to how grindy and repetitive it is.

Yeah, I think they have a real opportunity here to build on the MMO formula and create both story and gameplay that works with the limitations and possibilities of massive, perpetual worlds. WoW has that constant issue of how to advance a story and add content in a meaningful way without instantly making old content obsolete. If Blizzard does this right, the knowledge they've gained from running and building up WoW could probably help them make a near-perfect MMO. I doubt we'll see another Outland from them. Sure, they could just make a fancier WoW with a different world and story, but I hope they take this time to make something truly unique.

 

[Frapple]

I wonder where they'll be going with this one, they've got Traditional Fantasy & Sci-Fi pretty much locked down.

 

[DanDeFool]

http://cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/galleries/display/67/67965.jpg

Oh, SNAPz! Bilzzard's new game is going to be about a giant pink cockroach?!?

PREORDERED, MUTHAFUCKA!!!

Just kidding. I figure this screenshot actually comes from WoW?

 

[Quaade]

However, by saying Blizzard's games are not innovative, I am not saying they are uncreative or completely lack innovative elements. It's just that I wouldn't call an entire game innovative unless it breaks new ground on multiple levels or else has a core element that comes completely out of left field.

By that definition, nothing has been innovative since 1962, everything is just a derived clone of something else.

RTS are Army Men for the pc with some added rules.
Hack n'slash is just childhood pretend with pixels.
RPGs are Pen and Paper games with the most arbitrary GM in the world.
ect.

Innovation is taking something old and improving on it in such a way that it appears to be an entirely new product.

Take the recent invention of the insulinpump most commonly given to children with diabetis, surely it's nothing more than a miniaturised version of a hospital monitor/injector. For diabetics, and especially diabetic children, it's the biggest thing since sliced bread and hot coco.

 

[Exia91]

I feel another MMO war coming up, just like the classic WoW vs Guild Wars. 'Cept while everyone else shouts about SWTOR and the BlizzMMO I'll be playing Guild Wars 2. Hehehe.

Oh my, not exactly my words, but it came to mind after i read the OP.

OT:
I hope it to be just as succesful as WoW. I had a lot of fun times in that game. Now I await Guildwars 2 for some Enormous fun times. And after I get bored with that I could move back to Blizz' now MMO? Sounds like a plan..for the upcoming 10years. Now hope I can say: "I love it when a plan comes together.." in 2020.

 

[NLS]

The Lost Vikings MMO
Now that would be something

 

[Giantcain]

Honestly, I'm kinda tired of mmorpgs, and am looking for something more along the lines of demons souls.

Demons soul's was fun to play and very addictive and I agree I want to see more game's like it but it got old and annoying trying to kill the second to last boss but all things considered I perfectly agree with you.

( This post is only long so I do not get moderated)

 

[Vhite]

Oh, SNAPz! Bilzzard's new game is going to be about a giant pink cockroach?!?

PREORDERED, MUTHAFUCKA!!!

Just kidding. I figure this screenshot actually comes from WoW?

Yep, its this guy.
http://www.wowwiki.com/Prophet_Skeram
Its really old screenshot.

 

[Xanthious]

I really doubt that the new Blizz MMO is anywhere close to seeing light of day. If I had to guess I'd wager a very tidy sum that this new project is a good 3 years or more away yet.

I feel another MMO war coming up, just like the classic WoW vs Guild Wars. 'Cept while everyone else shouts about SWTOR and the BlizzMMO I'll be playing Guild Wars 2. Hehehe.

Two small things: First I think the battle will be between WoW and TOR. I think TOR will of found it's second place niche and starting to slow down by the time the new Blizz MMO is ready. As for Guild Wars 2, well the problem I always had with Guild Wars was that people that put it over did so by saying everything it DIDN'T have. It didn't have grind (sadly it did), it didn't have crazy high levels, it didn't have any number of things. Sadly another thing it didn't have was any kind of lasting appeal. The endgame was a sorry joke. This isn't to say it didn't have some great ideas. It did. ANet just did a piss poor job of throwing them together. I hope Guild Wars 2 takes all those great ideas Guild Wars threw together so poorly and makes a good MMO out of them.

 

[yoyo13rom]

So what, they're going to compete with themselves?

I can see them starting to develop something new if WoW figures started dropping, but there seems to be no point. Surely they're just splitting their fan base, and giving themselves twice (if not more, since they've got to launch a new MMO - which always need extra work done when released) the workload?

Personally I'm much more interested in TOR because, well, it's fucking Star Wars and BioWare.

It's official, folks. The makers of WoW are going to try to kill WoW. I am reminded of the phrase " I brought you in to this world and I can take you out ". Could WoW have peaked and is now beginning its downward spiral? A new MMO from Blizzard could be sign of the WoWocalypse.

Ok, I think you guys don't know Blizzard and how much time development takes + how much time it takes to develop a MMO(a good one; I mean just look at how long it takes to make The Old Republic).

Blizz is renowned(just like Valve) for keeping games in development enormous periods of time + they're starting from scratch(I can't even imagine how much it takes to develop the mythology and story for the new IP, let alone the other elements)

And Blizzard is a cash cow, so no way in hell would they release this new MMO while WoW is still a subscribe to pay game(they'll make it free of charge in a somewhat distant future).

From my predictions(just considering all of the above and how much a non-MMO-Blizz game, like Diablo 3 takes to get done), I say the new IP will be out in like a decade(but that's just me).
But by average thinking it'll take at least 2 years to make, I mean if they rush it.

 

[Atmos Duality]

The Car was an innovative idea,but I doubt the inventor of the car was also the inventor of the wheel,gears,headlights,engine (etc. etc.) each aspect/part of it was taken from somewhere else.

Fair enough. Though I still refuse to acknowledge WoW as an overall benefit to the gaming industry, simply because it takes gaming in the wrong direction.
However, the industry will sprint in that direction simply because it's the road to the city of gold.

 

[manythings]

I'm actually looking forward to The Old Republic as well and I'm definitely going to give it a try. But I've yet to play a bad game from Blizzard, so I have every reason to expect they'll do well. I'll certainly be disappointed if they don't, but it would seem I've had a different experience with Blizzard than you have.

I'm not saying blizzard are bad it's just they've never made a product that I really had that great experience with. I'm just not their target customer. BioWare on the other hand have produced digital crack several times and I just can't get away.

 

[Worgen]

it would be hilarious to me if their next mmo failed because of wow

Haha, no kidding. An MMO so powerful, not even its creators could stop it.

Does blizzard lead innovation in genres? Like what?

Diablo, Starcraft, WoW
3 games that changed the industry.
It's a pretty well-known fact.

Starcraft and the WC RTSs were/are terribly unoriginal in just about every possible way.

Diablo, that's all Blizzard.

WoW, again, nothing new here. There were plenty of MMOs similar to WoW before and around its release, WoW simply had the Blizzard name attached to it which attracts attention. If the exact same game were released by any other company, its servers would have been shut down a long time ago.

Starcraft and Warcraft may not have been wildly divergent from existing RTSs, but they managed to find success in a noticeable and unique way. If nothing else, they paved the way for what Blizzard is today.

I think everyone can agree that Blizzard is really good at using concepts and ideas that are already floating around the industry and turning them into really polished and really popular games. The games may not be terribly different in concept but they're still unique in story and style and deserve at least a modicum of respect.

And no, WoW hasn't been skating by for 6 years on Blizzard's name alone. It gained its current fan base on its own merits, and early on, on the merits of the Warcraft IP. Don't get me wrong, I fully understand why a person could dislike WoW as a game, but it's still objectively a good game, evidenced clearly by its commercial and popular success. I agree that another company's servers might have been shut down long ago, but that sounds like a compliment to Blizzard to be honest.

if there is one thing that you can never accuse blizz of its not polishing the fuck out of their games

 

[Wolfram23]

I just hope they don't make it as pansy ass easy as the current implementation of WoW.

Having to do special quests and get "keyed" for heroics or raids or whatever else is a good thing, as well as having plenty of common content (ie: regular dungeons. They can make some them extra long if they want for the casuals who want to feel like they're raiding, but can't be arsed to do something semi difficult.

 

[Croquemitaine]

However, by saying Blizzard's games are not innovative, I am not saying they are uncreative or completely lack innovative elements. It's just that I wouldn't call an entire game innovative unless it breaks new ground on multiple levels or else has a core element that comes completely out of left field.

By that definition, nothing has been innovative since 1962, everything is just a derived clone of something else.

If you insist on binary either/or interpretations of everything, then yes that's how it works. I am not so intellectually limited, however. There is a difference between:
a) standing still (i.e. derived clones)
b) taking the next step up the stairs (logical progression, i.e. where most of Blizzard's work rates)
C) inventing the elevator (i.e. innovation)

RPGs are Pen and Paper games with the most arbitrary GM in the world.
ect.

Yes.

Innovation is taking something old and improving on it in such a way that it appears to be an entirely new product.

Take the recent invention of the insulinpump most commonly given to children with diabetis, surely it's nothing more than a miniaturised version of a hospital monitor/injector. For diabetics, and especially diabetic children, it's the biggest thing since sliced bread and hot coco.

Stop being a prat. Of course an entirely new application for existing technology is innovative. That's not relevant to a discussion of Blizzard unless you're suggesting they invented the concept of playing games on a computer.

 

[wulfy42]

I'm not a massive fan of WoW.I played it when it was released for 2 months or so, and then a few times briefly after that. The argument that WoW was not innovative is crazy though. It took graphical MMO's to a whole new level with most previous ones allowing little to know control over your character as you level up besides equipment you could get. More importantly it's quest system, PvP system, Huge lore system etc all pushed it past other games like DAOC etc. I'd already played many by the time it was released and I like more action in my combat (like D&D online, CoH etc).

Even so the game is innovative because it drew in so many players and has expanded so much over the years. It's HUGE. It could be argued that Blizzard concentrates on getting the most out of what people have already shown they like as apposed to trying out new things, but even so they often mix things up and combine different concepts which increases the enjoyment of the game type and is included in my definition of being innovative.

I'm not an RTS fan but look how many games have been based off Blizzards WC and Starcraft. Heck games have been made based on custom maps alone!!

I think it can be argued that Blizzard has greatly affected 3 genre's of video games. Action/Rpg (big time), RTS (pretty large effect), and MMORPG's (dominated it and sadly caused most other companies to clone WoW at this point).

Even it's early racing games, puzzle games etc were all enjoyable and well polished. In my opinion Blizzard has never put out a bad product and if I was asked what one game company I trust the most I would respond with Blizzard.

Diablo 2 is one of my favorite all time games and even though I am not an RTS fan I actually played through all of the WC games and Starcraft 1 (in fact other then the original C&C it's pretty much the only RTS games I have ever finished even in campaign mode). I didn't do that because I was a blizzard fan (heck back then Blizzard wasn't even that well known) I did it because they managed to make RTS games FUN FOR ME!! That is a major accomplishment as so far they are pretty much the only company to do it.

The missed me with WoW although I can see the appeal, but Diablo and D2 were both awesome for their time. I can still play D2 today and enjoy it (although I havn't for awhile). More importantly D2 has helped spawn many other games that I enjoy as well....so it certainly was innovative and I would say probably the best Action/RPG game to date. I wish a better one would come out......really....and I have high hopes for D3!!

A new MMO from Blizzard will probably be VERY different then WoW and I'm hoping more action based. We don't have any decent platform MMO's although there was some good ones many years ago. I'd really like to see more action like MMO's vs the slew of turn based etc. Blizzard if anyone could certainly make it work.

 

[conflub]

My friend was talking to someone with a little Inside Information on this thing.
I was very interested when he told be about it. Since it was about a month ago. So it hadn't been announced then,as far as I know.

You mean that leak on daeity.com?

 

[RanD00M]

My friend was talking to someone with a little Inside Information on this thing.
I was very interested when he told be about it. Since it was about a month ago. So it hadn't been announced then,as far as I know.

You mean that leak on daeity.com?

On what what and the who now.com? I've never heard of it. And neither has he.

 

[Quaade]

Stop being a prat. Of course an entirely new application for existing technology is innovative. That's not relevant to a discussion of Blizzard unless you're suggesting they invented the concept of playing games on a computer.

But that is exactly what Blizzard have done, they have taken existing technology for the most cases, and applied it in a new way that made MMO's as a whole more accessable.

Someone here praised D1 and D2 for being the last innovative game from Blizzard, I even think it was was you but I can't be bothered to go back trough the posts so don't hang me on it.

D1 and D2 is nothing more than Gauntlet Evolved, so if Diablo is so innovative, by your own definition, so is the rest of Blizzard's game library.

And phasing is something new and never seen before in any game off nor online. Games deform the terrain and move NPC's around by physically moving them around. Phasing creates another zone of the game you can't normally see untill certain conditions are triggered.