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Why we should love the next horrible expansion
desperado568
Member Posts: 17
Wait.....don't flame yet.
I know a lot of people are upset at the current state of MMORPGs: they're recycling old ideas, they're grindfests, they are boring, etc. and I would have to agree with this, and I think its really easy to place the blame upon the super successful World of Warcraft. Yes there were other MMORPGs before WoW, but it was the first one to make other developers open their eyes to the money making possibilities and start producing either clones of this game or take only certain elements that seem to work and focus on them.
WoW obviously isn't a perfect specimen of an MMORPG, very few would say it is; however, just about everyone would say that starting off in that game is simple and engaging. This is probably its greatest draw, and why there are so many subscribers. As other games try to do the same, they end up showing limited drive and enthusiasm, and the rest of us looking for the next great game are left wondering what happened to the market.
That's why I want the next expansion of WoW to be absolutely horrendous beyond words.
Don't get me wrong, I play the game as well and I enjoy it (pre-endgame), but what the industry needs right now is for this next expansion to fail miserably.
The main reason I say this is because of past experiences with the gaming industry when the same sort of situation happened with Atari way back in the day. For those who either don't remember or just weren't around at the time here's a quick recap:
Atari was the greatest thing ever
After viewing the few games made for it make huge $$ a whole crapload of horrible games were created (ET anyone?)
here's the turning point: Eventually there was a PacMan game scheduled for release for the Atari. After its HUGE success in arcades there was massive hype that this game was going to be the single greatest game of all time released for the Atari (maybe I'm exaggerating but I don't think I'm too far off base here).
Needless to say the PacMan game sucked beyond belief. No one bought it, and too many were produced and not enough were sold. This lead to the company losing an incredible amount of money, developers rethinking the way videogames should be produced, and one giant landfill of PacMan games in New Mexico somewhere.
What we need is another PacMan fiasco. We've seen relative progression in the gaming market since then (I would almost say we were hitting another plateau until Wii came out, yah yah everyone likes Halo, shutup); however, the MMORPG markete seems to be at the same point that Atari was at in the 80s. More and more games are coming out with subpar gameplay and recycled concepts and just isn't capturing the minds of the gamers it should appeal to.
Now it would have been better if the first expansion was as bad as I wish it would have been (yah it wasn't great, but it was no PacMan on Atari), but I'm willing to settle on the next one being horrible. There's still expectations, still hopes that the next one will redefine the game and make it what it should have been. I just hope they'll make it as horrible as possible; so bad that all the other developers will have to wake up after seeing that no one is interested in the same thing anymore.
Comments
If Blizzard released a horrible expansion..... it would be the first time in company history that it ever happened. While possible, its not really the way to bet.
Nope, I expect them to stay the course, follow the same path and while it may turn some (or many) folks off, they'll still have a sizable player base that will continue to bring them in money.
Even they don't expect WOW to last forever (as a major cash cow) so they are working on yet more games.....
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I don't have BC on either of my accounts, but I have heard good things about it. As soon as I get closer to 60, I'll get it, but not now.
On a side note... doesn't this belong in the WoW section?
I was thinking of putting it there; however, I decided that while my argument focuses on WoW it involves the entirety of MMORPGs and their future market, so it isn't exactly WoW focused. If someone wants to move it there though I don't really care.
I agree with you, but as stated above, don't put your money on it. Blizzard has made three, maybe four games 95% of all games know (Starcraft series, Diablo series, Warcraft series, and World of Warcraft.)
They won't fail, because they don't care what experienced gamers want. They are going for the masses and they are doing it in way that experienced gamers also play the game, perhaps not as much in such numbers as the other gamers, but they still play.
Now.. hide! Because Blizzard will scout you, find you and hit you with a copy of WoW till you love it!
QUOTE
Yes there were other MMORPGs before WoW, but it was the first one to make other developers open their eyes to the money making possibilities and start producing either clones of this game or take only certain elements that seem to work and focus on them.
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The above statement is not true. Wow may have been the first MMORPG to open your eyes, but there were other MMORPGS preceding WOW that had developers scrambling to create a successful MMORPG, including Blizzards developers.
World of Warcraft was not even on the developers table when other companies were already busily coding to come up with something as successful as Everquest and before Everquest, Utlima Online.
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It's just me, so open the door.
Anyhow, I don't think it had the effect you are assuming it did. Game companies still rush out games in time for the holidays or to rival competitiors in the market place. Star wars battlefront was rushed out to meet the release time of a movie or the DvDs or something like that. EQ2 was rushed to meet WoW head on. SWG was rushed for no real reason.
WoW success will surely spawn enough MMO clones which will not advance game designs, but it's failure will not ensure new types of games either. It will only warn off potential game makers and make people reconsider spending money on games if they stink.
The only way games are going to advance is when companies stop reenacting the ET mentality and release games when they are ready to be released. Releases like Vanguard and Dark and Light only hurt the industry.
I have to agree. Failure of wow will make people wonder if they should spend any money at all on games. There is only a handful of games that are really worth playing at the moment, that aren't riddled to death with bugs, or issues that make the player base leave. If people stopped worrying so much about the cash cow they are making, and rather what kind of game they were making, and actually finish it, and then test it, fix anything you may of messed up and then retest til it is perfect and then release it, we wouldn't be having all these new games dropping like flies. Just cause you can patch something, doesn't mean people want to waste money on an incomplete game. Sadly though, til the mentality of developers change, there will be no change in the market. I personally don't expect any game to fit every single aspect of what people want to play, but it should try and cover most, and try to make them all equal. The biggest problem would seriously be that they are rushing them, and after the first wave buys and thinks it will be great, and are disappointed, the bad word of mouth of forums like these ruin that game and scar it. So instead of just moving on and make the game better and adding content to keep it going, they have to try and fix all the problems that people have, and it then becomes an endless battle that few can recover from. I guess it could also be our faults too, cause we complain and bitch when release dates get pushed back, and such, so we cause the rush too. I have to wonder will it ever change.
I agree with what you said. Moreover, I am one of those turned off by having expansions be merely more of the same. I will jump ship (AoC. Warhammer) at the first available oppertunity. Not because WoW is inherently bad, but because it's getting rather stale. Perhaps the only draw WoW has for me, is its quality. Beyond that I am not a raider and Blizzard has shown no interest in providing for other interests.
The expansion will be good. as for the players receiving it well not as likely.
I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.
I'm the first to point out that WoW is boring. I did play it for awhile, and it lost its appeal for me very quickly. However, asking for the WoW expansion to fail is like asking the sun not to come up tomorrow. Blizzard doesn't make bad games, ever. They don't have a single poor game to their name, and that's why they're the most successful gaming company operating today. They innovate rather than cloning other games, and their building fanbase is such that anything they release will automatically gain more subs and sell more copies than any other PC game, simply because it's Blizzard.
My blog:
http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/Strayfe/
I think the OP is very narrow sighted on the industry. I work part time in a development and improvement company...basically we take other people's ideas and improve them...patent it...and sell it to the original company. Anyway. WoW did a great service to the MMORPG industry for the long run. Before had EQ was out and it had subscribers and people that mocked the subscribers as online, no life, losers. Then pops WoW. It hits hard and many of those mockers of EQ suddenly say they want in because it is the new cool thing. They enter the online world and decide that they want to stay in online games.
Ok in the short run you have crappy developers trying to get in on the fast track to cash in...they fail horribly because their game is too similar to WoW..this is where we are now. But in the long run some companies are sitting back saying, "There is a hugh market now. Lets make a game to grab some of them. Lets not rush but take our time, keep it secret till it is closer to ready."
You are a fool not to think that some companies are doing this. It is the same in any industry. it might take a few years for those game to come out, but they will hit hard and they will not be complete clones. Blizzard basically took this model. They saw EQ and saw a potential and they secret created it and rendered something that was great.
The problem with todays consumer is that they think they deserve something. You deserve nothing from companies. People invent for the join of inventing and for money not for you. When the consumer starts vocally whining crap comes down the line from companies trying to cash in on whiners.
Ok anyway...people that base WoW success are shooting their online gaming futures in the foot. Look at WAR and AoC they are smart...push back to get something that is polished and good. The problem with those is that they released info about the games too early. Now they just have whiners whining that a half-ass crap game with no polish is not on the market for them to try and bash.
Accept the fact that you have to wake through a field of a lot of polished turds till a company finally releases the real thing. When that game finally comes out get on your knees and thanks WoW for creating the hugh market for the company to make that game.
TBC was weak, though perhaps not truly terrible. I don’t have much confidence in Blizzard at this point. Quality is about the people, not the company and virtually all the people who made those great Blizzard games have moved on. Until their replacements demonstrate they can produce similar quality I’ll remain skeptical.
MMOs are going through what the RPG genre has been going through, since Diablo. Every game is a clone of Diablo in some way. Producers saw Diablo make money, and the investors feel consumers want that. No, we are sick of Diablo clones, we went something new. But sometimes new fails, and that doesn't make money.
This is what has happened with MMOs. Producers see that the level and raid format is working perfectly. We may be complaining, but WoW and SOE are making millions. That is good for them, yet bad for those of us who don't fall for this BS of killing 1000 orcs to gain a level. Their is no reason for producers to change that format. Why should they go to the trouble of creating an immersive world with great customization when that will cost more money? They can just throw in a few large rats, dress them up as dragons with a truckload of HP, threw some Uber Sword of Doomzday on the loot table, and people will flock like sheeps. Its cheaper, its simple, and it makes money.
No, what this industry needs is new talent. Someone like BioWare that dared to be different, didn't make a Diablo clone, and wont the world over with their stories. Or Bethesda, who created one of the most immersive and visually stunning worlds ever. Or maybe even some independents like Mythic was. Some day it will happen. We just have to wait, and avoid the temptation of playing games that aren't cutting it.
WoW = UO
Starcraft = C&C/Warhammer 40k
Warcraft = Dune.
Diablo = D&D [tho i will give them some origonality for being the first to get this format of PC gaming right].
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Retired from: Neocron, Everquest, Everquest 2, Guild Wars, RF Online and Final Fantasy VII
Currently Playing : EvE Online.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_Vikings
Actually Iliked, and played, the original lost Vikings.... You have toi keep in mind the state of art of games at that point in time.
To the OP...
I do understand Your point but the problem is:
Instead of horrible expansions there have been a lot of horrible clones released and still the indrustry does not understand. That is they do not get what makes wow into WOW.
The gamers that play WOW actually can play WOW and have a life unlike the players that try and steal WOW's thunder. Yes there are some WOW players that are in a rush to get from 0 to 60/70 as fast as possable but most, I dare say 90%, of WOW players are there just to socalize, play pick up games and have fun (not at the expense of others).
Try running down any road from town to town and not get buffed by the others you pass, even on PVP servers unless it's an enemy faction.
See the part that all the other publishers do not get is that the old P&P crowd and the new MMO crowd like to play a game that you can jump into easly, is a friendly socal experence and offers COOP play (Remember back to your last P&P game, and you relize why PVP will never be as successful in a MMO as in FPS. Actually look at the sucessful FPS and you realize those are "team" PVP but thats a diffrent disscussion) and offers what ever lvl of interaction that each player wants (is not forced into).
So blizzard putting out an unsucessful expansion would not fix the problem with the game developers, only a Paradigm shift in what they see a MMO to be will provide them the ability to create sucessful games.
How ever be careful what you ask for, just look around you town and count the number of Starbucks, yes they are sucessful because the understand what their customers want, but for those of us that simply want coffee flavored coffee will so find that it is no longer available. By the same token, those wanting better MMOS will find that the sucessful MMOs are no longer our flavor, that is because the MMOs are targeting the masses, which is the natural progression.
To assume that all games must be created to meet our visions of what a agme should be is pure arrogance (unless you are actually making a game).
An so it begins
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.[/CENTER]
I haven't been buffed by anyone (other than my girlfriend) in over a year on Magtheridon. I don't even get a buff when I buff them.
Anyhow, I don't think it had the effect you are assuming it did. Game companies still rush out games in time for the holidays or to rival competitiors in the market place. Star wars battlefront was rushed out to meet the release time of a movie or the DvDs or something like that. EQ2 was rushed to meet WoW head on. SWG was rushed for no real reason.
WoW success will surely spawn enough MMO clones which will not advance game designs, but it's failure will not ensure new types of games either. It will only warn off potential game makers and make people reconsider spending money on games if they stink.
The only way games are going to advance is when companies stop reenacting the ET mentality and release games when they are ready to be released. Releases like Vanguard and Dark and Light only hurt the industry.
SWG was rushed out so it wouldn't compete with KOTOR
Actually they Copy ideas and polish them a bit, and thats not inovating.
WoW = UO
Starcraft = C&C/Warhammer 40k
Warcraft = Dune.
Diablo = D&D [tho i will give them some origonality for being the first to get this format of PC gaming
Besides being in the same genre settings, they have nothing in common.
The only thing you got was WOW = Various Other MMO's with lots of polish
Starcraft if anything is a Alien vs Predators warcraft mod. (Terrans would be the marines)
Edit: And I liked The Lost Vikings
WoW = UO?
Warcraft = Dune?
wHAT?
this makes no sense to me. Would you please give reasoning?