Comments on: Starcraft 2 It Is http://www.independentcreator.com/2007-05-19/starcraft-2-it-is/ Diary of an Indie Game Developer Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:27:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: Geoff http://www.independentcreator.com/2007-05-19/starcraft-2-it-is/#comment-537 Geoff Thu, 24 May 2007 17:49:38 +0000 http://www.independentcreator.com/2007-05-19/starcraft-2-it-is/#comment-537 Not that I haven't rambled on enough already, but so far it looks like SC:2 is going to follow the original starcraft mold (lots and lots of units) and not the WC:3 model (heroes and small support armies). I'm still curious to see where they go with that one; WC:3 was now obviously the direct bridge to get the warcraft universe from rts to rpg - most of the heroes you could plan in the campaign are now faction leaders or raid bosses of some kind; many of the place names are significant areas/instances; and wow is set in the direct aftermath of events of WC:3. Perhaps the multiplayer of SC:2 will retain the massive army engagements of it's predecessor, but the single player will be more wc:3-ish in setting up some main heroes and some terrible cataclysm to usher in WoSC? Not that I haven’t rambled on enough already, but so far it looks like SC:2 is going to follow the original starcraft mold (lots and lots of units) and not the WC:3 model (heroes and small support armies). I’m still curious to see where they go with that one; WC:3 was now obviously the direct bridge to get the warcraft universe from rts to rpg - most of the heroes you could plan in the campaign are now faction leaders or raid bosses of some kind; many of the place names are significant areas/instances; and wow is set in the direct aftermath of events of WC:3.

Perhaps the multiplayer of SC:2 will retain the massive army engagements of it’s predecessor, but the single player will be more wc:3-ish in setting up some main heroes and some terrible cataclysm to usher in WoSC?

]]> By: Geoff http://www.independentcreator.com/2007-05-19/starcraft-2-it-is/#comment-526 Geoff Tue, 22 May 2007 20:22:31 +0000 http://www.independentcreator.com/2007-05-19/starcraft-2-it-is/#comment-526 "What else this means: expect to see the hype start for World of Starcraft after the Starcraft 2 expansion pack. Starcraft 2 is just to charge the batteries. World of Starcraft is for the masses." I completely agree; but I'm still glad that this is the path they decided to take. Mostly I think I am not ready to jump into a brand new MMO (heck, I don't feel "done" with WoW yet); but I think it is actually a good thing to get StarCraft ramped up again, get people excited about the universe, and give their plot/storyline people some time to set things up. Besides, I don't think WoW in space would really work right off the bat, there's a whole lot of things to consider. I guess foremost in mind is this - Starcraft has always been about balance by diversity - ok, it took them 3 or more major and tons of minor patches to get there - but it was always the design goal. I'm not quite picturing how that would work in a MMO - blizzard has learned that while it is fun to have 2 different sides competing, most things need to have parity. Trying to make WoSC 3-sided while maintaining the parity and diverseness seems like an exercise in madness. Or will there be some crazy cross-faction grouping allowed? (So, 2 hydralisks, a marine and a templar walk into a bar...) Not to say they have not done an excellent job with WoW (their subscriber base speaks for itself), but I hope they really take more time to learn more about what works and what doesn't before jumping into their next MMO. ... and besides, I need some time to get more epix! “What else this means: expect to see the hype start for World of Starcraft after the Starcraft 2 expansion pack. Starcraft 2 is just to charge the batteries. World of Starcraft is for the masses.”

I completely agree; but I’m still glad that this is the path they decided to take. Mostly I think I am not ready to jump into a brand new MMO (heck, I don’t feel “done” with WoW yet); but I think it is actually a good thing to get StarCraft ramped up again, get people excited about the universe, and give their plot/storyline people some time to set things up. Besides, I don’t think WoW in space would really work right off the bat, there’s a whole lot of things to consider.

I guess foremost in mind is this - Starcraft has always been about balance by diversity - ok, it took them 3 or more major and tons of minor patches to get there - but it was always the design goal. I’m not quite picturing how that would work in a MMO - blizzard has learned that while it is fun to have 2 different sides competing, most things need to have parity. Trying to make WoSC 3-sided while maintaining the parity and diverseness seems like an exercise in madness. Or will there be some crazy cross-faction grouping allowed? (So, 2 hydralisks, a marine and a templar walk into a bar…) Not to say they have not done an excellent job with WoW (their subscriber base speaks for itself), but I hope they really take more time to learn more about what works and what doesn’t before jumping into their next MMO.

… and besides, I need some time to get more epix!

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