Will New Expansions Save Old MMOs? Ref: Conquer Online and WoW

[lookperfection]

These days new MMOs are struggling to enter the industry. They get hyped up, they get their huge budgets and publishers, they launch, they fizzle or disappear in some cases. Honestly it has been this way for a LONG time now. Every year it's the same story and the same disappointment ultimately. Which leads to my question: Instead of trying to think up "the next thing" in a genre that has tried it all, why not go back to the classics and build on them? Incorporate modern concepts, build new worlds and include new classes… all that good stuff.
As much as I might love a game, dated graphics and engines ultimately turn me away eventually. This is especially true for WoW and Conquer Online- I just can't handle that tired engine anymore. I used to Conquer Online in those busy weekdays as one of my favorite pastimes and play WoW in every weekend. But now I retired from them，though I admit I loved these games, for old memories and friends…
News describes Conquer Online’s new expansion as it will “employ TQ’s highest standards of production, to pay tribute to the greatest martial artist and the legendary Kung-Fu superstar of all time, Bruce Lee…” But does it really works? Will Conquer Online get its reborn as its clichés of promotion? Though I admit the visual effects of the new class Le- Long perform the coolest and the most gorgeous among the all...
I'd probably be back on Conquer Online and WoW in a heartbeat if they launched a brand new engine. Sure they'd have to include a bit more than they do with an expansion but they'd be able to leverage on YEARS of content for their new engine. Ideas and programming take the longest time in the development cycle; all that would be cut in half. everyone complain pre-Draenor has hundreds of bugs，and those stupid changes…Will Blizzard make the so-called WoW 2.0?

It's something I've pondered for years really and frankly I wonder why it's something no company has ever attempted with their old game. The concept is well recorded as a working one in other genres, so why those old MMOs? (Ref: Call of Duty, Assassin's Annual Creed)

[DarkBlade6]

Took them long enough just to revamp the old 1-60 leveling experience....... imagine if they wanted to revamp everything on a new engine, pretty damn sure its impossible! What about older content , do they really need to revamp all old instances as well, if nobody's gonna run them anyway(as a legitime way to get gear). And WoW fans really like the gameplay above everything else if they make drastic change to the gameplay, WoW 2.0 will be doomed.

[xanzul]

Old mmos don't need saving. EQ1 is releasing its 21st expansion soon.

Think on that for a bit.

[Nightcrwler]

For WoW, it doesn't need saving cause it's not dead. Still has a very healthly subscriber base. Blizzard seems to move away from resource heavy projects...Titan being cancelled (maybe not if you believe the bs reasons they gave). I can't imagine the profit margins on Hearthstone.....must be huge. Granted it's for free but with 20 million poeple playing it even if a fraction buys packs etc. then they must make a killing. WoW 2.0 will never happen IMO.

[xanzul]

For WoW, it doesn't need saving cause it's not dead. Still has a very healthly subscriber base. Blizzard seems to move away from resource heavy projects...Titan being cancelled (maybe not if you believe the bs reasons they gave). I can't imagine the profit margins on Hearthstone.....must be huge. Granted it's for free but with 20 million poeple playing it even if a fraction buys packs etc. then they must make a killing. WoW 2.0 will never happen IMO.

Clearly wow isn't dead considering aussies are finally getting local servers. That must ruin the day of more than a few haters.

[Sansnom]

Though I admit the visual effects of the new class Le- Long perform the coolest and the most gorgeous among the all...
I'd probably be back on Conquer Online and WoW in a heartbeat if they launched a brand new engine. Sure they'd have to include a bit more than they do with an expansion but they'd be able to leverage on YEARS of content for their new engine. Ideas and programming take the longest time in the development cycle; all that would be cut in half. everyone complain pre-Draenor has hundreds of bugs，and those stupid changes…Will Blizzard make the so-called WoW 2.0?

It's something I've pondered for years really and frankly I wonder why it's something no company has ever attempted with their old game. The concept is well recorded as a working one in other genres, so why those old MMOs? (Ref: Call of Duty, Assassin's Annual Creed)

I doubt your theory of making MMO with more visual will help save the genre. If graphics were all that important, the in theory, the newer games with better graphics should be doing very very well. They are not. GW2 has very nice visuals. TSW has, in my opinion, better visuals than WoW. ESO looks very nice. So why did these games did not take the world by storm.

The thing about MMO is that it is a long term investment. It is like building a railroad. You need a lot of capital upfront to build it. It will take 20 years to just break even. You cannot expect to make a profit after 5 years. I feel MMO is the same. Publishers needs to accept that the game may take a few years to produce any returns. The first couple of years would be a lost.

Unfortunately, if you look around the world, long term investment, in any form, are replaced with short term gains. It is all about maximum returns in the shortest possible time. Part of the global financial crisis was due to this.

It is the same with MMO, players attitude change. Play 6 months to reach highest level. Spend another few months grinding for gears and then you can start raiding. Try selling that concept to new players, do these tasks repeatedly for almost a year and then you can play with these people over there. Not going to happen. Blizzard recognized this which is why we have the fast level to get people to the max level with minimum effort.

People are here to play a game, not work a second job.

If MMO is to flourish, it must not feel like a second job. This probably will anger some players but they are probably a minority now. If they were not, Blizzard would not be making the game easier.

[melodramocracy]

I'd venture a guess that most MMO's have unrealistically high expectations set for them not only by the devs, but also (almost more importantly) by gamers themselves. Perception really can be everything.

The whole "oh, another WoW killer" mentality isn't beneficial for any game, is generally a completely unfounded statement, and it's certainly not a worthwhile viewpoint to pay attention to as a player. People keep using it as a defense mechanism though, which is rather amusing.

As for the games themselves: F2P or even B2P strikes me as a losing proposition in every way possible. Any competent MMO is going to need a rather steady influx of cash, and F2P means that you need to have a game that is a) fun enough to play, and b) a cash shop that makes people want to open their wallets. (whereas a standard title generally only needs to fulfill one of those). It will invite gamers who feel that cash shops are a bad idea across the board, and that everything should be available in-game. The shops also tend to promote a 'gimme nao' mentality, which is exactly the sort of player you do NOT want in an MMO.

Game companies seem to have learned that chasing this particular Blizzard juggernaut is fruitless, because if the title feels too much like WoW, folks will simply stay with what they already know in the long term. Its easy to forget that this game not only has 10 years of refinement (for better or worse) under it's belt, it also offers 10 years of content, which is something that no brand new title is going to really be able to match. The new kid on the block needs to be different enough while still sticking to general foundations of all MMO's that are proven effective (camera, movement / keybinding, large outdoor environments, etc), and look to build its audience slowly, generating a very devoted playerbase.

- - - Updated - - -

If MMO is to flourish, it must not feel like a second job.

If any game truly feels like a job, then the base entertainment value is called into question, and the title has bigger problems than the grind it offers. For me personally, expediency in much of anything isn't a bonus in an MMO. These games are investments generally beyond a single player title or even other online competitive games like FPS. Most of the people playing them know this as well, though they may not want to admit it.

[BenBos]

1. If a game that makes more than 1 billion dollars a year (WOW) needs to be saved, I really don't know what your point of reference is ?

2. WOD will demonstrate that WOW is back with a vengeance, or so I think. No, not 10 million subs, but over 8+million would be a nice step already.

3. I think "some" (certainly not all) people have enough of the shallow "free to play" thingies that were introduced over the past 4 years, on PC and on iPads.

4. If MMO's will offer better game play than they will survive, it not they will turn niche.

4 simple points to think about.