Opinion: something like WoW (with better graphics of course) could never come out now

[Dorthonion1]

Regardless of the current state of the game and what it's become in recent years, I believe WoW is a work of art. Devs, artists and creatives spent time on the game first because lots of them probably enjoyed it and second because they believed its success would depend on its actual quality. In my opinion, today, nobody would fund something like WoW because marketing algorithms always put money first and art last. This is ignoring things like, people have less time for MMOs, replace WoW with its modern equivalent in terms of computer games.

[Adoxe]

I think you're absolutely right. If a game like WoW came out in this day and age, it would not do nearly as well as WoW did because the entire world of gaming has changed so drastically since early 2000's. WoW wasn't just a good game, it was also a very lucky one because it came out at the perfect moment in time.

Also, to the FF14 crowd that is inevitably going to comment something: 2013 =/= today and also lmao.

[Advent]

Well you're in luck because no MMO coming out in the next few years looks anythinglike wow. In fact, nearly all of them are practically the exact same game. PvP sandbox MMOs are all we have to look forward to, which I personally find exceptionally boring and empty.

[Shakana]

I think you're absolutely right. If a game like WoW came out in this day and age, it would not do nearly as well as WoW did because the entire world of gaming has changed so drastically since early 2000's. WoW wasn't just a good game, it was also a very lucky one because it came out at the perfect moment in time.

Also, to the FF14 crowd that is inevitably going to comment something: 2013 =/= today and also lmao.

And not just Acti blizz, all games now are about micro-transactions.
Every game now, feels they are just made to sell (amazing graphics, cosmetics, etc) and has little soul in it (original, fulfilling gameplay).
Before this games were made to entertain people, even that had bad computers back then, wow was a game that had amazing graphics for it's time, the team made this game with such a passion, and activision has been killing it over the course of the years.

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Well you're in luck because no MMO coming out in the next few years looks anythinglike wow. In fact, nearly all of them are practically the exact same game. PvP sandbox MMOs are all we have to look forward to, which I personally find exceptionally boring and empty.

And they try to rip off wow, but just seriously ain't even enough effort.

[d00dles]

I'm so burned out I could go for a single player experience. God of War is AMAZING. I wish there was a MMO like that.

Problem is that RPG games haven't evolved much in the last few years. I mean, the most exciting game coming out right now is a remake...

[Lane]

I don't believe it's a wise financial investment at this point. It's a shame that other games blew their chance. Wildstar could've been great, but they catered to the opposite audience they should have. My dream MMO would probably be ESO questing with TERA combat.

[The Butt Witch]

Nobody makes MMOs anymore. Only online pvp survival games that 100 people play.

Though I love the Rust vids filled with toxicity, that emerge on Youtube.

Honestly, I wouldn't let my kids play these online pvp survival games, ALL of them are radioactive springs of toxicity where N words and mother insults, are like saying Hello.

[Ihsan997]

Honestly, I wouldn't let my kids play these online pvp survival games, ALL of them are radioactive springs of toxicity where N words and mother insults, are like saying Hello.

That’s the same reason why I don’t let my kids play. It’s like a certain element from society’s gutter has staked out those games as their little garbage dump of hate. It’s hard to understand the connection.

To the main point: I agree with the OP; WoW can’t be replicated. Could we not say that part of the reason is the consumer shift away from consoles and PC games on the one hand, and toward simple mobile games on the other?

[peter92q]

Gaming will live on but MMORPG's certainly won't. They're a dying breed, everyone wants cutting edge graphics and fast paced action, it's impossible to have a powerful gaming engine like that in MMOs, you'll have to strip down the population in each realm to 10 players max. World of Warcraft for example is running on that same old WC3 engine from 2000.

[rowaasr13]

And not just Acti blizz, all games now are about micro-transactions.
Every game now, feels they are just made to sell (amazing graphics, cosmetics, etc) and has little soul in it (original, fulfilling gameplay).

The most disappointing fact for me is that not only new games are made this way, some older ones are modified to streamlined P2W shit. I used to quite enjoy Skyforge with its pretty unique system of collecting all classes on single character and tons of branching character advancement paths. Stuff like FFX's sphere grid / PoE skill grid, except there was about dozen of them and you could advance each independently through different activities, leading to a great skill synergies if you plan in advance. It was so central to a game that it was featured as background art in pretty much every video and each class intro video started with zoom to class unlock node position on the grid. Two years later they decided that it is to much of a hassle for newcomers to and they're losing "potential" profit from microtransactions from "potential" new players put off by complexity and they've scrapped it completely.

The only thing I'm relatively happy about, that according to stats and some empirical observations - 3 player role-independent random instance queue used to take minute or two and week after change I couldn't find a party for a half-hour until I gave up - they've lost at very least 1/3 of players and never recovered going on steady decline instead. I hope that will be a lesson to them.

[Relapses]

Regardless of the current state of the game and what it's become in recent years, I believe WoW is a work of art. Devs, artists and creatives spent time on the game first because lots of them probably enjoyed it and second because they believed its success would depend on its actual quality. In my opinion, today, nobody would fund something like WoW because marketing algorithms always put money first and art last. This is ignoring things like, people have less time for MMOs, replace WoW with its modern equivalent in terms of computer games.

Most forms of entertainment are dictated by these trends, it's not just video games. Nobody wants to make a bad investment and according to the bean counters there simply aren't enough people interested in playing MMOs these days to justify the triple-A production of another WoW killer. Really, at this point only Blizzard could do it but they'd be knowingly killing off their own brand in doing so, so I doubt they're highly interested in doing so.

[Sinndra]

Im a game developer and I dont understand the concept of "WoW with better graphics".

Theres a HUGE misconception that WoW's art is outdated or something. WoW is full of old content, old meshes, old textures etc that look outdated, but the new stuff is absolutely cutting edge. Its just themed and cartoonish, that dosent make it look bad.

this so much.

i really hate seeing the obligatory thread that pops up every month about WoW in Unreal graphics, and how blizz has an outdated game engine and its graphics suck.. blah blah blah.

WoW is a conscious decision to look cartoonish. its an artistic style.. the HD versions of our characters show that there is still room to update and sharpen the style of WoW. It does not need to be done in photo-realism, it simply wouldnt be WoW anymore if it was.

looking for a photo-real MMO? there are plenty of them out there, quit trying to change WoW into another one of those games.

[CritFromAfar]

There is no single player version of WoW. I've tried finding it, there is no single player game that allows you to play as a healer and heal your friends in co-op, if not heal an selected team of AI with chosen traits, with WoW's combat and talents system. Not what you were talking about, but if Blizz made a single player version of WoW that was more focused on lore and writing, it would give the writers more time to focus on loose ends and plot holes. WC is not what I want since it's an RTS strategy rather than an action oriented game with a more focused targeting system (as opposed to Overwatch).

To respond more on topic, players don't want a game that requires sitting for hours and hours for days and days just to keep up with what's relevant. When people have lives to live, it makes more sense to play a game that can be stopped more easily with a pause button or save feature, or if it has shorter games with no real prep time like Fortnite. MMO's tend to be too much work for too little satisfaction compared to other types of games. WoW is an action RPG with a RTS targetting system, which is kind of an odd mix, but it makes playing much simpler for people. Their UI and animations are smoother than other MMO's graphics/UI I've seen, and UI is make or break in any game.

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this so much.

i really hate seeing the obligatory thread that pops up every month about WoW in Unreal graphics, and how blizz has an outdated game engine and its graphics suck.. blah blah blah.

WoW is a conscious decision to look cartoonish. its an artistic style.. the HD versions of our characters show that there is still room to update and sharpen the style of WoW. It does not need to be done in photo-realism, it simply wouldnt be WoW anymore if it was.

looking for a photo-real MMO? there are plenty of them out there, quit trying to change WoW into another one of those games.

To add to what you just said, considering some of WoW's darker content, making a more serious environment would probably drive away some of the fan base.

[Kyphael]

WoW was designed to make money first and foremost like any other game in the history of gaming. It just so happens the devs working on it were extremely passionate to make sure it would be well polished and high quality, but they weren't starving artists looking to share their creativity with the gaming world. When you're working on a project that is undoubtedly pooling big money for a subscription based game that's going to bank $15 a month from individual players, you bring your A game because you're likely making a very good salary and want to stay employed.

By the time Blizz was working on WoW, they were no longer an indie start up company operating out of someone's mom's basement. They had profited ten years for hits like Warcraft 1-3 and the Diablo games. First chance they had, Blizzard sold to first Vivendi and then Activision. Doing so were culmination of years of just good work ethic and game designing. They did what they set out to do; made bank on their hard work, and rightfully so.

[therealstegblob]

Well you're in luck because no MMO coming out in the next few years looks anythinglike wow. In fact, nearly all of them are practically the exact same game. PvP sandbox MMOs are all we have to look forward to, which I personally find exceptionally boring and empty.

It's too bad. WoW and its like are probably the end of an era. There'll always be smaller scale MMOs out there (and they're all gems) but we'll never see huge MMOs like WoW or FF14 again, barring some massive shift in the industry that makes them viable products to develop again.

[Super Kami Dende]

The issue is, as bad as WoWs graphics are in comparison with newer MMO's. It still has the most fluid engine and combat of any MMO of it's type.

One of the MAIN issues with every "WoWkiller" I ever played was always how clunky it felt in comparison to WoW. I can guarantee many MMO's had they had the fluidity of WoW - be it RIFT, Swtor, or WH:O or even Wildstar would have been much more competitive in the Market. I'm not saying they were downright bad, but there is just a fluidity to WoW's combat engine that makes anything even slightly less fluid feel janky as fuck.

[Yriel]

It's too bad. WoW and its like are probably the end of an era. There'll always be smaller scale MMOs out there (and they're all gems) but we'll never see huge MMOs like WoW or FF14 again, barring some massive shift in the industry that makes them viable products to develop again.

I wouldn't bet on that.
Game development is quite cyclical, stuff is gone and then comes back, often in a big way.
But i think that as long as WoW is running no one will dare to make a competing product since so many games failed doing that. At some point, when WoW has been dead for a few years, i could see someone try it again.

[Flurryfang]

[QUOTE=Dorthonion1;51858786] In my opinion, today, nobody would fund something like WoW because marketing algorithms always put money first and art last.

...You do know that WoW was HUGELY profitable for Blizzard very quickly. WoW Vanillas businessplan did not require many players for the game to be profitable on the long run, so i think the last people who would object to the idea of a subscriber MMO, would be the money people.

While i agree, that WoW would not get the same traction today as it did 15 years, i don't think it has to do with how much people value money over art. I am very sure, that when Blizzard looked for funds for WoW development, they got help from ALOT of people, who had dollar signs in their eyes, when they heard "12-15$ a month" when it came to income outside of the initial 50$ price for a box.

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The issue is, as bad as WoWs graphics are in comparison with newer MMO's. It still has the most fluid engine and combat of any MMO of it's type.

One of the MAIN issues with every "WoWkiller" I ever played was always how clunky it felt in comparison to WoW. I can guarantee many MMO's had they had the fluidity of WoW - be it RIFT, Swtor, or WH:O or even Wildstar would have been much more competitive in the Market. I'm not saying they were downright bad, but there is just a fluidity to WoW's combat engine that makes anything even slightly less fluid feel janky as fuck.

Blizzard really found a good spike with their artstyle. You get the same feeling playing Warcraft 3(not reforged). While the graphics are old, the artstyle just makes everything flow perfectly and completly perfect. I think that when it comes to many other games, who tries to really work on the graphics, they end up sacrificing the smoothness of the game in exchange for better resolution.

Just looking at games like Skyrim, Civs or many of the newer games in the RTS genre, the games just feel so clunky and full of fault, despite them having much better graphics than WoW or W3. I think the gaming industry have put too much value in better and better graphics lately, and are making a bit poorer games for it.

[Dastreus]

Shadowbringers says hi

[sam86]

why ? FF14 came out recent and it is an actual competitor, and with how 'amazing' blizz doing i may even go there too and throw my 30+ years of loyalty to warcraft because i'm sure as f8ck that blizz don't give a sh8t about it in first place
problem of mmo however is its fail costs a lot, the most in any game genre