What makes Blizzard so special?

LAW! · May 2006

Hmmm...Just wondering

I have never played WOW because I love Sci-Fi. I often wonder what makes Blizzard so special. I mean they have 7 million customers! I sometimes wonder if I would play "STARCRAFT ONLINE" if Blizzard developed it with the same principles as WOW in mind. At least SOE and DARTH SMEDLEY couldn't touch it, and for that reason alone I would play it!

Would you try it?

iceman00 · May 2006

Simple,

Wow appeals to those who want to be led by the hand, and keep the game constant with content and no bugs. It was fun for me until level 30, then just got boring so i quit.

LAW! · May 2006

Originally posted by iceman00

Simple,

Wow appeals to those who want to be led by the hand, and keep the game constant with content and no bugs. It was fun for me until level 30, then just got boring so i quit.

When I was a child I played Checkers...Now I play Chess.

In many ways Pre-CU SWG was a chess match. NGE is a childs game...simple and boring.

SofaKing2000 · May 2006

Originally posted by LAW!

Originally posted by iceman00

Simple,

Wow appeals to those who want to be led by the hand, and keep the game constant with content and no bugs. It was fun for me until level 30, then just got boring so i quit.

When I was a child I played Checkers...Now I play Chess.

In many ways Pre-CU SWG was a chess match. NGE is a childs game...simple and boring.

Well said!

/golf clap

Don't know to much about WOW, except for the fact that every freind of mine from SWG is playing it now and I even have a couple of RL freinds and Relatives playing it.

For some strange reason, the game doesn't appeal to me... not sure why. I love fantasy games as much as I love Sci-Fi games.

Maybe It never caught my interest cause It got so popular... I dunno.

An old freind from SWG is gonna try to talk me into joining her guild in WOW tonite, not sure what Im going to tell her.

Jodokai · May 2006

Originally posted by LAW!

When I was a child I played Checkers...Now I play Chess.
In many ways Pre-CU SWG was a chess match. NGE is a childs game...simple and boring.

Wow he started a whole thread just to say that

LAW! · May 2006

Originally posted by Jodokai

When I was a child I played Checkers...Now I play Chess.

Wow he started a whole thread just to say that

Well...

Not really, I was simply replying to a comment made by a poster. The reason I started the thread was to see why everyone (SOE) else was getting it so wrong and Blizzard was getting it so right. I mean, 7 million customers and counting is quite a feat considering, at it's peak, SWG only had 300k customers.

I also wondered if anyone would play a Sci-Fi MMO like STARCRAFT if it were developed under the same guidelines as WOW.

xPaladin · May 2006

If that's your concern, I would expect to see something like that in a.. er.. while. I get a very strong feeling that Red5 will work on a Sci-Fi MMOG, probably a MMOFPS.

But I could be wrong.

Shayde · May 2006

Look at SWG. More bugs than a sewer and less content that Paris Hilton's brain. Actually more bugs than in her crotch as well.

Now look at WoW.. more content than you can do with 6 characters, and fewer bugs than you can even believe.

Some powergamers call it simplistic, but I tend to disagree. There are paths set out for the slighter-of-brain to follow, but staying in those paths shows a huge lack of imagination.

Blizzard... and NC Soft as well, have figured out how to make their games actually WORK.. figured out that content keeps people coming back.. a consistantly pleasant game that is worth playing.

Now look at $OE. Look at what was done to SWG specifically, and you see how many companies think. Especially when $OE used to be a "leader" in the industry. They used to be able to ship a half-assed buggy product and use the excuse "It's an MMORPG.. it's NEVER going to be done!"

Well.. it SHOULD be an MMORPG that works before it ships. That makes it worth the price on the box.. worth the monthly fees.

Blizzard set the bar. $OE is just too stupid enough to realize that you're supposed to jump OVER the bar.

Shownder · May 2006

Originally posted by Shayde
Look at SWG. More bugs than a sewer and less content that Paris Hilton's brain. Actually more bugs than in her crotch as well.

Now look at WoW.. more content than you can do with 6 characters, and fewer bugs than you can even believe.

Some powergamers call it simplistic, but I tend to disagree. There are paths set out for the slighter-of-brain to follow, but staying in those paths shows a huge lack of imagination.

Blizzard... and NC Soft as well, have figured out how to make their games actually WORK.. figured out that content keeps people coming back.. a consistantly pleasant game that is worth playing.

Now look at $OE. Look at what was done to SWG specifically, and you see how many companies think. Especially when $OE used to be a "leader" in the industry. They used to be able to ship a half-assed buggy product and use the excuse "It's an MMORPG.. it's NEVER going to be done!"

Well.. it SHOULD be an MMORPG that works before it ships. That makes it worth the price on the box.. worth the monthly fees.

Blizzard set the bar. $OE is just too stupid enough to realize that you're supposed to jump OVER the bar.

**************************************************************

Lol. You sir, are my hero. ::::08::

Spathotan · May 2006

Originally posted by Shayde

Look at SWG. More bugs than a sewer and less content that Paris Hilton's brain. Actually more bugs than in her crotch as well.
Now look at WoW.. more content than you can do with 6 characters, and fewer bugs than you can even believe.
Some powergamers call it simplistic, but I tend to disagree. There are paths set out for the slighter-of-brain to follow, but staying in those paths shows a huge lack of imagination.
Blizzard... and NC Soft as well, have figured out how to make their games actually WORK.. figured out that content keeps people coming back.. a consistantly pleasant game that is worth playing.
Now look at $OE. Look at what was done to SWG specifically, and you see how many companies think. Especially when $OE used to be a "leader" in the industry. They used to be able to ship a half-assed buggy product and use the excuse "It's an MMORPG.. it's NEVER going to be done!"
Well.. it SHOULD be an MMORPG that works before it ships. That makes it worth the price on the box.. worth the monthly fees.

Blizzard set the bar. $OE is just too stupid enough to realize that you're supposed to jump OVER the bar.

Very true Shayde, Blizzard & NCsoft = knows what the fuck is going on, end of story. What has happened also is, when SoE was "big-game" , Blizzard wasnt in the MMO business yet, and NCsoft really hadnt touched America, CoH wasnt even out yet I dont think? Anyways, you can also not only look at it from the pov that SoE ships unfinished products, but back at the launch of SWG, there were to few MMO's to compare it to, and compete with it. But nowadays, and since WoW and EQ2 have came out, the MMO market is flooded with tons of games, most are below average, and unfortunately swg has been engulfed by the below average wave.

Distopia · May 2006

I really think the differences are simple . Blizzard in regards to WOW did an excellent job of polishing their product before releasing it . They also knew what their limits were .

Shayde · May 2006

Originally posted by Spathotan

Very true Shayde, Blizzard & NCsoft = knows what the fuck is going on, end of story. What has happened also is, when SoE was "big-game" , Blizzard wasnt in the MMO business yet, and NCsoft really hadnt touched America, CoH wasnt even out yet I dont think? Anyways, you can also not only look at it from the pov that SoE ships unfinished products, but back at the launch of SWG, there were to few MMO's to compare it to, and compete with it. But nowadays, and since WoW and EQ2 have came out, the MMO market is flooded with tons of games, most are below average, and unfortunately swg has been engulfed by the below average wave.

Those that don't evolve.. DIE.

Every day an $OE employee wonders why they aren't NEAR #1. They've never had the mindset to look in a mirror. It's like the same people who used to argue that Radio was KING and TV would never catch on. "They don't WANT a game that works! They want 3 "combat upgrades" and the same old bugs they've grown attached to!"

You know.. when Bliz or NC Soft have a new push, and they say they're delaying it to "work out a few bugs".. you know they are actually working on a few bugs. $OE just says it so we don't flip out when there's a million bugs on the beta server. They'll fix 2 and push the rest and act all suprised. Hell.. last time Bliz had a bug in a publish, it took A DAY for them to fix it.

One day. Still can't sit in a chair in SWG and stay there.

Spathotan · May 2006

Originally posted by Shayde

Originally posted by Spathotan

Very true Shayde, Blizzard & NCsoft = knows what the fuck is going on, end of story. What has happened also is, when SoE was "big-game" , Blizzard wasnt in the MMO business yet, and NCsoft really hadnt touched America, CoH wasnt even out yet I dont think? Anyways, you can also not only look at it from the pov that SoE ships unfinished products, but back at the launch of SWG, there were to few MMO's to compare it to, and compete with it. But nowadays, and since WoW and EQ2 have came out, the MMO market is flooded with tons of games, most are below average, and unfortunately swg has been engulfed by the below average wave.

Those that don't evolve.. DIE.

Every day an $OE employee wonders why they aren't NEAR #1. They've never had the mindset to look in a mirror. It's like the same people who used to argue that Radio was KING and TV would never catch on. "They don't WANT a game that works! They want 3 "combat upgrades" and the same old bugs they've grown attached to!"

You know.. when Bliz or NC Soft have a new push, and they say they're delaying it to "work out a few bugs".. you know they are actually working on a few bugs. $OE just says it so we don't flip out when there's a million bugs on the beta server. They'll fix 2 and push the rest and act all suprised. Hell.. last time Bliz had a bug in a publish, it took A DAY for them to fix it.

One day. Still can't sit in a chair in SWG and stay there.

I think good examples of this would be the WoW expansion, which has been pushed back to November (was origionally dated for June I believe) for bug fixes probably. Also CoV, I was in the beta, and im about 85% positive that it was delayed for about a week to fix a few issues with Masterminds, instead of pushing them out in live as the alpha class they were in beta.

**EDIT** Also one other thing, I will give SoE credit in 1 area, EQ2. I know you dont like EQ2 but I currently play it, and WoW. I happen to like it preety much, it has good things WoW dosent, and WoW has good things EQ2 dosent. EQ2 had a rocky start I think, I played at launch for about 2 months then quit for about 7 or 8, but its gotten alot better, and getting alot better. The only real bugs I have encountered recently are just graphical issues, like 2 handed weapons going through the head of your character when sheathed for instance, it might not qualify as a true bug, but it is the most annoying thing in the world sometimes.

Shayde · May 2006

Yes, but even if you like EQ2.. realize that it took a massive revamp to get it where it is today. Or was that two?

Another example of poor execution.

That.. and the CU of Matrix just suuuuuuuuucks.

SofaKing2000 · May 2006

Originally posted by Shayde

Originally posted by Spathotan

Very true Shayde, Blizzard & NCsoft = knows what the fuck is going on, end of story. What has happened also is, when SoE was "big-game" , Blizzard wasnt in the MMO business yet, and NCsoft really hadnt touched America, CoH wasnt even out yet I dont think? Anyways, you can also not only look at it from the pov that SoE ships unfinished products, but back at the launch of SWG, there were to few MMO's to compare it to, and compete with it. But nowadays, and since WoW and EQ2 have came out, the MMO market is flooded with tons of games, most are below average, and unfortunately swg has been engulfed by the below average wave.

Those that don't evolve.. DIE.

Every day an $OE employee wonders why they aren't NEAR #1. They've never had the mindset to look in a mirror. It's like the same people who used to argue that Radio was KING and TV would never catch on. "They don't WANT a game that works! They want 3 "combat upgrades" and the same old bugs they've grown attached to!"

You know.. when Bliz or NC Soft have a new push, and they say they're delaying it to "work out a few bugs".. you know they are actually working on a few bugs. $OE just says it so we don't flip out when there's a million bugs on the beta server. They'll fix 2 and push the rest and act all suprised. Hell.. last time Bliz had a bug in a publish, it took A DAY for them to fix it.

One day. Still can't sit in a chair in SWG and stay there.

The butt glides were one of my fav bugs in SWG. Nothing funnier than talking to someone in a Cantina or a house and then watching them sling shot outside.

I started a gambling event on this bug, we'd sit 2 peeps down and bet on who would "butt glide" first... fun times.

sorry to be off topic, but as far as bugs go, this one was my favorite.

Spathotan · May 2006

Originally posted by Shayde

Yes, but even if you like EQ2.. realize that it took a massive revamp to get it where it is today. Or was that two?
Another example of poor execution.
That.. and the CU of Matrix just suuuuuuuuucks.

Umm...they had 1 revamp while I was inactive, and the other one they had a few months ago wasnt really a full revamp, they just redid the classes from level 1-19, 20+ stayed exactly the same. And they didnt really change it, all they changed really was the noob island (which is a little better) and the names of the classes, aka got rid of the whole archtype thingy. So when you make your character you pick your class, end of story. You dont have to be a priest for 10 levels, then a cleric for 10, then finally a Templar/Inquisitor at 20.

**EDIT** MxO, oh God I wouldnt touch that game with a NGE fanbois finger.

Distopia · May 2006

Originally posted by Shayde

Originally posted by Spathotan

Very true Shayde, Blizzard & NCsoft = knows what the fuck is going on, end of story. What has happened also is, when SoE was "big-game" , Blizzard wasnt in the MMO business yet, and NCsoft really hadnt touched America, CoH wasnt even out yet I dont think? Anyways, you can also not only look at it from the pov that SoE ships unfinished products, but back at the launch of SWG, there were to few MMO's to compare it to, and compete with it. But nowadays, and since WoW and EQ2 have came out, the MMO market is flooded with tons of games, most are below average, and unfortunately swg has been engulfed by the below average wave.

Those that don't evolve.. DIE.

Every day an $OE employee wonders why they aren't NEAR #1. They've never had the mindset to look in a mirror. It's like the same people who used to argue that Radio was KING and TV would never catch on. "They don't WANT a game that works! They want 3 "combat upgrades" and the same old bugs they've grown attached to!"

You know.. when Bliz or NC Soft have a new push, and they say they're delaying it to "work out a few bugs".. you know they are actually working on a few bugs. $OE just says it so we don't flip out when there's a million bugs on the beta server. They'll fix 2 and push the rest and act all suprised. Hell.. last time Bliz had a bug in a publish, it took A DAY for them to fix it.

One day. Still can't sit in a chair in SWG and stay there.

The worst part of all this is , as of now the live game is so void of interesting activity . People flock to TC to get a taste of something "NEW"<----

, Doing one specific activity IE: PVping , BHing , Profession searching (seeing what they want to respec to ) Rather than looking deeply for Bugs , Exploits, in other words bug testing . Yeah there is a small community on TC who does do alot of testing . But what they find does usually tend to get fixed ( Not all sadly ) .

I just can't come to a conclusion EQ's ,EQ2's and Planetsides dev teams seem all in all respected by their customers . Things get rocky here and there but they have a good number of loyal fans . Their games for the most part run great ( EQ2 does have high system requirments) . But they are no where near as buggy as SWG's , not even in the same ballpark..

Is it in fact the system itself ? Or is it low quality development ? I don't believe it is intentional , That really would make no sense . Pre-cu was one of the buggiest games I have ever played in my life . CU it got a little better bug wise . But it was no where near the quality of EQ2 at its launch and it wasn't a smooth one . .

There have been numerous statements , About the code being 3rd party . Also i remember something about the source code written by the original developers (launch ) Being gone . Therefor making it almost impossible to code (maintain ) it as was . I really don't know what to think .

zipit · May 2006

Originally posted by Shayde

Those that don't evolve.. DIE.

Hell.. last time Bliz had a bug in a publish, it took A DAY for them to fix it.

One day. Still can't sit in a chair in SWG and stay there.

Ain't that the truth...QFE

Hotcell · May 2006

Because Blizzard at least communicates with its players better than SWG?

Not many lies that I know of...

Bugs get fixed sooner or later..

And err..... no massive changes if most of the players dislike it (a big one :P)

Rekrul · May 2006

Originally posted by Hotcell

Because Blizzard at least communicates with its players better than SWG?
Not many lies that I know of...
Bugs get fixed sooner or later..
And err..... no massive changes if most of the players dislike it (a big one :P)

Hahahaha. They are the same. They just have a much better PR department. Go read external comments, you'll see exactly the same complaints about the lack of communication. Once again, Why is Microsoft evil and Google good?

When things go wrong, Blizzard gives people a free day. (It's free for Blizzard, they don't lose much). When things go wrong, SOE is quiet, promises fake rewards, gives 2x xp and similar. This doesn't work, but it's the way they do it, because they are way too afraid to lose 1 day's subscriptions.

And lastly, SOE makes false promises, and some downright lies. That however, pisses people off. In many ways, SOE communicates way too much. All the proposals for enhancements, revamps, upgrades, plans, etc. are hurting them, since they know and players know that they will never complete or fulfil them.

Blizzard makes just as many blunders. But since they don't advertise everything for 6 months and then scrap it, nobody knows about it. Out of sight, out of mind.

Spathotan · May 2006

Originally posted by Rekrul

Originally posted by Hotcell

Because Blizzard at least communicates with its players better than SWG?
Not many lies that I know of...
Bugs get fixed sooner or later..
And err..... no massive changes if most of the players dislike it (a big one :P)

Hahahaha. They are the same. They just have a much better PR department. Go read external comments, you'll see exactly the same complaints about the lack of communication. Once again, Why is Microsoft evil and Google good?

When things go wrong, Blizzard gives people a free day. (It's free for Blizzard, they don't lose much). When things go wrong, SOE is quiet, promises fake rewards, gives 2x xp and similar. This doesn't work, but it's the way they do it, because they are way too afraid to lose 1 day's subscriptions.

And lastly, SOE makes false promises, and some downright lies. That however, pisses people off. In many ways, SOE communicates way too much. All the proposals for enhancements, revamps, upgrades, plans, etc. are hurting them, since they know and players know that they will never complete or fulfil them.

Blizzard makes just as many blunders. But since they don't advertise everything for 6 months and then scrap it, nobody knows about it. Out of sight, out of mind.

Aww come on man dont be shy, you know you adore those awesome rewards, like a plant, or a painting.

DuraheLL · May 2006

Blizzard successfully made the best simple-MMORPG to date.

VixenHeart · May 2006

Originally posted by DuraheLL

Blizzard successfully made the best simple-MMORPG to date.

Blizzard took what worked and spit shinned it to death.

Take what works, make it better and throw in whatever people cry for...

Echobe · May 2006

WoW brought back the original EQ experience with better graphics, plus they lowered the difficulty a bit and added viable PvP.

All in all, WoW is a very simple game. I played it for awhile, got to 60, made it to Legionarre in PvP and raided a few places...after that. It just got so boring because I noticed that raiding and PvPing, perhaps some crafting is ALL there is to do once you max level. Exploring is very easy and not very time consuming, thought they do give you XP for discovering new locations which is a good idea.

WoW is good for what it is, a simple game. The problem with MMO's coming out now though are several. Now that WoW is, should I say, lowered the bar in some areas and slightly raised it in others, you're gonna see many other WoW wannabe's because they want to rake in some of that money, which unfortunately is detrimental to the genre as a whole.

Now we got tons and tons of MMO's coming out of the woodwork. Here's an example. Remember when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were at their peak in popularity? What happened? You had tons of morons coming up with tons simular concepts to get a piece of the action.

Quanity does not equal quality, when often times the more quanity you have the less creativity you have. Kinda like mainstream music nowadays...

VixenHeart · May 2006

Everybody wants to suck the nipples dry from the poor cashcow. Like Echobe said, "Quanity does not equal quality"

Rekrul · May 2006

Originally posted by Spathotan

When things go wrong, Blizzard gives people a free day. (It's free for Blizzard, they don't lose much). When things go wrong, SOE is quiet, promises fake rewards, gives 2x xp and similar. This doesn't work, but it's the way they do it, because they are way too afraid to lose 1 day's subscriptions.

Aww come on man dont be shy, you know you adore those awesome rewards, like a plant, or a painting.

Those are ok.

I meant the CH bracelet in TooW expansion.
Or that pearls were bugged, and couldn't drop premiums due to levels.
Or Sher'kar (how long did it take for people to get into that instance?)
Or everything similar.

The vet rewards are pointless. They don't change anyones opinion..

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