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Blizzard's mysterious MMO
ThomasN7
87.18.7.148Member CommonPosts: 6,690
Source: www.massively.com/2009/05/19/the-digital-continuum-blizzards-mysterious-mmo/#continued
We've got a good reason to believe that Blizzard's next MMO is in actuality a new IP, which means it's the perfect time to discuss the potential of this newly crafted world. Assuming that Games Workshop isn't the inspiring factor for yet another Blizzard game, I'll lay out five settings that I hope will catch a few of you off guard.
Here's the thing about Blizzard, they rarely stick to vanilla settings. Diablo is the only real exception, but even it had the addition of the Japanese inspired Assassin class and Celtic inspired Druid class. StarCraft's races range over a several influences and Warcraft pulls stuff from all over the place, chief among them being some steampunk.
Will it be the same for this new IP?
Steampunk
Currently a popular choice with several of the MMO dedicated, largely because the niche hasn't been properly filled as of yet, steampunk offers a wide swath of varying settings. Although I've got a personal preference.
Warmachine is tabletop game that's a blend of both steampunk and dark fantasy. It's a world with large mechanized machines controlled by powerful mages, and yet it also has plenty of sci-fi influence too. One of the world's factions -- the Cygnar -- actually fuel a few of their most powerful Warmachines with slightly erratic electrical engines instead of furnaces. Mostly though, it's a very steampunk kind of setting where guys with swords, guns and magic constantly tear each other apart. I highly recommend it to anyone with a thing for the setting.
Blizzard has never been shy with their inspirational sources, and in the case of steampunk and Warmachine, I really wouldn't mind seeing them change their tune. The unfortunate truth is that Warmachine has always been a fascinating world unable to break free from its tabletop origins, which may be intentional on its creator's part. Even so, a Blizzard take on something like the Iron Kingdoms would be an instant hit whether people realize they want it or not.
Cyberpunk
Near dystopian futures never seem to go out of style, whether it's Neuromancer, Snow Crash, Blade Runner, The Matrix or Shadowrun. Of course, all these settings take their own paths in weaving a world of technology gone wrong. Some are more post apocalyptic than others, too. Most of my experience with them has been incredibly enthralling.
In the case of cyberpunk, I can see it being sparsely used or twisted into Blizzard's own take on what kind of dark future the world holds for humanity. Admittedly, it would be very interesting to see a cyberpunk MMO from the company who brought us such a game changing title in their first attempt. Still, assuming Blizzard did a cyberpunk MMO, I imagine it wouldn't be too much like anything we're used to up until now.
Wuxia
I really loved the world of Jade Empire, and film epics set in the magical far east always seem to capture my imagination. Something about the mysterious "Far East" in movies and videogames is just so very entrancing. Of course, much like the cyberpunk setting I expect that Blizzard is more likely to cherry pick anything they may use from Wuxia. Then again, they did create the Pandarens -- even if it was a little bit of a joke.
If they were looking to stand out in the crowded MMO market, a martial arts epic with a touch of steampunk or maybe even cyberpunk would definitely make everyone take a lot of notice. Something both modern and fantastical, with identifiable fantasy trappings alongside strange and less common locales of the far east.
A guy can hope, right? I admit, this one is a bit of a reach. But if anything, maybe one of the races in their upcoming MMO will be heavily influenced by wuxia. Maybe we'll see Pandarens redux for all I know.
Part 2
Dark Fantasy
Diablo fits into this category, but so do many other games and settings. Everything from BioWare's upcoming Dragon Age -- which leans a little more towards classic fantasy with elves and dwarfs -- to the aforementioned Warhamchine, which while heavily steampunk also carries many dark fantasy connotations.
It's hard to guess what's going to be popular in a couple years, let alone the several it takes to develop an MMO. Still, one thing you can count on is for people to be interested in a dark world with a mysterious backstory. That's why I'm fairly certain that whether it's science fiction, fantasy, steampunk or whatever, it'll probably be darker than World of Warcraft.
Science Fantasy
It's not a term you hear too often, but Science Fantasy is something everyone probably quite familiar with: Star Wars. This is basically a world where, while science fiction is seemingly the source setting, fantasy is always lurking somewhere in the background. Star Wars being the very obvious example with the Force, evil emperors and Jedi, but there are other settings as well.
A more recent franchise would be Mass Effect, which leans more towards sci-fi, but still carries some classic fantasy trappings like the game's reliance on dark energy to explain why people can perform the equivalence force push and create gravity wells. Still, Mass Effect is largely a sci-fi game first -- but the example holds.
Obviously this would be double edged choice with Star Wars: The Old Republic coming along in a few years. Could Blizzard out-Star Wars, Star Wars? That's a pretty tall order and something I don't even really know how to answer. Part of me just wants to see them try it, to be honest.
Conclusion
Whatever it is that Blizzard is cooking up you can bet that it'll be their take on an established genre. Will it be a mixture of one or more of the above? Possibly, especially since I did cover a decent spread.
There's always the chance that we'll all be pleasantly surprised by something completely unexpected. I would say that with two major fantasy heavy titles and only one sci-fi title under their belt, chance favors this new IP to be sci-fi focused. On the other hand, Blizzard can kind of do whatever they want, It's really up to the men and women in charge. Something tells me that whatever they do, it'll be worth playing regardless.
Comments
LOL...This made me spit out my drink and start laughing, now watch all the dumb Blizzard fanbois get made and start demanding in what way is Warcraft/Starcraft similar to Warhammer and WAR40K...../facepalm
Anyways, back on topic.
Blizzard makes awesome games, and I'd hope they give fantasy/sci-fi a try, a game like Rifts would be awesome...=D
Its actually going to based on the theme of waterworld and they are going to call it Hydross.
LOL...This made me spit out my drink and start laughing, now watch all the dumb Blizzard fanbois get made and start demanding in what way is Warcraft/Starcraft similar to Warhammer and WAR40K...../facepalm
Anyways, back on topic.
Blizzard makes awesome games, and I'd hope they give fantasy/sci-fi a try, a game like Rifts would be awesome...=D
Why would they get mad, they can take a concepts that exist and are meh and turn them into block buster, best in class titles, which break new records only to be broke again by Blizzard themselves.
Not many companies can do that
I'm assuming this MMO will be away from RPG. I wouldn't be surprised if we run into a massive strategy game. I'm sure they could find a way to make it perfect.
It will be a first person view, FFA with full-loot, and they will call it LightFall.
j/k
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
Would be interesting to see them change direction a bit. I never got into the whole WoW thing, but I have always enjoyed their other games. Will be very interesting to see what comes of it.
Edit: I would agree with one of the above posters, Rifts would be something nice. A blend of past/present/future weapons and class styles. Would be very odd to try out since they class possibilities are limitless in Rifts.
Playing: Not much actively.
Games played: to many to list, been playing MMO's since 2001
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I think you missed out one of the biggest genres that is missing at the moment, HORROR. I don't mean weird alien-esque crap like Hellgate London was, I mean the real thing Vampires, Zombies, Werewolves, proper horror!!
*shivers*
The ... HORROR!
I think you could be right.
My brand new bloggity blog.
LOL...This made me spit out my drink and start laughing, now watch all the dumb Blizzard fanbois get made and start demanding in what way is Warcraft/Starcraft similar to Warhammer and WAR40K...../facepalm
Anyways, back on topic.
Blizzard makes awesome games, and I'd hope they give fantasy/sci-fi a try, a game like Rifts would be awesome...=D
Not sure where I actually said that but I found it quite funny myself. Who knows really. My guess is they are going to revive an old ip they have like Blackthorne.
Why limit yourself to just one?
How about a high Sci Fi and high fantasy mix similar to the Final Fantasy series.
Why go through the convoluted motions of explaining why people are using swords and shields instead of lasers? Why come up with "Biomech Molecular Regeneration Aura" when you could just have "Heal"?
Blizzard likes to cater to everyone at once so why not have an MMO with themes people are familar with(fantasy) with settings we dont see enough of(sci fi).
Course, people would complain they are ripping off Star Wars. But then, no matter what this new MMO is people will complain its a rip off of something else. It could be about marmots and ferrets and people would still call it a rip off of Warhammer.
That's not even proper, real horror is fear of the unknown.
Lightrise, more likely. :-)
My guess is they will probably give us some mesh (mess?) of sci-fi and fantasy together. However, I hope (a fool's hope, maybe) they will give us a new fantasy world with traditional fantasy races, classes, and elements. Barbarians, Elves, Dwarves, and Gnomes will always work okay for me.
Sometimes, folks wanting a new MMO just want a new map and for everyone to start all over again at level 1.
Now some people will point to the scores of fantasy MMO's and say that fantasy has been done to death, but I will counter that "good" fantasy MMO's have only been handed to us 3 or 4 times in the last decade.
I think Dark & Light already captured the horror MMO, because I was horrfied when I saw it! Deeply disturbed=)
I am voting on either NA western ICowboys and umm native americans and mexico) or Civil War North vs South and the quests would include the abolition of slavery.
I would love to see a world map the size of our world map and call it WW4 .
Refugee from UO,EQ,AC,AC2,AO,DAOC,L2,SB,HZ,CoH,PT,EQ2,WoW,VG,SWG,EVE,WAR,DF,MO,AI,GA,LOTRO, SWTOR... Gw2 on Deck
LOL...This made me spit out my drink and start laughing, now watch all the dumb Blizzard fanbois get made and start demanding in what way is Warcraft/Starcraft similar to Warhammer and WAR40K...../facepalm
Anyways, back on topic.
Blizzard makes awesome games, and I'd hope they give fantasy/sci-fi a try, a game like Rifts would be awesome...=D
Not sure where I actually said that but I found it quite funny myself. Who knows really. My guess is they are going to revive an old ip they have like Blackthorne.
Well the question is where are they going to get their material, even if it's a new IP, they're still paying someone to write the stuff.
With all the money they have they can hire some of the best names in Sci-Fi/Fantasy literature and graphic artists and come up with some mind blowing stuff....that is if they decide to invest any money in those areas....-_-
Personally, I wish they'd stay out of the MMO market from now on. They're destroying the genre.
World of Warcraft single-handedly made the genre mainstream.
They are far from 'destroying' the genre. The barrier of entry is extremely high due to WoW's success, but if anything, that just means that games require more quality to succeed.
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How so?
how come noone has done an mmo with vampires and such or one based on the forgotten realms series?
Forgotten Realms would be great, I love the books.
Bilzzard ruining the Genre?
Yes and no
Yes in the fact that MMOs are not easy, hand holding theme parks with little player choice or skill involved.
No in the fact that they made the MMO industry accessable to all types of players and created a huge market for MMOs. We are seeing more and more MMOs each year but at a cost.
Sooner or Later
Mmmmm Horror, I'd love to see a Lovecraft influenced Mmo. 1920-1940's era, could go earlier, Occult based with all your European, Asian, American (south, central and north) Indian Mythology influences. You might not think it would go at first, but Edgar Allen Poe, sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H. P. Lovecraft, Heinlein, Asimov, and too many other writers from that era are still a huge influence on everything in writing, TV, and Movies still today.
Why not Mmo's? Everything is laid out from networking, quests, Raiding, the whole Shebang.
Blizzard lucked out with Warcraft. if any real competition had ever come up it would have died in North america by now. I loved WoW for years, will still go back to it a few months out of every year I am sure, but they never fail to disapoint me with all the things they could have put into the game, but instead they only put in just enough candy to sate my sweet tooth.
I just hope they can follow thru with something worthwhile this time, and not lead me on to endless level grinding that leads to endless gear grinding, that leads me to boredom waiting for another expansion so I can do it again, lol
Cheers
Why? If you want to blame someone for all the shitty WoW clones blame the companies for making those games.
The problem with todays MMO market is the game developers don't know how to take the next step in making the next great thing. And considering Blizzards track record and experience in MMOs. They just might be the company to make a game that'll replace WoW.
There are only two other companies I believe might have the potential to make a highly successful MMO. One is Bioware, and the other is Rockstar. Yes! Rockstar, if you look at the GTA series you can already see how it's build to suit the design that goes into MMOs. Plus they manage to make questing in their games interesting and fun reducing the grind factor you see in most games.
Yeah, I'd prefer killing 30 pimps over 30 boars anyday...lol
Anyways, hope to see what Blizzard is cooking up soon...just to know what they have in stored.
LOL .. you complain about a GAME that enterained you for years? That is a monumental achievement. Nothing last for ever and i am surprised that WOW last as long as it does. Kudos to Blizzard.
Forgotten Realms would be great, I love the books.
Bilzzard ruining the Genre?
Yes and no
Yes in the fact that MMOs are not easy, hand holding theme parks with little player choice or skill involved.
No in the fact that they made the MMO industry accessable to all types of players and created a huge market for MMOs. We are seeing more and more MMOs each year but at a cost.
I'd rather see fewer and fewer great MMOs than the current trend of more and more crappy ones.
Tried: LotR, CoH, AoC, WAR, Jumpgate Classic
Played: SWG, Guild Wars, WoW
Playing: Eve Online, Counter-strike
Loved: Star Wars Galaxies
Waiting for: Earthrise, Guild Wars 2, anything sandbox.
I hope they pick a genre never seen before in a MMO or which is rarely done like sci-fi. I dearly hope we don't get yet another level grinding, loot grind, raid-tastic fantasy MMO.
Games I've played/tried out:WAR, LOTRO, Tabula Rasa, AoC, EQ1, EQ2, WoW, Vangaurd, FFXI, D&DO, Lineage 2, Saga Of Ryzom, EvE Online, DAoC, Guild Wars,Star Wars Galaxies, Hell Gate London, Auto Assault, Grando Espada ( AKA SoTNW ), Archlord, CoV/H, Star Trek Online, APB, Champions Online, FFXIV, Rift Online, GW2.
Game(s) I Am Currently Playing:
GW2 (+LoL and BF3)