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[Column] World of Warcraft: Speculation on Blizzard's Next Move

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  • dotdotdashdotdotdash Member UncommonPosts: 488

    Blizzard will either:

    1) Drop the subscription price for World of Warcraft to about half what it is now;

    2) Remove the subscription price entirely, in favour of a vanity item led RMT system, but keep "paid for" expansions;

    3) Make WoW entirely F2P, owning everyone else in the MMO market like they don't even exist;

    4) Do nothing.

    Of these 4, I see number 4 as the most likely.

    They have a "too big to fall" mentality, right now.

  • KenFisherKenFisher Member UncommonPosts: 5,035

    Here's what I expect:

     

    Heavily instanced or heavily phased.

    Lobby for easy access to content.

    Storyline driven PVE.

    BG style PVP.

    Real money auction house.

    Communication and shopping in-game via phone and web app.

    Very high level of character appearance customization.

    Minimal class freedom.

    Little to no open world.


    Ken Fisher - Semi retired old fart Network Administrator, now working in Network Security.  I don't Forum PVP.  If you feel I've attacked you, it was probably by accident.  When I don't understand, I ask.  Such is not intended as criticism.
  • PsychowPsychow Member Posts: 1,784
    Originally posted by dotdotdash

    Blizzard will either:

    1) Drop the subscription price for World of Warcraft to about half what it is now;

    2) Remove the subscription price entirely, in favour of a vanity item led RMT system, but keep "paid for" expansions;

    3) Make WoW entirely F2P, owning everyone else in the MMO market like they don't even exist;

    4) Do nothing.

    Of these 4, I see number 4 as the most likely.

    They have a "too big to fall" mentality, right now.

     

    Or offer a subscription bundle:

     

    $15 for Titan or WoW

    $22 for both

  • MephsterMephster Member Posts: 1,188
    MMORTS with world building like minecraft or The Sims.

    Grim Dawn, the next great action rpg!

    http://www.grimdawn.com/

  • GorillaGorilla Member UncommonPosts: 2,235

    I reckon they have peaked. I don't think they have the talent left. In days gone by they woukd have cancelled D3 (again). Actually in days gone by they would have got it right when they started from scratch again when Bliz north was axed.  Their skill has always been 'polish and refine' rather than create brand new stuff. 

    From a business prospective while they are obviously hugely successful however they are very vulnerable to a declining wow subscriber base. I am not sure what will happen if Vivendi just pull out ( they are looking for a buyer) that will undoubtedly have a big impact. 

    Apparently they have a few things in production it will be interesting to see what they are like and whether they can afford to take massive amounts of time to get right. (or have the talent).

    i think we might see some rushed rather average titles.

  • Xstatic912Xstatic912 Member Posts: 365
    Next move, level 90-95 (level 100, a small possibility) xpac, which will possibly aim for a fall 2014 launch..

    @ blizz con 2013, announce that there next mmo will begin beta testing in 2014..

    2015 new mmo launches.

    2016 warcraft 4 beta test

    2017 NCsoft in financial trouble and blizz buys out Arena Net.. Further solidifying them as leet dev.
  • GorillaGorilla Member UncommonPosts: 2,235
    Originally posted by monarc333
    Sci-Fi mmo with WoW like mechanics. Something different from Fantasy is.....Sci-Fi. There is certainly room in that genre for an mmo. TOR is about the only thing worth playing in the Sci-Fi space. And even then its flawed. Just my 2c.

    World of Starcraft? Wow like mechanics will probably not be well received. Funnily enough SW1 was Warcraft in space, it was poorly received at some trade show so they went away and started from scratch.

  • fenistilfenistil Member Posts: 3,005
    First of all Activision-Blizzard is gonna get sold by Vivendi and what Blizzard is gonna do while it is brewing for a moment, will be also heavily influenced by new major shareholder.
  • NadiaNadia Member UncommonPosts: 11,798
    Originally posted by fenistil
    First of all Activision-Blizzard is gonna get sold by Vivendi and what Blizzard is gonna do while it is brewing for a moment, will be also heavily influenced by new major shareholder.

    unless Activision is the buyer ;)

    http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/07/18/activision-could-buy-itself-back-from-vivendi

  • AtibraAtibra Member Posts: 65

    Titan will be a graphical platform (like Steam, Origin etc..) - the point system that Steam, Xbox Live etc.. all use will be converted into a leveling system.  Battle.net is already going through upgrades to support this.  User generated content will exist via a newly released World Builder. 

    There wil be no genre limitations, as you will be able to progress through the normal MMO (i.e. WoW style), accept missions that send you into FPS mode (i.e. their new partnership with Bungee), accept missions that send you into RTS style (i.e. their W3 experience), accept missions that send you into Dungeon Crawl style (i.e. their D3) style.

    Posted a thread on it here: http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/359152/What-Titan-will-be.html

  • tordurbartordurbar Member UncommonPosts: 421
    It will be an MMOFPS. I base that belief on Blizzard firing their chief "Level Designer" of Titan last year. You don't have levels in an mmo you have areas. Levels are for shooters. An MMOFPS would fit the criterion something radically new (compared to an mmorpg). After reading Morhaine's comments (thanks to a poster above) I would bet that it will be a Starcraft MMOFPS.
  • GorillaGorilla Member UncommonPosts: 2,235
    Originally posted by Nadia
    Originally posted by fenistil
    First of all Activision-Blizzard is gonna get sold by Vivendi and what Blizzard is gonna do while it is brewing for a moment, will be also heavily influenced by new major shareholder.

    unless Activision is the buyer ;)

    http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/07/18/activision-could-buy-itself-back-from-vivendi

    That would seriously eat into there mountain of cash and might well cause other 'weak holders'  to bail. Still not a good situation.

  • fivorothfivoroth Member UncommonPosts: 3,916
    Originally posted by Gorilla
    Originally posted by Nadia
    Originally posted by fenistil
    First of all Activision-Blizzard is gonna get sold by Vivendi and what Blizzard is gonna do while it is brewing for a moment, will be also heavily influenced by new major shareholder.

    unless Activision is the buyer ;)

    http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/07/18/activision-could-buy-itself-back-from-vivendi

    That would seriously eat into there mountain of cash and might well cause other 'weak holders'  to bail. Still not a good situation.

    While not ideal, there doesn't seem to be another option. It would be nice to have Activision Blizzard separated from Vivendi.

    Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.

  • ScalebaneScalebane Member UncommonPosts: 1,883
    not sure how people feel ripped off when they buy these games since there is plenty of info out there to research before buying.  what ever blizz's next move is i'll be there with them, i enjoy their games and i'm always up to trying new games from them.

    image

    "The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand."
    - Lewis Thomas

  • benit59benit59 Member UncommonPosts: 114

    Based on grammar and research, I would like to recommend this article as being the worst ever posted to this website. No offense...

     

    With that being said, the future of Blizzard rests in its longterm development of:

    1.) Starcraft 2 installments --- there's at least two planned and unreleased.

    2.) Diablo 3 expansions --- they'll give everyone a little time to cool off, but make no mistake, Adria still lives and I think I saw a soulstone in that last cut scene...

    3.) Blizzard DOTA --- with the release of the Arcade Platform, Blizzard is primed to push out this new "F2P" MOBA competitor. The real question is whether anyone will care.

    4.) MoP hasn't even released yet. I still qualify it as future. Will there be another Xpack afterwards? Sure...there's still 9 million people playing right now. Half of that is 4.5 million at $39.99 a copy...thats another $180 million in box sales if only half of current subscribers are still around and decide to buy it.

    5.) Titan? As if the first 4 things I just listed weren't enough to keep ONE design house busy for the next 5 years. Everyone expects this to be the mothership. The big floating disc in the MMO sky that will take us all on the ultimate journey to the gaming land we have all been promised. I still have a glimmer of hope for this game...

    It has been stated that this game is currently in a "playable" state, development entered full production this year, and it is not tied to any other intellectual property. If I were to speculate, I would guess we are looking at a "first or third person shooter" mmo. There have been successes and failures in this genre and knowing Blizzard, they will take it a direction that no one sees coming.

  • Xstatic912Xstatic912 Member Posts: 365
    @ benit59

    good points..
  • BladestromBladestrom Member UncommonPosts: 5,001
    I tell you where there is a huge gap in the market, a space based mmorg like eve but with much stronger pve/ themepark and being able to land/ explore planets. With the money they have to invest, they could fill that gap- could be exciting.

    rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar

    Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D

  • TalonsWingTalonsWing Member Posts: 33

    Quite remarkable that we have heard nothing more on this. Dont they get the fact that gamers are losing interest in the WoW property and that F2Ps are going to drag away more?  Mind you 9.1 MILLION is a lot of subscribers for such an aging property.

     

  • benit59benit59 Member UncommonPosts: 114
    Originally posted by Bladestrom
    I tell you where there is a huge gap in the market, a space based mmorg like eve but with much stronger pve/ themepark and being able to land/ explore planets. With the money they have to invest, they could fill that gap- could be exciting.

     

    I am expecting a high-scifi PvE FPS experience. eg. Halo-esque environments with lots of "squads" squaring off against hordes of aliens and such. Lots of different planets with RTS tie-ins, and mini-games via social network sites and mobile platforms that impact auxilary game systems like crafting and such.

  • stragen001stragen001 Member UncommonPosts: 1,720
    Hehe, I think the only way you could possible get sanbox fans to NOT play a new AAA sanbox is if it were to be made by Blizzard! LOL

    Cluck Cluck, Gibber Gibber, My Old Mans A Mushroom

  • AeonFluxionAeonFluxion Member Posts: 4

    New IP.

    Huge, hulking game.

    No one will expect it.

     

    Project Titan will set in a "time-travel/dimension-travel" universe.  It will be fantasy and sci-fi.  Historical and futuristic.  Any world, any time.  

    Essentially a Blizz version of Gurps.

  • PsychowPsychow Member Posts: 1,784
    Originally posted by stragen001
    Hehe, I think the only way you could possible get sanbox fans to NOT play a new AAA sanbox is if it were to be made by Blizzard! LOL

     

    Then those type of people really aren't sandbox fans are they. They are just bitter haters that nobody would want to have in their game in the first place. I know I wouldn't. Screw them and people like them.

     

     

  • Smarlow2Smarlow2 Member Posts: 21
    I am really hoping Blizzard  will take a sandbox MMO into consideration. While most sandboxes aren't doing so well with their player bases, Blizzard could easily prevail, or fail. It's all up to how well they can adapt. I'm sure Blizzard has learned quite a lot with WoW, and they took some great concepts from earlier MMOs and games and meshed them together for a full MMO experience (at least for their time). WoW has the potential and funding to stay around for years to come, but I do not think they can keep their community flourishing. Blizzard will either shine, or ultimately fall behind in the MMO market. Time will tell.

    image
  • MilitantMilitant Member Posts: 48
    Well we can speculate on the codename of "titan" as to what the game may be:
    - mythical titans were huge and powerful.. So it could just reference what was said about it being huge
    - titan is the largest Moon of Saturn.. So perhaps referencing a scifi post apocalypic scene where humans fled earth and colonized titan or something

    As far as what it was said about titan being "all of them" as "historical, scifi, post apocalypic".. The only game that immediately comes to mind is Fallout series, one of the best RPG aeries ever and the rights to the FalloutMMO were the only rights not sold to Bethesda.. Could blizzard be working on the fabled Fallout MMO? If so, that would be amazing and probably the only thing to make me buy it.

    As far as the little info in 4 years, blizzard is notorious for slow production... Diablo 3 and SC3 both took like 7 years to produce.. There was what, like a 4-5 year gap between WC 2 and 3 also I believe
  • benit59benit59 Member UncommonPosts: 114
    Originally posted by Militant
    Well we can speculate on the codename of "titan" as to what the game may be:
     

    I think Titan is just the working title and plays more to the ambition of the project in terms of size and scope.

    We will likely hear an official title at the next BlizzCon. A title that is more appropriate for the actual premise of the game.

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