Warcraft used ideas from Warhammer who used ideas from Lord of the Rings.

Warhammer Online used ideas from World of Warcraft.

Has WAR copied successfull concepts from other MMOs? Yes.

Are the main sources of inspiration DAoC and WoW? yes.

Did WoW/Warcraft copy the Warhammer world and lore? Yes.

Originally posted by Delondial

Originally posted by ILuvWoW

WoW is the reason why WAR even has any players, it attracts all the people who hate WoW.

WAR had a large tabletop community before the internet was even in full swing.

 

WoW created mmos  the like Nabster put pirating on the internet. It was still going on, they just put it in the spot light.

See, and I thought Evercrack was what swung the spotlight onto MMO's....what with all the people getting divorced over it and such.....then those of us who played it became "one of those people", lol
 

2 questions:

1 What is more important in games, art style or gameplay?

2 Who copied what?

Graphics

Warhammer has so many different looks, from the very cartoony to the serious.. its hard to not look like 1 of the Warhammer versions. But IMHO WoW has the better graphics.. not from a technical standpoint but from an artisic and visual standpoint.. theres so much more detail in WoW graphics than WARs.

  
           WAR (climax)                              WAR (Mythic)                                 WoW:WOTLK

Lore

Lore is a story they, dont share the same story, Warhammer has a very basic story about an endless war.. WoWs story is far deeper. IMHO

Gameplay

The similaries with WoW are obvious if you cant see those then your blind. yes theres some DAoC in there too. WoW is infulence by previous blizzard games such as Diablo but also games that came after Diablo such as EQ and OU.. WAR if infulence in the same way by games inc WoW that came before it.

But who cares. Well find out in a few weeks if WAR delivers

WAR copied Tolkien actually.

But Tolkien copied WoW.

Ok pplz, i have 5 things to say:

1. Orcs, Elves, Goblins, Dwarves, Giants, Ogres, creepy aliens, superhumans and fluffy man eating bunnies have been around for 1000's of years, they are the stuff of myth and cannot be plaigerised because they are owned by all.

2. probably the first mmo was mazewar, look it up here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazewar

3. Games workshop, the owners of warhammer, recruited blizzard to create a warhammer fantasy computer game for them. For whatever reason the deal fell through and blizzard took the work they had done on the game, altered the art, created a new story and released it as warcraft, (this has been stated in previous posts). Games workshop cunsequently sued blizzard for plaigerism, but it was found that blizzard had changed enough to evade copyright laws (there is a huge rivalry between games workshop and blizzard, blizzard also has been accused of stealing stuff for starcraft and games workshop has been accused of stealing some of the zerg creatures for use as tyranids).

4. who really cares? both have they're good points, both have they're bad points, they are both good games and both have fans. If u don't like one, play the other, if u like both, great, if u like neither fuck off and find something else to play.

5. Those who think only ppl who hate WoW will play WAR are sadly mistaken. I play warhammer fantasy and i was going to play WoW because there was no warhammer mmo, but then i heard of WAR and promptly forgot about ever playing WoW and kept track of WAR for most of its developement (unfortunatly i never got to play the closed beta =[ )

Originally posted by Brainybones

Ok pplz, i have 5 things to say:

1. Orcs, Elves, Goblins, Dwarves, Giants, Ogres, creepy aliens, superhumans and fluffy man eating bunnies have been around for 1000's of years, they are the stuff of myth and cannot be plaigerised because they are owned by all.

2. probably the first mmo was mazewar, look it up here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazewar

3. Games workshop, the owners of warhammer, recruited blizzard to create a warhammer fantasy computer game for them. For whatever reason the deal fell through and blizzard took the work they had done on the game, altered the art, created a new story and released it as warcraft, (this has been stated in previous posts). Games workshop cunsequently sued blizzard for plaigerism, but it was found that blizzard had changed enough to evade copyright laws (there is a huge rivalry between games workshop and blizzard, blizzard also has been accused of stealing stuff for starcraft and games workshop has been accused of stealing some of the zerg creatures for use as tyranids). I am sorry but this has NEVER been proven its just rumors.. with not an a single shred of proof.  Its a nice tale but its not been proven.

4. who really cares? both have they're good points, both have they're bad points, they are both good games and both have fans. If u don't like one, play the other, if u like both, great, if u like neither fuck off and find something else to play.

5. Those who think only ppl who hate WoW will play WAR are sadly mistaken. I play warhammer fantasy and i was going to play WoW because there was no warhammer mmo, but then i heard of WAR and promptly forgot about ever playing WoW and kept track of WAR for most of its developement (unfortunatly i never got to play the closed beta =[ )

Coffee: You are right that we have no tapes of the discussions at the time but since both companies confirmed discussions back then I think you are beating a dead horse.

And ultimately - who cares?

To the poster above: Zergs are a 100% copy of the Tyranids that existed years and years before Starcraft. Protoss has a very unique feel to them though that has nothing to do with Warhammer in my mind.

Originally posted by HensenLiros

WAR copied Tolkien actually.

But Tolkien copied WoW.

Thats an amazing feat, since he died long before development on WoW started.

Originally posted by TalRasha

Originally posted by HensenLiros

WAR copied Tolkien actually.

But Tolkien copied WoW.

 

Thats an amazing feat, since he died long before development on WoW started.

Tolkien is not dead.  He's just time travelling.  That also explains how he could copy WoW.

i am so tired about war vs wow crap.. i don't get it why people make this kind of threads anyway, it is not like somebody is forcing them to go play war instead of wow so what's the point to discredit war and write dumb things like "OMG!!!!111oneoneone WAR is a wow rippoff"

Originally posted by TalRasha

Originally posted by HensenLiros

WAR copied Tolkien actually.

But Tolkien copied WoW.

 

Thats an amazing feat, since he died long before development on WoW started.

 Either it proves my point that WoW fanboys are delusional and twisted or that's the worst sarcasm ive ever encountered,either way 2x fail for HensesLiros.

I heard that Blizzard asked for  the rights to make a Warhammer  mmorpg game, but they dirent give them, soo they builded World of  Warcraft.....

Edited :D

Originally posted by WSIMike

Did WAR copy WoW...

For the hundredth time... No.

Warcraft, the IP, was created from the remains of a deal Blizzard was working out with Games Workshop to make a game based on Warhammer. They changed some details, altered the look a bit and called it Warcraft.

This is explained, and not difficult to find with a simple Google search. As someone mentioned earlier, Blizzard themselves acknowledged this.

The look/style of the artwork in Warhammer - the look of the orcs, goblins, etc. etc. is straight from the Warhammer canon. I remember seeing those orcs and goblins and such years ago when I'd go to comic and gaming stores and see the books.

On all accounts, Warhammer predates Warcraft and this is brought to bear when you get into the "did one MMO copy from the other" bit...

As for whether WAR the MMO is a clone of WoW the MMO... again... No.

For one, there are *too many people* who still seem to believe - all these years later - that somehow Blizzard invented the MMO genre. They did not. Other MMOs had several years' head start on them. I say this because there are some who believe that simply by virtue of being a MMO, it's automatically a WoW clone.

Next, the whole "well their interfaces are the same, so they stole the interface". No, they did not... that basic interface had been around in other games pre-dating WoW as well.. that includes the hotbar(s), mini-map/compass in top-right corner, skill trees, etc. etc. (see Asheron's Call 2, for one example). WoW just happened to be the first MMO most people became familiar with to use it.

The whole "well the graphics styles are too similar... so they clearly stole that from WAR"
Wrong again... Like I said earlier, the art style used is representative of the style used by Games Workshop themself for Warhammer... which Blizzard later came long and basically altered to create Warcraft.

The "WoW clone" thing might hold water with other games... but with Warhammer, it's simply not so. As others have said.. it is quite the other way around.

If not for Warhammer, it's possible Warcraft would have never existed.. at least not as we know it today.

 

See above! I've been saying that, for as long as the "WoW clone war" has been raging

And as a matter of fact today: Andy Chambers (the creative master mind together with Rick Priestley and with Art Direction from John Blanche behind Games Workshop) is today Creative Director of Blizzard.

The connections are many and anyone like Coffee trying to refute this fact are just making themselves look silly.

And ultimately - who cares since we all just want to play good games? When it come to myself I am happy Andy is with Blizzard today since it means that from Diablo III onwards he will put his ideas into the Blizzard products. And that is 100% positive.

Originally posted by Guida

I heard that Blizzard asked for  the rights to make a Warhammer  mmorpg game, but they dirent give them, soo they builded World of  Warcraft..... I dont know if is 100% true : its a rumor

 Err get your facts straight,blizzard tryed to get the rights to the Warhammer and Warhammer 40k universe,they didnt manage to but the games were already in developtment (SC and WC),soo they changed some stuff and renamed soo the lawsuit wouldnt punch them too hard.

 But since Warcraft (RTS) was a ripoff of WAR universe,WoW is a ripoff aswell.Want proof ?

Look at the Blood elf arhitecture in WoW and then in WAR (exactly the same),look at the WoW dwarfs and the WAR dwarfs: they both live in a big underground city,they both like beer/brew ,they both are tech advanced,afaik WAR dwarfs are the only ones portraied (for the first time atleast) ,as technologicly advanced,having guns and copters in a fantasy setting.

Originally posted by magnuts

Originally posted by WSIMike

Did WAR copy WoW...

For the hundredth time... No.

Warcraft, the IP, was created from the remains of a deal Blizzard was working out with Games Workshop to make a game based on Warhammer. They changed some details, altered the look a bit and called it Warcraft.

This is explained, and not difficult to find with a simple Google search. As someone mentioned earlier, Blizzard themselves acknowledged this.

The look/style of the artwork in Warhammer - the look of the orcs, goblins, etc. etc. is straight from the Warhammer canon. I remember seeing those orcs and goblins and such years ago when I'd go to comic and gaming stores and see the books.

On all accounts, Warhammer predates Warcraft and this is brought to bear when you get into the "did one MMO copy from the other" bit...

As for whether WAR the MMO is a clone of WoW the MMO... again... No.

For one, there are *too many people* who still seem to believe - all these years later - that somehow Blizzard invented the MMO genre. They did not. Other MMOs had several years' head start on them. I say this because there are some who believe that simply by virtue of being a MMO, it's automatically a WoW clone.

Next, the whole "well their interfaces are the same, so they stole the interface". No, they did not... that basic interface had been around in other games pre-dating WoW as well.. that includes the hotbar(s), mini-map/compass in top-right corner, skill trees, etc. etc. (see Asheron's Call 2, for one example). WoW just happened to be the first MMO most people became familiar with to use it.

The whole "well the graphics styles are too similar... so they clearly stole that from WAR"
Wrong again... Like I said earlier, the art style used is representative of the style used by Games Workshop themself for Warhammer... which Blizzard later came long and basically altered to create Warcraft.

The "WoW clone" thing might hold water with other games... but with Warhammer, it's simply not so. As others have said.. it is quite the other way around.

If not for Warhammer, it's possible Warcraft would have never existed.. at least not as we know it today.

 

 

See above! I've been saying that, for as long as the "WoW clone war" has been raging

Yes I totally agree that WoW is a stright rip off of Warhammer...

I remember playing this Warhammer MMO that looked exactly like WoW (in many ways) even had abilities that blizzard stole word for word descriptions of... (white lion specficly had one pet ability that blizzard stole word for word to use on their Hunter).

And this was like 30 or 40 years ago!!!

those bastards.

Just in Warcraft 1.. blizzard didn't yet have the ability to exactly copy the textures.. and didn't up till about Warcraft 3.

Hey, in my earlier post when i said warhammer 40k was accused of copying off of starcraft i meant that there is a rumour  that in retaliation of blizzard creating warcraft warhammer 40k stole the zerg hydralisk and created the tyranid ravener.

Originally posted by Sikhander

And as a matter of fact today: Andy Chambers (the creative master mind together with Rick Priestley and with Art Direction from John Blanche behind Games Workshop) is today Creative Direction of Blizzard.

The connections are many and anyone like Coffee trying to refute this fact are just making themselves look silly.

And ultimately - who cares since we all just want to play good games? When it come to myself I am happy Andy is with Blizzard today since it means that from Diablo III onwards he will put his ideas into the Blizzard products. And that is 100% positive.

I am refuting the whole "Blizzard had a deal with Gameswork shop" "Gameswork shop sued blizzard" "Starcraft was ment to be a WH40k game".. all those tall tales which dont have a shred of evidence anywhere. Yet people still think its the gospel truth. now unless you can provide evidence of the facts you say then your the one looking silly.
 

And Andy chambers is working on Starcraft 2. not WoW.

Originally posted by demolishIX

Originally posted by Guida

I heard that Blizzard asked for  the rights to make a Warhammer  mmorpg game, but they dirent give them, soo they builded World of  Warcraft..... I dont know if is 100% true : its a rumor

 

 Err get your facts straight,blizzard tryed to get the rights to the Warhammer and Warhammer 40k universe,they didnt manage to but the games were already in developtment (SC and WC),soo they changed some stuff and renamed soo the lawsuit wouldnt punch them too hard.

 But since Warcraft (RTS) was a ripoff of WAR universe,WoW is a ripoff aswell.Want proof ?

Look at the Blood elf arhitecture in WoW and then in WAR (exactly the same),look at the WoW dwarfs and the WAR dwarfs: they both live in a big underground city,they both like beer/brew ,they both are tech advanced,afaik WAR dwarfs are the only ones portraied (for the first time atleast) ,as technologicly advanced,having guns and copters in a fantasy setting.

Thats not proof.. i want a link to an artical or some archived news from the time. saying "Blizzard approched GW".. cant do that.. try again. and BTW WC was released 1994 and SC in 1998 they were not in development at the time.

Originally posted by demolishIX

Originally posted by Guida

I heard that Blizzard asked for  the rights to make a Warhammer  mmorpg game, but they dirent give them, soo they builded World of  Warcraft..... I dont know if is 100% true : its a rumor

 

 Err get your facts straight,blizzard tryed to get the rights to the Warhammer and Warhammer 40k universe,they didnt manage to but the games were already in developtment (SC and WC),soo they changed some stuff and renamed soo the lawsuit wouldnt punch them too hard.

 But since Warcraft (RTS) was a ripoff of WAR universe,WoW is a ripoff aswell.Want proof ?

Look at the Blood elf arhitecture in WoW and then in WAR (exactly the same),look at the WoW dwarfs and the WAR dwarfs: they both live in a big underground city,they both like beer/brew ,they both are tech advanced,afaik WAR dwarfs are the only ones portraied (for the first time atleast) ,as technologicly advanced,having guns and copters in a fantasy setting.

Well, Who Invented Dwarfs? Games Workshop? NO lol soo its the profile of a dwarf, They like beer/brew etc etc "what about the gnomes etc etc"

Here's how it breaks down in a nutshell.

1.  Germanic mythology is created in ancient times.

2.  Tolkien likes it, and decides to make up some awesome fictional stories based on some of it, making up the Lord of the Rings books.

3.  Some guys in Britain are running a business bringing D&D over from America, so that British geeks could enjoy it.  Then they get an idea: take some J. R. R. Tolkien, a little Michael Moorcock, and some Rob E. Howard, and make a gritty, dark fantasy wargame.  Warhammer Fantasy is born.

4.  Blizzard releases the first Warcraft in 1994.  Gamers who have actually played something that isn't plugged into a computer or console note that it looks a bit like Warhammer Fantasy artwork, shrug, and start playing.

5.  World of Warcraft goes into development around 2001.

6.  Mid 2004, Games Workshop announces that their MMO Warhammer game is getting canned.  In late 2004, the license for a Warhammer MMO becomes available, around the same time that World of Warcraft goes online.

7.  Early in 2005, Mythic picks up the Warhammer license.

speaking of ideas being used over and over
 
clockwork gnomes
Everquest had them back in 1999

and now WOTLK will be introducing their own version of a clockwork gnome
img211.imageshack.us/img211/879/wotlkx1zzzlz4.jpg