Blizzard May Finally Get Some Healthy Competition

World of Warcraft may be closing the book on its Warcraft 3 storylines with the defeat of Arthas at the end of its second expansion, The Wrath of the Lich King, but it may also be closing the book on its five year reign as the only dominant MMO in the market.

In no way do I want to suggest Blizzard is in trouble, nor do I want to imply the long heralded “death of WoW,” but for the first time, I think Blizzard may have genuine competition. The last time I thought this was when Sigil was developing Vanguard: Saga of Heroes under Brad McQuaid’s direction. I still believe Vanguard was the best candidate to challenge WoW, but reached for too much at launch and caved in on itself as a result. I didn’t have faith in Age of Conan or Warhammer Online either. I thought The Lord of the Rings Online would draw a large following, but not like WoW enjoyed.

But as the Lich King falls, two competitors are looking to rise. The first is Bioware’s much anticipated Star Wars: The Old Republic. While Star Wars: Galaxies was good in its own ways (before the NGE), it was restrained by design due to its setting between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back (though LotR Online has proven this story-following method can still work). Bioware, acclaimed for Neverwinter Nights, has far less restrictions as there is much less structured, definitive canon in the time of The Old Republic during the wars between Jedi and Sith. It also gives free reign to more understandably let you jump out as a Jedi or Sith without unlocking it or enraging purists. For the record, I myself never tried Galaxies and I still disliked the thought of Jedi running all over the place when Luke (with Leia as pinch hitter) was the last hope for the Jedi and the Rebellion.

The Old Republic is claiming to develop for each player based on their personal choices and interaction with NPCs. This sounds great, but I’m jaded enough to MMOs to be skeptical on how unique each player’s experiences will be. However, with 12 full time writers on the staff and the single most impressive Star Wars trailer I can recall, The Old Republic may be a considerable draw. And foolish it would be to underestimate the power of the Force and its fans.

However, Bioware’s release is still as mysterious as the ways of the Force, but the same can’t be said of the second title I’m addressing. From Square Enix comes a double dose of Final Fantasy in 2010, or triple if we want to consider Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII VS as two games. The third that stands in Blizzard’s arena is Final Fantasy XIV. Square Enix shocked everyone by announced XIV at E3 this year, especially with XIII’s long delays. But XIV is an online MMO set for computers and PS3 and by the look of those graphics, you best have a beefy PC indeed or room on that PS3 hard drive to play it.

Final Fantasy has an enormous fan base, so Squire is well set to draw some curious players from other MMOs, not just WoW. Directed by Nobuaki Komoto with Akihiko Yoshida directing the art and Nobuo (We’re not worthy!) Uematsu composing the soundtrack. XIV is reportedly a bit more like WoW than XI was, with Square Enix claiming that you can still spend hours exploring with friends, but you can also play for short times alone too. If nothing else, new MMOs have learned the benefits of the casual player content from World of Warcraft‘s success.

So far, there isn’t much information about Square Enix’s new venture into MMOs, but the trailer gives us a clear look at a human (what a shock!), a mithra, an elvaan and a galka. The official site’s art shows a tavern scene with clearly cute tarutaru in it, so it’s safe to say they’re back too. If other races are going to appear, we’ll have to wait to find out what they are, though Fran’s bunny-women race from XII wouldn’t surprise me at all and the class/job system was said to work differently than XI, but no details there either.

With X, XII, and XIII all being a tad more fantasy/sci-fi, the trailer for XIV feels more high fantasy that many love from IV, IX, or even XI. If Square Enix keeps the impressive stories of XI’s city missions and can still deliver the casual friendly content without becoming a grind, they may have a Warcraft level success recipe on their hands. The high demand for supporting those graphics, though, may hold them back some, but one does not need to topple WoW to be successful or even compete with it.

Square Enix had first stated the game was for PC and PS3 exclusive release, but they quickly amended the statement with acknowledgment that they are willing to keep their options open regarding other systems (*cough*XBox*cough*). This would be interesting as it would mark the first game to allow PS3, Xbox, and PC owners to all access the same game and play alongside one another, assuming they all access the same servers (which I imagine they would).

I’m hoping Final Fantasy XIV and The Old Republic are both wildly successful and directly reduce World of Warcraft‘s subscription numbers noticeably, prompting further innovations by Blizzard to keep WoW fun and new. Competition drives creativity, after all, and will, in the long run, give all three companies a better MMO product.

And really weally, whataru more could we wantaru?

25 No Names Kill _______

I am extremely tired of seeing this complaint on the forums for World of Warcraft ever since Illidan was revealed as the “final” boss in the first expansion, The Burning Crusade. It seems people can’t seem to grasp the concept of story telling in an MMO, nor how it works. I thought I’d take a moment to give a break down.

In Warcraft 2, Prince Arthas was nowhere to be found. He was a no name paladin-in-training. Yes, heir to the throne, but still nothing worthy of noting. At least no more than young Anduin Wrynn in Stormwind is now. Likewise, Thrall was a slave early on, and nothing of noteworthy significance.

Enter YOU. Your character. Over the course of playing from level 1 to 60, YOUR character has joined with others and led groups or armies to save Stormwind from the Defias plot to destroy the city with their warship. YOU and your allies have ended the threat in Shadowfang Keep. It was YOUR brave deeds that assaulted the Dark Iron nation and overthrew their Emperor. YOU who confronted Deathwing’s brood; Onyxia and Nefarion and slew them both, bringing their draconic heads back to your nation as proof of your heroic deed. From there, you fought in the War of the Shifting Sands against the Qiraji and their masters. Even some gathered together and fought the demigod Ragnaros and assaulted Naxxramas itself! These deeds are heroic beyond measure and will be sung by minstrels for ages!

It was YOU, Dragonslayer, Fire-Fiend, Scourge of the Qiraji, Hand of the Light, Killer of Kel’Thuzad, HERO of the Alliance/Horde who laid siege to Gruul, slayed Magtheridon, and battled through Serpentshrine Cavern. YOU and YOUR ALLIES defeated Lady Vashj and assaulted Tempest Keep to stop Kael’Thas.

Why are Vashj, Kael’Thas, Illidan, and Arthas considered to be such unstoppable, unbeatable, unchallengeable beings?

Vashj never did anything of greatness. She AND HER NAGA ALLIES helped Kael’thas in combat and helped him escape and Alliance prison. She never single handedly lay waste to an army.

Kael’thas had support. He was a leader and a commander of his forces, leading them through the trials his troop faced as a result of biased, racist Alliance commanders (you know who I’m looking at!). But he never left a city in ruins by himself. He never obliterated an army with the wave of his hand.

Illidan. We’re stepping up a notch, I suppose, but what did he do? Where is his greatness from? He bested a powerful demon in single combat. He led his naga warriors into battle. He led HIS ALLIES against Magtheridon in the Black Temple. Bear in mind, he defeated Magtheridon with the aid of HERO CLASS Vashj, Kael’thas AND Akama, as well as all the “no name” troops.

Arthas, likewise, used others in combat. Again, he was a commander, a leader in combat. He never waded into the middle of an enemy force and single handedly slaughtered them all. He defeated Uther as a Death Knight; another single combat battle (though I could argue calvary beats infantry any day). He defeated Illidan, another battle of Hero class vs. Hero class in single combat. He led an army, aka HIS ALLIES against Silvermoon City, facing Sylvanas and her allies on the way. In the end, he overcame those challenges and then went on with Kel’Thuzad, another Hero class, as an ally in combat. Before he was a Death Knight, he commanded knights, paladins, riflemen, mages, and priests in combat.

No Hero of the lore has obliterated armies with the wave of his hand. Archimonde crushed a city, but we’re not really looking at him right now. The Heroes of the Horde and Alliance have been leaders. They command their men, inspire them, and use their strengths and strategy to gain victory.

Hero and allies VS. Hero, that’s what these boss fights come down to. I’m not sure how much more fitting anyone could ask. It took 27 heroes to defeat Illidan. 25 Heroes of the Alliance/Horde, as well as two additional Hero class characters in Maeiv and Akama. 27 vs 1 and it’s still a hard fought battle.

For Arthas, it will be 10 vs 1 (arguably 10 +1 hero class if Jaina or Sylvanas are included in the encounter) for accessible content sake. For the full hard encounter, it returns to 25 vs. 1 (or 26 with Jaina/Sylvanas). How much more epic of a last stand can one ask for? Honestly, the 10 vs 1 is more novel-like than 40 or more.

Sure, Sauron the Deceiver challenged the armies of man and elf on his own, but it came down to Hero class Dark Lord vs. Hero class Warrior King for his fingers to get cut off and lose the Ring of Power.

Usually we have the help of powerful beings anyway. Kalecgos, Sylvanas, Jaina, Tyrande, Thrall, Vaelastrasz, Maiev, Akama just to name a few. And our characters are powerful heroes of legend by the story of the game. Yes, every player gets to experience that, and thus in every player’s “story” they are the main protagonist, the hero.

So drop the whining and complaining because a character from Warcraft III lore is getting killed. It’s called denouement, closure, and a conclusion to the story. When one story concludes, the seeds laid give rise to the next tale. And always…

There is more to be written.

-Swift

Be it ever so electronic…

Blizzard has done well to let information get out under their control.  For Wrath of the Lich King, they’ve announced Death Knights, Northrend, all raids will have 10 and 25 man versions, and recently there have been the first leaks of some talent trees from the expansion’s friends and family alpha phase.  But Blizzard isn’t foolish. They’re holding something back. Something big.  Siege weapons are announced, a full zone for pvp is announced.  We know about Malygos, Icecrown Citadel, the Culling of Stratholme, and other instances.  So what could they be holding back for Blizzcon or for pre-release excitement?  It seems there isn’t too much left they could announce considering what we should expect size-wise from an MMO expansion.  We even know the new profession.

And that’s why I look to the WoW forums for random buzz that might give a suggestion of what’s to come and personally, I think there are two things that should and could be announced for us to enjoy while facing the Lich King’s wrath.

Player Housing
Mention player housing on the forums and get the popcorn out because it unquestionably will cause a maelstrom of debate and shocking levels of sheer hatred.  There is a guarantee someone will throw out “retarded,” “Barbie,” “cyber,” or “doll house” before posts get to the second page.  The loudest complaint I see is that “hardly anyone will use it” and therefore the developers’ should be spending their time on more important things.  I’m not exactly sure what they particularly are referring to since the general consensus on those forums state that nobody gets to see raid content and nobody is going to see the new PvP gear because of the rating requirements.

I think housing is not only a benefit, but desperately needed right now.  Age of Conan just came out and Warhammer Online will be out this fall, both of which are boasting PvP as their main draw.  World of Warcraft has the advantage of already holding their players and having been successfully built on the back of casuals looking to play 30 minutes to an hour in a night and accomplish something.  Player housing gives players something tangible that they can work with or work on, letting them own a piece of the world, so to speak.

Granted, there are hurdles to get past with implementing something like this, but that should be expected.  Lord of the Rings Online has done a fantastic job with housing being in an instanced neighborhood that hasn’t detracted from the heavy use of the cities as centers of commerce.  The auction house will forever remain a key source for people to gather to and banks can still be the primary and easiest accessible place of storage for items.  But there have also been reports of communities and parties in neighborhoods of housing on that game.  Blizzard could use this model and I know they could make housing successful in WoW.

It’s also been a popular, extremely popular, feature in EverQuest 2, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, and will be included as guild housing or neighborhoods of sorts on Warhammer Online and Age of Conan, and of course Star Wars: Galaxies was the daddy of customizable player housing the others have carried on from.

Along with player housing we could get another yet-to-be-announced profession in woodworking that could give us arrows, bows, and staves along with a slew of furniture for the houses.  The question would be how Blizzard could implement furniture being able to be placed where players want it, but putting up armor displays would certainly be nice.  Perhaps a title for those with a full set of Tier 1 through 6 in their home?

Allowing the packrats of WoW to display their armor sets and weapons, have a back yard with a stable that displays their stored mounts and letting the vanity pets run around could certainly be fun.

Appearance Tab
Rumor has it that a CM on the European forums has confirmed that Blizzard will be implementing tabs to gives players a way to save bag space on multiple sets and swap faster similar to Item Rack.  Along with this would be the perfect time to include an appearance tab similar to the one in EverQuest2 or the outfitting system in Lord of the Rings Online.  Basically, this would give you your standard armor tab for gear that you are using, getting the full benefit of armor and stats from them. But another tab would overwrite your armor for appearance sake.  This would let a T8 hunter still appear like they are wearing T4 if they prefer the look.

Or players could mix and match gear.  I’ve noticed that a combination of hunter D3 and Tier 1 was used for the Sunfury Marksmen on the Isle of Quel’danas and they look pretty darn cool.  So why not give players a similar option?  Yes, Blizzard artists are proud of their word and want some control over how players look, and it’s likely the ones they really work on, Tier sets, are going to be displayed as a mark of honor for having cleared that content.  And even the players mixing armor appearances for their own style are still displaying the armor design the artists have made, just their preference of which ones they like.

As for the PvP woes of attacking a Season 4 geared player that looks like they’re wearing Tier 4, the appearance tab could be disabled when flagged for PvP, solving the problem easily enough.

Both of these features should come to the World of Warcraft soon and hopefully are among the surprise announcements Blizzard is holding close to their chest until closer to launch.  As to those who say these are cosmetic and pointless except to roleplayers, I can only respond that roleplayers have sat back and played with Arenas, battlegrounds, and new instances and raids.  It’s been a while since the Dressing Room was implemented.  If these are only for RPers and nobody else can find use in them, then so be it.

I’ll expand on the player housing next time, as I’ve actually thought out a questline for guild housing and for PvP being included as a part of guild housing.

Blizzard announces genius for Wrath of the Lich King

A flood of information came out a while ago for Wrath of the Lich King that got fans of the largest MMO ever buzzing, bring about the old war of controversy: casual vs. hardcore (or raider).

The announcement made was that Wrath of the Lich King would have dual progression options; 10 man and 25 man versions of every raid instance. With the popularity of Karazhan, Blizzard has embraced the 10 man instance and is taking it a step further. They intended the same with Zul’Aman, but many players have found it extremely difficult without being in 25 man gear to begin with, definitely not a progressive step from Karazhan.

There are two camps, of course; those that like it and those that hate it. Rarely is there an in between stated on the forums for anything Blizzard announces or introduces. Personally, I can’t find anything negative about the decision and am extremely excited to think that I could face off against Arthas in a 10 man. Others believe this dumbs down the encounter, makes raiders hard work have less meaning, and is (of course) a slap in the face.

But the 25 man versions will still be there, still require greater coordination, and still give better loot. There’s no difference except that smaller groups can now do something more than just daily quests. The elitist raider that thinks he’s better than the other nerds playing World of Warcraft cries out in pain when other players are offered content and the chance to see major lore storylines outside of the coveted “uber raids.” I find this doubly ironic as most raiders I know couldn’t give a rat’s tail about lore, story, or major characters in the raids. They just want their epic loot and the next challenge.

There’s always the argument coming up that “25 no names can beat Arthas” isn’t epic because so many view Arthas as the ultimate villain of god-like powers that is invincible to all but the most ridiculously overpowered story character Blizzard could imagine (Malfruion, Rhonin, Tyrande, Thrall, Cairne, Tirion Fordring with the Ashbringer, Sylvanas, Varian Wrynn, and Saurfang *might* stand a chance at holding Arthas at bay in the minds of these players, it seems). By this extension, they get even more worked up when they’re told 10 people will be able to defeat Arthas.

To me, the 10 man experience is actually far MORE epic than the large scale encounters. And the characters players control in World of Warcraft aren’t supposed to be viewed as no-name grunts. They are the new heroes. The ones who revealed Onyxia’s puppeteering in Stormwind, the ones who killed Nefarion for the glory of the Horde, the heroes who led the joined forces in the Anh’Qiraj war. They are the new Jainas, the new Thralls, the new Malfurions. Just as Thrall became a hero after Doomhammer, or Jaina came into her own position of leadership and noteworthy in Warcraft history after so many other heroes failed to heed the warnings of the Prophet. Uther was a grand hero from Warcraft II, slain and surpassed by Arthas during his fall.

And think of the last epic tale that involved 25 main characters against a villain.

Lord of the Rings: 9 companions set out to destroy the greatest evil of Middle Earth. They are split during the story into smaller groups who accomplish their own parts and rejoin in a group of six and a pair of hobbits on their own in enemy territory. There are grand battles of hundreds on both sides, but there is never a 25-on-1 “epic” battle. Even when Sauron was first fought, it was on man who defeated him by cutting the Ring of Power from his hand.

Chronicles of Narnia: Let’s focus on The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe since the movie was out and more have likely seen it than read it (and it’s had more time to be seen than recent Prince Caspian). Three children are the focus, the main characters, the leaders who face the grand evil with a powerful hero aiding them in Aslan. There are no 25-on-1 battles, though there is a 100s vs 100s battle.

Forgotten Realms; Drizzt: The Companions of the Hall are Drizzt, Cattie-brie, Bruenor, Regis, and Wulfgar. If we include Guenwhyvar, you have six main characters. Granted, there are more, but again, never a grand 25-on-1 battle. It’s always army vs. army with our main characters playing pivotal roles.

Raistlin and his companions. Harry Potter. Star Wars.

How ridiculous would Star Wars have been if Luke Skywalker had been teamed with Leia, Chewbacca, Han Solo, Lando Calrissian, C-3PO, R2-D2, Biggs, Wedge, Obi-Wan, Yoda, and 14 other characters in a battle face to face against Darth Vader with Vader near slaughtering them all?  Epic on Vader’s side that he single handedly defeated so many, but not epic that our heroes defeated in in a one on 25 battle.

The point is, smaller groups face off against the great evil in stories all the time. It’s not only more epic in its struggle, it’s also more realistic from a story telling standpoint. I have no problem with the larger raids giving better gear; they do require more coordination of people and likely will offer less room for error, but to say that the 10 mans are silly is just…well, silly.

It will certainly be excited to progress all the way through the story for a change. And for the record, my two lvl 70s have run Karazhan, Gruul & Magtheridon, and have seen almost all of SSC and The Eye with Hyjal and Black Temple within the next month or two, I expect. So I’m not opposed to 25 man raiding, but I definitely see a great benefit of appealing to the more casual and smaller group player with 10 mans.

What’s more, Blizzard really needs to get some strong focus reigned back in on PvE content. Their two supposedly big competitors, Age of Conan and Warhammer Online are touting PvP, but where’s the competition for the PvE market and casuals that made World of Warcraft huge to begin with? There really aren’t any. But with Lord of the Rings Online making huge strides in the PvE arena, Blizzard may actually get some competition in that area of gameplay as well. Fortunately, I believe they can bounce back with an excellent expansion and will have little to worry about from any of the three mentioned competitors. But if we’re lucky, there will be enough heat from the popular features of other games for Blizzard to take notice.