The developer for Black Desert stated that he got together with his friends to make a different kind of MMO. So I think Black Desert is a bit of a game changer for Korea as well. The big test will see just how much of a PvE grind there is and how interesting the world PvP systems turn out to be. As for creating a living, vibrant world, they nailed it.
Now here is where I get confuzzled when talking about development. People keep talking about the safe route and sticking to what is known in terms of funding different projects... Like these two items are one and the same. Looking at past MMO development, it's a fucking graveyard of quickly failed, or failed to launch titles. Most of these have used an incredibly similar formula: Level up progression, Static NPC riddled environments, Raiding style endgame, Loot treadmills. It would seem that sticking to what is known is the exact opposite of playing it safe. It sounds more like sticking to what is known is something like 3 months till the playerbase burns out and the game gets placed on Free to Play life support until they finally pull the plug.
One thing I do know is that people want to try new things. Make a game that is a carbon copy of what is already out and people who didn't like or are tired of the current shit will give yours a pass as well. I understand how all the execs think that copying wow means they have a shot at those kinds of numbers as well. They don't and never will. People who like WoW, like... Wow and are invested in it... why will they jump ship for a version of WoW where they aren't level bajibitty already? They won't or they will try it and then go back. But holy shit, give them something different and at the very minimum you instantly generate buzz for your project. Now if only the people who were willing to try new ideas would also try good ones.
I am very interested to see the dynamic between Wildstar and WoW. Wildstar is extremely similar in many ways, inferior in many ways and superior in a couple of ways to WoW. It just seems like they are jumping into a boat that was already sitting low in the water.
Traditional MMO's are drying up, hell, big publisher video games in general are in rough shape. Holding onto what is tried and true is like lashing yourself to the mast of a sinking ship. Anyways, this post is too long already and I am out of nautical based metaphors.