WoW: Mists of Pandaria

Yesterday I mentioned World of Warcraft's troubles and a little information about the latest WoW Expansion: Mists of Pandaria.  I figured it was only fair to follow up with a little more of what is known about the upcoming expansion for one of the biggest MMO titles on the market.


With the expansion Blizzard will offer up:
- New Race
- New Continent
- Level cap will be raised to 90
- And a new class.

If you've been living under a rock for the last couple of weeks, than you'll know that the Pandaren are the new race and they hail from Pandaria (lacks a little imagination for me).  The new class is Monk.  Blizzard will also be bringing a new challenge mode, PVP goodies, and more.  If you haven't seen the trailer yet, check it out (borrowed from the WorldofWarcraft YouTube Channel).

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What's Happening to WoW?

Admittedly, I have spent my fair share of time in the past running around in World of Warcraft.  Was it fun?  Sure.  Was it creative?  Sure.  Was it worth me spending $15 dollars a month to play it when compared with my time spent actually in-game during the course of the month?  I didn't like it that much.  :)

I am not one of these "WoW haters"; let me get that out there first and foremost.  As far as the game goes, it was one of the first MMO titles to get it right.  Otherwise, it would have folded a long time ago.  Blizzard has been successful at indirectly killing off or forcing other MMO titles similar to WoW's genre into a Free-to-Play business model.  For some this alternative business model has been a success for other titles it means death of the game.  Either a game has that certain charm, flare, and gameplay worthy of such fanfare.  And yes, WoW certainly has it.


It was reported just a couple of months ago that Blizzard has lost something in the neighborhood of 800,000 subscribers from July 2011 to September 2011.  I don't care who you are, that is a huge loss.  Is this a sign of the economy?  A sign that people just aren't playing?  Or are they getting spoiled to the Free-to-Play plan?

Regardless, looks like Blizzard is pulling out the one card that not many people on the face of planet Earth can shy away from: Panda's.  I don't care who you are, but you have to be on bad dude not to have a soft spot in the old ticker for a panda.  And Blizzard knows this, so coming soon to Azeroth will be a new expansion entitled: Mists of Padaria.  This expansion will bring the Pandaren race as well.

Will the adorable pull of Pandaren Shaman draw people back?  Time will tell.

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One of the Most Anticipated MMO's Gets a Release Date

Yep, we finally have a release date for BioWare's entry into the MMO market: Star Wars: The Old Republic.  Announced yesterday morning, the street date for the new Star Wars MMO is December 20th.  So looks like all of the prospective Jedi and Sith warriors out there will have something to play for Christmas.

They also announced the subscription model (does any MMO other that WoW use those anymore?).

Monthly: $14.99
Three Month: $13.99 (per month paid in three month increments)
Six Month: $12.99 (per month paid in six month increments)

Personally, the game looks awesome.  But I am curious as to how long BioWare will try to run with the current subscription plan the have on the table.  The current MMO market is shifting more to the favor of Free-to-Play titles.  As we have seen with this past week's announcement that DC Universe Online is going Free-to-Play in October (next month).

What do you think?  Can BioWare bring the subscription plans back to the MMO market?  WoW has been steadily loosing subs since Cataclysm was released upon Azeroth.  With so many F2P options out there, the game's content has to be absolutely rock solid (or have an extremely huge fanbase; as Star Wars does).  I am excited to see what will happen with this title.  That being said, I'm not planning on getting into the game at least for several months after release.  That way any launch issues they bump into will be ironed out, and maybe a couple of patches will be rolled out during that time (as with all MMO releases).'

So, if you have pre-ordered or were hoping to get your Jedi on before next year.  Fate smiles upon you all.  :)
And if you are still on the fence with it, then watch this.




Happy surfing!

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F2P News: Team Fortress 2

Well, it was announced the other day that Team Fortress 2 will now go free to play.  If Valve handles this the right way, this could be great for the game and it's current community.  I have been an avid TF2 player in the past.  And while I enjoyed playing through the extra content that has been included in the last year or so with updates to the individual classes.  The TF2 Fan deep inside of me is concerned about the F2P model for this type of game.  I think I speak for everyone who enjoys online games, in that the last thing we need to fill our game servers with are the flamers who try to spoil the fun for everybody else, either by interfering with the flow of a match, or by a poor attitude.

Certainly you have bumped into someone like this if you have ever played a FPS game online.  And with a F2P model it is much more likely this caliber of player will start to crowd the games.  I hope I am terribly wrong about this, because TF2 is an awesome game.  And with a title such as Team Fortress 2 being steered towards this route, it will be interesting to see what other titles may have to adapt to survive in the ever changing online game scene.

It seems almost as though every other month or so we hear word of another MMO going towards F2P.  And I must admit, I have found a lot of fun can be had with a solid F2P title.  So, we'll continue to watch these developments and see how things shape up for Valve.

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