1: WoW: WoTLK- although I think it is regurgitated junk, as the WoW novelty/fun factor ware off people will leave. I already did, but WoW has a good reputation so it will continue to pull in new MMOers.
2: Warhammer
3: Aion
4: The Chronicles of Spellborn
5: Age of Conan
6: LoTR: Mines of Moria
7: Stargate Worlds
8: Jumpgate Evolution(assuming it comes out)
9: Huxley/Earthrise(assuming they come out)
again this is in terms of what I know/have seen and is based on non Asian sub numbers.
Best companies I'd have to say are the ones with the deepest pockets. Besides that I'd say Blizzard, Turbine, NCsoft, and CCP. Those are the current companies to say the least, as some newcomers like Bioware could produce quality.
ohhh.. sh... I've forgot about Jumgate Evolution and one of my favorite games - EVE Online.
EVE Online - CCP is working on the biggest expansion ever. with many things in it (read official site) there is adding possibility to go out from the ship. Players'll be able to customise their character's look, and walk their chars like in others MMO with all this good stuff plus for me this is only one thing in game missing for now, and after adding it (with some other stuff), it'll expand this variable-already game
Jumgate Evolution - from what i've read it'll be a mix from EVE + X-series + Elite (old-sh.. if someone remembers). So it would have game economics and factions mechanics similar to EVE, but with more interactive action in combat...
So if imagine all this went live till Sum09, my chart would be like this:
1. WoW vs. AION
2. AoC vs. WAR vs. LotRO
3. EVE Online vs. Jumgate Evolution
4. Stargate vs. Earthrise (if it's live) vs. TCoS
5. New Bioware MMO vs. New CCP MMO vs. everything else
P.S. I used "vs." because I think those games will have popularity quite close to each other (summary from all over the world). I didn't use 'vs." to clash titles or make agruements of any sort...
"Really hard to say until the time is here. Aion lacks mid-end game content and is more of a grind than anyone here will lead you to believe, and it has some pretty serious issues so far which means fixing these will take priority over content." ..as taken from ProfRed _____________________________________________________________________________________ ProfRed, truly astounding news from Aion, considering they've been very secretive about anything with this game. I have seen a few snippets here and there and much assumption about the game play. I have read about patches from the current Korean beta version, however I yet to see anything that hints of these problems. Could you please link for us the archival data that explains exactly what these issues may be? it is supposed that grinding will not be as Lineage 2 and lack of content does disturb me quite a bit. If you could send a link our way, I do believe all on this truly interesting thread would appreciate it. Thanks, ProfRed!
NCSoft is not a developer. Well that is not entirely true now that the CoX team is NCsoft. But baiscally that is a special case.
The best developers in order are: #1 ArenaNet - Best design, best balance. Everything hangs together really well. They may be the only development house that truly understand how to design something as a comprehensive system from the ground up. ANet is also extremelly good at putting out quality, but what would you expect from the real powerhouses of the old Blizzard? Jeff Strain was the technical powerhouse of Blizz. With Guild Wars Anet was basically the first development house to realize that Open Beta is no longer a test. When people look back they will come to realize that Anet really had a very good understanding of how things are actually working. Highest level of quality, best understanding of what they are trying to do. Best development house bar none. #2 CCP - similar to ArenaNet but not quite as good. Both houses understand the purpose of what they are doing. Basically CCP has some slip ups in each area. Eve and GW are vastly different games but when you look at the development ideas behind them they are very similar they just had different goals. Also CCP lacked the initial advantage of having the Blizzard culture show them the benefits the QA approach #3 Blizzard - Blizzard's biggest strength is quality assurance, smoothness and taking out unnecessary obstacles. Otherwise they are not really all that inspired really and while they strive for QA they do not fully understand what or why they are doing things. That is why CCP and Anet are better developers. Blizzard goes through an iterative process and hopes they eventually hit the mark.
#4 Turbine - If it were solely based on LOTRO I would put Turbine above Blizzard since they are more creative and innovative, but due to various problems and bumps in the road with othr games I can't do that. Otherwise similar to Blizzard. Their quality is a little more hit or miss but they are definitely more innovative. And Even though DDO has its problems its combat is as good or better than AoC and was made years ago.
Can't really rate Mythic yet. DAOC is from another Era. We will have to wait until a couple months after WAR's release to say for sure.
What I love about turbine, is that they work out of passion. Yeah, you could say they are milking it with Lotro, but that's not all they stand for. On my list they are number one, and there because of DDO. Still the most tactical combat any MMO has to offer. What's more, it's teamwork related. Sure, you can rank it low, because it was not a solo friendly game, but a game can be successful if it is aimed strictly at more people. How many times did you play activity by yourself?
Turbine is also the mind behind AC, which was way way better than EQ1, any day of the week, also more original.
oh how i miss in depth MMO's.... Biowares MMO (KOTOR 3 supposedly) will be incredible if it comes out 2009, has my vote for sure. I read some of the designers ideas they have for the game and if they pull them off I will say good bye to my social life for sure
yeah, like the designer ideas of give players the ILLUSION of choice? You mean that one? yeah, I read it as well.
Did you play Mass Effect. The choices were ALL illusion based, and many of the long time Bioware fans are really really pissed at the utter LACK of complexity (story, characters AND combat) in ME.
An mmo like that? No thanks, kids already have wow.
Maybe Hero's Journey could be something fresh, but I doubt we'll see it released in 2009. I hope Bioware thinks out of the box with their MMO - they always value setting, story and character and that's already a huge plus in my book. What I'd really like to see is a sci-fi MMORP with huge megalopoli... Something along the lines of Blade Runner or Neuromancer would do. Not purely combat based, with lots of story elements, background and puzzle-solving.
yeah, well, Bioware is overhyped. Their latest work is sh!t, compared to BG series. But then again, all the games build on their engine by black isle were superior in every regard. Their characters are one dimensional, rarely having inner conflicts. The good path/bad path are disturbingly obvious. It is good for teenagers, like 12-16. If you want anything above 16, you turn to black isle or obsidian. Mask of the betrayer is the second best CRPG story told in the last 7-8 years, second only to the story of the witcher.
BioWare is like a hip word. You say it, and think you know quality, but BioWare is nothing special as of late. I give them their last chance with Dragon Age.
I think Aion, Chronicles, Earthrise and Stargate Worlds are all going to massively disappoint aficionadoes (especially sadly for Earthrise and SW), but may do well in terms of subscribers for a while. WoTLK will stll be king of the heap by a wide margin, Huxley looks great (love the architecture!) but it's going to be crap. Darkfall seems to be vapourware, as does Mortal Online. Warhammer Online will probably be decent but not as good or as original as many hope. AoC will still be hanging in there (mainly because of the non-high-fantasy setting, which is its trump card), and will probably have settled down to a pretty decent MMO by then, probably about no. 6 or 7. GW2 will be huge when it comes out but I doubt it will be out next year, and it's the only MMO I think stands a cat's chance in hell of beating WoW.
The only MMOs I'm really looking forward to personally (because, like many, I'm starved of s-f) are Champions Online and Bioware's which I think will both be good. Cryptic did a good job on CoX, which for all its flaws is still a classic MMO in terms of its combat, and in terms of the basic MMO remit of getting people together to have fun, and hopefully Cryptic have learned from their mistakes. CO won't be a WoW beater by a long chalk, but should do fairly well, like CoX did, about position 7 or 8. Bioware's will be good (and will have the fantastic KOTOR setting), but again, probably not quite as good as many (including me) are hoping - certainly it's unlikely to be the open, sandboxy s-f MMO everyone is gagging for, and wil probably be around 9 or 10. Although Bioware might surprise us yet (which, again, I'm hoping), and if it does, if their MMO is strongly sandboxy and has good stories in it in which somehow the player affects the world, it will be humungous, possibly no. 3.
Don't forget LOTRO: Mines of Moria. I know it's not a huge mmo, but it's very successful, polished, and popular. MoM will pull in a lot of new people.
The interesting one on that list is Aion. I'm fully convinced that the only mmo that can (and will) dethrone WoW is one that takes what makes WoW popular and puts it in an even more slick package. Of all the new games coming Aion is the one that appears (from videos and such) to fit the bill.
It will be interesting to see how Aion is received when it gets a NA and EU release.
Comments
I always thought it was summer of '69
Anyway I'm hoping for Aion, but I've had my hopes up before
Noone waiting for Fallen Earth?
EDIT: Lol @ the above poster. You beat me to it
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. - Carl Sagan
Me.
I do love your nick as well Caldicot.. makes for an interesting MMO moniker.
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth
John Lennon
I do love your nick as well Caldicot.. makes for an interesting MMO moniker.
Hehe thanks, it's the surname of one of my favourite characters. In case you were wondering
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. - Carl Sagan
1: WoW: WoTLK- although I think it is regurgitated junk, as the WoW novelty/fun factor ware off people will leave. I already did, but WoW has a good reputation so it will continue to pull in new MMOers.
2: Warhammer
3: Aion
4: The Chronicles of Spellborn
5: Age of Conan
6: LoTR: Mines of Moria
7: Stargate Worlds
8: Jumpgate Evolution(assuming it comes out)
9: Huxley/Earthrise(assuming they come out)
again this is in terms of what I know/have seen and is based on non Asian sub numbers.
Best companies I'd have to say are the ones with the deepest pockets. Besides that I'd say Blizzard, Turbine, NCsoft, and CCP. Those are the current companies to say the least, as some newcomers like Bioware could produce quality.
Although mentioned, I think Diablo 3 will have the greatest impact on the MMO markets. Many people started thru D2 their online game presense.
Anyone hear what's happening with Star Trek Online?
Waiting for the next thing
ohhh.. sh... I've forgot about Jumgate Evolution and one of my favorite games - EVE Online.
EVE Online - CCP is working on the biggest expansion ever. with many things in it (read official site) there is adding possibility to go out from the ship. Players'll be able to customise their character's look, and walk their chars like in others MMO with all this good stuff plus
for me this is only one thing in game missing for now, and after adding it (with some other stuff), it'll expand this variable-already game 
Jumgate Evolution - from what i've read it'll be a mix from EVE + X-series + Elite (old-sh.. if someone remembers). So it would have game economics and factions mechanics similar to EVE, but with more interactive action in combat...
So if imagine all this went live till Sum09, my chart would be like this:
1. WoW vs. AION
2. AoC vs. WAR vs. LotRO
3. EVE Online vs. Jumgate Evolution
4. Stargate vs. Earthrise (if it's live) vs. TCoS
5. New Bioware MMO vs. New CCP MMO vs. everything else
P.S. I used "vs." because I think those games will have popularity quite close to each other (summary from all over the world). I didn't use 'vs." to clash titles or make agruements of any sort...
What he said.
What I love about turbine, is that they work out of passion. Yeah, you could say they are milking it with Lotro, but that's not all they stand for. On my list they are number one, and there because of DDO. Still the most tactical combat any MMO has to offer. What's more, it's teamwork related. Sure, you can rank it low, because it was not a solo friendly game, but a game can be successful if it is aimed strictly at more people. How many times did you play activity by yourself?
Turbine is also the mind behind AC, which was way way better than EQ1, any day of the week, also more original.
Objectively, I'd rate it second with CCP.
yeah, like the designer ideas of give players the ILLUSION of choice? You mean that one? yeah, I read it as well.
Did you play Mass Effect. The choices were ALL illusion based, and many of the long time Bioware fans are really really pissed at the utter LACK of complexity (story, characters AND combat) in ME.
An mmo like that? No thanks, kids already have wow.
yeah, well, Bioware is overhyped. Their latest work is sh!t, compared to BG series. But then again, all the games build on their engine by black isle were superior in every regard. Their characters are one dimensional, rarely having inner conflicts. The good path/bad path are disturbingly obvious. It is good for teenagers, like 12-16. If you want anything above 16, you turn to black isle or obsidian. Mask of the betrayer is the second best CRPG story told in the last 7-8 years, second only to the story of the witcher.
BioWare is like a hip word. You say it, and think you know quality, but BioWare is nothing special as of late. I give them their last chance with Dragon Age.
I think Aion, Chronicles, Earthrise and Stargate Worlds are all going to massively disappoint aficionadoes (especially sadly for Earthrise and SW), but may do well in terms of subscribers for a while. WoTLK will stll be king of the heap by a wide margin, Huxley looks great (love the architecture!) but it's going to be crap. Darkfall seems to be vapourware, as does Mortal Online. Warhammer Online will probably be decent but not as good or as original as many hope. AoC will still be hanging in there (mainly because of the non-high-fantasy setting, which is its trump card), and will probably have settled down to a pretty decent MMO by then, probably about no. 6 or 7. GW2 will be huge when it comes out but I doubt it will be out next year, and it's the only MMO I think stands a cat's chance in hell of beating WoW.
The only MMOs I'm really looking forward to personally (because, like many, I'm starved of s-f) are Champions Online and Bioware's which I think will both be good. Cryptic did a good job on CoX, which for all its flaws is still a classic MMO in terms of its combat, and in terms of the basic MMO remit of getting people together to have fun, and hopefully Cryptic have learned from their mistakes. CO won't be a WoW beater by a long chalk, but should do fairly well, like CoX did, about position 7 or 8. Bioware's will be good (and will have the fantastic KOTOR setting), but again, probably not quite as good as many (including me) are hoping - certainly it's unlikely to be the open, sandboxy s-f MMO everyone is gagging for, and wil probably be around 9 or 10. Although Bioware might surprise us yet (which, again, I'm hoping), and if it does, if their MMO is strongly sandboxy and has good stories in it in which somehow the player affects the world, it will be humungous, possibly no. 3.
Don't forget LOTRO: Mines of Moria. I know it's not a huge mmo, but it's very successful, polished, and popular. MoM will pull in a lot of new people.
The interesting one on that list is Aion. I'm fully convinced that the only mmo that can (and will) dethrone WoW is one that takes what makes WoW popular and puts it in an even more slick package. Of all the new games coming Aion is the one that appears (from videos and such) to fit the bill.
It will be interesting to see how Aion is received when it gets a NA and EU release.