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Blizzard cancels MMO project TitanFollow

#1 Sep 23 2014 at 1:33 PM Rating: Good
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It seems that Blizzard's next-gen MMO slated to be released as early as last year has been officially abandoned and laid to rest. The unnamed MMO known as "Titan" was not meant to replace or compete with World of Warcraft, but rather seek a place in the non-subscription market. For the time being, Blizzard will no longer be working on a new MMO and instead will be continuing to focus on and support WoW into the near future.

http://www.polygon.com/2014/9/23/6833953/blizzard-cancels-titan-next-gen-mmo-pc
#2 Sep 24 2014 at 4:36 PM Rating: Excellent
Basically, they took a look at the current MMO market and decided that their project was no longer really that ground breaking (esp after Destiny released), nobody was happy with it or liked how it was coming out, and nobody would want to play it.

Another lesson learned from XIV 1.0 - it's better to cancel the project before launch and save face than to have to rebuild from the ground up.

They'll likely keep the assets around in case anyone wants to re-tackle it in the future.
#3 Sep 24 2014 at 4:49 PM Rating: Excellent
Quote:
Another lesson learned from XIV 1.0 - it's better to cancel the project before launch and save face than to have to rebuild from the ground up.


Although I'm quite happy SE decided to take the hard road. Smiley: smile
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#4 Sep 24 2014 at 8:07 PM Rating: Good
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Thayos wrote:
Quote:
Another lesson learned from XIV 1.0 - it's better to cancel the project before launch and save face than to have to rebuild from the ground up.


Although I'm quite happy SE decided to take the hard road. Smiley: smile


I gotta be honest, the 'Titan' project really had me scratching my head. Blizzard had(still has) the MMO that most people model their own offerings on. Though it may not be everyone's favorite, they have the most popular and successful MMO. Starcraft/Warcraft have probably been among the top RTS games, if not the top two. Hearthstone is incredibly popular in the card game category. I'm not sure we could call Heroes of the Storm a LoL killer, but what I've seen of it gives the impression that it will be successful.

Since WoW is PC onry it makes more sense to just improve the game instead of offering more MMOs, no matter how different they are. Just what I've seen for the new and improved character models makes me think the money is better spent there. I think Blizzard probably realized that it made more sense to improve on their success rather than wade into uncharted territory. Stick to what you know Blizz, it's clearly working.
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Its personal preference and all, but yes we need to educate WoW players that this is OUR game, these are Characters and not Toons. Time to beat that into them one at a time.
#5 Sep 24 2014 at 8:35 PM Rating: Excellent
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Thayos wrote:
Quote:
Another lesson learned from XIV 1.0 - it's better to cancel the project before launch and save face than to have to rebuild from the ground up.


Although I'm quite happy SE decided to take the hard road. Smiley: smile


I'm going to have to second this. It's almost like 1.0 had to happen for ARR to become what it is today. Now everyone can point to 1.0 and say "don't be like that".

To quote a movie,
"Why do we fall? So that we can pick ourselves up again."
#6 Sep 25 2014 at 12:05 AM Rating: Excellent
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While there were obvious differences, Titan sounded a bit too close to Trion's Defiance, which not only had a leg up in being released, but also didn't really do all that well. There is also perhaps a bit of an FPS burnout backlash going on in the gaming scene that's sick of all the CoD/Halo sequel-itis that too often seem like cash grabs over legit attempts at improving a franchise.

Then again, maybe the touch of Jay Wilson poisoned Titan like it did Diablo III. :P
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#7 Sep 25 2014 at 3:12 AM Rating: Good
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It was probably the right decision for them, but I can't help but be a little bit sad. Especially since they basically went out and said they don't really have any plans for another mmo even if it might happens sometime in the future.

I wonder if this is going to be a repeat of history with the Everquest franchise once again setting the standard for a while until Blizzard comes along and snatches everyone up with another great game. Maybe the first AAA VR mmo? I can dream can't I? :)
#8 Sep 25 2014 at 7:32 AM Rating: Excellent
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Just to add a few timeline bits in here, ActiBlizz started revamping development on Titan in May 2013 [1]. In June 2013, ActiBlizz announces that it's going to buy itself free from Vivendi [2]. I don't think it's a big stretch to consider that had some effect on a newly-independent company that needed to pay more attention to its costs (and probably debt payments).

Source links:
[1] - http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/28/4374230/blizzard-titan-next-gen-mmo
[2] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activision_Blizzard#Split_from_Vivendi
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#9 Sep 29 2014 at 1:08 PM Rating: Excellent
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Sometimes I wonder is MMO market has to become so saturated and competitive that it is not easy to come up with something new and unique. If ATVI releases a new MMO, can it attract customers from other MMO / new players or it would simply dilute WoW player to the new game (which generates little new revenue). Development and upfront cost of MMO is high (not only you need game designers, you also need to buy and maintain the servers), and most newer MMO after WoW does not last very long (it will be interesting to check how much money SE lost on FFXIV v1. Releasing a new MMO is a high risk gamble.


Edited, Sep 29th 2014 3:08pm by scchan
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#10 Sep 29 2014 at 1:50 PM Rating: Excellent
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There's really not a whole lot more that can be done to improve MMOs under current interface options. Improve the graphics? Sure. But then what once we're into hyper-realistic? Some of the things people are prone to ***** about like questing and its Kill X, Fetch Y, Go to Z, and Defend/Escort Q mechanics aren't going away, either.

There are really only two aspects left to grow upon, and one is going to be entirely subjective. That would be storytelling and user-generated content. Right now, role-playing the sense of improvising an alternate character and persona is generally frowned upon, largely because there are no tangible benefits to doing this well like loot or currency. Rules set by the devs themselves can also sometimes contradict how players might like to play, especially when it comes to things like hard-coded faction divides and/or class/race restrictions. I'm also one who believes that, while a given MMO may try to weave an epic plot involving the player as (one of) the main hero(es), how the worlds themselves tend to come and reflect this fails miserably.

So, as someone who used to RP on MUSHes 5-6 years before XI came out, I'm quite comfortable in the belief that the players themselves can drive a story if given the proper tools. Right now, being a villain in MMO tends to rarely stray far past being some form of PvP ganker. Not very riveting, really. But what if the proper actions could outright lead to a player/guild conquering a particular section of land and further manipulating it to their whim? More broadly, this translates to no two servers of a given game being exactly the same, but it also offers a potentially alternative goal to chase where instead of being a top raider or PvPer, you could be revered a lore-weaver. Naturally, plans and ideas would collide, but that's part of the fun.

But the above is the players simply affecting the known world. User-generated content, however, could be far more vast in its potential. Want to build an incredibly large labyrinth with traps and puzzles for people to figure out? You could. Want to make the digital vacation spot of your dreams that other players could come to for relaxation and more casual RP? Go for it. Feel like you could create the most badass war scene for players to try and fight through and survive? Should also be a thing. So, while some games may be toying with these ideas now, I'd still say they're largely in the juvenile stages of development. Even tribute things could be fun to experience, like if someone totally recreated the original Zelda overworld in 3D form.

Basically, our imaginations are where MMO evolution lie. It's just up to the devs to give us those user-friendly tool sets.
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#11 Sep 29 2014 at 2:21 PM Rating: Decent
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@Seriha

In that case, I might as well just go play Minecraft or Little Big Planet (smile).

It remains open if a pure RP game can commercially do well. It is quite clear that loot-achievement-driven or power players do compose a large part of the gaming community. It won't be possible to release a RP-focused game and then to think there will be no power gamers in it. As for letting players coming up with their dungeon... the moment that is possible, it is likely to be abused. My-maze is a great idea for pure role-players, but I don't want to imagine what would happen if that is put into the hands of a power gamer. Unlike platformers, the abuse cannot be contained within that individual level. If something can be abused, expect it to be abused.

PS: I will agree playing evil is fun :-) (as long as everyone know you are RPing); I love going evil in D&D. Now you want me to go find my D20.


Edited, Sep 29th 2014 4:22pm by scchan
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Art for the sake of art itself is an idle sentence.
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A designer knows he has achieved perfection,
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#12 Sep 29 2014 at 3:52 PM Rating: Excellent
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It seems like a bit of a misconception that when bringing up user-generated content, someone would just put some 1 HP boss that drops the best loot and call it a day. Realistically, a good system shouldn't allow that and I'd even take things a step further in proposing any and all gear in such a game be crafted outside of basic starter/vendor stuff.

So, let's say a level cap is 50 and you want an uber dragonslaying sword. The only way you should be able to get the components for that is killing level 50 (or higher) critters. Yes, it's possible someone may construct a zone generally stocked with the related mobs, but they should still maintain the relative statistics. So, there'd still be some rough rules to abide by. Things could arguably be taken further in require people participate in other various content to "acquire" the means to place specific mobs, a specific number of them, tile sets, and so on. So, on one end you could still have the vanilla game serving as an anchor while the user-generated stuff could basically range the gamut. And yes, while one could draw comparisons to Minecraft or LBP, they've got their own limitations in scope and style.

I have no delusion the end result would be some creative chaos, but I really do believe we'd see some mindblowing stuff.
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#13 Sep 29 2014 at 4:30 PM Rating: Excellent
XI tried their hands at a "user generated dungeon" system with Moblin Maze Mongers. While it's a great idea in theory, the reality was that the limitations of the software + the limitations of the system to prevent people from abusing it meant that it was so confusing as to be nearly worthless. A few dedicated hardcore groups went through the whole thing, but most of us ran it for a few weeks and gave up.

I think XIV might have a better shot at pulling it off successfully, providing they don't make the customization system overly complex.
#14 Sep 29 2014 at 4:40 PM Rating: Good
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I'd have a very hard time considering MMM to be user-generated content. But yes, the infrastructure for it overall just wasn't there.
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#15 Sep 29 2014 at 5:33 PM Rating: Excellent
The whole premise was that the moblins would make a custom dungeon just for you. You could pick the difficulty level and they'd stock it with the appropriate level monsters of a family of your choosing. You picked the map layout. Etc.

The horrible maze tablet system to control those customization options made it a non starter for most people.

Since XIV has mouse + ground interaction, it'd be much easier to let someone open up a zone the size of a FC room or even a large house as a scaled down dungeon map and just let them go to town shuffling around walls and monsters.
#16 Sep 29 2014 at 9:16 PM Rating: Good
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I actually kinda liked MMM. It was far from perfect and I'll be the first to admit, but I ended up making mazes mostly for exp runs. Even now you can still get really good exp from it. It's not on the level of afkssea but when you only have an hour or so to burn then it's pretty **** sweet. If nothing else, worth it for the eyepatch Smiley: laugh

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Wow, you can't even say dayum on this website anymore? What the **** **** is this Smiley: glare

Oh, I can't say **** but not damn? **** it all

Edited, Sep 29th 2014 11:18pm by FilthMcNasty
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Rinsui wrote:
Only hips + boobs all day and hips + boobs all over my icecream

HaibaneRenmei wrote:
30 bucks is almost free

cocodojo wrote:
Its personal preference and all, but yes we need to educate WoW players that this is OUR game, these are Characters and not Toons. Time to beat that into them one at a time.
#17 Sep 30 2014 at 6:45 AM Rating: Excellent
I had a lot more fun in Meeble Burrows. Sure, the dungeons weren't custom, but it had the silliness and variety of Assaults with some very satisfying and difficult bosses for six man content.

I never found enough people interested in doing MMM to get any of the rewards. Also, the constant spamming of the entrance because the instances were full turned a lot of us off when it first came out.
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