On August 08 2014 23:58 Spaylz wrote: I feel like the free-to-play model is pretty ideal for RTS games too.
Sadly, compared to other buy-to-play or pay-to-play games, RTS don't have that much to offer. The only "content" is the campaign (for Blizzard games), then it's multiplayer.
Take a Dota 2-like model, add a ton of cosmetic stuff that has no effect on the balance/gameplay, and you've got a solid RTS model.
I still believe. RTS will make it back somehow! And I believe the next big RTS will be much closer to WC3, albeit with a reduced focus on macro. Some sort of hybrid between RTS and MOBA.
On August 09 2014 05:07 anestetic wrote: Year ago,or maybe half a year ago,I asked my friend,why doesn't blizzard make the sc2 multiplayer f2p?? The worst thing someone can make is get to bronze (because the game is utterly hard to play :jokes),then he responds to me:"Well you can't make sc2 partly f2p because it has a campaign."
Suddenly month ago more or less,blizzard announces that their Hearthstone game will feature a campaign,and that the first wing will be free,otherones you need to pay for it...but wait isn't heartstone a f2p game? Isn't that possible with sc2 also?
To stay on topic,I'll elaborate my statements,I have a ton of friends,that when they look sc2 they go like"this is nice,cool,blabla etc.." but when ask them to buy the game they just go:"nah brah,got my lol,and dota2 f2p". So in essence my personal opinion on RTS genre is not how to improve the genre,then how to make the RTS games more accesible to a casual,or to a group.
you can already play sc2 multiplayer for free, especially with friends.... wtf are you talking about.
On August 09 2014 04:33 Spaylz wrote: Oh yes absolutely, screw esports. Such a fun-killer.
I want WC3's sense of community back, with the good old chatrooms and all! Something that has us playing just for the sake of playing, and of course to win and to have fun. But not for esports.
Nostalgia...
wc3 was a pretty good esport as well. i'm surprised TL always forgets about it.
Oh, I know. I followed it and loved it. It's just that it wasn't as... focused and somewhat forced as it is for SC2. It happened on its own, because people loved competing in the game.
I'm sure it's the case in SC2 too, don't get me wrong, it's simply that Blizzard wanted to put a high emphasis on esports with SC2, and in the end it didn't work out that great. Another debate really.
Even if they just cleaned up BW a bit visually and updated it, trying to keep the way it looked, but built for bigger monitors and such, tacked it on to SC2 for free with starter edition, it would be massive for PC Bangs and other internet cafes/LANs.
On August 09 2014 09:27 mau5mat wrote: Even if they just cleaned up BW a bit visually and updated it, trying to keep the way it looked, but built for bigger monitors and such, tacked it on to SC2 for free with starter edition, it would be massive for PC Bangs and other internet cafes/LANs.
On July 27 2014 13:06 ETisME wrote: Lotv single player is basically done
source?
On July 27 2014 13:06 ETisME wrote: I believe they are trying to focus on heroes is because the engines are related and the features they develop for heroes can be used in sc2
they are working on Heroes of the Storm because the MOBA market is 23874298734 times bigger than the RTS market. follow the money... they are not working on a MOBA to help their RTS game.
they are focusing on Heroes of the Storm because it is a way to make more money than they could ever dream of making on an RTS game.
"By August 2013, the story for Legacy of the Void was written, much of the cinematics were done, and voice actors were in the studio recording dialogue for the game.[16]" (link here)
LotV will likely be out in the next two years. Blizzard won't give up on SC2 mid-way just to focus on HotS.
a cursory examination of this cursory search reveals that its voice and acting work done by voice actors. its not GAME MAKING that is complete.
On July 27 2014 13:06 ETisME wrote: Lotv single player is basically done
source?
On July 27 2014 13:06 ETisME wrote: I believe they are trying to focus on heroes is because the engines are related and the features they develop for heroes can be used in sc2
they are working on Heroes of the Storm because the MOBA market is 23874298734 times bigger than the RTS market. follow the money... they are not working on a MOBA to help their RTS game.
they are focusing on Heroes of the Storm because it is a way to make more money than they could ever dream of making on an RTS game.
"By August 2013, the story for Legacy of the Void was written, much of the cinematics were done, and voice actors were in the studio recording dialogue for the game.[16]" (link here)
LotV will likely be out in the next two years. Blizzard won't give up on SC2 mid-way just to focus on HotS.
a cursory examination of this cursory search reveals that its voice and acting work dont by voice actors. its not GAME MAKING that is complete.
I wouldn't be surprised if LOTV was released in 2016, at this rate. Blizzard is way too busy with their new card came and MOBA. I expect the latter to leech a lot of resources from Blizzard's RTS team. It's hard to blame them though; MOBA and 'free' to play is where it's at nowadays.
those guys saying LotV release is imminent need to give their head a shake. there is ZERO LotV content at GamesCom guys. nothing.
Blizzard doesn't sneak up on people with new releases. it's at least a year between first public showing and final release.
As a general rule, but Broodwar was announced like 5 months before it came out and was only worked on for about 6 months total. I seriously doubt Legacy of the Void will be worked on for 6 months total unless its just because different parts are spread out over time and it isn't all completed at the same time.
Broodwar was an expansion back in 1999, it was made at the end of 1998 thru 1999 when Blizzard didn't have to support WoW. Blizzard is a completely different company Today. Now a days, they takes forever to complete games. And they like to let the public know as early as possible to generate buzz on their projects.
Heart of the Swarm took 2 1/2 years to come out and they began showing stuff to the public 14 months before it came out...it included a beta test that lasted months before release. Heart of the Swarm is a much better representation of how Blizzard operates today.
They have shown nothing to the public about LoTV and its not any where on their front page. They are not promoting it, because it is no where close to being done. Unlike the 4 other items that are on http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/
On August 20 2014 09:13 KelianQatar wrote: Broodwar was an expansion back in 1999, it was made at the end of 1998 thru 1999 when Blizzard didn't have to support WoW. Blizzard is a completely different company Today. Now a days, they takes forever to complete games. And they like to let the public know as early as possible to generate buzz on their projects.
Heart of the Swarm took 2 1/2 years to come out and they began showing stuff to the public 14 months before it came out...it included a beta test that lasted months before release. Heart of the Swarm is a much better representation of how Blizzard operates today.
They have shown nothing to the public about LoTV and its not any where on their front page. They are not promoting it, because it is no where close to being done. Unlike the 4 other items that are on http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/
Wow is 80% of blizard's revenue iirc. Most blizzard projects take a back burner to their prize hefer.
Unless the Engine/non gameplay related stuff is still being worked on, I seriously doubt that Legacy of the Void will take 14 months to make.
They have to take care of 3 things: 1. The Lore/Campaign
2. Cinematics
3. Designing new units.
The Lore/Campaign is just using the editor correctly.
Cinematics can be outsourced to make (maybe 1 year for a 10 minute video).
Design new units is again utilizing the Galaxy editor to model them and give them ability animations.
Unless they are working on social aspect of the game or the microtransaction to make the game f2p, which I heavily doubt because if it goes f2p, they can't cash in on LotV's release. With the exception of these, one team of 10 can EASILY take care of LotV no problem in 5 months no problem.
But then again, Blizzard want to maximize their profit by being cockteases so even though they might have everything set up already NOW, they want for the life span of HotS to last as long as possible before getting people to commit for the next installment.
On August 20 2014 09:31 custombuild wrote: lol = easy to play and very social.
SC 2= hard to play and you play alone.
I agree that sc2 is the better game but i rather play lol just for the team feeling.
You can be just as social as lol as in SC1 custom games. In SC2, Blizzard have been mainly promoting 1 vs 1 competitiveness of the game when instead they should have a more balanced view of it. But they are improving by making arcade free, it remains to be seen if this action is too later or not.
On August 20 2014 09:13 KelianQatar wrote: Broodwar was an expansion back in 1999, it was made at the end of 1998 thru 1999 when Blizzard didn't have to support WoW. Blizzard is a completely different company Today. Now a days, they takes forever to complete games. And they like to let the public know as early as possible to generate buzz on their projects.
Heart of the Swarm took 2 1/2 years to come out and they began showing stuff to the public 14 months before it came out...it included a beta test that lasted months before release. Heart of the Swarm is a much better representation of how Blizzard operates today.
They have shown nothing to the public about LoTV and its not any where on their front page. They are not promoting it, because it is no where close to being done. Unlike the 4 other items that are on http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/
Broodwar came out in November of 98, StarCraft came out in March of 98. Blizzard for the last 15 years has always had at least 2 teams of people working on projects, but the reality is that Legacy of the Void could very likely be a March 2016 or November 2015 release based on the timing of Blizzard's current projects. Blizzard's resources are going to be freed up this December and you are likely to start seeing what their next projects are. Here are your options:
Next WoW expansion - (probably too early) More Hearthstone content Legacy of the Void Titans rebirth? Diablo III second expansion???
Something will start getting press and work, but right now nobody knows what it will be.
When you have a product like WoW that generates $1 Billion per annum in revenue anything else should be secondary to it
To be honest i am surprised there will be a LotV ( the game doesn't need extra units, it needs to be reworked ) and i am impressed they are sinking a lot of money into WCS. It feels like a tactical thing to keep a presence in the RTS \ E-sports scene
Heroes of the Storm,Hearthstone and the WoW franchises are the future. WoW has been neglected of late with a couple of lacklustre expansions and needs a major boost.
Heroes of the Storm could be excellent if they market it right and i expect it to be the primary E-sports focus for Blizzard when its released. Starcraft has basically had its day and has sort of "missed the boat". You could say this in general for all RTS games, the C&C \ Total Annihilation franchise has been ruined by some very bad decisions from their respective developers whom seem intent on making a fast buck and squeezing the last dime out of it before dumping it.
I'm sure it's the case in SC2 too, don't get me wrong, it's simply that Blizzard wanted to put a high emphasis on esports with SC2, and in the end it didn't work out that great. Another debate really.
Not true. esports was an afterthought for SC2. Outside of Korea, where there was already an established market, Blizzard wasn't invested at all in esports for SC2 at the time of the games release. WCS came later. In Korea, they let an IP dispute hold back the scene. The popularity of esports clearly took Blizzard by surprise and they have been playing catchup ever since.
To the comments concerning LoTV and when it will be released, I think we should expect an announcement at Blizzcon. And lets clear something up: Every project has its own budget. The fact that they are devoting a lot resources to WoW and Hearthstone doesn't take resources away from SC2. Blizzard doesn't run its finances like you might run your personal budget.
EPT
