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05-05-2008, 10:28 AM
|  | News ID | | Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 25,282
| |  MMORPG Sequels Equal Death
MMOCrunch brings us an analysis of why and how making sequels for MMORPGs is typically a bad idea. A few months ago, last Dec 2007, Eve Online underwent a huge update with their Trinity expansion. This free expansion not only added new features, ships and items, but was also a complete graphical update to keep up with the next generation of MMOs. Eve Online as far as I know is the first MMO to completely revamp their current game instead of creating a sequel which not only keeps all your current members, but creates enough of a buzz much like a sequel to boost membership numbers.
Taking a look at some past sequels, Asheron’s Call 2, Everquest 2 and Lineage 2, none of these sequels were able to match their predecessor’s in terms of members. Not only that, but if you combined the numbers from both games after a year, they were less than the original game at its peak. |
05-05-2008, 10:42 AM
|  | Super Moderator | | Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Denmark
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| | Quote:
Originally Posted by GameBanshee News 
Eve Online as far as I know is the first MMO to completely revamp their current game instead of creating a sequel which not only keeps all your current members, but creates enough of a buzz much like a sequel to boost membership numbers.
| The guy should look more into MMOs before stating such things. |
05-05-2008, 10:55 AM
|  | GameBanshee Editor | | Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Liberty City, the Netherlands
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| | Quote:
Originally Posted by Xandax The guy should look more into MMOs before stating such things. | Heh.
Still, I believe his general point of sequels being bad ideas for MMOs is more or less true. 's why nobody is doing anymore, innit? |
05-05-2008, 12:28 PM
|  | Moderator and Twisted Sister | | Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: The maelstrom where chaos merges with lucidity
Posts: 18,185
| | Yes... the field is utterly devoid of MMO expansions, Blizzard never released The Burning Crusade, they certainly won't be making Wrath of the Lich King... and Turbine, of course, is definitely not making a LOTRO expansion called Mines of Moria....  
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05-05-2008, 01:12 PM
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Originally Posted by dragon wench Yes... the field is utterly devoid of MMO expansions, Blizzard never released The Burning Crusade, they certainly won't be making Wrath of the Lich King... and Turbine, of course, is definitely not making a LOTRO expansion called Mines of Moria.... | There is however a difference between expansions and sequels.  |
05-05-2008, 02:54 PM
|  | Member | | Join Date: May 2008 Location: Cape Cod, USA
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| | Yeah I think that he was saying that EVE's graphics update (as it was neither an expansion nor a sequel,) was the biggest change that an MMO has experienced without buying a new product. Well, due to the update, new hardware might have been required for some players to continue playing, but that is besides the point  . As far as I know, MMO expansions like Burning Crusade or Mines of Moria have not changed the graphics requirements like EVE did. |
05-05-2008, 03:02 PM
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| | | I'm surprised no one mentioned the fourteen or so expansions to EverQuest.
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05-05-2008, 04:40 PM
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Originally Posted by Crenshinibon I'm surprised no one mentioned the fourteen or so expansions to EverQuest. | But, again, there's a difference between expansions and sequels. The article is addressing complete sequels to popular MMORPGs and contending that they are generally not as successful as their predecessors. The inclusion of the tid-bit about EveOnline's revamp was somewhat misleading. |
05-05-2008, 04:50 PM
| | Moderator and Twisted Sister | | Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: The maelstrom where chaos merges with lucidity
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| | Yes true, for some reason I was thinking "expansion" when I read "sequel."  Not enough coffee..
Or maybe it's the influence of LOTRO, where you will only ever have expansions, owing to the fact that Turbine must adhere to lore in order to retain the license.
OK, that being the case, however, just the concept of a full-blown MMO sequel, seems a bit strange to me. I realise it has been done, but I kind of thought the whole notion behind an MMO was an ever-expanding universe, thus making the idea of a sequel a little redundant...
*shrugs* Could just be me though...
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testingtest12Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
testingtest12.......All those moments ... will be lost ... in time ... like tears in rain. |
05-05-2008, 09:16 PM
|  | Exalted Member | | Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Frag Town
Posts: 4,906
| | | Well... if sequels to MMOs are a bad idea, how come some developers still pursue that path? I recall Everquest 2 did okay, albeit overshadowed by World of Warcraft, and Lineage 2 also did okay as well.
In fact, as what a poster in that article pointed out: Where is the data to prove this?
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05-05-2008, 10:10 PM
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Posts: 1,537
| | | Even when EQ2 came out, most of the public stayed with the original. As I recall, it never lived up to the first game. The most attractive thing about it was the graphics and some new graphics. It was simply impossible to play for like the first month due to lag.
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"Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." |
05-05-2008, 11:32 PM
| | Super Moderator | | Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Denmark
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| | Quote:
Originally Posted by fullautomatic55 Yeah I think that he was saying that EVE's graphics update (as it was neither an expansion nor a sequel,) was the biggest change that an MMO has experienced without buying a new product. Well, due to the update, new hardware might have been required for some players to continue playing, but that is besides the point . As far as I know, MMO expansions like Burning Crusade or Mines of Moria have not changed the graphics requirements like EVE did. | A game such as Dark Age of Camelot have had its graphics engine revamped a couple of times as well.
The piece looks more like a EVE-Online fan-ism post. | | Thread Tools | | | | Display Modes | Rate This Thread |  Linear Mode | | 
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