Lots of comparisons lately between Warhammer Online and World of Warcraft. In case the horse isn’t dead yet maybe a few more solid whacks will do the trick.
I found a link to a blog and site I’ve never seen before that recently interviewed Josh Drescher. The interview is phenomenal. I tip my hat to whoever wrote the questions. Alright, on to the goods. Josh was asked a Warcraft related question: “WoW’s universe has expanded a great deal over the last few years, largely in an effort to deliver new content. Isn’t there a risk that WAR might look, at first glance, like WoW was several years ago in terms of its fantasy setting?” Josh’s response made me chuckle because he was very direct and didn’t skirt around pointing out the very obvious differences.
Josh Drescher: “Not really. If you look at anything more than static screenshots of some of the characters, then the similarities between the WAR and WoW universe break down quite quickly. The WoW universe is more of your kind of standard largely benevolent fantasy hippy playground, there are no legitimate bad guys, there are just misunderstood noble savages. Even the zombies that are running around the game are these comic zombies, not authentically horrific creatures. The WAR universe is actually very grim and dark, even though there’s humor in it. Our bad guys are authentically bad – they’re not misunderstood; they didn’t just have a rough time growing up – they really are bad people and they do genuinely bad things. So in terms of the lowest possible level of aesthetic there’s a real divergence between these two properties. The WoW universe is more about modern pop references randomly pressed into a generic fantasy environment, whereas the WAR universe has always been a European-minded political and social satire layered into a relatively involved and multi-layered fantasy environment.“
Although this is a Producer of Warhammer Online making these comparisons and this should be taken as totally bias, Josh makes a few very good points in the last sentence. WoW is more about modern pop references that set it apart or rather make it different from WAR. The differences continue to come into focus. It needs to be said that there is nothing wrong with the WoW universe being blended with modern pop culture just as there is nothing wrong with WAR being a more European minded political and social satire.  It comes down to what you, the player, want in a game.  I’ve had enough Mr. T to last me a lifetime.
Look for the rest of their interview on Monday. Should be pretty good.
This just in, newcomer trashes market leader. Film at 11.
I love the look of WoW. Seriously, it’s bright, colourful, cartoony, fantastical, and there is just so much detail put into such a graphics engine that fails to buckle under extreme pressure.
I also love the look their going for in WAR. I may be a designer who pays strict attention to details, but I can’t believe anyone with a working pair of eyeballs would say these games look even remotely the same. I simply write these people off as trolls.
I’m sorry Mythic is a newcomer? I must have missed Blizzards MMO prior to DAoC.
The looks are extremely identical in stills and initial impressions. But like Josh said when you take a closer look the two games not only begin to differ in look but feel and presentation.
@George: Lol, that made me chuckle. Well played. 😀
Even in stills, I find they look completely different. 😛
You are a man of refined tastes, Snafzg. 😉
Heh they dont look that different. Even the radar looks the same and the action bars. C’mon now
Sorry, I must have missed when the Warhammer MMO came out before World of Warcraft. My bad.
Tipa must own some serious Blizzard stock or something.
They look very similar – just get a UI mod for WoW and videos will look similar. With that said, WAR models are more realistic and here’s hoping the story / setting will be less cartoony and more brutal.
@hudson: To be fair WoW’s radar and hotbars aren’t original or unique to them. 😉 Many more MMOs before WoW, including Mythic’s DAOC, all had interfaces that Blizzard used when creating their standard UI.
I don’t play WoW. I am just immune to hype and recognize marketing when I see it.
I am just immune to hype
Says the man who asserts that Blizzard’s has just preemptively crushed WAR with their Arena competition.
Tipa is a WOman 😀
On a completely different topic, I was not particularly impressed with this part of the interview:
The WoW universe is more of your kind of standard largely benevolent fantasy hippy playground, there are no legitimate bad guys, there are just misunderstood noble savages. Even the zombies that are running around the game are these comic zombies, not authentically horrific creatures. The WAR universe is actually very grim and dark, even though there’s humor in it. Our bad guys are authentically bad – they’re not misunderstood; they didn’t just have a rough time growing up – they really are bad people and they do genuinely bad things.
First of all, the Orcs in WoW are not “misunderstood noble savages”, they are a race that was systematically dominated by demons that is attempting to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and overcome their past history of brutal acts (the rape of Stormwind isn’t really kiddie). That theme of redemption was my favorite part of the WCIII storyline (which otherwise was far inferior to SC IMO) and one of the main reasons I’ve chosen to play Horde for the majority of my history with WoW. It doesn’t excite me that in an attempt to be “edgy” that the evil races in WAR are going to be a bunch of psychopaths.
That seems to be a very clear-cut difference between the two.
I’ve always been very dubious to the whole idea that there are two factions and neither are bad. For me it always lacked a purpose for fighting. In WoW it’s obvious the Alliance and Horde both had a common enemy but they were pitted against each other in PvP. I loved the Warcraft RTS story line and followed it closely from the beginning. WoW moved away and bastardized quite a large portion of the story to make their MMO more appealing. Alliance Shaman, Horde Paladins, Draenei storyline… all were thrown out for the sake of sustaining their “benevolent fantasy hippy playground”. I wasn’t a fan.
It will be nice for once to play a true “bad guy” and know that my character is a psychopathic goblin who is simply fighting out of bloodlust to see his enemies die.
Alliance Shaman, Horde Paladins, Draenei storyline… all were thrown out for the sake of sustaining their “benevolent fantasy hippy playgroundâ€. I wasn’t a fan.
I totally agree with you on these points. I can also agree with you that the conflict in WoW seems forced when it’s so obvious that the differences between the Alliance and Horde are based on the past and not the present. I just don’t like playing on a truly evil side. I preferred DAoC, where every side was acting out of self-interest but no side was uniquely guilty of any sort of atrocities (I played Midgard, for the record).
Agreed. I liked the DAOC model most and I also played Midgard for a very long time (once I had enough of my Lurikeen, rather Hibernoobia!) The appeal of a truly bad “bad guy” is simply ‘newer’ in a mmo – could be fun!