(04-28-2014, 01:12 AM)Parth Makeo Wrote: Many of the MMOs have shifted over the years in terms of target audience and "Generation"
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Blizzard is really a standout company in today's market. Â There aren't many companies that are as concerned with the quality of their games. Â Blizzard doesn't have a "good enough". Â Best evidence of that is their Titan project. Â They literally stood back, looked at the sum of what they had developed, and wiped the slate clean to start from the beginning. Â I know a lot of people don't understand that, but I do. Â There are times in any design process that you need to be ready to start from scratch because what you have is a dead end.
It shows in their game design. Â I think WoW has one and only one weakness. Â It has been around forever. Â Honestly, I play FFXIV, I love FFXIV, I actually think the gameplay is great and the RP community is fun, but I'm playing FFXIV solely because I've played WoW since launch and I thought I needed to try other games so I have a sense of perspective. Â And believe me, when Warlords of Draenor shows up, I will probably considerably reduce my FFXIV time. Â WoW is an old game, an almost boringly familiar game, but I do still think it's the best MMORPG out there. Â It isn't the best in every particular category, but there isn't another game out there with the same level of overall quality. Â Some games have better PVP, some better PVE, some better mass raiding, some have better customization and itemization (okay, a lot have that), but nobody's game is as good overall as World of Warcraft.
And remember, in the time WoW has been out, Blizzard has released Starcraft II (RTS), Diablo 3 (Dungeoncrawler), and Hearthstone (Card Game), all to high critical acclaim. Â All while maintaining expansions and patches for the largest MMORPG on the market. Â That is an absolutely insane level of high-intensity output. Â We'll rip on Blizzard for any perceived imperfection, while allowing anyone else to make the same mistake, simply because Blizzard is the "powers that be". Â In every MMORPG's development, it's the elephant in the room.
And honestly, if anything finally does kill WoW and ever matches its subscription rate, it'll probably be a Blizzard game. Â Very few other companies have the muscle and development pedigree to make these games and make them well. Â I wouldn't be at all surprised if their next MMORPG is better than anything else on Earth.
