Let us talk, you and I, about Blizzard

[Inkidu]

As much as I dislike WoW, and it's demon-spawn (ie "wow-clones"), it, Starcraft and Diablo I & II are without a doubt a part of video game history. Furthermore, using an existing intellectual property to bring in fans of the previous games is in no way bad providing you're adding a proportionate amount of gameplay without upsetting the themes and feel of the previous games. Blizzard are one of the few companies out there right now who are actually capable and prepared to do that. Even Bethesda, whom I respect for their technical achievements, stooped to the morally reprehensible approach of purchaseable DLCs.

I liked Diablo I, and II, and the (single) expansion to II! Am i going to buy no. 3? Almost certainly, am I going to get my money's worth? Again, almost certainly! As far as I'm concerned, Blizzard are key example of how to run a game development company both profitably and ethically.

Unless you post a disagreement on their forum. Then they ban you. Business ethics is one of the great oxymora of the English language. That is the cynic speaking.

 

[ThorUK]

blah blah... pro-Blizzard

Unless you post a disagreement on their forum. Then they ban you. Business ethics is one of the great oxymora of the English language. That is the cynic speaking.

Ironically I can't post on their forums since I've not bought any of their games since diablo II Lord of Destruction. However, given my experience in LoD, they are quite willing to accomidate the playerbase responses and feedback.

 

[Scout Tactical]

Haha oh wow.jpg

This thread is impressively dumb. Now, I'll be the first to say I haven't liked hardly anything Blizzard has done since it merged with Activision, but the accusations of this thread are just silly. Blizzard is essentially a studio of Activision, who wouldn't let it deviate if it could (Bobby Kotick literally told the design team they have to focus on multimillion dollar IPs). Even then, he's ignoring the fact that Blizzard is constantly putting out content updates for WoW. These updates are on par in hour-consumption with expansion packs for other games, if not moreso in the case of dungeons.

It's funny how the OP conveniently forgets (or just doesn't know) the important part of art history. Before the truly great artists ever experimented (Picasso is a huge example of this), they always perfected realism. You have to make sure you're the best at what you do before you experiment.

Even then... why should Blizzard be the one to innovate? Why not Bethesda (two IPs), Irrational (one IP), GameFreak (one IP), Bungie (one IP), Rocksteady (one IP), Neversoft (two IPs), MediaMolecule (one IP), Zynga (2 IPs), Cryptic (2 IPs), Naughty Dog (one IP), Treyarch (two IPs), Insomniac (two IPs), or Relic (two IPs)? Why are these games not "the worst thing for the video game industry today"? By your definition, they are. In fact, most of the March Mayhem board is ruining your perfect bubble of games.

Of course, by your definition, we should be worshiping SquareEnix and PopCap for mass producing games. Similarly, shovelware companies are the peak of cutting-edge innovation in gaming today, since they constantly release new, unrelated titles that run on different engines. After all, where would we be without Homie Rollerz?

In conclusion... I think you're missing the point of a large industry. Each company is free to perfect its art, while others perfect other things. Would you really be satisfied if Blizzard released a new shooter, but it was half-assed (as with your Mona Lisa example)? I doubt it. However, much like the Mona Lisa, finished or not, people would flock to it because they know that Blizzard has a reputation for quality products. And like the Mona Lisa, they would probably be disappointed to find a harsh reality: just some pretty graphics and nothing more.

 

[Wayneguard]

Some people say, "I wish every company was like Blizzard. They refine their games, releasing only when ready so that it is perfect." Well, champ, I'm going to present to you the other edge of that sword. Refining is all well and good, but honestly if every game was like Blizzard I sincerely doubt we'd have 3-D gaming, I doubt we would have 2.5-D gaming either.

The irony here is that 3-d has severely limited both diablo 3 and starcraft 2. Neither of those games have any gameplay aspects that require 3-d and had blizzard opted for a 2-d, pre-rendered gameworld, they would look much, much prettier (and closer to their originals to boot).

Okay I would hate for this to go on: Not 3D glasses wearing 3D. 3D rendered worlds which are still technically 2D. Really, I thought that was clear because of the 2.5-D in the next sentence. I don't like the "3D" thing everyone's getting on these days either. I think it's just a gimmick from the 50s making it's cyclical round in fashion.

Sigh... thus is the benefit of close reading... If you notice how I said 2-d pre-rendered as in

Spoiler: this

vs.

Spoiler: this

I was not even remotely talking about true 3-d.

 

[Inkidu]

Haha oh wow.jpg

This thread is impressively dumb. Now, I'll be the first to say I haven't liked hardly anything Blizzard has done since it merged with Activision, but the accusations of this thread are just silly. Blizzard is essentially a studio of Activision, who wouldn't let it deviate if it could (Bobby Kotick literally told the design team they have to focus on multimillion dollar IPs). Even then, he's ignoring the fact that Blizzard is constantly putting out content updates for WoW. These updates are on par in hour-consumption with expansion packs for other games, if not moreso in the case of dungeons.

It's funny how the OP conveniently forgets (or just doesn't know) the important part of art history. Before the truly great artists ever experimented (Picasso is a huge example of this), they always perfected realism. You have to make sure you're the best at what you do before you experiment.

Even then... why should Blizzard be the one to innovate? Why not Bethesda (two IPs), Irrational (one IP), GameFreak (one IP), Bungie (one IP), Rocksteady (one IP), Neversoft (two IPs), MediaMolecule (one IP), Zynga (2 IPs), Cryptic (2 IPs), Naughty Dog (one IP), Treyarch (two IPs), Insomniac (two IPs), or Relic (two IPs)? Why are these games not "the worst thing for the video game industry today"? By your definition, they are. In fact, most of the March Mayhem board is ruining your perfect bubble of games.

Of course, by your definition, we should be worshiping SquareEnix and PopCap for mass producing games. Similarly, shovelware companies are the peak of cutting-edge innovation in gaming today, since they constantly release new, unrelated titles that run on different engines. After all, where would we be without Homie Rollerz?

In conclusion... I think you're missing the point of a large industry. Each company is free to perfect its art, while others perfect other things. Would you really be satisfied if Blizzard released a new shooter, but it was half-assed (as with your Mona Lisa example)? I doubt it. However, much like the Mona Lisa, finished or not, people would flock to it because they know that Blizzard has a reputation for quality products. And like the Mona Lisa, they would probably be disappointed to find a harsh reality: just some pretty graphics and nothing more.

I've explained why I think Blizzard should be the one to innovate. They have the stability. My art metaphor goes well beyond just pretty graphics, and you missed the point of the Mona Lisa example. I never said we should worship SquareEnix, they're part of the problem too, but I don't know about you I'd rather see something new and innovative from Blizzard.

I've had enough mob-mentality beating for one day.

 

[Jodah]

So let me get this straight. You have a problem because they *only* have three of the most popular game series' of all time. You do realize most developers only have 1 or 2 good IPs right? The rest of the stuff is worthless crap that should never have seen the light of day.

If anything Blizzard is a model for other companies. While other companies are throwing shovelware at us by...well the shovel full Blizzard is sitting back perfecting their games. They are one of the few developers that seem to follow the quality over quantity theory. I would rather have a dozen good games released every year than the five or six we get now plus the piles of crap. New and different doesn't always mean better. Usually it means its just a polished turd.

 

[Scout Tactical]

I've explained why I think Blizzard should be the one to innovate. They have the stability.

You said that Blizzard is the "the worst thing for the video game industry today". Read your post again, it's at the top. This means that it's worse than Jack Thompson, negative perceptions in the media, Bobby Kotick, shovelware, shifting focus to casual gamers, lack of funds, that school shooter mod [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/108695-ModDB-Shuts-Down-School-Shooter-Mod], the effects of global instability, investor-controlled development, and every other game company I listed. Let's assume for a moment that game companies ARE worse for the videogame industry than all those other things I listed, just so you have a chance of being right. You assert that they are the worst because they are "stable"? Why are other stable companies not part of the problem, then?

My art metaphor goes well beyond just pretty graphics, and you missed the point of the Mona Lisa example.

No, I think you misunderstood my reply. The Mona Lisa example shows that people will flock to anything if they know the creator does good work. I pointed out that this is not necessarily a good thing. Who cares if people flock to a new IP, if it's a shitty one?

I never said we should worship SquareEnix, they're part of the problem too

Howso? You assert that making new IPs is a good thing, and Square makes new IPs. They're often bad, but they make a LOT of them. That's innovation! Why shouldn't we worship them by your standards?

NEW SquareEnix IPs since 2006:

Spoiler

Gun Loco
MindJack
Front Mission Evolved
Nier
Blur
Gyromancer
Mini Ninjas
The Last Remnant
Infinite Undiscovery
Project Sylpheed
Singularity
Major Minor's Majestic March
Soul Eater
The 3rd Birthday
Lord of Arcana
Space Invaders Extreme
Odin Sphere
Dawn of Mana

Personally, I'm not a fan, but that's a lot of IPs. Innovation, in your words.

 

[Zechnophobe]

Things with long gestation periods usually die out quickly.

Blizzard seems to be doing fine.

Like I've said though. I have nothing against the polish, but do you think a fourth I.P. would have been too much to ask. You don't have to support every game out the wazoo especially when they're as finely crafted as Blizzard normally does.

No, the support is what makes it polished. It is part of the polishing. It also gives them longevity.

Some one shot regular shooter, an experimental puzzle game. They stick with what they have not because it's all they can do, but because it's safe and makes a lot of money.

That's just silly. I can't even comprehend why you think that makes sense. I doubt anyone there would even enjoy making something like that. Or if they do, they'd make it using the Starcraft editor or something. You want them to make a game that they won't like making, that won't make money... for what reason exactly? Because you have some weird desire to play a blizzard puzzle game?

Before anyone else jumps on me about it. I don't actually think Blizzard should go out of business. I think a house cleanup would do them good. That was my attention getter. It got you to read it, didn't it?

Here's a free tip. If you use attention getters for a thread that are inane and potentially misleading, expect to be called out for it, and expect no real discussion on topics to occur.

I'm not even advocating that they scrap R.T.S., and the like. Just do something different, you're so good at the genre, you have so much talent, but you won't use it for anything really just crazy risky, but potentially worth more intellectually and maybe monetarily than what you, Blizzard, already has. It's not like they can't afford the hit.

As far as I can tell, all you are suggesting is that they do something 'crazy risky' just.... because they can. Is there any value in that for ANYone? Risk isn't something to look for. Quality is something to look for, and they do a good job with that.

 

[Drake_Dercon]

Refining is good, lack of creativity is not.

What is genuinely needed is for companies similar to Blizzard and similar to others so that all sides can emerge. Only everyone's indie so nobody gives a damn about profit. Because money is killing the games industry.

Once again, I am undecided on the actuality of my sarcasm.

 

[LogicNProportion]

I agree with you wholeheartedly bro.

Nevermind the haters.

 

[Taerdin]

NEW SquareEnix IPs since 2006:

Spoiler

Gun Loco
MindJack
Front Mission Evolved
Nier
Blur
Gyromancer
Mini Ninjas
The Last Remnant
Infinite Undiscovery
Project Sylpheed
Singularity
Major Minor's Majestic March
Soul Eater
The 3rd Birthday
Lord of Arcana
Space Invaders Extreme
Odin Sphere
Dawn of Mana

Personally, I'm not a fan, but that's a lot of IPs. Innovation, in your words.

Sorry to nit pick, but a couple of those are not new IPs. Front Mission has been around for years, Front Mission 3 is one of my all time favs. The mana series is also quite old.

 

[LogicNProportion]

Double Snip

Actually no it wouldn't. Because Blizzard is in control of when they can start weening people off of W.O.W. they have whole divisions of people dedicated to this, and are more than likely noticing the decline in W.O.W. sales. So when Blizzard "The Foremost Authority" on the M.M.O.R.P.G. speaks fans will listen.

But weening people off one MMO for another, untested MMO would be like taking out your own heart and replacing with another heart before you die and hope the new one works as a replacement, and Blizzard didn't get to where they are today with shoddy business tactics.

SWG has proven that it is possible to kill an MMO overnight. Within a week of the combat upgrade, 90% of SWG's players left. No crap.

Blizz can kill WoW on purpose, and show their new MMO is much like WoW. Those crazy WoW fans need their fix, so they'll grudgingly buy it, until they became the fanbase for that game. The new MMO brings in new blood, and Blizz can force the old blood into it as well.

Am I saying this is likely? No.

Is it possible and probably easy to do, however? YES!

 

[Snotnarok]

So you're saying they shouldn't listen to the fans who've been begging for these games?

 

[LogicNProportion]

NEW SquareEnix IPs since 2006:

Spoiler

Gun Loco
MindJack
Front Mission Evolved
Nier
Blur
Gyromancer
Mini Ninjas
The Last Remnant
Infinite Undiscovery
Project Sylpheed
Singularity
Major Minor's Majestic March
Soul Eater
The 3rd Birthday
Lord of Arcana
Space Invaders Extreme
Odin Sphere
Dawn of Mana

Personally, I'm not a fan, but that's a lot of IPs. Innovation, in your words.

But they change so little from game to game story-wise, aesthetically, etc.

If you reread his post, you will know that he meant new IP's are merely a part of the solution. There must also be passion and creativity in this field. Square Enix does most anything nowadays to print money as is. : /

Re-releasing REGULAR FF5 on the PSN? That's as stagnant as you can get. FF4 has had so many re-releases with updates, etc that is borders on silly...and that's still being lazy.

 

[Roland07]

OP's post, spoiler tagg'd for size.

Spoiler

Blizzard is possibly the worst thing for the video game industry today, and I sincerely wish it would fall under new management or go out of business.

I'm going to wait for the inner and outer raging to die out. So everyone who is actually interested is still here and the hardcore, never-say-die fans have left. Super.

Reason one: They've not produced anything new since 2001, and I'm being generous. By new I mean a new intellectual property (I.P.). Everything they have produced since Diablo has been a sequel expansion MMO-ification of some old property that has done successfully well. Think about it. Starcraft and its expansions, Diablo and its sequel, Warcraft and subsequent installments. Now, I'm not one to go bashing sequels. I like some of them, I hate some of them. That's not the point. The point is Blizzard is trying desperately to stay where it can make the most money for the minimum amount of creativity. I say if you're one of those people who think that games are joining the echelons of mediums that are considered art you should abandon Blizzard.

Some people say, "I wish every company was like Blizzard. They refine their games, releasing only when ready so that it is perfect." Well, champ, I'm going to present to you the other edge of that sword. Refining is all well and good, but honestly if every game was like Blizzard I sincerely doubt we'd have 3-D gaming, I doubt we would have 2.5-D gaming either. Sure Blizzard's business model is pure gold. They rake in what has to be millions on a bad year. However, in innovation, in pushing the envelope, and in general Blizzard might as well be trying to fight off guns with swords. Sure it works for a little while in real life (and works really well in Final Fantasy) but eventually the guy who jumps on this newfangled gun is going to walk away a winner. Just ask Japan, Montezuma, and a whole slew of other people.

Maybe that's an unfair comparison... to the indigenous people. They didn't know this gun was out here history shows that people learned to use them really quickly. Blizzard on the other hand jams its fingers in its ears and says, "We don't need you we just need the Skinner Box!"
If any of you are wondering there is a "Extra Credits" that deals with this issue. Look it up if you're interested. Blizzard's unwillingness to change is also shown in their inability to embrace other platforms. I will cite Mr. MovieBob's "The Big Picture" episode "The P.C. Gamer is Dead--Long Live the P.C. Gamer" as supporting opinion.

I also hear tell of a new M.M.O.R.P.G. that Blizzard is working on. Now, I might be wrong, I often am. No one is perfect, but do you really think their new M.M.O.R.P.G. is going to vary greatly from W.O.W. in anything mechanical. I doubt it. Doing that would be killing the golden goose 101.

Now don't misunderstand me. I'm not advocating the selling of bad or lazily designed games. People need to remember to take pride in doing their jobs. However, not creating anything new in an artistic medium is laziness in and of itself. I'll let you guys in on a little secret. Leonardo da Vinci never finished the "Mona Lisa". Some of you might be aware of this fact, it's there for the people who aren't. Well let's see: A man left an unpolished, unfinished piece of art to the world and to this day people of all ages and origins flock to France to see it. I like my care and polish as much as the next guy, but at some point I'm going to get bored of the same game no matter how carefully planned and flawless it appears to be.

So Blizzard sticks with what's safe, they make oodles of money for it, and they hide behind the guise of polish. Okay, I can see that. However, do you think any other company could go thirteen years without release in new game and still stay in the black? I don't. Alright, so they make a lot of money from W.O.W., and this I have established is basically learned Skinner-esque behavior. If I let this slide, and for the sake of argument I will, then they're creating a billion dollars a year in revenue a year. So lets be fair. Let's take out funding for new projects, overhead, bonuses, and even though it's technically overhead costs, maintenance on servers, oh I'm feeling philanthropic as well. Let's throw in charities. Even if that leaves them with ten million dollars a year couldn't they push that into some kind of branch or independent label, a studio, something? So, yes they are the worse thing for the modern movements in gaming. EA at least has some small studios that occasionally produce something new and good. Why can't Blizzard do the same. They're like the E. Scrooge of the video game world and there's not any Jacob Marley in sight.

It's not a question of whether or not I like Blizzard games, it's not a question of are Blizzard's games good or bad. It's a question of what is Blizzard doing to move the industry forward, and I feel the answer is, nothing.

So I took the liberty of doing a find and replace on your post, and changed Blizzard to Obama, or the Obama administration, and changed the gaming context to the appropriate political terminology. Then I realized, you must be Glenn Beck! Your show script is actually just a mad lib which you recycled for gaming forums. It explains everything, all the absurd claims and nonsensical rants. The proof is in the tab!

Spoiler

The Obama Administration is possibly the worst thing for our country today, and I sincerely wish it would fall under new management or go out of business.

I'm going to wait for the inner and outer raging to die out. So everyone who is actually interested is still here and the hardcore, never-say-die fans have left. Super.

Reason one: They've not produced anything new since 2008, and I'm being generous. By new I mean a new policy (I.P.). Everything they have produced since Obamacare has been a socialization of some old property that has done successfully well. Think about it. Soviet Russia and its expansionism, led to Gorbachev and his successor, Obama Now, I'm not one to go bashing successor's. I like some of them, I hate some of them. That's not the point. The point is The Obama administration is trying desperately to stay where it can make the most money for the minimum amount of work. I say if you're one of those people who love their country, you should abandon Obama.

Some people say, "I wish every company was like Obama. They refine their games, releasing only when ready so that it is perfect." Well, champ, I'm going to present to you the other edge of that sword. Refining is all well and good, but honestly if every game was like Obama I sincerely doubt we'd have a country left, I doubt we would have any morality either. Sure Obama 's business model is pure gold. They rake in what has to be millions on a bad year. However, in innovation, in pushing the envelope, and in general Obama might as well be trying to fight off guns with swords. Sure it works for a little while in real life (and works really well in Final Fantasy) but eventually the guy who jumps on this newfangled gun is going to walk away a winner. Just ask Japan, Montezuma, and a whole slew of other people.

Maybe that's an unfair comparison... to the indigenous people. They didn't know this gun was out here history shows that people learned to use them really quickly. Obama on the other hand jams its fingers in its ears and says, "We don't need you we just need the Skinner Box!"
If any of you are wondering there is a "Founding Father " that deals with this issue. Look it up if you're interested. Obama's unwillingness to change is also shown in their inability to embrace other races. I will cite his birth cerificate as evidence he is racist against whites.

I also hear tell of a new financial policy that Obama is working on. Now, I might be wrong, I often am. No one is perfect, but do you really think their new financial policy is going to vary greatly from the previous administrations in anything mechanical? I doubt it. Doing that would be killing the golden goose 101.

Now don't misunderstand me. I'm not advocating the selling of bad or lazily designed policies. People need to remember to take pride in doing their jobs. However, not changing anything in a financial policy is laziness in and of itself. I'll let you guys in on a little secret. Leonardo da Vinci never finished the "Mona Lisa". Some of you might be aware of this fact, it's there for the people who aren't. Well let's see: A man left an unpolished, unfinished piece of art to the world and to this day people of all ages and origins flock to France to see it. I like my care and polish as much as the next guy, but at some point I'm going to get bored of the thing no matter how carefully planned and flawless it appears to be.

So Obama sticks with what's safe, they make oodles of money for it, for themselves and they hide behind the guise of elitism. Okay, I can see that. However, do you think any other company could go thirteen years without release in new game and still stay in the black? I don't. Alright, so they make a lot of money from taxes., and this I have established is basically learned Skinner-esque behavior. If I let this slide, and for the sake of argument I will, then they're creating a billion dollars a year in revenue a year. So lets be fair. Let's take out funding for new projects, overhead, bonuses, and even though it's technically overhead costs, maintenance on servers, oh I'm feeling philanthropic as well. Let's throw in charities. Even if that leaves them with ten million dollars a year couldn't they push that into to the little guy or, something? So, yes they are the worse thing for the the country. Bush at least has some small studios that occasionally produce something new and good. Why can't Obama do the same? They're like the E. Scrooge of our country and there's not any Jacob Marley in sight.

It's not a question of whether or not I like Obama, it's not a question of are Obama is good or bad. It's a question of what is Obama doing to move the country forward, and I feel the answer is, nothing.

 

[Tanfastic]

Attacking Blizzard because they only have 3 IPs going at a time is pretty stupid, considering most developers only have 1 flagship IP at a time.

Until recently Blizzard was only living on one IP, Warcraft, they had big hopes and promises for "whats next in our other two!" but they were essentially dead until SC2 came out. Diablo 3 STILL hasn't come out, so at the present they're running 2.

I don't think bashing Blizzard is a good idea though, they are one of the heavy hitters (Most likely the heaviest hitter in the PC gaming world) and until they start losing money I doubt they'll change their story.

 

[MajWound]

Attacking Blizzard because they only have 3 IPs going at a time is pretty stupid, considering most developers only have 1 flagship IP at a time.

Until recently Blizzard was only living on one IP, Warcraft, they had big hopes and promises for "whats next in our other two!" but they were essentially dead until SC2 came out. Diablo 3 STILL hasn't come out, so at the present they're running 2.

I don't think bashing Blizzard is a good idea though, they are one of the heavy hitters (Most likely the heaviest hitter in the PC gaming world) and until they start losing money I doubt they'll change their story.

Starcraft and Brood Wars were MASSIVE in Korea, and still are, even after SC2.

 

[wtfbbqsaucepwn]

Recently, Blizzard has left a bit to be desired with some of their expansions. Cataclysm is a joke and too easy and Starcraft II was just an updated graphics engine of Starcraft; after all, they were dabbling with it for a long time and it should have been better than it was, no excuses. They rarely listen to their players anymore which they did a ton back during the Diablo and Starcraft hey days. They sold out by merging with Activision, who has taken a dump on quality games recently, I don't think that needs to be debated. Sure their games look pretty but if you remember, there were huge differences between Diablo and Diablo II. Of course, IMO there weren't many game play changes between Warcraft and Warcraft II but a bunch of changes from WC II to WC III. I would say the SC line is following the WC line but will we honestly see a SC III in the next 10 years, let alone 5 years.

I view them as a stagnant pond currently; happily sucking away on the cash cow called World of Warcraft. However, being bad for gaming is a hard idea to go with since they established and raised the MMO bar that was initially put in place by Everquest. That hardly counts as being a bad thing. The only bad thing they did that I will never forgive them for is merging with Activision.

 

[timeadept]

Spoiler: I SUMMON... WALL OF TEXT!

-snip-

You keep trying to make Blizzard out to be some cowardly, miserly, soulless corporation. But for what it's worth they didn't get where they are now by playing it safe. I may be wrong but i don't think it's much of a stretch to say that they created the RTS. I'm going on the preconception that Warcraft was the first of its kind and if not it certainly generated a lot of previously non-existant excitement for the genera. Blizz also gave us the MMO, and no one has been able to give us a better one yet. When i say that i'm talking straight numbers and unless you want to count face book games as mmos, there are none as popular as WoW and even facebook games don't generate as much money as WoW.

But that's all in the past right? It doesn't matter what they've done it matters what they're doing now. Well lets extend that to encompass recent accomplishments for the sake of argument. Most recently, yes it has been sequels and expansions. Now i want to put it out there that it's impossible to invent a new genera with every game, (Blizzard has had an enormous effect on 2 genera already though) so it makes scene to stick to a few that you're good at. This logic alone doesn't excuse the sequels and expansions though. What does excuse them is that Blizzard continues to innovate within each expansion (i don't want to add sequel because I've never played either starcraft or either diablo).

So i'll speak from my experience with WoW. They've done quite a bit of work on that game, it's very different from when it was released. My experience with the game starts with the release of Burning Crusade, and ends just below the level cap of Cataclysm. I replayed a nice chunk of the 1-60 content on a new toon as well.

I started to write an in-depth analysis of raids and instances, and by the time i got half a paragraph on just the affects of changing the number of players i decided it would be much more efficient to list the significant changes and you can ask if you don't understand why i picked them.

I tried to focus on changes from the original version to the present one.

1. The number of players required for a raid reduced from 40 to 10-25
2. The difficulty of raids is adjustable from normal to hard
3. The length of instances significantly reduced and condensed
4. Instance bosses now usually have a unique ability that must be accounted for, especially in lesser geared groups, there are much fewer Tank & Spank bosses
5. Ability to join random groups for instances across realms without waiting at the summoning stone
6. Quests have become much more varied in type
7. Quests have been centralized into distinct hubs scattered across zones with linear progression from one to the next (there were and are always a few different questing zones to choose from at most levels if you get bored)
8. Leveling speed is constantly being modified to be most appropriate to the current state of the game
9. Battlegrounds were created for PvP
10. PvP zones with (potentially) whole server battles were created (Winter's Grasp and the concept was tested in BC)
11. PvP quests and daily quests were implemented (although to debatable success)
12. PvP arenas were created, along with the rating system
13. Entire zones were re-imagined in order to benefit from past lessons
14. Guild achievements and leveling were implemented (but i'm unsure exactly what their intention was, i have little experience with them)

Well there, 14 reasons off the top of my head, not in any particular order but generally Raids, then Quests, then PvP. WoW is a constantly evolving game, and is helping to push the Genera forward by fine-tuning the unique dynamics that were created with the MMO. Yes, the core game-play is the same, and i got bored with it eventually. But the core game-play cannot be changed without starting from scratch. From what little Blizz has said about the game, I believe that the Titan project will be significantly different from WoW. They see the two games able to Co-exist, neither competing a significant amount with the other. I believe them, Blizzard knows how to make games, and they see potential in the MMO market that many of us don't(is it there?). They're not going to make a second WoW. It would be incredibly stupid. No WoW clone has done as well as the original, and though i have no doubt that Blizzard could make a WoW clone that is also a WoW killer, who would be STUPID enough to do that!?! I mean seriously? Kill your own game? (i want to go on a tangent about the longevity of an MMO being important but i won't.) No, they are aiming to expand the market, they want to put out a new game, and fix some of the flaws WoW has simply by virtue of being WoW (and believe me, they ARE there). They want a game that will appeal to new people, and possibly to customers that have simply gotten tired of WoW.

Blizzard isn't stagnating, not from what i can see. I believe the company still has what it takes to make a great game and they are not simply relying on past success to pull them forward. It may take them a while to get there, but when they do i think that Blizzard will have some great games for us. And frankly i don't care if they take place in existing universes. Gameplay has always been #1 for me, after all, it's what we use to define genera, not story, or subject matter, not even the quality of graphics. Yeah some of thous matter more than others, some more to different people, but you would be a fool to call Warcraft and WoW the same game.

oh, and i see nothing "desperate" about them, they take their sweet sweet time and they know they can.

*edit* well this is embarrassing i've completely forgotten Ever Quest and the fact that it was an MMO before WoW. Call me lazy but please accept my acknowledgement of this fact and ignore some of my invalidated points accordingly, i'm too lazy to go back to fix them now. (it cost a lot of mana to summon that thing...)