A D&D 3.5 MMORPG

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

Looking at the complaints about the MMORPG leaping out of an alley and hacking the RPG industry to death with a pawn shop machete, I began thinking about a D&D MMORPG.

Remember the old NWN on AOL? It was pretty successful. A lot of fun (I played it for years, had an absolute blast) was had there.

The old SSI computer games had to be fantastic sellers. Remember those? Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Secret of the Silver Blades, the Krynn series? They weren't MMORPG's, but they were great fun.

Now, Blizzard had such a hit with Warcraft for a big reason. They had an established audience, and cross platformed to catch another audience.

For Warcraft I & II to scooping up the gamers with WoW.

What is WoW? An evolving and ongoing game world. During my 10-day free trial, I must have spent HOURS just standing in the creek fishing because it amused me.

WotC has some VERY creative staff working. They need to hire a good software firm, and with a little bit of work, some innovation, they could seriously dominate the MMORPG market.

But Eberron ain't gonna do it.

Let us look at why Star Wars and Warcraft were so successful: They had an established world, with over a decade of players who were familiar with the world, for thier audience to pick up on.

Eberron doesn't have that. I know Eberron has it's fan base, but let's face it, it doesn't come close to Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk.

So why don't they create an FR MMORPG? You could even take a page from City of Villians/Heroes and seperate evil from good, with "adjoining" areas where there can PvP missions.

Players trying to rebuild the glory of Bane/Cyric (going head to head) while Heroes try to save Cormyr.

It's doable and would gather a HUGE audience.

With 3.5 mechanics, it's damn near video game coding already.

So why try to make tabletop RPG's compete with CRPG's? Why not INTERLOCK AND INTERSUPPORT THEM?

How many players would grab the FRCS, Monsters of FR, Magic of FR, Races, etc etc etc, just to give themselves that tiny bit of edge?

Instead of saying "OMG, CRPG's ARE KILLING TRPG'S!!!!" maybe some look should be taken at making a SUCCESSFUL MMORPG isntead of taking a risk that Eberron is a big enough lure and different enough to lure people away from WoW.

What would you like to see in an FR MMORPG?

 

[ForceUser]

Eberron doesn't have that. I know Eberron has it's fan base, but let's face it, it doesn't come close to Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk.

Do you have data to back up this statement? I'd like to see it.

 

[Aust Diamondew]

Do you have data to back up this statement? I'd like to see it.

I since a poll comming.

I for one prefer greyhawk then FR and last and least Eberron.

 

[ForceUser]

Polls on messageboard forums are fun but useless. What would be helpful is information from WotC regarding who buys what, and how much. Otherwise, he's talking out of his you know what--that's my point.

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

Polls on messageboard forums are fun but useless. What would be helpful is information from WotC regarding who buys what, and how much. Otherwise, he's talking out of his you know what--that's my point.

I have no hard data.

Merely the fact that FR has a far larger fan base due to the old SSI games, the old NWN game on AOL, and the fact that FR has been out for far, far longer.

I'm sure that Eberron defenders could leap out and point out that X from Eberron outsold Y from FR, but when you get right down to it...

FR is older.
FR has much much more data available on it, making it a game designers dream. Eberron on the other hand tries to hard.
FR naturally supports the "Kill the dudz, rob teh phat lewt!" campaign style, as proven in prior video games.
FR has more modules, giving further ideas and easily made fan-support community mods.
There are a lot more FR novels out there than Eberron.

Plus, marketability. Eberron is damn near unknown of, but quite a few parents would know what FR is than Eberron. If nothing else, they picked up the classic Gold Box games when they were younger.

FR would be a better, safer, and more viable marketing setting than Eberron for the MMORPG.

But, I'm willing to bet within the next 10 posts I'll have people shouting down my suggestions, insisting the FR is out, and Eberron rules because of the War Forged and other quirks it has.

 

[LrdApoc]

Why should he have to back it up with numbers.. the reality is that Eberon.. be it a godsend or a waste of paper is no where near as developed as either FR or Greyhawk. The bigger question here is which world is most new player friendly yet offers enough hooks to set it apart from Azeroth?

Personally of the three I'd vote for FR as it has the widest resource material.. largest body of work and longest success (sorry to Grayhawk apologists.. but that's just my opinion) Eberon offers the best hooks to set it off from traditional fantasy games. There is a feeling of mystique and newness that is not relying on the old Tolkienesque conventions.. hence I believe the reason Turbine and Wizards choose to set the game in Eberon.

WoW has the benefit of a widely supported world with a rich backstory but the game design is what makes it king not just the setting. WoW (at least until the endgame) is a vibrant world that allows players to easily pick up and play and form impromptu groups for adventures. If Eberon can capture this they will have a shot.

Just my two cents here.. as someone who enjoys both mediums.

 

[Turjan]

Do you have data to back up this statement? I'd like to see it.

It's pretty simple. To determine the fanbase you have to take more into account than just sales numbers of setting books. If we compare FR with Eberron, then FR wins hands down. There are countless fans of the novels and, more importantly, of all those computer games that were based on the Forgotten Realms, like the Baldur's Gate series, Neverwinter Nights or smaller titles like Demon Stone. Those fans are already there. The fan base of Eberron is more or less restricted to the P&P players in that world.

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

Actually, if the interface could be done nice and cleanly, the gameplay be easy to learn, difficult to master, and the plots were written right, WotC has something over all the others.

They have Eberron, Greyhawk, and FR.

Think about it for a second.

How many of you would toss out $15.00 for your choice of which of the worlds to play in? (Think City of Villians/City of Heroes crossover) with Planescape being the ultimate PvP area!

You could evil VS good, rivalry of Eberron heroes VS Greyhawk heroes VS FR heroes.

You know, with a little vision at the end result, and the willingness to NOT go to the lowest bidder, and WotC could do one of the best MMORPG organizations of all times.

With teleport being viable, travel between zones could be as simple as paying some cash to a wizard, or going the long way by foot.

Planescape could be the place where you can reach it from certian areas depending on level.

Level 60+ could even lead to some of the lesser known settings.

Al-Quadim at high levels.
The Misty Lands after you reached X level. You have unlocked play in Ravenloft.

Jesus, the more I think about it, the more viable this is.

 

[ForceUser]

Warlord Ralts, your hypothesis is rational but lacks supporting data. Until you have it, you cannot conclusively assert that Setting A is more popular than Setting B. For all we know, FR had declined significantly enough in popularity that WotC felt compelled to find a new flagship setting via an amateur setting search. But we don't know; we have no data. Thus, it doesn't serve your argument to make unsupported assertions.

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

Warlord Ralts, your hypothesis is rational but lacks supporting data. Until you have it, you cannot conclusively assert that Setting A is more popular than Setting B. For all we know, FR had declined significantly enough in popularity that WotC felt compelled to find a new flagship setting via an amateur setting search. But we don't know; we have no data. Thus, it doesn't serve your argument to make unsupported assertions.

ForceUser, you're hinging everything upon whether or not FR is more popular than Eberron, based on your demand that I drag out WotC's sales reports, discounting the sheer amount of material that is and was sold, merely points out that you are less interested than the topic of how could a successful MMORPG that could compete with WoW be produced by WotC than arguing over whether or not Eberron is better than FR.

So for the sake of arguement, fine. Eberron wins.

Can we get on with the discussion of how WotC could build a better MMORPG than WoW is?

And you can just live with the fact that the initial release, as far as this thread is concerned, should be in the Forgotten Realms.