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The fate of the MMO genre is up to Bioware!
BioNut
Member Posts: 414
Lets face it, MMORPGs have not evoled one bit since WoW came out. The genre is now overflowing with clones and scams. What MMOs need now is a breath of fresh air.
In comes BioWare.
Arguably the best "story telling" RPG developer out there, BioWare is making a bold move by attempting to take on the MMO market. Sort of like another company that made only RTS games did years ago...cough....blizzard...cough. This gives BioWare the oportunity to revolutionize the industry and get us out of the wow clone fest we have today.
Or they can fall in step behind blizzard and put out another clone dooming us to another 1000000 years of mediocrity.
Hyperbole aside, we are at a pivotal point for MMOs. No established big wig of MMOdom will get thier heads out of blizzards arse long enough to make anything worthwhile so its up to a new comer to tow the line of change. Can BioWare do it.? They certainly can make some good RPGs but making an MMO interesting and engaging is a much harder a task. Plus Lucas Arts will be a part of the mix. Something I never thought BioWare would put up with again.
Word is this might be a KoTOR MMO. Thats fine and dandy if done right. But I am really hoping that this new MMO ties into the new Star Wars live action tv show (not animated). I have heard rumors that this is the case and that you can watch the show and then hop on the game and visit the locations just explored in the show. Maybe even updates could coincide with showtimes so that after the show diologue could change "in game" to reflect what happened in the show. I am talking total integration of tv and games that has never been seen before. Hell the possiblities are endless and it would definately revolutionize the industry combined with BioWare's track record of good stroy telling.
Or it could just be a KoTOR MMO. 
Playing: Tera, BF3, ME3
Waiting on: Guild Wars 2
Comments
Yeah...
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"Chemistry: 'We do stuff in lab that would be a felony in your garage.'"
The most awesomest after school special T-shirt:
Front: UNO Chemistry Club
Back: /\OH --> Bad Decisions
Your insite on this issue is astounding.
Playing: Tera, BF3, ME3
Waiting on: Guild Wars 2
Here goes the hype-machine?
Seriously though. I just hope BioWare lives up to their history and does what they do best. If they focus on that, I think they have the potential to create an MMO that will be enjoyable to play and experience.
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
MMORPG.com is gonna wish this game had its own forums waaay before the annoouncement comes.
Me too.
I am a huge fan of BioWare. Unfortunately my track record with them only started with the original KoTOR (which was really well done). Mass Effect made me fall in love with the company though. I have spent around 100+ hours with ME and read both the books. To me ME has a much more rich and realistic universe than George Lucas could EVER think up. Don't get me wrong I am a SW nerd too but I think ME is the future of Space Opera.
Playing: Tera, BF3, ME3
Waiting on: Guild Wars 2
Dont forget adventurine (Darkfall Online) they're actaully trying to break the mold.
Theres also Earthrise that seems to be making some good headlines.
I'd much rather word it as Bioware is the fate of a STARWARS mmo. I loved swg pre-cu even with its major flaws it was very entertaining. But hopefully bioware with their supposed huge budget
You know what the next WoW killer will be? Not a WoW Clone, but the game that takes WoW's philosophy of "Take the best ideas and dumb them down". I swear to you...with all these failed games...if one company took all of the best parts and put them into one game...you would have the next WoW killer. Don't copy what WoW is now. Do what WoW 2 would do.
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Meow
Listen, I'm all pins and needles until the official reveal but the 'fate of MMO's is upto Bioware'?
Umm, that's one hefty responsibilty to put on their shoulders. Let's leave it at the fate of SW as a marketable Ip in MMO land.
* Life is not black or white, it's shades of grey. But, at it's best/worst, it hints at 32bit color. -Me (a.k.a. RuthlessTimes)
* I do not need to know how to make a better game than you. I just need to know how to cancel my subscription. -Antarious(a slight misquote but the sentiment remains)
I hear you but you have to understand. The companies behind Darkfall and Earthrise don't have the budget and marketing to really make an impact.
Supposedly BioWare has an over 100 million dollar budget for their MMO thanks to EA and LA.
Those games will release but most people wont play them unless they get bought up by bigger more "in your face" companies. They may have great ideas to begin with but when their pops are too low the devs will start to make, so called, changes to get more people to play. These "changes" will turn the games into WoW. SWG was only the first in a long list to do this.
Playing: Tera, BF3, ME3
Waiting on: Guild Wars 2
This kind of thought (the OP I mean) is most likely one of the reasons they've kept such a tight lid on this project for so long. They'll have ravenous fans with demands on how the game is supposed to be on their hands the moment they announce it...heck they already have that now.
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
Do you see any other company poised to get us out of this WoW rut? I don't. All of the established companies just want their $$$ to hell with inovation. That is why BioWare is important. They are outsiders, just like blizzard was.
Playing: Tera, BF3, ME3
Waiting on: Guild Wars 2
lol this thread has been brought to you by the following sponsors
BioWare
Lucas Arts Entertainment
Do you see any other company poised to get us out of this WoW rut? I don't. All of the established companies just want their $$$ to hell with inovation. That is why BioWare is important. They are outsiders, just like blizzard was.
Seriously. If you want outsiders that aim to break the mold...go look at Aventurine or the guys behind Earthrise, maybe Mortal Online.
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
@ Bio'
Absolutely not man, I am and have been a huge fan of Bioware but the entire industry will not die it will just drag on for another 5+ years to get us out of this horrible 'Attack of the Clones" phase.
* Life is not black or white, it's shades of grey. But, at it's best/worst, it hints at 32bit color. -Me (a.k.a. RuthlessTimes)
* I do not need to know how to make a better game than you. I just need to know how to cancel my subscription. -Antarious(a slight misquote but the sentiment remains)
BIOWARE IS NOT making a normal MMO.
It WILL be a heavily instanced story driven game. I'm sure a vast majority of people would be surprised if it wasn't.
I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.
just lol!
* Life is not black or white, it's shades of grey. But, at it's best/worst, it hints at 32bit color. -Me (a.k.a. RuthlessTimes)
* I do not need to know how to make a better game than you. I just need to know how to cancel my subscription. -Antarious(a slight misquote but the sentiment remains)
I hear you but you have to understand. The companies behind Darkfall and Earthrise don't have the budget and marketing to really make an impact.
Supposedly BioWare has an over 100 million dollar budget for their MMO thanks to EA and LA.
Those games will release but most people wont play them unless they get bought up by bigger more "in your face" companies. They may have great ideas to begin with but when their pops are too low the devs will start to make, so called, changes to get more people to play. These "changes" will turn the games into WoW. SWG was only the first in a long list to do this.
I hear that, but darkfall already having twitch combat for 100% of the gameplay that would need twitch (including sailing ships) would be hard to make it WoW afterwards. I mean i really doubt it'll be able to truely compete with the numbers WoW has but its still going ot be a better game.
Darkfall was made for Hardcore PVPers for PVPers, they promised they wouldnt change for jack and their not even looking to become WoW killers (although they stated it would be nice =P). But if your just tired of the same ol grind they should have more than enough players in order to keep ya busy :-)
Do you see any other company poised to get us out of this WoW rut? I don't. All of the established companies just want their $$$ to hell with inovation. That is why BioWare is important. They are outsiders, just like blizzard was.
Actually, Blizzard really wasn't an outsider to MMO's as they already had some hefty experience under their belts with Diablo and Diablo II. While some might argue it wasn't a true MMO, look at how many players they had and it is kind of hard to say it wasn't one. Same can be argued for Bioware with Mass Effect, but ME has not been around near as long as Diablo had been before Blizz released WoW.
One thing I can say for Bioware is that they do listen to their fan base on how to improve the game and they do try to make new content for their games. Even their games that were player hosted, they still released excellent updates, expansions, and even added player created content with games that allowed for toolset use like NWN and their help with Obsidian on NWN2.
What we know is that they are working on a new game. What we don't know is what they have created. We can only speculate untill the 21st when they officially release information on it.
Darkfall is too small a project to make any meaningful impact on the MMO genre. And thats taking into consideration that it actually delivers what it promised(whole lot of that not happening lately).
Earthrise and Mortal look like MMOs that will have audiences but nothing that shift publisher focus. They don't have anything other than concept backing them. They have good ideas but not much else at this point.
An MMO by Bioware will actually get people to notice it. Casual players, publishers and other developers will actually care what Bioware does within the MMO genre. No one cares what Adventurine will or wont do.
Mythic said the MMO genre rests on the success or failure of Warhammer Online and they were wrong. The fate of the genre wont be decided by Bioware either but Bioware will have a major impact on it.
Do you see any other company poised to get us out of this WoW rut? I don't. All of the established companies just want their $$$ to hell with inovation. That is why BioWare is important. They are outsiders, just like blizzard was.
Seriously. If you want outsiders that aim to break the mold...go look at Aventurine or the guys behind Earthrise, maybe Mortal Online.
They may break the mold but they will not have enough pull to make the market truely competitive. They will be niche games that MMO enthusiasts will play.
Can you seriously see a Darkfall commercial on American TV?
I may be a BioWare fanboy but what I am trying to say is that the established companies (Turbine, Funcom, Mythic, SoE, etc) are all basically cloning WoW and putting a spin on it (think LoTRO). I honestly beleive this genre needs something to jump start it into competition. The WoW monopoly is really starting to hurt it.
Example: What game out right now or in the future has a very different formula from WoW and marketing power behind it to get the people in the game in the first place.
I just want the same competition that is found in FPS,TPS, and RPG games to bring the MMORPG to new heights.
Playing: Tera, BF3, ME3
Waiting on: Guild Wars 2
Darkfall is too small a project to make any meaningful impact on the MMO genre. And thats taking into consideration that it actually delivers what it promised(whole lot of that not happening lately).
Earthrise and Mortal look like MMOs that will have audiences but nothing that shift publisher focus. They don't have anything other than concept backing them. They have good ideas but not much else at this point.
An MMO by Bioware will actually get people to notice it. Casual players, publishers and other developers will actually care what Bioware does within the MMO genre. No one cares what Adventurine will or wont do.
Mythic said the MMO genre rests on the success or failure of Warhammer Online and they were wrong. The fate of the genre wont be decided by Bioware either but Bioware will have a major impact on it.
What I was trying to say is...BioWare won't (probably) make a game that breaks the mold too much. I'm sure they will add their own specialty to it. But many people seem to think that only a Sanbox-like game can be truely "Next Gen" by this point.
BioWare won't make that kind of game. They have already said they won#t be making a "World-Simulator". Their focus is on storytelling. That's what they are good at. And that is always what I expect of their MMO.
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
Darkfall is too small a project to make any meaningful impact on the MMO genre. And thats taking into consideration that it actually delivers what it promised(whole lot of that not happening lately).
Earthrise and Mortal look like MMOs that will have audiences but nothing that shift publisher focus. They don't have anything other than concept backing them. They have good ideas but not much else at this point.
An MMO by Bioware will actually get people to notice it. Casual players, publishers and other developers will actually care what Bioware does within the MMO genre. No one cares what Adventurine will or wont do.
Mythic said the MMO genre rests on the success or failure of Warhammer Online and they were wrong. The fate of the genre wont be decided by Bioware either but Bioware will have a major impact on it.
What I was trying to say is...BioWare won't (probably) make a game that breaks the mold too much. I'm sure they will add their own specialty to it. But many people seem to think that only a Sanbox-like game can be truely "Next Gen" by this point.
BioWare won't make that kind of game. They have already said they won#t be making a "World-Simulator". Their focus is on storytelling. That's what they are good at. And that is always what I expect of their MMO.
Sandbox seems like a dumb way to describe a type of MMO IMHO. Aren't most MMOs sandbox games? I tend to think LoTRO is Sandbox in that I can go anywhere I want to go and do what I want within the confines of my "Sandbox". The definition of sandbox came from games like GTA I believe.
This whole Sandbox movement needs a name change to SKILL BASED. Guess what BioWares Mass Effect used? An RPG where levels gained earned you skill points to deliniate into different traits. Thus allowing you to pick and chose your skills. This is next gen and old gen actually. A lot of games used to use this approuch (Asheran's Call?) and even KoTOR did.
So maybe we will get a Skill Based game. That is sort of what BioWare does.
Playing: Tera, BF3, ME3
Waiting on: Guild Wars 2
I think Blizzard has the largest chance of evolving MMO genre. Because of WoW they'll have practically endless resources to put into their next MMO, many times more than what even Bioware has. They also now have the experience of how to build and run an MMO, and millions of eager fans around the word who are quaranteened to buy their game and recommend it to their friends.
Sadly the dramatic thread title does not surprise me. We are all hopefuls, hoping something new will come out and take the twiddling of our thumbs away.
"Who else could possibly come and save the masses. Such great storytelling, such inventive and creative development teams..." .Bioware is a great company, fair enough. But doesn't this all sound so familiar?
"Turbine...they created Asheron's Call, a great initial MMO that many fans adored, they know how to build a great game..."
"Oh Vanguard...it will be the Everquest junkies homecoming...The creator GETS it, he just does."
"Funcom, creator of the ever great Anarchy Online. Though it had a buggy start, it was a great salvation to many gamers...AOC will be so creative it can't fail."
"Mythic...Ultima Online...DAOC...the WoW killer..."
Highly condensed? Yes. But nonetheless these buzz sentences were overflowing in the MMO community for every game. I was one of the believers of almost everyone of them, even the games I didn't think interested me (WAR) I bought anyhow. Why? Because i'm looking to enjoy myself in an MMO like times past like so many other people.
There is going to be a large black hole here for awhile, in a way we were very fortunate to have Lotro, Vanguard, Aoc, and WAR titles on the horizon. It gave us all hope for awhile that better days were to come.
I guess what i'm saying is, if you don't have a sense of cynicism towards future MMO games..perhaps you should. I for one would like nothing more than a big juicy steak instead of the single-serving helpings we've been led to believe were something....otherwise. But we've all shelled out decent cash for something we played for 1 to 2 (if we had the patience) months.
There's almost nothing else to look forward to, I get it. That doesn't translate into one single company being the savior of a bunch of bored folk. I'm just as afraid as anyone else, afraid that it won't turn out that romantic.
I'm not liking the sound of this. A potential TV tie in and EA involvement makes this reek of dumbed down craptastic mediocrity the likes of which have never been seen before.
If you had asked me without mentioning those things then I would said this was guarenteed win even though Bioware haven't made an mmorpg before.