When you talk about a MMORPG being successful you have to compare it to the only succesfull MMORPG which is WoW. Either you like it or not you have to admint that it did something that nobody else has done after them.
Everything that I am going to talk about is in regard of the westerm MMORPG community and market. In Asia and especially in South Korea where 2 out of 3 people are gamers, where they treat their professional gamers like superstars and where NCSoft was born, things are so different that their standards don't apply here in the West. Games like Lineage, Lineage 2, Tera, Aion, etc, are judged of how they performed here in the West.
The thing is that WoW came out when the MMORPG industry was way different than it is today. Games back then were way more hardcore and unforgiving towards the player. Despite the fact that Vanilla WoW was more hardcore than WoW is today, it was still way more casual that the rest of the games of it's time and it kind of invented handholding. I am not saying that it is a bad thing, it revolutionized the whole leveling process and made it way more accessible towards the masses while still retaining the fun factor. It was the next logical step in the MMORPG's evolution and if Blizzard hadn't done it somebody else would have. It took a whole genre of games that were catered towards a small hardcore percentage of the gaming community and managed to make it appealing to the whole of it.
Now the problem with WoW is that it has stalled for the past 5-6 years, it hasn't done anything groundbreaking to renew itself. Every two years it releases the same template of an expansion (new race or class, higher level cap, and another series of raids and gear tiers). It pulled in the large casual crowds but also the hardcore gamers, with the years it has shorten the gap between them. The casual gamer of 2014 is way more experienced than the casual gamer of 2004-2005, but WoW for the sake of subscriptions is still getting dumbed down. They did it in the past and it succeeded but it won't ever succeed again because they "transformed" the whole MMORPG playerbase. The other problem with WoW is that it has grown old, even if it innovates itself it will still be the equivalent of the action figures that you played with as a kid, at some point you grow out of them.
They had this successful business model that worked perfectly for them and they managed to earn colossal profits, they find that trying to tinker and change the formula of their game too drastically is way too risky. And I understand that from a business perspective. Blizzard wants profits. So why risk innovating and spending resourses for research and development on WoW and either keep it alive for another 2-3 more short years or on the other hand kill it before it's time. Blizzard knows that doing nothing different than before will still make them money while WoW is slowly dieing.
In 2003 there where like 8 MMORPGS you could chose from, after years of watching Blizzard thrive, other companies also wanted to dip their hands in the honeypot, around 30 to 50 MMORPGS came out in 2013 of which only 2-3 where probably made by large companies. Most of them die months after release. They have ALL taken stuff from WoW (the same way WoW took from EQ and small stuff from other MMORPGS through the years), they have all tried to put in some minor innovation and they have all failed. Others try to go down the opposite path, to be nothing like WoW and they also fail miserably. Don't get me started on GW2, I could rant on everything that went wrong with it for hours, both game-wise and playerbase-expectation-wise. I know that games like Rift still have a large amount of active players but their numbers are nothing in front of the 7 million subscribers that WoW still has.
Players through the years, after playing their first MMORPG and after playing another ten games following that first one, have been let down, while acquiring small "exotic" tastes from the huge variety of MMORPGS that they have sampled. They are each looking for an MMORPG that will lure them in and fill them with awe just like their first one did, and simultaneously satify their other preferences that other MMORPGS provided them with in a mix-and-match kind of way.
Another thing that WoW didn't have to put up with back in the day is that marketing was way more easier back then. It had only a handful of competitors, the only fanboys it had to put up with were a small amount of EQ fanboys to todays standards, it didn't have to be tagged as a WoW-killer and live up to that name, it couldn't even be called a WoW-clone, you didn't have thousands of gaming sites and bloggers and streams reviewing the game for you. The whole MMORPG community in 2014 has been disappointed again and again after trying new games which has led to a new phenomenon of gigantic proportions, players tend to research everything about a game not only before they buy it but before it is even released. This has led to HYPES, they can be positive or they can be negative, they can make a game or they can break it to a point of no return.
======================================================================= TL;DR: If WoW wasn't the first mainstream and succesfull MMORPG to set the bar there would have been another MMORPG. The key is to satisfy all types of players, PVPers, raiders, soloers, crafters, roleplayers, hardcore guilds, lore fanatics, but to also draw in the crowd of first-timers. Not to only draw them in but to keep them playing by having fun. The next MMORPG-king will have to manage to put up with a whole lot of competition and thrive against them, with better gameplay and with better marketing. It will also have to maintain a positive hype around it's name not only before release but also for a long time after the majority of players have reached endgame.
Now I am finally going to talk about Wildstar and my personal view around it. I fall into the the type of 2-3 hours on weekdays and 10-12 hours on the weekend type of player, I enjoy raiding, pvp, soloing and crafting. I have played most of the big MMORPGS in the last 8 years since I got into this genre of gaming.
I first heard about Wildstar a couple of months back, not anything actually about the game but only that it was published by NCSoft. The problem is that I have a history with NCSoft.
Lineage 2 being my first MMORPG (which I loved at first) that is way too hardcore. WoW was my second one which I loved but it was a difficult transition for me coming from a Korean grinder with an open pvp-pk system full of politics and drama. I later bought into the Aion hype which I thought at the time was an amalgamation of L2 and WoW, I was wrong. Aion was a cool game, different from anything else at the time, it never actually met up to it's promises, time limited flying combat sucks and it was still a korean grinder. After that I spent a couple of years jumping from L2 to WoW back and forth, I stumbled upon Rift and DCUO because I was looking for a satisfying game that kind of felt like WoW. I bought Tera which is another korean game with cool graphics and a new type of action fighting system but with . I later bought again into another hype which was the whole GW2 story which I won't be commenting on. After that I spent 2 years jumping MMORPG-ships and researching and googling for a game that I might actually enjoy again.
So naturaly I thought that Wildstar would be another korean grinder with cartoony WoW graphics or just another GW2-type-story.
Wildstar is the first game for which, although it hasn't even been released yet, I have done research upon it and have googled stuff about it and have spent hours upon hours of watching streams of it's first goddamn 15 levels, and have tried to put together what endgame will be like with the whole Elder system. I have learned that the actual developer of the game is Carbine, NCSoft is just the publisher, a group of people that left WoW 8 years ago and didn't want to have anything to do with it (probably because of issues with where the game was going and I believe that we all saw in the last couple of years what Carbine already knew would happen). I also found out that Carbine is very picky about it's employees and that it sought out to get the best of the best to get the job done. Wildstar has been in development for 6 to 7 years just so they could code their own engine to run the game, to research and learn about what players really want, taking parts from other games that worked and adapting them to their own style, tinkering with them, adding new stuff, taking well-researched and planned risks but risks nonetheless. Wildstar is their baby and I can see that they are really trying to make the best game possible and that they are actually putting together the formula for the first true WoW-killer, and I know that NCSoft can also see that.
One of the reasons GW2 sucked so badly was because NCSoft rushed ArenaNet to get the game "ready". I believe that NCSoft is seeing the actualy potential Wildstar can have if they let Carbine "do their thing". Which is another reason Wildstar wasn't heard of until a year ago, they didn't want to get the hype going on from too early and they didn't want other companies to be properly prepared for when the bomb drops. Wildstar is going to be released at the prime of the playerbase's hype and they will manage to steal alot of players from other games aswell. What they also have going for them is that Blizzard-fanboys now have to wait until 2016-2018 until Blizzard's "Titan" project emerges because the whole development process for the game up until now has been scrapped.
At the moment I am waiting for a beta-key to fall into my hands so I can actually try the game. In theory, Wildstar up until now, has satisfied everything on my checklist of what I expect from a game that I want to play, and also everything else from the checklist of what I believe a game needs to be well-rounded and successful. I am still a college student with not that much money to spare so hopefully, as I have heard, I will be able to try out the game when open beta starts one month before Wildstar's actual release. I really hope this game meets up to all of our expectations, but from getting burned in the past I suggest that you all also get a taste of the game in Open Beta before buying it.
Just remeber that WoW didn't get 13 million subscribers in a day or even in a month, it took them some time. Judge Wildstar by how much you will enjoy playing it. If you really love it, stay faithful to it and sooner or later the subscribers will come. If everything goes well it will either be the new MMORPG-king and the first true WoW-killer, or at least it will split the market down the middle which I also find to be a tremendous accomplishment.
When you talk about a MMORPG being successful you have to compare it to the only succesfull MMORPG which is WoW.
No need to read beyond here. Faulty premise is faulty. Any product that turns a profit is a success, there are many successful MMOs.
Exactly this. I stopped at the first sentence. Seriously, if your very first sentence is wrong, there's not much point in reading the rest of the novel you wrote.
ha.. I read that and thought wow... there is no way I'm reading something that long when it starts off with something like that. Not the type of fiction I want to read.
Wlll Wildstar be a success? I hope it will be cause i think i will try and make that one my new home (at the moment playing SWToR). But like others said the timing is a bit off, releasing it with TESO and the new WoW expansion (and this one delivers a big update for the game like new graphics and finally some sort of player houses or guild houses).
I'm not sure why you would call WoW the only successfull MMORPG. WoW changed a lot for the genre that is true. It made MMORPG's mainstream favored. But what about the MMORPG's before WoW, would you say they failed? Seeing it where different times back then with less people playing MMORPG's and games in general. You need to learn a few things before you make weird claims. Gaming was seen as a nerd things 10 years ago. There weren't as many gamers as today. Star Wars Galaxies never had the numbers of WoW, nor did EverQuest, Ultima Online and Dark Ages of Camelot, but each and everyone of them where a huge success for their time. WoW opened the genre to people new to the genre. Blizzard had the advantage to have a huge fanbase from their other games. Warcraft fans saw it as the new Warcraft game they had to have and be able to play a hero in the universe they loved for so many years (but i really want a new Warcraft RTS again please).
MMORPG's after WoW have a few huge disadvantages. Every damn idiot keeps comparing new MMO's to WoW and forget that WoW at launch missed a lot of content and took them years to get in the shape they where at their best (sorry right now i don't think its a good game and far from what it once was). WoW didn't had any battlegrounds till a year after release. The maintaince days in Europe atleast meant you couldn't play at all the entire day cause they always had to extend the maintenance. And often you couldn't play till later the next day so you ended up with almost a month on free play days. But people forget that, they exspect every new MMORPG's to have steady servers at launch, have no maintenance issues, have atleast as much content as WoW and forgive way less.
Another disadvantage MMO's have today is a huge ammount of competition. WoW didn't had as much to deal with as today's MMO's have. People hop from one MMO to another alteast once every two months. Partly can be blamed to MMO's not offering as much as the set competition, so people complete their adventure in the first month, maybe two and leave for a new one again or a older one where they can do more endgame. But you see this in every genre. People are less loyal to their games anyway these days and you can't really blame them seeing how publishers these days don't care much about binding them to a game but rather sell a new game every year.
But to say no other game made a success after WoW is highly inaccurate. Lord of the Rings online is a huge success. It may not have as many players, but its still being played and still has a active community. Success isn't just in how many people play. Success in making a profit and still being around after many years. I would say most of the MMO's after WoW where a success, they just wheren't the multi million player having games but that's okay.
The only MMORPG that didn't succeed perhaps would be Warhammer Online. Seeing they also made some vital mistakes with their release. Releasing in the same year as Age of Conan and WoW Wrath of the Lich king, with the biggest mistake to release like two or three months before Wrath. At first it managed to pull some people away from AoC, but when Wrath came out most of the players returned to WoW. Warhammer was a great PvP game and still has given me the most amazing PvP i ever got to experience, but the PvE was a pile of cr*p. With most of the players gone the PvP was deserted as well (perhaps on higher lvls there still was activity but i wasn't highest lvl yet and the lower and mid lvl's where pretty deserted). And only a few years after release they closed the servers.
To close this, anyone saying "WoW killer" has clearly no idea what they talk about. It has to stop, no game will ever be a WoW killer. Even if a game manages to snatch away all the WoW players and lead to WoW's demise its still not a WoW killer. To be a WoW killer you need to have more players every year then WoW had at that time and for at least as many years as WoW. Often people go like "My game totally beated WoW cause in the first month we had way more players then WoW had at that time" yeah but a month later you have less people then WoW had during its beta so hows that a killer hm? WoW is a icon in the game history. WoW is like Super Mario, it meant something to the gaming scene and no one is ever gonna take that away, not even ActiBlizzards stupid choices that they have made for the last couple of years.
Personally, i think Wildstar is going to be one of those games that is always fighting an uphill battle. Initial box sales might be reasonably good, but i wouldn't expect them to be as good as GW2's, and the game will probably struggle to retain players, not because of subscription model though, but because its not really new.
The game just looks too cartoony, and although thats just appearances, when you put it alongside upcoming games like TESO, as much as i dislike the direction that game took, TESO is a clear winner in the graphics department. But even from the gameplay vids, have to wonder how this game will ever compete against established games, let alone other new releases, i just don't see it. In all seriousness, i'm more likely to play TESO than Wildstar, and Zenimax have to do a tonne of persuading to even get me to touch their game.
So the short answer to the OP's question, will Wildstar be a success is, No, i really don't think it will be.
No, the biggest question for any sub game is what do you have to offer that WoW doesn't, and for Wildstar that's better combat and nothing else, so good luck with that. WoW is going roll over Wildstar like a tank rolls over a puppy.
So it has better combat and better graphics, and yet you wonder why people might migrate from WoW to Wildstar?
I mean really, not everything needs to be a revolution to be successful. WoW certainly wasn't, it just took everything from previous MMOs and polished them up. Sometimes people just want something new and shiny that works and is fun. WoW suits a lot of people, and lots of those people just want a game with updated combat and graphics.
Does every new fighting game completely revolutionise the genre? No.
Does every new survival game completely revolutionise the genre? No.
Does every new shoot em up game completely revolutionise the genre? No.
Does every new RTS game completely revolutionise the genre? No.
Then how are these games still releasing and being successful? Upgrade graphics and combat.
'Costume'/Town Cloths (with ability to overlap stat gear visually)
20-man and 40-man raids
Dungeons
4 Pathing choices (besides classes)
Farming
Action combat
Mounts (customizable with "flare")
PvP Gear and PvE Gear (just to thoroughly balance things)
The game's IP is one of both humor and abstract cartoony art. That is woven into the core features of the game that helps make it one hell of a product. It's undeniable how content-rich the game is shaping up to be compared not only to competing launching products of this year, but also of games that have been on the market for a few years now.
No, the biggest question for any sub game is what do you have to offer that WoW doesn't, and for Wildstar that's better combat and nothing else, so good luck with that. WoW is going roll over Wildstar like a tank rolls over a puppy.
Really? Because a few of those I highlighted WoW doesn't have. And I didn't even list gear dyeing, which is something WoW players have been asking for years since vanilla.
The thing is that it offers a lot ON TOP OF everything that people are used to in WoW. It's not lacking on this or that, waiting to add it down the line. This means that players won't be like "but WoW has X, why doesn't Wildstar?" and hopping right back to WoW. Instead, they'll be absorbed into the comic cosmic wildness that Wildstar is with it's newness and combine that partially with what they're familiar with.
Plus, with the housing system and a fresh start, everything you're doing from start is going to be of value and matter. With the new WoW expansion of WoD, most of your previous investments are going to mean squat because "instant level 90!" for any Tom, Dick, or Harriet that gets the game. Sure it has it's housing/village/thing?, but little has been shown about it compared to Wildstar's, which has shown tons of customization and player expression.
You have to love one MMO and hate on the rest! I am pretty sure that is actually is a rule on the forums considering a lot of people seem to be following this rules.
However on the topic of wildstar's success. I think it will be a success. Nothing sensational, but just a good amount of active players, maybe even a slow growth.
I think expecting growth might be unrealistic. Depends on how hyped it is by the time it launches. Seems to be the norm these days for everybody to know about a MMO before it launches, with everyone who even thinks it might be good buying it at or shortly after launch, then seeing the population whittled down to just the audience it was actually built for over time.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.
I think that WildStar will do quite well. WildStar does not have to be the best thing on the market, it just has to be enjoyable for me to play for an extended period of time. If WildStar can do that then for me at least it is the best thing out there.
Originally posted by Phry Personally, i think Wildstar is going to be one of those games that is always fighting an uphill battle. Initial box sales might be reasonably good, but i wouldn't expect them to be as good as GW2's, and the game will probably struggle to retain players, not because of subscription model though, but because its not really new.The game just looks too cartoony, and although thats just appearances, when you put it alongside upcoming games like TESO, as much as i dislike the direction that game took, TESO is a clear winner in the graphics department. But even from the gameplay vids, have to wonder how this game will ever compete against established games, let alone other new releases, i just don't see it. In all seriousness, i'm more likely to play TESO than Wildstar, and Zenimax have to do a tonne of persuading to even get me to touch their game.So the short answer to the OP's question, will Wildstar be a success is, No, i really don't think it will be.
And I will happily disagree with you about TESO being the "clear winner" because it took the realistic route while Wildstar took the cartoony look. Neither make a game better or worse. What makes things better is when the graphics DO SOMETHING for you. Do they shock you? Inspire you? Scare you? Make you laugh? Make you wonder? See in the end if you look at it and go "meh" then it doesnt matter how good the graphics are. Personally I find TESO to look TERRIBLE as its so stale and generic. This isnt 2005 where realistic graphics were all the rage because weve never seen such in games before. Its been done, and its no longer interesting, so with Wildstar going the cartoony look they are simply unshackling themselves and allowing imagination to dictate rather than realism.
Originally posted by RebelScum99 It's going to be a successful game. And it will also receive a ton of hate from people who are tired of the quest hub type games. I expect it to be a very successful, but very polarizing game.
I doubt it will be polarizing as those who want the opposite of Wildstar will have TESO. So everyone should be happy, one crowd gets the goofy/cartoony and the other gets the serious/realistic. Kumbaya.... kumbaya....
It seems to be the first really well polished MMO to come out in a while. That's something.
I'm guessing it'll be fun. Will it topple wow...... unlikely.
Wow trancended being a game, and became an entire sub-culture. It's hard to topple something where people have spent years of their life. Have met friends, spouses, and have developed and entire digital life. A developers job is to make the best game they can. I think Carbine has done that. Whether Wildstar can become a force unto it's own is up to the people.
Personally I'm not sure there will EVER be another wow. It was the right game at the right time in the right place. That's what let it became "THE" online game. I don't think there NEEDS to be another wow. Just more good games.
Trying to beat wow is what lead to WAR, RIFT, and TOR. aka... half finished, buggy, crap.
I think it will be at first. But what's really going to kill it is its rabid fanbase. Go over to wildstar central and just read some of the post. The game is not even out of beta and the community is filled with aholes. I just don't get the hype of this game anymore. I think it really does have something to do with those video's they made. They are really fun and well done. But the game will be nothing like those video's because people will be playing the game. And to me the fanbase already is a big turn off for me. I miss the old days when mmo's were a niche market genre.
Originally posted by RebelScum99 It's going to be a successful game. And it will also receive a ton of hate from people who are tired of the quest hub type games.
I expect it to be a very successful, but very polarizing game.
I doubt it will be polarizing as those who want the opposite of Wildstar will have TESO. So everyone should be happy, one crowd gets the goofy/cartoony and the other gets the serious/realistic. Kumbaya.... kumbaya....
The fact that you think ESO is the opposite of Wildstar is hilarious.
But if TESO is what it promises it is... then wildstar my be in a shadow for quite a while.
Then again, if TESO fails people will see wildstar as the MMO super power and not TESO.
So like i said, if TESO fails and wildstar does not, it will be a very big success.
It's unlikely that either will fail. It is highly likely that both will add extended cash shops and free options before their first year is over.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.
But if TESO is what it promises it is... then wildstar my be in a shadow for quite a while.
Then again, if TESO fails people will see wildstar as the MMO super power and not TESO.
So like i said, if TESO fails and wildstar does not, it will be a very big success.
I'm curious as to what TESO is promising that makes it look larger-than-life compared to Wildstar? Wildstar has player housing, world discovery through Paths, PvP siege forts, arenas, and tons of things that have been listed over and over again in this thread.
It seems that all TESO has going for it's otherwise generic PvE experience is that 3-side PvP thing with an "Emperor" title dangling over all the players' heads to try to obtain. Sure there are some that are grasping at the idea that "this will finally be the DAoC remade into modern MMO that we've been looking for". But that same audience said that for WAR, AoC, GW2, and every other game that had some semblance of faction based PvP. What they're really looking for is the same game with upgraded graphics, and yet they'll never find that at all (every game being different enough to not fulfill their desires).
But if TESO is what it promises it is... then wildstar my be in a shadow for quite a while.
Then again, if TESO fails people will see wildstar as the MMO super power and not TESO.
So like i said, if TESO fails and wildstar does not, it will be a very big success.
I'm curious as to what TESO is promising that makes it look larger-than-life compared to Wildstar? Wildstar has player housing, world discovery through Paths, PvP siege forts, arenas, and tons of things that have been listed over and over again in this thread.
It seems that all TESO has going for it's otherwise generic PvE experience is that 3-side PvP thing with an "Emperor" title dangling over all the players' heads to try to obtain. Sure there are some that are grasping at the idea that "this will finally be the DAoC remade into modern MMO that we've been looking for". But that same audience said that for WAR, AoC, GW2, and every other game that had some semblance of faction based PvP. What they're really looking for is the same game with upgraded graphics, and yet they'll never find that at all (every game being different enough to not fulfill their desires).
This is only my opinion, but, at least from what I've seen, Wildstar seems to be offering more features that TESO. And there seems to be a lot more intelligence and common sense in the way they designed their game. TESO's major positive seems to be the IP. Wildstar doesn't have that to fall back on, so they need to make up for it with a very well-made, polished, and content-rich game. If their endgame promises to be what they say it will be, I think they will have accomplished that.
For the record, I'm excited about both games, and plan on playing both at launch. But, right now, my money is on Wildstar keeping my money for the long haul.
But if TESO is what it promises it is... then wildstar my be in a shadow for quite a while.
Then again, if TESO fails people will see wildstar as the MMO super power and not TESO.
So like i said, if TESO fails and wildstar does not, it will be a very big success.
I'm curious as to what TESO is promising that makes it look larger-than-life compared to Wildstar? Wildstar has player housing, world discovery through Paths, PvP siege forts, arenas, and tons of things that have been listed over and over again in this thread.
It seems that all TESO has going for it's otherwise generic PvE experience is that 3-side PvP thing with an "Emperor" title dangling over all the players' heads to try to obtain. Sure there are some that are grasping at the idea that "this will finally be the DAoC remade into modern MMO that we've been looking for". But that same audience said that for WAR, AoC, GW2, and every other game that had some semblance of faction based PvP. What they're really looking for is the same game with upgraded graphics, and yet they'll never find that at all (every game being different enough to not fulfill their desires).
What is TESO have that wildstar does not? I will be honest and say: i dont know.
TESO is going to be released before wildstar.
TESO already has a huge fan-base. (Skyrim.)
TESO is also promising fun things, and even if those things dont live up to your expectations, the things that it promises still leaves MMO's in the dust.
I am really not trying to insult you nor wildstar at all. Wildstar seems fun but maybe research TESO a little bit more..?
I used to think that wildstar was gonna be my game until i 1.) Started researching TESO. And 2.) Played the last weekend beta for TESO.
It may not be your MMO, but its still good enough to shadow newer released MMO's.
Wildstar and ESO, apples and oranges. Not much point in comparing them in qualitative terms. In terms of comparitive success, it will just come down to which has a larger audience, the apple or the orange.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.
Will it be a success? No, it will be just another 1 month hitter quitter. People are so desperate for a new mmo lately they would say anything just to play something new.
Originally posted by ThomasN7 Short term yes like 3-4 months, long term no. WoW clones don't work long term.
This, although I'd put the mark at 1-3 months.
If designers keep rehashing this tired, played out nonsense, expect the MMO genre to continue to decline.
*taps mic*
Any developers with creativity left out there? Hello?! Bueller?
"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky
Originally posted by ThomasN7 Short term yes like 3-4 months, long term no. WoW clones don't work long term.
This, although I'd put the mark at 1-3 months.
If designers keep rehashing this tired, played out nonsense, expect the MMO genre to continue to decline.
*taps mic*
Any developers with creativity left out there? Hello?! Bueller?
Decline? Take a look at reported industry revenue figures lately?
Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.
Comments
LOL!!!!!
Yeah I'm gonna read that, just gimme a sec...
Dude you have WAY too much time on your hands.
ha.. I read that and thought wow... there is no way I'm reading something that long when it starts off with something like that. Not the type of fiction I want to read.
Wlll Wildstar be a success? I hope it will be cause i think i will try and make that one my new home (at the moment playing SWToR). But like others said the timing is a bit off, releasing it with TESO and the new WoW expansion (and this one delivers a big update for the game like new graphics and finally some sort of player houses or guild houses).
I'm not sure why you would call WoW the only successfull MMORPG. WoW changed a lot for the genre that is true. It made MMORPG's mainstream favored. But what about the MMORPG's before WoW, would you say they failed? Seeing it where different times back then with less people playing MMORPG's and games in general. You need to learn a few things before you make weird claims. Gaming was seen as a nerd things 10 years ago. There weren't as many gamers as today. Star Wars Galaxies never had the numbers of WoW, nor did EverQuest, Ultima Online and Dark Ages of Camelot, but each and everyone of them where a huge success for their time. WoW opened the genre to people new to the genre. Blizzard had the advantage to have a huge fanbase from their other games. Warcraft fans saw it as the new Warcraft game they had to have and be able to play a hero in the universe they loved for so many years (but i really want a new Warcraft RTS again please).
MMORPG's after WoW have a few huge disadvantages. Every damn idiot keeps comparing new MMO's to WoW and forget that WoW at launch missed a lot of content and took them years to get in the shape they where at their best (sorry right now i don't think its a good game and far from what it once was). WoW didn't had any battlegrounds till a year after release. The maintaince days in Europe atleast meant you couldn't play at all the entire day cause they always had to extend the maintenance. And often you couldn't play till later the next day so you ended up with almost a month on free play days. But people forget that, they exspect every new MMORPG's to have steady servers at launch, have no maintenance issues, have atleast as much content as WoW and forgive way less.
Another disadvantage MMO's have today is a huge ammount of competition. WoW didn't had as much to deal with as today's MMO's have. People hop from one MMO to another alteast once every two months. Partly can be blamed to MMO's not offering as much as the set competition, so people complete their adventure in the first month, maybe two and leave for a new one again or a older one where they can do more endgame. But you see this in every genre. People are less loyal to their games anyway these days and you can't really blame them seeing how publishers these days don't care much about binding them to a game but rather sell a new game every year.
But to say no other game made a success after WoW is highly inaccurate. Lord of the Rings online is a huge success. It may not have as many players, but its still being played and still has a active community. Success isn't just in how many people play. Success in making a profit and still being around after many years. I would say most of the MMO's after WoW where a success, they just wheren't the multi million player having games but that's okay.
The only MMORPG that didn't succeed perhaps would be Warhammer Online. Seeing they also made some vital mistakes with their release. Releasing in the same year as Age of Conan and WoW Wrath of the Lich king, with the biggest mistake to release like two or three months before Wrath. At first it managed to pull some people away from AoC, but when Wrath came out most of the players returned to WoW. Warhammer was a great PvP game and still has given me the most amazing PvP i ever got to experience, but the PvE was a pile of cr*p. With most of the players gone the PvP was deserted as well (perhaps on higher lvls there still was activity but i wasn't highest lvl yet and the lower and mid lvl's where pretty deserted). And only a few years after release they closed the servers.
To close this, anyone saying "WoW killer" has clearly no idea what they talk about. It has to stop, no game will ever be a WoW killer. Even if a game manages to snatch away all the WoW players and lead to WoW's demise its still not a WoW killer. To be a WoW killer you need to have more players every year then WoW had at that time and for at least as many years as WoW. Often people go like "My game totally beated WoW cause in the first month we had way more players then WoW had at that time" yeah but a month later you have less people then WoW had during its beta so hows that a killer hm? WoW is a icon in the game history. WoW is like Super Mario, it meant something to the gaming scene and no one is ever gonna take that away, not even ActiBlizzards stupid choices that they have made for the last couple of years.
Personally, i think Wildstar is going to be one of those games that is always fighting an uphill battle. Initial box sales might be reasonably good, but i wouldn't expect them to be as good as GW2's, and the game will probably struggle to retain players, not because of subscription model though, but because its not really new.
The game just looks too cartoony, and although thats just appearances, when you put it alongside upcoming games like TESO, as much as i dislike the direction that game took, TESO is a clear winner in the graphics department. But even from the gameplay vids, have to wonder how this game will ever compete against established games, let alone other new releases, i just don't see it. In all seriousness, i'm more likely to play TESO than Wildstar, and Zenimax have to do a tonne of persuading to even get me to touch their game.
So the short answer to the OP's question, will Wildstar be a success is, No, i really don't think it will be.
So it has better combat and better graphics, and yet you wonder why people might migrate from WoW to Wildstar?
I mean really, not everything needs to be a revolution to be successful. WoW certainly wasn't, it just took everything from previous MMOs and polished them up. Sometimes people just want something new and shiny that works and is fun. WoW suits a lot of people, and lots of those people just want a game with updated combat and graphics.
Does every new fighting game completely revolutionise the genre? No.
Does every new survival game completely revolutionise the genre? No.
Does every new shoot em up game completely revolutionise the genre? No.
Does every new RTS game completely revolutionise the genre? No.
Then how are these games still releasing and being successful? Upgrade graphics and combat.
Really? Because a few of those I highlighted WoW doesn't have. And I didn't even list gear dyeing, which is something WoW players have been asking for years since vanilla.
The thing is that it offers a lot ON TOP OF everything that people are used to in WoW. It's not lacking on this or that, waiting to add it down the line. This means that players won't be like "but WoW has X, why doesn't Wildstar?" and hopping right back to WoW. Instead, they'll be absorbed into the comic cosmic wildness that Wildstar is with it's newness and combine that partially with what they're familiar with.
Plus, with the housing system and a fresh start, everything you're doing from start is going to be of value and matter. With the new WoW expansion of WoD, most of your previous investments are going to mean squat because "instant level 90!" for any Tom, Dick, or Harriet that gets the game. Sure it has it's housing/village/thing?, but little has been shown about it compared to Wildstar's, which has shown tons of customization and player expression.
I think expecting growth might be unrealistic. Depends on how hyped it is by the time it launches. Seems to be the norm these days for everybody to know about a MMO before it launches, with everyone who even thinks it might be good buying it at or shortly after launch, then seeing the population whittled down to just the audience it was actually built for over time.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.
I think that WildStar will do quite well. WildStar does not have to be the best thing on the market, it just has to be enjoyable for me to play for an extended period of time. If WildStar can do that then for me at least it is the best thing out there.
Ratero.
And I will happily disagree with you about TESO being the "clear winner" because it took the realistic route while Wildstar took the cartoony look. Neither make a game better or worse. What makes things better is when the graphics DO SOMETHING for you. Do they shock you? Inspire you? Scare you? Make you laugh? Make you wonder? See in the end if you look at it and go "meh" then it doesnt matter how good the graphics are. Personally I find TESO to look TERRIBLE as its so stale and generic. This isnt 2005 where realistic graphics were all the rage because weve never seen such in games before. Its been done, and its no longer interesting, so with Wildstar going the cartoony look they are simply unshackling themselves and allowing imagination to dictate rather than realism.
It's going to be a successful game. And it will also receive a ton of hate from people who are tired of the quest hub type games.
I expect it to be a very successful, but very polarizing game.
I doubt it will be polarizing as those who want the opposite of Wildstar will have TESO. So everyone should be happy, one crowd gets the goofy/cartoony and the other gets the serious/realistic. Kumbaya.... kumbaya....
No idea.
It seems to be the first really well polished MMO to come out in a while. That's something.
I'm guessing it'll be fun. Will it topple wow...... unlikely.
Wow trancended being a game, and became an entire sub-culture. It's hard to topple something where people have spent years of their life. Have met friends, spouses, and have developed and entire digital life. A developers job is to make the best game they can. I think Carbine has done that. Whether Wildstar can become a force unto it's own is up to the people.
Personally I'm not sure there will EVER be another wow. It was the right game at the right time in the right place. That's what let it became "THE" online game. I don't think there NEEDS to be another wow. Just more good games.
Trying to beat wow is what lead to WAR, RIFT, and TOR. aka... half finished, buggy, crap.
Just make good games. That's all anyone can do.
The fact that you think ESO is the opposite of Wildstar is hilarious.
If it can out last TESO, yeah.
But if TESO is what it promises it is... then wildstar my be in a shadow for quite a while.
Then again, if TESO fails people will see wildstar as the MMO super power and not TESO.
So like i said, if TESO fails and wildstar does not, it will be a very big success.
It's unlikely that either will fail. It is highly likely that both will add extended cash shops and free options before their first year is over.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.
I'm curious as to what TESO is promising that makes it look larger-than-life compared to Wildstar? Wildstar has player housing, world discovery through Paths, PvP siege forts, arenas, and tons of things that have been listed over and over again in this thread.
It seems that all TESO has going for it's otherwise generic PvE experience is that 3-side PvP thing with an "Emperor" title dangling over all the players' heads to try to obtain. Sure there are some that are grasping at the idea that "this will finally be the DAoC remade into modern MMO that we've been looking for". But that same audience said that for WAR, AoC, GW2, and every other game that had some semblance of faction based PvP. What they're really looking for is the same game with upgraded graphics, and yet they'll never find that at all (every game being different enough to not fulfill their desires).
This is only my opinion, but, at least from what I've seen, Wildstar seems to be offering more features that TESO. And there seems to be a lot more intelligence and common sense in the way they designed their game. TESO's major positive seems to be the IP. Wildstar doesn't have that to fall back on, so they need to make up for it with a very well-made, polished, and content-rich game. If their endgame promises to be what they say it will be, I think they will have accomplished that.
For the record, I'm excited about both games, and plan on playing both at launch. But, right now, my money is on Wildstar keeping my money for the long haul.
What is TESO have that wildstar does not? I will be honest and say: i dont know.
TESO is going to be released before wildstar.
TESO already has a huge fan-base. (Skyrim.)
TESO is also promising fun things, and even if those things dont live up to your expectations, the things that it promises still leaves MMO's in the dust.
I am really not trying to insult you nor wildstar at all. Wildstar seems fun but maybe research TESO a little bit more..?
I used to think that wildstar was gonna be my game until i 1.) Started researching TESO. And 2.) Played the last weekend beta for TESO.
It may not be your MMO, but its still good enough to shadow newer released MMO's.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.
This, although I'd put the mark at 1-3 months.
If designers keep rehashing this tired, played out nonsense, expect the MMO genre to continue to decline.
*taps mic*
Any developers with creativity left out there? Hello?! Bueller?
"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky
most people dont want creative games, they just want an improved version of their old game
the mmo market is growing, competition is getting harder, day by day, in your eyes thats a decline?
i would be very surprised, if wildstar does better, than 800k boxes, and 400k long term subs
I think many people are underestimating WildStar's Player Housing.
-Azure Prower
http://www.youtube.com/AzurePrower
Decline? Take a look at reported industry revenue figures lately?
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.