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10 years of WoW
Raph
MMO DesignerMember RarePosts: 247
Thought you guys might like this post I made today:
http://www.raphkoster.com/2014/11/21/ten-years-of-world-of-warcraft/
Comments
Gave it a read and have to agree with everything you said. It's really sad to see how the MMO industry has went from innovation, into copying one game.
I'm really hoping SOE with EQN can bring some innovation back into MMO's.
good article and I agree with this guy.
Personally I don't find it at all sad. WoW has given my kids, friends, and me countless hours of sharing fun time together. Some of the games that were copied did do well and still thrive today. Rift, FFXIV, and even beat up SWToR are bringing happiness to thousands of people.
But you are right, it would be nice to see a change. GW2 has stepped out of the box, and like you said hopefully EQN will take even a step further. Things have hardly changed in over a decade, so I wouldn't expect anything drastic to quick!
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
Ah...beat me to it. Just wanted to post it here
BTW - I am great fan. Hope one day we will see persistent world game by you again ? One can hope
Ugh, the quest led game. That' is currently one of my favorite things to bitch about. I have tolerated some of that but at this point I can't even force myself to play a game that uses that design. Which, unfortunately, seems to be almost every MMO I might otherwise be interested in playing.
I'm not even sure why I've been coming back to this site lately. I seriously think I might die before things get any better with MMOs (better in my opinion, of course).
Games like EQN are the only way out of this dead horse genre.
Give us more.
And, make another game!
Do you realize EQN is the last AAA MMO developed in west. We used to have 4 released a year.
Right now there is none except EQN in development. And taking in account that MMO development takes from 4-5 years.
This means that in next 5 years we will not see any new MMO. This site might as well close or start covering other types of games ( wait , they allready do that .. heh )
Now if EQN does not manage to bring player base. Its hard to see any new major investments in MMO area.
We can see MMOs go way of point and click adventures , dissapear for 10 years or more.
I EQN biggest issue is Sony itself. In their last quarter release they projected over a billion dollar loss compared to earlier projections of 500 million. I understand SoE is directly Sony but you would be foolish to think the flagships major finacial issues will not have impact on any development that SoE is working on.
Also so it's very common for Developers to be extremely tight lipped on current projects. There very well could be a few being worked on we don't know about.
I read it and it sadly shows the huge gap there is between Blizzard and the rest of the bunch like you...
Sad really.
Still talking about "open world" and instances. Still talking about "sandbox" which in its core meaning of the word has nothing to do with player designed play at all btw.
Just one example for 2014 ...
In WOD, Blizzard can seamlessly group players from different Realms put out in the open world together and create seamless instances in which the players don't even realise they are phased in a seperate instance...
In fact to solve the unexpected overflow on their servers, Blizzard created a global instance of the complete Realm if needed (including and maintaining Cross Realm play of course) in.... 3 days .... (sic).
The article looks like a Kindergarten piece compared to a doctor paper of Cambridge University.
With this technology there is no longer a difference between open world play or a seperate instance for the players. They are not even aware they are phased into an instance as everything is done seamless (independant of servers they play on).
-------------------------------
At the same time the article is a very good document that proves why new Blizzard designers need 1- 2 years overhaul when working at the present day state of the Art in game design.
And then one wonders why 1 game has 10 million subscriptions and the rest is trying to survive in free to play ...
There is no secret really:
Because Blizzard hides all the above behind a screen of game play first. In fact it has always been technique first, smartly hidden from the gamers who have no clue, but only see the end result....
Besides WOW is not only driven by a quest system these days.
It is there because the masses like it and it is even better because the story telling can be phased, but make no mistake Blizzard could use this technology any time to convert the system into any other design. In fact the mixing of the genres already started. It is just that Blizzard creates games that get played and they don't want to clutter things with unneeded fluff that would take the focus of the players.
The only criticism I have about Blizzard is that they create far too much gamer's games, much like Nintendo. With their know how and resources they could make fabulous realistic games with unprecedented on line possibilites in open worlds. It would be an old board wargamers wet dream. But just like a revolutionary on line Close Combat 1 back in 1995 was killed by Humans vs Orcs, they ignore any other market that isn't in reach of at least 10 million players.
That's sad too.
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
Good article, BUT.. Much of what the article is dated, meaning it worked for that time period, however human's will ALWAYS get tired of the same ole, same ole.. Game play and content always has to be evolving to keep up with the demands.. This doesn't mean adding in new zones, or new expansion dungeons.. It means adding on new adventuring content, without alienating what you already have.. For me, it's like playing golf.. No two courses are the same in the world.. If I had to play the same course over and over and over, all the time, I would seriously cut back how much I golf.. Same with restaurants, or even cars..
In gaming, what worked in the 90's doesn't work today, same with 2000's and now the 2010's.. I have yet to see any game be truly dynamic and evolving. Sure some games like GW2 and Rift took a step outside the box with dynamic events, BUT even those were shown to be predictable and stale.. IMO, I would like to see a game that is a mixture of EQ1, GW2 and SWG.. Set up the right way you get a game that doesn't build in obsolete zones, vast role defining classes, and much more.. The game has to blend both static and evolving content so the community is always changing and evolving with it..
Problem is 2 things tho.. 1) Dev's are so tunnel focused on how they design, we keep getting the same recipes.. and 2) It will be more costly to make.. YES, still profitable, but just not as much as taking shotcuts..