Prophecy on TES:O's fate? : Othor Games

» Mon May 14, 2012 9:29 am

Reaction to this MMO is pretty negative all across the internet. Most TES fans won't play it, and MMO fans will stick to WoW and GW2. Yeah, it'll bomb.

Most TES fans won't play? Most of the 10 million plus MMO fans will stick with WOW and GW2? Show me your research polls and questionarres. I'd bet you have less than 2000 results total making your results not matter.

» Mon May 14, 2012 8:04 pm

Reaction to this MMO is pretty negative all across the internet. Most TES fans won't play it, and MMO fans will stick to WoW and GW2. Yeah, it'll bomb.

No its not.

» Mon May 14, 2012 3:49 pm

That pic is pretty much spot-on.

Those "dead" MMOs might not exactly be dead, but let's face it. Once WoW proved to be a hit, everybody wanted a piece of the pie, and nobody's managed that yet.

So TES:O might sell. It might even sell well. But it won't be a WoW killer.

Where does this stupid wow killer crap come from, wow dont need a killer, it will kill its self, wow isnt even the bigged morpg out, and those so called "other" mmo's are doing just fine, even EQ , which is what WoW copied is still doing great.

» Mon May 14, 2012 9:19 am

Another strong, well-informed argument.

» Mon May 14, 2012 5:21 am

Why is WoW held up to some standard that every MMO has to "beat" in order to be successful?

Yes, WoW was extremely profitable, but does that mean the product was "good"? When WoW slithered out of Blizzard's diseased loins, the MMO industry was set back decades. If you really care about the "legacy" of TES or lore, or whatever, you should pray to god that this TES:O is nothing like WOW or even aspires to be.

Bottom line, WoW's recipe for success isn't the only viable business model, and "popular" doesn't always mean "good".

I think many people might be missing the point of many people's concerns.
It is posible that The Elderscrolls Online is not trying to compete with WoW. But whether TES:O wants to get in that fight or not, the second you jump into the MMO gaming world you are already trying to compete with WoW. Until WoW finally dies from old age (which who knows when that may happen. But it has been slowly getting smaller) or another MMO actually delivers the crippling blow to WoW that will release WoW's complete stranglehold on the MMORPG world (though it doesn't at all have to die), you cannot "not" compete with WoW. That's just how much WoW dominates the mmo market, and that is how wide and devoted their fanbase is.

WoW makes so much money it makes the suits salivate. However, WoW makes so much money because it has a massive amount of subscribers. Most MMOs cannot hope to capture that number of subscribers. Add to that the population of WoW are mostly casual and loyal. Being casual means they don't have the time to get familiar with another game, and often opt to either never leave WoW, or to try something out and then return to WoW, and avoid the 'learning curve' period of a new game. WoW has had some great luck and good timing in obtaining the playerbase they have, and for another studio to strategise to steal that playerbase would be stupid. Unfortunately some studios have been put in the position of being stupid because of the dollar signs in the eyes of execs.

It's time for niche market MMOs.

It's time to make a deliberate decision to not compete with WoW, and to bring very different games with very different price tags into the market.

It's time for consumers to make it clear to developers that they will pay to get what they want, and they won't pay for anything they don't want. Except, because large MMORPGs don't get released every week, producers know that many consumers will purchase the product just to try it out. ZeniMax Online surely know that by the time TESO is released most of the complainers on this forum will buy it just to try it. Be honest, how many on this forum are not satisfied with what they've heard so far about TESO, but will still try it out?

I don't want to play WoW, and I'll pay more than a WoW subscription to play the game I want to play.
I do want to play a first person Elder Scrolls game with other people who also want to play an Elder Scrolls game. And I will pay for it.

» Mon May 14, 2012 7:42 am

Is there anyone here who has played MMO's and *didn't* start with Everquest or WoW?

That is exactly why people are saying it will be compared to WoW- you can't help but be compared to the biggest game in the genre. If someone were to make a sandbox RPG with an open world, it would be compared to Skyrim and the Elder Scroll series too. It doesn't matter what the differences are, people will naturally look for the similarities first.

My prediction will be this: many hardcoe TES fans have already expressed their displeasure for the idea. If they continue to detract from the open sandbox feel of the game in favor of balance, many TES fans will not play. For MMO fans, if they do not add distinct, different MMO features, they will not play. So they have the precarious position of losing many people from both their playerbases, depending on which ones they choose to cater to.

It's funny, because even though many TES fans have claimed to want an MMO, it's not really what they wanted- they wanted co-op. They wanted small private worlds they could share with other TES fans. They wanted to share the same adventures and stories with their friends. That's not an MMO, and they're starting to see that. It will be interesting to see how even those who support the idea wholeheartedly take in the official releases over the next year that spell out exactly how different the world has to be in order to balance it for millions of players.

» Mon May 14, 2012 9:06 am

...wow dont need a killer, it will kill its self, wow isnt even the bigged morpg out...

Seriously?

It's got about 5x the subscriber base of the next-biggest MMO on the market.