Blizzards New MMO

[Trippy]

What is the timetable for a 2nd Blizzard MMO? 2011? 2012? 

Well...... Jeffrey Kaplan Leaves WoW for New MMO

http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=16155.0

[WindupAtheist]

WTB Rock 'N' Roll Racing Online.

[CharlieMopps]

World of Starcraft FPS MMO = They make more money than god.

Untill they make it a Gear based. Watch, they will try.

mmm... I'm thinking like EVE. But, you know... but with ground and stuff. If their smart they can pull it off.

[Mrbloodworth]

World of Starcraft FPS MMO = They make more money than god.

Untill they make it a Gear based. Watch, they will try.

mmm... I'm thinking like EVE. But, you know... but with ground and stuff. If their smart they can pull it off.

Negative. Eve is little more than typical MMO combat, target hit ability. Far cry from a FPS, and Gear based (as in +200 to head shot) does not compute.

[Felgercarb]

The only sure fire thing that does not impinge on current userbase at all is WoW console...put that in your mouse and smoke it.

[Venkman]

WoW2 right now would be stupid. They have no reason to even consider one. The main reasons AC2 and EQ2 were considered good ideas is because their first games were muddled messes of legacy code where expanding upon them took as much effort as making a new MMO anyway. Then they added other reasons later. And so far those are the only examples of sequels in this genre aside from ATiTD. NONE of this is something Pardo would use as examples of why to make a sequel for WoW.

So with the upcoming release of both D3 and SC2 we can probably safely conclude that these IP's will not be used for the new MMO.

Err, wuh? I've been assuming the next MMO would be Starcraft, and that being based on them launching SC2. SC2 is an interesting case because the biggest market for it wants little more than a new paint job. But for the rest of the world where SC1 is merely played but no longer on the tip of everyone's tongue, there's no real business reason to do a sequel this far after the first unless you have plans to exploit that IP again down the road.

The same could be said of Diablo III.

So to me it's not a question of if these IPs will become MMO. It's more a question of which one comes out as an MMO first.

[CharlieMopps]

If its equipment based, but that equipment has REAL utility... as in Nigh vision goggles... or Sure I can pick up the 30lb Gatling gun, but my crosshairs swing all over the place and its really hard to aim because its so heavy... until I get the bionic arm implant. Spy equipment, vehicles, base improvements. I didn't mean combat like eve. I meant items like eve... It, without a doubt would have to be FPS. Like a version of Neocron without all the suck.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Do I have to come into every thread to remind people that blizzard has explicitly stated their next MMO would not be using be set in any existing blizzard game universe?

Jesus you people make me sound like a fanboy here but I didn't even go to blizzcon last year but that was one of their bigger tidbits of info.  So can we please stop useless arguments?

Blizzard is making diablo3 and starcraft2, both of which will have online capability, NO they don't count those as mmo's(whether you do or not) and yes there is ALSO an mmo coming out, in a new universe.

The end.

[Draegan]

I had thought that was only speculation, but I did remember hearing that.

[March]

If its equipment based, but that equipment has REAL utility... as in Nigh vision goggles... or Sure I can pick up the 30lb Gatling gun, but my crosshairs swing all over the place and its really hard to aim because its so heavy... until I get the bionic arm implant. Spy equipment, vehicles, base improvements. I didn't mean combat like eve. I meant items like eve... It, without a doubt would have to be FPS. Like a version of Neocron without all the suck.

I'd bet other people's money that it will be some sort of Future MMO with vehicles/space-craft as the main focus.

Human bi-ped activities plus hop in your ship for fabulous space-fun.

Levels/Skills for you the player with a customizable vehicle as your repository for loot (not much different than Armor/Weapons, really)... the real question is what technology leaps will they make, and what skill/level system will they steal.

I see the near instantaneous proliferation of vehicle based quests/dailies/PvP in WoTLK as a small scale POC for their new MMO.

I too have a vague recollection that Bliz has said that the MMO will be based on a completely different IP (which makes better business sense, as it creates another franchise to mine).

edit: for clarity

[Ingmar]

So basically you think Blizzard is going to make Auto Assault?

[CharlieMopps]

Do I have to come into every thread to remind people that blizzard has explicitly stated their next MMO would not be using be set in any existing blizzard game universe?

Jesus you people make me sound like a fanboy here but I didn't even go to blizzcon last year but that was one of their bigger tidbits of info.  So can we please stop useless arguments?

Blizzard is making diablo3 and starcraft2, both of which will have online capability, NO they don't count those as mmo's(whether you do or not) and yes there is ALSO an mmo coming out, in a new universe.

The end.

You're naive if believe anything spouted off at a trade show.
The end.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Because blizzard has constantly lied and misled us in the past?

oh, right...they haven't.

Yes they are as fallable as everyone else but literally saying "I choose to disbelieve what the people making the game say...Diaoblo online forever!!!1!!1!" is beyond ignorant.

[Simond]

EVE Online Done Right or Planetside Done Right, please.


...hell, both of them in the same game, please.

[Draegan]

...hell, both of them in the same game, please.

That would be very very very hard to do.  You either have to have everyone on the same server or have the universe very very small.

[chargerrich]

Well I read in the past something to the effect that the IP would be new and that it would not be WoW 2 but I have never seen an official statement (and rarely go to the official site) so I believe that is speculation until I see a credible quote.

That being said, what would we want in a new IP MMO? I see a lot of love for an FPS, but with the exception of EVE, non high fantasy MMOs generally crash and burn. However if anyone can make an FPS or Post Apocolyptic "Mad Max" MMO work it is Blizzard.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Well I read in the past something to the effect that the IP would be new and that it would not be WoW 2 but I have never seen an official statement (and rarely go to the official site) so I believe that is speculation until I see a credible quote.

That being said, what would we want in a new IP MMO? I see a lot of love for an FPS, but with the exception of EVE, non high fantasy MMOs generally crash and burn. However if anyone can make an FPS or Post Apocolyptic "Mad Max" MMO work it is Blizzard.

Discworld MMO

[Musashi]

WTB Rock 'N' Roll Racing Online.

QFMFT

Other than that, although I know I clicked on this thread to revel in speculation just like the rest of you, here's your best bet.

Heads:  World of Starcraft
Tails:  World of Diablo

Now, just flip a coin and you have a fifty percent chance of knowing more than anyone else alive outside of Blizz HQ/insiders until about a year before it's released.

/thread

[Soln]

whatever it is it won't be an IP they don't control 100%.  And that means ownership and the ability to change it.   So yeah -- Diablo or SC.

[Jack9]

http://tobolds.blogspot.com/2009/02/blizzards-next-mmo-will-be-all-about.html (tobold's talk)
http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/07/21/the-many-mmos-of-blizzard/  (Find "existing")
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3171288
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2008/10/17/blizzard-our-next-mmo-won-t-be-wow2/1  (rumor started last blizzcon)
http://www.gamingsteve.com/archives/2007/12/blizzard-confirms-new-mmorpg-and-i-have-details.php (very nice snapshot of the new MMO's conceptualization timeline, if accurate. plenty of time to settle on a genre)
http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/07/07/blizzard-on-diablo-mmo-hopes-new-franchises-and-more/ (notice at the end he says he would roll people off current projects for work on new IP)

Think what you like, ultimately it's not that important or surprising wherever Blizzard goes with it.

[patience]

Even without Lakov_Sanite pointing out Blizzard's prior stance I would've said they would build an entirely new IP around the next MMO.

The reason it can't be starcraft is their decision to expand the game to be divided into three parts with solid storylines focused on each race and new multiplayer features for the competitive scene.
WoW has issues pushing forward the story of warcraft but not doing it in a way that is satisfactory to long time fans. Blizzard will be less inclined to dick around like that with another established IP.

What also makes me feel it will be a new IP is how some MMOs IP was strictly designed with the technology in mind. By paying attention to the strengths and short comings of programming practices and affordable hardware Blizzard can create an interesting world that doesn't feel like it is being patched up like Gothic architecture.

Out of all the possible types of worlds the IP can be I think BLizzard will go for a modern fantasy (meaning the real world with demons, angels and other fantasy trappings to spice it up) or high fantasy-science fiction (star wars-esque).

Besides the IP you have to wonder what type of system Blizzard will use. Whatever it is it will share very few mechanics from WoW.

[Merusk]

I'd thought back around the last Blizzcon they mentioned it was going to be a totally new and unique IP to avoid the expectations of their previous games forcing design decisions.  Things like "you must have this class" and "zomg shaman don't have bloodrage, wtf!?" or "Wtf why is there no cow level?"

[ashrik]

For whatever reason, we have this (possibly false) dichotomy between MMOs like World of Warcraft and this newish breed of "hardcore" FFAPVP, skill-based, full loot, MMOFPS like Darkfall, Mortal Online, Fallen Earth, and Earthrise.

If they really are looking into going a different direction than they did with WoW, and there's any truth to this new breed being the polar opposite; all these half-baked, semi-indie, poorly-funded studios should be shitting their collective pants in the years to come.

I wonder how that would turn out, and if Blizzard would follow their lead. There's nothing about a skill-based system that says it has to be full loot. Just as there's nothing about a MMOFPS that says it needs to be FFAPVP, or anything even resembling that. hmmm.

[ashrik]

On the other hand we have games like T.E.R.A. which, while apparently remaining Diku-based, does combat more akin to a brawler in an instance-free world (their claim).

So if I had to pick the other types of MMO combat that are different from the WoW-flavor, it'd be FPS (Darkfall, MO, Planetside), Brawler (T.E.R.A., Blade & Soul?), or something similar to EVE Online.

[Soln]

I'd thought back around the last Blizzcon they mentioned it was going to be a totally new and unique IP to avoid the expectations of their previous games forcing design decisions.  Things like "you must have this class" and "zomg shaman don't have bloodrage, wtf!?" or "Wtf why is there no cow level?"

ya I remember that too, now that you mention it.  Hm.

[Venkman]

Yea, I remember that. Probably because someone here mentioned having heard it at Blizzcon And while I don't think Blizzard would lie about something like this, they are no more immune to changing their mind than anyone else.

As such, I stand by what I've always guessed. It's just too stupidly easy to expand either of their established IP (relatively-dormant as they are) than create yet a new one.

Unless the assumption about "new" is wrong? What if it's not a new IP, but rather just new-to-Blizzard?

Wishful thinking, but I'd move to Irvine if it would get me into a CoD MMO beta 

[Sparky]

EVE Online Done Right or Planetside Done Right, please.


...hell, both of them in the same game, please.

Neither would be mass market at all.  The fundamentals just aren't appealing to the ding-grats millions done right or no.

[Jobu]

Blizzard had headhunters sometime last year or two looking for positions for a "new IP" MMO project, also they had similar job postings in the same time frame. I don't know whether they were splitting hairs with the new IP being new to the MMO genre, or completely new to Blizzard but it was out there.

[Simond]

EVE Online Done Right or Planetside Done Right, please.


...hell, both of them in the same game, please.

Neither would be mass market at all.  The fundamentals just aren't appealing to the ding-grats millions done right or no.

Everquest wasn't mass-market either.

[trias_e]

EVE Online Done Right or Planetside Done Right, please.


...hell, both of them in the same game, please.

This idea might just be the holy grail of MMOs for me.  Directly lift Eve's politics, economy, and non catass skill development, twitch first person gameplay, and perhaps Guild Wars style ability tweaking/planning (NOT FUCKING GRINDING FOR ABILITIES. FUCK YOU GUILD WARS).   

Too bad it's probably totally technically unfeasible to be able to cope with tons of people in an open world and twitch gameplay.  That said, I remember Planetside doing surprisingly well lag-wise with 100 people in the same area.

[Zzulo]

Planetside did well with more than 200 in one area, with battles of 600+ reported over a continent.

[Venkman]

PS is called an MMOFPS, but didn't really succeed as one because it wasn't a very good FPS. Definitely a fun game, and I loved it (I loved and still miss my Reaver). But "FPS" nowadays starts with the CoD series, and anything less than that is, well, less.

I also liked the Battle Rank/Skills system, and the lightweight loot system. And yea, battles with more than 200 were common early on, and effective. And this wasn't just 200 largely-cloned-aesthetic avatars. It was humans, ground vehicles, air vehicles, turrets, deployables, and persistent loot drops on death. And it performed mostly freakin' awesome in beta, far better than SB and DAoC did for awhile after launch.

PS is the unsung hero of what could be done, but it's lack of big success keeps it from being referenced the way it should be. And I blame that damnable monthly fee. $4.99 at launch woulda done it. Saying PS offered the same amount and type of game as the other $14.99 game of EQ1 was just wrong.

[Azazel]

It won't be a FPS.

Twitch gameplay doesn't translate to casual-friendly and broadly-popular. Especially with women. Not in the sub numbers Blizzard will now be looking for.

[UnSub]

Thinking back, I really should have said Third Person Shooter, not FPS. You need to be able to see your avatar in a MMO (or that's a big genre convention anyway).

As for not attracting women: that's MMOs in general before Blizzard came along. They set the design right so that even novice gamers (which include women who didn't get into MMOs previously) can pick it up and play solo / duo and you're set.

I don't think it will be Diablo just for the fact that would be another fantasy MMO in a market that is saturated with them. A MMO set in a different genre would be a better idea (also leaves WoW more alone) but the issue is which genre? If it is space sci-fi, they may as well go with StarCraft. Other settings? Dark modern? Steampunk? Horror (it wouldn't be)? WWII (nope)? Superheroes (heh - if Marvel gives Vivendi back the rights to Marvel Universe Online...)?

If we take for granted that Blizzard polishes up what others do and make it shine, I think they could do the equivalent of making Tabula Rasa engaging for their next game. A lot of MMOs are heading towards being more action-orientated and twitchy. I don't see why Blizzard would try to buck this trend. They could try to make an MMORTS that gets mass market acceptance, but that'd be a very long shot.

[stu]

What is the timetable for a 2nd Blizzard MMO? 2011? 2012?

OMG THE MAYAN CALENDAR ENDS IN 2012!!! IT MUST BE DIABLOMMO. WE ARE THE MMO!!!!!!!!1!!!