Topic: let the flaming commence!

[schragnasher]

Ok Steve, I love your podcast and stuff but i gotta take issue with this

"Let's see what's in the game ... all the races? Check. All the classes and their assorted special talents? Check. The ability to go on quests which are different for the Horde and the Alliance? Check. The ability to perform raid-style quests? Check. The chance to kill boss monsters? Check. The ability to level-up your character and gain skills? Check. The ability to ... well, you get the point. Pretty much everything which makes WOW so unique is in this game, and I can't wait!"

Please explain how any of that stuff makes WoW Unique? Blizzard has never been unique, the are just great at taking what has been done before and polishing the bejesus out of it. WoW might be fun, but its definately not unique.

Flame away

[762]

I agree, even runescape has 90% of that crap.

[Samog]

Let's see what's in the game ... all the races? Already done.
All the classes and their assorted special talents? Already done.
The ability to go on quests which are different for the Horde and the Alliance? Already done.
The ability to perform raid-style quests? Already done.
The chance to kill boss monsters? Staple of the genre.
The ability to level-up your character and gain skills? Staple of the genre.

[Pir0]

Yea, Runescape has the same stuff and Evercrack had the same stuff but they sucked (except for Evergrind, it wasn't that bad..)

WoW was the only one that fleshed it out and made it fun. So in a way it IS how they made it unique

[Gaming Steve]

Simple ALL games are unique in their own way. Even if one game copies another game 99.9% that 0.1% makes that game unique from all other games.

Also WOW is a unique game, otherwise all MMORPG would do just as well as WOW. Sure it copies the conventions of other games (i.e. races, classes, monsters, spells, etc.) but when you combine it all you get WOW as opposed to Runescape. Creating a game is like cooking, you can have 10 different cakes which use the same core ingredients -- eggs, flour, water, yeast, sugar, etc. -- but depending upon how you mix these items you'll get a different result every time. WOW uses the same ingredients as other MMORPGs, but yet it mixes them in just the right amount to create a unique MMORPG experience.

[schragnasher]

That is if you dont subscribe to the belief that when everythign is special, nothing is special. Its polished, its well run and its made by Blizzard, that is why its done so well. A game like ATITD or Wurm online is unique. I just wont go with the idea that WoW is.

[Lord Janos]

Of course every game is unique.  The point is the idea isn't unique.  WoW isn't unique in it's ideas, but it is unique in that it's a better game than most.

[schragnasher]

Thats is a personal preference.

[Lord Janos]

Sadly it isn't.  I don't like the game, but i can't deny that i wasn't hooked on it constantly when i played, and that the 4m+ people who play it worldwide (a lot more than most other Western MMOs, for sure) are playing a terrible game - they're not.  WoW is a very very good game, and this is proved by it's incredible success.  It's still right up there in the charts here in the UK, the populations are still growing at a huge rate and it's gotten rave reviews.

WoW is unique in its success.  I don't like the Sims - does that make it a bad game?  No.  WoW is very well done, with little to no bugs from what i've played and experienced (i was around at beta, so i know what an improvement it is currently - Steve will back me up here).  WoW is a good game, personal preference is whether you like it or not.

[schragnasher]

?? good game = unique game ??

I dont understand this, Quake 2 was a really good game, but its was definately not unique. WoW may be a good game, there may be thousands upon thousands playing it, but in no way does that give it a title of unique. The Sims was a unique game, Gish is a unique game, WoW is not. I am not saying WoW is a bad game, i played it a few months and was happy when i did, but at the end of the day it brings nothign new to the table, the fact that is was not unique is why i ultimately got bored of it and quit.

[SumGI]

Yes, How many rpg/mmorpg games feature elves, trolls, spycho satan beasts, lizard people, cat people, ogres, you get the point.
but yeah that doesn't mean it's bad, but som NEW AND ORIGINAL fantasy things would be very nice.

[762]

When did this topic become about how good the game is? I mean, I've never played it, but the numbers speak for themselves: it must be good.

What Schragnasher was trying to say is that WoW isn't unique. Let us argue this point.

My take: Every game is technically unique. You're not going to have a game that has the exact same 0's and 1's in all the right places. That makes all games technically unique. I don't think WoW is all that unique, though. It has all the stereotypical elements of an MMORPG, and that's pretty much it.

[Ameg]

Notice - I can't defend Steve's saying that the board game will include all these unique features, but WoW does have some distinct items about it that other's simply don't have. I will make several references comparing it to Everquest as this was the standard of MMOs for a long time.


For one, WoW didn't go for an ultra-realistic looking unviverse such as EQ2 tried to do (which .01% of gamers can run with even decent looking graphics).  It stuck to signature Warcraft 3 cartoony type animation and pulls it off fantastic. It has a background! For the most part MMOs including everquest have pretty much no story readily available. They made the world into much more distinct areas. In other MMOs you could hardly tell the difference between two zones. In WoW, you can literally go from a swamp to a desert in seconds or a light-filled shire forest to dread woods infested with undead and actually feel the difference. But, for the most part what makes it unique is that it does everything that other MMOs have done, and in spades. It is the culmination of the features present in most and will continue to expand into better things. Blizzard is notorious for making old formulas into something amazing and WoW doesn't deviate.

[DevilMachine]

You may also recall that Blizzard will be releasing the WoW trading card game.

http://www.gucomics.com/archives/view.php?cdate=20050823

[Cobra]

Then WoW calanders, WoW action figures, lampshades, bedsheets, underware, and coming soon WoW home pregancy tests let the merchendising machine roll on.