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World of Warcraft vice president says "the dream remains" to bring the MMO to Xbox

Zheph

Member
How does Final Fantasy 14 make it work with a controller? Is there a significant skill gap between pad and KB/M players?
it really depends on each individual, back a few years ago the best DPS in my team was on a controller and he was managing a heavy rotation. They did a really good job with it and if you take a bit of time to set it up properly, its all good imo

They already tried a few times with WoW according to some devs, it would require "significant" work
 
How large is the pool of people that wants to play WoW, a 20 year old PC game, but only on a console, but are also happy to go out and buy a new half-keyboard peripheral to make it somewhat feasible to do so?
I'm not sure, I guess we would have to find out. What ideas do you have?

I don't see why not, if it doesn't handicap my controls more then "normal" kb.
What do you think about the rumor of MS potentially making a Steam Deck-like portable console? Blizzard could be waiting on that for release.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
I'm not sure, I guess we would have to find out. What ideas do you have?

WoW 2. WoW 1 redone for consoles is so unfeasible and impractical that it's never happening and not worth coming up with ideas for.
 

rodrigolfp

Haptic Gamepads 4 Life
How large is the pool of people that wants to play WoW, a 20 year old PC game, but only on a console, but are also happy to go out and buy a new half-keyboard peripheral to make it somewhat feasible to do so?

The answer is "not enough for Blizzard to even think about it". Buy a laptop and a long HDMI cable. Done.
The option for controller would still be there, like it is on PC.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
The option for controller would still be there, like it is on PC.

If Blizzard wanted to just tack on controller support and dump it on consoles they'd have done so many, many years ago - they know as well as 99% of WoW players that it would require gigantic amounts of work to satisfy a market who don't care about the game in the first place.
 

Xyphie

Member
The game is just based around typing in chat on a keyboard, using Discord for voice chat, having the boss mod addons installed etc. They'd really have to prune alot of the complexity out of the game for controller play to be more than a novelty.

And even if they did bring it to consoles "+15 Freehold, bring brain, no console players" would be the community response.
 
FFXIV is significantly less complex. You don't have skills like Heroic Leap and Blizzard that are a pain with controller.
Those could be done on the target which would work on most cases and/or with some modifying key to use the joystick to aim where you want. Clearly there has to be some thought how to do it but it can work.
 

rodrigolfp

Haptic Gamepads 4 Life
Make the game less complex on PC because of controller players? Imagine them "betraying" them after all the years of $upport from the players.

If Blizzard wanted to just tack on controller support and dump it on consoles they'd have done so many, many years ago - they know as well as 99% of WoW players that it would require gigantic amounts of work to satisfy a market who don't care about the game in the first place.
They already included officially controller support on WoW. They could just try to improve some things.
 
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UltimaKilo

Gold Member
It is near impossible to play with a controller in anything higher than normal raids, low ranked Mythic+, or rated PvP. You would get absolutely trounced and be a waste of space for your party.

FF14 was designed and built from the ground up to work well with both. WoW is a 20 year old game that's never had "real" KBM support and is designed to be played with KBM and practically mandatory third-party addons. It'll never work. The existing controller support is cool for levelling which is a fairly brainless task, but really anything more than that and you're always gonna be outperformed by PC players.

So make it happen. People already have been making controllers working in game for a long ass time. FFXIV comes along and sets a golden standard for how it can be done. Yes, it'll take some time and money to make happen that'll easily be offset by opening the game up to a lot more players especially if they release on Playstation as well. The amount on content that could be done in this game excluding the hardest stuff is mind-boggling huge. Hell, extend the free trial people to hook even more people so they can get a taste of what's possible. As someone who loves the game it's so frustrating how they keep shrugging this off considering the potential of how it can help the game.

Imagine trying to do arenas as a druid or rogue, with 30+ abilities to use and trying to CC the correct person or location, but with a controller. Seems like that would be worse than a keyboard turner.

Look at all these abilities

how-do-players-like-pikaboo-not-use-personal-resource-v0-59hffpo1h46a1.png


Honestly, how do you even approach playing this on a console with a controller without overhauling every single class and doing massive skill/ability pruning? Would have to gut every single class to get this feasible on a controller. If they didn't, but launched on consoles anyway, I'd insist they have an option to not be cross-play with console players.

All these comments making assumptions. First of all, I knew people who raided quite fine with controllers years ago.

Secondly, you can use mouse + keyboard on console and the game can be restricted to that input method.

Lastly, I can’t imagine that there’s a lot of money they could make on this versus cost. The game is very, very long in the tooth and they’re better off working on a new MMO in the distant future.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
Make the game less complex on PC because of controller players? Imagine them "betraying" them after all the years of $upport from the players.

They already included officially controller support on WoW. They could just try to improve some tring.

That's not "making the game less complex", that's making a new game; one that becomes complex in different ways at max level than current WoW.

They included support for PC players who already play the game and wanted a different way to level up, or play one button Classic, or whatever. Nobody was waiting for controller support to start playing WoW - they didn't make a song and dance about it when it was included, the most popular source of anyone finding out was Reddit, because it was just a thing they tacked on.

To do an official console product launch - especially now that they're part of Microsoft - they would need to actually put in the effort to overhaul the game properly, a task so gargantuan for an audience so miniscule, it doesn't bear thinking about.

All these comments making assumptions. First of all, I knew people who raided quite fine with controllers years ago.

Secondly, you can use mouse + keyboard on console and the game can be restricted to that input method.

Lastly, I can’t imagine that there’s a lot of money they could make on this versus cost. The game is very, very long in the tooth and they’re better off working on a new MMO in the distant future.

You knowing people who were good at it doesn't make it a good idea for a saleable product - and if it was normal mode raiding, a toddler could do it. Slapping "keyboard and mouse required for this console game" on makes it completely dead on arrival. Last point's spot on, there's no money to be made here.

The answer remains WoW 2, whatever that looks like. Have fun with the thread, I need to eat.
 
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If Blizzard wanted to just tack on controller support and dump it on consoles they'd have done so many, many years ago - they know as well as 99% of WoW players that it would require gigantic amounts of work to satisfy a market who don't care about the game in the first place.
A new market is a new market 🤷‍♂️

WoW 2. WoW 1 redone for consoles is so unfeasible and impractical that it's never happening and not worth coming up with ideas for.
This is something I have agreed about for years. It should have happened by now but I think they are simply retrofitting non-classic WoW to be a forever game(as 2.0 instead of 2), which means it could potentially have large sweeping changes. The minute I felt they might do big changes to modern WoW, is the minute they announced Cataclysm classic. WoW 2 or WoW: (Console edition subtitle) would make more sense though.
 

rodrigolfp

Haptic Gamepads 4 Life
Those could be done on the target which would work on most cases and/or with some modifying key to use the joystick to aim where you want. Clearly there has to be some thought how to do it but it can work.
The problem is these skills are supposed target several targets.
 

Dr. Claus

Banned
All these comments making assumptions. First of all, I knew people who raided quite fine with controllers years ago.

Secondly, you can use mouse + keyboard on console and the game can be restricted to that input method.

Lastly, I can’t imagine that there’s a lot of money they could make on this versus cost. The game is very, very long in the tooth and they’re better off working on a new MMO in the distant future.

Assumptions? No this is from a high end mythic+ and mythic raider who routinely goes for the hall of fame.

controller play is an objectively worse way to play and a detriment to teammates.
 

CamHostage

Member
They already tried a few times with WoW according to some devs, it would require "significant" work

Seems fairly difficult, even with some of the workarounds that FFIV uses. I get why it's just never happened.

I have seen some movement on controller play though add-ons when Stream Deck hit. (Deck does have the advantage of the touchscreen, but touchscreen creates problems too. ) Even for the PC version, there are players who want controller play to work out, and are trying methods of working through it.

 
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Lastly, I can’t imagine that there’s a lot of money they could make on this versus cost. The game is very, very long in the tooth and they’re better off working on a new MMO in the distant future.

Right now WoW seems to be on a positive uptick even as an aging MMO existing in a single market. Opening up to console would expose a whole hell of a lot more audience that would otherwise not give it a second look especially if there's a chance it could be on a sub. It makes a lot more sense to invest the money into something that's still a sure thing vs something they'll be unlikely to work on again in a new MMO.

The problem is these skills are supposed target several targets.
The skill would initiate on that target and when activated perform like it normally does with an AoE damage.
 

UltimaKilo

Gold Member
Assumptions? No this is from a high end mythic+ and mythic raider who routinely goes for the hall of fame.

controller play is an objectively worse way to play and a detriment to teammates.

The assumption is that controller would even be an option on console.
 

UltimaKilo

Gold Member
Right now WoW seems to be on a positive uptick even as an aging MMO existing in a single market. Opening up to console would expose a whole hell of a lot more audience that would otherwise not give it a second look especially if there's a chance it could be on a sub. It makes a lot more sense to invest the money into something that's still a sure thing vs something they'll be unlikely to work on again in a new MMO.

We just don’t know how much money it would cost to port this old game onto console hardware vs the analysis of how much it would generate. I am making an assumption that it would not sell well enough to cover the porting costs. If they could somehow do it incredibly cheap? Then sure, there’s no reason not to do it. However, that is likely not the case.
 
We just don’t know how much money it would cost to port this old game onto console hardware vs the analysis of how much it would generate. I am making an assumption that it would not sell well enough to cover the porting costs. If they could somehow do it incredibly cheap? Then sure, there’s no reason not to do it. However, that is likely not the case.
Everything about it is a guess right now but they are at a great point especially with Microsoft's deep pockets to consider it without repressive "you think you do but you don't" thinking on their part. They were pretty adamant about not doing classic servers even to the point I believe of it not being possible, yet it turned out well for them.

Clearly the game is going strong still, there's a whole untapped market waiting, people are very much use to controller for an MMO, the financial backing is there - so many reasons why it's worth a serious look in making it happen. Hell, if they really want to be bold they could make a new movie or series to coincide with a console launch to get the hype flowing. People may laugh it off as old game is old, but I really do think the interest is there.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
Everything about it is a guess right now but they are at a great point especially with Microsoft's deep pockets to consider it without repressive "you think you do but you don't" thinking on their part. They were pretty adamant about not doing classic servers even to the point I believe of it not being possible, yet it turned out well for them.

This happened and turned out well because there was a massive community of people begging for it for years on end. Years and years of private servers that thrived because Blizzard refused to acknowledge them for so long. That community simply doesn't exist for a controller-on-console port of WoW.
 
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This happened and turned out well because there was a massive community of people begging for it for years on end. Years and years of private servers that thrived because Blizzard refused to acknowledge them for so long. That community simply doesn't exist for a controller-on-console port of WoW.
I wouldn't discount them due to not being as vocal.
 
You can play it on a controller now with an add-on. It uses the four face buttons, LB and RB, the four directions on the Dpad for abilities (so ten buttons, twelve if you count L3 and R3). You can then use LT and RT to bring up another set of binds for all the above-referenced buttons. So in total you can have 36 abilities/buttons mapped. Keeping it all straight in your mind is tricky but it can be done, but I wouldn't want to raid with it. Having said that, the amount of times I had to put the controller down and get a keyboard was enough that it got to be annoying.

Edit: I think you can actually have another set of 12 buttons mapped if you press LT and RT at the same time. So 48 buttons.
 
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This happened and turned out well because there was a massive community of people begging for it for years on end. Years and years of private servers that thrived because Blizzard refused to acknowledge them for so long. That community simply doesn't exist for a controller-on-console port of WoW.
At one point that community did exist, but they have had little hope for such a thing after a decade of nothing. The little ray of hope that was introduced was official, customizable controller layouts for the current version and rumblings of an Xbox edition once the acquisition happened. This is currently a sample of what the support looks like:

ejqb0mey3be91.jpg

maxresdefault.jpg


I think those of us who want this to happen will simply wait for an official announcement of whatever they want to do(either new game, big sweeping change, update, etc) before asking or begging for more from them.

I personally figured it would make for a more fun thread if people would brainstorm and give their own takes and ideas as to how it could work on console.

I think you can actually have another set of 12 buttons mapped if you press LT and RT at the same time. So 48 buttons.
Adding double tap functions for the triggers could theoretically increase that number too.
 
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Dr. Claus

Banned
At one point that community did exist, but they have had little hope for such a thing after a decade of nothing. The little ray of hope that was introduced was official, customizable controller layouts for the current version and rumblings of an Xbox edition once the acquisition happened. This is currently a sample of what the support looks like:

ejqb0mey3be91.jpg

maxresdefault.jpg


I think those of us who want this to happen will simply wait for an official announcement of whatever they want to do(either new game, big sweeping change, update, etc) before asking or begging for more from them.

I personally figured it would make for a more fun thread if people would brainstorm and give their own takes and ideas as to how it could work on console.


Adding double tap functions for the triggers could theoretically increase that number too.
Trust me when I say that I would love for a console version to be made as it would force Blizzard to fix many of the most egregious issues with the game.

The difficulty would be toned down at the high end, as they couldn’t design the game around the same level of spell complexity and speed to account for console controller users.

This would also benefit us further by having Blizzard being unable to design content around the requirements of addons.

Fixing two of the largest issues with the games design.

Now if only they could get rid of the wow token and fix the economy.
 
The difficulty would be toned down at the high end, as they couldn’t design the game around the same level of spell complexity and speed to account for console controller users.
I just don't consider this a matter of could, but a matter of would. They could if they wanted to, and again, we don't know what they're cooking up for console. People are being too rigid in what WoW has to be for console, when it can technically be whatever they want it to be.
 

Mortisfacio

Member
What are those required addons???

They aren't "Required" in a general sense, but Mythic Raiding is largely dependent on it to be even remotely competitive. Some fights, like Mythic Neltharion, I don't think has ever been beaten in Mythic without addons. There's simply too much going on and addons like DBM are necessary to be cutting edge. All "world first" race guilds use them. They wouldn't be competitive without them.
 

Hari Seldon

Member
They could do it, and they should do it. But they can't try to make it compatible with the PC version, that would be a complete disaster and untenable. It would have to be a console-only version, or a console/PC variant that was not compatible with normal Retail.

What I would do is outsource the technical porting aspect of it, but start with only the original classic world. Keep the modern class design (which uses less skills). Blizzard can have a much smaller team that handles re-balancing all of the encounters based on using a controller, no add-ons, and the modern classes. Then release it while working on porting the next expansion. You don't have to redo actual content, just re-balance all of the dungeons and raids. Just re-rolling out all of the expansions at 2x the speed that they originally came out means that you have 10 years of content already available, you just need to re-balance it.

Imo a version of the game that is balanced around not having any addons would immediately be the best version of the game.
 
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Cornbread78

Member
Damn, I would love to dig in, but thwre's no way I could balance Destiny 2, Final Fantasy XIV, SP games and another MMO, lol
 

Dr. Claus

Banned

PS2 alone. Can go back to Mario Paint on SNES tho and even AOE games.
No, that isn’t what I was asking sorry for the confusion. I am asking if there were any console games that could not be played, period, with a controller. All those games can be played with a ps2 controller.

Requires??? Do the game blocks you from mythic raids if you don't have them?
Drop the trolling act, mate.
 

rodrigolfp

Haptic Gamepads 4 Life
No, that isn’t what I was asking sorry for the confusion. I am asking if there were any console games that could not be played, period, with a controller. All those games can be played with a ps2 controller.


Drop the trolling act, mate.
Who is trolling? The game doesn't require any addon and even if it required, there is nothing preventing consoles from using them.
 
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