This last week may well have been the weirdest in 2013 MMO news: EQNext surprised (me) with its cartoony graphics, Wildstar announced a 2014 launch and not-so-hybrid sub-PLEX model and today, The Elder Scrolls Online is officially on board with the olde subscription model, too.
WoW.
So there we have it. 2014 is officially loaded on AAA-MMORPG goodness. What a springtime that will be, it’s fair to say I shall be planning a vacation. While WS just got completely uninteresting to me on account of both its recent announcements, I will be playing both EQN and TESO, hoping they won’t launch too closely together. Assuming SOE stick with their free-to-play intentions, that seems like a fair undertaking. As for the two sub-based MMOs; bets are open which one will convert to f2p sooner (as this seems to be a fast growing trend) and how they will fare competition-wise. The “race” is on and it’s safe to say the MMO blogosphere is going nowhere – sharpen your pens, comrades!
They’re also going to be doing releases when WoW’s next release will come out, which I also think is really a stupid idea. If you want to build up interest in your product, release it when Blizzard can’t pull off a major expac release to steal your thunder. They’re famous for it, so why give them this on a silver platter?
I was wondering about that….so WoW expac is Q1 2014 as well? lol! š
It already suprised me a great deal that WS would postpone like this – they had a big advantage being the only one release-ready second half of 2013. Apparently they just scratched a major project within the game or something, but it must be a very good reason to give up your vantage point like that.
For us gamers it’s a bit meh overall….I don’t like so many releases being so close together. On the other hand it might be better for each MMO community that way, I don’t know.
Let’s be honest: Blizz never says when an expac will be released because they like to tinker with the release dates. However, I can follow the pattern that Blizz goes with: every other year announce a new WoW expac at BlizzCon, and we’re due. Additionally, Blizz will try other gimmicks to attract attention if a release isn’t imminent, such as the annual sub that they came up with right around the time TOR was released.
I just think it silly that since the 500 lb. gorilla in the room likes to play these sort of games, so why enable them?
Teehee, you Camel-cased your “WoW.” I do that all the time now on accident. Muscle memory’s a b***h.
Hmm, I see now why I don’t get emails when you post. There is no way to request them. I don’t know what the widget is, but other WP users have it., like Syp and Mogsy.
LOL true! ah well =D
oh and, I used to have that widget but feedburner tells me about 6 people are using this service…so I tossed it a while ago. it’s no bother to add again to my sidebar though, give me a few mins. š