Project Lore

In the past month or so, I've had a lot more time to really sink my nails into playing WoW. While getting caught up in the hype of gold, dungeons, scoring a hot new flying mount and figuring out how to best spend my emblems is fun, more and more I'm coming to realize that there are so many amazing, intricate aspects to gameplay that I've come to expect to the point of no longer appreciating. Now let me preface this by saying that Blizzard knows its business. If executives want WoW to remain the top MMORPG out there, they undoubtedly know that they have to stay on top of their game and keep coming out with challenging, fun, cutting-edge material to keep players engaged. And, for the most part, they do. There's always insatiable audiences who constantly demand more content, but all in all, I think Blizzard pretty much tops the industry in keeping subscribers happy. Let me also say that I am in no way informed about the actual process behind creating content. I'm happy with myself when I can just successfully get an addon functioning, so make what you will of that. So perhaps I'm in the minority when I say that sometimes, it's those simple things in the game that can most amaze me. I think a lot of this has hit me during my recent jaunt in exploration. Sometimes the large size of a zone would be daunting while leveling. And yes, even annoying. Running back and forth across an expansive area to complete quests wasn't my favorite aspect of the game. But by the same token, I wouldn't have enjoyed the actual questing if everything was crammed into one tiny, crowded area. I remember when flight paths were a godsend. Each discovery of one of those tiny green exclamation points was reason to celebrate. But eventually, they grew to be expected. And when there were areas without enough flight points, it was disappointing because it would throw off my leveling agenda. Certainly I'm not the only one who has felt this way; the Patch 3.2 implementation of mounts at lower levels makes me think I'm in the majority, not the minority. I'm not ashamed to admit that I suppose I also can be demanding of Blizzard. Why shouldn't I be? As subscribers, most of us probably do feel entitlement in some form or another. I just try not to be an ass about it because in the end, I'm still having fun playing. But its during those instances of annoyance that I try to remind myself of just how awesome this game is - without even going into the expansive lore, which alone is enough to draw me in. When I can't find an NPC because (lightheaded isn't working and) their location isn't clear enough on a quest description, I instead find joy in the hunt. When I was leveling and couldn't squeeze in all the quests I wanted because they were so spread out, I instead popped into an inn and decided to make up the difference on rested XP another day. And (before the days of being able to trade BoP items with raid members) when I had to put in a GM ticket to swap a piece of loot, I focused on the fact that Blizzard cares enough about keeping players happy that they will do something trivial like allow me get a gear upgrade. Now I'm even more amazed by some of this after reading WoW.com's report the other day that Blizzard tracks 180,000 bugs at any one time. That's a hell of a lot of content to be weeding through and still find time to make one individual's gameplay experience a priority. So perk up and show some appreciation. We'll always find things to complain about, but there's so much more to be excited about. If you need further proof, just take a look at Project Lore's blog page on any given day and learn about what Blizz plans next.

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Marvel announced this week plans to develop at least two new MMOs, joining a growing list of possible competitors to WoW. A few months ago, iTZkooPA posted on whether Blizzard should be worried about other MMORPGs that already have been released. It looked like, at that time, they weren’t too concerned. Maybe they had no reason to be. Since then, WotLK became the fastest-selling PC game of all time (beating out the Burning Crusade expansion, which previously held that title), and propelled WoW to a base of 11.5 million subscribers. But there’s a long list of upcoming MMOs that are still a ways from hitting the market. Do these pose a challenge for Blizzard’s dominant stance in the market? It seems to me that several of the upcoming MMO titles depend on an already-existing fan base. Let’s take a look at the Marvel announcement for an example:

“Gazillion's new licensing agreement with Marvel calls for the development and publishing of MMO games featuring Marvel's iconic universe super heroes. The first game in development is a casual MMO for younger audiences based on Marvel's Super Hero Squad property. Super Hero Squad features an exciting, super-stylized look for the greatest Super Heroes, including Iron Man, Hulk, Wolverine, Thor, Fantastic Four, Captain America and many others.”

Undoubtedly, Marvel has a built-in fan base already salivating over the possibilities. And some of those fans also may play WoW. So would a Super Hero Squad MMO pull WoW players away? Perhaps some, if they don’t want to pay two monthly fees for games. (Marvel hasn’t yet stated whether the new games will have a monthly fee. I’m guessing they will.) But WoW’s fan base also might not be excited about a game proposed for “younger audiences.” This is just the first of what Marvel has announced, though, and subsequent games such as the “major new Marvel Universe PC and Console MMO” may pursue the franchise’s not-so-young audiences, as well. With team members from Blizzard, Pixar and Apple, I’m sure they’re well aware that an MMO done well can reach a much wider audience. A lot has changed since my first introduction to MMORPGs through Ragnarok Online many years ago. It looks like MMOs are becoming the popular thing to do. Or perhaps I should say the profitable thing to do (especially when superheroes are in the mix). Several other companies with pre-made audiences also have jumped onto the MMO bandwagon prior to Marvel’s announcement. Sony Online Entertainment is developing a DC Universe Online, Lucasarts and Bioware are working on Star Wars: The Old Republic, and let’s not forget about the LEGO Group’s upcoming MMOG, LEGO Universe (which has revealed its own interpretation of /chicken). With as-of-yet limited details on what any of these games will entail, it’s difficult to say where their place will be in the market. Perhaps that will be determined not only by the new games’ strengths, but also by what Blizzard continues to bring to keep WoW audiences enthralled. So what do you all think? Will these games’ pre-made audiences be enough to propel them into the mainstream? And do any of them sound intriguing enough to pull you or your buddies away from WoW?

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