I write to you in a state of withdrawal. Cold turkey, if you will - my drug of choice removed from me, leaving me in a condition of perpetual longing. Of course, I refer not to an addiction to a narcotic, or some other substance. I refer to the Star Wars: The Old Republic Beta, which is currently in between builds and leaving us Testers shivering in a corner and breaking our F5 keys as we refresh the forums endlessly, awaiting its return with baited breath and damaged keyboards.
So, sadly, I write to you not as a Tester, but as someone who has returned to another MMO. No no, not World Of Warcraft (although I will be discussing that shortly), but rather another I played earlier this year: Rift.
I played Rift at the beginning of this year, when the game launched (I actually purchased the Collectors Edition, not one of my wisest buys ever) and, whilst it was a decent MMO it had substantial problems - especially during the World Events - that made myself and my wife ultimately unsubscribe and return to World of Warcraft. I am told that these problems have now been solved so, after getting an offer sent to me of a brand new Rift account and 30 days worth of play for free, I decided to take another look at it.
I'm currently a Level 12 Rogue on a PvE server (carebear, I know, but I cannot be bothered with high levels ganking in an established game) and things seem... fine. Not thrilling, not in any way enticing me to re-subscribe at the end of my 30 days, just... Fine. Something to tide me over, and nothing more. And therein lies Rift's problem - it's simply "more of the same". Nothing spectacular, no great innovations - yes, the Rifts themselves are fun, yes the PvP Warfronts are enjoyable. But that's it. I hate to say it, but it's Warcraft with a different skin and a couple of mild changes - certainly not enough.
It's a shame, to be honest. Trion Games actually have a decent product with Rift, but for me at least it doesn't do anything new, or have a good enough IP to convince me to stay. Not, for example, like the above-mentioned SW:TOR.
Which leads me nicely to my old addiction: World Of Warcraft, and the announcement of their next expansion at Blizzcon last week.
Yes, dear readers. Pandaria - homeland of the Pandaren race. Pandas, if you will. Now, for those of you unaware of their history, allow me to quote from WoWWiki: "The pandaren started as a creation of the Blizzard artist Samwise Didier and an April Fool's joke".
That's right, folks. With WoW's slowly dwindling subscriber numbers (they've lost almost a million subscribers this year - a drop in the ocean, maybe, but still significant nonetheless), Blizzard have decided to rely on a joke race to bring back subscribers. I suppose the question is this: is it a clever ploy that will appeal to younger fans, or perhaps an even cleverer ploy to entice Chinese players to World of Warcraft? Both, of course, could be very true, and perhaps it will work for them.
The way I look at it is this - World of Warcraft, despite its' numerous detractors, has been unbelievably successful. I don't think anyone could have predicted the sheer numbers that have played this from it's small beginnings in 2004. Three expansions later - two of which, The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King, were the biggest selling games in their respective launch years - and it's fair to say that, perhaps, World of Warcraft has had its' time in the spotlight. Indeed, Blizzard themselves may be beginning to realise that themselves, as they prepare for their next MMO, codenamed Titan, which they believe will be their Next Big Thing.
One thing is for certain - with the upcoming launch of SW:TOR in December and Guild Wars 2 in 2012, Blizzard are going to have to up their game when Mists Of Pandaria releases. I for one am doubtful that they can.
Thankyou for reading. Please feel free to comment below, and follow me on Twitter @crazybladeuk to hear my daily thoughts on games, life and politics.
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