I'm thinking the thing that beats WoW won't even be an MMO. It will be a hybrid game that combines the best features of WoW without all of the inconveniences of the 'massive' online format. In other words, it will share more in common with Diablo and Halo than WoW.
I come to this conclusion because WoW itself abandoned or seriously curtailed all of the aspects that distinguished MMOs from their action/adventure counterparts: things like avatar customization, crafting, roleplaying tools, and immersion. In fact, the only things that really separate WoW from Diablo are the 3D orientation and the inability to create a private instance online.
It seems to me that the audience that wants WoW isn't interested in the shared server aspect; if anything, it gets in the way.
__________________________ "Its sad when people use religion to feel superior, its even worse to see people using a video game to do it." --Arcken
"...when it comes to pimping EVE I have little restraints." --Hellmar, CEO of CCP.
"It's like they took a gun, put it to their nugget sack and pulled the trigger over and over again, each time telling us how great it was that they were shooting themselves in the balls." --Exar_Kun on SWG's NGE
Of the 11 Million Subs that WoW has 6 Million of those are in Korea so its going to be intresting to see how AION affects those sub numbers over in Korea. The US only has about 2.5 Million and when All Points Bulletin comes out I think that 2.5 Million will be hit hard. I dont think any other game has a chance though only time will tell though.
If anybody does not know what All Points Bulletin is its going to take the Grand Theft Auto style game and make an MMO. Its from the makers of Crackdown and its looks very good.
you know what will beat WoW? a game that will probably make the genre even more idiot friendly than WoW. A game that dumbs down the genre even moreso than WoW so you instant gratification gimps can play 5 minutes a day and still get super uber gear. heres the game that will beat WoW you log in and you are given a couple of options option 1) what character would you like to use?
option 2) what level would you like to achieve today? (if you are max level please use the "Endgame" option) endgame option 1 - Would you like to achieve a new piece of armor? please select set piece (chest, legs, gloves ect) and the quality you would like (green, blue or purple) Endgame option 2 - would you like to get a new weapon? if so choose your weapon of choice (bow, sword, shield ect) and the quality you would like (green, blue or purple) once you go through all that you get a "Please Wait" .... and get the message ... "The options you have chosen will take *X* hours to complete ... please do not turn off the computer while we automate your leveling/gear gathering process." so this way all you casual gamers dont even have to play at all ... you can really let the computer do all the work for you.
Lol, you jest but this reminds me of an argument I had with a guildmate of mine. He was talking about how he plays on his friends account so that he can experience high-level battlgrounds. I was arguing that it defeats the point of playing the game and that the whole point of levelling is that you learn your class. I ended up getting so frustrated that I asked whether, given the choice, he would opt for a system very similar to that outline in the above post. He said he definitely would.
WoW has not been growing in western countries for some time now, thinking that it will still be on top in ten years is just plain absurd. It takes a long time for mmos to die, EQ, Linage and UO were all at their peak five years after they were launched, and there are still people playing them. It's the same thing with wow.
It may take an even longer time before some other game beats wows subscription record, but rest assured, there is no chance in hell WoW will still be the biggest mmo five years from now.
Funny, everyone was saying that about EQ a few years ago. Blizzard just looked at what the marketplace had available and made it much better. Wow is not undefeatable, it has issues like any game in this genre, just that no one to date has improved enough on them to justify players to move.
It is a shame, 2008 was supposed to be the year that the great challengers of Wow, came out. So far it has been more fizzle than substance. While War is probably the best of the lot, it's pve is so limited that it will never garner that much support.
There has been a lot of speculation about the recent announcement of Kotor, but early press releases pretty much indicate that Bioware is bringing another Wow Clone to the marketplace. It remains to be seen if they can innovate enough to break some of Wow's hold on the marketplace.
Other than that, I would look overseas to the asian market. They have such massive playerbases that someone will eventually have the funding to make a really good game that will be impressive on this side of the pond too.
Yes WOW is on top but only because of the ease of some aspects of gameplay and subs, other than that there are other games better than WOW with different gameplay aspects that are far better. Lotro, WAR, and EVE are 3 of them. If Darkfall ever makes to prime time and they way the "Darkfallinatics" describe the aspects of gameplay it should be better than WOW.
I think in about 2 years the subs will start dying off and server mergers will begin. WOW was a good game and did very well, but nothing lasts forever.
Played : WOW, LOTRO, COH/COV, EQ2, SWG, and WAR. Playing EVE Online and AOC. Wtg for SW:TOR and WOD
Well i've seen many people speculating and saying bad things about WAR, in my opinion i'm gonna still try it anyways, i've played WOW for 2 years and an half so i've nothing to lose. I'm tired of wow, people play what they like to, they won't just stop playing it because you don't like, it doesn't work that way, besides of all negative comments about WAR i'm gonna try it and take my own coclusions, that's what everyone should do.
It's like "We will never know the taste of a cake if we don't eat it"
Hugs People [[]]
Roses are gray Violets are green, I love your legs... And what's BETWEEN!
After having played WoW, EQ2, Vanguard and many other mmo's I agree that WoW is going nowhere anytime soon. It's mostly due to their unbelievable marketing strategy and the fact that just about any pc can play WoW without any problem. More importantly is the fact that it's the perfect noob game also. Super easy to level up on which sucks you in and by the time you've invested so much time into your character you don't want to leave the game. There are many games out there with unbelievably better graphics and gameplay, but you must have skill to play them and a pc that you didn't buy off the shelf at Walmart. That is why WoW will remain on top for many years to come.
(Former World of Warcraft addict, currently trying to find a game that takes real skills)
you know what will beat WoW? a game that will probably make the genre even more idiot friendly than WoW. A game that dumbs down the genre even moreso than WoW so you instant gratification gimps can play 5 minutes a day and still get super uber gear. heres the game that will beat WoW you log in and you are given a couple of options option 1) what character would you like to use?
option 2) what level would you like to achieve today? (if you are max level please use the "Endgame" option) endgame option 1 - Would you like to achieve a new piece of armor? please select set piece (chest, legs, gloves ect) and the quality you would like (green, blue or purple) Endgame option 2 - would you like to get a new weapon? if so choose your weapon of choice (bow, sword, shield ect) and the quality you would like (green, blue or purple) once you go through all that you get a "Please Wait" .... and get the message ... "The options you have chosen will take *X* hours to complete ... please do not turn off the computer while we automate your leveling/gear gathering process." so this way all you casual gamers dont even have to play at all ... you can really let the computer do all the work for you.
Lol, you jest but this reminds me of an argument I had with a guildmate of mine. He was talking about how he plays on his friends account so that he can experience high-level battlgrounds. I was arguing that it defeats the point of playing the game and that the whole point of levelling is that you learn your class. I ended up getting so frustrated that I asked whether, given the choice, he would opt for a system very similar to that outline in the above post. He said he definitely would.
A little piece of me died inside that day.
Oh my god. That is truly horrific. (im serious)
It already happened. Have you guys heard of WOW private servers? On private servers, you can get 3x-10x to 100x the xp/loot compared to the official servers. On some, you can get instant max level char with epics.
The only reason why private servers do not replace WOW is that a) they are not guaranteed to be up, and b) there are tons of bugs.
Funny, everyone was saying that about EQ a few years ago. Blizzard just looked at what the marketplace had available and made it much better. Wow is not undefeatable, it has issues like any game in this genre, just that no one to date has improved enough on them to justify players to move. It is a shame, 2008 was supposed to be the year that the great challengers of Wow, came out. So far it has been more fizzle than substance. While War is probably the best of the lot, it's pve is so limited that it will never garner that much support. There has been a lot of speculation about the recent announcement of Kotor, but early press releases pretty much indicate that Bioware is bringing another Wow Clone to the marketplace. It remains to be seen if they can innovate enough to break some of Wow's hold on the marketplace. Other than that, I would look overseas to the asian market. They have such massive playerbases that someone will eventually have the funding to make a really good game that will be impressive on this side of the pond too.
Dream on people it is not going to happen. Today you can't get a loan for a toouthbrush let alone a video game that might be 5% as good as World of Warcraft with 1% of their staff. It always baffles me when someone who doesn't want a WoW-clone waits for an indie developer to come up with "something completely different" and off the wall. How is that going to happen? It is like a paradox, you can't beat WoW by being the same as WoW because why not just play WoW which won't close down in X years. But to make "something completely different" likely means that this game is nowhere near the quality level of WoW and is more risky and therefore less likely to be supported. Exactly what game is everyone waiting for to surpass WoW, it is not going to happen. Even EA and Games Wokshop with multi-million budget couldn't even get 10% of WoW's number. Does everyone think there will be a sleeper hit from an indie developer that has fresh ideas or is a new concept or does something really cool. "Oh yeah EQ2 will beat WoW" (1 month before both games released) These forums were littered with WoW vs EQ2 threads months before and after both games come out. Let's try sci-fi yeah cos that work out well for EnB, Tabula Rasa and HG:L and Auto Assault.. "WoW vs AoC" - lolz "WAR is coming" WAR came and went. It doesn't matter what game you compare WoW with. WoW will always be on top I predict for at least 10 years. It now has 11 million subscribers and has been out for nearly 4 years and to suggest that its population will shrink enough for another MMO to usurp it is ridiculous. Whatever game anyone suggests I will laugh at like some megolomaniacal James Bond baddie. You may as well just play WoW.<---or play a game that fits your style/prefrances/life style { Mod Edit }
(highlighted text)
High Subscribers, thats not always a good thing IMO. I got into wow when it hit around the 1-2million mark. After it started to increase rapidly in population/popularity...the community started to get more how we say unstable/uninviting (and I'm not bad mouthing all the community btw ,just speaking form personal exp.).
some people dislike wow because it is so popular or looking for that WoW killer...when they should be looking for a game they enjoy to play. Most of the MMO's i have played have been a combo of a good game and friends playing 50/50 Friends/The game .I enjoyed WoW but got burned out after 3years. I have Came back to Wow here and there cause friends wanted to hang out and Kill/Quest/Have fun.
Games Played:
Final Fantasy 11,WoW, EvE, City of heros&Villans,Guild Wars, WAR, AoC, Tabula Rasa, D&D online
Dream on people it is not going to happen. Today you can't get a loan for a toouthbrush let alone a video game that might be 5% as good as World of Warcraft with 1% of their staff. It always baffles me when someone who doesn't want a WoW-clone waits for an indie developer to come up with "something completely different" and off the wall. How is that going to happen? It is like a paradox, you can't beat WoW by being the same as WoW because why not just play WoW which won't close down in X years. But to make "something completely different" likely means that this game is nowhere near the quality level of WoW and is more risky and therefore less likely to be supported. Exactly what game is everyone waiting for to surpass WoW, it is not going to happen. Even EA and Games Wokshop with multi-million budget couldn't even get 10% of WoW's number. Does everyone think there will be a sleeper hit from an indie developer that has fresh ideas or is a new concept or does something really cool. "Oh yeah EQ2 will beat WoW" (1 month before both games released) These forums were littered with WoW vs EQ2 threads months before and after both games come out. Let's try sci-fi yeah cos that work out well for EnB, Tabula Rasa and HG:L and Auto Assault.. "WoW vs AoC" - lolz "WAR is coming" WAR came and went. It doesn't matter what game you compare WoW with. WoW will always be on top I predict for at least 10 years. It now has 11 million subscribers and has been out for nearly 4 years and to suggest that its population will shrink enough for another MMO to usurp it is ridiculous. Whatever game anyone suggests I will laugh at like some megolomaniacal James Bond baddie. You may as well just play WoW. { Mod Edit }
You will NEVER be beating wow,you will in essence be beating EQ,because that is the game WOW copied.So your analogy is a false one ,because in reality you are talking ONLY of subscriptions not an actual game and it's quality.
Blizzard DID exactly what you say can't be done and that is just copy another game and hope it does not close down in X years.You see SOE is still in operation and will be quite likely beyond Vivendi and Blizzard,so it very well can and has happened.
WOW and EQ2 had ZERO competition with each other ,it was EQ2 competing with EQ1 and there fan base.You see MANY of the EQ1 gamers did not want the game to die and that is what EQ2 was doing to it's player base.There was also the fact many had just tired of it and wanted to try a different game,without really knowing it was an exact copy.Many of the players who did move on could not accept the changes from Eq1>EQ2 therefore scoffed it and moved onto WOW.This of course was hilarious because like i said they were getting the EXACT same game as EQ2 only lesser and less realistic looking graphics,in essence a sub par version of EQ2.
WOW in fact was made to beat EQ1,i am sure Blizzard had no idea EQ2 was made that much better than EQ1 and most likely did not expect so many players moving to WOW.A change of scenery/disgruntled players and it was easy for WOW to garner in all the players,there really was no other hyped game for them to move to.FFXI and Lineage were kind of marketed a small bit ,as most of these new generation gamers never heard of either game,only the hyped up WOW[clone of EQ]so yes again you can see how easy it was for them to get subs.
You can argue a game has to be good to keep there subs,but not really and my experience has seen it.Give players an easy route to high levels and they will not let there efforts go even if there is another game that is better.You also add in the hype of being the largest subscribed game and MANY people just want to feel like there apart of the best,sort of like living in the rich neighbourhood as compared to the working mans house.Give the low mentality kiddies something to brag about like L33t things like RAIDS or PVP and you can keep there small minds happy.Raiding is like 2% of WOW yet i would guarantee that MANY thousands play it ONLY for the raiding,so you could give them a pile of dung and throw in raiding and they will jump all over it.
WOW is just Everquest with a different name using warhammer graphics.So don't EVER say yopu can't just copy a game and make millions,BLIZZARD has done it and IS living proof.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
there is a wow beater out already.. its named Fable 2.. it's a lightyear ahead of what wow can ever be, even in it's deepest dreams, and best part , i dont have to see the word Noob in a chat windows..
they are both addictive, thats how to compare them.
Funny, everyone was saying that about EQ a few years ago. Blizzard just looked at what the marketplace had available and made it much better. Wow is not undefeatable, it has issues like any game in this genre, just that no one to date has improved enough on them to justify players to move. It is a shame, 2008 was supposed to be the year that the great challengers of Wow, came out. So far it has been more fizzle than substance. While War is probably the best of the lot, it's pve is so limited that it will never garner that much support. There has been a lot of speculation about the recent announcement of Kotor, but early press releases pretty much indicate that Bioware is bringing another Wow Clone to the marketplace. It remains to be seen if they can innovate enough to break some of Wow's hold on the marketplace. Other than that, I would look overseas to the asian market. They have such massive playerbases that someone will eventually have the funding to make a really good game that will be impressive on this side of the pond too.
AION will be that game
No, it won't be.
AION is yet, another Anime based asian MMORPG. YAWN...
If you dont think AION is goin to be big in Korea then you should not even be playing MMOs. The game is already being praised there and its not even released yet. Saying AION is just another Anime Based Asian MMO shows your ignorance. How long have you played the game? Can you tell me anything about it? I thought so. Currently playing WAR? LOL, you should not even open your mouth. At least Age Of Conan kept me intrested for a couple of weeks. Afther day 1 I knew that War was trash and sold the account a couple days later.
If you dont think AION is goin to be big in Korea then you should not even be playing MMOs. The game is already being praised there and its not even released yet.
Dream on people it is not going to happen. Today you can't get a loan for a toouthbrush let alone a video game that might be 5% as good as World of Warcraft with 1% of their staff. It always baffles me when someone who doesn't want a WoW-clone waits for an indie developer to come up with "something completely different" and off the wall. How is that going to happen? It is like a paradox, you can't beat WoW by being the same as WoW because why not just play WoW which won't close down in X years. But to make "something completely different" likely means that this game is nowhere near the quality level of WoW and is more risky and therefore less likely to be supported. Exactly what game is everyone waiting for to surpass WoW, it is not going to happen. Even EA and Games Wokshop with multi-million budget couldn't even get 10% of WoW's number. Does everyone think there will be a sleeper hit from an indie developer that has fresh ideas or is a new concept or does something really cool. "Oh yeah EQ2 will beat WoW" (1 month before both games released) These forums were littered with WoW vs EQ2 threads months before and after both games come out. Let's try sci-fi yeah cos that work out well for EnB, Tabula Rasa and HG:L and Auto Assault.. "WoW vs AoC" - lolz "WAR is coming" WAR came and went. It doesn't matter what game you compare WoW with. WoW will always be on top I predict for at least 10 years. It now has 11 million subscribers and has been out for nearly 4 years and to suggest that its population will shrink enough for another MMO to usurp it is ridiculous. Whatever game anyone suggests I will laugh at like some megolomaniacal James Bond baddie. You may as well just play WoW. { Mod Edit }
1) Who cares what "kills WoW", cmon really. Play the game you want to play. Quit being like everyone else posting these threads and have an original thought. You claim everything rips off WoW but then you post a thread that we as a community have seen 1000x.
2) "WAR came and went" ummmmmm, where did it go? Last I checked we're still playing it and it's undergoing the same polish newly released games get. You're comparing a 2 month game with a game that's been out for 4 years. As some of you may remember WoW had a less than perfect release.
3) As for what game "everyone is waiting to surpass WoW" we're not. Well at least the adults aren't for the most part. Little kids care about crap like that.
If you dont think AION is goin to be big in Korea then you should not even be playing MMOs. The game is already being praised there and its not even released yet.
Koreans training to play Aion:
RFLMAO ...thank you ,that actually made me smile
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I don't think another big garage game company will come along until they start getting more realistic. They always want everything, but have only a handful of people who also work other jobs. If they kept the scope small, then I believe they could accomplish something but they always raise the bar to high and don't finish or get close to finishing. Designing an indy mmo to be successful is easy if you look at the Runescape model.
1st, you build really simple graphics. Having an artist spending 8 hours making a building is not plausible. You want them to finish a town in 8 hours, so you have to dub things down. After the game is released they can go back and make the models look better.
2nd, finish 1 feature first. Alot fall into the mistake of having a 2 page feature list. As if your programmer can write 1 billion lines of code in a timely manner. So pick only 1 key feature first, then when thats done add another. The important thing is you can start showing the game off with only 1 feature. If you work on too much then it will take you years and nothing to show on it.
Also it helps motivate the team when they can see themselves making progress. With an mmo you have a mountain of work that needs to be done, its often daunting and hard to concentrate on when you can't see the end of the road.
3rd, don't copy other games. If in your design you are like, its gonna be like this only better. Throw that design out because it isn't going to be better, it also isn't going to sell the game. You should prioritize first on what will make your game noticeable. Copying features doesn't do that.
4th, use a pre-existing engine like Ogre. Alpha engine programming is usually handle be a team of a couple dozen. It beats the hassle of programming a rendering engine when you will most likely just be copying the same algorythms and procedures from another engine. Its like Object Oriented programming. You know that piece will perform a certain task to the best of its knowledge, so just concentrate on expanding and using that instead of re-inventing the wheel.
there is a wow beater out already.. its named Fable 2.. it's a lightyear ahead of what wow can ever be, even in it's deepest dreams, and best part , i dont have to see the word Noob in a chat windows.. they are both addictive, thats how to compare them.
Oddly enough, two people I know have already "beaten" Fable 2 on the first go 'round. So uhm.....
It's a single player game still, isn't it? So how can you compare it to WoW? LMAO They're not even the same genre of game. O.o But....well....Oooookay.
Comments
I'm thinking the thing that beats WoW won't even be an MMO. It will be a hybrid game that combines the best features of WoW without all of the inconveniences of the 'massive' online format. In other words, it will share more in common with Diablo and Halo than WoW.
I come to this conclusion because WoW itself abandoned or seriously curtailed all of the aspects that distinguished MMOs from their action/adventure counterparts: things like avatar customization, crafting, roleplaying tools, and immersion. In fact, the only things that really separate WoW from Diablo are the 3D orientation and the inability to create a private instance online.
It seems to me that the audience that wants WoW isn't interested in the shared server aspect; if anything, it gets in the way.
__________________________
"Its sad when people use religion to feel superior, its even worse to see people using a video game to do it."
--Arcken
"...when it comes to pimping EVE I have little restraints."
--Hellmar, CEO of CCP.
"It's like they took a gun, put it to their nugget sack and pulled the trigger over and over again, each time telling us how great it was that they were shooting themselves in the balls."
--Exar_Kun on SWG's NGE
Wait until MMORPG companies take a lesson from the advertising industry and hire psychologists and sociologists as advisors to MMO game design.
WoW was made by amateurs stumbling around in the dark - there are so many more options MMORPGs have yet to explore.
"The liberties and resulting economic prosperity that YOU take for granted were granted by those "dead guys"
Of the 11 Million Subs that WoW has 6 Million of those are in Korea so its going to be intresting to see how AION affects those sub numbers over in Korea. The US only has about 2.5 Million and when All Points Bulletin comes out I think that 2.5 Million will be hit hard. I dont think any other game has a chance though only time will tell though.
If anybody does not know what All Points Bulletin is its going to take the Grand Theft Auto style game and make an MMO. Its from the makers of Crackdown and its looks very good.
I laughed.
Lol, you jest but this reminds me of an argument I had with a guildmate of mine. He was talking about how he plays on his friends account so that he can experience high-level battlgrounds. I was arguing that it defeats the point of playing the game and that the whole point of levelling is that you learn your class. I ended up getting so frustrated that I asked whether, given the choice, he would opt for a system very similar to that outline in the above post. He said he definitely would.
A little piece of me died inside that day.
Oh my god. That is truly horrific. (im serious)
WoW has not been growing in western countries for some time now, thinking that it will still be on top in ten years is just plain absurd. It takes a long time for mmos to die, EQ, Linage and UO were all at their peak five years after they were launched, and there are still people playing them. It's the same thing with wow.
It may take an even longer time before some other game beats wows subscription record, but rest assured, there is no chance in hell WoW will still be the biggest mmo five years from now.
Funny, everyone was saying that about EQ a few years ago. Blizzard just looked at what the marketplace had available and made it much better. Wow is not undefeatable, it has issues like any game in this genre, just that no one to date has improved enough on them to justify players to move.
It is a shame, 2008 was supposed to be the year that the great challengers of Wow, came out. So far it has been more fizzle than substance. While War is probably the best of the lot, it's pve is so limited that it will never garner that much support.
There has been a lot of speculation about the recent announcement of Kotor, but early press releases pretty much indicate that Bioware is bringing another Wow Clone to the marketplace. It remains to be seen if they can innovate enough to break some of Wow's hold on the marketplace.
Other than that, I would look overseas to the asian market. They have such massive playerbases that someone will eventually have the funding to make a really good game that will be impressive on this side of the pond too.
To the OP:
Yes WOW is on top but only because of the ease of some aspects of gameplay and subs, other than that there are other games better than WOW with different gameplay aspects that are far better. Lotro, WAR, and EVE are 3 of them. If Darkfall ever makes to prime time and they way the "Darkfallinatics" describe the aspects of gameplay it should be better than WOW.
I think in about 2 years the subs will start dying off and server mergers will begin. WOW was a good game and did very well, but nothing lasts forever.
Played : WOW, LOTRO, COH/COV, EQ2, SWG, and WAR.
Playing EVE Online and AOC.
Wtg for SW:TOR and WOD
Well i've seen many people speculating and saying bad things about WAR, in my opinion i'm gonna still try it anyways, i've played WOW for 2 years and an half so i've nothing to lose. I'm tired of wow, people play what they like to, they won't just stop playing it because you don't like, it doesn't work that way, besides of all negative comments about WAR i'm gonna try it and take my own coclusions, that's what everyone should do.
It's like "We will never know the taste of a cake if we don't eat it"
Hugs People [[]]
Roses are gray
Violets are green,
I love your legs...
And what's BETWEEN!
After having played WoW, EQ2, Vanguard and many other mmo's I agree that WoW is going nowhere anytime soon. It's mostly due to their unbelievable marketing strategy and the fact that just about any pc can play WoW without any problem. More importantly is the fact that it's the perfect noob game also. Super easy to level up on which sucks you in and by the time you've invested so much time into your character you don't want to leave the game. There are many games out there with unbelievably better graphics and gameplay, but you must have skill to play them and a pc that you didn't buy off the shelf at Walmart. That is why WoW will remain on top for many years to come.
(Former World of Warcraft addict, currently trying to find a game that takes real skills)
Lol, you jest but this reminds me of an argument I had with a guildmate of mine. He was talking about how he plays on his friends account so that he can experience high-level battlgrounds. I was arguing that it defeats the point of playing the game and that the whole point of levelling is that you learn your class. I ended up getting so frustrated that I asked whether, given the choice, he would opt for a system very similar to that outline in the above post. He said he definitely would.
A little piece of me died inside that day.
Oh my god. That is truly horrific. (im serious)
It already happened. Have you guys heard of WOW private servers? On private servers, you can get 3x-10x to 100x the xp/loot compared to the official servers. On some, you can get instant max level char with epics.
The only reason why private servers do not replace WOW is that a) they are not guaranteed to be up, and b) there are tons of bugs.
AION will be that game
I think MMOs are like movies.
You get a
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Star Wars
Lord of the Rings
and every once in a while you get a
Pulp Fiction
(highlighted text)
High Subscribers, thats not always a good thing IMO. I got into wow when it hit around the 1-2million mark. After it started to increase rapidly in population/popularity...the community started to get more how we say unstable/uninviting (and I'm not bad mouthing all the community btw ,just speaking form personal exp.).
some people dislike wow because it is so popular or looking for that WoW killer...when they should be looking for a game they enjoy to play. Most of the MMO's i have played have been a combo of a good game and friends playing 50/50 Friends/The game .I enjoyed WoW but got burned out after 3years. I have Came back to Wow here and there cause friends wanted to hang out and Kill/Quest/Have fun.
Games Played:
Final Fantasy 11,WoW, EvE, City of heros&Villans,Guild Wars, WAR, AoC, Tabula Rasa, D&D online
You will NEVER be beating wow,you will in essence be beating EQ,because that is the game WOW copied.So your analogy is a false one ,because in reality you are talking ONLY of subscriptions not an actual game and it's quality.
Blizzard DID exactly what you say can't be done and that is just copy another game and hope it does not close down in X years.You see SOE is still in operation and will be quite likely beyond Vivendi and Blizzard,so it very well can and has happened.
WOW and EQ2 had ZERO competition with each other ,it was EQ2 competing with EQ1 and there fan base.You see MANY of the EQ1 gamers did not want the game to die and that is what EQ2 was doing to it's player base.There was also the fact many had just tired of it and wanted to try a different game,without really knowing it was an exact copy.Many of the players who did move on could not accept the changes from Eq1>EQ2 therefore scoffed it and moved onto WOW.This of course was hilarious because like i said they were getting the EXACT same game as EQ2 only lesser and less realistic looking graphics,in essence a sub par version of EQ2.
WOW in fact was made to beat EQ1,i am sure Blizzard had no idea EQ2 was made that much better than EQ1 and most likely did not expect so many players moving to WOW.A change of scenery/disgruntled players and it was easy for WOW to garner in all the players,there really was no other hyped game for them to move to.FFXI and Lineage were kind of marketed a small bit ,as most of these new generation gamers never heard of either game,only the hyped up WOW[clone of EQ]so yes again you can see how easy it was for them to get subs.
You can argue a game has to be good to keep there subs,but not really and my experience has seen it.Give players an easy route to high levels and they will not let there efforts go even if there is another game that is better.You also add in the hype of being the largest subscribed game and MANY people just want to feel like there apart of the best,sort of like living in the rich neighbourhood as compared to the working mans house.Give the low mentality kiddies something to brag about like L33t things like RAIDS or PVP and you can keep there small minds happy.Raiding is like 2% of WOW yet i would guarantee that MANY thousands play it ONLY for the raiding,so you could give them a pile of dung and throw in raiding and they will jump all over it.
WOW is just Everquest with a different name using warhammer graphics.So don't EVER say yopu can't just copy a game and make millions,BLIZZARD has done it and IS living proof.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
hehe well i think the game that will beat wow will be the next mmo blizzard makes
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there is a wow beater out already.. its named Fable 2.. it's a lightyear ahead of what wow can ever be, even in it's deepest dreams, and best part , i dont have to see the word Noob in a chat windows..
they are both addictive, thats how to compare them.
Want to play: Lego Universe
AION will be that game
No, it won't be.
AION is yet, another Anime based asian MMORPG. YAWN...
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If you dont think AION is goin to be big in Korea then you should not even be playing MMOs. The game is already being praised there and its not even released yet. Saying AION is just another Anime Based Asian MMO shows your ignorance. How long have you played the game? Can you tell me anything about it? I thought so. Currently playing WAR? LOL, you should not even open your mouth. At least Age Of Conan kept me intrested for a couple of weeks. Afther day 1 I knew that War was trash and sold the account a couple days later.
Koreans training to play Aion:
1) Who cares what "kills WoW", cmon really. Play the game you want to play. Quit being like everyone else posting these threads and have an original thought. You claim everything rips off WoW but then you post a thread that we as a community have seen 1000x.
2) "WAR came and went" ummmmmm, where did it go? Last I checked we're still playing it and it's undergoing the same polish newly released games get. You're comparing a 2 month game with a game that's been out for 4 years. As some of you may remember WoW had a less than perfect release.
3) As for what game "everyone is waiting to surpass WoW" we're not. Well at least the adults aren't for the most part. Little kids care about crap like that.
Koreans training to play Aion:
RFLMAO ...thank you ,that actually made me smile
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I don't think another big garage game company will come along until they start getting more realistic. They always want everything, but have only a handful of people who also work other jobs. If they kept the scope small, then I believe they could accomplish something but they always raise the bar to high and don't finish or get close to finishing. Designing an indy mmo to be successful is easy if you look at the Runescape model.
1st, you build really simple graphics. Having an artist spending 8 hours making a building is not plausible. You want them to finish a town in 8 hours, so you have to dub things down. After the game is released they can go back and make the models look better.
2nd, finish 1 feature first. Alot fall into the mistake of having a 2 page feature list. As if your programmer can write 1 billion lines of code in a timely manner. So pick only 1 key feature first, then when thats done add another. The important thing is you can start showing the game off with only 1 feature. If you work on too much then it will take you years and nothing to show on it.
Also it helps motivate the team when they can see themselves making progress. With an mmo you have a mountain of work that needs to be done, its often daunting and hard to concentrate on when you can't see the end of the road.
3rd, don't copy other games. If in your design you are like, its gonna be like this only better. Throw that design out because it isn't going to be better, it also isn't going to sell the game. You should prioritize first on what will make your game noticeable. Copying features doesn't do that.
4th, use a pre-existing engine like Ogre. Alpha engine programming is usually handle be a team of a couple dozen. It beats the hassle of programming a rendering engine when you will most likely just be copying the same algorythms and procedures from another engine. Its like Object Oriented programming. You know that piece will perform a certain task to the best of its knowledge, so just concentrate on expanding and using that instead of re-inventing the wheel.
Oddly enough, two people I know have already "beaten" Fable 2 on the first go 'round. So uhm.....
It's a single player game still, isn't it? So how can you compare it to WoW? LMAO They're not even the same genre of game. O.o But....well....Oooookay.
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Hmm....comparing an MMO to a non MMO is like comparing apples to oranges imo.