Hey team, what a run… 17 years, wow, who would have ever thought this game would still be going after 17 yrs! But lets face it folks, its time to move on…
At this point it just feels like were beating a dead horse. Blizzard needs to implement a time frame to move focus away from WoW and introduce a new MMO IP. Blizzard is in dire need of a face lift. In recent years Blizzard has consistently been tripping over themselves. The WoW community is growing tired and this pattern has been on a downward spiral for years. As a huge fan and a small investor… time to move on!
That new MMO IP was suppose to be “Titan”, however Blizzard like they have done with previous projects, decided to scrap the project entirely. We can only hope a contingency plan was in place to work on a new idea.
Let’s give WoW 3 more expansions, at that time we seriously move resources away from WoW. This gives us at least 6 solid years to release an entirely new MMO. This release will line up well to allow Diablo 4 to have enough time in the spotlight.
We all have done it in our lives… in a attempt to regain our confidence… we go back to doing what we feel comfortable with. For Blizzard that is World of Warcraft. Blizzard is obviously deathly afraid of letting their “cash cow” put out to pasture. But its time for innovation. Its time to move on.
Blizzard can’t even get sequels to existing games out in decent time lines. We are looking at a year or two before Diablo IV and Overwatch 2 come out. Those would have taken almost 5 years to make.
A new MMO probably wouldn’t make it out until 2031.
Diablo MMO would be cool but Blizzard can’t be trusted to make a functional MMO with their IP so I’d rather put my eggs in the Dark Souls basket.
Next Blizzard MMO will be mobile with a cash shop, unironically. Not worth it to put hope into the company, let alone the genre. WoW has had the same pattern for patch cycles since Legion and it isn’t changing now. Strapped for resources, they’re just going to limp WoW along until they can’t.
New World has a few hours of fun. Ashes of Creation might too. FF doesn’t appeal.
I’m curious to see what Bonfire delivers, but long as WoW keeps bringing out new content, I’ll be around. Just not playing right now, because of what’s going on.
They can’t even put the resources that are needed to make this MMO good. What in the world makes you think they have the manpower, or will, needed to make a whole new one from scratch?
Diablo or StarCraft MMOs would be interesting… just don’t make them PvP focused. That niche is being oversaturated now with all the various Korean MMOs, New World, Ashes of Creation, etc.
PvP based games attract the most toxic of people which drives away far more people than it brings in.
Over the past 9 months Blizzard has hired at least 7 new Associate Game Producers, Narrative & Content. They’ve hired a few dozen Quest Designers over the last few months, and several World Content Creators. All for the WoW team. These hires will just be coming into their prime over the next expansion patches.
Honestly… a decrease in player numbers of one of the biggest games ever made in history of gaming still equates to a game bigger than most companies could dream of.
It still has one of the highest playercounts of any video game, it just is closer to its contenders in numbers.
Microtransactions, quick paced pick up and play action, mobile friendly etc are where it’s at currently. A lot less development time/resources required, the amount of money made is substantial, the mobile situation is fairly strong right now.
Any brand new IP cannot, IMO, pop into existence and become a super ultra successful MMO (enough to usurp WoW/FF14).
WoW had Starcraft for years helping build a following for the company while also having Warcraft setting down lore and creating the world while also building a following. And Warcraft wasn’t exactly niche when it was an RTS. I mean, they had their cinematics advertising in movie theaters when that sort of thing was unheard of.
Final Fantasy 14 had more than 13 prior stand-alone games (when considering non-numbered titles like Mystic Quest, Tactics, Crystal Chronicles, Dissidia, Dirge of Cerberus, etc). So their fan base, aesthetic, and tropes have been established for a VERY long time (characters named Cid, Biggs, Wedge…Airships, Chocobos, Crystals, etc).
With that said, I think there is a lot of potential with Overwatch. You already have Tank/DPS/Healer delineated between the characters. There has already been word of a campaign mode coming…soon? That should help flesh out the world and lore of that IP. All of that are great first steps to eventually release an Overwatch MMO. Plus, if you want to make PvP a large portion of the game again then you already have that set-up right from the beginning.