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I've been an off-and-on World of Warcraft player since the Burning Crusade days, and I honestly think that Blizzard is struggling to evolve the MMORPG genre int

I've been an off-and-on World of Warcraft player since the Burning Crusade days, and I honestly think that Blizzard is struggling to evolve the MMORPG genre into something suitable for the modern day. There was a great article in Kotaku[1] that illustrated this quite nicely. Essentially, what made World of Warcraft successful when it launched can't really exist today, especially with our hyper-connected world. Blizzard has made many attempts to make World of Warcraft more modern, more accessible to newer players (and some have even worked!), but nothing they've done has been able to recapture people in the same manner as it did originally. I think this isn't so much Blizzard's fault as it's just a factor of our world now; there's so much competition for our attention that the "average" gamer doesn't really have the motivation to immerse themselves into the game world (nor can they really when there's so much research you end up doing while playing). The last truly transformational gaming experience I had was with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild back in 2017. I suspect much of that experience was due to the fact that, in those crucial first few days, there wasn't really anything online about the game. (Sure, there were articles here and there, but nothing near the vast amounts of information about World of Warcraft that exist now). To a lesser extent, I think a lot of the experience I had was due to the single-player nature of the game. I've said this for years, and I still stand by it: Blizzard should create single-player games set in the Warcraft universe in the vein of Skyrim. They've spent so much time and effort crafting these elaborate stories and worlds that I think the best way to really experience them now is with a single-player game. I could be convinced to accept a group-up mechanic for larger enemies (sort of in the vein of Monster Hunter), but a single-player narrative-driven game set in the Warcraft universe (with art done by the cinematics team) could be a blockbuster if done correctly. However, there's no indication that Blizard cares about crafting that sort of experience anymore. They seem to be almost commpletely focused on multiplayer, microtransaction-based gaming, which is probably the way to be the most profitable these days I guess. [1] https://kotaku.com/world-of-warcraft-classic-maybe-you-cant-go-home-again-1844611355 https://kotaku.com/world-of-warcraft-classic-maybe-you-cant-...

tsimionescu 5y ago
Blizzard hasn't produced even one single-player-focused game since... Diablo I? Their strength has always been multiplayer, I very much doubt they could deliver a blockbuster single-player open world game.
- dstaley 5y ago
  Totally fair point! But I'd also like to point out that prior to World of Warcraft, Blizzard hadn't released an MMORPG. Prior to Overwatch, Blizzard hadn't released a first-person shooter. I totally understand your point that Blizzard might not have the talent to pull off a single-player RPG game, but I still think it's within the realm of reality.
  - tsimionescu 5y ago
    Sure, but some of those jumps have been more gradual - WoW's hotkey gameplay isn't all that different from a fast-paced RTS, especially given WC3's dabbling into RPG mechanics with the hero units. Overwatch and HearthStone are much bigger jumps to be fair.
- plorkyeran 5y ago
  The SC2 expansions were basically three good single-player games that came bundled with a different multiplayer game built on the same engine and art assets. HotS in particular the single-player game arguably wasn't even the same genre as the multiplayer.
- jlawer 5y ago
  I would argue initial release of Warcraft 3 was single player focused, with multiplayer as a feature, however I think post launch support was more multiplayer focused. However I think that was the model of many of the older games. Once the game has been developed and released, single player improvements are largely either bugs, quality of life improvements or platform changes. The first 2 were needed less because of old school blizzard's dedication to quality.
- rightbyte 5y ago
  D2 was a single player game, right? The multiplayer success always felt accidental to me.
brailsafe 5y ago
They've already done this... with WoW. Having dipped back into it in winter, it's more or less an single player game now, with more effort put into phasing players into whatever type of game they want to play and getting them there as quickly as possible. Leveling is laughably fast, and the endgame is mostly done with arbitrary people that will have no investment in decent socialization within the game.
Meekro 5y ago
I recently got into WoW classic, and my experience has been much more positive than what this Kotaku writer describes. I'm in my mid-30s and I never got into WoW when I was younger, but was always curious to try. There were so many expansions that I wasn't really sure how to get started-- do I need to buy all of them? Some of them? One of them? Anyway, WoW classic made it simple to dive in, so I did! Since I didn't want to waste time searching for random people to party with, I convinced my wife and a friend to start playing with me. We're all about to get to level 20 and are eager to see if the 3 of us can complete Deadmines. I haven't experienced the kind of "ghost-town" feel that the writer described. Even minor towns usually had people running around them. Also, the writer's use of "everyone" and "we" doesn't apply to me or anyone I know. The 3 of us are learning how to play together effectively, and having a great time doing it. At the rate we're progressing, we probably have many hundreds of hours of fun gaming ahead of us even if we never do anything more than 5-man dungeons.
- bombcar 5y ago
  The key to WoW originally was having a solid core group to play with - it really wasn’t “soloable” the way it is now - and arguably that’s better for the game. Last time I played a WoW expansion I got to level cap basically solo.
- sralbert 5y ago
  I'm also enjoying leveling my first character. I'm about to hit 40 but I still need over 20g for a mount + riding. Do you plan on staying on classic or going to TBC next week?
  - Meekro 5y ago
    Me and my group are definitely going to TBC when it does full release on June 1. I'm playing a Druid bear tank for our group-- we just did Deadmines with me tanking-- and Druid tanks were significantly upgraded in TBC so they could rival Warrior tanks. If you're struggling with gold, I would suggest buying some. I'm not normally one to cheat, but my group bought 4000 gold for $100 on g2g.com and it helped quite a bit. To the extent that there are rules against this, they are basically not enforced. It's unheard of for anyone to be banned for buying gold.
vbezhenar 5y ago
For me the issue is, that in attempts to modernize the WoW, they alienated the game for me, as I no longer feel welcome in the game. The kinds of game interactions I used to have are gone. Game wants to put me into some bounds that make me feel uneasy. It tries to force me into a playstyle I don't like. And, worse of all, they periodically are trying to remind that they did not forget about players like me, so my hope is not gone but they constantly fail to deliver those promises, disappointing me again and again. I'm in a kind of weird love-hate relationship with WoW.
qudat 5y ago
> The last truly transformational gaming experience I had For me it was Subnautica. That game *hooked* me so hard. It had an incredible progression and such an interesting game loop. Recapturing that experience is like lightning in a bottle, which I agree is like when WoW hit peak numbers.

tsimionescu 5y ago

Blizzard hasn't produced even one single-player-focused game since... Diablo I? Their strength has always been multiplayer, I very much doubt they could deliver a blockbuster single-player open world game.

dstaley 5y ago
Totally fair point! But I'd also like to point out that prior to World of Warcraft, Blizzard hadn't released an MMORPG. Prior to Overwatch, Blizzard hadn't released a first-person shooter. I totally understand your point that Blizzard might not have the talent to pull off a single-player RPG game, but I still think it's within the realm of reality.
- tsimionescu 5y ago
  Sure, but some of those jumps have been more gradual - WoW's hotkey gameplay isn't all that different from a fast-paced RTS, especially given WC3's dabbling into RPG mechanics with the hero units. Overwatch and HearthStone are much bigger jumps to be fair.
plorkyeran 5y ago
The SC2 expansions were basically three good single-player games that came bundled with a different multiplayer game built on the same engine and art assets. HotS in particular the single-player game arguably wasn't even the same genre as the multiplayer.
jlawer 5y ago
I would argue initial release of Warcraft 3 was single player focused, with multiplayer as a feature, however I think post launch support was more multiplayer focused. However I think that was the model of many of the older games. Once the game has been developed and released, single player improvements are largely either bugs, quality of life improvements or platform changes. The first 2 were needed less because of old school blizzard's dedication to quality.
rightbyte 5y ago
D2 was a single player game, right? The multiplayer success always felt accidental to me.

brailsafe 5y ago

They've already done this... with WoW. Having dipped back into it in winter, it's more or less an single player game now, with more effort put into phasing players into whatever type of game they want to play and getting them there as quickly as possible. Leveling is laughably fast, and the endgame is mostly done with arbitrary people that will have no investment in decent socialization within the game.

Meekro 5y ago

I recently got into WoW classic, and my experience has been much more positive than what this Kotaku writer describes. I'm in my mid-30s and I never got into WoW when I was younger, but was always curious to try. There were so many expansions that I wasn't really sure how to get started-- do I need to buy all of them? Some of them? One of them? Anyway, WoW classic made it simple to dive in, so I did! Since I didn't want to waste time searching for random people to party with, I convinced my wife and a friend to start playing with me. We're all about to get to level 20 and are eager to see if the 3 of us can complete Deadmines. I haven't experienced the kind of "ghost-town" feel that the writer described. Even minor towns usually had people running around them. Also, the writer's use of "everyone" and "we" doesn't apply to me or anyone I know. The 3 of us are learning how to play together effectively, and having a great time doing it. At the rate we're progressing, we probably have many hundreds of hours of fun gaming ahead of us even if we never do anything more than 5-man dungeons.

bombcar 5y ago
The key to WoW originally was having a solid core group to play with - it really wasn’t “soloable” the way it is now - and arguably that’s better for the game. Last time I played a WoW expansion I got to level cap basically solo.
sralbert 5y ago
I'm also enjoying leveling my first character. I'm about to hit 40 but I still need over 20g for a mount + riding. Do you plan on staying on classic or going to TBC next week?
- Meekro 5y ago
  Me and my group are definitely going to TBC when it does full release on June 1. I'm playing a Druid bear tank for our group-- we just did Deadmines with me tanking-- and Druid tanks were significantly upgraded in TBC so they could rival Warrior tanks. If you're struggling with gold, I would suggest buying some. I'm not normally one to cheat, but my group bought 4000 gold for $100 on g2g.com and it helped quite a bit. To the extent that there are rules against this, they are basically not enforced. It's unheard of for anyone to be banned for buying gold.

vbezhenar 5y ago

For me the issue is, that in attempts to modernize the WoW, they alienated the game for me, as I no longer feel welcome in the game. The kinds of game interactions I used to have are gone. Game wants to put me into some bounds that make me feel uneasy. It tries to force me into a playstyle I don't like. And, worse of all, they periodically are trying to remind that they did not forget about players like me, so my hope is not gone but they constantly fail to deliver those promises, disappointing me again and again. I'm in a kind of weird love-hate relationship with WoW.

qudat 5y ago

> The last truly transformational gaming experience I had For me it was Subnautica. That game *hooked* me so hard. It had an incredible progression and such an interesting game loop. Recapturing that experience is like lightning in a bottle, which I agree is like when WoW hit peak numbers.