Blizzard Will Have a New IP

[Magister Lajciak]

The new MMO Blizzard is developing will be based on a new franchise: http://www.wowblues.com/us/blizzard-going-...6903519279.html

 

I am not really interested in MMOs, but who knows, the franchise might be translated to other non-MMO games eventually.

 

by Zarhym | 12/05/2009 21:55:07

 

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Q u o t e:

So it's looking more and more like blizzard is spreading out achievements and making changes to the game so that achievements/goals take longer.

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It's difficult to believe you'd have this view if you had played extensively at level 60. The content has become nothing but more accessible over the years for a wider range of players.

 

 

 

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Q u o t e:

Children's Week was a classic example of this followed by making WG quests weekly.

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I don't see how either of these aspects act as examples for your claim. Children's Week is an optional, fun holiday event. Now, if you want a flying mount that's faster than what the overwhelming majority of players have, sure, you might have to remain vigilant and committed to the holiday achievements. Even at that, we're talking mere hours of commitment for most each holiday.

 

With regard to Wintergrasp dailies, there are a couple of reasons why we're implementing this on the 3.1.2 test realms: 1) Lake Wintergrasp is seeing an overabundance of players resulting in poor realm performance during peak play times; and 2) doing Lake Wintergrasp once or twice a day to get all of the dailies done is becoming a more convenient, efficient way of obtaining honor than signing up for battlegrounds. The change to make quests there weekly is being implemented in the hopes it will better stagger the participation in that zone throughout the week, as there are no quick or easy solutions to address realm instability that is due simply to having far too many people in the same zone at the same time; and we hope to see more players queuing up for battlegrounds. We're working on other ways of improving battleground participation as well right now.

 

 

 

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Q u o t e:

Rumor is they will not be making any more expansions for WoW.

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Rumors are fascinating, given that they don't need a shred of evidence in support of their basis to spread like a wild fire. In fact, in the past we've provided nothing but evidence -- vague though it may be -- that would contradict such a rumor.

 

 

 

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Q u o t e:

I've heard that they are focusing on other projects. If this is true you can expect more of this, and less customer service/content. At this point they can just sit back and add some new arena/pvp gear every4-6 months and that's it.

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This a common misconception. Such a misconception requires nothing but assumptions and misinformation to hold water. We have completely independent art and development teams for each project on which Blizzard Entertainment is working. Sure, people switch positions and may move to other projects from time to time. This is common practice in any company, whether or not the company develops games. But if a position is vacated, it is filled. You may have seen earlier this year that Jeff Kaplan, former game director for World of Warcraft, announced he would be leaving his position to begin work on the new, unannounced MMO. Tom Chilton stepped up to fill his role on the World of Warcraft development team. We're never short on talent and our teams are constantly growing. There's absolutely no reason or evidence to support the theory that we've shifted focus away from the Warcraft franchise. I'm surrounded by employees in this building working hard every day that can attest to this, were they not too busy working on a prioritized list of new content for this game to speak directly.

 

 

 

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Q u o t e:

People are saying that there is another MMO in the works at Blizzard. Seriously, if there was, they would be advertising it already.

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Games take years to develop from concept to release. Diablo III was in the works for years before being announced. StarCraft II was announced two years ago and isn't even in Beta yet.

 

We have nothing to advertise for the new MMO because it's a shell of a game thus far. We've already stated it'll be a brand new franchise, which means the lore, art, and game play are being developed entirely from scratch. It's an overwhelming process, but a process through which we excel. Our track record supports this.

 

 

 

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Q u o t e:

Remember Blizzard said they would be releasing SC2 last Christmas about a month after WotLK. Now there is not even a date for SC2. If they can go from pre-orders saying its coming out, to not even having a release date on it, it kinda makes u wonder if that wasn't a cash grab last Christmas. And did anyone get ther $ back for SC2 pre order?

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Given that I'm a community manager for World of Warcraft, the latest news for StarCraft II can sometimes slip past me. That said, I can't find a single announcement we made about StarCraft II hitting shelves in the winter of 2008. I'm quite confident such an announcement doesn't exist, but you're free to provide evidence (released by Blizzard Entertainment, mind you) to correct me.

 

 

 

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Q u o t e:

Bottom line, something is starting to really stink around here and I don't think its the Undead.

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What stinks is that a lot of information is out there that may prove your points in this thread invalid, even had I not responded, but rumors and assumptions can so much more easily be used to form unfortunate opinions of how we operate and where we're headed.

[Purkake]

I don't care about MMOs either, but it's always interesting to see what Blizzard comes up with next.

Edited May 16, 2009 by Purkake

[Aram]

Maybe their next one won't be balls.

 

But I doubt it!

[Malcador]

Wonder who they'll rip off this time I kid mostly, it'll be interesting to see what they do although I'm not a huge fan of them. Tired of MMOGs these days.

[CoM_Solaufein]

MMOs who cares. They need to stay focused on Diablo 3 and any future expansions for it.

[cronicler]

Uh, oh... If they manage to base the structure of their new MMO on the WotLK mechanics then it will be pretty bad for the other MMOs. They have amassed a very serious amount of gimmicks and other stuff in the game. Wonder if it will be futuristic or something like shadowrun? I loves my hacker Orcs

[Morgoth]

This will take Blizzard around 10 years from now until this gets released. For now, I'd be happy if they get Starcraft 2 this year out to the shelves. I also wanna see Starcraft Ghost being made some day.

[Purkake]

Blizzard better watch out, The Old Republic is also coming out

 

I predict stiff competition in the future

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Hell, its about time.

[Hurlshort]

Hmm, I still think this Blizzard title is way off, WoW was in production for about 8 years before it released, I believe. I'd say KotOR Online is still going to be a couple years before a new Blizzard title.

 

In other MMO news, the books by George RR Martin have just been licensed to a French developer. A Game of Thrones could make some pretty compelling source material, but I'm hesitant to trust any unknown developers. They are the same team making the next Blood Bowl game, so I guess that will show us what they've got.

[Maria Caliban]

MMOs who cares. They need to stay focused on Diablo 3 and any future expansions for it.

 

They have a bajillion people working for them. The Diablo 3 group is focues on Diablo 3 and its xps.

 

This will take Blizzard around 10 years from now until this gets released. For now, I'd be happy if they get Starcraft 2 this year out to the shelves. I also wanna see Starcraft Ghost being made some day.

 

Software consumers are used to thinking in very small time frames. In the future (2076), there will be software development companies who've existed for over a hundred years and people will come to accept that a single project can last a decade. But before that will come the micro-developer revolution, so they'll also be used to quality software being produced in 3-5 months.

Edited May 17, 2009 by Maria Caliban

[Mamoulian War]

<snip>... so they'll also be used to quality software being produced in 3-5 months.

 

Software developed in 3-5 months can be called everything but quality software...

[Maria Caliban]

<snip>... so they'll also be used to quality software being produced in 3-5 months.

 

Software developed in 3-5 months can be called everything but quality software...

 

Now. 2076 is not now.

[Mamoulian War]

<snip>... so they'll also be used to quality software being produced in 3-5 months.

 

Software developed in 3-5 months can be called everything but quality software...

 

Now. 2076 is not now.

 

i still not believe it will be in 2076 aswell

[Hurlshort]

The world is ending in 2012, so you are both wrong.

[cronicler]

I think you are missing the little detail. Sure blizzard usually takes a long development time and does not "rush" it's products but they have a very sophisticated game system in development for the last 3 years and it has been tested for bugs mercilessly. It wouldn't suprise me to see their new MMO based on WotLK engine and game play. And if I were to guess some kind of modern paranormal/alternate universe in modern times MMO would be something NEW for them instead of a WoStarcraft...

 

 

Edit: At the moment they are so far in front of their rivals in Tech and Misc. Stuff departments that it is not even funny. Out of about 10+ rival MMOs only WaR and LotR managed to get a decent footing and that was mostly thanks to setting.

Edited May 17, 2009 by cronicler

[Mamoulian War]

I think you are missing the little detail. Sure blizzard usually takes a long development time and does not "rush" it's products but they have a very sophisticated game system in development for the last 3 years and it has been tested for bugs mercilessly. It wouldn't suprise me to see their new MMO based on WotLK engine and game play. And if I were to guess some kind of modern paranormal/alternate universe in modern times MMO would be something NEW for them instead of a WoStarcraft...

 

 

Edit: At the moment they are so far in front of their rivals in Tech and Misc. Stuff departments that it is not even funny. Out of about 10+ rival MMOs only WaR and LotR managed to get a decent footing and that was mostly thanks to setting.

 

they might have the best stuff ever, but good game is not only about how good the tools are...

 

Starcraft 2 is announced for more than 2 years and imo will be in betatesting more than 1 more... not telling how long they did develop it befoer they announced it... good software have to be made few years... or you get EA-like shovelware...

[cronicler]

I have to point out that Blizz. would be making a poor strategic decision if they let go off their Tech lead. Especially in a field, as cutthroat and as darwinian as Global MMO arena.

Edited May 17, 2009 by cronicler

[Morgoth]

They're prototyping the new MMO with the WOW engine, yes, but don't forget that Blizzard stated that the new MMO will be nothing like Wow. Why would they want to compete with their own product? The new MMO will be a completely different beast.

[cronicler]

Want to bet on the speculation that we will see the new game released after all the possible dungeons, ie Emerald Dream, Naga Citadel and Arthas for WoW are done and the game will be over story wise?

Edited May 17, 2009 by cronicler

[Maria Caliban]

The world is ending in 2012, so you are both wrong.

 

As long as Diablo 3 is out by then, I'm cool.

 

Want to bet on the speculation that we will see the new game released after all the possible dungeons, ie Emerald Dream, Naga Citadel and Arthas for WoW are done and the game will be over story wise?

 

WoW is a cash cow. They wouldn't 'end the story' until their second MMO was firmly established and pulling in big bucks.

Edited May 17, 2009 by Maria Caliban

[Mamoulian War]

Want to bet on the speculation that we will see the new game released after all the possible dungeons, ie Emerald Dream, Naga Citadel and Arthas for WoW are done and the game will be over story wise?

 

WoW was planned up to lvl 100 when it was released 4 years ago... how they changed their plans on that, no one knows, but if they go same way as so far, we will have lvl 90 expansion in 2010 and lvl 100 expansion in 2012... and last lvl 100 raids will be released 2013-2014...

 

that means new MMO could be planned for 2014 - 2015 to release...

[Hurlshort]

I would be surprised if they used the same engine as WoW. It looks good for its age, but it is pretty far behind other recent MMO releases. I know they don't go with the bleeding edge of technology, but there is a limit on how long they milk an engine.

[cronicler]

A little clip using high res models and a lot of editing. Doesn't look that bad I think

 

Anyway back to engine; the original engine was extremely bare bones, depending on the art style to cover its flaws. However this allowed the game to be able to run on even office grade notebooks. With every expansion, the minimum system needs have gone up. It wouldn't suprise me to see a better texture using, more draw distance and little bits enabled, but essentially souped up WoW engine in the new MMO.

Edited May 17, 2009 by cronicler

[Promethean]

Hmm, I still think this Blizzard title is way off, WoW was in production for about 8 years before it released, I believe. I'd say KotOR Online is still going to be a couple years before a new Blizzard title.

 

In other MMO news, the books by George RR Martin have just been licensed to a French developer. A Game of Thrones could make some pretty compelling source material, but I'm hesitant to trust any unknown developers. They are the same team making the next Blood Bowl game, so I guess that will show us what they've got.

 

ASoIaF wouldnt work well as a MMO game, or even an epic RPG. Strategy or small scale RPG, now thats a different story.