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General: Credible Blizzard Rumors Flying Rampant
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
According to FirstAdopter, several fairly credible rumors are out there about Blizzard's various IPs. The column states that Hearthstone numbers are 'off the charts', the revenue model for Overwatch is still up in the air, the next Starcraft II expansion is ready for deployment and, most interestingly, projections for the success of Heroes of the Storm are being lowered.
Hearthstone’s success is beyond even the most optimistic expectations and should be a buffer against the continued year-over-year secular decline of the Call of Duty and Skylanders franchises.
Other key details from the insider:
Executives have “low expectations” for Heroes of the Storm. The insider thinks many of the senior staff on the Heroes of the Storm team will be laid off.
The next Starcraft 2 game is already done and ready to go. The release date is still not settled. The current time window ranges from April to June.
The World of Warcraft team has “quadrupled” its art outsourcing, which has been a bottleneck in the past. The next expansion is almost “feature complete.”
The insider says the members of the Diablo III team have been moved to a new project set in the Starcraft universe. The game will be similar to Warframe and contain gameplay aspects from Left4Dead, DayZ, Smite, and other MOBAs. It is in early pre-production, which means late 2016 or later.
Read the rest at the link above.
Comments
I like HotS, it's a good take on the MOBA. But I'm not sure who's bright idea it was to roll out early beta (or was it "alpha") invites a couple weeks before WoD launched. Seemed like a bad idea, cause I was playing it and having fun, but then WoD happened and I haven't logged into HotS since.
The next WoW xpac is almost complete? Really? I'll believe that when i see it.
I'm not very impressed with Overwatch, not sure why I should want to play it.
I'm not sure what to make of D3 members working on StarCraft themed top down warframe, moba, L4D, wtf kind of game? I like warframe tbh, but I'm not sure what all those games jumbled together means.
Credible?!
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Dont ever change MMORPG.com
These rumors range from wishful thinking to completely insane.
Umm what is so insane about it? reads like you normal day to day speculation article. I don't think t this point it is insane to imagine that hearthstone is mega successful and that Starcraft 2 expansion is almost ready.
It probably wont be top down. They may be going for a crack of a Warframe version of Starcraft Ghost.
I think HoTS will be fine.
The next WoW Expac may be 'done' but they are waiting on art and that could take months.
I have never like Team Fortress so I doubt I will like Overwatch.
Dont like the news that some of the D3 team has been moved. Hopefully the next expac is still on its way.
LOL, this site is reporting on other sites' rumors now?
Must be a very slow week in MMO land!
All joking aside, they certainly seem possible. LoL has a firm grip on the majority of the MOBA players out there, and the hardcore ones are very similar to WoW players - too much invested into their game to leave for more than a brief break here and there before they return to the fold. All the ones I know couldn't care less about HotS - they went in with the attitude that it would be inferior to LoL, which is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
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https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
I don't know how well hearthstone numbers are doing in the apple store, but according to google play it isn't doing too hot. However, I have doubts that hearthstone has any sizable phone/tablet only players. Not to mention, Blizzard has been very quiet on the the hearthstone revenue numbers and only throws out the worthless " accounts made ". Even some of the worst microtransaction models (Maplestory) get 100s of millions of users when they have a global support network.
IMHO, I can't help but look at Hearthstone as a game that is fading fast in the US/EU, but having huge support in Asia.
"If I offended you, you needed it" -Corey Taylor
HotS only just entered closed beta and already has as many games being played as Dota 2.
SC2 will have a lengthy beta and ad campaign before being released, the beta may be announced by June
The WoW team does not like outsourcing art. They have said this many times. Also, WoD hasnt released its 2nd raid of the 1st raid tier and the next expansion is already feature complete?
HS announced a couple months ago they were at 20 million and suddenly they are at 75 million with no further announcements.
And lastly(and also the one directly refuted by Blizzard) they are not going to cease all production on D3, which is Blizzard's best selling game since WoW, to make some stupid SC game that would directly compete with their newest game Overwatch
You see, common sense and logic.
I just wish Blizzard hire Kano too.. He is a wasted talent in Trion hands.
Stages of a new mmo: 1) It's just beta. It still has plenty of time before release. 2) It just launched. Give it time. WoW wasn't built in a day. 3) We don't need you anyway. 4) F2P announced. 5)Huge influx of players. 6) Look how much has changed. 7) Cash shop is the only thing developed lately. 8) It has been a long journey and we thank everyone who was part of it. Shutting down in 3 months. (Courtesy of Robokapp.)
It's a casual game targetted at a hardcore audience. No one is going to drop Dota/LoL to move to HotS.
That's not to say it's a bad game, I've really enjoyed playing it. It's just not Dota.
As far as Hearthstone goes, I truly hope that Blizzard understands why it's so successful.
It (and Town of Salem) is the only multiplayer game out there that you can just pick up and play and put down 15 minutes later.
MMOs you stand around and wait on queues or raids to organize.
FPS you spend all this time running around looking for combat that lasts 3 seconds or you camp one spot.
MOBAs you sit in short queues but your forced to stay till game end despite the game being decided long ago.
These games, ughhhh, all this down time, all this dull time.
Hearthstone and Town of Salem, no down time, no dumb time, just fun.
Credible or not, I'm sold for this one. Just don't make it another MOBA please.
I hope this one rumor at least turns to be true.
its called rumors. i dont know why the need for logic? i was simply commenting on overreaction and calling these rumors insane.
Smite is looking toward a console release soon, with an innovation in MOBAs like Smite, but very little competition, Smite being virtually first gen with lotsa room for improvement, they could develop some really outstanding gameplay in a new subgenre before it is capitalized on, like WoW and LoL did with their genres.
It's pretty promising, if only I trusted Activision to treat the product with respect. Some of their practices have driven me off of Diablo and Starcraft, so I'm very cautious about the source of the product...
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes.
That way, if they get angry, they'll be a mile away... and barefoot.
Wait, what? What HotS are you talking about? Did you also pay 200 bucks for a hearthstone key when the game was in beta? I heard the game was free though? What happened? Why would you do that.
To be real, You can buy this 40 dollar pack IN the game. Ie, I've been in since alpha. I can purchase the pack and play with everything given. Are they using it to get some extra money out of people who can't wait to play the game? Sure! Is it required to play HotS? Only if you can't wait a few more months for release where EVERYONE will be able to get in. The game is still in closed BETA.
Enjoy...having fun with Blizzard products here.
It doesn't say the next WoW expansion is almost complete, only that's it's almost "feature complete", huge difference. Entertaining article to read, can't say I find it very credible.
Time will tell.
Peter Griffin: you know those germans, if you dont join the party, they?ll come get ya
This game won't even be available by this time next year, Blizzard does not get that they can't fund a MOBA the way they do the rest of their games. Just stamp this game DOA!
With the massive amount of failures under Blizzard's belt I see your point.
I mostly only play MMOs, and if I were to make one suggestion to Blizzard, it would be to add a way to play HearthStone while in game without the need to Alt-Tab out of WOW. A window in in game, while you wait for raid or a spawn. We had a card game in Everquest 2 and Star Wars Galaxies that you could play from in the game. I like Hearhtstone, but only played until I could get the mount. If they added more in-game cosmetic items for playing, I would likely buy card packs, as I did in both EQ2 and SWG. just my 2cents.
Hearthstone is doing freaking amazing. The game consistently is one of the most played PC game. It's been one of the most popular games on the App store and a lot of people play it on iOS. Lots of people play Hearthstone on the ipad and iphone.
Android doesn't count. You guys only got Hearthstone like a month ago, a year or so after iOS. Also with how underpowered a lot of Android tablets and phones are, a lot of people probably can't even properly play it on their device. Also Android users are very stingy when it comes to paying for any of their apps/games.
But yeah Hearhstone is doing great on the App store. Your post feels like unnecessary trolling/hating while you are seriously misinformed.
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