Well I've said this before, and I'll say it again. I would be smart of Blizzard to make it so you can play both WoW and Diablo 3 (should it ben an MMO) on one subscription fee. For instance, you can get both games for 20 a month subscription fee or 15 a month for just one of them. I think that a lot of people would quit WoW and look for something new in Diablo 3. So they won't lose or gain money with that. I do see a lot of people playing Diablo 3 that don't currently play WoW so that is them gaining money. Either way they will get money. But if they do the 20 a month, they will have their current WoW players keep both accounts active (most likely) for only 5 extra dollars which is them gaining more money. In my opinion, this is the best way to do it from a business stand point. I would probably reactivate my WoW account just for this because... it's only 5 extra dollars.
This is the only way I would ever play WOW again.
This is a great marketing scheme for them cuz I would pay $15 a month to play a Diablo and i would definately pay $5 more to see what's new in WOW these days.
KingMoo on
![▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓]!
!!!!▓▓▓▓▓Gravy?▓▓▓▓▓!!!!!!
!!!!!!▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓!!!!!!!!!
of doom
you people keep talking of diablo3 cutting into wow profits.... HOW!!!!!!!!!! the money is still going to blizzard.... and they are still gonna make a crap load of money.. People who saying need to rethink that. Not only will blizzard get money from the wow fanbase, those people will go buy d3, if its a mmo, fps, rts, click and attack whatever.. Blizzard will make a killing, end of story. They are not going to lose money.
I guess they are going to lose a fuck load of money when starcraft 2 comes out cuz the wow fanbase will stop playing...
you people keep talking of diablo3 cutting into wow profits.... HOW!!!!!!!!!! the money is still going to blizzard.... and they are still gonna make a crap load of money.. People who saying need to rethink that. Not only will blizzard get money from the wow fanbase, those people will go buy d3, if its a mmo, fps, rts, click and attack whatever.. Blizzard will make a killing, end of story. They are not going to lose money.
I guess they are going to lose a fuck load of money when starcraft 2 comes out cuz the wow fanbase will stop playing...
First thing: Question marks come after questions. Exclamation marks come after exclamations.
Now, let me tell you a story about a boy named Timmy. Timmy likes randomized rewards but is bored by slot machines. Timmy instead likes to run dungeons over and over again for loot. Timmy has been playing WoW for a while now and will probably continue to play (and pay a subscription fee) for another year or so. But wait! Now there's Diablo 3, and Diablo 3 satisfies all that Timmy wanted from WoW, but Timmy only has to pay one $50 fee to play Diablo 3. Timmy cancels his WoW subscription and plays Diablo 3 to the end of his days, denying Blizzard the $15 x (months Timmy would have kept playing WoW) - $50 they would have gotten had they not foolishly released Diablo 3 and doomed themselves to bankruptcy. Timmy.
First... i could give two shits whether my exclaimations or question marks are right on a fing forum... its not landing me a job, its not doing anything for me so fuck off.
Second, they still make money... and a lot of it... yeah they want their money, but they are not gonna be losing all that much... its not a big deal. Just like the old games... which sold 10 million plus. Based on what you say at $50 a pop. That is 500000000 dollars... wow.. they lost so much.I hardly think thats gonna bankrupt them idiot.
They are still not losing anything, and keeping the same fan base.... and making a crapload off of diablo3, just by going by it selling like the old ones did. Do they really lose all that much? No they make a bigger profit faster by selling it at 50 and getting a lump sum, rather than getting 15 over months and months. They are not gonna lose a wow fanbase. Especially since so many have invested hours of their lives into it. It is a stupid thing to say they are gonna lose money, overall they are not.
Listen, I'm not saying that it's a bad move. You asked how it cuts into WoW's (Not even Blizzard's, if that distinction makes this easier for you to see) profits. My comment at the end of The Tale of Timmy about Blizzard dooming themselves to bankruptcy was sarcasm and I'm very sorry for using it in written form.
That being said, I'm very happy that arguing here is helping you get a job.
I never said it was getting me a job? I got one...where I have to write all day, so coming onto a forum where I dont have to worry about puncuation or spelling, where I can just spill and not have to worry about mother fucking english dude in the next department coming to me and saying hey your retarded make this right, I can just type and not worry about it. That guy is the biggest fucking douche ever.
Came off a little wrong, just irks me cuz you reminded me of that guy, and I want to punch him in the face... everyday.
Overall, I get this egging feeling that since its being done by the Diablo I & II teams and calling for Next Gen MMO programmers I get:
A) Its an MMO Done by the Diablo Peeps
C) Another Game to Print Money for Blizzard!
Diablo MMO would pretty much destroy the human population in some parts of the world.
Just speculation.
Useful... maybe
Interesting... yes
Plausable... very much so.
Overall, I get this egging feeling that since its being done by the Diablo I & II teams and calling for Next Gen MMO programmers I get:
A) Its an MMO Done by the Diablo Peeps
C) Another Game to Print Money for Blizzard!
Diablo MMO would pretty much destroy the human population in some parts of the world.
Just speculation.
Useful... maybe
Interesting... yes
Plausable... very much so.
Those are the exact things that lead me to believe D3 wont be an MMO. They're working on a next-gen MMO, and only job postings that don't mention the MMO mention Diablo.
Reinforcing my belief that they are working on a Starcraft MMO, to be released sometime after SC2.
Half the total sales of WoW = 10 million times 2 divided by 2.(10mil * 2 / 2 = 10 mill) You have to add in BC.
Guild Wars has how many expansions? 3
Thats 4 total things purchased from 1 person. For normal people.
5 Million divided by 4 comes to about 1.25 million peoples. Slightly above a tenth of WoW's peak peoples.
So, we see from this simple math that the statement involving fractions and numbers and such should have been similar to the following:
Guild Wars has the equivalent number of units sold to that of a quarter of the units sold of World of Warcraft.
Second cent
Diablo I = Awesome
Diablo II = Crazy Awesome
Diablo II:LOD = Crazy Awesome, now with more Special Sauce
Diablo III = Special Crazy Awesome with Sauce, wrapped in an entire slab of bacon.
I believe that there will be Diablo III players just as there were Diablo II players. I think it is brilliant and is something that needs to be done, not attempted and slightly failed at (COUGH COUGH FLAGSHIP). I tried both Mythos and Hellgate (imagine my surprise when I finished typing this and the power suddenly went out, erasing the entire post), in reverse order and was not satisfied. Sure they were fun for a while, but it didn't have a long lasting fun like in other games, except for when playing with friends.
Whether it is in MMO form or similar to Diablo II form it would most likely be a huge hit and I would purchase it.
That was my 2 cents.
P.S. - Today in school I learned that pennies is how you pronounce penis in Portuguese.
Blizzard has already revealed that they're working on a "next gen MMO." It's not Diablo, because that would be retarded. Diablo is a hack and slash franchise. There's no reason whatsoever to change that.
You're right Zek! It's absurd to think that Blizzard would take one of it's most favored franchises and turn it into an MMO. I mean turning a hack and slash franchise into an MMO is madness. Psh, what will these people want from Blizzard next? An RTS turned into an MMO? I mean turning a hack and slash, which is already close to MMO form, into an MMO is crazy enough. But why would anyone turn an RTS into an MMO? That's just crazy. Blizzard would NEVER do that. Wait a minute...
Edited for extra sarcasm flavor!
Ryadic on
0
Nova_CI have the needThe need for speedRegistered Userregular
edited April 2008
The one reason I doubt Blizzard is making a Diablo mmo is they already have a medieval MMO. I mean, how would they differentiate it from WoW. I was playing Diablo 2 a few weeks ago and it amazed me how much like WoW the character development was. Warcraft 3 was a lore leadup to WoW, Diablo 2 was a gameplay leadup to WoW.
I could see them making a Starcraft MMO just so Mike Morhaime can be crowned ruler of Korea (Or, rather, it gives them the freedom to introduce an entirely different character system), or a new IP MMO (Less likely than WoS, but more likely than WoD).
EDIT: Also, precedence. WoW was announced shortly before War3 was released. So, they're working on a new MMO with Starcraft 2 to be released soon, are they? Hmmmm.
I was playing Diablo 2 and thinking... I'd rather play this as an MMO than WoW.
Honestly I would be surprised if they didn't make a Diablo and Starcraft MMO. They know their fans would eat that shit up like candy.
Ryadic on
0
Nova_CI have the needThe need for speedRegistered Userregular
edited April 2008
Interestingly enough, my co-worker and I had a bit of a conspiracy theory session.
Let's say the new MMO being developed is Starcraft. Let's also note that during WoW's early days, they said the level cap would probably get up to at least 100 and that Arthas wouldn't be a raid boss until around level 100. Let's take into account that there is much more room for stuff beyond Arthas, but that the Lich King is the current big baddie.
So, let's say WotLK is the last expansion to WoW. 2 years after WothLK, World of Starcraft comes out. No new content for WoW is developed, however, 2 - 4 years after WoS, Warcraft 4 is released. 2 years later, WoW2 comes out and WoS starts to wind down. Considering the money Blizzard made on WoW, this would work, easily, and would allow them to work with new engines and techs every 4 - 6 years. I say again....hmmmmm.
Note: This is just speculation on our part. I'm not saying that I think this is what's happening, just that I'm entertaining it as a possibility.
can only hope it retains the winning combo of stuff that gives it that magic feeling.
mythos and hellgate really lack whatever made diablo so good, even if they seem similiar and apparently had some of the same team working on them. one of their problems being an extremely small tileset (hellgate being the same street and subway over and over and over and over. mythos is still in beta so I cant judge it too harshly)
why should blizzard not be making, you know, WoW 2?
Instead of WoD/WoS or whatever?
Can they even make WoW2!? I mean, it's already an entire World (of warcraft), so if they, you know, made ANOTHER world, (and not just one of the million other portals/alternate dimesnions/alternate times in history they have going in WoW already) where you could travel between these two planets, then wouldn't it be Worlds Of Starcraft? See where I am going here?
It's not that I wouldn't like World of Starcraft, but I don't really think the setting matters that much. The polishing in gameplay an tech are what made WoW successful, so why should they use a completely different IP when creating a new mmo?
Well, maybe because people might get bored from a classic "elfs, orcs, humans" mmo and want a different coat for their addiction
why should blizzard not be making, you know, WoW 2?
Instead of WoD/WoS or whatever?
Can they even make WoW2!? I mean, it's already an entire World (of warcraft), so if they, you know, made ANOTHER world, (and not just one of the million other portals/alternate dimesnions/alternate times in history they have going in WoW already) where you could travel between these two planets, then wouldn't it be Worlds Of Starcraft? See where I am going here?
Edit: Worlds Of Starcraft. Plural.
Oh, i'm sorry, did you finish the quests on WoW and reach "The End"? I wasn't aware the story had finished.
You're right Zek! It's absurd to think that Blizzard would take one of it's most favored franchises and turn it into an MMO. I mean turning a hack and slash franchise into an MMO is madness. Psh, what will these people want from Blizzard next? An RTS turned into an MMO? I mean turning a hack and slash, which is already close to MMO form, into an MMO is crazy enough. But why would anyone turn an RTS into an MMO? That's just crazy. Blizzard would NEVER do that. Wait a minute...
Edited for extra sarcasm flavor!
Uh, my point is that they already have one fantasy MMO that's clearly based heavily on Diablo. Class abilities, items, loot, sockets, you name it. The bulk of WoW's RPG elements are direct ripoffs of what they did in Diablo. Why the hell would they take the same game and make it into another MMO to run concurrently with WoW? Diablo is the poster child of the hack'n'slash franchise, it's ridiculous to think they would throw that away and turn it into an ordinary fantasy MMO when, you know, they've already got one. Maybe they'll add MMO elements, but if there's a Diablo 3 it will still be an action/RPG. My guess is it'll be something like Guild Wars.
Guys, they are obviously making Diabo: The Party Game. Jeesh
With such games as STACK THE FETISH or SPOT THE GLOAM
A Wii exclusive.
And no, they won't make a WoW2, because for one, it wouldn't expand their market. Why subscribe to WoW when you can have WoW2! Also, a lot of other reasons.
Neva on
SC2 Beta: Neva.ling
"Everyone who is capable of logical thought should be able to see why you shouldn't sell lifetime subscriptions to an MMO. Cell phone companies and drug dealers don't offer lifetime subscriptions either, guess why?" - Mugaaz
You know, I bet Diablo 3 has no monthly feel at all and sticks pretty close to the mold.
All the 'WoW makes the moneys and Diablo would steal the moneys' arguments in the world just can't convince me, because I can't see people paying 10$ a month for a game that's a top-down hack and slash click-fest, and I can't see Diablo being much fun done any other way.
If you want to play Diablo 3, ask yourself, would you want to play a game that told you the Diablo 3 storyline through WoW's engine and play mechanics? Sitting down and playing some Diablo 2, I have to say I wouldn't. Worst game ever. I don't even fucking REMEMBER what WoW's storyline was. Something about collecting ten wolf pelts.
That's why I don't think blizzard will make D3 into an MMO. Because it would be a shitty game from what I can tell. Does blizz make a lot of shitty games?
People have talked about a lot of weird theoretical funk math, but how about this math: after making Diablo, D2 and D2:LOD, Blizzard probably has a pretty good idea what the 'formula' to a good Diablo game is, and we'll figure they already knew what the story was going to be. Let's assume that this saves them some time and they know how they want to build their game. Then instead of building an in-house engine for it, they use the havoc engine since they've been working with it for SC2 for such a long time already and from what I can tell it could handle everything a Diablo game would need to do. Let's assume servers for Diablo 2 cost nothing because they can run the game with client to client connections with matchmaking and dick-waggling done over good old battle.net --which continues to pay for itself.
Hell, I bet blizz WOULD lose a few subscribers to WoW, but people playing WoW are playing it for a reason and would either come back or weren't the type of people to keep an MMO subscription long. I think Blizz would rather have a fan of the entire company than a fan a single game, and making Diablo 3 a good game instead of an obvious money grab is probably the way to do it.
To reiterate in short: Wouldn't Diablo 3 suck as an MMO? If it played the way Diablo 2 plays Blizz could never justify the arbitrary introduction of a monthly fee, and turning to us and with the arguments presented here ('but we want money!') probably wouldn't stop such an action from leaving a really bitter taste in a lot of gamers mouths.
Furthermore, I suspect that having millions of people buying a game at retail prices would easily pay for itself in terms of production time and resources (as has happened with the last 2 games + expansion), becomming yet another gem in their crown. (possibly a perfect skull, but more likely a diamond)
This assumes they'd produce a quality game, but they did so much right with D1 and D2 that I think it's a safe bet to say that I'd enjoy D3.
Forar on
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
Just curious, but the Diablo series has always been rated M. Do you think Blizzard would release an M-rated MMORPG, or tone it down to T?
Not that I believe the next Diablo would be an MMO, and I'm on the side hoping for hack n'slash, but I was just wondering.
I agree with most of what you're saying Ego. But you can't just say Diablo 3 will be Diablo 2 with a subscribtion fee. I honestly think that Diablo 3 could go either way, MMO or classic hack-n-slash clickfest. I don't really have a preference either way because Blizzard pretty much has their hand in my bank account ready to take the money out. I just think that with the success of WoW Blizzard is probably more comfortable with making another MMO, and may turn Diablo into an MMO if that's the direction they want it to go.
Blizzard makes games because they like their games. They like the universe they create and are happy to bring it to the fan in any form. Hell, if they made a Diablo RTS how many people would complain? Probably a lot, but they would still be buying it on release date and probably wondering how they could doubt Blizzard.
But Diablo 3 has to be an upgrade from 2, just as 2 was from the original. What is more than an upgrade than an MMO? Even from all the other previous sequels and future sequel, it's obvious that they take what made the original so awesome and think of how to blow everyone's mind. Starcraft was so much fun because of it's simplicity and balance between the three races. From what we see in the trailers for SC2, it's obvious they kept the same basic play elements there - so the game remains a fun simple game at heart - but added so much polish and depth to it.
TL;DR - Basically Diablo 3 at this point can be any type of game and I'll buy it. Blizzard will make it fun and get my money. I just won't be surprised if it's an MMO nor would I be surprised if it was a traditional hack-n-slash.
Just curious, but the Diablo series has always been rated M. Do you think Blizzard would release an M-rated MMORPG, or tone it down to T?
Not that I believe the next Diablo would be an MMO, and I'm on the side hoping for hack n'slash, but I was just wondering.
I think it was rated M because it was more "sinister" than their other games. It dealt with heaven and hell, which can be a touchy subject with some. There was also blood in the game as well, which there isn't in their other games.
If it is an MMO, it could go either way. They may keep the "M" rating because it is their only mature game.
Posts
This is the only way I would ever play WOW again.
This is a great marketing scheme for them cuz I would pay $15 a month to play a Diablo and i would definately pay $5 more to see what's new in WOW these days.
!!!!▓▓▓▓▓Gravy?▓▓▓▓▓!!!!!!
!!!!!!▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓!!!!!!!!!
of doom
^Who would post such an evil response? Diablo himself possibly? Curse you and your purple lightning Diablo!!
I guess they are going to lose a fuck load of money when starcraft 2 comes out cuz the wow fanbase will stop playing...
Fixed.
3ds friend code: 2981-6032-4118
First thing: Question marks come after questions. Exclamation marks come after exclamations.
Now, let me tell you a story about a boy named Timmy. Timmy likes randomized rewards but is bored by slot machines. Timmy instead likes to run dungeons over and over again for loot. Timmy has been playing WoW for a while now and will probably continue to play (and pay a subscription fee) for another year or so. But wait! Now there's Diablo 3, and Diablo 3 satisfies all that Timmy wanted from WoW, but Timmy only has to pay one $50 fee to play Diablo 3. Timmy cancels his WoW subscription and plays Diablo 3 to the end of his days, denying Blizzard the $15 x (months Timmy would have kept playing WoW) - $50 they would have gotten had they not foolishly released Diablo 3 and doomed themselves to bankruptcy. Timmy.
Does that make sense now?
Second, they still make money... and a lot of it... yeah they want their money, but they are not gonna be losing all that much... its not a big deal. Just like the old games... which sold 10 million plus. Based on what you say at $50 a pop. That is 500000000 dollars... wow.. they lost so much.I hardly think thats gonna bankrupt them idiot.
That being said, I'm very happy that arguing here is helping you get a job.
Came off a little wrong, just irks me cuz you reminded me of that guy, and I want to punch him in the face... everyday.
Hands up who had a godly plate of the whale.
For 27 points of damage.
Useful... maybe
Interesting... yes
Plausable... very much so.
Those are the exact things that lead me to believe D3 wont be an MMO. They're working on a next-gen MMO, and only job postings that don't mention the MMO mention Diablo.
Reinforcing my belief that they are working on a Starcraft MMO, to be released sometime after SC2.
3ds friend code: 2981-6032-4118
1) A huge anticlimax
A bit late, but here it goes.
First cent
Half the total sales of WoW = 10 million times 2 divided by 2.(10mil * 2 / 2 = 10 mill) You have to add in BC.
Guild Wars has how many expansions? 3
Thats 4 total things purchased from 1 person. For normal people.
5 Million divided by 4 comes to about 1.25 million peoples. Slightly above a tenth of WoW's peak peoples.
So, we see from this simple math that the statement involving fractions and numbers and such should have been similar to the following:
Guild Wars has the equivalent number of units sold to that of a quarter of the units sold of World of Warcraft.
Second cent
Diablo I = Awesome
Diablo II = Crazy Awesome
Diablo II:LOD = Crazy Awesome, now with more Special Sauce
Diablo III = Special Crazy Awesome with Sauce, wrapped in an entire slab of bacon.
I believe that there will be Diablo III players just as there were Diablo II players. I think it is brilliant and is something that needs to be done, not attempted and slightly failed at (COUGH COUGH FLAGSHIP). I tried both Mythos and Hellgate (imagine my surprise when I finished typing this and the power suddenly went out, erasing the entire post), in reverse order and was not satisfied. Sure they were fun for a while, but it didn't have a long lasting fun like in other games, except for when playing with friends.
Whether it is in MMO form or similar to Diablo II form it would most likely be a huge hit and I would purchase it.
That was my 2 cents.
P.S. - Today in school I learned that pennies is how you pronounce penis in Portuguese.
Do go on.
Edited for extra sarcasm flavor!
I could see them making a Starcraft MMO just so Mike Morhaime can be crowned ruler of Korea (Or, rather, it gives them the freedom to introduce an entirely different character system), or a new IP MMO (Less likely than WoS, but more likely than WoD).
EDIT: Also, precedence. WoW was announced shortly before War3 was released. So, they're working on a new MMO with Starcraft 2 to be released soon, are they? Hmmmm.
Honestly I would be surprised if they didn't make a Diablo and Starcraft MMO. They know their fans would eat that shit up like candy.
Let's say the new MMO being developed is Starcraft. Let's also note that during WoW's early days, they said the level cap would probably get up to at least 100 and that Arthas wouldn't be a raid boss until around level 100. Let's take into account that there is much more room for stuff beyond Arthas, but that the Lich King is the current big baddie.
So, let's say WotLK is the last expansion to WoW. 2 years after WothLK, World of Starcraft comes out. No new content for WoW is developed, however, 2 - 4 years after WoS, Warcraft 4 is released. 2 years later, WoW2 comes out and WoS starts to wind down. Considering the money Blizzard made on WoW, this would work, easily, and would allow them to work with new engines and techs every 4 - 6 years. I say again....hmmmmm.
Note: This is just speculation on our part. I'm not saying that I think this is what's happening, just that I'm entertaining it as a possibility.
mythos and hellgate really lack whatever made diablo so good, even if they seem similiar and apparently had some of the same team working on them. one of their problems being an extremely small tileset (hellgate being the same street and subway over and over and over and over. mythos is still in beta so I cant judge it too harshly)
Instead of WoD/WoS or whatever?
Can they even make WoW2!? I mean, it's already an entire World (of warcraft), so if they, you know, made ANOTHER world, (and not just one of the million other portals/alternate dimesnions/alternate times in history they have going in WoW already) where you could travel between these two planets, then wouldn't it be Worlds Of Starcraft? See where I am going here?
Edit: Worlds Of Starcraft. Plural.
Well, maybe because people might get bored from a classic "elfs, orcs, humans" mmo and want a different coat for their addiction
Oh, i'm sorry, did you finish the quests on WoW and reach "The End"? I wasn't aware the story had finished.
The fourth dimension is time.
Uh, my point is that they already have one fantasy MMO that's clearly based heavily on Diablo. Class abilities, items, loot, sockets, you name it. The bulk of WoW's RPG elements are direct ripoffs of what they did in Diablo. Why the hell would they take the same game and make it into another MMO to run concurrently with WoW? Diablo is the poster child of the hack'n'slash franchise, it's ridiculous to think they would throw that away and turn it into an ordinary fantasy MMO when, you know, they've already got one. Maybe they'll add MMO elements, but if there's a Diablo 3 it will still be an action/RPG. My guess is it'll be something like Guild Wars.
And you dealing out 5000000x the damage at 99999999x the click count.
With such games as STACK THE FETISH or SPOT THE GLOAM
AKA [PA]Ilovepandas
A Wii exclusive.
And no, they won't make a WoW2, because for one, it wouldn't expand their market. Why subscribe to WoW when you can have WoW2! Also, a lot of other reasons.
"Everyone who is capable of logical thought should be able to see why you shouldn't sell lifetime subscriptions to an MMO. Cell phone companies and drug dealers don't offer lifetime subscriptions either, guess why?" - Mugaaz
Stupid WoW, a cancer on gaming.
All the 'WoW makes the moneys and Diablo would steal the moneys' arguments in the world just can't convince me, because I can't see people paying 10$ a month for a game that's a top-down hack and slash click-fest, and I can't see Diablo being much fun done any other way.
If you want to play Diablo 3, ask yourself, would you want to play a game that told you the Diablo 3 storyline through WoW's engine and play mechanics? Sitting down and playing some Diablo 2, I have to say I wouldn't. Worst game ever. I don't even fucking REMEMBER what WoW's storyline was. Something about collecting ten wolf pelts.
That's why I don't think blizzard will make D3 into an MMO. Because it would be a shitty game from what I can tell. Does blizz make a lot of shitty games?
People have talked about a lot of weird theoretical funk math, but how about this math: after making Diablo, D2 and D2:LOD, Blizzard probably has a pretty good idea what the 'formula' to a good Diablo game is, and we'll figure they already knew what the story was going to be. Let's assume that this saves them some time and they know how they want to build their game. Then instead of building an in-house engine for it, they use the havoc engine since they've been working with it for SC2 for such a long time already and from what I can tell it could handle everything a Diablo game would need to do. Let's assume servers for Diablo 2 cost nothing because they can run the game with client to client connections with matchmaking and dick-waggling done over good old battle.net --which continues to pay for itself.
Hell, I bet blizz WOULD lose a few subscribers to WoW, but people playing WoW are playing it for a reason and would either come back or weren't the type of people to keep an MMO subscription long. I think Blizz would rather have a fan of the entire company than a fan a single game, and making Diablo 3 a good game instead of an obvious money grab is probably the way to do it.
To reiterate in short: Wouldn't Diablo 3 suck as an MMO? If it played the way Diablo 2 plays Blizz could never justify the arbitrary introduction of a monthly fee, and turning to us and with the arguments presented here ('but we want money!') probably wouldn't stop such an action from leaving a really bitter taste in a lot of gamers mouths.
Furthermore, I suspect that having millions of people buying a game at retail prices would easily pay for itself in terms of production time and resources (as has happened with the last 2 games + expansion), becomming yet another gem in their crown. (possibly a perfect skull, but more likely a diamond)
This assumes they'd produce a quality game, but they did so much right with D1 and D2 that I think it's a safe bet to say that I'd enjoy D3.
Not that I believe the next Diablo would be an MMO, and I'm on the side hoping for hack n'slash, but I was just wondering.
Blizzard makes games because they like their games. They like the universe they create and are happy to bring it to the fan in any form. Hell, if they made a Diablo RTS how many people would complain? Probably a lot, but they would still be buying it on release date and probably wondering how they could doubt Blizzard.
But Diablo 3 has to be an upgrade from 2, just as 2 was from the original. What is more than an upgrade than an MMO? Even from all the other previous sequels and future sequel, it's obvious that they take what made the original so awesome and think of how to blow everyone's mind. Starcraft was so much fun because of it's simplicity and balance between the three races. From what we see in the trailers for SC2, it's obvious they kept the same basic play elements there - so the game remains a fun simple game at heart - but added so much polish and depth to it.
TL;DR - Basically Diablo 3 at this point can be any type of game and I'll buy it. Blizzard will make it fun and get my money. I just won't be surprised if it's an MMO nor would I be surprised if it was a traditional hack-n-slash.
I think it was rated M because it was more "sinister" than their other games. It dealt with heaven and hell, which can be a touchy subject with some. There was also blood in the game as well, which there isn't in their other games.
If it is an MMO, it could go either way. They may keep the "M" rating because it is their only mature game.