So tired of hearing that everytime someone reviews a new MMO.  What the hell do you expect from a game that would not make it a WoW clone?  You have a character, you use abilities, you kill monsters, there are zones, instances, and pvp areas.  How does having those make a game a WoW clone?  WoW's UI is a near replication of the AC UI which came out years before.  Experience gaining, levels, quests, and even talent trees were all around before WoW existed.  Instances were around before WoW existed.

It is seriously retarded.  "I just played X and you have to kill creatures for exp, OMG it is such a WoW clone!"

Do characters have to be giant mushrooms who fly upside down and participate in soil cultivation and moisture trapping in order for a game not to be labled a WoW clone?

WoW didn't even invent anything.  EQ, DAoC, AC, AO, CoH, SWG, etc. were all out before WoW arrived and they have the exact same mechanics that WoW does.

The Warhammer UI is so close to being IDENTICAL to WoW it's pretty sick..maybe that's where it's coming from..just a guess.

 I love how everyone complaining about the term "WoW Clone" never actually understands what people mean by the term. Pro-tip here: It's not about things the game DOES have, it's about things the game lacks or gives too freely. Levels have been around since long before MMOs. However, we didn't get spoon fed MMOs with the complexity and depth of a bendy straw before then, and now that's all you find at every turn being churned out every few months to turn a quick buck. "WoW clones." 

Originally posted by Sepulcher

So tired of hearing that everytime someone reviews a new MMO.  What the hell do you expect from a game that would not make it a WoW clone?  You have a character, you use abilities, you kill monsters, there are zones, instances, and pvp areas.  How does having those make a game a WoW clone?  WoW's UI is a near replication of the AC UI which came out years before.  Experience gaining, levels, quests, and even talent trees were all around before WoW existed.  Instances were around before WoW existed.

It is seriously retarded.  "I just played X and you have to kill creatures for exp, OMG it is such a WoW clone!"

Do characters have to be giant mushrooms who fly upside down and participate in soil cultivation and moisture trapping in order for a game not to be labled a WoW clone?

WoW didn't even invent anything.  EQ, DAoC, AC, AO, CoH, SWG, etc. were all out before WoW arrived and they have the exact same mechanics that WoW does.

Many people are tired of levels, quests, classes and linear themepark progression. They want skill systems, and a sandbox enviroment. While these were available in limited quantity before WoW, after WoW's massive success, games ceased to be original, and started endlessly regurgitating the features of WoW over and over again in an attempt to grab a piece of the cash pie.

I don't think it has anything to do with the features being available before WoW, it has to do with WoW being the most successful with those features. Other developers see WoW's success, copy what they have in the game(even if those features originated elsewhere), and pump out a "WoW clone".

People are tired of it, and that is why you see the phrase "WoW clone" being thrown around everywhere. They are yurning for something original, and originality hasn't been seen since before WoW. Before the dark times, before the Empire.

OP:

Elvis was the KIng of rock and roll. He was NOT the first rock and roll artist.

The Beatles were the Kings of the Pop music in the 60's/ They were NOT the first pop band (not even from England).

Both were NOT the first but sold well over the millions.

WOW was not the first MMORPG, but it is King because its paid (western) subscriptions are into the millions.

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All products that wanted to imitate the King(s) were one day flies in each of the branches. Imitations don't sell as much as the "original" and are mostly badly received.

Simple: it is what's first known by the masses that strikes first and is considered the King (or the original).

The rest is for the history books.

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Oh and btw: a miniature game or a book are NOT MMORPG's.

I lol'd when I saw the view count go up so quickly.

WoW clone threads are just DA BOMB!

EDIT: I R GUD INGLESH SPEEKR

Originally posted by Capn23

I lol'd when I saw the view count went up go up so quickly.

 

WoW clone threads are just DA BOMB!

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Originally posted by Abrahmm

Many people are tired of levels, quests, classes and linear themepark progression. They want skill systems, and a sandbox enviroment.

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Exactly.

WoW did take a lot of features from games that had been around before, but then by its own (freakish) success codified them into immutable law for almost every MMORPG made since. And the problem is that the template they seized upon is one which has problems maintaining long term interest for the players. If you've done it once, then there's not much desire to ever do it again. That is, at least on my part...

I'd also add that in addition to skill systems and a sandbox environment, there are lots of other features - granted not necessarily original ones either - but which these days remain largely ignored. And which do help to maintain long term interest in a MMORPG. Most important of them I'd say might be random generation and variable damage types. Random loot stats, random crafting results, random mob AI, random resource generation - you name it. And the need to think about how you are prepared for any particular type of fight long before you get into it. However the WoW playbook says make everything generic and you won't have people whining about 'balance' and 'equality'. But myself, I find that plain gruel is a very, very boring diet to be spoon fed every day.

Trademarks of a WoW clone----

Quests grants best XP. Thus you feel strongly compelled to 'quest' and self directed activites just sort of die

Mob XP nerfed. Didnt notice that WoW was too bad but successive WoW clones have nerfed mob XP to hell. Developers do this to even the playing field so all Classes can be soloed at same pace

Meaningful World pvp is pushed aside in favor of Instanced pvp grinding. once again players are being strung along by carrots.

Linear pattern to acquire Gear

Items grant insane ultimate power

Levels grant ultimate power. Level 60 just wipes the floor with a Level 20.

PVP pushed aside for static PVE worlds

Tight, rigid Classes. Lack of choices in development of your character. It's almost as if the developer made this character for you and told you to grind this straight jacket to level cap . Cant be truly unique.

Character customization is just messed up. It's all bout gear- so no way to make yourself standout unless you do some silly dance at Raids from sunup to sundown

Lifeless static worlds that players cannot impact

Light to no Death penalty

Yep most of this may have existed before but WoW sealed the deal.

Actually WoW is just a compilation of older MMO's ideas, and add a slight (and I mean very slight twist).

WoW is not the founder of those ideas, it is just another slightly enhanced clone.

The reason the term WoW clone is used is based on its popularity. (Which I believe is from the old Warcraft fan base anyways) People start to confuse which standard they should be measuring other MMO with once the idea of "WoW clone" enters their brain.  People that use the term WoW clone should just play WoW, FOREVER, there is no need to find another game, since it will always be a "clone" of WoW. LOL

WoW is at best a mediocre MMORPG when you take all the hype and die hard fans opinion out (and god knows there are alot of those).

Oh and yes, I have played WoW long enough to state my opinion. (In case someone use that "play for 5 minute and quit" arguement)

I can easily name MMO that had features in WoW before WoW was even starting to be developed, however, those are old asian MMO (some western too), but only a few of them made appearance outside of their own individual countries due to the company don't have the financial backbone to go global.

Originally posted by Sepulcher

So tired of hearing that everytime someone reviews a new MMO.  What the hell do you expect from a game that would not make it a WoW clone?  You have a character, you use abilities, you kill monsters, there are zones, instances, and pvp areas.  How does having those make a game a WoW clone?  WoW's UI is a near replication of the AC UI which came out years before.  Experience gaining, levels, quests, and even talent trees were all around before WoW existed.  Instances were around before WoW existed.

It is seriously retarded.  "I just played X and you have to kill creatures for exp, OMG it is such a WoW clone!"

Do characters have to be giant mushrooms who fly upside down and participate in soil cultivation and moisture trapping in order for a game not to be labled a WoW clone?

WoW didn't even invent anything.  EQ, DAoC, AC, AO, CoH, SWG, etc. were all out before WoW arrived and they have the exact same mechanics that WoW does.

that would be kinda cool if they made game like  that lol

Sorry wrong post.

I for one am tired of seeing WoW Clone in any conversation.

Ive yet to see a WoW clone.
I mean, Ive seen some F2p or asian grinders that looked like cheezy WoW ripoffs.

But as far as a high dollar mmo, Ive yet to see a WoW clone.

Its funny, I see WoW blatantly ripoff ideas from other games ALL THE TIME, but no one says anything about it. The most blatant ripoff comes from WOTLK and the achievement system as well as all the KNOCKBACK effects that have been suddenly introduced into the game.

Age of Conan was in no way a WoW clone.

Warhammer Online Age of Reckoning wasnt a WoW clone either.

O sure, those games share SOME similarities with WoW just like WoW shared similiarities of a bunch of other mmos. But there not WoW clones.

I'm not sure I really WANT a sandbox. I sort of like to have goals to accomplish. Being able to do anything at whatever time I want would just sort of lose me. I think most of the players like me would become overwhelmed.

I want:

A world that isn't heavily instanced. Dungeons can be instanced, but that's about the extent of it. Sort of like WoW's world or Darkfall's world. Those two types of world would be nice.

PvE AND PvP in the game. Preferably they should have to work together to accomplish goals. All this over-focusing on one or the other is what ruins games.

Level based...but I like the way that AoC did it. Even if your quite a few levels below, you still have a chance at beating the guy.

Professions that aren't too grindy and each item has importance. If you have meaningful professions...the economy will be awesome.

FUN AND ORIGINAL QUESTS!!!!!!!!!!! Jesus H. Christ! How hard is it to make some interesting quests? I'm TIRED of "Kill 10 bears and collect their hearts" or "Take this pot a pretty fufu flowers to the king! It's super urgent!" PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! Be creative! Be epic!

No BGs. No Senarios. No instanced PvP. You have a big world to PvP in...make objectives all over the world that causes people to say "Oh shi-! We need to get that back!". Keeps, Cities, etc.

Not a real strict death penalty...but one that will make you think before you run into the middle of a crowd of orcs and spam your AOE spells.

Stuff to do with the community. Something like an Arena to duel in. I liked Runescape's where you could bet money and items and what not. Bar brawling would be fun too. Just give people a reason to come and talk to eachother.

Give Roleplayers stuff to work with. Let people create mock plagues to set off in the city. People could turn into zombies or trolls or bears. Some fun things to do to be able to keep some player driven conflict going.

Then you can copy paste dungeons and raids in from WoW =P. They are pretty fun. Maybe add some puzzles and traps. Spice them up a little, but WoW really did raids and dungeons well.

Now is that so hard to do? You would have a winner on your hands. It's so simple I don't know why Devs don't do it. You would make everyone happy and then you could add other cool things in expansions. People like grinds whether you believe it or not, but the grinds that you feel are the ones that ruin a game. I've run Deadmines atleast 50 times and I still get an epic feeling everytime I go through. Devs just have to place grinds in that people WANT to do. That is the key to success.

hmm isnt wow a clone of EQ? just a dumbed down version of it? wouldnt all these clones be clones of the original, just all dumbed down?

 Nothing annoys me more than my friends calling games WoW clones because they have a skill bar.

...

...

I then proceed to beat them with a yard stick

Let's not talk about WoW... such an awful game, made for masses, just  to earn money.

bw WoW is a clone of UO/EQ1

I find that most people who use that phrase mean that the game they're describing is an MMO: it has the same UI that nearly all MMOs have, it has quests involving fetching and killing, it has levels, it has grinding, it has a limited story, etc.

The very few that actually refer to a "WOW clone" as something different than the above discription are few and far between.  To me, WOW is too spoon-fed to the players.  I've always called it "Fisher Price's 'My First MMO'".