Endgame obsession?

[Cthulhu 2020]

1) GC recently said on record that Activision has little to no influence on the direction of warcraft
2) http://www.trionworlds.com/en/about/investors

To steal a quote... "Talk is cheap." It's been clear since the Activision partnership that Activision banks more on the popularity of Blizzard's game than releasing new quality content.

[fengosa]

I just don't buy that line of thinking. The best thing any game can do is put out quality content to keep their customer base happy. It's just easier said than done.

[SamR]

The thing about conspiracy theorists is that you'll never be able to convince them otherwise.

You don't like Activision and think they've had a horrible influence on Blizzard and WoW.

I don't care one way or another and don't think Activision has much to do with what has been going on at Blizzard the last few years.

Both are valid beliefs. Doesn't make either of them fact.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Also, I like all of the people who believe the lines about how Activision has never had any say in WoW's development, when it's clear that they have...

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/view...opic_id=128252

[parcus]

That's why ArenaNet has explorable modes for dungeons rather than separate instances. It's not that either company lacks imagination, it's that they're dealing with very real constraints.

I agree with most of what you say, but explorable mode dungeons in GW 2 are not copy paste with higher difficulty, it is a whole new section of the dungeon. Consider it as old Blackrock depths, it was huge, tecnically only 1 dungeon, but certainly felt like 3-4 dungeons of nowadays. If you have done an explorable mode, you will see that the bosses differ a lot from each other, they have their own cutscenes and mini stories, it's more content indeed. At first I was under the impression that explorable modes were just slightly different from story mode, but after I did one, I could say that it was pretty much a completely different dungeon.

Edited: fixed spelling.

[Sylvanie]

I agree with most of what you say, but explorable mode dungeons in GW 2 are not copy paste with higher difficulty, it is a whole new section of the dungeon. Consider it as old Blackrock depths, it was huge, tecnically only 1 dungeon, but certainly felt like 3-4 dungeons of nowadays. If you have done an explorable mode, you will see that the bosses differ a lot from each other, they have it's own cutscene and mini story, it's more content indeed. At first I was under the impression that explorable modes were just slightly different from story mode, but after I did one, I could say that it was pretty much a completely different dungeon.

Yes, but that's still different from deploying a whole new instance, since you can generally reuse a lot of the artwork.

(Just to be clear, I'm not disagreeing with you that there is a considerable difference still from reusing a prior instance wholesale.)

[Deleted]

Also, I like all of the people who believe the lines about how Activision has never had any say in WoW's development, when it's clear that they have...

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/view...opic_id=128252

Internet teenagers grasping at straws in a forum now make for credible sources? Why would I believe the grimdark interpretation they try to give to every sentence? The whole "Asia/Guitar Hero" part is probably the worst interpretation and half-assed 'conspiracy' I've read in a while.

And your previous comment about the beta: Seriously, you were SURPRISED they were pumping more content during a freaking beta than during LIVE? Are you serious? Do you even know what a beta is for?

/facedesk

I give up.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Internet teenagers grasping at straws in a forum now make for credible sources? Why would I believe the grimdark interpretation they try to give to every sentence? The whole "Asia/Guitar Hero" part is probably the worst interpretation and half-assed 'conspiracy' I've read in a while.

And your previous comment about the beta: Seriously, you were SURPRISED they were pumping more content during a freaking beta than during LIVE? Are you serious? Do you even know what a beta is for?

/facedesk

I give up.

None of those quotes are taken out of context. That is 100% true blue Bobby Kotick, the head and CEO of Activision Blizzard, and as much as Blizzard denies Activision's involvement, it became clear when they became majority shareholders that a lot of decisions made reflected more on the bottom line than the quality. You can go read the sources if you want. To say that it's a bunch of teenagers grasping at straws is well... grasping at straws. Basically, can't comment on the validity of the information? Insult the people posting it! Because that's an amazing way to discredit information.

Also, other games have maintained a high frequency of patching and new content, adding new dungeons, zones, or other forms of content every month or two. It's kind of hard to fall back on the "Developers can't develop content that fast!!" argument you've been using when just about everyone else is doing it... and Blizzard has near limitless resources on top of that.

[rayden54]

Both are valid beliefs. Doesn't make either of them fact.

No. Activision is either actively controlling Blizzard or it isn't. One of them is true.

[Cthulhu 2020]

No. Activision is either actively controlling Blizzard or it isn't. One of them is true.

Now to be fair, their influence could be a little more subversive and less direct, but anyone who believes that Activision doesn't have any say in what Blizzard does clearly has their blinders on.

[Blufossa]

That's wrong in so many ways I just can't... Developers aren't content machines that will produce raid bosses depending on the amount of $100 bills you throw at them. A developer doesn't go "Mr. President, sir, we need to make new content!" and Mr.EvilGreedyPresident goes "MWAHAHAH YOU PUNY PROGRAMMER, I'M BUYING A NEW FERRARI AND THERE'S NO MONEY LEFT FOR YOUR PUNY CONTENT, WITHER AND DIE AND SCREW THE PLAYERS MWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA *thunder echoes in the distance*"

This made me giggle. XD

People think the same thing about "rich people". You know, because they just sort of hit dumb luck and magically got money and are now hoarding it to make your life worse! :P

But really, give them time. Even Blizzard takes a bit to get out content and YOU THE PLAYER even pay them $15 a month for said content. Just hush and enjoy the damn game, stop rushing to 80 and whining for someone to hold your hand (i.e. raid bosses for "shiny loot")!

Also for people whining about "content"- check out the patches Blizzard introduced back in the day. Most of WoW's content we had for "vanilla" didn't even launch with the initial game!

http://www.wowwiki.com/Category:Worl...rcraft_patches

[Beefsquatch]

This made me giggle. XD

People think the same thing about "rich people". You know, because they just sort of hit dumb luck and magically got money and are now hoarding it to make your life worse! :P

But really, give them time. Even Blizzard takes a bit to get out content and YOU THE PLAYER even pay them $15 a month for said content. Just hush and enjoy the damn game, stop rushing to 80 and whining for someone to hold your hand (i.e. raid bosses for "shiny loot")!

Also for people whining about "content"- check out the patches Blizzard introduced back in the day. Most of WoW's content we had for "vanilla" didn't even launch with the initial game!

http://www.wowwiki.com/Category:Worl...rcraft_patches

Holy crap, I had no idea. WoW sucked dick before like patch 1.8.0
That's very interesting, makes me really hope and be optimistic about GW2 now. If blizz turned around their shitty game into this raging behemoth that most companies seek to copy, maybe Anet will do will some fantastic things with GW2 which already is an amazing game. Fixing bugs, adding shit, etc. That got me excited, thanks for that.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Holy crap, I had no idea. WoW sucked dick before like patch 1.8.0
That's very interesting, makes me really hope and be optimistic about GW2 now. If blizz turned around their shitty game into this raging behemoth that most companies seek to copy, maybe Anet will do will some fantastic things with GW2 which already is an amazing game. Fixing bugs, adding shit, etc. That got me excited, thanks for that.

EQ was still the MMO giant when WoW came out. All of the EQ fanbois would deny that any game would ever dethrone EQ. Fact is, EQ had been out for 8 years and was a highly outdated game at that point, but people insisted it could never be killed, that it was still the best, and were blind to the corporate greed of Sony calling the shots. WoW comes along, EQ fanbois continue to deny that anything will ever bring it down... where is EQ now?

WoW was a terrible game by today's standards pre 1.8, as you said. Even by those day's standards, it was pretty bad. EQ had a lot of features that WoW didn't have because it was 8 years older than WoW. But people were just sick of it by that point, and ready to put their faith in something new.

A lot of WoWers are sick of the game, and ready to put their faith in something new. If trend follows, 8 years is about the maximum life expectancy of the "giant" before it declines. The new giant might be GW2, might be another MMO, might be split among many.

[Kuntantee]

Yes, all it takes to write content is

#include <Content.h>

int main(){

content* c = (content*) malloc (PATCH_SIZE * sizeof(content));

c.boss1 = bigassdragonthatgoesRAWR;
c.boss2 = bigassdragonthatgoesHWEEEER;
c.setting = bigasscavern;

return 0;
}

This true, factual and coming from someone who worked in every company that ever developed an MMO, with over 60 years of experience in the MMO market and who beat Jesus in a staring contest.

...


Really, since when did programmers and software engineers become one of the "evil" professions?

modern games are written in c++, industry standards. especially mechanics part. kinda off topic but i gotta say :d

[SamR]

No. Activision is either actively controlling Blizzard or it isn't. One of them is true.

Or...they have some influence, but they're not "controlling" Blizzard like the conspiracy theorists think.

BTW, Blizzard started charging for paid server transfers before they merged with Activision. Did Activision push Blizzard to monetize more services? Maybe. Was Blizzard headed there anyway before Activision arrived on the scene? Maybe.

It's when you present everything as pure black and white, true or false, that people start dismissing it as a conspiracy theory.

[Deafknight]

I give up.

Noone is asking you to give up but dude, you gotta understand that Robert Kotick is the devil.
Hes the kind of guy that wants to pay developers per line of code, deducting drunk coffee from the vending machine out of your pay.
That PUNY DEVELOPER, IM NOT GONNA GIVE YOU BUDGET BECAUSE I NEED TO PAY OUT MORE DIVIDENDS line you wrote earlier, while you may think its silly: hes the kind of guy that might just slap that in your face.
Hes not only profit driven (fine with me) but hes obsessed with it, profit at ANY cost. Hes doing his job perfectly if you consider results, but its the most evil way to achieve that,

Contrary to other guys, Kotick is just honest enough to let it out.

Doesnt mean its right or it doesnt exist.

[Eggoman]

I'm sure developing content is not as hard as some other MMO's try to teach us, giving 1 buck for developers to create content and 1000 bucks to shareholders.

I hope this company wont fail my expectations as some others did.

Somehow I don't think it is up to the company...

[Deafknight]

EQ was still the MMO giant when WoW came out. All of the EQ fanbois would deny that any game would ever dethrone EQ. Fact is, EQ had been out for 8 years and was a highly outdated game at that point, but people insisted it could never be killed, that it was still the best, and were blind to the corporate greed of Sony calling the shots. WoW comes along, EQ fanbois continue to deny that anything will ever bring it down... where is EQ now?

WoW was a terrible game by today's standards pre 1.8, as you said. Even by those day's standards, it was pretty bad. EQ had a lot of features that WoW didn't have because it was 8 years older than WoW. But people were just sick of it by that point, and ready to put their faith in something new.

A lot of WoWers are sick of the game, and ready to put their faith in something new. If trend follows, 8 years is about the maximum life expectancy of the "giant" before it declines. The new giant might be GW2, might be another MMO, might be split among many.

Trend ?
One instance for sure does not make a trend ^^

---------- Post added 2012-09-15 at 10:19 AM ----------

modern games are written in c++, industry standards. especially mechanics part. kinda off topic but i gotta say :d

Engines are written in c++, bigassdragons arent :P

[Sylvanie]

modern games are written in c++, industry standards. especially mechanics part. kinda off topic but i gotta say :d

Only clients are typically written in C++, and even that is "typically", not always. Even C++ clients often have elements that aren't time-critical (i.e., not related to graphics or animation) written in a different language. Blizzard/Rift AddOns are the best known example (even some of Blizzard's own UI is written in Lua, not just player-made addons).

Server-side, things tend to be considerably more varied. For example, it is well known (because the developers have talked about it at length) that EVE Online runs on top of Stackless Python.

[Fencers]

Yea, EQ still got tons of expansions post-Warcraft. They even have time locked servers now. EQ2 still running as well w/ xpacs and all to this very day.

Quite good games. Maybe the best MMOs ever made in total honesty. Certainly EQ1 is the quintessential MMO.