What property + studio might actually put a dent in WoW?

[Ken_Silver]

I know it's not possible (and I do want to read the whole thread and will eventually) but I'd say a Pokemon MMO. Done right by Nintendo (and probably paired up with another Western company for consulting) and I think Nintendo could do it. But it wouldn't dethrone WoW by competing with it (I think the target audience is too different) but by having more subs then it. But said MMO will never happen. Nintendo has said so (they don't even like Pokemon games for the consoles so much) and if they did... I dunno if it would turn out well without a Western company's help. *looks at Dragon Quest 10*

But besides that, WoW will die to old age and subscribers bleeding off slowly as is. Even then... WoW wouldn't just "die" but fade away from the limelight.

[jaakkeli]

Potentially the most popular IP ever, Star Wars, led by one of the most appraised (past-tense) RPG developers, Bioware, funded by one of the richest production houses, EA, failed. If that combination of resources and ability couldn't come together and create a cohesive and fulfilling MMO, no one else is going to be able to. Not for a long-ass time.

But that's the problem of baggage that we already talked about. Bioware is perhaps the most succcessful creator of single player RPGs in PC gaming but they don't have any history with multiplayer games. Pretty much everyone agrees that the single player questing experience was a lot better than in WoW which is just what we could expect from Bioware - it's the end game group content that failed. They had no experience with that and actually hired people with disastrous track records for that (eg the Warhammer team for PvP, lol).

And seriously, why on earth are you mentioning EA as if it's a promising thing for an MMO? EA games have a long, LOOOOOOOONG record of crappy customer service and lack of post-release support, both absolutely essential for MMO success. I remember how we got stuck in a dungeon in WoW on Cata release day (!) and we bitched because it took 15 minutes for a Blizzard GM to respond to the ticket and release us. And then I played SWTOR and I'm never going to complain about Blizzard customer service again. MMOs are huge projects with bugs, incompatibilities with systems, newbie players... it's more like selling a service than a sell-and-forget product and EA is one of the worst companies (if not the worst) in gaming for that while Blizzard is the best.

For an MMO EA means baggage, Bioware means baggage. They have no history of MMO success at all. If Microsoft suddenly announced that it's going to go into the car business, would you immediately expect their first car to be a serious competitor for the top spot? I mean, Bill Gates is the richest man in the world and Microsoft has all that talent on its payroll.

[Marquize]

The Witcher mmorpg
A mmo based on the witcher series world but played out before all the events of the witcher games/books during the peak of witchers in society, you play as a witcher, and the dessicions you make actually make a difference, a fellow player did the quest that way? Well you might want to do it this way. Oh you want to support this faction? Oh well these factions will not take kindly to that. This one is a dragon and WILL need a group to kill? Oh but you might want to use a strategy to scare it away and that might work, or it might return, angrier than ever and lay waste to everything in that area? etc. etc.

Who cares, as long as you get payed for the work. Bring some damn consequences to the mmorpg genre!

[Deleted]

The only thing that could dent WoW would be a good Warhammer MMO, imo.

[HoopyFrood]

I really don't see any MMORPG putting any kind of dent in WoW. What I do see is the MMORPG genre declining.

WoW is so synonymous with MMORPG and that's mostly due to sheer timing of its release. Online gaming was picking up and WoW was easy to get into, and when it comes to quality and content WoW is still the most expansive. Yeah there are games that do things better or different, but since WoW has the Lion's share of the market this makes it difficult for another MMORPG, sub or not, be feasible in long term.

So we're left with MMO's that have brand recognition. SWTOR aside there's FF14, EQN and ESO. Though they won't damage WoW they will hopefully keep the genre going. I could care less for ESO and EQN, but due to being cross platform FF14 is kinda interesting in that it's a test market back in Japan and could potentially lead to this fangled Pokemon MMO ya'll want.

[Xe4ro]

For me personally , no one will. I may check out the TES Online , as i love the Elder Scrolls series, but i will still play WoW because the reason i started playing it was WarCraft. WoW was my first MMO and it will probably be my last. :3

[Awarelol]

With Titan delayed/canceled (I can't remember which), I don't think anything will destroy WoW unless the quality of the game begins to suffer dramatically. The QoL improvements scheduled with WoD make me think that this isn't going to happen any time soon. Even if they just improve the structure/interface of the game slightly every expansion, it will be nearly impossible for a start-up project to match it.

[mizeri]

The only thing that could dent WoW would be a good Warhammer MMO, imo.

a WH40K mmorpg would be cool

[hrugner]

a WH40K mmorpg would be cool

http://www.eternalcrusade.com/

We'll see how it goes.

[Kharli]

Riot Games already put a big dent in WoW, by making LoL the most popular and fastest growing online game on the market right now. I know dozens of people who left WoW permanently to go "hardcore" into LoL instead.

After that there are numerous other companies that regularly leave big dents in WoW. Such as Bethesda, Activision (Call of Duty), Electronic Arts (numerous popular games that take subscribers away from WoW). Even Blizzard themselves does it at times, I know several people that left WoW permanently because they wanted to focus fully on Starcraft 2, Diablo 3 or even Hearthstone instead.

There is no lack of competition in the gaming industry. WoW takes a beating every quarter.

riiiiiiight..your no longer allowed to damn post, if you honestly compare a so called M.O.B.A to a MMORPG
1.LoL IS NOT A MMORPG(it does not have quests nor is it massivly online i.e more than 10 people in the same area at once and no creeps dont count.)
2. it's a Multiplayer online battle arena
3. it is based on a Warcraft 3 mod called "Defence of the Ancients Aka DoTa)
4. it's no where near a MMORPG.

and as for OP BLizzard them selfs..and a lot of people knows little about discworld.
if any if i'd have a idea about who would go somewhere

it'be
Zenimax+ Beth with ESO ( afew will go there, some will come back)
Behaviour with Warhamer:Eternal Crusade(again people will go look and some will come back, others will stay)

end of the day, only blizzard them selfs can kill world of warcraft, and as other said.. even rochana who compared a MOBA(ughhhhh) to a MMORPG said world of warcraft is bleeding and will be bleeding and after talking with some of the people in my guild who played during vanilla, it still bleed in vanilla, guess where.. EVERQUEST.

[Mascotte]

None.
MMO's in general is a dying breed.
Nowadays no-one has the time to grind/play 18hour days.
Sure, a minority might but you cant build a game on that.
"Us" that did the whole 40 hour raidweeks back in vanilla moved on to jobs, lives, kids and families.
Vanilla WoW raiding worked because there where enough players to support the design, i doubt any mmo can even find a fraction of that today.
And thus any new franchise has to support the main audience, the people that can only play a couple hours at most.
People have been giving WoW alot of crap because it swayed away from its original design where time invested equaled result and thus progress but who honestly wants to go back to farming hours per day just to be able to raid on a somewhat competing edge?