Blizzards next MMO is........

[Mrbloodworth]

C'mon of course the gameplay is gonig to be the same.  That's what Blizzard does, take a tired concept and polish it up.  Sci-fi MMO game play? Whaddav they got to start with?

Starcraft Ghost.










 

[schild]

Starcraft Ghost played like a crappier Tomb Raider.

[lamaros]

It'll be a Starcraft MMO and they'll steal from UO and SWG, while keeping the core successes from WoW.

Which means it might be the first decent MMO. I never had hopes from WoW from the first news but I have hopes for this.

Then again, hope springs eternal...

[Typhon]

I think it's World of Diablo.  While it will be very Diablo-like, they will borrow heavily from the elements of WoW that work.  They will use it as a tech PoC to see what the state of the net is, and in what mode they can truly support FPS-type combat, but it will end up being turn-based and highly instanced.

I think they won't risk the World of Starcraft franchise until someone else launches a successful MMO game that has FPS combat (not turn-based FPS-like combat).  They will then try to copy/steal the developers of that other game, polish the experience, and voila, World of Starcraft.

[geldonyetich2]

A Starcraft MMO seems like really easy guess.  Blizzard's primarily been focused on Warcraft (which they already have an MMO), Starcraft, and Diablo.  (Unless you want to go really far back... Blackthorn MMOG?)

You know, a Diablo MMORPG seems very possible.

[LK]

Planetside isn't an FPS MMO?

[schild]

http://www.f13.net/index.php?itemid=582

Edit: Yes, I still consider it a joke newspost.

[Venkman]

I don't see how this could be anything but Starcraft MMO. But I also don't see how this can do anything but cannabalize WoW players. Maybe that's why they only really started this year. I could see them projecting the growth curve of WoW over the next five years and not seeing much more than 10mil accounts peaking soon and then doing nothing but declining thereafter. So give it another 4.5 years and it might not be a bad thing to cannabalize WoW. They just do a SC MMO while also supporting WoW in the way SOE continues to support, but not exclusively focus on anymore, EQ1.

Diablo just isn't a strong enough brand to justify a similar level of investment. They haven't done anything else with that brand in forever, while Starcraft continues to be huge.

There's also some that think SC MMO makes sense mostly because of that Korean audience. Maybe right now it does. But five years from now as they've already evolved slightly differently than the West? Not sure about that.

[UnSub]

Starcraft Online is the obvious choice.

Second choice is Blizzard coming up with a new IP. Diablo Online is too close to WoW in terms of concept and nothing else they've done would be worth revisiting from an IP recognition point-of-view.

If I were to set up a MMO tomorrow, the IP I see the gap for would be either modern dark world or dimension hopping (where you could have your cake and eat it too).

[Ragnoros]

We already knew they were working on an unannounced MMO that isn't WoW related, didn't someone leak the code name or something and speculation ran wild like months ago?

Yes, I believe it was Hydra. SC2 was Medusa.

C'mon of course the gameplay is gonig to be the same.  That's what Blizzard does, take a tired concept and polish it up.  Sci-fi MMO game play? Whaddav they got to start with?

Tabula Rasa

[Venkman]

Hehe, it wouldn't happen, but I'd love to see an MMOFPS with the Starcraft theme, with vehicles, for low-spec machines.

[Soln]

So more Elves then?  Great.   

[geldonyetich2]

"We lied! It's World of Warcraft II!"

[Azazel]

World of Burnout!

[Teleku]

I'm pretty sure it wont be Diablo MMO because not only is that too similar to world of warcraft, they have already used a ton of the lore (class's/skills/etc) from Diablo in WoW.  WoW IS your Diablo MMO.

Unless of course they make it a sort of Diablo 3, with MMO elements built into it in a more heavy way (like Hellgate: London, only more so).  The game play would have to be just like Diablo though, nothing like Diku, otherwise, see above.

So I think Starcraft is a fair bet.

[geldonyetich2]

Another good data point of conjecture (how's that for self-contradictory statements) is that the announcement of a Starcraft MMO would coincide nicely with the release of Starcraft 2.

[WindupAtheist]

Rock n' Roll racing online.

Fuck yes.

[Reg]

Whatever it is, I don't see it being an FPS. Those require too much skill and decent reflexes. Blizzard wants another 10 million sub game.

[Typhon]

[...]Unless of course they make it a sort of Diablo 3, with MMO elements built into it in a more heavy way (like Hellgate: London, only more so).  The game play would have to be just like Diablo though, nothing like Diku, otherwise, see above.[...]

This is what I think they are working on.  I see them as having a philosophy similar to Ninentendo - they only want to release games that work very well within the technical and system capabilities of their clients game machines and network.  I'd say that the console market proves their is a large action-heavy-oriented audience out there, and that they can be hooked-and-retained with some MMO elements (like persistence).  It's also a decent tech exercise to see how close they can get to real-time combat.

I think they'd like to do a Starcraft MMO, and I think it makes to most sense that a Starcraft MMO have FPS combat (I'd love to see a RTS-FPS fusion game similar to Strife).  I think Blizzard's estimation is that 1) an insufficient number of consumers have a network sufficient to the task of an FPSMMO 2) there isn't a game that successfully combines FPS + MMO-style persistence (Planetside was a near-miss, it's level of success based more on people liking FPS then because the game got all the ingredients of a FPSMMO right).

[Simond]

Starcraft MMO with FPS combat, skill based character system which is a hybrid of UO/SWG & EVE (set skills passively to train, actively using a skill also gets skill gain), EVE's crafting & territory-holding and X-Wing vs Tie Fighter space combat for fighters/EVE for big ships.

And a pony.

[Slayerik]

Whatever it is, I don't see it being an FPS. Those require too much skill and decent reflexes. Blizzard wants another 10 million sub game.

Yeah, because noone plays FPS games!


I know, I know. Bring on the 'Counterstrike players won't pay subs!' riggamarole!

Thinking more about it, that direction might help to not butcher their current WoW sub numbers as much, or something.

[UnSub]

How's this for a wacky prediction:

Blizzard's next MMO will not only have a strong FPS element, it will also have RMT! Players can literally empty their wallets into the coffers of Blizzard! 

[Draegan]

How about EVE + Easy Mode + Masters of Orion?

[cmlancas]

They bought the licenses from Wish and Darkfall, and made it Wishfall.

[Ratman_tf]

Another good data point of conjecture (how's that for self-contradictory statements) is that the announcement of a Starcraft MMO would coincide nicely with the release of Starcraft 2.

No shit. They could totally go Starcraft II >>> Starcraft Universe like they did with Warcraft III >>> World of Warcraft.

Wait, didn't somebody say that in this thread already? My coffee hasn't kicked in yet.

*edit*

Strange pre-coffee thoughts: What if they tie Starcraft II and Starcraft Universe together somehow? 

[Draegan]

It's been pointed out already, however I think the would announce a SC MMO at the time of the SC2 expansion release.

[Trouble]

That puts the MMO release sometime in 2011?

[Merusk]

That puts the MMO release sometime in 2011?

Sounds about right given their development schedules.

[Vinadil]

As for cannibilization, they could always start their own "Blizzard Pass" type deal.  I bet given the option many of the WoW subs would add another $10/month to play both games.

[UnSub]

Blizzard / Vivendi don't give a damn if the new Blizzard MMO canniblises subs from WoW. If 50% of the player base quit WoW and came to the new MMO, they'd still be raking in more cash over 2 MMOs than most companies can do over 1.

Plus if 4 million people start out playing Blizz's new MMO, they'd be in a good position to top WoW in the sub numbers department at some point. Blizz would only care if people left WoW and didn't pick up the new game.

[Trippy]

Actually Blizzard would almost certainly prefer it if their new game cannibalizes WoW since whatever deals they work out with the Asian operators will be far more lucrative for Blizzard than the ones they have in place now for WoW.

Edit: deals plural

[Xanthippe]

I don't care what it is, but I sure hope it has a Horadric Cube.  That is one of the coolest things ever.  I was so hoping that jewelcrafting in WoW was going to involve a Horadric Cube, and so disappointed that it doesn't.

I want to play Diablo just to find, stash and combine gems.   Fun fun fun.  Why is it so fun?  I don't know, but it just is!

[geldonyetich2]

The Augumatrix in Hellgate should have been a Horadric Cube...

Not sure why I brought that up, but there it is.

[Ironwood]

I don't care what it is, but I sure hope it has a Horadric Cube.  That is one of the coolest things ever.  I was so hoping that jewelcrafting in WoW was going to involve a Horadric Cube, and so disappointed that it doesn't.

I want to play Diablo just to find, stash and combine gems.   Fun fun fun.  Why is it so fun?  I don't know, but it just is!

Socketing in WoW was a totally wasted opportunity.

Totally.

[CharlieMopps]

Lets not forget... They are now partnered with Atari... They could pull a title out of their hat to. Who owns the Neverwinter Nights IP? Atari or Bioware?