Blizzard Stikes Back Against Rift

Announced this morning…

Patch 4.1 on PTR – Zul’aman and Zul’gurub are back!

Seriously, how long will it be before people realize Blizzard is doing more harm than good? At what point do they admit they control the industry and stop trying to stall the competition before it even gets started?

I like WoW (I’m currently active and even raiding — for the first time ever) but they’re the single biggest stifling factor in the MMO industry these days. They’ve set a new precedent for subscribers, meaning investors are now afraid to put money down on lesser-earning projects. They crib ideas and “make them their own.” Most importantly, they actively try to keep other games from gaining any kind of foothold.

Now before anyone points out that they’re a business and need to support themselves, etc., I get that. I’m not saying they shouldn’t be updating or being competitive. What I mean is that they should be innovative in their own right. Like their questing. They’ve pushed the envelope and set new standards on the solo-quest game. Why not flex their creative muscles a little more, bring in a new system to blow all of our minds? Let’s see them push the envelope in their own right instead of *constantly* adopting the creativity of others. It really wouldn’t be so bad if “adoption” wasn’t the most identifying factor of each new WoW expansion.

Or, on the other point, how about they be competitive without being so undermining? Blizzard is totally about Call and Answer marketing and they don’t need to be. The ZA and ZG announcement is cool. They didn’t need to announce it this week for that to be the case. Wait a week. Wait two. Or, hell, they could have announced it weeks (months?) ago when they first decided on it as a for sure part of 4.1. The carrot would continue to dangle until it dropped either way. Constantly “answering” the competition just makes them seem petty. They don’t need every square inch of the MMO base to continue to be the gaming world’s cash cow.

Maybe they’re just a little concerned at the quick burnout following Cataclysm. Probably not, though, because this kind of thing has become their mantra: Don’t let others succeed because then they won’t be the extremely slow pace-setters they’ve been for the last 5 years. All eyes on Blizzard who in 2014 will finally announce Titan’s 2016 release date to continue the reign.

PS: I might sound a little bitter but, believe me, this isn’t all about Blizzard. This is about the corporate mentality of dominating the little guy. It’s crap when Walmart does it and it’s crap when Blizzard does it too.