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[Column] General: Blizzard & Titan

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  • OlgarkOlgark Member UncommonPosts: 342

    Blizzard take on CCP, nice joke there. Blizzard are a one trick pony, if it isn't Diablo, Warcraft or Starcraft then they don't know what they are doing. 

     

    Oh yeh and by the by. Warcraft is based on Warhammer, just that Gameswork Shop pulled the plug to Warcraft and Blizzard changed some details and ran with it. So in effect WoW is Warhammer Online.

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  • fiontarfiontar Member UncommonPosts: 3,682

    If Titan had been launched by this point in time, I would imagine it could have been a vastly different game than WoW. However, with WoW getting long in the tooth and loosing steam, I'm going to have to say that Titan, when it eventually launches, will be intended to target the exact same audience that WoW targeted.

    Titan taking a queue from Eve seems extremely unlikely.

    If I had to guess, Titan would much more likely be a game that would take the best of WoW and the Best of GW2, probably improving on what works for GW2 and making it much more accessible to the masses, then adding difficult raid content to keep their hard core raiding guilds happy.

    GW2 may not be threatening WoW, but it is the most successful MMO in recent years by a long margin and does provide a lot of innovation that makes titles using the stale old design tropes pale in comparison. So, yeah, I think Titan will borrow a lot from GW2 and then improve upon it.

    There has been a lot of speculation that Titan will be a sci-fi title. If so, Wildstar might have put a wrinkle in Blizzards plan, as Wildstar looks like a sci-fi cross between WoW and GW2, with it's own innovations added on top. If Titan was starting to look like it might be received as a Wildstar clone, that would not be a position Blizzard would want to find itself in.

    Blizzard's revenue shows they have been doing most things right, but I've always felt that they completely wasted a lot of potential for WoW and it's inevitable successor in the pace of expansion and the lack of additional mmo products.

    Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
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  • MindTriggerMindTrigger Member Posts: 2,596

    Ultimately, I don't think it much matters what Blizzard is working on.  There are so many other offerings releasing over the next couple years, that I'm no longer all that excited to hear about Titan.  Sure it will be cool to finally see what it is, and even better if it turns out to be good, but it's simply not the big news it used to be for me. 

    They might as well take their time and let the current flood of coming releases pass anyway.

    A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.

  • BandenBanden Member Posts: 83
    While I would love to see blizzard make a game with the same emphasis on emergent gameplay and player created content that has made the Eve universe such an amazing thing, I do have a feeling that it would be like seeing an elephant trying to jump like a kangaroo....
  • Stimos8Stimos8 Member UncommonPosts: 163

    Well... All things aside, i can safely say that i have never seen such a horrible writer. The worst thing about it, this adam guy, was trying to sound proficient but instead, his post should be ridiculed on the basis of an attempt at persuasion, that failed.

    Learn to write properly, not only persuasively, but in general, before you try to manipulate the minds of the readers.

  • stragen001stragen001 Member UncommonPosts: 1,720

    I wont take credit for this idea, because I saw it in another post on MMORPG.com somewhere, but it sums up my opinion. 

    Blizzard were lucky with WOW. They copied just the right combination of features at just the right time and produced the perfect MMO for the time. It combined all the best features of its predecessors and removed many of the worst features. They are no "masters of design" or anything even close. 

    The Titan delay, and the reason Blizzard haven't released another MMO, is because if they do, and it is nowhere near as successful as WOW(and it wont be, the industry has changed massively since WOW was released) then confidence in Blizzard will tumble and with it their share price. They are scared. 

     

     

    Cluck Cluck, Gibber Gibber, My Old Mans A Mushroom

  • MukeMuke Member RarePosts: 2,614
    Originally posted by Banden
    While I would love to see blizzard make a game with the same emphasis on emergent gameplay and player created content that has made the Eve universe such an amazing thing, I do have a feeling that it would be like seeing an elephant trying to jump like a kangaroo....

    You would have to create many zones, 1 single server shard, and a reason to fight.

    It can be done, just not with the amount of subs WOW has/had.....and in the worst case you get groups of players who have been defeated a lot band together to form supergroups+alliances which can cause a Cold War stalemate or massive wars with massive numbers which would crash the hardware like in EVE...

     

    "going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"

  • SonofSethSonofSeth Member UncommonPosts: 1,884

    It still feels like Blizzard are the masters of design and polish, but it seems other areas, like story are starting to suffer. Maybe AllStars is a perfect match for them, zero story - pure mechanics. I'm having fun with DOTA 2 now, but I would very much love a streamlined version of that game.

    As for Titan, pffft, no one can really tell, it does feel like Blizzard is starting to implode, but this is not a first for Blizzard when it comes to this kind of thing. Even Warcraft 3 was changed completely at the very last stage of it's development and turned out to be a great success and like all Blizzard games had legions of fanbois and haters.

    If anything, this sounds just like one more Blizzard game, shame we'll all be "old" when it finally comes out.

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  • killahhkillahh Member UncommonPosts: 445
    Wow was built on the back of the mmorpg games before it. Took all the best they had, eliminated the risk, and rewarded all.

    Fast forward a bit. There's noone to steal ideas, I and innovations from, hence the titan ip muddling on.
    Now, with Eq next starting it's revelations of what the game is and about, titan is back washed till blizzard can see how well it does and steal, Err 'improve' on what Eq next is.

    over 20 years of mmorpg's and counting...

  • Shadowguy64Shadowguy64 Member Posts: 848
    Originally posted by Olgark

    Blizzard take on CCP, nice joke there. Blizzard are a one trick pony, if it isn't Diablo, Warcraft or Starcraft then they don't know what they are doing. 

     

    Wouldn't that make them a THREE trick pony?  image

  • HrimnirHrimnir Member RarePosts: 2,415
    All i could think while reading this was, Shill...shill...shill....shill...obvious shill....shill.....

    "The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."

    - Friedrich Nietzsche

  • HrimnirHrimnir Member RarePosts: 2,415
    Originally posted by Hrimnir
    All i could think while reading this was, Shill...shill...shill....shill...obvious shill....shill.....
     

    Btw, blizzard scrapped Titan for 2 reasons.  1 was the same reason SOE scrapped EQ:N, they were making another WOW clone (yes, i know the irony in blizzard making a wow clone).  Secondarily, as we all know, Blizzard is utterly incapable of an original thought, so they figured they would wait and see what else comes out that they could copy from before they moved forward with Titan again.

    "The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."

    - Friedrich Nietzsche

  • ChromeBallzChromeBallz Member UncommonPosts: 342
    Originally posted by wrightstuf
    Originally posted by Dracondis
    Blizzard:  Masters of Vaporware.
    Blizzard had one game considered vaporware (starcraft ghost)...that makes them masters?

    Warcraft Adventures, several iterations of Starcraft, Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 which were scrapped to start all over again, now Titan. Maybe not masters, but they do certainly throw away a lot of work.

    Playing: WF
    Played: WoW, GW2, L2, WAR, AoC, DnL (2005), GW, LotRO, EQ2, TOR, CoH (RIP), STO, TSW, TERA, EVE, ESO, BDO
    Tried: EQ, UO, AO, EnB, TCoS, Fury, Ryzom, EU, DDO, TR, RF, CO, Aion, VG, DN, Vindictus, AA

  • ChromeBallzChromeBallz Member UncommonPosts: 342

    Titan possibly being like EVE seems extremely unlikely, but even if they try it Blizzard might end up falling in the trap they laid for so many others: Trying to compete with a game that's already been out for so long by being exactly like it.

    For WoW it worked, simply because it was a refinement of EQ's horrible userfriendliness and SOE's, at the time, worsening reputation. The Warcraft brand also made for quite a lot of people who'd otherwise never have tried WoW.

    Titan won't have that, if they stick to the promise of it being a new IP. If Blizzard can't think of anything truly new (which is very likely imho) they will also be competing with either themselves (WoW) or the game they'll be (inevitably) copying.

    Playing: WF
    Played: WoW, GW2, L2, WAR, AoC, DnL (2005), GW, LotRO, EQ2, TOR, CoH (RIP), STO, TSW, TERA, EVE, ESO, BDO
    Tried: EQ, UO, AO, EnB, TCoS, Fury, Ryzom, EU, DDO, TR, RF, CO, Aion, VG, DN, Vindictus, AA

  • sportsfansportsfan Member Posts: 431

    Blizzard marketing research simply showed MMO's and certainly subscription based ones are no longer "hot".

     

    So they'll concentrate on WOW franchised games like Hearthstone and Blizzard All Stars that are much easier to produce and much cost friendly to conquer a market they still don't have:

    "The free to play multi platform casual market" is there up for grabs.

    And in viewing Blizzard's past successes they will hit the nail once again with free to play HS CCG and Blizzard All Stars (think about engines here).

    A published Titan would only blur things around WOW and it is much smarter to invest in WOW franchised "new" games that address the present day casual markets than to invest massively in a very costly MMO that's no longer supported in present day (casual) internet play.

    It was the only sound thing to do really.

    Perhaps by 2017-2018 the market will have changed back to successful MMO play, but I doubt it will be PC only: it will HAVE to be Multi platform play by then.

     

    That's all folks. Nothing to see here.

  • Gallus85Gallus85 Member Posts: 1,092

    Game development is something that is a lot trickier than standard software development.  If you're creating a program with the intent to, lets say, file taxes, once that program executes it's desired functions, there is very little left to do.

    For game development, you might have some ideas you think will be good, but once you make it, it may or may not actually be fun.  Blizzard is a huge company and can afford to scratch a bad project in an attempt to save their brand name image.  Unlike many other companies that have to meet deadlines for a launch window.  If a game sucks, hey, you still gotta release it just to try and salvage some money.

    I have a huge feeling that what they came up with ended up being lackluster and now they're going to see what EQ Next is all about, then attack the project again.  If EQ Next is half as good as SOE is hinting that it is, Blizzard is going to want to take notes so that they're product when it releases doesn't look like a joke in comparison.

    Seems to me they're just playing it safe because they can afford to.

    Legends of Kesmai, UO, EQ, AO, DAoC, AC, SB, RO, SWG, EVE, EQ2, CoH, GW, VG:SOH, WAR, Aion, DF, CO, MO, DN, Tera, SWTOR, RO2, DP, GW2, PS2, BnS, NW, FF:XIV, ESO, EQ:NL

  • AyulinAyulin Member Posts: 334

    Blizzard can take as long as they want, to do whatever they want, because they know it's going to sell millions just because it's Blizzard. They've earned a reputation as a top game developer, with a huge built-in fan-base who will buy anything they put out, sight-unseen. They no doubt realize this, and take advantage of it in a variety of ways (such as years between expansions, ~a decade to make Diablo III, etc).

     

    Personally, I wouldn't be surrprised if they didn't decide to go back to the drawing board to make Titan (whatever it is) a more sandbox-type game with an open world.

     

    Unless they're looking for something to replace WoW, I'd think they'd want to go in a very different direction. And, with WoW being about as linear as you can get, sandbox would be the most obvious choice.

     

    In fact I find it kind of funny how the article speaks of how "The journey feels less like a series of destinations and hubs and instead like an adventure into your favourite fantasy realm." I literally laughed out loud at that. Excuse me? "a series of destinations and hubs" is precisely what WoW is. The areas around each hub exists only as set dressing, to house the mobs and objects required for each quest chain. You cannot get any more linear and guided, or any less "world like" than WoW. It's designed, feels and plays 100% like a game, not a virtual "fantasy world".

     

    With the push toward sandbox and more open-world games lately, I think Blizzard may have realized that by the time Titan is ready, it'll be catering to a playerbase that no longer exists. People are getting tired of the themepark deal. Some will insist they aren't, but will then complain about tiring of the very things that define a themepark MMO. It's like saying "I don't hate tomatoes, I just hate all that red stuff in them".

     

    I think they may be hanging back and seeing where this upcoming crop of sandbox games goes. Then they'll try to pull another WoW, by making everything more "streamlined and accessible" (ie dumbed down) to try and "cater to everyone", so they can try to become #1 on the market again. It's kind of what they do.

     

    That's my guess. Time will tell.

     

     

     
     
     
     
  • kichwaskichwas Member UncommonPosts: 10

    This is a rough one.

    I don't see an ideal option, their existing IP is in my opinion tapped out, but fan loyalty will glue them to it, and they haven't created any new IP / worlds since the 1990s...

    Its much easier to get something good out the door when you won't be judged by your past... One hit wonders are all over the place, but most second albums suck.

     

    If they did a wholly new world, do they really have the talent for it? The inspiration for it?

    - For good or bad they have been re-hashing the same 3 storylines since before Windows 95 came out... Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft.

    Each of these has kind of reached its logical apex.

    - The orc / elf war can only go so far, but peace is not a storyline.

    - Diablo III... um... just didn't stir imaginations and represents a forward move anyway.

    - Starcraft, is just a world where players will not identify with the aliens as personal characters in the right way.

    All three of these stories are basically told.

    A WoW 2.0 would feel like watching "Nightmare on Elm Street part 73"... you're there for the popcorn, and not even looking at the screen anymore because you can tell the whole thing before the first actor even shows on screen.

    Diablo's thunder is now the shock of rubbing your feet on the carpet. Diablo IV might have to happen first, and kind of set it up for more - like Warcraft III kind of set s stage that made an MMO possible out of a game that (Warcraft I), might as well have been cubes vs. spheres for all the plot it had.

    And I think the very stage Starcraft's lore sits on it locked to its format. A Starcraft MMO to me makes as much sense as a Chess MMO. Like it or not, for an MMO you're going to need the races to be more anthropomorphic (not as in furry, but as in human like: In the sense that Klingons are anthropomorphic - a creature that represents some trait human players can both personality and visually identify with. Its need to be 'cosplayable'.)

     

    But a wholly new IP?

    As good as their existing ones are... that is asking this studio to hit a 4th homerun, when they haven't been up to bat in almost 20 years. Money can't solve that. You have to get lucky with having someone very creative in story writing around, who is also NOT like your past story writers (so that its new), but also similar (so that fans can see it as 'Blizzard').

    - So I have no idea where they can go with Titan, but all roads look rough.

     

  • Ironman2000Ironman2000 Member UncommonPosts: 310
    Originally posted by BluntedJ

    SERIOUSLY? Years after Titan's announcement, years after Starcraft came out and everyone still debates or acts all timid about what Titan is?

     

    Listen...dollars to donuts...Titan = World of Starcraft (ok, Universe of Starcraft, or whatever).

     

    Don't bother arguing. Why create a new IP? Diablo is too limited. It makes the most sense. And yet most of you out there are like "No!" - why, simply because you don't want to believe it? Simply because it would blow your mind?!?

     

    You know, as an aside, I posted over a year and a half ago on another site about Titan = Universe of Starcraft. The author of the article was discussing what was going on with Titan at the time. He disagreed with my comment (which he is entitled to do), but his lame argument was that there was too much of a Korean fanbase for the "sport" aspect of Starcraft (a/k/a all those leagues). What a lame excuse - ahem, like those leaguesters won't make time for some Universe of Starcraft. Insane! Your dead mother is going to rise from the grave to play her some Universe of Starcraft - WITH GOOGLE GLASSES!!! I digress.

     

    The Author is probably dead on - why release a competitor to WoW? Let me take it a bit further: Why not a) create all this mass confusion; b) make people think it's not an MMORPG Starcraft; c) announce that it is on hold and being restarted (more than once makes it sweeter); d) make people think Blizzard may be getting the "jitters" or is being plagued by that "sophmore second album" syndrome; in order to e) make insane amounts of money. This is classic!

     

    The Author is probably dead on about another thing: it would make sense that Titan (a/k/a Universe of Starcraft) be more of a sandbox than a themepark.

     

    Universe of Starcraft is not the greatest name, but you get the point.

     

    Please bookmark this comment. Whenever it comes out I will have been right. And I will take $1.00 from each of you that disagrees. ;)

     

    I CANNOT WAIT!!!

     
     
     
     

     

     

    I have a feeling that they were going to use Star Craft for Titan but then Wild Star is in development by another developer and now they feel they have to start over to beat that game, since it seems a similar style game.

     
  • gervaise1gervaise1 Member EpicPosts: 6,919

    For those with long memories this situation has been around before.

    Back in c. 2003 EQ was king. Xpacs every 6 months rather than major content patches but technology had moved on and SoE were working on EQ2.

    SoE's vision was to move all their EQ1 players across to EQ2 and - effectively - close EQ1. That would have been nirvana. No surprise however that feedback suggested that EQ1 players would not easily abandon the time and effort invested in their characters. 

    So a discussion ensued about how to entice EQ1 players across to EQ2. There was talk of legacy, buried items, tombstone to remember the ancestors and so forth.

    At the end of the day SoE opened EQ2 and the attempts to entice people from EQ1 largely failed. (EQ2 had other issues as well of course like tech specs and WoW). At the end of the day SoE ended up with a smaller pop on EQ1 and a smallish pop on EQ2. 

    Blizzard today are in the same position. They would like to build a bridge between WoW and "Titan".

    Titan will be a standalone game one assumes, no requirement to have played or own WoW.

    But maybe someone who owns WoW could buy Titan as - essentially - an xpac. SoE's attempts demonstrate that any bridge between the two must be real and substantial.

    So what if:

    A WoW character can form some sort of dream / astral / parallel link with a character in Titan. This link provides the Titan character with knowledge that - if used - provides a significant levelling boost. Knowledge of professions that enable superb armour to be made for example. This would essentially extend the legacy system that Bliz have now in WoW - for players that want to create new characters. This knowledge may - or may not be - discoverable to regular Titan characters.

    As the Titan characters advance and learn whatever skills are available to them a WoW touched character can pass back this knowledge into the land of Azeroth. New cooking recipes. New enchantments, inscriptions, spells and so forth. Maybe a full 5 levels worth of new stuff ....

    Some thoughts anyway about what Blizzard could possibly try. Titan would still be a stand alone game but is a link between the two could be established that, it seems to me, would be Blizzard's nirvana state. New game underway but in a way that will help retain their existing WoW playerbase - who may in time come to call Titan their main home.

  • doombonesdoombones Member UncommonPosts: 9

    Hmmm i think if blizzard is restarting Titan constanly they want to draw a new line... 

    Something like a Next Gen Mmo...

    I know its hard to take... but what blizzard did with WoW was kinda layed the standard... ofcoarse there where games that done the same things...

    But for some reason.... WoW created the standard... 

    everybody is now talking about That game looks like WoW... we all know that things like that arn't true... but still every MMORPG has some aspects that look alike...

    And i think Blizzard is trying something new Something we cant even imagine.. a Compleate overhaul of gameplay in the mmo Society.. lets just say it might even be a new Genre on its own we dont know... the only thing is, i have big expectations of Blizzard...  And since there working so long on titan it sounds like they want to make it 100% perfect. otherwise they just say...  just start over

    Anyway ofc like all of us im looking forward to it .

     

    just sayed it

  • XzenXzen Member UncommonPosts: 2,607
    Vapor ware. Just like Ghost.
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