Originally posted by NagelRitter I seem to see a lot of random companies crop up that are composed of this or that piece of Blizzard, but none of them have yet to release anything worthwhile.
I personally think Torchlight and Torchlight II are more than worthwhile. I even enjoyed Hellgate: London despite it's many faults. Mythos never had a chance to realize it's full potential either but what they had was a pretty solid game. Me thinks I sense a little Anti Blizzard bias in your post. I even enjoyed WoW to a point as it was and still is a highly polished game play experience... Just very shallow when compared to what came before.
I personally think Torchlight and Torchlight II are more than worthwhile.
I forgot about them (which is telling), but they're basically just indie games. On the same level as stuff that comes up in Steam's humble bundles. I am not saying there's anything wrong with it, but I think they're both fairly meh. Borderlands is a far superior series of games.
I even enjoyed Hellgate: London despite it's many faults. Mythos never had a chance to realize it's full potential either but what they had was a pretty solid game.
Yeah and nobody cares. Plenty of companies create "OK" (I think that's generous) games every day. We want great games. That's the whole point of following around developers from past companies. And if all their work amounts to is meh sub-indie games and none of them can approach what Blizzard has done, they're not able to do anything on their own, so not worth following.
Me thinks I sense a little Anti Blizzard bias in your post.
I honestly don't know what that means. Anti- what Blizzard? Blizzard from 1996? Blizzard North? Blizzard of 2004? Blizzard as in people who left the company? Here's one of my posts for your amusement: http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/5856710#5856710
Ergo, I generally have more respect for Blizzard as a collective than individual people at Blizzard, and I don't particularly respect Blizzard North or its remnants.
Favorite MMO: Vanilla WoW Currently playing: GW2, EVE Excited for: Wildstar, maybe?
I personally think Torchlight and Torchlight II are more than worthwhile.
I forgot about them (which is telling), but they're basically just indie games. On the same level as stuff that comes up in Steam's humble bundles. I am not saying there's anything wrong with it, but I think they're both fairly meh. Borderlands is a far superior series of games.
I even enjoyed Hellgate: London despite it's many faults. Mythos never had a chance to realize it's full potential either but what they had was a pretty solid game.
Yeah and nobody cares. Plenty of companies create "OK" (I think that's generous) games every day. We want great games. That's the whole point of following around developers from past companies. And if all their work amounts to is meh sub-indie games and none of them can approach what Blizzard has done, they're not able to do anything on their own, so not worth following.
Me thinks I sense a little Anti Blizzard bias in your post.
I honestly don't know what that means. Anti- what Blizzard? Blizzard from 1996? Blizzard North? Blizzard of 2004? Blizzard as in people who left the company? Here's one of my posts for your amusement: http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/5856710#5856710
Ergo, I generally have more respect for Blizzard as a collective than individual people at Blizzard, and I don't particularly respect Blizzard North or its remnants.
No... You personally don't care... Major difference there. I'm pretty sure you don't speak for everyone just like I don't or anyone else here. I did however read that post you linked before I posted this but didn't connect it to you at the time so for that I do apologize.
I am implying WoW was a bad game, yes. Any merit from it was derived from directly copying EQ.
If so EQ would have had 20 times the subscriber base instead of the other way around.
I loved EQ, it was the kind of game I'd always wanted to play. A revolutionary advance.
That doesn't mean there weren't dozens of things that WoW did way better (and EQ2 failed miserably at):
Seamless open world.
Constant questing vs 1 quest every 5 levels or so.
Quests that don't require spoiler sites as essential game aids.
Quests that aren't broken or unimplemented.
Art style that's immersive even on low-end machines.
Useful crafting.
Intuitive UI.
Melee abilities beyond "kick" and auto-attack.
Lack of forced downtime.
Class balance.
Flight points.
I could go on.
Hopefully a new sandbox era is upon us, but WoW mastered the MMORPG themepark genre and to pretend otherwise is an exercise in contrariness.
.................
If the MMORPG genre weren't niche then and had been mass marketed the way WoW did, they would of had 20 times the subscriber's. Not to mention EQ is STILL running some 14 years later.
And no kidding WoW did some things better. They just improved on existing features EQ and UOO developed. Not to mention the difference in technology available to them was a HUGE factor.
WoW took the EQ model, asked people what was preventing them from playing it, fixed the problems, and then reaped a player base so large that it made MMO's a legit genre instead of niche. You can call that mass marketing, but most of us would call that innovating.
And have you seen vanilla WoW? That thing was horrid.
They will spawn the evil mutant child of WoW and EQ...Ever World of Quests. Fed on the blood of Kickstarter and sacrificed to regularly with pre-order it will be a monstrous money guzzling beast of a MMO.
Oh and to actually get back on topic: Awesome. This is good news for the MMORPG genre. Pumping new blood into the industry is always good for us fans! It keeps the market competitive and stops it from getting stale.
People always seem to mix up liking a game and whether a game is good or bad. You may absolutely hate WoW and think it's the spawn of satan, but noone can say it's a bad game. I can't stand to play eve, but I don't think it's a bad game, it's just not to my liking. Whether you like a game is totally different from whether it's good or bad...something everyone needs to learn and remember.
Just a few things about what I'm talking about. Art style, quest vs sandbox, cost, races, classes, setting, etc. These are all things that are opinions, which leads towards liking a game or not. What makes a game good or not is how it plays, things like stability, balance, playability, support, requirements, etc.
Hmm could this be my Hellgate senses tingling?? Possibly a Hellgate: Moscow coming??
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!
People always seem to mix up liking a game and whether a game is good or bad. You may absolutely hate WoW and think it's the spawn of satan, but noone can say it's a bad game.
I absolutely can. It is rife with horrible design decisions.
I don't play Eve but I think the game is glorious. I don't play WoW and think it's awful.
"According to GamesIndustry.biz, the team comprises names such as Paul Della Bitta, former Blizzard director of community development and eSports, and former SOE lead designer Blaine Smith."
So, yeah....a guy from Blizzard who did community and "eSports" stuff....yeah. Well Mr. Smith was a lead designer, so maybe he's the mighty creative force behind this would be David MMO studio which will finally take down Blizzard's Goliath! To Google!
So....Mr.Smith was lead designer for a game called PoxNora, a turn-based online strategy game....yeah.
In other news PCGamer announced that a QA guy from Irrational Games' Bioshock Infinite team and Richard Garriot's third cousin on his mother's side were seen talking while in line at Starbucks! Is a Bioshock meets Ultima crossover in the works???
Your post is the only relevant post besides the thread starter XD.
When i read SOE or Blizzard vets (which could mean they sucked at their jobs and got cut, lol) i can't help but start laughing out loud and then facepalm, most of those vets have such a bad track record after they left their company's i don't even bother.
Comments
I personally think Torchlight and Torchlight II are more than worthwhile. I even enjoyed Hellgate: London despite it's many faults. Mythos never had a chance to realize it's full potential either but what they had was a pretty solid game. Me thinks I sense a little Anti Blizzard bias in your post. I even enjoyed WoW to a point as it was and still is a highly polished game play experience... Just very shallow when compared to what came before.
Bren
while(horse==dead)
{
beat();
}
Favorite MMO: Vanilla WoW
Currently playing: GW2, EVE
Excited for: Wildstar, maybe?
No... You personally don't care... Major difference there. I'm pretty sure you don't speak for everyone just like I don't or anyone else here. I did however read that post you linked before I posted this but didn't connect it to you at the time so for that I do apologize.
Bren
while(horse==dead)
{
beat();
}
WoW took the EQ model, asked people what was preventing them from playing it, fixed the problems, and then reaped a player base so large that it made MMO's a legit genre instead of niche. You can call that mass marketing, but most of us would call that innovating.
And have you seen vanilla WoW? That thing was horrid.
They will spawn the evil mutant child of WoW and EQ...Ever World of Quests. Fed on the blood of Kickstarter and sacrificed to regularly with pre-order it will be a monstrous money guzzling beast of a MMO.
Whats this? Davisflight talking about WoW again? Shocking.
Seriously though, i've never seen anybody this obsessed about anything in my life.
Oh and to actually get back on topic: Awesome. This is good news for the MMORPG genre. Pumping new blood into the industry is always good for us fans! It keeps the market competitive and stops it from getting stale.
People always seem to mix up liking a game and whether a game is good or bad. You may absolutely hate WoW and think it's the spawn of satan, but noone can say it's a bad game. I can't stand to play eve, but I don't think it's a bad game, it's just not to my liking. Whether you like a game is totally different from whether it's good or bad...something everyone needs to learn and remember.
Just a few things about what I'm talking about. Art style, quest vs sandbox, cost, races, classes, setting, etc. These are all things that are opinions, which leads towards liking a game or not. What makes a game good or not is how it plays, things like stability, balance, playability, support, requirements, etc.
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!
I absolutely can. It is rife with horrible design decisions.
I don't play Eve but I think the game is glorious. I don't play WoW and think it's awful.
Your post is the only relevant post besides the thread starter XD.
When i read SOE or Blizzard vets (which could mean they sucked at their jobs and got cut, lol) i can't help but start laughing out loud and then facepalm, most of those vets have such a bad track record after they left their company's i don't even bother.