Analyst Calls The Old Republic a "WoW Clone"

[adamtm]

WoW is wildly successful. Since when is pulling aspects of WoW into a game a bad thing? It shows that they're making the same conclusions as Blizzard did, instead of trying to be different for the sake of being different from WoW.

Lesson learned, analysts can be trolls too.

Doing what WoW does and doing it better is a tremendous undertaking and some people think it foolhardy and time/money wasting. I do not blame them.

One day something will come along to pull the 11million Zombies away from Azaroth but I don't think Lucas' drug induced mindsmoothie is going to be the one to do it.

I read this somewhere and find it very fitting:

"Only WoW can kill WoW"

i.e. only Blizzards new mmo Titan can kill WoW or rather make it dissolve since before titan the last patch will make WoW F2P for sure.

No way WoW will ever go F2P, do you honestly think a company is going to get rid of a giant money maker like that? It doesnt make any sense.

In fact I will bet money on it that it will go F2P a year before Titan is released.

P2P models are being slowly phased out and the last thing blizz wants is to compete with itself for subs.
An item-store is already being softly introduced into WoW, the array of paid services expanded over the years (name changes, realm transfers, etc.)

For WoW to go f2p is the only logical step in any future scenario. It wont run forever, its not going to snowball into infinity, its going to be phased out as an f2p title, just like other p2p mmos have done recently (AoC, DDO, LoTRO...)

 

[adamtm]

People will defend this game a lot but yea I assume it would be a wow clone. I mean it looks like one.

Please name one mmo that looks drastically different than WoW

Hmmm ok

Eve Online
Atlantica Online
Perpetuum Online
Ryzom
APB: Reloaded
Black Prophecy
Taikodom
Darkfall
DC Universe
Earthrise
....

I assumed when he said "looks" he meant how the game played, not graphics wise. In that sense all mmo's generally look the same.

I picked those games specifically because they play completely different from WoW.

 

[fundayz]

Ah, yes, "analyst".

We have dismissed that claim.

How so? Not only is Doug Creutz the Vice President of Cowen Group he is also a Senior Reseach Analyst focused on media an entertainment.

And before you say "I've never hear of them", Cowen group is a New York based investing firm founded in 1918 with ~$347 million annual revenue and branches all over the world, including London, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Munich.

Putting quotation marks around his title doesn't take away his MBA, specialization in media and entertainment, his MS or his AB from Duke University. He knows more about media, entertainment and their market that you can ever hope to know.

This doesn't prove him right about everything he thinks, but give credit where credit is due or else you're just a troll.

 

[JediMB]

Ah, yes, "analyst".

We have dismissed that claim.

How so? Not only is Doug Creutz the Vice President of Cowen Group he is also a Senior Reseach Analyst focused on media an entertainment.

And before you say "I've never hear of them", Cowen group is a New York based investing firm founded in 1918 with ~$347 million annual revenue and branches all over the world, including London, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Munich.

Putting quotation marks around his title doesn't take away his MBA, specialization in media and entertainment, his MS or his AB from Duke University. He knows more about media, entertainment and their market that you can ever hope to know.

This doesn't prove him right about everything he thinks, but give credit where credit is due or else you're just a troll.

It's a simple matter of specialized knowledge by far trumping an analyst's more generalized "big picture" knowledge, to the point where statements such as what we got are almost entirely worthless.

 

[fundayz]

It's a simple matter of specialized knowledge by far trumping an analyst's more generalized "big picture" knowledge, to the point where statements such as what we got are almost entirely worthless.

You honestly think he doesn't know the intricacies of the sector he works in? I would I agree if this was a normal business analyst but man works in the media and entertainment sector, that includes all video games.

/laugh

 

[Zukhramm]

No way WoW will ever go F2P, do you honestly think a company is going to get rid of a giant money maker like that? It doesnt make any sense.

It's not going to remain that way forever. Even the longest lasting game will fall in popularity eventually, and when it does, it's probably a good move to switch to a business model that fits the current interest in the game.

 

[rsvp42]

Something I stated on the TOR forums:

The "WoW-clone" attack is a particularly virulent myth that ignores realities of the genre and the game itself and is also dripping with unexamined negative connotations. First, vast differences in the games are ignored in spectacular examples of straw-man fallacies; Second, the comparisons that ARE appropriate are not sufficiently shown to be negative factors.

The subconscious meme that prevails among haters is that "WoW = bad, anything WoW-like in a new MMO = bad," yet this premise is based on gut reactions and opinions. The problem is that everyone's sitting here defending attacks, but rarely are the basis of those attacks called into question. People say "WoW-clone" like it's a dirty word, never understanding what they mean when they say it.

 

[neonsword13-ops]

Arn't all MMORPG's WoW clones? (Star Trek online, Final Fantasy XIV)

 

[Ranquest]

Arn't all MMORPG's WoW clones? (Star Trek online, Final Fantasy XIV)

One could argue that that all of these are based off traditional D&D aspects(as is WOW) which is why they play so similar. If you think about any traditional Bioware RGP then put those element in an MMO it is going to look like WOW.

 

[Zukhramm]

People say "WoW-clone" like it's a dirty word, never understanding what they mean when they say it.

I understand myself perfectly. There is a lot I do not like about WoW, and some of those things also seem to be in TOR. How hard is it to understand that not everyone loves WoW?

 

[LT Cannibal 68]

so wow has a completely voiced unique storyline for every character class? no.
does it have space combat? no.
this guy might be an analyst but he has no gaming credibility I've played the swtor beta an I've got to say that it was fucking awesome. It was so much better than wow and FYI i have been playing wow since before it looked like downtown Afghanistan after an ied went off which was about 2 years.

 

[WonderWillard]

Jesus, I hope this game is great when it comes out, so it can be a big middle finger to all the damn naysayers and bitchers.

 

[Saucycarpdog]

every MMO is like WoW in some ways

What if I don't like WoW?

 

[LogicNProportion]

Fact: It is not.

Also fact: Even if it was, it's a Star Wars clone of WoW, which already makes it better.

 

[lowkey_jotunn]

Even if it was a complete and utter WoW knockoff, and just renamed everything Jedi-Night Elves and Sith-Orcs .... could you really blame them?

WoW is the most profitable game. EVER. In the history of games and the known universe. You could swap out every WoW CD/DVD ever purchased with a solid gold replica, and that probably still wouldn't add up to the net worth of WoW.

Someone trying to crib notes from that is not only expected, but completely reasonable. It happens with games, cars, movies, sexual paraphernalia and anything else you pay money for. One company makes a hit. Everyone else tries to include that hit feature.

Hopefully (if you're an Old Republic fan) this game can copy the good stuff, change the annoying stuff, and make it the perfect game ever. Good luck though, WoW has a nearly 7 years head start of testing, tweaking and perfecting.


//edit
To be fair: WoW has cribbed notes from other games a'plenty. For instance, the WoW minimap used to display only a dot to indicate a completed or available quest. Hellfire: London came out with the minimap displaying the appropriate icon (! for available, ? for complete) and different colors for repeatable quests. Guess what WoW has now. And speaking of Maps, Warhammer online introduced a map that gave general locations for quests (you select a quest, it gives a general "go here" indication) Guess what WoW has now.

And that's not even counting all the user-written addons that have been incorporated into the core game.

 

[lowkey_jotunn]

every MMO is like WoW in some ways

What if I don't like WoW?

Then you'll have to ask yourself, "Why don't I like WoW?"

Do you dislike MMOs as a whole? Do you have an issue with the fantasy setting? Did GhostCrawler question your leet skills?


Once you've figured out exactly what you dislike, you can then figure out if the Star Wars MMO changes those things. For bonus points, try to figure out what you DO like about WoW, and see if SW keeps those things.

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

Well of course, games in the same genre tend to have similarities. That's just the way things are.

Besides SW:TOR has plenty of stuff that WoW doesn't that set's it apart, of course it's going to have the same combat mechanics as WoW just like 99% of MMO's do. Why can't people judge it by it's own merits. Have a look at the things it does differently, instead of looking at it and saying "WoW clone"

 

[Krion_Vark]

Finally and most importantly this isn't the same Bioware that brought us KOTOR and KOTOR 2.

You saying Bioware made that game actually destroys any faith in your argument. You brought up a lot of good points but being misinformed about the games a company makes you seem ignorant to a lot of things. Like the fact that the Bioware making the game is a completely seperate entitiy set up in Arizona. KotOR 2 was made by Obsidian NOT Bioware.

 

[thirion1850]

People will defend this game a lot but yea I assume it would be a wow clone. I mean it looks like one.

Please name one mmo that looks drastically different than WoW

Hmmm ok

Eve Online
Atlantica Online
Perpetuum Online
Ryzom
APB: Reloaded
Black Prophecy
Taikodom
Darkfall
DC Universe
Earthrise
....

I assumed when he said "looks" he meant how the game played, not graphics wise. In that sense all mmo's generally look the same.

Only most he mentioned there actually do play different from WoW.

 

[commodore96]

If I was going to pour millions into making a game I would use tried and true formulas such as leveling, raids, and gear. Even so who care it is Star Wars not WOw and that is a big enough difference for me.