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The Next Big MMO?
- Thread starter Huntn
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Background on me for perspective: long time lurker to these forums and player of WOW since 7 Dec 2005.
Some of the posts here have hit on why WOW was such a huge hit. My interest has been waning over the last two years but I consistently find myself going back. Maybe it's just comfortable for me.
One of my chief gripes with the game, however, is that it has no secrets. Procedures to beat every boss are out there as well as all the loot details. Everything is revealed on WoWHead or YouTube or whatever, so why do millions of people still play?
I think the draw is the social experience and that is what is declining with each new release of WoW: dungeon finder and raid finder are slowly killing the WoW "magic". Since there are no secrets, PUG runs with complete strangers who were matched to you by the game don't require any significant interaction with your fellow players like they did in the old days - just watch the video and you'll be fine. That sucks, because some of my fondest memories in WoW were running 25-man Naxx as a PUG healer that answered someone's "LF geared heals for Naxx" call in Trade Chat. Or another one - remember how hard BRD was back before BC came out?
In those PUG runs, you never knew what you were going to get, especially once you got onto vent with the group. Man that was fun and entertaining. All the randomness of human interaction was right there in my headset and I enjoyed the heck out of it. When was the last time anyone jumped on vent for a Raid Finder run?
So what will be the next big MMO? Hard to say, but if it's easy to grasp and simple (like WoW started as) and has a strong social experience, I think that will be the winner. If Blizz can get this right for WoW 2 whenever that comes out, it will be huge.
- T6
p.s - My main is Thaedra on Duskwood, BTW.
Some of the posts here have hit on why WOW was such a huge hit. My interest has been waning over the last two years but I consistently find myself going back. Maybe it's just comfortable for me.
One of my chief gripes with the game, however, is that it has no secrets. Procedures to beat every boss are out there as well as all the loot details. Everything is revealed on WoWHead or YouTube or whatever, so why do millions of people still play?
I think the draw is the social experience and that is what is declining with each new release of WoW: dungeon finder and raid finder are slowly killing the WoW "magic". Since there are no secrets, PUG runs with complete strangers who were matched to you by the game don't require any significant interaction with your fellow players like they did in the old days - just watch the video and you'll be fine. That sucks, because some of my fondest memories in WoW were running 25-man Naxx as a PUG healer that answered someone's "LF geared heals for Naxx" call in Trade Chat. Or another one - remember how hard BRD was back before BC came out?
In those PUG runs, you never knew what you were going to get, especially once you got onto vent with the group. Man that was fun and entertaining. All the randomness of human interaction was right there in my headset and I enjoyed the heck out of it. When was the last time anyone jumped on vent for a Raid Finder run?
So what will be the next big MMO? Hard to say, but if it's easy to grasp and simple (like WoW started as) and has a strong social experience, I think that will be the winner. If Blizz can get this right for WoW 2 whenever that comes out, it will be huge.
- T6
p.s - My main is Thaedra on Duskwood, BTW.
I really really disliked at 95% instanced world. My understanding GW2 has given up on that, hence I'll be checking it out.
With a game as popular as WoW, that is bound to happen.
I was there for beta, and about 2 1/2 years off and on total. I don't know about it today. My estimation of WoW's success is an incredibly magic world with a strong social draw. When I stood in that Teldressil Glade and the quest giver asked me to balance the natural order, I was immediately hooked.
As a recent SWTOR drop out, I found the WoW environment with lots of wilderness to explore with scatter small villages and a few larger enclaves such as Darnassus, Iron Forge, Storm Wind to be the perfect mix. I can't tell you exactly why, but the planets I visited on SWTOR, were merely ok, no magic, and most of them had way too much infrastructure for my tastes. I absolutely hated questing on Coresecant.
I remember KOTOR. Because I was the only one, it felt unique. I think as a MMO one of SWTORs weaknesses is the focused class story. I realize this exists in most MMOs, but when I saw scores of others running around with the same identical companion, it just hit home I was on rails with the rest of them. The focused class story emphasizes this fact while in a game like WoW, it was more ignorable.
Agreed. I should have clarified that I've accepted that as a fact of life, so to me the social experience needs to be the 'insanely great' ingredient.
For a while before WOTLK and Cataclysm, my theory on why Ironforge was such a popular hangout, particularly the plaza between the bank and the auction house, was that it was exactly like a mall (except for no food court).
Continuing my nostalgic musings, I miss these days of WoW:
I forgot what we were all standing around for, but there were more toons that I've ever seen in one place that day.
]![WoWScrnShot_111510_200743.jpg]()
NIce pic! Many fond memories hanging out in that square.
I'm resisting the urge to drone on about WoW, but I will post my own pic. 
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Huntn, you have me jonesin' for WoW. Was in the beta and played off and on (mostly on) until my current MBP took a crap in late 09 and it was unable to play heavy duty games. I had to replace the left I/O board, and for some reason the replacement board couldn't supply enough juice when games like WoW or EVE were launched and my MBP would shut down.
Getting a new MBP soon, and I'm still debating whether I'm going return to WoW or EVE. Or both. Keeping an eye on this thread.
Getting a new MBP soon, and I'm still debating whether I'm going return to WoW or EVE. Or both. Keeping an eye on this thread.
Huntn, you have me jonesin' for WoW. Was in the beta and played off and on (mostly on) until my current MBP took a crap in late 09 and it was unable to play heavy duty games. I had to replace the left I/O board, and for some reason the replacement board couldn't supply enough juice when games like WoW or EVE were launched and my MBP would shut down.
Getting a new MBP soon, and I'm still debating whether I'm going return to WoW or EVE. Or both. Keeping an eye on this thread.
If it pleases you by all means, heyhey. It was great while it lasted, but I can't go back, been there, done that, burned out, although if Blizzard created a huge WoW sandbox MMO world, with things to do, I'd volunteer to check it out.
When I compare it with something new, like SWTOR, what pulled me in to WoW was 1)incredible environment 2)type of quests 3)socializing. In contrast, in SWTOR the establishment (Republic, Sith) seemed overbearing.
I preferred the establishment to be more in the background. Once I visited the king in Stormwind for a quest, but did not feel the Alliance was always in my face telling me what to do.
Given the chance to jump into the middle of SW mythology, many players love this. On the other hand, I felt that seeing 20 jedi running around being followed by the identical companion, took away from the immersive aspects of the game. Were there 20 warlocks and their minions running around in Iron forge at any given time? Well yes, but somehow, it did not bother me like it did seeing 20 Khem Val's running around. (You may or may not know that Khem Val is a servant of a Sith Lord placed in a statis chamber centuries ago to keep him safe. As a Sith Inquisitor, part of the class quest is to go fetch this guy. So now there are hundreds maybe thousands of Khem Vals and other identical companions running around.)
Lol.
Here is some more reinforcement. MANY fond memories of Stranglethorn Veil:
Nesingwary's Expedition
I'm looking forward to Blizzard taking the wraps off Project Titan. The bar has been set very high for it by other more recent MMO's and it keeps moving higher and higher. I do suspect however that the key talent at Blizzard together with the WoW player base will make Titan an immediate success.
Actually I am dying to know what the setting is for this game. Yes it will be an immediate success, but if it will be a long term success will depend on Blizzard... My expectations are astronomical.
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i've been playing mmo's since redmoon online and legend of mir (korean mmos back in the 90s)
the point is, there is no such thing as "the next big mmo" besides blizzard's unreleased title, so if you stick to osx you're only "big mmo" choices are wow and eve online
wow will eventually die, when blizzard releases their new title which is a new ip... and it's supposed to be space, like starwars or eve.
so it'll again be blizz titan vs eve.
besides that, there will be nothing else for many upcoming years, if you think the newest mmo on mmorpg.com will beat wow or eve, you probably are new to mmos or have a lot of false hopes.
tip #1 in gaming: no one touches blizzard, not even square-enix
tip #2 in gaming: ccp has the only mmo (1 server, super computer)
who beats blizzard? who beats a super computer?
good luck trying to find that game guys, you're wasting your time. just sub to one of those or always be unpleasant... maybe you should leave mmos if those 2 don't pleasure you
the point is, there is no such thing as "the next big mmo" besides blizzard's unreleased title, so if you stick to osx you're only "big mmo" choices are wow and eve online
wow will eventually die, when blizzard releases their new title which is a new ip... and it's supposed to be space, like starwars or eve.
so it'll again be blizz titan vs eve.
besides that, there will be nothing else for many upcoming years, if you think the newest mmo on mmorpg.com will beat wow or eve, you probably are new to mmos or have a lot of false hopes.
tip #1 in gaming: no one touches blizzard, not even square-enix
tip #2 in gaming: ccp has the only mmo (1 server, super computer)
who beats blizzard? who beats a super computer?
good luck trying to find that game guys, you're wasting your time. just sub to one of those or always be unpleasant... maybe you should leave mmos if those 2 don't pleasure you
I agree. There have been so many predicted "wow killers", but none has even scratched it so far. They all share most of the mechanics (like collect 15 artifacts quests, grouping, pvp and so on) and its normal since they define MMORPG. So if you aren't satisfied with WOW or EVE, chances are that any other mmo won't entertain you for long.
Also, my adventures trying to level a Druid before I went on a wowcation ^_^:
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I wouldn't expect Titan anytime soon if there's no public name. End of 2013? Rough estimate?
Big MMOs of the year - at least hype wise - are Guild Wars 2 and The Secret World. Looking forward to both for different reasons. Funcom always comes up with the greatest concepts (you can thank them for instancing for instance), but they have issue executing them. The animations look a bit dated, graphics are just fine, but the skill system looks amazing.
the secret world isn't a big mmo, you're false hoping. guild wars 2 is made by ex blizzard employees so a lot of blizz fans will try it out, but wow will still own it in numbers in the end, just like starwars or any other mmo. it also doesn't run on osx which means 5-10% of the player base is gone. (according to eve 1 out of 10 or 20 are mac users) not sure about wow numbers.
blizz titan is not a 2013 release... there is no blizzcon in 2012 and titan hasn't been announced... diablo 3 was announced 4-5 years ago.
blizz titan might be announced in 2013 then wait 4-5 years so you're looking at earliest 2018. meanwhile eve online will be expanding every 6 months and become the world's biggest mmo (like it already is) so blizz titan is going to have to be special.
edit: if you realize titan isn't until 2018 or further, you will realize just how big wow is and how blizzard is laughing... the other thing is oh god... wow for another 6 years... i can't take it any more.
blizz titan is not a 2013 release... there is no blizzcon in 2012 and titan hasn't been announced... diablo 3 was announced 4-5 years ago.
blizz titan might be announced in 2013 then wait 4-5 years so you're looking at earliest 2018. meanwhile eve online will be expanding every 6 months and become the world's biggest mmo (like it already is) so blizz titan is going to have to be special.
edit: if you realize titan isn't until 2018 or further, you will realize just how big wow is and how blizzard is laughing... the other thing is oh god... wow for another 6 years... i can't take it any more.
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I'll be checking out GW2. My understanding is that they have changed many of the aspects of the game as compared to the original such as the entire questing space is not instanced. Will have to wait and see for that one. Regarding Secret World, my first impression is that it's a little too negative for me to enjoy.
My impression is that most of the serious gamers in this forum are using Bootcamp/Windows for their gaming so it's a wasted lecture.
wasted lecture? besides wow and eve, name me a big mmo on the pc market
you know starwars only has 100k-400k subscribers and it's the new "omg this mmo is big" which clearly isn't.
um... who has more than 350k subscribers? the only games i can think of are free to play like runes of magic. does that count as a big mmo? this thread is about the next big mmo, if you think guild wars 2 or secret world (that one is a hilarious option) then you are false hoping. if starwars can't steal wow, guildwars 2 won't.
in order to have a big mmo, how many subscribers does it require? and does it require to beat wow? where is the line? if you mean 350k subscribers, yes guild wars 2 will be a big mmo for 1-3 months until people return to wow.
you know starwars only has 100k-400k subscribers and it's the new "omg this mmo is big" which clearly isn't.
um... who has more than 350k subscribers? the only games i can think of are free to play like runes of magic. does that count as a big mmo? this thread is about the next big mmo, if you think guild wars 2 or secret world (that one is a hilarious option) then you are false hoping. if starwars can't steal wow, guildwars 2 won't.
in order to have a big mmo, how many subscribers does it require? and does it require to beat wow? where is the line? if you mean 350k subscribers, yes guild wars 2 will be a big mmo for 1-3 months until people return to wow.
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SWTOR, Guild Wars (at least 6.5 million sales) before it. Hey let's not fight.
MMO Subscription stats- May2011.
- World of Warcraft 12,000,000 (2011)
- Aion - 3,400,000 (mid 2010)
- Runescape 1,300,000 (2009)
- Lineage 750,000 (2009)
- Lineage II 750,000 (2009)
- Dofus 520,000 (mid 2010)
- Final Fantasy XI 350,000 (mid 2010)
- Eve Online 325,000 (2011)
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More like 2033+ at Blizzard's slow rate.
Because you have:
Diablo 3
Heart of the Swarm
Legacy of the Void
Whatever Diablo 3 expansion
Mists of Panderia
Probably a WoW 6.0 as well
A Blizzard DOTA
All to some before Titan is even seriously considered for serious development time. So if you're waiting for Titan, expect to be an old old man before you ever play it.
This is the sad truth. As long as Wow is thriving with as many players as it has, i don't see them attempting to hurry up and get anything done at this point. I think once we start seeing wow on the decline we will see development on other projects pick up as well.
aion doesn't have 3.4 million, that was the year its released. runescape/lineage 2 are free. dofus is still going on but i don't know 2012 numbers since wakfu.com is being released soon... wakfu does have an osx client.
final fantasy x1 doesn't have 350k anymore, eve online is at 350-375k
so now its wow, eve, dofus (wakfu.com is the new version)
free 2 play games don't count (no subscribers), otherwise some of them would be near wow numbers like league of legends and runes of magic.
final fantasy x1 doesn't have 350k anymore, eve online is at 350-375k
so now its wow, eve, dofus (wakfu.com is the new version)
free 2 play games don't count (no subscribers), otherwise some of them would be near wow numbers like league of legends and runes of magic.
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WoW was AMAZING when it was vanilla. I mean 40 man raids, MC/BWL etc. were amazing. They had quests like the Benediction quest for priest. After you finish it, you actually feel like YOU earned it. So many steps involved, and the final solo quest was a freaking challenge.
Then slowly they started making it easier (to appeal to a larger audience, $$$$$), and easier, and easier. Now they are implementing freaking Pandas?! I mean seriously? I understand it is part of the Lore. But which marketing genius thought it was a good idea to implement them into the game as a main playable character?
"Hey Bob, we need to appeal to a wider audience still" "I agree Jim, I know, we have yet to target the toddler market!" "Bob you're right! My son loved that Kung-Fu Panda movie, lets get those into the game!".
I am calling it. Mists of Pandaria will be WoW's downfall. At least to the real gamers market.
And people that think "It's Blizzard, no one will take over Blizzard" are very likely wrong. So many people thought the same exact thing about Sony and Everquest. And I do mean exactly the same.
But I will say the only game that has a chance in the near future to take WoW over is SWTOR. For many many reasons. Main one, is it is VERY easy for a WoW player to jump in and play (controls are nearly exactly the same). Second, it is Bioware. Not some small to mid sized gaming company with little to no backing.
Then slowly they started making it easier (to appeal to a larger audience, $$$$$), and easier, and easier. Now they are implementing freaking Pandas?! I mean seriously? I understand it is part of the Lore. But which marketing genius thought it was a good idea to implement them into the game as a main playable character?
"Hey Bob, we need to appeal to a wider audience still" "I agree Jim, I know, we have yet to target the toddler market!" "Bob you're right! My son loved that Kung-Fu Panda movie, lets get those into the game!".
I am calling it. Mists of Pandaria will be WoW's downfall. At least to the real gamers market.
And people that think "It's Blizzard, no one will take over Blizzard" are very likely wrong. So many people thought the same exact thing about Sony and Everquest. And I do mean exactly the same.
But I will say the only game that has a chance in the near future to take WoW over is SWTOR. For many many reasons. Main one, is it is VERY easy for a WoW player to jump in and play (controls are nearly exactly the same). Second, it is Bioware. Not some small to mid sized gaming company with little to no backing.
well when it comes to pandas there is no lore besides a hero unit in WC3 which is based on a tattoo a blizz employee had on their arm.
the dude thought his tattoo was cool, and added it to WC3 as a hero unit... there is no lore behind this unit whatsoever in any warcraft product. they decided to make mist of panda for two reasons a) new audience b) because they ran out of lore
the dude thought his tattoo was cool, and added it to WC3 as a hero unit... there is no lore behind this unit whatsoever in any warcraft product. they decided to make mist of panda for two reasons a) new audience b) because they ran out of lore
WoW... but as I said I believe most of the serious gamers around here are Bootcamping- it. Yeah, there are some pure ones who don't want nothing to do with Windows.
You asked, I told. So you believe there are only two big PC MMOs out there. What is your point again?
My point is all of the MMO action is in the PC market and that most of the participants in this forum know this. Your take on Guild Wars is it does not count cause it's free (no subscription), but over 6 million sales is nothing to sneeze at is it?
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