I still wonder what happened.

[_C-a-e-r-i-t-h_]

Can you imagine how bad blizzards new MMO will lay waste to everything that exists in the MMO world. An MMO being made by the best of the best, no money worries, no time constraints. I hope it proves to all the other developers out there what can be done when a quality team releases a quality product. Instead of hoping to make enough off of box sales to break even you make a quality product and reap the repeat monthy fee gravy train from millions of fan.

I don't think Blizzard's new MMO is going to eclipse the success of their current one. I doubt that's even possible. But Blizzard's success has always been anomalous.

Also, please don't assume a correlation between quality and success. Team Ico is a fine example of a quality team who releases quality products, but none of their games have ever topped the charts. Team Ico doesn't have Activision's marketing division.

Or $25 Celestial Steeds.

[Ashthra]

I don't think Blizzard's new MMO is going to eclipse the success of their current one. I doubt that's even possible. But Blizzard's success has always been anomalous.

Also, please don't assume a correlation between quality and success. Team Ico is a fine example of a quality team who releases quality products, but none of their games have ever topped the charts. Team Ico doesn't have Activision's marketing division.

Or $25 Celestial Steeds.

I thought Blizzard did better marketing before they merged with Activision.

And the sparkle pony/disco lion/premium shit reeks of Activision meddling. Sure, Blizzard added paid transfers and whatnot before the merge, but the money grabs have become retardedly blatant.

.../hugs her disco lion

I know, I'm a shill. But damn it, it's cuddly looking.

Insofar as Tanaka's vision, I'm sure FFXIV would have done significantly better (not like it could've done worse) if he'd actually been given the time to get it done, but the ideas themselves seem silly and counter-intuitive. Tossing out accepted MMO paradigms in the name of making them better/more innovative is one thing, but doing something different just for the sake of it is a poor idea, any way you slice it. Maybe there were reasons behind the differences, but we'll never know now, I guess.

[TonyMontana]

I don't think Blizzard's new MMO is going to eclipse the success of their current one. I doubt that's even possible. But Blizzard's success has always been anomalous.

Also, please don't assume a correlation between quality and success. Team Ico is a fine example of a quality team who releases quality products, but none of their games have ever topped the charts. Team Ico doesn't have Activision's marketing division.

Or $25 Celestial Steeds.

Quality/Money/All the time in the world/Huge HUGE brand loyalty/Amazing track record of success/Best Marketing team in the MMO business. I will eat my hat if it doesnt sell 5 million in the first month and top 10 million in the first year alone.

[Ashthra]

Titan's supposed to be an MMOFPS. I'm really bad at FPS games and don't really like them besides, so make that 9,999,999 in the first year.

But anyway, this isn't about the 800 lb genre-eating gorilla. This is about the bug it stepped on while it went to nom on the decomposing brains of its contenders.

[Takedakai]

Unless some of us work for SE we probably don't really know how much of the old system was Tanaka's vision or other influences. We do know though that once he left the entire culture of the dev team completely changed. The lines of communication between the players and developers were finally opened. I am very happy that this has happened because when you have even a tiny voice that you know is heard it is much better than shouting at a wall.

[_C-a-e-r-i-t-h_]

Quality/Money/All the time in the world/Huge HUGE brand loyalty/Amazing track record of success/Best Marketing team in the MMO business. I will eat my hat if it doesnt sell 5 million in the first month and top 10 million in the first year alone.

I highlighted the important part. It's pretty much guaranteed to get 10 million, but that's not really "blowing anything away" so much as it is "repeating WoW success."

In any market, you have the 800-pound gorilla and the also-rans. The gorilla doesn't need quality, though it's nice when it's there. The also-rans, one bad game and they die. Team Ico, Atlus, Clover Studios, no matter how good their games are they'll never sell even half of what a gorilla does on a bad game. Persona 4 sold, what, half a million tops? Duke Nukem Forever meanwhile tops the charts.

I think the most interesting thing in the future of Blizzard-dominated MMORPGs is Torchlight. It's being made by Blizzard North aka Runic Games, so it's a quality product from a quality team, and who knows how to "kill" Blizzard better than the guys who helped build it?

[Verecund]

They had to step away from the old EQ-era MMO forumulas... they are somewhat dated (but remedied with fun gameplay and challenges/goals). The most important aspects of Final Fantasy games have always been the story and the gameplay, and this game is severely lacking in one of those categories...

[_C-a-e-r-i-t-h_]

They had to step away from the old EQ-era MMO forumulas... they are quite dated. But, the most important aspects of Final Fantasy games have always been the story and the gameplay, and this game is severely lacking in one of those categories...

Yeah, and it needs a lot of work on the gameplay too.

[Mug]

http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com...f018ec5fb504d2

Wow, the old team had so many cool things in store for the beginning of 2011. And many elementary things that we still don't have. Makes me a little sad.

[Physic]

Wow, the old team had so many cool things in store for the beginning of 2011. And many elementary things that we still don't have. Makes me a little sad.

yup, well thats how it be sometimes