Even Blizzard Isn't Sure How to Save the RTS Genre, but MOBAs Might Help

RTS genre is fine. StarCraft 2 may have a simplistic multiplayer when looking at it at first. When spending time playing it and getting familiar with the three race types it's actually the most dynamic RTS multiplayer game out there that came from previous RTS games before it that focus on Unit's and managing building a base. It also has a huge competitive community e-sports.

This is something that any game that as multiplayer heavy usually becomes. The multiplayer is the pivotal point of the game. When the multiplayer is a focus then the Single player story of the game suffers. this is primary the reason why games can't have a really dynamic multiplayer and a dynamic single player because in the end it can be only either or. This goes with any genre and any game.

It's easy:

Warcraft 4.

Ho to save a genre considered dying... well thats a toughy... how about try making a GOOD game in that genre? Sadly some of the good ones got bought up and turned to crap ( think westwood etc)

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While Starcraft 2 is not a bad game in the slightest I was personally expecting a lot more. I had followed development for years and read some cool ideas from Blizz marked (staff) posters on their forums. Some of them included various "layers" on the map. For instance you'd go up a layer for spaceship dog fights and such. IMO that was an awesome idea that also fosters more micromanagement. Unfortunately the game is basically SC1 with a new coat of paint. Which is fine as I said but usually merely "fine" doesn't win the race.

RTS isn't dead per say. Sure it's become a bit more niche but in games like CoH2 and SC2 you aren't hard pressed to find matches. The current game scene really lends itself more to instant gratification which is likely also part of the issue. RTS is more of a game of patience, you have to get good enough to create a perfect build order, harass the enemy and still create a balanced army that needs good micromanagement in order to defeat your opponent. For Joe Schmoe it's a lot easier (and more instantly gratifying) to pick up a controller, pewpewpew and get top three in the match. I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with that but when you practice for ages and finally start winning some maps in RTS against opponents that don't totally blow chunks......I don't know. It's a great feeling.

The way I see it, popularity is like the moon. It waxes and wanes. It's cyclical. Just for fun earlier this week I was reading some very early GameSpot previews of games from 1996. I read a preview of the first Diablo and Elder Scrolls: DaggerFall. The writers said that the RPG genre was dying. Yet, here we are in 2014 and the RPG genre is one of the strongest. I don't think the RTS genre will die, and I think it's just one game away from launching back to the top of popularity.

That having been said, the biggest obstacle to overcome is the fact that consoles are infinitely more popular than PC gaming at the moment, and the RTS genre is something that, as of yet, has yet to really work on a console. PC gaming is making a comeback, I feel, and as it does, the RTS genre will come back as well.

I want the "classic" RTSes, like Age of Empires, Command & Conquer and Blizzard's own StarCraft and WarCraft. Special units gather the basic resources, you build up your base, build up tons of units and proceed to sweep the map clean of enemies. I don't care for other RTSes like Company of Heroes or WH40K, seemingly called RTT instead.

And no, stupid MOBA's aren't going to help. MOBA's are MP only, while StarCraft and WarCraft are some of the best story-heavy, fantastic SP campaign RTSes out there.

Really the question is, "How can we monetize the RTS genre like we have with the spin off MOBA?"

They realize that it's difficult to sell skins and baubles to people who are controlling loads of units at one time and not a single focussed character. You need to be able to instantly identify an enemy unit so as it can be countered, lots of different skins and fire effects would make that nigh on impossible.

I've lost interest in RTS games for a number of reasons:

1) They seem to be harmed by optimized strategies. Eventually there becomes only several or so "optimal" build orders that everyone adheres to for the best results. Build this first, build this second, build three of these, then four of these. It doesn't feel strategic to follow the same playbook over and over

2) Alot of RTS games are all about building up to your best units as fast as you can, and there's little unit diversity after that. Instead of mixes of infantry, light vehicles, heavy vehicles, support- alot of RTS's just devolve into "how many tanks you can get"

3) Many RTS's do have an emphasis on strategy, but how far a strategy can take you is harshly limited to how many inputs you can execute in a given minute. It's weird that a genre focused on strategy has such a massive execution requirement. You see the professional RTS players and it looks like they are playing Guitar Hero on the hardest difficulty. My fingers shouldn't hurt more when I play Starcraft than when I play Bayonetta 2. Seriously.

D3 is still lot of fun.

Blizzard's brand of RTS games have never been very appealing to me. Too small-scale.

Really Gamespot? There is plenty of RTS and 4x that have come out recently or are on their way and most have received great reception on the PC market.

The genre is fine honestly. And if anything more titles are coming out for it than there has been in a long time.

Ill be honest , Blizzard is not the future when it comes RTS/4x games. They have lost sight of what made Blizzard what they are a long time ago.

maybe make a patch that turns Starcraft 2 into less of a bioball fest ?!!!

starcraft 1 had more strategic depth .. while SC2 is a frantic micro management game SIM .... in fact I did stop giving blizzard my money after the D3 F**^ UP so it wont matter to me ... you can fart star light from your asses now and i could not care less

After the innovative masterpiece that was WC3 for the RTS genre, releasing the dumbed down POS that is Starcraft 2 was simply a step backward and removed all the amazing elements the warcraft franchise had brought to RTSes. SC2 is a joke. EVERY game is always the same,wall off the little pathway that leads up to your base cause EVERY base has to be at top of hills otherwise the game is so unbalanced,broken and lame that you cant survive a rush since the overall game mechanics relies on standing at base,massing units then push once your army is finished. MICRO/MACROing in SC2 is pointless and a F'NG JOKE compared to the improvement with the more slow-paced tactical combat of WC3 and the more limited number of units you could hold. Also the fact that you had to start building your altar ASAP and then start creeping with your hero for him to gain advantage over your enemy faster,gear him up,pick the right hero/skills that will work with the type of units youre aiming to build ( ex. DH/KOTG/POTM) if youre focusing on archers/dryads and giants etc as the night elves or the DK first as undead if youre going fiends instead of ghouls otherwise you would pick dread lord first for his melee life leeching aura. THIS was innovative for the RTS genre. SC2 does NOTHING of all of this. Units are bland, combat is a clusterf*ck of units piling onto each other where they die wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too fast for microing your army to even matter in the game unless you pick heavy units. I swear the now casual-friendly blizzard simply wanted to catter to the masses by dumbing down their next RTS entry that is Starcraft 2 instead of following the amazing formulae that was brought to us in WC3.

No, MOBAs won't help. At least not for me. Give me more tanks, soldiers, choppers, SEALs not Wizards, Mages, Spells, XP, Mana, Horses, Knights, Dwarfs and other super nerdy s***.

Another C&C is long overdue.

If you want to bring new interest into the RTS genre, don't do it with a sequel...

The Legacy of the Void changes are a HUGE step in the right direction, but most of the commentators here are so clueless about the RTS genre they just don't see that

This man is clearly an idiot << LINK REMOVED >> best £1.68/$3 you will ever spend on an RTS from 2007........ The only thing that RTS games need saving from is idiots and fools who try to cater for everybody ( psst not everybody likes the same things)

What is there to save? Fcking relax.