Blizzard announces work on a new MMO

[Tannhauser]

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/53406

With the announcement of D3 I wonder what It'll be.

1.  Universe of Starcraft?  Most likely to me.
2.  New IP? 

[Ratman_tf]

3. Profit!

[K9]

3. Profit!

This one

[Simond]

From the GDC earlier this year(although not from the most trustworthy source ):

February 25th, 2008 by Mike

This year at GDC Blizzard dropped some more hints that indeed a Starcraft MMO could be on the way. At the "Future of MMOs" talk, President of Blizzard, Rob Pardo, had this to say when asked "Can sci-fi be as successful as fantasy in the MMO space?"

Provided by WanderingGoblin.com

Kim stated that IPs that are easy to identify, like Star Trek or Star Wars, make this problem disappear. Players know what to expect in a Star Wars universe, and it could be successful. Looking sidelong at Rob Pardo, he indicated that a Starcraft MMO, for example, would be immediately understood by players and, "I'd probably play that instead of WoW." (both the panelists and the audience laughed at this exchange.)

Rob Pardo had a tinge of palpable disdain for the question. He reminded everyone that in the 1970s, people thought sci-fi couldn't be successful on TV or in the movies. "Then a little film called Star Wars came along and it revolutionized everything." According to Pardo, a big, successful sci-fi MMO simply hasn't been seen yet. You just have to have the right product, and it could easily be just as succesful as WoW.

I have to be frank in saying that three WanderingGoblin.com staffers attended this panel discussion, and Pardo's comments had the three of us raising our eyebrows and looking sidelong at one another. It wasn't simply the answer he gave, one that was very strongly in support of the idea of a big sci-fi MMO. It was the tone he took when answering it. While we can't say that Pardo was intending to drop a hint about Blizzard's unannounced, in-the-works MMO, it is obvious that Blizzard thinks that a sci-fi MMO like Starcraft could be a big success.

[Speedbrusher]

I find the idea of a StarCraft MMO sort of interesting, in a way that it'll be the first MMO I know of, that would let you play a non-humanoid race (ie. Zerg) as a character (yes yes, blatantly disregarding LOTRO's monster play and whatever abnormalities you can cook up in SL)

...unless Blizzard plans to reduce the factions to Terran vs Protoss and keep the Zerg as pve encounters? 

[Tarami]

Lore-wise it would be odd if you could play Zerg as they aren't individually sentient like Protoss or Terran are. But then again, when was the last time lore stopped Blizzard from...

3. Profit!

...?

[eldaec]

If blizzard did it, then at least people working on future mmogs would accept that (at least) 3 is the correct number of realms.

[Oban]

Wouldn't it be six?

Two human factions.
Two Protoss factions.
Two Zerg factions.

[Speedbrusher]

Wouldn't it be six?

Two human factions.
Two Protoss factions.
Two Zerg factions.

Good point. Each faction would have an identical faction as pve enemies, which fits with the lore.

[Ratman_tf]

Lore-wise it would be odd if you could play Zerg as they aren't individually sentient like Protoss or Terran are. But then again, when was the last time lore stopped Blizzard from...

3. Profit!

...?

Shit. Kerrigan tinikering with the Zerg strains is all the lore you need to justify the Zerg as a playable race.

[Tarami]

Shit. Kerrigan tinikering with the Zerg strains is all the lore you need to justify the Zerg as a playable race.

I don't think it is, but for Blizzard it is.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Man, I had arguments when BC came out about lore and I'll have them now by gum.

When an author or creator changes what has already been written to contradict their previous statements, this IS messing with the lore.

When an author or creator wishes to add to the current story by enacting change  to the subject matter this is NOT messing with the lore.

I swear to god, some of you nerds out there would have it so stories never change and anything you liked would always remain. I get it, you missed richard dean anderson on stargate but it's life and things change.

[tazelbain]

Blizzard will wait until WAR is released before they say anything about their new MMO.

[Teleku]

Probably announced at next years WWI (or the year after it)  .

[AcidCat]

They could always make it another two faction setup, with the Zerg being the main NPC enemy for both - this seems the most likely course to me.

[cevik]

Protoss count as space elves right?

[UnSub]

If it's Starcraft, I could see six races, each with their own objectives.

But that is IF it is Starcraft. Maybe Blizzard will announce a new Star Wars MMO title. That'd be ... something.

[Merusk]

Blizzard will wait until WAR is released before they say anything about their new MMO.

Blizzard will wait until next year's WWI or Blizzcon or whatever to do anything at all with a big announcement like this.  So yeah, after WAR, but not for a year at least.. possibly longer.

[Tarami]

Man, I had arguments when BC came out about lore and I'll have them now by gum.

When an author or creator changes what has already been written to contradict their previous statements, this IS messing with the lore.

When an author or creator wishes to add to the current story by enacting change  to the subject matter this is NOT messing with the lore.

I swear to god, some of you nerds out there would have it so stories never change and anything you liked would always remain. I get it, you missed richard dean anderson on stargate but it's life and things change.

What kind of irrelevant assault is that? I don't think anyone said that they can't add at all to the lore. However, Blizzard aren't exactly known in recent years to be mindful of what has come before, to the point of complete negligence.

[photek]

Sweet. WoW 2 is coming.

[Montague]

I for one welcome our new Blizzard overlords.

[photek]

I for one welcome our new Blizzard overlords.

Didn't we all do that years back ?

[schild]

Sweet. WoW 2 is coming.

I can not fathom them releasing WoW 2 until the subscriber base drops to like 3M or less.

[photek]

Sweet. WoW 2 is coming.

I can not fathom them releasing WoW 2 until the subscriber base drops to like 3M or less.

Me neither, and see, thats why it makes perfect sense. Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, Warhammer and tons of MMO's, WoW will drop during these periods and then it is the perfect timing to release a new MMO.

[schild]

Theoretically. But I don't see Diablo or SC2 making a sizable dent in WoW subs.

[CharlieMopps]

The reason Sci-Fi mmos fail is pretty simple. Sci-Fi mmos have guns... you can't have guns without having an FPS interface. FPS interfaces are notoriously easy to hack. Any MMO that has an exploitable targeting system is going to fail almost instantly. At least with a standard FPS game, if some dude shows up with his exploit, you can switch servers. Not so in an mmo.

SciFi MMO without FPS = FAIL (see Tabula Rasa, Anarchy Online, etc...)
SciFi MMO with Exploitable targeting system = Fail (see every FPS game on the market right now)

Until they resolve this very basic roadblock, no MMO set in a time period past the age of gunpowder will ever be successful.
If they ever do resolve this problem, a Battlefield 2142 type MMO would be wildly successful imo.

[Oban]

Until they resolve this very basic roadblock, no MMO set in a time period past the age of gunpowder will ever be successful.

Hunters in WoW are the most played class, yes?

[Ratman_tf]

Sci-Fi mmos have guns... you can't have guns without having an FPS interface.

It wasn't my issue with the past crop of sci-fi MMORPGs.

[Hutch]

Until they resolve this very basic roadblock, no MMO set in a time period past the age of gunpowder will ever be successful.

Hunters in WoW are the most played class, yes?

Hunters in WoW don't have FPS targeting.

[Oban]

you can't have guns without having an FPS interface.

[Simond]

Protoss count as space elves right?

Protoss = Draenei, Zerg = Silithid, Xel'Naga = Titans. 

[Lakov_Sanite]

It's not going to be wow, they'll milk it for nother two expansions at LEAST. It won't be diablo Read: too close to wow in general fantasy theme. I'm calling it right now, lost vikings the mmo.

[Nerf]

I think the zerg could be done extremely well if instead of playing a single sentient being, your avatar is a small horde.

It makes sense if they aren't singularly sentient that your avatar would be a group, maybe as you level your horde could get bigger and bigger, so a level 40 zerg player might control 5 or 6 zerglings, whereas a level 80 would control 10 or 12.

It'd be interesting, especiallly with collission detection.

The only problem I see is that your effectiveness would decrease with HP, so balance could be messy.

[Jayce]

They had a similar problem with an undead race in Warcraft.  So in the 3.5th Warcraft RTS they introduced sentient undead, right before releasing the lore for their new MMOG, with playable undead.

Now, there's going to be a new Starcraft RTS with new lore right before they release the lore for their new MMOG, with playable Zerg.

Connect the dots?

[Draegan]

They had a similar problem with an undead race in Warcraft.  So in the 3.5th Warcraft RTS they introduced sentient undead, right before releasing the lore for their new MMOG, with playable undead.

Now, there's going to be a new Starcraft RTS with new lore right before they release the lore for their new MMOG, with playable Zerg.

Connect the dots?

So you're saying that WOW 2 will be an MMORTS?