So everyone's already talking about it, and I'm late to the party for sure, but the word on the street is that Blizzard will likely be announcing a brand new MMO (at the very least some new game), and many believe it will be a Starcraft branded MMO. This does make sense, considering the announcement will be coming on May 19th at the Blizzard event in Seoul, Korea. And heck, I'd even be very happy to see an MMO based on this universe. But what worries me is that we'll just be getting World of Warcraft with the Sci-Fi treatment. It's no secret that Blizzard likes to play things safe.
Ultimately, I still don't think we'll be seeing much in the way of innovation from most MMOs on the horizon, and certainly not from Blizzard. They're at their best when they take a genre and refine it to a tee. This is what made WoW so accessible, Diablo so addictive, and Starcraft lauded as the finest RTS ever made. Still, I sure hope the mighty developer realizes that with the rich lore and universe of Starcraft they can do so much...
Squad-Based Combat
Imagine as the Zerg controlling your main character, but also a host of zerglings at your command. or as a Ghost having 5 or 6 Marines at your side for harder fights. Sort of like Gods and Heroes' minion system, I think this type of feature would be ideal for an SC MMO, more so than the lone-gunman style of traditional Fantasy MMOs.
Space and Ship-Oriented Exploration
They wouldn't be limited to just one world with the SC Universe. Imagine taking a cue from Star Wars Galaxies and giving players the ability to own and operate their own ships to use in traversing and exploring the universe. A fast travel feature may be more enticing though between planets, as there's less of a market I would assume for space combat. EVE is awesome, but niche. At the very least, combat-enabled "mounts" would be a necessity.
3-Faction PvP
They can get it right here, and do away with the Talent system that muddied up WoW, and and have a shot at one hell of a PvP system. Like Warhammer Online, or even to a lesser extent Aion or RF Online, all the players questing and actions could relate to the tide of the frontline battles. With an SC MMO, Blizzard would have the chane to really get an At-War feel right.
Those are just some of my very vaguely represented hopes for an SC MMO, if that is indeed what will be unveiled on the 19th. Whatever game Blizzard is making, and it is likely an MMO, I just hope they've learned the major lessons from WoW's biggest problems. 8.5 million subs or not, even the developers will admit that there have been mistakes along the way.
Anywho... what do you guys think the Mystery Game will be? And what would you like to see?
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I'm currently debating an all out boycott of Blizzard Entertainment for what they did to the Warcraft lore and MMORPG genre in general. I have a bone to pick with the way my favorite gaming genre was turned upside down into something else - but that's a discussions for another time.
Blizzard would need to seriously and I mean SERIOUSLY do something remarkable to win me over.
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