Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback The Grand Bet of Baldur's Gate MMO !

Hey everyone at Larian Studios!

I just had to drop in and say how much I'm loving Baldur's Gate 3! The game is already fantastic, and I'm super excited for the full release on August 3rd. **But you know what?** I've got this wild suggestion that I can't help but share with you all.

What if we turned Baldur's Gate saga into an MMO?! :tada: **I know, I know, it's a massive idea, but please hear me out.** The groundwork for something epic is already there with BG3. You've got all these amazing assets, sound effects, spells, and that sweet game engine (which basically means you'd have like 60% of the work done if not more). So why not take it to the next level and create a persistent online world that we can all explore together?

I mean, come on, think about it. An MMO set in the Forgotten Realms with all the beauty and depth of Baldur's Gate 3 would be mind-blowing! I can't help but feel that the game deserves to be part of something even bigger. And hey, we all know you guys at Larian pour your hearts into your games, so imagine the magic you could bring to an MMO! Im in awe to the level of detail that this game has already, spell sounds, details when casting, little gestures, sound (yes, like for example in the first flayer vs fiend fight, how you can even heard little details of the tentacles and everything)

Now, let's talk about how this could work. BG3's turn-based combat is already stellar, so why not keep that for the MMO? It'd be a fresh take on the genre, and we'd have the time to plan our moves and strategize. Picture epic quests, dynamic world events, faction warfare, player-driven economy—there's so much potential for greatness!

**I know an MMO is no small feat, but if anyone can pull it off, it's you all.** I just want to spark the discussion, get the ideas flowing, and see what magic might happen. We've got an awesome community here, and I'm sure we can come up with some cool ideas together.

So, what do you say, Larian? Let's dream big and imagine the grand adventure of a Baldur's Gate MMO! :rocket:

Keep being awesome, and I can't wait to see what's next!

Cheers

Did the Neverwinter MMO shutdown?

Some wild conjecture on my part.
If Skyrim has taught us anything, games seem to be transitioning from Massively Multiplayer to Massively Singleplayer. For the same reason the next Elder Scrolls game won't be in development for years to come, I think it's possibile Baldur's Gate 3 will have years of content added to it. Content that will become more and more geared towards multiplayer user-campaigns.

Then again, Larian doesn't seem like the kind of company that wants to stick to one project for that amount of time, we might already have had some of this rolled into the inital release due to the delays.

I do enjoy the classics...

I know nowadays MMO's have really bad reputazione. But the gane already has the foundation for such an epic game.

Try not to be closed minded and immagine instead the possibilities...

The problem is that MMOs are designed around a very different philosophical and financial model than BG3.

The Neverwinter MMO already exists, and is free (apart from the rather predatory monetisation system). graphics aren't as nice as this game, but it's far from the worst looking game still running. Want romance? Good news, people rp in the Moonstone Mask regularly, and if you ask politely you might even find people willing to erp with you.

I like MMOs, I do, but I also like single player games that can be played co-op. And just because a company can make a good solo game, doesn't translate to being able to handle an MMO. Several game companies recently tried out the "live-service" aka MMO style game recently and found it to be a real struggle, because they were not prepared for the demanding reality of a game that is continually progressing.

I wish there was a D&D FR game in the style of GW2.

This sounds like question for WotC rather than Larian.

The depth of your lack of knowledge on this is staggering. You are taking WAY too much for granted.

1. Divinity 4.0 Engine is not optimized to be played as an MMO.
2. D4 is not built as an MMO engine, or to be one. Larian would have to start from scratch.
3. Larian has no experience doing an MMO.
4. MMO's are not really popular right now - they have fallen out of favor mostly*.
5. This would require a totally different license from WoTC as Rag smartly pointed out.
6. This would also be an incredibly long development cycle.

Bethesda tried to do an MMO with F76 and they failed party because they had no experience and didn't know what they really wanted and the engine they had was not designed to be an MMO so they had a lot of trouble modifying the Fallout 4 engine to be an MMO.

*Not going to get too much into this but basically the predatory nature of monetization with MMO's and the string of disappointing offerings designed to appeal to whales and not gamers is a big reason.

Good MMO's are expensive as fuck to create and have a super long dev cycle. A LOT never see the light of day because they run out of cash. Investors have shied away. It's just a terrible market right now.

Some strong responses in this thread, the existing D&D MMO is actual quite good. I wouldn't mind seeing a new one with updated visuals and gameplay.

Every single everything would need to be changed to the point of it basically being an entirely new product

You can't have multiple parties running around in a world designed for single-party questing.

Take the battle in front of the grove as just one example. Will multiple parties be able to join the fight? That would be dumb because that fight is already so easy.

So then what? Multiple different fights at once for each party present? And what if Wyll eats it in one party's fight, but not another? And once those fights are resolved, multiple parties in the jail with Saza and the tieflings?

The number of problems that would need to be figured out, it's basically making a whole new game, but harder

The perfect way to ruin the BG3, the Baldur's Gate world and D&D in general.

I am not saying make BG3 MMO... in saying is make a new game taking existing assets and engine and obviously work on it.

Of course I would expect at least 3-4 years on work for such a thing.

But that'd be better than starting from scratch with 0 assets and everything.

They'd have terrain assets, particle effects, spells, characters, etc etc already

I actually said that I'm aware they have fallen out of favor. Yet they still are the biggest game a game company can make. Blizzard did not have any experience doing MMOs and they succeded (then Activision buying Blizzard screwed them), Riot gaming is also doing an MMO. And there is also Ashes of Creation in the works.

Instead of saying I have no knowledge, you could try to come with your own arguments.

Even if Divinity 4 was not designed to be an MMO. If they do hace the source code, nothing prevents them from adapting it, or even if they'd have to come up with another one, they can reuse existing assets.

And as for the funding. I'm pretty sure that if they release it following the same Early Access model. They'd get financing from the community. Also I'm willing to bet they will get a lot of money from BG3

Funny how everyone is saying how it would be difficult or near impossible to do.

Not that if it was made and possible that it would suck.

What if it isn't? What if they can pull it off ?

I
I don't really think that works, either. Even assuming they wanted to, and that your 3~4 year estimate is correct (I expect would be closer to double those estimates), 4 years from now, most of us will still be playing BG3 and still finding new things, because it's freaking huge. Are they going to suddenly drop a new product that to a fair degree will be a direct competitor to a product new players will still be buying?

Either they go the DLC route, or start something entirely unrelated

All suggestions are welcome, and there's no need to have all the details worked out (or indeed to set them all out if we do). Let's not be overly harsh or criticise people for sharing an idea of something they'd like to see.

That said, I'll admit MMOs are very much not my bag, so would vastly prefer Larian to work on another game that works well in single player.

Look, in one breath you are saying they are "not starting with zero assets" and in the next you are talking about adapting an existing system.

The fact is they WOULD start with zero assets. MMO's require a completely different resource calculation when it comes to asset creation.

If you want to understand what Blizzard went through to create their MMO I suggest you read "The WoW Diary" By John Staatz - it's sitting in my bookshelf* right now - I have read it twice.

When you say, "what if it is that easy?" you are basically telegraphing that you have not really studied the challenges that go into doing something like this. I would invite you to go do that first and then re-think what you are asking here.

*no, you can't have my book. :P

I would lean toward saying it, as I never quite understood why people enjoyed MMOs. My experience with them has always been disappointing.

I am also doubtful if anything in BG3 would be recyclable for an MMO.