World of what?

This year is set to be an interesting one when it comes to the launch of new games.

Blizzard has pretty much held the monopoly on MMOs for a while now due to their tactic of making their product accessible to the masses. But things are about to change...I think.

One of the key factors which will decide how successful any MMO game is going to be is its depth. In my humble opinion, this factor often separates your audience.
By depth in this case I mean the complexity, how easy it is to get started and how long it will take for you to progress. WoW gave people who had previously not bothered to get in to MMORPGs an entry level game to cut their teeth on. The learning curve was not so steep that a little time invested would see a good return.

These same people who found WoW enticing would not have been quite so enamored with a game like EVE for example which can seem very daunting to the uninitiated (myself included). Indeed, Star Wars Galaxies even fell prey to this concept in a way. In the beginning, they had a game which included 32 distinct classes to choose from. Players had the ability to invest skill points in such a manner that you could master two professions and dabble in a third. The possibilities for creating unique characters were limitless (well...almost!).
Obviously, like any game, there were the cookie cutter FOTM specs which were over-used. This was seen especially with the players who had unlocked their Jedi.

However, fast forward to current day and Sony Online Entertainment have 'dumbed down' the game to nine 'iconic roles'. In interviews given around the time that the 'New Game Enhancements' went live, SOE officials cited that they believed that the previous system was too complex which was, in turn, driving away players who didn't have the time to invest and learn the nuances of the game.

I would love to spend some time discussing the crafting system of SWG in this post but it deserves more than a couple of lines so I will save that for a later post dedicated to my line of posts on what makes the perfect MMO.

Either way, I digress.

To return to the point made in my opening paragraph. This is going to be an interesting year.

Currently Blizzard are doing their best to keep players occupied until their expansion is launched later this year. They have released the Sunwell Plateau patch in attempt to entice players with the promise of one more instance, one more raid and a shitload of dailies to complete.
The five man dungeon is pretty much a rehash of bosses seen in other instances all thrown together, such as Moroes and The Curator. The only new encounter there for most casual raiders is the fight with Kael'thas and even that's not so difficult. I can't speak for the raid instance, however, as my current guild is nowhere near able to pull it off.

The dailies seem to be a subtle way to combat the RMT business that is rife in WoW. Upping the maximum to 25 daily quest per day means that the average player can earn 250 - 280 gold per character/per day if he or she chooses wisely. The impact on the RMT trade is fairly self evident when you look at the how much prices have fallen on most servers (based on observations from EU servers) in recent weeks.

If you stop and think for a second you may see where I'm going with this. Lord of the Rings online and Hellgate were both cited as being WoW killers prior to release. Anybody who dug a little deeper could see that this would never happen. Admittedly, LotRO had a niche following which could entice Tolkien fans and Hellgate London promised a new environment not often seen in MMOs. But they didn't offer much in the way of gameplay that hadn't already been rehashed several times in other games.

Blizzard stated that they intended to release expansions on almost a yearly basis. Information on the Beta for Wrath of the Lich King has been scarce and rumours abound that the Alpha is currently underway. We are now well into 2008 and over 16 months since The Burning Crusade was released and yet a lot of people are sitting waiting for concrete dates for WotLK other than Q4 2008.

This year we have two rather large and eagerly anticipated MMOs in the form of Age of Conan and Warhammer Online.

This latest patch smacks of a hastily implemented plan to keep players from straying too far from Blizzards playground. Especially when these two new fantasy-based MMOs are due for release. Given that many new players have now gained experience through their exploits in Azeroth, a new game which may be slightly more complex suddenly doesn't seem so daunting anymore.
Plus, the fact that AoC has been given an 'M' for mature/18 rating will probably do much to convince players who are tired of kiddies and 1337-speak that it's worth a look.

As soon as the new expansion is released, many players will probably return home, if only to improve their gear and experience the new content.
Indeed, I have spoken to many friends who fully intend to log their mages and shamans out at their Inns of choice and let them get some rest. Then, once the initial zerg of players heading to Northrend has passed, they may well venture out themselves to see what all the fuss is about.

Is Blizzard scared? Probably not.
Is their crown about to be stolen? Only time will tell.

Either way, a bit of healthy competition might kick Blizzard into gear and help them produce some better work and come up with some new concepts. This can only be a good thing in my opinion. I think for now the future is looking to be a brighter place with new opportunities aplenty.