What's going on at Blizzard?

Azrayne

Irenicus did nothing wrong
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Yeah I definitely wouldn't want "World of Diablo," but eventually someone is going to do something unique enough, well enough, to revive the genre and bring it forward, the way WoW revolutionized it in 2004. Not sure if Blizzard is the right company for that though, since their forte has always been refining and polishing pre-existing concepts.

I'm currently at the point where I think the genre is going to stay stuck until there's some kind of big technological breakthrough which allows things to be done that were impossible before.

I also don't think the Diablo setting lends itself well to an MMO. There's basically one playable race (unless you somehow make demons/angels playable factions, which brings up it's own massive can of worms) and a lot of the stuff that makes the first 2 games so great (the smooth ARPG gameplay, the character building/loot farming and the creepy, R18 gothic setting) wouldn't translate well into a typical third person open world MMO.
 

GonzytheMage

Golden Knight of the Realm
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Let's pretend it could be a Diablo MMO or any MMO for that matter, then add Blizzards time frame for development. We're looking at 4-6 years for a launch if it hasn't been in development for at least three years already. If they have had an MMO in development for some time they probably just replaced the lead dev with Chilton. I don't see him leaving the helm of WoW for any less of a position.

I would like to think it's a project remastering some of the old titles and ultimately a classic WoW server or even a bunch of WoW servers supporting various expansions.

I know my fantasy is unrealistic but it's a fun thought. I would really love for Blizzard to make another MMO from any of their universes.
 
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Azrayne

Irenicus did nothing wrong
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786
I could get behind a Starcraft MMO with a PvP based endgame - DAoC in space style. I'd eat that shit up then shove my fingers down my throat to empty my stomach so I could eat some more.
 

Pyros

<Silver Donator>
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I don't think a Diablo mmo would involve what most people here consider mmo. I think it'd be closer to Marvel Heroes "mmo", as in large instanced areas with a bunch of ungrouped people frantically clicking large hp sponges, and some "raid" content which is basically 8man D2 groups, but with content properly scaled for it and a dash(or more likely a shitload) of dance dance revolution gimmicks bosses. And obviously, a fuckton of daillies and microtransactions, cause that's what mmo means nowadays really.

And honestly, that might even not be that bad. Koreans are kinda working on Diablo clones with mmo elements too(Lineage and that other one I forgot the name of), Marvel heroes showed some of the stuff that can be done in the west in terms of pricing structure and shit and if Brevik does end up working on something, it would make total sense to have him work on something like that since he's the one that got Marvel Heroes back on track. It'd also make sense in relation to his tweet about working on the future of the genre, you could argue that's the future of the genre, mmo elements mixed in.
 

Valderen

Space Pirate
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I agree that a Diablo MMO would most likely be something similar to Marvel Heroes which I would be fine with to be honest, especially if it comes with the usual Blizzard refinement and polish.
 

sadris

Karen
<Donor>
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Blizzard isn't going to cannibalize their WOW subscriber base with another subscription MMO.
 
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GonzytheMage

Golden Knight of the Realm
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Blizzard isn't going to cannibalize their WOW subscriber base with another subscription MMO.


I hear this and for the most part I agree with it. The thought that stands out to me is if they split their subscription base with another game with a subscription aren't you still making subscription money? I would think putting your eggs in the same basket is the worst idea you could have. Which is why Blizzard has a title for nearly every genre now.

What they should do is launch another MMO and charge a premium rate to stay subbed to multiple titles within the francise. It's the most logical way to raise the sub fee. Alot of people play more than one game at a time now and isn't two AAA MMO sub fees worth $19.99 plus tax?
 

kaid

Blackwing Lair Raider
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I could see a diablo game along the lines of marvel heroes still pretty much diablo but with more people and more populated game. We shall see it does sound like they are hiring for a diablo related product.
 

Muligan

Trakanon Raider
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You fantasize about a Diablo MMO and the first thing that comes to mind is raid encounters?

I'm not a fan of the idea of a Diablo MMO as it is, but a Diablo MMO with raids would make me throw up in my mouth a little. Even in WoW they felt really out of place to me, and one of my biggest issues with the game is the way they copy-pasted EQ style raiding in for the endgame instead of coming up with something new and more engaging (and, you know, involving the "War" part of "Warcraft").

Actually the first thing that came to my mind, as stated in my post, was revisiting places in Diablo I and/or II in a persistent world but yeah, I mentioned raids because to the general MMO public that equates to the "end game" and I think it would be really easy and potentially even interesting to see how they would weave these recognizable characters into bosses. It just popped in my mind when writing my last post that it could be cool for this to take a Planes of Power type approach where some of these bosses exist in their own plane, dimension, whatever, and people raid those zones.

I simply can't help for most of my MMO thoughts to gravitate towards EQ and I guess WoW. It's probably my age and underlying desire of reliving those glory days but I would still like to see how they could make a Diablo MMO work without messing up the lore and/or characters of Diablo.
 

Malakriss

Golden Baronet of the Realm
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EQ Next was going to use the Diablo model wasn't it? 4 abilities based on class, some more for the weapon and powerful items that would have unique modifiers and legendary effects. Instead of digging underground simply dungeon down deeper and deeper.
 

Tenks

Bronze Knight of the Realm
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606
Yeah everything I saw from EQ Next reminded me of a PvE focused MOBA. Which I think that design concept has merit, personally.
 

kudos

<Banned>
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Diablo MMO in my mind is basically just a much darker and bloodier version of Duskwoods in WoW.