Poll: With what will Blizzard counter the launch of The Elder Scrolls Online?

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  1. #1
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    Will Blizzard counter the release of The Elder Scrolls Online on April 4?

    Historically, Blizzard has in one way or another countered the release of new MMORPGs by deploying new content or by announcing something. On August 28, 2012, the pre-expansion patch of Mists of Pandaria, 5.0.4, was released to counter the launch of Guild Wars 2 on the same day. And patch 4.3.0, “Hour of Twilight”, launched on November 29, 2011, close to the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic.

    Next week, on April 4, The Elder Scrolls Online will be launched worldwide. Those with 5-day Early Access will however be able to access the game servers on Sunday, March 30th at 7:00 AM EDT. We know from Chris G. Robinson, Senior Art Director at Blizzard, that a new Artcraft blog post showing the new female Dranei character model will be made available the first week of April (supposedly 1-6 April). I'm wondering if this solely will be the counter to The Elder Scrolls Online launch, or if there is more that's going to be revealed next week; some have speculated that beta may start by April 4, though nearer PAX East (starts April 11) seems more likely.

    What do you think, is the Arcraft next week Blizzard's way of depluming Bethesda's/ZeniMax's first entry into the MMO realm, or is there more coming?

  2. #2
    the beta will be announce within a week after the 4th

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  4. #4
    The Patient Romanesca's Avatar
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    I'd say if Blizzard really wanted to counter it then after everyone plays TESO and gets bored after a month they release beta in very early May so that they all come flocking back. And if that happens, it'll probably just be the starting zone questing experience since they said that was practically finished.

  5. #5
    The Lightbringer leaks's Avatar
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    In what way would a new model reveal counter a game launch? Wouldn't the other features like a free lvl 90 or the release of the Diablo expansion make far more sense as their "counter"?
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  6. #6
    Titan Frozenbeef's Avatar
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    ESO next Friday? Boy that went quick :/

  7. #7
    It seems like the only thing they've got lined up until PAX is a female Draenei artcraft. /yawn.

  8. #8
    Does Blizzard really need to counter TESO, or any other MMO for that matter? WoW has been on top for a decade by light years, and there's nothing that points to that changing anytime soon (not even the possible delayed release of WoD, despite what some people on certain forums would lead you to believe). If they did something to counter TESO or Wildstar, it would just be for their own self amusement.

  9. #9
    I don't see how revealing the female drenai model revamp in any way counters the release of a game.

    I like the idea from above of waiting until a month after ESO to start the beta, once everyone realizes how bad ESO is.

  10. #10
    They will not counter it, they don't need to. And the above listed things are not counters it would take a game to counter a game IMO.

  11. #11
    Weird post, I don't really consider any of these things a "counter" to ES:O release.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Celista View Post
    Weird post, I don't really consider any of these things a "counter" to ES:O release.
    1. Blizzard has countered other MMO launches in the past.

    2. Got any better ideas?

  13. #13
    Herald of the Titans theWocky's Avatar
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    This is how I see it all plays out:

    4 April 2014 - ESO - Much as I love ESO, I think it's going to be a huge flash and then two months later have a steep decline in interest with the hardcore PvE people.

    6 June 2014 - Wildstar - this will probably not sell as well as ESO (I predict at least 3 million ESO sales in the first two weeks), but I think it will move on to eventually be a darn good f2p game in a year or two. I also think it's a pretty awesome game. I think it may keep its playerbase a bit longer than ESO, but there will be less of them. Something for me (I think it's the classic mmo grind formula) that drives me (personally) away, but I think others will like it.

    21 August 2014 ~ 20 Sep 2014 - Warlords of Draenor - I don't think this will be as successful as other mmo's as it just feels less of an expansion to me than other WoW expansions - it really feels (to me) that we are waiting for some massive "content patch" rather than an expansion. However, the insta-boost to 90 is a huuuuge drawcard.

    Two months after this, Rift 3.0 and/or importantly ... Archeage!

    I think there will be a month or two between Rift 3.0 and Archeage, however - not sure which will release first.

    edits: - a few extra comments added

    Oh, before the fanboys start - already bought ESO, going to buy WoD and Wildstar and the new souls for Rift 3.0 / 2.7
    Last edited by theWocky; 2014-03-27 at 06:23 PM.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by leaks View Post
    In what way would a new model reveal counter a game launch? Wouldn't the other features like a free lvl 90 or the release of the Diablo expansion make far more sense as their "counter"?
    Free 90 would've been, but it wasn't close enough.

    Diablo is too different a genre.

  15. #15
    They're fucking themself over more by abandoning MoP so early. Theres nothing to do but wait for WoD.

    But i doubt they're worried about ESO. It doesn't have the longevity.
    There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want

  16. #16
    Blizzard doesn't need to counter TESO... TESO will counter TESO.

  17. #17
    The beta will be ready when it is ready.
    A rushed beta only hurts the game in the long-run.

    Information posts are a definite possibility, but as for a beta release then I don't believe it will be quite that soon.
    I suspect we will see some major information posts coming out before that happens, and by that I don't mean artcraft.

    EVERY game has been stated to be a wow-killer.
    Blizzard do not need any counter, for each game so far has failed to live up to its own hype.
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  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by schwank05 View Post
    They will not counter it, they don't need to. And the above listed things are not counters it would take a game to counter a game IMO.
    They've done it before with content patches launching within 1-2 weeks of a new MMO launching. Whether or not your or I think they need to is irreverent when they've been proven to do this before.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by ComputerNerd View Post
    The beta will be ready when it is ready.
    A rushed beta only hurts the game in the long-run.

    Information posts are a definite possibility, but as for a beta release then I don't believe it will be quite that soon.
    I suspect we will see some major information posts coming out before that happens, and by that I don't mean artcraft.

    EVERY game has been stated to be a wow-killer.
    Blizzard do not need any counter, for each game so far has failed to live up to its own hype.
    The only large information we have left is essentially beta patch notes, and that only comes with beta.

    Whether or not they need to counter it doesn't matter, they have in the past.

    Last beta took 6 months. To hit any timetable and any date in fall it has to be soon. (As in within a month)

  19. #19
    There's at least a betting chance that they'll announce beta around that point. Blizzard is fairly big on making announcements and releasing patches close to their competitor's release dates.
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  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Syntech View Post
    Does Blizzard really need to counter TESO, or any other MMO for that matter? WoW has been on top for a decade by light years, and there's nothing that points to that changing anytime soon (not even the possible delayed release of WoD, despite what some people on certain forums would lead you to believe). If they did something to counter TESO or Wildstar, it would just be for their own self amusement.
    Definitely this! Blizzard doesn't really have to do much in order to counter anything. The only thing they have to counter is WoW itself to have players keep playing and subbers keep subbing. ESO will be fun at first but the only ones to stick around are hardcore ES fans. Pretty sure there might have been some comments like "ESO: Finally the WoW killer" but will eventually lose subs to WoW again.

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