WoW is a linear MMO whereas SWG was a sandbox; rather different games altogether (and then Sony decided SWG needed to be linear as well and... well... that was that). So I don't really think SWG would have been any more fun, per se, if it had been made by Blizzard. It was brilliant at first, it was simply trashed later. I suppose Blizzard wouldn't have forced players to fight butterflies, though, maybe it would have been space-pigs instead. ;p
I disagree with your assessment of game companies in-house design teams though. Level-5, Clover Studios (pre-destruction), IS, Falcom, and old-school GameArts are all very solid design teams. Some would argue that Konami, id, Retro Studios and Rockstar have some great design teams. Before their destruction, I would say that Masaya and the team behind Tactics Ogre were great. Old Lucas Arts had some great designers as did Sierra (though they're now essentially defunct). And of course the majority of the stuff put out by Nintendo manages to nail its market exceptionally effectively.
However, "truly awesome games" is certainly subjective.
No, I don't think Blizzard will voluntarily withdraw WoW from the market; why should they? They're making money and they have fiduciary duties to their shareholders to keep making money. Whether they were concerned about the welfare and sustainability of the industry or not, they won't withdraw. What I'm saying, though, is that it's bad for the consumers and bad for the industry for any one game to completely dominate a genre. Retailers and publishers (the two parties with the largest say in what games are released at the moment) are notoriously short-sighted and speak/read money. Entrenched consumers will not give alternatives a fair shake because, understandably, they're so invested in the one game that it simply dominates their thinking. It has to; investing that much in something and then abandoning it flies in the face of human nature. In the meantime the publishers and retailers will just try to ride that to the bank. EA is particularly infamous for this, but I don't believe any of the other suits are any different.
Regarding WoS; Blizzard made up so much stuff for WoW that I think they could pull it off if they wanted to. Granted, it will take a lot of work, but a talented design team could certainly handle it.
I haven't seen anything yet that is truly a "new type of quest" (mechanically) in Wrath of the Lich King, but it will be a challenge for any MMO to come up with a new type of quest. SWG used exactly the same quest scheme as WoW. The principle difference is that in WoW the mission terminals are more widely distributed and don't have an endless number of quests to offer.
I disagree with your assessment of game companies in-house design teams though. Level-5, Clover Studios (pre-destruction), IS, Falcom, and old-school GameArts are all very solid design teams. Some would argue that Konami, id, Retro Studios and Rockstar have some great design teams. Before their destruction, I would say that Masaya and the team behind Tactics Ogre were great. Old Lucas Arts had some great designers as did Sierra (though they're now essentially defunct). And of course the majority of the stuff put out by Nintendo manages to nail its market exceptionally effectively.
However, "truly awesome games" is certainly subjective.
No, I don't think Blizzard will voluntarily withdraw WoW from the market; why should they? They're making money and they have fiduciary duties to their shareholders to keep making money. Whether they were concerned about the welfare and sustainability of the industry or not, they won't withdraw. What I'm saying, though, is that it's bad for the consumers and bad for the industry for any one game to completely dominate a genre. Retailers and publishers (the two parties with the largest say in what games are released at the moment) are notoriously short-sighted and speak/read money. Entrenched consumers will not give alternatives a fair shake because, understandably, they're so invested in the one game that it simply dominates their thinking. It has to; investing that much in something and then abandoning it flies in the face of human nature. In the meantime the publishers and retailers will just try to ride that to the bank. EA is particularly infamous for this, but I don't believe any of the other suits are any different.
Regarding WoS; Blizzard made up so much stuff for WoW that I think they could pull it off if they wanted to. Granted, it will take a lot of work, but a talented design team could certainly handle it.
I haven't seen anything yet that is truly a "new type of quest" (mechanically) in Wrath of the Lich King, but it will be a challenge for any MMO to come up with a new type of quest. SWG used exactly the same quest scheme as WoW. The principle difference is that in WoW the mission terminals are more widely distributed and don't have an endless number of quests to offer.
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