Will World of Warcraft shut down or be rebooted one day?

TheScavenger

@SBFord posted this link in another thread

https://venturebeat.com/2018/08/02/after-seven-expansions-world-of-warcrafts-story-never-had-a-chance/

It is getting kinda obvious they are repeating the same story. Sylvanas is either going to be a copy paste Garrosh 2.0. Or its going to be the redemption story that will also be a copy/paste Kerrigan story from SC2. More evil horde leaders, more horde leaders to die...horde faction has become a huge meme of nonstop replacing horde leaders. Or Sylvanas gets redemption, even though Illidan got redemption and it turns into the SC2 story.

The other problem...

Horde has almost no one left that is iconic to the Horde. They killed everyone off pretty much. Where as, alliance still has almost all their iconic heroes and heroins. The alliance have barely lost any and after all these years and in fact GAINED iconic heroes (Greymane for example is a very iconic hero), despite losing a character or two...they gained and not lost. Where as horde hasn't gained anyone that anyone cares about or knows, and lost all the iconic characters except a few hold outs.

its becoming obvious that once the old gods expansion is out...they really need to do a soft reboot (like the article suggests) or make WoW 2 or just end it if they don't want to make a sequel. In any case, once the old gods come along...they need to replace the writers and get an entire fresh look and start from the basics. They keep repeating the same story over and over. And the gameplay in BFA is overall a big downgrade from Legion.

One example of that is the new "artifact" even is not as creative or high quality as the legion artifact. Its a huge downgrade. Doesn't even come with voice acting like the legion artifact did.  And passives are MUCH less creative (cheaper too) than an actual active ability. The whole artifact is a downgrade, its not even feeling like an upgrade at all. 

Hopefully BFA turns out well though and they reveal more of the story and content. I still preordered, but its seeming WoW needs more and more a complete fresh look and back to the basics.

That and bring back all the horde iconic characters and pretend they never died.

Scot

Don't worry, Sylvanus will wake up and hear her latest squeeze having a bath, realising that WoW's plot for the last decade has been an emerald dream.

Galadourn

No, retail WoW will not shut down or reboot, it will transform into whatever game style brings the most $$$ and continue to prosper, as the experience so far shows.

The real question is, when will Classic come out? 

jusomdude

I would like a reboot or WoW 2 but I think that would take a considerable drop in subs and not just their usual post xpack drop, but I think the majority of the players that stick around throughout the xpacks are too addicted to quit and are enough to hold the game afloat for the foreseeable future.

centkin

They had the chance to come out with a WoW 2 while it was at the pinnacle and did not.  What they are stuck with is level 130 of a game designed to have 60 levels. 

Some people do still play Ultima Online, but I have little doubt that if they had come out with UO2 or UOX that they would be more relevant today.

It would be a considerable risk for them to make a WoW 2 now because they would be coming in as "one of the boys" as opposed to "I am above the law," and the playership is kind of jaded and they don't have any new major player blocs to draw from.

WoW really *NEEDED* a WoW killer to come along so they could assimilate it and manifest a WoW 2.  The industry did them no favors by failing to come up with such a thing.

Unfortunately if they do come out with something akin to a WoW 2, it would most likely be a mobile game.

Scot

centkin said:

They had the chance to come out with a WoW 2 while it was at the pinnacle and did not.  What they are stuck with is level 130 of a game designed to have 60 levels. 

Some people do still play Ultima Online, but I have little doubt that if they had come out with UO2 or UOX that they would be more relevant today.

It would be a considerable risk for them to make a WoW 2 now because they would be coming in as "one of the boys" as opposed to "I am above the law," and the playership is kind of jaded and they don't have any new major player blocs to draw from.

WoW really *NEEDED* a WoW killer to come along so they could assimilate it and manifest a WoW 2.  The industry did them no favors by failing to come up with such a thing.

Unfortunately if they do come out with something akin to a WoW 2, it would most likely be a mobile game.

The best way to do it would be an updated graphics version of WoW, with new areas/content to get players from 60 to 130. Then offer goodies for players coming over from the old game, level one to 130 and the rest will start at whatever they were in the old WoW. That sort of thing. You might need to do compulsory transfers though to get everyone on board.

heerobya

I think they'll do a level crunch from 120 to 50 in the next expac, which will then have a "new" level cap of 60.

They will also just make all 1-50 content (classic + every xpac including BfA) be like ESO where everything scales to your level, so it doesn't really matter where you go and what you do.

Hopefully they structure some kind of "grand tour" of 1-50 to get new players through the basics/jist of "the story thus far" kind of a thing, just the main/top story arcs from each xpac.

Then the new expac will be 50-60 new content etc. 

They'll also finally do a console release with the next expac after BfA.

That'll keep WoW relevant for another 3-5 years from today, considering BfA will likely be from Aug '18 till new expac in Fall '20.

BfA will morph into the Old Gods expansion across its 2 year lifespan, so what the theme of the next one will be is anyone's guess.. Void lords?

Hopefully at some point they introduce new, good characters to become leaders in the Horde instead of recycling Orc Jesus and other has-beens like Saurfang.

Scorchien

        I knew who posted it from the title ...........

Octagon7711

Just like OP said, they killed off most of the iconic Horde characters.  I think their next step will be to kill off all the iconic Alliance characters.  They will probably introduce a whole new line of heroes and villains.  Pretty much a copy and paste of what Disney is doing.

heerobya

Octagon7711 said:

Just like OP said, they killed off most of the iconic Horde characters.  I think their next step will be to kill off all the iconic Alliance characters.  They will probably introduce a whole new line of heroes and villains.  Pretty much a copy and paste of what Disney is doing.

Aren't Malf and Tyr about the only iconic Alliance heroes left?

MadFrenchie

Octagon7711 said:

Just like OP said, they killed off most of the iconic Horde characters.  I think their next step will be to kill off all the iconic Alliance characters.  They will probably introduce a whole new line of heroes and villains.  Pretty much a copy and paste of what Disney is doing.

Someone mentioned in another thread there's a short that shows Anduin as an old man with Velen, so we can rest assured Anduin will survive a long while, at least.  Maybe Jaina?

Xiaoki

So, you actually believe that WoW needs to be shut down or rebooted because a major lore character is being represented in an unfavorable light?

Seriously ....I dont know what to say anymore.

This whole Sylvanas thing thats been going on the past few days is so ridiculously hilarious for how pathetically sad it is.

heerobya

MadFrenchie said:

Octagon7711 said:

Just like OP said, they killed off most of the iconic Horde characters.  I think their next step will be to kill off all the iconic Alliance characters.  They will probably introduce a whole new line of heroes and villains.  Pretty much a copy and paste of what Disney is doing.

Someone mentioned in another thread there's a short that shows Anduin as an old man with Velen, so we can rest assured Anduin will survive a long while, at least.  Maybe Jaina?

I kind of like the idea of Jaina vs. Sylvannas as both are pretty terrible people who have committed war crimes.

mgilbrtsn

All games eventually shut down.  The question is when.  Is WoW close to this event?  I would say no and even say it's probably not gonna happen for at least 5 more years.  Then we can evaluate again.

Amathe

I estimate that WoW will keep going for at least another 10 years.  

Sovrath

Rebooted? Probably not. They aren't interested in cannibalizing their playerbase with another World of Warcraft. Shut down? If the game no longer makes enough money and there is no reason to keep it going then they will shut it down.

If it only takes a modicum of funds to keep it going they very well could do that as it's an iconic game and like Everquest, is sort of legendary at this point.

JeffSpicoli

Na, not happening. WOW has become part of pop culture, Its like asking when is facebook or McDonald's going to close down. I mean hell , i watched big brother 20  last night. If that steaming pile of horse shit can go 20 years WOW will go 40

Amathe

thunderC said:

Na, not happening. WOW has become part of pop culture, Its like asking when is facebook or McDonald's going to close down. I mean hell , i watched big brother 20  last night. If that steaming pile of horse shit can go 20 years WOW will go 40

Yep. I know people who have AOL e-mail accounts. Pobrecita. Things can last forever on the internet. 

Nilden