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- Pipkin
- Justin
What is next for Blizzard?
Being on a motorbike in winter is cold. Stopped at traffic lights you have to put your hands on the engine to warm them up, it's that cold. But it does give you a few moments of crystal clear lucidity in which to think. And think hard. So, I was contemplating what is next for Blizzard.
World of Warcraft, while being the feature packed behemoth in the industry, is starting to look dated. Hardware has caught up to it. I'm half wondering if the reason we have heard nothing of a new expansion pack is not because they are planning an improved version of this formula and have been working on it on the sly.
They certainly have the funds, the team and the design to do so. And, considering how much they have learned from World of Warcraft 1.0, can you imagine how truely amazing 2.0 could be, with updated, modern anime/cartoon style visuals?
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But, would it still BE world of warcraft, hmm?
Yes, nothing wrong with that. It's a good world.
Not happening.
They've stated the new MMO will be a fully new franchise. On the coming Blizzcon, the new expansion will probably be announced, most likely being the Maelstrom (or, dubbed "Cataclysm"). It might include the Emerald Dream or that might be a separate expansion. It's not sure what's happening after that.
WoW II or whatever it would be called would not be WoW. Its kind of hard to imagine another game having the same appeal or sufficient enough that droves upon droves of players leave WoW for it. What can they possibly do? Okay they could update the graphics but then would this be WAR or AOC, or even Guild Wars? I think theyve stated in the past that in order to update the graphics for all of the game - as a patch - would be impossible (as in not viable).
I personally see WoW being more or less the same as it is in 10 years time, with more areas if its still supported by Blizzard. Also, now theres the motorcycle, etc I wouldnt be surprised to see planes, pogo sticks, skateboards, and cars of a kind. All I know is that I read Aion is released in September. If its all its cracked up to be thats my next game.
Graphics don't mean that much really. The fact that pretty much every single MMO released post-WoW had better graphics, but still failed to stop WoW's progression, speaks for itself.
And despite the relatively "outdated" graphics engine they use, I think they've succeeded in making appealing areas/models/things. As far as visuals are concerned, art direction > raw graphics IMO.
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