By Jim Rossignol on February 12th, 2011 at 11:33 am.
Ars is reporting that Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime has spoken a little about “Titan” the recently-confirmed MMO project being worked on by Blizzard. Speaking to some kind of gathering in Las Vegas, he reportedly said: “Without giving away any details, we have some of our most experienced MMO developers, people who spent years working on the World of WarCraft team, working on this project. We’re really trying to leverage all the lessons we learned through the years. Some of which we were able to address in World of WarCraft and others that maybe because of the design decisions we’ve made, you just can’t address. So we’re kind of taking a step back with all that knowledge to make something that’s completely new and fresh. We’re not trying to make a WoW sequel.”
Morhaime said: “To break the mold, sometimes you have to start over.” I wish he’d said “Sometimes you break the mould, sometimes the mould breaks you.” That would have been cooler, although it wouldn’t have made as much sense.
12/02/2011 at 11:39 BooleanBob says:
I wish he’d said, ‘There’s many a mickle makes a muckle’.
12/02/2011 at 11:40 Jim Rossignol says:
That would have been good too.
12/02/2011 at 11:46 Lambchops says:
Oh to see a game trailer narrated in Scottish dialect. Preferably the Doric for ultimate confusion. Imagine the trailer for “Loons wie guns.”
12/02/2011 at 11:51 coblenski says:
Fit?! There’s orcs a’where! Far’s me sword?
12/02/2011 at 12:38 MDS says:
If you’re going to start from scratch, you might as well make a new mould, especially if the old one is still working really well.
13/02/2011 at 07:22 Ravenholme says:
@ Lambchops
Being from the North East of Scotland (Home of Doric), I approve of this.
12/02/2011 at 11:42 Marshall Stele says:
I’m really pumped for this after I heard that they removed all of the mold features and replaced them with mold breaking ones. I’m also glad they’ve removed all of the old features and replaced them with new features. I will buy this day 1.
12/02/2011 at 11:44 Lilliput King says:
I wish he’d said “When they made me they broke the MOLD” but that would’ve made even less sense.
12/02/2011 at 21:15 DJ Phantoon says:
He should’ve said, “I’m the king of ice cream, and I am also Napoleon. Molds are easily cleaned away by my laser vision!” but that would’ve made no sense at all, and been a bit nuts.
15/02/2011 at 08:54 Pwninat0r2000 says:
maybe he should have said “dj phantoon is a wacky monkey cheese faggot and should shut the fuck up”
12/02/2011 at 11:44 DeepSleeper says:
A few days ago, Greg Zeschuk from Bioware said, with regards to how they’re developing The Old Republic: “Every MMO that comes out, I play and look at it. And if they break any of the WoW rules, in my book that’s pretty dumb.”
Now Blizzard is not only breaking the WoW rules, but the MOLD as well? Is that pretty dumb… or DUMB LIKE A FOX?
This seriously is a paradox so enormous that my head is about to explode right off my shoulders.
12/02/2011 at 11:47 HeroJez says:
That’s a little worrying… if they’re aiming to start their game off based on a (realistically) 2007 game, then they’re going to be behind from day one. There’s absolutely no reason why a company like Bioware could set some industry standards of their own when it comes to MMOs. Oh well… let’s hope they don’t drift toooo far towards World of Starwarscraft
12/02/2011 at 15:59 ScubaMonster says:
That Bioware guy is an idiot. The next big thing will come about through innovation, not copy cat clones. Sounds like he’s trying to justify why TOR looks like more of the same. Maybe he loves WoW, but after what, 6 years now, it’s time for something different. Only a WoW fanboy would say something like that.
This lack of foresight and innovation is exactly why Blizzard will come out with the next big thing yet again, because they are actually trying to do something different from WoW. Then all the inevitable crappy clones will try and copy that success. It is mind boggling how nobody else in the industry (except perhaps, hopefully, ArenaNet) realizes trying to ride Blizzard’s coat tails is a recipe for failure. It’s been proven time and time again.
12/02/2011 at 17:41 Jumwa says:
If that’s what the man said, it’s very unfortunate. It’s a little late to be pinning all your hopes to copying such an old game. Sure, WoW is still top dog of the MMO scene by a long shot. However, it’s been around for so very long, all but the most devoted to the genre must be getting a bit weary of it.
On the topic of Titan:
I noticed the direction of WoW’s development team has become fractured and, frankly… confused, in the past while. Part way through Wrath of the Lich King’s cycle the team seemed to start to lose focus, the quantity of new material waned compared to the previous expansion (only one new daily-quest hub added the whole expansion). The new lead developer announces a return to “old-school” MMO tactics of mercilessly strict group mechanics, an across the board savaging of peoples damage output, and a downgrading of loot quality, the factors combining to make even the easiest of end-game regular dungeons long, tedious and very unrewarding.
It’s all great and well that they’re using their best and most experienced to make this new MMO, but as I see things, WoW has suffered because of it, and made a decidedly negative turn against the majourity of their playerbase. Though I suppose with WoW being a glorified chat system for many, they might be betting that it wont result in fewer subscriptions.
12/02/2011 at 21:20 DJ Phantoon says:
Titan will be the wow killer. Wow killers have never worked in the past because you need to be able to take risks and venture into totally unknown ground, you need enough money to not have to rush it out the door, and you need enough time to develop the game with content. All mmos looking to dethrone wow have always had one of these problems, if not all of them.
12/02/2011 at 11:45 HeroJez says:
I want an MMO all about robots. That takes players from being a lowly service bot to a mobile world defense awesomebot. You could upgrade your arms into nukes and have adamantium cogs that meant you could always respawn.
12/02/2011 at 11:49 DeepSleeper says:
Look up Perpetuum Online? All robots, all the time.
They may or may not be robots that appeal to you, however.
12/02/2011 at 11:53 Corrupt_Tiki says:
Or an MMO about being a computer Virus, in which you infect other computers, and work your way up from lowly Spyware, up to horrific Trojan, and into an invincible AI superbot that controls skynet, and makes the entire human population it’s bitch, until John Connor at least anyways.
(Sidenote; Another MMO, eugh fuck that shit.)
12/02/2011 at 16:25 Nick says:
But you can’t hug a child with nuclear arms =(
12/02/2011 at 23:24 Tei says:
Somehone give this dude 50 million dollars and 5 years, please.
12/02/2011 at 12:25 faelnor says:
mold is the new old?
12/02/2011 at 12:28 faelnor says:
mold men are the future
12/02/2011 at 13:57 Sarkhan Lol says:
Kill ten men and bring me their molds.
13/02/2011 at 14:44 outoffeelinsobad says:
A bunch of pretentious mold men playing at running the world.
12/02/2011 at 12:30 icupnimpn2 says:
Jom, don’t waste wishes wishing that game developers add extraneous vowels in the English manner. Wish for unlimited wishes. Then wish for vowels.
12/02/2011 at 12:55 rivalin says:
Ho Ho
That’s funny cause whenever Americans joke about English, they say how we Brits add extraneous vowels to the language we created a thousand years ago, rather than how they took them out only a couple of hundred years ago. This is both witty and ironic…I HOPE
12/02/2011 at 13:42 Ignorant Texan says:
Well, y’all do, but at least y’all aren’t as bad as the French about it. I believe our parsimonious nature in regard to extraneous vowels is a vain attempt to balance our extravagance when it comes to food, spending money we don’t have,guns, religion and other various and sundry things. Sort of like drinking diet soda after eating a half gallon of ice cream. Or, after driving a half a block to buy the ice cream and soda, along with a carton of cigarettes and a case of beer, parking at the far side of the parking lot, so as to be able to walk an extra 50 feet.
12/02/2011 at 15:58 Koozer says:
I have a question: What is soda water, and what are twinkies?
12/02/2011 at 16:06 ScubaMonster says:
Soda water would be carbonated water. Twinkies are snack cakes with a cream filling.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twinkies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soda_water
12/02/2011 at 16:19 Ignorant Texan says:
Soda, often used with Pop, is sugared, carbonated, colored and flavored water. The over-consumption of soda is considered by some to be one of the leading causes of the American Type 2 diabetes and obesity epidemics. Coke and Pepsi are the big sellers, although I’d also include Dr Pepper for reasons of regional chauvinist ‘pride’.
12/02/2011 at 16:53 Starky says:
Actually a lot of those “added” letters in American English ARE the original English (Latin/Greek derived rather than post Norman conquest Frenchified). Or at least just as old and just as valid as our -our words for example.
Just back then there was no standard spelling so each got used, maybe not to the same degree, but that shifted over the years.
America when it was formalizing it’s spelling (which most accredit to Webster) chose to go with the older Latin generally over the French influenced aspect.
Frankly it is one of the few things with English language I think the Americans got right. English is still a mess of -re vs -er for example. meter or metre (the first is for measuring things the second a distance of measurement).
Gives a bit more consistency to spelling, which I think is something British English could do with, that and a good chuck of redundancy removal.
12/02/2011 at 19:20 Miker says:
Ignorant Texan, as somebody who has lived in Oklahoma for the past ten years (it’s Texas’s hat!), I have to say that I love your username.
12/02/2011 at 19:39 Ignorant Texan says:
Miker -
Thanks. I figured I’d play to/against the stereo-type. Are y’all still in the February ‘gifted’ igloos in Indian Territory?
12/02/2011 at 23:26 icupnimpn2 says:
While I’m overjoyed at the longest thread of comments my insights have managed to generate on an RPS post, I think you’re all missing an important discussion on the propour metheod of wieshieng.
13/02/2011 at 00:28 Chris D says:
I think you’ll find that these days most entities in a wish fulfilling capacity ( including, but not limited to, faeries, djinnis, deities and wands, rings or wells of power) take a dim view of this kind of shenanigans.
Some of them may have found it “kind of cute” the first time but most of these beings are effectively immortal, good luck finding something they haven’t heard before.
Trying it on may result in the loss of any wishing privileges. That’s if you’re lucky, really really lucky. Otherwise you could be looking at an instant smiting or perhaps a more long lasting curse, ranging from everyone you love turning against you, everything you touch turning into cheese, the less imgainative but stil brutally effective suppurating genital boils, or an all pervading sense of the fundamental meaninglessness of everything. That last one is surprisingly common.
In the worst case you will receive your unlimited wishes but the being granting them will take a perverse delight in making each of them come true in the most unpleasant way possible.
My advice would be that if you are lucky enough to recieve even one wish then accept gracefully and always, always remember to say thank you.
12/02/2011 at 12:40 ReV_VAdAUL says:
You see kids whereas WoW had moldy old subscription payments Titan will have labour service! For every hour you work on Activision/Blizzard’s estates you get 30 minutes of game time! If you attend the daily seminars you’ll recieve bonus items! Best of all if you donate a mere 25% of your income every month to the Kotick foundation you’ll recieve exclusive in game pets and mounts!
13/02/2011 at 04:22 utharda says:
So its Scientology the mmo?
oh hell, goons at the door.
12/02/2011 at 12:44 The Great Wayne says:
-”Without giving away any details, we have some of our most experienced MMO developers, people who spent years working on the World of WarCraft team, working on this project.”-
How reassuring.
12/02/2011 at 13:04 Kadayi says:
I’m kind of curious to see what they are upto. I just hope it’s a completely new IP more than anything else.
12/02/2011 at 14:15 The Hammer says:
It is, but, er, that doesn’t mean it won’t be a derivative one.
At this point they could do absolutely anything – anything at all – and get away with it, if the finished product is pants.
But I bet we’re in familiar territory here – this isn’t going to be as fresh and unique as Zeno Clash.
It’ll have a shit storyline, too. Terrible dialogue… characters that are just prisms for embarrassing dialogue… a few easy stereotypes… etc etc. Or maybe Starcraft 2 was just a misfire.
12/02/2011 at 16:08 ScubaMonster says:
I hope it would be an apocalyptic setting of some sort, like Fallout. Or a totally different type of Sci Fi that’s not like Starcraft 2. I REALLY REALLY hope it’s not another fantasy game. I love fantasy, but Blizzard already has Diablo and Warcraft.
12/02/2011 at 20:27 FriendlyFire says:
It will be called World of PokeCraft and will have a suspiciously familiar yellow mutant animal that shoots electricity and lives in a little sphere of metal.
13/02/2011 at 01:35 Zwebbie says:
Kadayi: they’ve got fantasy, they’ve got science fiction, so Titan ought to be either zombies or World War II.
12/02/2011 at 14:16 zergrush says:
They should put Leonard Boyarsky on this project.
12/02/2011 at 14:39 bill says:
I guess blizzard are the only ones who’d be able to break the WoW mould.
12/02/2011 at 16:51 Dances to Podcasts says:
I wish he’d say they’re gonna be really conservative so as not to scare off any investors and then BAM! announce something worldshockingly new and revolutionary ONE DAY BEFORE RELEASE to leave the competition completely baffled.
12/02/2011 at 18:21 P4p3Rc1iP says:
It may be a bit early, but rumour has it, it’s something to do with Halo… :|
12/02/2011 at 18:53 DOLBYdigital says:
I love how many are complaining how everyone just follows or copy cats Blizzard and they are the only ones who are ‘smart’ enough to break the mold. However there have been plenty of games that tried to do something different and they failed. Why… because then people complained about other aspects or that there wasn’t enough player base. So I think the only reason Blizzard will be successful with breaking the mold is because their huge player base will actually try the new game instead of it sinking into obscurity and drowning in the sea of MMOs….
To be honest, I don’t expect this to be really all that different at its core but time will tell.
12/02/2011 at 18:57 HaZiLLa says:
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sl=fr&tl=en&u=http://www.factornews.com/news-30691-Exclu_Titan_les_premieres_infos_du_proch.html%23cmt
This French site has some more info on the game.
Something to do with aliens landing on earth to exploit a resource that humans did not know existed.
3 factions: robots, hippy type people and capitalists?
The game is split in two parts, one for exploration, combat, looting etc, the second part for the social side
The resource has something to do with magic? And there’s PVP between the classes ..
Out in 2014
All sounds a bit odd if you ask me, but apparently this site had some good information about Diablo III before it was revealed too
13/02/2011 at 14:07 gogu says:
blizzard releases a good game at ~5 years, but until titan will be out probably diablo will be
12/02/2011 at 20:00 Hoaxfish says:
Didn’t they already say this was a new IP?
12/02/2011 at 22:23 tripwired says:
Well, seeing as I’ve recently discovered Firefly and Battlestar Galactica (loving both of them), I’d be curious to see what the WoW guys could achieve if they set their mind to a futuristic space sci-fi setting.
In my dream world Titan would be something like:
2 parts WoW, 3 parts X3, a splash of Eve Online and two tablespoons of Shattered Horizon = Titan?
Yes please.
13/02/2011 at 00:16 Starky says:
While I like your recipe, I think that you’re missing a few vital ingredients.
Generous meat main of char grilled WoW,
Coated with a sauce of 1 part X3:TC (X3 vanilla was pretty bad) 2 parts freespace 2, with a a splash of Eve online for bite.
Finally a large portion of Natural Selection with a side of Shattered Horizon and Section 8.
That would make the perfect Sci-Fi Action MMO.
13/02/2011 at 00:40 Tetragrammaton says:
Dont forget a little dollop of planetside to add that extra little something to your dish.
14/02/2011 at 01:27 Zyrxil says:
Really? Your recipe has Section 8 instead of Tribes?
14/02/2011 at 02:19 Starky says:
I thought Tribes was a bit crap to be honest – sacrilege I know but there you go. Section 8 may not be a great game but it has got a LOT if great idea’s worth stealing and refining in the way only Blizzard can.
13/02/2011 at 01:18 bill says:
Now, a world based on ancient greece with actual titans running around might be interesting.
Or something like shadow of the colossus where there are giant walking levels to be conquered, tamed, controlled.
But it’ll probably be something sci-fi.
I actually think blizzard are the only guys with the money, freedom and backing to ignore the WoW mold and do something original. Most other MMOs have essentially been the same as Wow, with a few minor tweaks. Whether they will, and whether it’ll be popular is another matter.
13/02/2011 at 02:32 Cronstintein says:
The only MMO I ever really liked was Guild wars. I love being able to log in once in a while w/o a subscription. And not spending 1000 hours to get PvP competitive is also awesome.
GW2 is going to be the game that makes me get a new computer.
13/02/2011 at 02:53 geldonyetich says:
Internet: Only WoW can topple WoW.
Blizzard: Actually, I don’t think that we, the makers of WoW, can topple WoW.
Internet: Now we’re really confused.
Trion: You know, other than a lack of brand name recognition, I can’t think of a reason why we wouldn’t be able to topple WoW.
EA (Formerly Mystic): You’d be surprised how little that matters.
Turbine: We’re giving it away for free over here.
SOE: Us, too.
South Korea: Lol, newbs.
Internet: Okay, this is nuts, we’re just going to wait and see, alright?
13/02/2011 at 15:52 Bassem says:
I’m just waiting for The Secret World. Still waiting and hoping…
14/02/2011 at 05:59 ts061282 says:
WoW, like AOL, is a once in a time deal. It will slowly die over the next decade as people realize how stupid it is to pay a sub for something they can get for free.