Project Lore

[caption id="attachment_4468" align="alignright" width="186" caption="Ensidia"]

A series of trademark requests that Blizzard Entertainment recently filed may indicate the possible name and lore of the next World of Warcraft expansion. Wednesday, Tumblr blogger Supererogatory revealed that Blizzard is seeking trademarks that would include computer games, paper-based products and online games with the name "Cataclysm." For all we know, that could be the name of Blizzard's super-secret project under development, a new MMO or something else completely unrelated to WoW. But given the name's relationship to the Maelstrom, some people (including myself) speculate that this could be the name for the next WoW expansion. There's been a great deal of speculation for a long while now that the next expansion will relate to the swirling vortex of power that lies between Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, the Maelstrom. To refresh your memory, the Maelstrom was created in a huge world event at the end of the War of the Ancients, thousands of years ago. Often referred to as the Cataclysm or the Great Sundering, it all started with the destruction of the Well of Eternity. The giant explosion that this caused ripped Azeroth asunder, destroying most of the land mass (previously there was one giant continent, Kalimdor) and reshaping what little remained. In place of the Well of Eternity now lies the Maelstrom, a constant, thunderous reminder of the peaceful times that now are lost to the world. It also is implied that the giant storm is slowly drawing in the surrounding land masses. It could even eventually swallow all that remains of Azeroth. What more could you ask for in a conflict? Another noteworthy, though perhaps coincidental factor: WoW.com pointed out that the WoWcataclysm domain expired on June 26, the same day that the trademark requests were filed. Interesting. There also have been a lot of guesses that the next expansion could be related to the Emerald Dream, the realm of Dragon Aspect Ysera. That speculation was flamed by several blue posts that hinted at the area as a possibilty for future development, but I haven't seen any new, official mentions of that for at least a couple of years. Let's see if we can glean a little bit more information for what the Trademark would encompass by reading the details of the applications, which were filed June 26. According to the documents posted on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's website, the three requests are classified to cover:

• Computer game software and related instruction manuals and guides sold together as a unit; downloadable computer game software; interactive multimedia computer game program; mousepads
• Comic books, computer game strategy guides, trading cards, coloring books, adhesive stickers, rub-on transfers, notebooks, stationery-type portfolios, posters, greeting cards, calendars, instructional leaflets in the field of computer games, computer game instruction manuals, catalogs in the field of computer games, advertisement boards of paper or cardboard, photographs, art prints
• Entertainment services, namely, providing on-line computer games; providing computer games that may be accessed via a global computer network; and providing on-line information in the field of computer gaming entertainment

It certainly sounds like an MMO to me. So what does everyone else think? Would you be all for some maelstrom-based content for the next expansion? Do you think that's what all this information points to? What else do you think the trademarks could be for?

Click to read more ...

Well folks, it looks like we have some, but definitely not all the answers regarding how the possibility of faction changes announced earlier this week could work. Wednesday, Blizzard blue poster Nethaera updated his original post on the subject with a few more details on the matter - probably because of the incredibly high number of questions (and complaints) that players posted. Several of the updated answers relate to questions regarding the race of characters who request a faction change.

Q. Will we be able to switch between the races on our own faction? A.. No. Players will only be able to switch to a race of the opposite faction. Q. Will I be able to choose the race on the opposite faction that I want to change to? A.. Yes, but you will only be able to switch to a race that has your class type available to it. So if you play a human paladin, you’d only be able to change to a blood elf paladin. Q.Will I be able to switch back to my original faction but a different race? A.. No. You will only be able to switch back to your originally chosen race.

This clarifies up several of the issues that could have resulted if Blizz didn't go about things carefully. You'll be able to decide what race you want to play in the opposite faction (and although it isn't explicitly stated, one would guess you'll also get to personalize the toon just as if you were re-rolling anew). To a certain extent. Of course, they're not going to all of the sudden allow every race to play every class. So if you're, say, a human paladin who wants to switch factions, you'll be limited to playing a blood elf. An Orc Paladin? That would just be weird. Or how about a Tauren rogue (you hear their hooves, but never see them)? Blizz will never allow us to learn THOSE secrets. Back on a serious note though, this also means that players wouldn't be able to faction change twice and end up with a toon of the same faction but different race. This seems like a pretty obvious move on Blizzard's part. But it's good that they clarified that pretty quickly for all those skeptics out there. Onward to more answered questions:

Q.How much will it cost? A.. We do not have further information on this at this point in time. Q.How often can you change your faction? A..We do not have any information to share on this at this point in time, however we will have restrictions on the frequency by which players can change their faction.

So maybe these are more like non-answers. It seems like the faction change would cost something. Will it cost RL money, like it does if you want to change realms? That seems the most likely scenario to me. But there also could be some kind of in-game cost as well.

Q.. How will the switch between reputation, gear, mounts, etc be handled? A.. We’ll have more details for you at a later point in time, though we plan to keep these as close to a reflection of the other faction as much as possible.

This part seems like it will be a HUGE pain in the ass and a ton of work for Blizzard. Basically, for every single faction- dependent item you can possibly get in-game, Blizz will have to try to match it with an equivalent of the opposing faction. Certainly, there will be many items that will match up perfectly. But there's also certain to be injustices on both sides. And that's just for gear. What about for reputation? For example's sake, say you're exalted with Thrallmar. The logical Alliance equivalent would seem to be Honor Hold. But what if the gear/mount you want is through rep with Kurenai? I foresee a related QQ fest coming. And one more important question answered so far:

Q. How will this affect the balance of Horde and Alliance on the realms? A.. We are taking great care in how we implement this new service in order to maintain balance between the factions on the realms but do not have any further details to share.

Once again, this seems pretty obvious. If anything, Blizz would probably want to use the service as a means to balance out servers that are heavily populated by one faction over the other. Maybe they'll do something similar to their character transfers out of over-populated realms: Offer free faction transfers only if you're, for example, an Alliance character on an Alliance-dominant server. Then again, would anyone WANT to switch factions under those circumstances? Well, that's it so far, and lots of questions still remain: Would faction changes be allowed on a PvP server? If so, would you be required to switch ALL of your characters' factions on that realm?  It seems like Blizzard would have to make that requirement - either that or require a server change, too, if you want to only change one toon's faction. And of course, when will all this happen? It seems like it's still a long ways off. And another thing: If you decide to faction change, then change back, would you be able to regain your old gear/rep/stuff, or would it be matched with equivalents twice, and in the process change into something new? If it's the latter, the result could lead to some exploits. And I'll add another question, since I grow attached to all aspects of my characters: Will toon names stay the same? Now that we have a little bit more information, I'd like to know what you all think of this service. How do you think this will go, once it's implemented? And what do you think are the implications of it all? Will a sense of faction pride fade? What about knowledge of the lore - would you want to switch to a level 80 toon of another race for which you don't know all the back-story? Stay tuned for more information as it's released!

Click to read more ...

It's easy to become insulated when you write for a subject-specific site like Project Lore, surrounded by like-minded colleagues and readers whose clear interest in the topics at hand is evidenced through repeated page views and lengthy comment sections. But I have, and still do, inhabit other realms of the internet, many of which I've been a part of since long before wetting my feet in the World of Warcraft. There, a fan like myself comes under fire from care-bear-hating MMO elitists and console proselytizers, and that's just the gaming forums! I couldn't imagine, for a second, what undying vitriol might be slung my way in more "public" spheres. The same old arguments await me at every turn, variations on "who in their right mind would pay 15 bucks a month for this crap?" or "it's all just one big grind!" What's even more defeating is when the hate comes from lapsed players who chime in only to pat themselves on the back for leaving the game some months ago, as if they'd just successfully completed a marathon run of treatment at the Betty Ford Clinic. Even knowing that there are at least 11 million other people out there just like me, it's hard not to let the scathing commentary get you down sometimes. What are we WoW fanatics to do? How do we counter? Do we sag our shoulders and willfully take our lumps, or do we fight back? Well, scratch that last part. Fighting back on the interwebs will only invite more catcalls and mocking derision like "Warcraft is serious business lawl!" No, that may not be an amicable solution, but you can take solace in the following: Life, like Warcraft, is a grind. We all do it. We all go through the motions, day in and day out. "Grinding" is an integral, and inseperable, part of our working lives. Allow me to indulge in a couple of generic scenarios here:

You drive to your job in the morning, bleary-eyed and sipping coffee while trying not to get run over on the freeway. Eventually, you arrive at work, and are given a set number of rote tasks to complete that day. You've done them all a thousand times before, but hey, you're earning money right? Chances are you're working with a team, and you have to coordinate with them to get these things done. Once in awhile, you might have to go to a meeting or be given a new, interesting project to work on. At the end of the day, you hope that all of your efforts might someday result in a raise, promotion, or even just a nice pat on the back. The money you've earned is spent on living expenses, and if you have some leftover, you might be able to afford that new TV you've always wanted.

Now, take a look at this:

You get on your computer, bleary-eyed and slamming your energy drink of choice while trying to avoid the ire of your significant other. Eventually, you log into WoW and figure you might as well get your dailies out of the way. You've done them all a thousand times before, but hey, you're earning gold right? Chances are you're in a guild, and you might be doing some raiding tonight. Maybe you'll clear through to a new encounter or try some fresh content. At the end of the day, you hope that all your efforts might result in some tier gear, sweet epics, or even just a few DKP. The gold you've earned is spent on repair bills from all those wipes, but if you have some left over, maybe you can actually afford to enchant your equipment or purchase that bear mount you've always wanted.

By no means are these scenarios exemplary of every person or player, but I do think that there are common experiences shared between them. But if playing Warcraft (or, really, any other video game, MMO or not) is, at its basic level, so much like our daily lives, why do we find it to be so much fun? Isn't it meant to be escapism? I'd like to quote the wonderful popular science author Steven Johnson from his book Everything Bad Is Good For You:

The dirty little secret of gaming is how much time you spend not having fun... if this is mindless escapism, it's a strangely masochistic version. Who wants to escape to a world that irritates you 90 percent of the time?

This took me aback when I first read it several years ago. I've been playing video games for most of my 25 years, but not until then did I realize that playing it truly amounted to so much work. He also provides an anecdote, which is too long to reproduce here, but can be summed up as an account of a construction worker who willingly spent months in the virtual world of Ultima Online leveling up his blacksmithing (and selling the produced wares), just so he could afford a better in-game house. I can hear cries of "madness!" and "waste of money!" coming from the far reaches of the internet now. But you and I, WoW players, do the very same thing every day (and the rest of the world does, too, whether they care to admit it or not). We parade our avatars around Azeroth, spending unquantifiable amounts of time doing the most seemingly mundane activities for the simple chance to make them look cooler. And why? The easy, and inevitable answer is: to increase the size of our e-penis. That construction worker, when asked the same question, replied with, "Well, it's not work if you enjoy it." A long, perhaps more satisfying answer, is given by Johnson himself. He goes on for quite awhile talking about dopamine and the reward center of the brain, an explanation that seems to ring true. Critics will cry that it's just further justification for MMOs being nothing more than an addictive drug, but that would be willfully ignoring that dopamine can produce positive reinforcement and applies to the "good feeling" that comes from accomplishing any task. What video games do, in a sense, is give us a shortcut to the rewards we desire. The satisfaction of killing Arthas, just like earning a promotion at work, may yet be a long way off, but at least in WoW we're treated to plenty of smaller pleasures along the way: completing a quest, a new piece of gear, an honor kill in PvP, downing a boss. Each and every turn we take in the game is a chance to earn a new reward. MMOs, in particular, promise a potentially limitless or expanding number of rewards, unlike your typical console game, which often has a concrete endpoint. We discuss Blizzard's development philosophy a lot here on Project Lore. From all of the changes we've seen to leveling and bosses, gear acquisition and the like, it's clear that they've been paying attention. Sure, those of us who've been playing the game longer will continue to balk at newbies getting a free pass on parts of the game we had to slog through, but that's a feeling that comes from latent jealousy. If we'd been afforded the same conveniences from the get-go, we'd heartily lap it up, wouldn't we? Rewards are wonderful, and they make us feel good, but I'd like to add some insight of my own: despite our frustrations, and despite lashing out at the developers, many of us enjoy grinding on some level because it is work. We play WoW because its underlying structure is intimately familiar to us, and that familiarity is comforting. But there's another wrinkle: it's work on our own terms. Normally a slave to the greater aspects of life that plague us all, World of Warcraft gives us the opportunity to have some control over what we do and where we go; what tasks to complete, in what order to complete them, and the ability to stop when you feel like you've accomplished enough. Of course, all of this rests on top of the basic fact that it is escapism. We can travel in different circles, and talk to different people, and engage in a world that is different from own in just as many ways as it is similar. To work is to grind, and to grind is to play. Next time an internet bully gives you a hard time about playing WoW, tell them to stick that in their craw and chew on it (or maybe it can just be our little secret!). As usual, thoughts or opinions are very much welcome. If you've made it this far, I'd like to think you have something to say on the subject, so please chime in and post in the comment section below!

Click to read more ...

According to a government-issued press release, China's Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Commerce (that's right, they've got two Ministries on the job!) have filed an injunction against anybody who would sell or trade virtual currency for real goods or services. This comes as the country's first official ruling on the matter, which defines what does and does not constitute virtual currency (game cards count, apparently), and cites concerns of gambling and illicit trade using the the funny money as a go-between. Now, your average gold seller probably spends at least half his day in a tiny room filled with cigarette smoke and the ambient buzz of a dozen or so computers running non-stop, farming up mobs and resources just so he can earn his meager paycheck. He's the computer-age equivalent of your average "working joe." It almost makes me feel sorry for I wonder if Cash4Gold would accept all of my virtual WoW money? those guys, but hopefully the enaction of this new law will curtail the more malicious brand of online crooks: those that hack and ravage player accounts. Even if you haven't experienced it yourself, we almost all know someone who's fallen victim to the practice, and we understand how much of a pain in the butt it can be to get things squared away again. So, does this mean bye-bye Susan Express? As one of the more noted gold-selling sites, perhaps, as the Chinese government no doubt has their eyes on certain firms. But, as with just about any illegal trade, it will be all but impossible to completely stamp out. Gold farmers will go further underground or move their operations to other countries that have yet to ban the practice, though I believe that the law works both ways, meaning that Chinese players could be indicted for buying, as well as selling. The press release cites "QQ Coins" (yes, they're really called that) from Tencent.com as the most often-traded virtual currency in the country. Originally, they were used to purchase clothes and accessories for online avatars, but have come to be used by a variety of online stores seeking to capitalize on the incredible popularity of the associated online/networking services provided by Tencent. The new law makes exceptions for legitimate content providers, and the company has stated their intent to cooperate with the government in stopping online theft (just look at their "vision:" To be the most respected internet company). According to tech-related business site Information Week, the gold-selling business currently bring in "between $200 million and $1 billion annually." In addition to simply curtailing crime, the regulation seems apt to prevent the virtual trade from becoming too much of a burden on China's real-world economy in the future. I, for one, am glad to see China taking a stance on the issue, especially since the country is purported to house at least 80% of gold-selling operations worldwide. I can guess what most of you think of this development, at least from a WoW player's standpoint. But what about the global economy? These illicit operations may be a thorn in the side of real-world governments and creators of virtual goods (like Blizzard), but is stunting the growthy of a new economic avenue worth it in the long run? Just as digital distribution of products like movies or games is becoming a steady alternative to buying physical copies from the store, is it possible for money to effectively be traded in a similar fashion?

Click to read more ...

Azeroth is quickly becoming the plastic surgery capital of the virtual universe! You can modify your character's name, face, hairstyle, even gender. And soon, you can even completely change which race you play, too! According to a post from Blue Nethaera, Blizzard has finally heeded the call of players who wish to carouse with friends of the opposite faction:

We wanted to give everyone a very early heads-up that, in response to player requests, we’re developing a new service for World of Warcraft that will allow players to change their faction from Alliance to Horde or Horde to Alliance. There’s still much work to do and many details to iron out, but the basic idea is that players will be able to use the service to transform an existing character into a roughly equivalent character of the opposing faction on the same realm. Players who ended up creating and leveling up characters on the opposite factions from their friends have been asking for this type of functionality for some time, and we’re pleased to be getting closer to being able to deliver it. As with all of the features and services we offer, we intend to incorporate the faction-change service in a way that won’t disrupt the gameplay experience on the realms, and there will be some rules involved with when and how the service can be used. The number of variables involved increases the complexity of implementing this service, but we plan to take the time needed to ensure that it lives up to expectations before officially rolling it out. We’ll go into much more detail on all of this here at http://www.WorldofWarcraft.com as development progresses. In the meantime, we wanted to let you know that because this type of functionality requires extensive internal testing well in advance of release, you may be seeing bits and pieces of the service in the test builds we use for the public test realms moving forward.

This represents the company's boldest step yet in allowing character customization. Blizzard's not kidding when they say that there are a lot of variables to consider when switching one's race, and it goes beyond simple cosmetics. You have to take into account such things as potential shifts in server population. Alliance races, on the whole, are played far more than their Horde equivalents, and on my server it's more than 2-to-1 in their favor. There are already too few people worth playing with, without having to worry about more turning coat and joining the other side. FOR THE... Alliance? And then there are issues such as race-specific abilities and stat changes that will no doubt occur if you go through with the procedure. While the overall impact might be small (a several-point decrease in Stamina, for instance), it's still something worth thinking about before you make the jump. And what about quests, reputation, or faction-based achievements? Will you have to start from scratch, aside from the gear and items you've already accumulated? According to Nethaera's post, we may or may not see parts of the new service appear on the PTR, but it seems highly unlikely that it will be implemented in the forthcoming content patch. Nonetheless, if you've ever wanted to hide from people in-game, it won't be very long before someone could potentially erase their footprint from any given server, changing virtually every notable aspect of their character in the process. Interesting prospect for a fictional world, huh? What do you think, readers? Are you up for this change? Itching to level up with some of your cross-faction friends or simply looking for a different experience altogether? What lasting impact might this have on the underdog Horde? How much would you pay for the ability to wholly modify your race or faction?

Click to read more ...

Blizzard's raiding model has seen its share of changes over the years. First, it was raids that catered to 10-man, 20-man, and even 40-man groups. Then, with Burning Crusade, a curious mix of 10s and the new 25-man raids. And now, with Wrath of the Lich King, dungeons that can accommodate runs 10 and 25 strong in tandem. Like so many other things in the game, the idea has been to make end-game content accessible to as many people as possible. But I think they're onto something else, something beyond the mere ability to PuG the toughest dungeons in the game. You see, I think I've become addicted to 10-man raids. Forced into them due to low turnout from the membership, it's basically all our guild has been able to run lately. And you know what? I'm OK with that. I'm perfectly peachy. I've learned that the tighter, more intimate setup has led to a relatively stress-free experience. I don't think I'm the only one, either. As my server's population plummets over the Summer (and I'm sure it must have on many of yours, as well), I've found that several notable raiding guilds have fully converted to lean, mean 10-man raiding machines. It makes me think: would the whole game be better off this way? The immediate results would be obvious. Less people to deal with means less fighting over gear, less drama, and less people to round up for the nightly raid. On the flip side, if the "drama dragon" rears its ugly head, the impact on a smaller guild could potentially be devastating. But I find that, out of all the people I've actually played this game with, I feel like I could trust oh, about, ten or fifteen of them, and that means that I can deal with the occasional outburst and tense situations between members can be more easily defused. After all, the number one killer of WoW guilds isn't a raid boss, it's the "d-word." Urging guilds to operate on a more compact skill would be a long-term benefit for the health of the game, in my opinion, though that wouldn't help with cleaning up the messy business that would need to be carried out beforehand (I'm talking about trimming rosters and restructuring, which would no doubt leave many players homeless for awhile). The more people there are in a guild, the more they're going to feel devalued. When people feel devalued, they stir the pot to get noticed, and that's not good for anybody. It would be infinitely easier to understand what every person can bring to a raid when there are fewer bodies to consider. Another thing to take into account would be difficulty. With the exception of several fights (like Grobbulus, where an exponential number of targets decreases the chance of any one person being afflicted by a poison cloud), most encounters are, indeed, harder in their 25-man versions. Currently, 10-mans seem to be tuned chiefly through tweaking of "soft" numbers (reducing the min-max damage of a boss' spell) or "hard" numbers (4 adds become 2, 2 adds become 1, etc.).

If 10-man raids were to suddenly become the standard, Blizzard would have to take a more careful approach tobuilding encounters. I feel as though they could create bosses with more interesting mechanics, or ones that at least require a lot more strategic planning. With ten people, you're forced to "do more with less," but when that number goes up, raiding becomes more about "how many people can you throw at the boss." If you ever went through one of the classic 40-man raids with a full group, you'd know how often players simply got lost in the shuffle. Not to mention the problems with gear distribution. It could take ages to win a single upgrade! Besides, some of my best memories come from 10-mans. Countless runs through the atmospheric ruins of Karazhan or intense bear mount attempts (came as close as one minute) in Zul'Aman are among my favorite experiences in the game. All of this may sound strange coming from me, someone who just recommended not too long ago that Blizzard super-size their battlegrounds. While that may work for a grand melee, I feel that smaller raids empower individual players and make the experience a whole lot more fun for everybody involved. After all, it just seems kind of weird to march into a "dungeon" with an entire army. Haven't you always wanted to be "that guy," the one who just saved the world from utter annihilation? Making this sort of change, permanently scaling down the size of dungeons, would no doubt cause a temporary uproar in the community as guilds deal with shifting membership, but I honestly think it would help maintain the health of the game in the long-term. What do you think, perusers of Project Lore? My opinions on game design have historically been controversial, focusing on streamlined, semi-linear experiences. Do you agree that 10-man raiding is a viable prospect for the future of the game, or is it always better to have more options, even if that means diluting certain parts of the game (i.e. forcing the designers to effectively double their workload when producing both 10 and 25-man versions)? The comment section is, as always, open. I leave the floor to you!

Click to read more ...

Pixiestixy wasn't the only part of the PL crew who thought about crafting a story for the Creative Writing Contest.  I've been writing about video games for nearly a decade now, so I contemplated the opportunity to create my own lore, but thought better of it.  It had nothing to do with time constraints or any reasonable excuse.  It came down to sheer confidence, something I have never had in my right brain.  Heck, I did actually give it a shot.  I came up with a trio of plot ideas, but I didn't believe that I had the chops to flesh the story out for 3000+ words.  With the little birdy in my ear yelling "stick to what you know" I dropped the ambitious project and returned to my comfort zone, reporting, dissecting and analyzing other people's work. Thank god that my affliction, being technical rather than creative, doesn't hamstring the whole populace or we wouldn't have 18 winning entries to the contest.  In case you missed the post on the official forum, the winners have been announced with Sarah Pine taking the crown for her story In the Shadow of the Sun. According to Nethaera, Metzen himself had to make the decision in the end. Being a Blizzard run project it should be no shock that we still can't read any of the award-winning stories.  At least not in their entirety.  Nethaera made no mention of the word soon, but Bornakk stated that no stories, winners or losers, can not be "legally" posted.  This gives me some hope that the winning articles will get bound in some sort of physical release.  Otherwise, I do not really understand the lengthy delay in their release.  It would be great of Blizzard to launch the winning stories in a budget-priced physical form as a treat to the community.  But we will have to wait and see. Pine's story isn't one of the shorts on the excerpts page, but there are some quality ones across all three of Blizzard's properties.  Kuma's Song, a tale, or at least the excerpt is, about the horrors of AV, caught my eye as the most intriguing of the seven.  Where Loyalties Lie, a StarCraft piece also seemed particularly interesting.  The collection promises to spread the gauntlet of emotion if the subset of stories are anything to go by.  We have revenge plots, exploration, war, death, destruction, humor and remorse all represented.  I can't wait to digest the rest of the content these unappreciated writers have created. Which story did you enjoy the most from the selection?  Would you be interested in picking up a budget-priced collection of the shorts?  Any readers submit their own stories? I'll take the plunge.  I'll put out one of my creative story ideas for you to giggle and poke fun at.  The favorite plot that I came up with was to be, at least largely, a joke piece, entirely based on boss mobs of various instances.  Not just any boss mobs, but the boss mobs that are effectively tank and spank.  The story would be a collection of soliloquies where the bosses would speak about their strategies to defeat the incoming raid and ruminate over their continued failings.  We'd be treated to colorful plans, elaborate schemes and complex strategies, only to see them fall apart due to personal issues like anxiety, stupidity, or other character flaws.  As for linking the normally unrelated bosses together, the story - One Hit Wonders - would be presented as if they were all in the after life, reminiscing their last minutes on Azeroth to each other. I know open the floor to the Internet for comments and analysis.

Click to read more ...

Kotaku just came to the realization via Official Blue Post (tm) that one of Blizzard's projects, their unnamed next-gen MMO, is an entirely new franchise, which means it's not Starcraft, it's not Warcraft, it's not Diablo, it's not Lost Vikings, it's not Rock n' Roll Racing, and most disappointingly it's not Battle Chess. Zarhym says, in response to a poster wondering why Blizzard hasn't started advertising for their new MMO:

We have nothing to advertise for the new MMO because it's a shell of a game thus far. We've already stated it'll be a brand new franchise, which means the lore, art, and game play are being developed entirely from scratch. It's an overwhelming process, but a process through which we excel. Our track record supports this.

So, they're working on all new stuff. They have two fantasy titles releasing along with a Sci-Fi future title, so what's next? Where will their new MMO end up being set? The wild west? An apocalyptic future? A realistic contemporary world? Ancient Egypt? A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away? Canada? I'm thinking none of the above, because Blizzard has a way of surprising us all. Nevertheless, it may end up being a battle between two Blizzard MMOs at the top, with some players unable to tear themselves away from WoW, but many making the transition to their new property. What do you think? Are you getting tired of the Fantasy MMO? Are you looking forward to Blizzard's new title? Where do you want to see it set, and what do you want it to include? How many question marks fit in one post?

Click to read more ...

In press release earlier today, Blizzard announced that, in China, World of Warcraft will be licensed to NetEase.com, who already has the rights to operate both Starcraft II and Diablo III. Once Blizzard's current deal with The9 expires in June, NetEase will take over the operation of WoW in China, with further details to be announced on their website. According to a VentureBeat article, that means Blizzard's cut of revenue from WoW in China will increase from about $50 million per year over $140 million per year, almost purely profit. It will be interesting to see if this means that Wrath of the Lich King will be coming soon for China, because they still have yet to see it released. This is a reminder of how, although WoW is a huge and global game, we aren't even able to interact in game with nearly everyone due to restrictions like different regions, languages, and servers that the game is played on. In the Totally Rad Guild, we have people from all over the United States, Canada, Australia, and probably more that I don't even know about. So how about you guys - where are you gaming from?

Click to read more ...