This Week In MMO Ep115 Endangered Pandas?

Written by: (@gamebreakertv) | October 7, 2012 7:33 am

46 Comments

This Week In MMO covers the latest and great news on the MMO industry.  This weeks topics include:

  • World of Warcrafts Mists of Pandaria Sales
  • Funcom Winder What The Future Holds For Smaller Studios
  • Firefall and Dynamic Events
  • Global Agenda 2 Announced…Sorta
This Week In MMO Ep115 Endangered Pandas?

  • Joey Biggs

    FIRST ON THE NEW SITE!

  • http://twitter.com/MattProtagonist Matt

    Cool new site. Some feedback: Could you add a button to either make the video smaller in size, or to let me open the video as a new window (like possible in youtube videos by right clicking) and resize it? I often play videos as a small screen layered on top of whatever game I’m playing. Maybe I should just get dual-screen. I don’t know, lol.

  • http://twitter.com/JerryWheatfield Jerry Wheatfield

    Several online reviews did mention Secret World’s lackluster combat system, and that is key to certain gamer communities.

    Firefall and Planetside 2 both have a very different “feel” despite being (very good!) fast-paced FPS’es. Their point-by-point comparison would make a great feature for GameBreaker staff who perhaps might want a break from the dime-a-dozen fantasy-themed MMO’s.

    • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

      The GamebreakerTV staff have been playing the crap out of thoses games.  I’m finding the PS2 steams are enjoyable to watch. 

  • jayremy

    I was vocal one years before release on combat and design issue I thought would be a problem and I was very detailed about it. I also bickered at the lack of details on how the game combat was from a more player based perspective and a CM or dev replied to me. It was very reprimanding “you are wrong” attitude like I struck a chord with them or something.

    I seen them do the same for other vocal player’s disappointments, I think they just flat out ignored negative critique dismissing us as asshats, not genuinely concerned.

  • Morturion

    Those Secret world’s sales didn’t really suprise me. With the handing out of beta-keys for GW2, thousands of keys were taken in 10 minutes. With getting a beta-key for Secret World, I was 2 days late and there was still at least one key unclaimed.

  • integerx

    I disagree with Pokket on comparing the value against a movie. What it should be compared to is other video games. There is not a single subscription fee MMO out there that you get enough content to justify $180 a year, that is three full retail games. Plus not only do they expect you to pay the price of three retail games a year, but $40 or $50 regularly for expansions on top of that.

    I just won’t ever pay a subscription fee again. A subscription based game holds the game you paid $60 for hostage with a $15 subscription fee, no other game does that. The idea of a subscription fee for MMORPGs was invented to pay for exceptionally expensive servers and bandwidth back before the internet had progressed to the state it is now. Now it is just a way for them to get basically empty profit at the expense of their player base.

    • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

      I would much rather pay a monthly sub over a cash shop.  I play WoW enough, where I would not want to pay to unlock additional character slots, pay for additional bag space, pay for cosmetic items, deal with a very limited economy that encouraged buying gold (still dont know why people buy gold in WoW).

      I was really amused when Pockket said she paid real money to buy crafting mats so she could level her character 30 levels. Why wouldn’t you just play the game, instead of skipping to max level. 

      I pay for my WoW six months at a time, with the discount, its like buying a new game every six months. 

      I do agree with you about expansions, Blizzard should really follow the EVE model, charge a monthly subscription, but don’t charge for updates. 

      • Gronba

        Ohh come on! WoW has a cash shop – server changes, race changes, faction changes, mini pets and mounts (even an indirect gold shop through the guardian cub). All of these items are cosmetics and convinience like any decent non sub based game out there. Sure its not as extensive as some F2P games, but saying it doesn’t have a cash shop is simply wrong.

        I love WoW for what it does right, but really, the time from release of dragon soul to release of MoP was no way near worth the sub., or atleast not for me and alot of other people considering the drop in sub numbers during that time span. If you think that time was worth the sub then thats fair enough, but really there is no truth in either of our statements just opinions

  • Evilevi501

    Quite simply, Wow has always and will always have more things to do post level cap.

    GW2 is amazing…until level cap. Then its basically a FPS.

    Also, I don’t know id F2P is the future. (in the sense that GW2 is doing it) It’s basically bleed to play. Everything costs, gameplay is controlled and farming, wvw, and DE’s have their rewards gated with DR.

    Personally I’ll take a sub fee with endgame any day. If you’ve read the GW2 forums and played it for a bit, you don’t really feel like you have much of a voice. With a sub based system, if the company creates something the community doesn’t like, they will see it in sub drops so they have a tendency to have great customer service and bug fixes asap.

    • http://twitter.com/Iomegadrive1 Chris P

      You reach the level cap and WoW then do raids over and over again. ArenaNet doesn’t want their game to be played like that. I find that more like CoD then GW2 by a long shot. DR stops bots and gives the people playing a reality check by saying. If you grind you are wasting your time, there is more of the game to explore. Otherwise if you stood in one area grinding mobs you would not even be giving the game a fair chance. They have said they are adjusting the DR as they go.

      As far as your “voice” on the forums. If you you mean you complained about anything in the following:

      *Endgame
      *Grind
      *No Grind
      *Unbalance
      *Raids
      *Being too hard
      *Being too easy

      Then you will not really get heard because people post contradictions to these statements all the time and they are usually WoW players trying to find any reason they can to say the game sucks. Eg. Saying the game is for casuals only, then complain the dungeons are too hard.

      • Evilevi501

        Arena net clearly stated “Play how you want to play” I see you’ve now take the roll of company spokesperson in regards to their ever changing policies.

        There isn’t more of the game to explore after 100%. 

        DR is clearly “stopping the bots” as they grow exponentially every day. Yes, the same bots is i had a dozen or so friended just to see of they were ever not on.

        And lastly you’re saying if you post anything that isn’t superlative about GW2 on the official forums you will not be heard. You’ve missed my point completely here.

    • Spammerbam

      “until level cap. Then its basically a FPS.”

      In a way, yes. It has that same feeling like in GW1; you’re not obligated to grind just to get the top gears. That is why WoW feels like there is more to do simply because there is vertical progression — you keep playing knowing that you’ll be closer to getting that elite gear that will give you the advantage. GW2 is designed for you to play very casually in PvE and competitively in sPvP / WvW. However, working towards getting a legendary is no joke; so if you want a grinding challenge, having that legendary will make everyone around you acknowledge you.

      I’m gonna have to disagree with your last paragraph. I read the GW2 forums everyday and, yes, it feels as if you don’t have much of a voice because there are so many posts. Compared to a tremendously bigger company like Blizzard, I’m quite surprised as to how Anet is handling everything; the Devs are closely monitoring the forums and actively replying to some of them. When was the last time you got feedback from the Devs in other MMO’s? Right now, the game is constantly updating with patches and bug fixes. I’m not sure what you’ve experienced, and though the game isn’t top notch as you expected it to be, the customer service has got to be one of the best as they’re always updating their community with what is going on and also replying to their fans.

      But hey, WoW isn’t a bad game either, so it all comes down to personal preference; play the game you like to play. There’s also no harm in playing both either. 

    • the founderx

      heh… WoW has cornered the market on repetitive so i dont know what youre talking about… and btw, i played WoW on release. and i can tell you objectively that at launch, GW2 has FAR more to do that Classic WoW did…. FAAAARRRR more. GW2 after a few years of further polish and expansions = fantasy drool.

      and WoW will still be the same boring turd. but hey.. people like boring and mellow; its soothing in an anesthetic sorta way. i bet its nice to come home from work and just be a zombie in a WoW raid.. but not me, i’m addicted to the challenge and thrill of GW2′s gameplay and the lore and exploring the gorgeously designed zones. the thought of going back to WoW has just never crossed my mind. it would be laughable

      • Evilevi501

        Comparing and 8 year old game to a two month old game’s content on launch, yeah that’s logical.

    • Gronba

      WoW has not always had more to do post level cap. I remember vanilla, I could log on and hope I could gank someone in south shore, I could raid, or I could farm for consumables/buffs (yeah thats right after the release of diremaul you ran it for buffs) for raiding. At best this gives you 3 different things you could do post 60 in WoW. GW2 easily equals that. It may not be your cup of tea, but that does not change the facts that your statement about WoW always having had more content being wrong.

  • Revanhavoc

    Love you guys – love this show.

    Blue hair is completely natural to Twimmo fans.

  • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

    Most players I know, came back a few weeks prior to the expansion so they could relearn how to play their class and decide if they really want to play WoW before shelling out $40 for the expansion. But seeing Jason basically call Blizzard liars was uncalled for, time will tell if Blizzard can keep them playing.

    Last week, Pockket mentioned a glitch that caused her to re-install the game.  Yeah, that was a nasty problem thats about a month old.  The easy fix was to delete a couple of files and WoW fixes itself. I’m assuming the problem was the update from a 32bit program to 64bit. 

    I do find the WoW starting areas for new races (Goblin, Worgen and Pandarian) to be really structured zones designed to provide a 15 level tutorial with an engaging story.  But, they are really structured and follow a lockstep path.   I had a lot more fun playing my Undead Monk and almost immediately getting out into the world. 

    Not sure why Pockket and Jason were showing so much hate for the WoW sales numbers, it was a little beyond being sarcastic.   Gamers are always coming back before the start of a patch to check out the game, learn how to play their characters and decide if they are going to buy the expansion.  The real question is how many will stay.  The annual pass starts expiring at the end of October and returning players game time cards start expiring shortly after. We will see if the expansion offer enough to keep them around. Blizzard may also see some losses due to the players that did not purchase Mists and allow their game time to expire.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_P4HMCB2HFGNQRRKG5SO33L5LCQ Age Of Majority

    I go to the movies so i can hang out with my friends face to face and have fun. I don’t know why people compare that to mmo’s all the time. Maybe they each sit in a different section of the theater and text each other about the movie and then go home without ever actually speaking to one another.

    • Thomas Monahan

      I understand what your saying.
      I think it’s meant as a comparison in only the area of cost/ money.

      The problem with this comparison MMO Sub and Movie ticket is….We are social creatures and we will be spending time with friends either by movies, or some other venue but it will cost money. The MMO SUB becomes the extra cost. 

      People are not going to turn down hangout/movies because of a Movie cost, they might limit the number of movies they see. People also in the same breath will find a way to justify a SUB even if they are short on cash. The problem comes when there are many MMOs to play and if they all have SUBS,.. that player can only SUB for one MMO or at most 2 if they are making good money.

  • Spammerbam

    Gotta love this website’s new layout. +1

    • Thomas Monahan

      I second that !
      +1000 spacebucks!

  • Matthew Snelling

    Gary. I need your personal opinion on this, because I think it’s an awesome idea. I think GW2 would benefit from having something like extensive touristy airship rides – not something that you need to do to travel around, but just something so that players can be tourists in the game and see the world from the air. Obviously they should charge quite a lot for a ride so that players don’t swamp it, but I think it would be really cool to see airships flying in and out of the major cities, and it may just make the world feel more alive and complete – not that it doesn’t already. Okay I’m going to shut up now.

    • the founderx

       thats a pretty cool idea… spectator mode over WvW Battlegrounds from an airship omfg cool. put out a free trial and let those players take a free tour of Tyria and get a feel for what they can get by buying the box.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1074039741 Janne Sanis Prokkola

    Really nice new layout ^^… I feel just like  Pokket… i can’t just go back to wow. I love PvP and now blizzard screwed the first season even thou they knew that if they don’t reset MMR the first season is ruined AND since beta there has been a bug with warlock = they can ress ppl with soulstone in arena and still no fix

  • http://twitter.com/Deadalon Deadalon

    I bought the expansion and I can truely say that I do not like the way BLizzard is trying to double gate content in the game.  There is no need for it.   I will not be resubing.  Not good enough for me.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Thysell/601969471 Karl Thysell

      What you meen with double gate content?

    • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

      Why buy the expansion if you are going to unsub at the end of the annual pass? 

      • http://twitter.com/Deadalon Deadalon

        Because maybe I expected MOP to be worth more than 1 month sub.  When quite frankly it isn’t.  

  • http://twitter.com/Deadalon Deadalon

    The annual pass is still in affect and infact… I CAN NOT UNSUB the game until i pay for the 13th month of the AP.  Something that I would like GB to talk about abit.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Karl-Thysell/601969471 Karl Thysell

    I dont understand what pocket did during her h, i farmed mining/herbing for 5h and im over halfway to 87.

  • Fandros

    BS Pokket has a line of dudes outside waiting to take her to the movies. 

    • Krzysztof Kotarba

      hm… It’s hard to tell, you don’t know rly “who” is she in personal

  • Joshua Valentin

    I quit WoW for Rift, Swtor, Tera, and GW2. TBH all those games were fun for the time being, but I always went back to WoW. With this expansion I found myself being captivated again like I was in WOTLK. I love the questing, and the way they added the cutscenes and different machinima.

  • the founderx

    not having to pay a subscription is not why i choose GW2 over WoW… i choose GW2 because its a fantastically thrilling game whereas WoW is just fantastically boring.

    i still join my ex-WoW guild’s vent each night and i hear the same ol boredom as i did during Cataclysm..

    me:”hey guys whats up?!”
    WoW guild: “nothing… sittin in Orgrimmar waiting on a queue. kinda bored. guess ill some pokemon..”

    love those guys but wtf if theyre so bored they need to quit… actually i think that might be the secret attraction of WoW… its so damn easy and mellow that its like being a couchpotato after work and watching a movie and zoning out. so basicially WoW is a soothing easy listening radio station..,. and Guild Wars 2 is H E A V Y M E T A L intense.

    • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

      I really like playing GW2, but never associated heavymetal with GW2 gameplay. But you do got me thinking….

      What the heck are your friends doing, sitting in Org waiting for queue pops is so last xpac. They need to get out in the world, there is a amazing amount of max level content to experience.  

  • http://www.facebook.com/davidallmighty David Cohen

    It is funny how we argue if WoW has more oe less then 10million subs, but we know it is around that. It has a lot of subs! lol

  • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

    BTW, trial accounts are not included in Blizzards sub count.

    World of Warcraft’s Subscriber Definition

    World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees’ territories are defined along the same rules.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/KEZVTITPXJ5K55O2HXR4D5K4XE steve

    I swear you can’t ever please anybody. We cry if the leveling takes to long, we cry if leveling is too fast. We cry if there is not enough content, we cry if there is too much. I hate to burst all you GW2 lovers bubbles, but GW2 is just as boring at max level as WoW. At least WoW gives you raids to play at max level. Oh I’m sorry when you are max level in GW2 you can start grinding for your near impossible legendary weapon. That idea has me so excited that I have to sit on my hands to keep from waving at people.

    • http://twitter.com/mjedwards15 Mathew Edwards

      The thing about GW2 though is that if i decide to stop playing then I can and when I want to go back I can. I don’t need to think about whether I’m gonna get my money’s worth this month. I’m still playing GW2 because I like rolling alts and I want to see more of the story, but yeah I agree, I’m not having lots of fun at max level. Legendary weapons seem like they’re years away so I won’t bother with the huge grind.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/John-Sardella/1422784105 John Sardella

      If you play GW2 just for the PvE then sure there is a limited amount of content. With no sub just come back when there is more content, like seeing what they do with Halloween. However saying there’s nothing to do at max level can’t be further from the truth. Getting into a dedicated sPvP tournament/WvW guild and being at max level feels like level 1 all over again. That’s the genius of GW2, go ahead and go back to WoW if you’ve experienced most of the PvE content and hate PvP. You can come back when they make new stuff and not be financially punished for it. Btw legendaries are legendary.

  • http://twitter.com/Sypher006 kjlk

    I am getting tire of people calling no subscription base model as “free to play” as if there was no investment you need to make to play it. GW2 is NOT free to play instead they are buy to play where you have to spend the initial 60 buck to freaking play. If GW2 is consider free to play then every console game is free to play which is wrong and deceiving. Only true f2p are games like League of Legends and Firefall.

  • http://www.facebook.com/chris.mtn.drew Christopher Drew

    GW2 took a week to max level, 2 more weeks to get max level gear.  Played WvW in the 2nd World Ranked Alliance in the game and am now bored with nothing to do.  WvW is just a large Battleground over and over again playing for a scoreboard. Went back to LoL non-stop everyday and having a TON of fun.  Just waiting till Darkfall 2.0: Unholy Wars to come out on Novemeber 20th and then BIG BOY PvP can be on again.  GW2 made great changes to mainstream MMOs, just no raid content and no real open world PvP, just a instance that isn’t that big.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/John-Mason/100004362941051 John Mason

    World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees’ territories are defined along the same rules. That was in the press conference plz get your facts straight its misleading and false. I don’t play wow  but im not butthurt about it they are doing good big deal. Life goes on.

  • DoctorOverlord

    Sounds like Blizzard and WoW are doing fine but it will be interesting to hear what is said at the stockholder meeting.  Jason brought up a good point about press releases but then Gary’s idea that the BS all normalizes itself probably works.   
     
    Funcom just keeps showing how clueless and deluded they really are with those interviews.   Good lord what a whiner.    Smaller companies need to have realistic expectations, that’s how they can get into a genre that is expensive and incredibly risk.   Recently Funcom has only beeing showing how they know how to fail at making MMOs.   If a company doesn’t have the aptitude, maybe they shouldn’t be in the business.       

    Good point about the forums Hillary, it seem impossible to think SW’s beta forums were so amazingly positive unless the devs were deliberately ignoring the negative.  TBH – the Funcom devs were one of the reasons I never followed Secret World.   I could see signs of this same clueless attitude back in Age of Conan’s development.    I don’t care how good a game might be, an MMO
    is an ongoing service and it needs developers who aren’t clueless.   There are too many of those kind of devs in the MMO industry.

  • ZekePrince

    He knocked on the combat since beta and even speculated that it could hurt the appeal of the game.  He always mentioned how it is a niche game with a very limited audience.  He never ever alluded to TSW as being the “next big thing”.

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