Blizzard pt. 2: The Future

 

            Alright, howdy howdy howdy. How is everyone? Welcome to my part two of Blizzard releated things. I’m not even sure what this is going to be about yet, for the most part it looks like things I’d like to see Blizzard do. Ubisoft and Blizzard seem to be in relatively similar situations. Both have been making unfavorable decisions as far as us consumers are concerned and both have been having troubles within their offices. Ubisoft, at least, seems to finally be doing some damage control. They’ve postponed GRiF (Ghost Recon Frontline, I was actually pretty okay with it for once but it just goes to show that I’m typically on the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to most things) after all the backlash and supposedly they are now working on a real Splinter Cell. Not a VR game, not a mobile game, a traditional video game from what I’ve heard anyways. So what exactly is Blizzard up to? All I really know is they’re working on Diablo 4, Overwatch 2 maybe? Whatever that’s supposed to be, um is WoW Shadowlands done? Do they plan on making another expansion? I can’t imagine they are right now with all their internal issues. They must be doing things with Hearthstone still but what else? Anything really new? Have they just become another CoD slave team for Activision?

            So. My last post was solely about Heroes of the Storm. With HotS Blizzard introduced so many new worlds and settings they could literally pick any of them and make a new game. Let me back up a bit, with HotS there has been a small group of us wanting a PvE kind of experience. They had an event once where you and your team fought Zerg (of course it was Zerg, it’s always Zerg or Zerg like things) and Zerg themed heroes. It was nice to do something different with the heroes but I would like a full fledged game like that. Like Diablo 3 but with other Blizzard characters. One, I’m just tired of the same old settings you know? Diablo 4 for instance; from the trailer, it looks cool as hell but that’s a cinematic. Blizzard has always excelled at their cinematics, the game could just be a copy paste of Diablo 3 or could just flat out be worse, who knows. But it’s safe to say it’ll have similar things like barbarians, witch doctors and amazons. Two, I just want weirder things, different things, different settings and enemies. Mostly I want more reasons and ways to play Li Li and Brightwing. They are my first and third most played characters in HotS, Li Li at 284 games and Brightwing at 166. And this is something I was holding back on in my last post but I typically play these kinds of games “wrong.” Again, it’s my fault because it’s just how I am and how I think but I mostly play WarCraft heroes in HotS because I like those characters the most, I’m more connected with them. I don’t think within the MOBA game itself, I don’t pick or even know who is meta or not, I just pick characters I really enjoy and I just fucking really like playing as Li Li and Brightwing. They’re not the best healers but they’re the most fun for me. Li Li was pretty fucking broken when she was first released; it was great, good times, good memories. I beat an Illidan in a 1v1 for crying out loud. He was a bad Illidan but still.

            So HotS made all sorts of different universes with their skins and portraits, a mecha verse, a luchador wrestling world, a Mad Max kind of world, an almost Power Ranger type of world, all sorts of unique ideas they could use and turn into something. Anything. Like, we don’t need to worry about races or good and bad. A character could be good in their universe but be a bad character in a different one. Pandaren, Protoss and Demons all in the same setting. Who cares. Just do something. I, for one, am quite fond of the mecha universe where Valla, Yrel and Li Li (as shown in her portrait) are mecha pilots. In the “mecha war” universe there seems to be quite a few things going on. You have your mech pilots, as described above, then you have some that seem to be more transformers then anything else like Tassadar and Rehgar, then you have Anub’arak that seems to be an AI kind of robot made to fight monsters and then you have Abathur that is basically an extraterrestrial sentient machine. Lots of different things going on in this world, lots of different factions and potential stories. And that’s just one of the “realms” they made up. I think Pokemon has the right idea with making regional Pokemon. Like they have so many so why not put a new spin on old designs instead of making a whole new Pokemon? Use what you have. Use these characters in a different setting. I don’t really see games using really weird settings you know? It’s always stereotypical medieval or sci-fi. Do something slightly different, throw some medieval into the sci-fi, get anime about it. I still think WarCraft in a StarCraft/cyberpunk setting would be really sick. That’s one thing I think Overwatch does well is the aesthetic, I think that’s how you describe it. Like they’ve got characters with guns, missiles, swords, bows, mechs, a talking gorilla, robots and all sorts of technology that mimics magic. I don’t think there’s any magic in the game and if there is then even better. I think Blizzard just needs to get out of the safety of their established settings and try something new.

            So, what would I like a new game to be? I’ve mentioned a dungeon crawler but I’d also like something in the vein of RTS or MOBA. I don’t know how you describe a genre by how you control your character. I like the way Heroes of the Storm, WarCraft, StarCraft and even Diablo handle. Typically right click moves your character(s) and keys your left hand can reach are the moves or spells. I’d like something co-op also. I think the campaigns for WarCraft and StarCraft are well for the most part, I love Rexxar’s campaign in Frozen Throne. I’m not against competitive multiplayer but sometimes I don’t want to do that. StarCraft 2 for instance, in a single-player/co-op state, has okay campaigns, the co-op missions are kind of boring and comp stomping can only go so far. The commanders for co-op are interesting, it’s neat to have different commanders with unique units that others don’t have. That goes back to how to use characters, or units in this case, you already have but differently. You could have three Protoss commanders with three different types of Zealots. I like that. But you do the mission and finish it in 20 minutes-ish and then you go back to the mission select screen. They are just separate missions that don’t actually connect in any way, that’s what I find boring, I’d like a sense of progression with my friends.

            I’ve just started The Riftbreaker and it’s pretty fun. I still need to figure out everything but I think it’s going alright. I tend to struggle when you have to manage power and metals. I’m usually constantly out of one or the other or both in games like Beyond All Reason and I’m just shouting at the screen, “I don’t know what you want from me! I’m trying!” Riftbreaker is supposed to be adding co-op sometime down the line so that could be fun. Another game I’ve been eyeing is Dwarfheim. It’s a three player co-op RTS where each person controls a different aspect of the base. One gathers, one farms and one works on the army but each thing looks just as complex as any other RTS where you have to do all three at once. I’ve also been somewhat impatiently waiting for Lost Ark, I think that’s something I might be into. It’s like reverse Overwatch. It’s Diablo like but has very unique classes and weapons. I feel like the games I’m currently looking for are a little niche and therefore buried by competitive FPS or AAA things that I don’t care about. So I think I’m looking for some kind of co-op dungeon crawler in a more unique setting than just another medieval setting, some kind of co-op tower defense or a not too complex RTS.

            So, to me, Blizzard has plenty of material to make some truly interesting games. And Blizzard has a lot more to be worried about. Not only do they need to fix whatever issues they have in their offices but also they’ve got a lot more competition now. Ex-Blizzard devs are forming new studios left and right. You have Frost Giant Studios working on a new RTS, Dreamhaven (not sure what they’re working on) and now Notorious Studios who are working on an RPG. Also we have Vela Games who are made up of former Blizzard, Epic and Riot devs working on some kind of co-op MMO/MOBA. These studios could work a little out of the box because they are familiar with the typical settings so they could branch out and get a little weirder. Here’s hoping.

            I think that’s everything, I don’t think there will be a part three. Do you have any co-op game suggestions for me? What are you playing right now? Any games you are looking forward to coming out soon? Lemme know and I’ll catch you later.

                   @AztecSauce