NCSoft West to Take on Blizzard in Next-Gen MMOs

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The_Blood_Raven

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I played Guild Wars and loved it for awhile. NCsoft has to do 2 things to make it a WoW killer. Guild Wars already has one of the best team based PVP and PVE systems around. Problem is NCsoft has to make it a more viable option to those who do not like to play in teams. Also NCsoft must make the PVE aspect much more appealing and in-depth. The Last thing NCsoft must do is add many more achievements, or levels, to be gained by a player over time. I hate to bring this game into it, but Runescape is a very popular MMO (if you can really call it that) because there is just so much to do and so much to gain with the player's spent time. Guild Wars was a great game because it had excellent PVP, good servers, player's combat efficiency was based on skill and not equipment, and the lack of a monthly fee. The problem was that those who like PVE got tired of the game quickly and there quickly ran out of things to do because the very frequent updates were rather bland and all very similar. Then not to mention the fact that all of the expansion packs kind of felt the same and killed any challenge in leveling to the lvl 20 cap. In the end Guild Wars is much to different to be a WoW killer and unless Guild Wars 2 has a lot of huge changes I can not see it being a WoW killer. Though, to be honest I think WoW's popularity is more due to it being very well known then anything, I still don't think it lives up to the hype. Just my two cents I suppose.
 

falchard

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NCSoft has several high profile as well as some small budget mmos in development. I think its a good move to consolidate and cut spending on thier smaller mmos. Larger mmo studios like NCSoft typically have 500+ employees per branch. The smaller size with many branches can take a hit on producation time. In the end it will mean Aion, Guild Wars 2, and Blade and Soul will be that much better.
 

kutark

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I'm getting really tired of all these companies trying to be "WOW killers". The only way to be come close to taking WOW down is to use the same formula that WOW does, which is basically to scoop the lowest common denominator. You do this by making the game easy to play, make the rewards come quickly and frequently, and make them seem like large rewards. Essentially hang a carrot in front of the person face, but constantly move the carrot so they never quite catch it.

Frankly i just wish that the MMO industry would go back to its pre WOW trend of moving towards a larger number of specific types of MMO's to suit different gamers. I.E. a game with large leveling times, high death penalties, etc for the "hardcore" mmo'er. Then an easier, WOW style game for the casual player, then an open sandbox type mmo for the hardcore PVPers, a RVR style MMO for the goal oriented PVP'ers, etc etc etc.

Unfortunately it looks like that won't happen, instead every MMO dev is going to try to chase the almighty $ of WOW.

/grumble
 

squiZZ

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though you can't really blame anyone for trying to be a wow killer. If I had the resources i'd also shoot for the 4.62 billion dollar a year piece of pie.
 

somasaint

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WoW and EQ2 were slated as EQ killers..

i played WoW for about a week.. and moved on.

certain events have inevitable results.

and obviously SWG twas utter fukn failure [post patch]..

my point is.. WoW will die like EVERYTHING ELSE THAT HAS EVER BEEN MADE.
 
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this is capitalism at work. blizzard needs to be challenged constantly or there will never be any innovation coming from them. i wish one of these other MMORPGs would succeed so blizzard will create something new and exciting, instead of relying on their 3 franchises (starcraft, diablo, warcraft)
 

giovanni86

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Been a WOW player since spring 2007, hated the game before even playing it, talked a lot of smack about it. Finally friend convinced me, and i was hooked, its easy to play and a lot of fun to play in PVP, and i like the variety with each class you choose, and the use of the talent tree to make your character different then others. I doubt WOW will die like everything else that has been made, i think maybe in 5 or 10 years it will die, or until blizzard stops making expansions and the game comes to a complete hault, but even then ppl already hooked will just make more toons n lvl those and keep playing. WOW will be around for a long time to come and i doubt any game has the potential to knock wow down, but when it happens i hope i am still around to see it. My 5 cents.
 

Gankak

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To answer the question above EQ killed Ultima Online. I still play EQ and even tried WoW it was way to lame imo so I just cancelled and moved back to EQ for some real challenge.
 
Actually, EVE Online has a skill tree much much larger than anything WoW could ever put out, and somehow got everyone on the same game server.

Besides, how many games sign economists to report on the in-game economy? Too bad i can't stand the game itself...
 

Mr_Man

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I've played City Of Heroes for a few months at a time on and off over the last several years (usually during the summer when I have more time), and it is such a good game. Huge environments, lots of people of varying levels and experience, tons of customization to your hero (you can be practically ANYTHING), and best of all, it's not a fantasy setting. I hope NCSoft continues to grow and grab marketshare (not that WoW is a bad game- we just need more non-fantasy alternatives).
 
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All I can say is Darkfall. That is when all this care-bearing can end!
 

techguy911

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Aoc is done its proven that funcom cannot fix bugs in its software for every 1 bug they fix they create 5 more.

Aoc will go the way of AO you can't make it on half a game, good graphics, good combat system everything else is bugged so bad it does not work.

Has worst crafting system in mmo history even the crafting advancement quests require you to log or zone since beta.

Darkfall imo might be a wow killer along with warhammer and stargate online.
 

balister

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I've been playing WoW since beta 3 back in 6/04. As I see it, the only thing that is going to kill WoW is Blizzard, and I think that time is coming. With the coming of Wrath, we will see an end to all of the "villians" from Warcraft 3. In The Burning Crusade, you see to the end of Lady Vashj, Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider, Illidan, fight Archimonde in the past at the world tree Nordrassil, and Kil'Jaedan, the present master of the Burning Legion. In Wrath of the Lich King, you will ultimate go toe to toe with the combined being of Arthas and Ner'zhul, the Lich King. With the fall of the Lich King, all major protagonists will be cleaned up from Warcraft 3. This opens Blizzard to make minor updates from there on out for World of Warcraft and put together Warcraft 4 and a World of Warcraft 2 dealing with the protagonists of Warcraft 4.
 

giovanni86

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[citation][nom]balister[/nom]I've been playing WoW since beta 3 back in 6/04. As I see it, the only thing that is going to kill WoW is Blizzard, and I think that time is coming. With the coming of Wrath, we will see an end to all of the "villians" from Warcraft 3. In The Burning Crusade, you see to the end of Lady Vashj, Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider, Illidan, fight Archimonde in the past at the world tree Nordrassil, and Kil'Jaedan, the present master of the Burning Legion. In Wrath of the Lich King, you will ultimate go toe to toe with the combined being of Arthas and Ner'zhul, the Lich King. With the fall of the Lich King, all major protagonists will be cleaned up from Warcraft 3. This opens Blizzard to make minor updates from there on out for World of Warcraft and put together Warcraft 4 and a World of Warcraft 2 dealing with the protagonists of Warcraft 4.[/citation]
That sounds exciting, if not expansions and they do that, i am all for it XD.
 
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