With western MMOs like Lord of the Rings Online, Company of Heroes, and Dungeons and Dragons Online embracing the free-to-play game model, Blizzard has recently had to ask itself some difficult questions about its World of Warcraft strategy. Questions like, “What should I eat for lunch?”

Lead desinger Tom Chilton isn’t concerned with losing the massive WoW fanbase any time soon, subscription fee or not.

“We’re not spending a lot of time thinking about [going free-to-play]. It’s not something that’s a reality for us in the near future,” Chilton said.

WoW is the largest and most profitable MMO in the western market, with some 11.5 million subscribers worldwide, and while lesser games need to compete with one another, WoW has confidently held the throne since its release in 2004. Chilton thinks that’s reason enough to avoid the free-to-play model for now.

“I feel like they’re doing that to compete with other games that are on a similar subscriber level to what they were at. I imagine that when one of them went free to play it cannibalized some of the other subscribers,” Chilton said.

It seems WoW is in no danger of being eaten up by any games currently on the market or in production. However, Chilton is still casually preparing for the worst.

“I can definitely imagine that being the case with World of Warcraft,” he said. “If another game comes along and blows us away it may not make sense for us to have a subscription fee. Or even further down the line, when we have another MMO out.”

So until Blizzard creates its own demise in the form of a new MMO, WoW will remain subscription-based. Which means we probably have at least another decade to wait, so keep that piggy bank full.

Do you mind paying to play one of the largest and most intricate MMOs in the world? How would free-to-play affect the game? Give us your opinions right here!

via PC Gamer

What’s up everybody? DK here kicking off another week of epic Member BattleCries here on the ‘Axe and as always, we’re looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this week’s topic.

So, with the release of Mass Effect 2 pretty much taking over the gaming industry this week (something we discuss on Skirmish 061 of EpicBattleCry), it got me thinking about the RPG genre and how it has evolved. Obviously, there have been some standout titles over the years that helped push the genre forward…helped define what it is to be a “Role Playing Game”, and helped solidify how RPGs can serve as an example of the capabilities of interactive entertainment. With that in mind, I offer up this week’s Member BattleCry topic for you to discuss:

WHICH ROLE PLAYING GAMES DO YOU THINK HELPED DEFINE OR REVOLUTIONIZE THE GENRE?

Of course, we’re not limiting you to any specific time frame or era in gaming…We all know that the old-school RPGs are what paved the way for titles like Mass Effect 2, so don’t be shy when brining those up.

Anyway, I’m really looking forward to checking out what you all come up with. We’ll be selecting one post each day to feature as the Member BattleCry and then highlighting the Member BattleCry of the Week, which will be featured on the next skirmish of the EpicBattleCry video podcast.

Alright, I’m gonna leave you to it. Have fun and check back daily on the ‘Axe to see which MBCs get featured!

Peace,
DK

BioWare has made it a point to update their fans every Friday with new information regarding Star Wars: The Old Republic via the game’s official website.  Well, following an earlier announcement revealing the final two classes available at launch (Jedi Consular and Sith Inquisitor), another playable planet was revealed late last week – Alderaan.

For those that don’t know, Alderaan has always played a major role in the expanded universe of Star Wars – and briefly in the films, before obviously being the ‘test’ planet to be destroyed by the first death star as our friends Vader, Tarkin and Princess Leia looked on.

The in-game footage along with the concept art look amazing – the thought of a Jedi and Bounty Hunter duking it out on a snow capped mountain seems very intriguing.  Check out the screen shots and back story for the planet HERE and stop by the EBA forums to chime in on how you feel about the newest addition to the list of playable planets in SWTOR.

If you boys and girls haven’t checked it out yet, Cody over at TenTonHammer had a really great interview with a few of the devs at the recent Comic Con. Give it a look-see HERE. Now, there is obviously a little fanboyism that exerts itself either from being a fan of BioWare or Star Wars, however, my head started to hurt after the 1st page of this interview. Why? How many bloody times can you say the word ’story’ in an interview? Seriously? Kudos to Cody for really trying to wring some information other than the old “Story Pillar” standby.  At the very least, Jake Neri did make a couple of very interesting comments in regards to game play on page 2 of the interview:

“I mean, we haven’t even shown anything to the public yet past level eight. We have really, really exciting character classes that each feel totally awesome. If you’re a guy that just wants to power through a bunch of those and just have a really compelling combat experience at the top of the game, that’s an option for you. We’re already proving that to ourselves, and if folks just want to fight – and that’s the pillar that they love – they’re going to be very satisfied.”

Ok, so it doesn’t really TELL us anything, but it’s a nice consolation for those following the development of the game – that has nothing to do with the story.  There has also been some growing excitement of late as to how far along the development of the game is and that we could see even a January release date…. calm down, my friends, I know the thought of playing SWTOR within the next six months triggers nerdgasms of epic proportions…. In this article, as the quote above from Jake Neri clearly states, the demo only goes through character level 8 – so in my personal opinion, Q1 of 2010 is not logically realistic..but one can hope!

Anyway, EBA gives its regards to Cody from TenTonHammer, for valiently attempting to cleave through their crap, even if he did only manage to swat a few flies away…..

The official Star Wars: The Old Republic website has made it a point to give updates often, and surprisingly in depth in regards to development of the game.  One of our favorites is the developer’s blog – a collection of topic specific information about some area of development in the game.  In this sometimes candid developmental “blog” we often get insight into what’s going through the genius mind;s over at BioWare – the most recent, Devloper Blog #10, highlights one of the latest subjects that we are excited about – VO (Voice Overs). 

Anyone keeping up with the news would know that BioWare announced that the entire game would be completely voiced over – a first in the genre – but while I was reading over the blog, I was thinking a couple (alright, more than a couple, ridiculously too far ahead and not even worth it) steps ahead and wondered: “What about developing expansions or updates to content?”  Now, there’s no doubt the development and release of the game will be HUGE, but we all know, at some point, the introduction of new content is going to become a valid issue amongst the SW:TOR loyal “future” subscribers/fans.  The cost and organization of this feature alone begs the question – Will VO put a damper on future expansions of the game? I know, I know – we are not even in beta yet, but think about it – developing a worthy expansions takes a LONG time to plan and implement – but add to it that VO has to be incorporated into the mix and you’re left to wonder how this will impact the overall quality/timeliness of expansions pertaining to the highly-anticipated MMO? Take a look at the blog and let us know what you think inside the EBA forums.

This September, Frogster will be releasing Chapter 2 “The Elven Prophecy” for its free-to-Play MMO, Runes of Magic. As far as F2P MMO’s go, Runes of Magic has established itself as one of the leading contenders in the genre, and now looks to distance itself from the pack by introducing an elvish story into its next chapter.

With the introduction of Elves, there will also be two new classes to choose from; The Warden and The Druid.

The Warden will be specialized as a support class, with beneficial spells for your allies. Wardens will also have the company of a spirit companion to help fight beside them. Details on the spirit show that it will change depending on the growth of your character.

The Druid will specialize as a mix of both supportive and powerful attacks, which include healing and nature spells. “Depending on how you train as you level, you will have the choice whether or not you wish to concentrate on supporting and healing your allies, or directing the devastating force of nature at your enemy.”

Sounds pretty cool.

To read more on this new chapter of Runes of Magic, click here.

Attention future “Champions”, it’s time to upgrade your machine if you haven’t already in the pas 1-2 years. That is if you plan on playing the upcoming Champions Online MMO. Most of you will triumph this victory easily, while others may need to return to fight another day.

The required system specs for the game released by Cryptic can be found after the jump…GOOD LUCK Champions, and happy upgrade hunting….
Read the rest of this entry…

BioWare has made a huge deal in regards to their new “Pillar” of the MMO space, which they often and lovingly refer to as “Story”. One needs only play a BioWare RPG title to be instantly ‘involved’ with the story from beginning to end, but there are those in the MMO community, or more specifically the SWTOR community (www.swtor.com) that are festering a growing concern about how much emphasis is being placed in the individual story aspect of the game. There are those that feel the game may become too ‘linear’. Now, as MMO fans, there are times where we just want to go ‘farm some kills’ for experience, money, or loot – so the idea of a story mode to facilitate this is quite possibly justified, but without seeing/experiencing gameplay (or EXTENDED gameplay anyway) it’s hard to tell exactly how much impact the story will have on delivering a traditional MMO experience. Or maybe, NOT delivering a traditional experience is exactly the point…We’ll keep an eye out and a finger on the pulse of the MMO gaming community following this epic-looking title, but for now, we open the floor to gather your thoughts on the matter inside the EBA forums.

BioWare has made a huge deal in regards to their new “Pillar” of the MMO space, which they often and lovingly refer to as “Story”. One needs only play a BioWare RPG title to be instantly ‘involved’ with the story from beginning to end, but there are those in the MMO community, or more specifically the SWTOR community (www.swtor.com) that are festering a growing concern about how much emphasis is being placed in the individual story aspect of the game. There are those that feel the game may become too ‘linear’. Now, as MMO fans, there are times where we just want to go ‘farm some kills’ for experience, money, or loot – so the idea of a story mode to facilitate this is quite possibly justified, but without seeing/experiencing gameplay (or EXTENDED gameplay anyway) it’s hard to tell exactly how much impact the story will have on delivering a traditional MMO experience. Or maybe, NOT delivering a traditional experience is exactly the point…We’ll keep an eye out and a finger on the pulse of the MMO gaming community following this epic-looking title, but for now, we open the floor to gather your thoughts on the matter inside the EBA forums.