Any Other Contenders?
by Mike D'Anna 
Dec 31st 2005 at 9:00AM
With over 5 million subscribers now, I doubt Blizzard is going to be worried about
anyone stealing all their thunder anytime soon, but there are a few upcoming entries in the MMORPG sweepstakes looming
on the horizon; could any of them be big enough to take a bite out of Blizzard's pie?After all, the grandaddy of all RPG's is finally coming to online life in February in the form of Dungeons & Dragons Online . The Turbine title is now beta testing & garnering some exciting word-of-mouth, and the built-in fanbase alone could initially lure a good chunk of players from WoW. Some dark horse titles, such as Pirates of the Burning Sea or Auto Assault, could also draw some players away, with some innovative elements & fresh settings that haven't yet been explored in many other MMORPG's.
Are there any other games out there whetting your appetites, or are you fully satisfied with your diet of WoW?
Filed under: News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Leitzge Dec 31st 2005 9:51AM
No, I think I am going to stick with WoW for a while to come. One of the main reasons is the soon-to-be-released expansion, which I know will add a ton of extra and exciting content, a big addition of course the two new races. I think that many hardcore WoW fans will find these same reasons good-enough excuses not to switch games. I think that the timing to release the expansion is pretty good, however it could have been a tad sooner. Anyway, not to lure away too much from the main question: I honestly think that unless these new MMORPG's add heaps of new and interesting features, I don't think that too many people will quit playing the game, and if they do decide to buy a new MMORPG I hope that thet at least stay part-time WoW players and can still contribute to the game.
Baron Samedi Dec 31st 2005 11:17AM
I think you haven't thought it through. With 5 million subscribers, now is the time when Blizzard should be most worried.
Login queues, griefing, key areas lagged beyond usability (Og), server crashes/bugs (anyone else seen all NPCs repeatedly disappear?), and a number of other issues will only get aggravated with increased users. Not only that, but problems will get much more widespread attention.
With more and more users, now is when Blizzard really needs to foccus on the game content and technology to keep this game a good experience. Otherwise, it will no longer be the "cool" game and begin to lose users until it beccomes like UO or Lineage.
Evan Holt Dec 31st 2005 11:48AM
Even huge titles such as Lord of the Rings Online won't pull me away from WoW for one simple reason. Only WoW works on a Mac.
Ryan Dec 31st 2005 12:11PM
What Evan said ;)
Leitzge Dec 31st 2005 1:29PM
Evan, yes that is another big argument for me too, I just got a PowerBook 15" and I love it. And to Baron, yes it does seem that the bugs will get much more attention now with so many subscribers. It is necessary for Blizzard to refine the technology behind the game, most importantly not allowing for constant server-crashes and the game-mechanics failing. With those few glitches repaired, and the new expansion, I still believe that WoW is going to continue to dominate the market, however, the expansion has to be good. And just on a side-note, sometimes I feel I'm being robbed of my money when I'm playing and suddenly the server crashes, however Blizzard is pretty good for making up for it, as an example extending my subscription for one extra day. And of course, I'm not being robbed, as I'm choosing to play and pay.
Baron Samedi Dec 31st 2005 1:45PM
Interestingly, I'm also on a Mac. Wonder how many of the readers of this site are?
Anyway, Lineage was also a Mac RPG, and noone plays it anymore. Mainly because of the in-game problems, and it died even when there was no Mac alternative. After a certain point (for me anyway, YMMV), the technical issues make the game not worthwhile anymore. I never even started playing EverQuest on the Mac because it was technically horrible.
But the issues above pertain to both Mac and PC users, and not many folks (the casual gamers that Blizzard needs to continue growing, not the hardcore gamers) will put up with the existing issues, never mind ones that will pop as things get worse.
Oddly, it seems as though there's fairly easy fixes to existing problems. I'm saying that without any intimate knowledge of WoW's back-end. But the problems they're experiencing have been solved before, both in MMORPGs and other similiar situations.
Aaron Dec 31st 2005 1:48PM
I'm looking forward to Lord of the Rings online. I'll give it a shot, but here's to hoping Blizz will refocus its efforts on WoW.
Windshadow Dec 31st 2005 4:28PM
another Mac user here 17" 1.33 ghz powerbook but I to am a causual gamer my main is omy lev 14 and I have about 12 alts between 7 and 10 over about 8 servers! deciding what race/class I most want to play (I have setteled on a dwarf hunter for now as somone quitting the server to go PvP all the time last summer (I do not like PvP being mor of a care bear type by nature) gave me almost 40 gold out of the blue! so the incentive to keep my main on Maliagos is rather high !) I have concentrated on my engineering (225) and mining as a result of this disjointed play with this toon
I have to think about starting a Char on the WoW insider Horde server though as I would like to play with you folks here...
grouping is not something have tried yet as until this month when I retired I was away at sea and off line for months at a time (one reason for my slow progress in the game) but it meant when I would meet someone in game I would play with them a few days go off to work for a few weeks and if I whispered them On my return they would be many levels above me... now as a man of lesure I can play more regularly once I get my new home etc set up...
Cheers and a happy 2006 to you all!
(PS how many of the rest of you Mac users are looking forward to new Intel Macs? I can not decide if I want to jump in at the bleeding edge when they come out or wait a generation for them to knock the edges off
Ryan Jan 1st 2006 12:38AM
Windshadow,
I believe its always best to wait a generation and let them iron out a few of the wrinkles.
Hopefully with the intel chips us devoted mac-addicts will be able to try out a few more of the MMORPG's out there.
That way we can come back to WoW since we already knew it was the creme of the crop ;)
Gedeon Jan 1st 2006 12:23PM
Yep, Mac user here. I was looking forward to the new Star Trek MMORPG, but its obvious from their FAQ page that the game will be lacking right from the get-go. Being able to only play Starfleet personel is like saying there will only be Alliance Night Elfs available when the game launches. I play Horde in WoW and would jump at the chance to play Borg or Jem'Hadar. Oh wait, none of this would be possible anyway cause Star Trek Online is PC only. Why is it that Blizzard is the only company with the vision to do duel releases?
Bo Jan 1st 2006 8:45PM
Yea this game runs awesome on my Apple iBook G4. I can't wait for the Intel chips, wish they would have went with AMD though. I"m gonna wait til the wrinkles get out as well. I've never played an MMORPG untile WoW so I don't think I will jump ship till WoW 2.
Jimmy Jan 1st 2006 8:48PM
I'd have to agree with Baron Samedi. Even though I've only been playing for a little over a week, I think the game is fantastic, but there are some quality issues that must be addressed. Server queues and lag are not going to keep the faithful for long.