World of Starcraft? Not So Much 278
The rumours have been swirling since last night, when MMOG discussion site F13 posted the surprising news that Blizzard plans to make MMOGs of Starcraft and Diablo. Turns out that while the possibility still exists, that's not exactly accurate. The CessPit has some of the slides from Vivendi's presentation, (courtesy of SirBruce). The last of these would seem to show the mere possibility (not confirmation) of expansion into the Massive and console markets for the company's intellectual properties. However, this is coupled with a flat denial by lead designer Rob Pardo: "Nothing in that rumor is true in regards to Blizzard. If I had to guess, there was some confusion between what Vivendi has planned for its game division versus what Blizzard has planned. While Blizzard is owned by Vivendi, their game division operates separately from Blizzard." So, while not out of the question, I find it unlikely we'll be hearing about World of Starcraft any time soon.
Message to Blizzard re: WoS: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Message to Blizzard re: WoS: (Score:2, Insightful)
We probably will see WoS or WoD in the future but not while WoW continues as it currently is.
Re:Message to Blizzard re: WoS: (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Message to Blizzard re: WoS: (Score:5, Funny)
Pfft, 640 pixels across should be enough for anybody.
Re:Message to Blizzard re: WoS: (Score:2)
If they make WoS, as awful as it would be, it would give them an engine and story to perhaps Start a Starcraft 2. As things stand, Starcraft 2 is nowhere in sight and this may bring it closer. I'd marry the devil's ugly brother if Starcraft 2 were to enter production.
HEAR THAT BLIZZARD? I NEED IT, and I have about 1,000,000 friends that agree with me.
Re:Message to Blizzard re: WoS: (Score:2)
I thought the South Korean population was higher than that... [cia.gov]
Re:Message to Blizzard re: WoS: (Score:2)
Re:Message to Blizzard re: WoS: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Message to Blizzard re: WoS: (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Message to Blizzard re: WoS: (Score:3)
I've never understood why they've let this game lie fallow the way it has.
Re:Message to Blizzard re: WoS: (Score:2)
Re:Message to Blizzard re: WoS: (Score:4, Interesting)
Take a look at the original Starcraft team, here [mobygames.com]. You can follow the names and see where many of them are now. For the most part though, many of the top designers and programmers from the original Starcraft are gone. Where did they go? Guild Wars, or more specifically, they founded ArenaNet.
And if there is something I have learned about games. If the original team behind a game is gone and a new team tries to pick up the game, the results arn't typically very pretty. So don't expect much. I'm not.
Ghost (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Ghost (Score:2)
2) Get the people who are groing tired of WoW but wnat a quality MMO
3) Don't think of competing. I would presume they would go under the same Umbrella.
Re:Ghost (Score:2)
Re:Ghost (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Ghost (Score:2)
I'm sure some are only playing WOW because there is no WOS or WOD but I am will to bet that there are even more NOT playing WOW because Warcraft does not intrest them, yet if they were to release WOS then they would see more people playing (I know I would jump at it) same with WOD, not everyone likes warcraft (I don't cause it's set in the past like EVERYTHING) so they don't bother with WOW.
so if I could play WOS as a Zerg, Terran or Protoss (o
WoW model doesn't work for starcraft. (Score:3, Interesting)
Instead I think it would make sense to be a commander/cerebrate/executor in command of a squad/platoon/group. Improvement is by upgrading and extending your band of troops, gaining abilities, training, experience, promotion in
Re:Ghost (Score:5, Funny)
The next WoW expansion should be Ghost A one way ticket into space.
So, a WoW/SC crossover?
Tarren Mill is under attack!
Nuclear launch detected!
Re:Ghost (Score:2, Funny)
Coffee.
Screen.
Damn you.
Re:Ghost (Score:2)
No ring (Score:5, Funny)
World of Diablo, on the other hand.... (Score:3, Funny)
Domains of Diablo (Score:2, Insightful)
Shades of a less stellar (HAH!) mmorpg (Score:2)
Re:No ring (Score:2)
I knew I should've gone into marketing. Damn it!
Stars of Starcraft (Score:2)
Re:No ring (Score:2)
True, but "Worlds of Starcraft" does.
I think it should be named... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:No ring (Score:2)
Re:No ring (Score:4, Funny)
Re:No ring.... (Score:2)
Game industry is funny (Score:3, Insightful)
Pssst, I heard that the Star Control sequel will feature Duke Nukem caught in a world of Orcs, blasting his way out in a massive Counterstrike against the enemy. Better still, it will run on Windows Vista when it's released too.
Re:Game industry is funny (Score:2)
OMFG!!!!!1!ONE!!1!!!11!!!!ELEVEN!!!!!!1!! IWANTITNOWTHATISGOINGTOBETHECOOLESTGAMEEVERWILLIT
Re:Game industry is funny (Score:2)
All of these "articles" have a common theme, they are in the form of a question. The answer is almost always no but they keep coming and mostly are just stupid to begin with. The google and Apple ones are generally the most stupid and seemingly prevalent.
BUT (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:BUT (Score:2, Funny)
Re:BUT (Score:5, Funny)
And this would be different from other onliners...how exactly?
Re:BUT (Score:4, Interesting)
Remember the actual zerg are the little worm things that come out of the hives, that's step one. So everyone starts out as a little worm thing, with some kind of piddly stun attack. Then you go out into the world, and stun something, then you infest it, and it mutates into a basic thing like itself, with maybe some variation depending on the stats of the actual thing. You know, infest a wolf, get a zergling, infest a big lizard, get a hydralisk, infest an elephant, get an ultralisk, etc. But there is no reason you couldn't have different types of creatures for everything.
As you level up, your little infesting worm guy gets new mutational talents, so you can change the thing you're infesting in some way. When you get killed, you lose the thing you were infesting and have to go find another one.
Wow. I always thoguht the big problem would be coming up with a way to make the zerg playable, but that would work...
Re:BUT (Score:3, Funny)
Re:BUT (Score:4, Funny)
Re:BUT (Score:2)
If anyone is listening... (Score:2)
Re:If anyone is listening... (Score:2)
Re:If anyone is listening... (Score:2)
seriously, I'm not just karma-whoring.
Re:If anyone is listening... (Score:2)
Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand.
I don't care, I'm still free, you can't take the sky from me.
* server goes down for maintenance *
Hmm, apparently you CAN take the sky from me....
Re:If anyone is listening... (Score:2)
Re:If anyone is listening... (Score:2)
Re:If anyone is listening... (Score:2)
BTW, that is one of the best login's evar!
Thank heavens (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Thank heavens (Score:2)
Re:Thank heavens (Score:2)
Re:Thank heavens (Score:2)
Re:Thank heavens (Score:2)
Re:Thank heavens (Score:2)
But still, any one of those currently is a life sucking event requiring almost all your free time to achieve any of the more challenging goals.
Re:Thank heavens (Score:2)
Diablo -> Wow:
--------------
archers -> hunters
sorcerers -> mages
warriors -> warriors
necromancers -> warlocks
paladins -> paladins
necromancer wolves -> hunter pet
necromancer skeletons -> warlock demon
health bar -> health bar
mana bar -> mana/rage/focus bar
talent points -> talent points
run around and click -> run around and click in 3d
control 1 character -> control 1 character
The original warcraft had city building and unit management
Not really (Score:5, Interesting)
Not really. MMO games also include stuff that's pretty different from WoW. Mind you, not _completely_ different, but still. E.g.:
1. Planetside.
It's really a MMO-FPS. Think UT2004 with 200 players in each team. Think battles where a SF fortress is attacked by waves of a hundred infantry (ranging from unarmored infiltrators to the massive mechanized exo-skeletons) and tens of tanks, artillery vehicles, AA vehicles, bombers, gunships, giant transport ships paradropping whole squads on top of it, and even about a lance of mechs in most fights.
It also has absolutely _zero_ grinding, farming, etc, as the game has no money (you're a soldier, so your equipment is provided to you based on your certifications) and levels don't give anyone an unfair advantage in combat (being higher level gives you more flexibility, as it allows you to be certified in several different things, but you still have the same health, do the same damage and can use the same weapons as someone half your level.)
_And_ it doesn't really need 3 hours of gathering a 40 man group a la WoW or of waiting in a queue for some battleground. Anyone can just jump into any battle and get xp for whatever they can do. E.g., if you're certified as a medic, you don't have to wait until some raid invites you: you can just jump into any battle and get xp for healing the combatants. E.g., if you're an engineer, you can just jump into any fight and start repairing the damaged vehicles, and get xp for it. E.g., if you're certified to pilot a transport, just load up a squad and paradrop them wherever they want to go, and not only you'll be a very popular guy or gal, but you'll get xp for their kills there too. Or, of course, if you can use a gun, you can just get your gun and go join whatever assault or defense is in progress.
Sure, joining a squad or outfit lets you fight more coordinated as part of a team, but that's about it. If you don't want to, you can just go solo in any battle just as well. You'll figure out something useful to do pretty easily. Be it healing, repairing, shooting a gun, being gunner on a tank, laying mines, or jumping into a chaingun turret and laying down the suppression fire.
And, again, any of those you can do from level 1 (though you can gain a few levels first by just doing the tutorials anyway) and have max level people thanking you for it. There is no grinding to level 60 or collecting epic equipment before you can go play with the big boys. You can take part in any battle right after installing the game, and feel like you've made a difference.
So, basically, you know, you can just play the game and let levels and stuff happen on their own. There is no need to focus on collecting anything either.
2. City Of Heroes / City Of Villains.
Well, this is a sorta more standard type of MMO, but it cuts down on pretty much anything that could be seen as a time sink. E.g., travel time is short (SuperSpeed caps at about 90mph, Teleport caps at about 200mph), combat is fast and furious, there is no collecting "loot" in the traditional sense of the word (if you want your character to wear big red pauldrons, you can just paint him that way in the character editor), there is no crafting in the traditional sense (though you can craft devices for your super-hero base or super-villain lair), and there is no farming for gold or resources.
Also, although it does depend on grouping (unlike the loose action of Planetside), missions are automatically instanced for whatever number of people you have. I.e., the same mission can either be soloed or you can find an 8-player group for it. Since groups yield better xp per minute, you rarely have a problem finding random people to group with at any level. (Though whether they can also play well in a group, is a bit of a hit-and-miss issue. Some groups rule, some can make a good point for misanthropy.) But again, any instanced mission can also be soloed if you're not in a social mood.
Re:Thank heavens (Score:2)
Re:Thank heavens (Score:2)
Re:Thank heavens (Score:2)
Ah, you mean like Planetside? Because that'd be kinda cool.
Good. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Good. (Score:2)
Re:Good. (Score:2)
A lot of those people running around that make you say 'that guy must be just some 13 yr old kid,' often isn't and is probably over 18 anyway.
Screw you, Blizzard! (Score:3, Funny)
Oh well. Here's hoping for a Lost Vikings MMOG.
Re:Screw you, Blizzard! (Score:2)
Re:Screw you, Blizzard! (Score:2)
Re:Screw you, Blizzard! (Score:2)
Re:Screw you, Blizzard! (Score:2)
Re:Screw you, Blizzard! (Score:2)
Re:Screw you, Blizzard! (Score:2)
I was also in beta and played for a bit after release (since I had preordered and got the free month for that). It was pretty fun to start, but, before too long, the prospect of yet another "drive over there and blow stuff up" mission started losing its appeal. It seems that the primary catalyst for my loss of interest was when INC started charging for transport services. I no longer felt like it was viable to just airlift to the city nearest the targe
Milking the mmoo cow (Score:2, Interesting)
Not if but when (Score:3, Informative)
Additionally, I am not too optimistic on a StarCraft II strategy title, mostly because huge parts of the SC team left Blizzard after it was completed. I bet they will release a sequel, but perhaps not as a strategy game type.
If I happen to be wrong, there's only one thing I could think of that would stop World of StarCraft: the fact that it may split Blizzard's market in two pieces instead of doubling it. As for Diablo, this world is actually far too similar to WoW. It's all ancient stuff, wizardry and monsters. So maybe Blizzard wants to stick to what it has done before.
Anyway, selling a game for 50 bucks and then milking its customers on monthly fees is probably Blizzard's new thing. Imagine how much more money they make on WoW than on SC and Diablo.
I would personally want a sequel to StarCraft out sooner than Diablo, while I still remember the superb story that it and Brood War offered.
Re:Not if but when (Score:2)
My guess is you won't see a different MMORPG from Blizzard for a couple of more years - depending on how WoW subscriptions go.
Actual Discussion about this (Score:5, Informative)
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=
And if you want to see Rob's post on it:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread-search.a
Re:Actual Discussion about this (Score:2)
The fact that Vivendi didn't even know this doesn't lend a lot of credence to the rumor.
Diablo was on PSX too. (Score:2)
Damn MMO's (Score:4, Interesting)
I'd much rather see a proper Starcraft sequel... full 3d environments, and all the coolness of an in-space RTS that Starcraft introduced. Warcraft III has been fun, but I find that the races tend towards being a bit too linear, especially in terms of special abilities. In Starcraft, the mix was awesome... with zerg being your massive-rush force, protoss being brute-force, terran being in-between, and the technological aspects mixing all three together (protoss carrier rush=massiveness) and all the cool techs such as the arbitor abilities and the nastly little zerg devourer slime. Combined with the strategic elements such as invisibility, scanning, shields, etc... the strategic element of Starcraft far exceeded Warcraft III, and would make for a much more worthy sequel if done right...
But for Aiur's sake, please don't wash all that out with an MMORPG. It works for some things, but it's a good way to absolutely murder good games from other genre's.
Re:Damn MMO's (Score:2)
I agree - but hear me out for a sec. When Blizzard made WoW, they didn't really "re-create" Warcraft as MMORPG, as much as just wrote a whole new game in the Warcraft setting. The genre changed completely, from RTS to RPG (-ish). I imagine if they were ever to do World of Starcraft (or whatever), it would get the same treatment.
Re:Damn MMO's (Score:2)
Re:Damn MMO's (Score:2)
Can't they take a break from MMORPG? (Score:2)
Ever since Blizzard started in on this MMORPG, they've produced not a single game that interests me. Especially now that I'm a parent, I just can't justify the time required to competitively maintain on online character. And, I need the freedom to walk away from a game at a moment's notice to take care of kids, etc., without my player dying.
With single-player and two-player games, this was never a problem. But ever sin
WOW: billions of customers? (Score:2, Interesting)
Confusion! Spawn More Overlords! (Score:4, Funny)
Given the number of rogues on my server, I think everyone would roll a Protoss Dark Templar - battlefields would look awfully empty!
Still one Starcraft version missing (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Still one Starcraft version missing (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Still one Starcraft version missing (Score:2)
April Fool (Score:4, Insightful)
Over 6 billion users? (Score:5, Funny)
*linky* [cesspit.net]
I'm obviously in the wrong business.
News? Wow. Thanks ... (Score:2)
In other news, Wal.Mart will not be constructing a Muppet Themed roller coaster.
I suppose this may have put to rest a rumor circulating about a MMO StarCraft. But, I've never heard such a rumor.
Though speculation... (Score:2)
Re:Though speculation... (Score:2)
I agree, Diablo and Diablo II were my fave games up until I stopped playing online (other than Sims 2).
In addition to Spore, I could definitely see playing a Diablo expansion on my wireless cable-modem-fed laptop or my soon-to-buy Wii.
My son's getting a Mac mini this afternoon - it's tax free day (we have no income tax here) and I get the educational discount. I hope if they expand it that it will run on the Mac as well (intel-based Mac m
Starcraft Galaxies? (Score:5, Insightful)
Ooh... mmorpg bass fishing...
If they had a decent sci-fi mpog, I might play... (Score:2)
Even if they had something like Grand Theft Auto Online, it would appeal to people like me who just aren't that into a fantasy setting.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
The only viable angle here... (Score:2)
I would also like to see a solid well produced starcraft sequel before any MMOG offering from it.
World of Diablo (Score:2)
Re:World? (Score:2)
Re:No surprise (Score:2)
Re:No surprise (Score:2)
Re:This just in... (Score:2)
The Universe as we know it in Starcraft is rapidly shrinking.
I suppose World of Netcraft confirms [wikipedia.org] it?