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[Editorial] World of Warcraft: WoW Clone - You Say That Like It's a Bad Thing

SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129

It’s no secret that World of Warcraft inspires many people to great heights of passion, both because of their affection for or antipathy towards the game. In the nine years since WoW launched, every subsequent MMO has been compared to it in one way or another, usually by those who mean that comparison as an insult to the developers who made the game.

Head through the jump to read Suzie Ford's editorial, WoW Clone - You Say It Like It's a Bad Thing.

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Comments

  • RocknissRockniss Member Posts: 1,034
    These devs whom ignore the "anti wow clone" group and go ahead and make a wow clone, they also ignore the blizzard philosophy of "do what they are doing only do it better" They have the first part, but doing it better is where they seem to fall short. In the next gen subsequently, Wow clones are not going to cut it. I have recently returned to Wow only to realize I just don't have time for the gear grind anymore. It seems at least for me, progression through creation is what would fit better.
  • JupstoJupsto Member UncommonPosts: 2,075

    I haven't played very much UO or WoW, but in my small experience the two are nothing alike really. I can't see how WoW could have built on ideas in UO.

    Sure "WoW clone" is a compliment if you like WoW, or judge games purely on their success, but personally I do neither. And its not so much an insult as a description of a genre of mmorpg's. Since a huge proportion of mmorpg's have near identicle gameplay to WoW, such a term is useful to those who did not enjoy WoW.

    The term mmorpg has become a dirty word that some developers avoid to escape wrong assumptions being made about their games. to the vast majority who don't play many mmo's the term mmorpg literally means "WoW with different graphics".

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  • ThomasN7ThomasN7 87.18.7.148Member CommonPosts: 6,690
    A WoW clone can only work if the game is actually good. So far nothing has come close in trying to hold people's attention long term. 
    30
  • RefMinorRefMinor Member UncommonPosts: 3,452

    "Blizzard created a mosaic of features that every other MMO since its launch has in one sense or another borrowed. And let’s face it: No company has done it better."

    If you believe no one has made a WoW game as good as Blizzard have how can you be confused about whether WoW clone is a perjorative description?

  • Vermillion_RaventhalVermillion_Raventhal Member EpicPosts: 4,198
    It is bad. WoW is not at fault but cloning the themepark, questhub, battlefield, grouping ques leaves the genre feeling not very creative. In fact, you get very familiar feelings game to game despite the gimmicks, new lore and etc. It also adds into questhub fatigue which from game to game feels like your doing the same quest over and over. This leads to players wanting it to go by fast and easy. That leads quest becoming task and annoyances more than content and story defeating the purpose.


    Not only this you've let other types of MMORPG underdeveloped amd escalating ease and casual play to the point of most games being trivial.
  • mCalvertmCalvert Member CommonPosts: 1,283

    WoWclone is definitely not a compliment.

  • xpiherxpiher Member UncommonPosts: 3,310
    it is a bad thing because the genre is stale because of WoW's success. All AAA companies have only churned out WoW style themepark games to try and cash in on its success model instead of innovating, despite the palpable clamor for something different. Even GW2 wasn't different enough from WoW

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  • TekaelonTekaelon Member UncommonPosts: 604
    WoW used ideas from other titles, through a few fresh game mechanics in, and wrapped up in a deeply immersive world. Others have done some but not all.
  • RadooRadoo Member UncommonPosts: 298

    Of course it's a bad thing!

    Imagine all games being the same. Having the same systems and playing the same. No novelty, no orinality, nothing new.

    You'd have the same base sauce classes, the same questing loop (kill this and that, use this item here and there) and the same group dungeon gameplay. How much can you really endure of this ?

    I for one go for what's new in a game, from western MMOs to asian ones. Starting with the character, character creation, class and progression system and so forth, never disregarding unique features like art-style, lore or whatever the case.

    A clone of whatever is never a good experience, unless you want the same thing all over again, but then you have the original source so you don't need 2 of the same.

     
  • MitaraMitara Member UncommonPosts: 755

    Rift is one of the Wow-clones that has been most succesful. Despite claiming a dynamic world, they failed in producing the right dynamics to hold peoples attention for longer than other MMOs.

    It shall be interesting to see if games like The Repopulation and other games claiming dynamic contents, will understand exactly which parts need to be dynamic to keep players around.

  • winterwinter Member UncommonPosts: 2,281

     WoW clone is indeed a insult one need only look to the facts how many of these so called WoW-clones have reached even a 10th of WoW's sub numbers? Why play a game that's almost just like WoW when you can play WoW?

     Cut, paste and copy WoW doesn't benefit gamers in anyway and in fact its insulting. Not every game needs to be innovative but they should try at least to stand on their own rather then try to be second rate knock offs of a game that's slowly dying.

      I'm not much into fashion and design but saying the gamers world should be full of WoW-clones is kinda like saying all fashion should be nothing but faux Gucci. Repetition and stagnation is not the way forward its the way to extinction

  • Xblade724Xblade724 Member UncommonPosts: 54

    Yeaa that is a bad thing... WoW requires no skill, is more forgiving than even that michael jackson game for sega genesis, and overall is brainless. There is no risk reward factor, only brainless high quantities of giving to make wee one's feel special.

    We need challenge, we need content, we need anything but collection quests. We want to feel alive, not brainlessly click every question mark above the head. When was the last time you paid attention to a quest? I remember when I played EQ1 and was trying to find keywords to say to the NPC to get him to talk to me. I remember being challenged. Yea it was tedious farming, but pretend if you had eq1 but without being tedious. Keep that risk reward factor. Keep it interesting .. eq next ftw

    ---------------------------
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    Ascendant Chronei Immortal of Rallos Zek
    (Now @ Prexus)

  • ste2000ste2000 Member EpicPosts: 6,194
    A WoW clone will always fail. If you want to succeed it has to be a WoW evolution. GW2 got half way there forgetting about the end game, but GW2 is what a WoW evolution should be....... plus End Game of course.

  • MukeMuke Member RarePosts: 2,614
    Originally posted by ste2000
    A WoW clone will always fail. If you want to succeed it has to be a WoW evolution. GW2 got half way there forgetting about the end game, but GW2 is what a WoW evolution should be....... plus End Game of course.

    GW2 did one thing right: they did not put in endgame addiction raiding so most of that horrible wow community won't touch that game......

    "going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"

  • GravargGravarg Member UncommonPosts: 3,424
    Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
  • NadiaNadia Member UncommonPosts: 11,798
    Originally posted by SBFord
    Blizzard King of All: End Game. Blizzard knows how to keep its end game players busy and no one has done it better so far

    I no longer play EQ1

    but EQ1 has always had a very strong endgame - on par with any raiding mmo

  • KenFisherKenFisher Member UncommonPosts: 5,035

    Just ask fans if their game is a WoW-clone.  Many times the answer is a resounding no, even if the features of the game are very similar to WoW.  It doesn't sound like a compliment to me.

     


    Ken Fisher - Semi retired old fart Network Administrator, now working in Network Security.  I don't Forum PVP.  If you feel I've attacked you, it was probably by accident.  When I don't understand, I ask.  Such is not intended as criticism.
  • MaeEyeMaeEye Member UncommonPosts: 1,105

    There is no problem with World of Warcraft.  In fact, I really enjoyed my stay in the game for a couple of years and met some really nice people and fondly think back to all the fun we had in the game.

     

    My problem are the games that followed WoW.  The games that took the same concept that we have been playing with since EQ and just making their own game from it.  However they all forgot to include one thing that made WoW so special.  Immersion, sense of fantasy and a really strong artistic world.  I feel like just now, 10 years since WoW, we are finally seeing the industry head more towards an open world game.  However I believe it is going to be quite some time before we see any game as a juggernaut such as WoW, if at all.  WoW came at a good time and in a good way.

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  • KyleranKyleran Member LegendaryPosts: 43,435

    I take issue with the highlighted line from this paragraph in Suzie's article.

    "Yet I think that, at least for now, we can think of what Blizzard has done for nine years as something akin to a giant jigsaw puzzle: Each piece represents a feature in what we have come to know and expect in an MMO. Quests, raids, dungeons, PvP, and social aspects have all been fused together over the last decade to create the world’s most successful MMO."

    It would more properly be stated as  Each piece represents a feature in what we have come to know and expect in a standard theme park style MMO. (the natural evolution from the EQ1 model)

    See, the issue is, there are other ways to design a MMORPG, UO is quite different, so is Lineage 1/2, DAOC, FFXI, EVEm AC1, AO1 and some other's I'm sure I'm overlooking.

    These designs are similar, yet quite different from the tree built by EQ/WOW, and the complaint by some of us is that Developers continue to focus most of their resources on building a better WOW, and of course, failing.

    We're looking for MMO's that should have naturally evolved from some of those other titles which would have happened had Blizzard not discovered the holy grail in terms of game sub numbers which most every developer after them has continued to chase.

    Point is, the standard theme park is one type of MMO design, but doesn't have to be the only one.  We're just now starting to see evidence of developers starting to turn away from this one model, and incorporate more features that were in many cases part of the earlier titles in the genre, but largely ignored since Blizzard chose not to use them.

     

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  • NadiaNadia Member UncommonPosts: 11,798
    Originally posted by ZombieKen

    Just ask fans if their game is a WoW-clone.  Many times the answer is a resounding no, even if the features of the game are very similar to WoW.  It doesn't sound like a compliment to me.

    worse

    common trash talk i hear in other games is  "go back to WOW"

  • fantasyfreak112fantasyfreak112 Member Posts: 499

    The problem is that WoW took other game ideas and made them better. All these WoW clones are just making terrible versions of WoW.

     

    Huge Difference

  • GazimoffGazimoff Staff WriterMember UncommonPosts: 225

    Here's a question: Do you get involved in a new game world or universe because of the creatures, lore and game world? Or are you more interested in new mechanics, game systems and clever approaches?

    It's the same argument with tabletop RPGs. For some players, it's all about the setting and storytelling, and mechanics don't matter. For others, they see D20 as a drastic oversimplification and 'dumbing down', and feel that GURPS is the only way to play a game.

     

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  • MiserySignalMiserySignal Member UncommonPosts: 40
    Depends on what stage of WoW you are actually cloning. WotLK and onward, yes it's pretty casual and catering for the masses but Vanilla and TBC had really good moments, raids and dungeons were accessible but much challenging than now. At least you actually needed to CC...
  • LyrianLyrian Member UncommonPosts: 412

    The reasoning I understood behind the word 'WoWclone' is essentially stating that it is 'outdated'. We had an amount of evolution between games like UO, EQ, and the others. New features, refinement, nifty things that made WoW successful.

    The problem that we have with games that come out having had the exact same model that WoW has is one of "Been there, done that." The evolution of it stopped and we were left with something that we've done before, often covered up with a single 'gimmick' or something that is generally 'mleh'. Like Aion flying, rift's rifts, expanded world pvp in WAR.

    It's not the WoW system that's bad. It's the repetition of the same thing, that hasn't changed since 2004 over and over again. Blizzard is smart enough to constantly improve their product and look to the future. But the clones focus on just 'meeting' where blizzard is right now. If someone made a 'wowclone' but reached 3-4 steps ahead of what wow currently is. I don't see why I couldn't be successful.

    If they added more classes, more races, more sandbox options to agument some themepark type themes and added more complexity to the game. It could work. We just get frustrated when someone reheats something old and tells us it's new. Sure we like the old stuff, but add something new to it as well.

     

  • fantasyfreak112fantasyfreak112 Member Posts: 499
    Originally posted by Lyrian

    The reasoning I understood behind the word 'WoWclone' is essentially stating that it is 'outdated'. We had an amount of evolution between games like UO, EQ, and the others. New features, refinement, nifty things that made WoW successful.

    The problem that we have with games that come out having had the exact same model that WoW has is one of "Been there, done that." The evolution of it stopped and we were left with something that we've done before, often covered up with a single 'gimmick' or something that is generally 'mleh'. Like Aion flying, rift's rifts, expanded world pvp in WAR.

    It's not the WoW system that's bad. It's the repetition of the same thing, that hasn't changed since 2004 over and over again. Blizzard is smart enough to constantly improve their product and look to the future. But the clones focus on just 'meeting' where blizzard is right now. If someone made a 'wowclone' but reached 3-4 steps ahead of what wow currently is. I don't see why I couldn't be successful.

    If they added more classes, more races, more sandbox options to agument some themepark type themes and added more complexity to the game. It could work. We just get frustrated when someone reheats something old and tells us it's new. Sure we like the old stuff, but add something new to it as well.

     

    Well put

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