The Ripoff Thread

[Badkarmaboy]

Draenei- sheesh, first time I saw them in WoW (particularly the females), I swore they were a rip-off of tieflings, which I remembered seeing in Planescape books back in the 90s. And that whole other-plane thing, and the demonic background elements? yeah...

...I'm doing this wrong, aren't I?

Thank you! Folks seem to forget that WoW owes its existence to D&D and Warhammer.

 

[pawsplay]

Draenei- sheesh, first time I saw them in WoW (particularly the females), I swore they were a rip-off of tieflings, which I remembered seeing in Planescape books back in the 90s. And that whole other-plane thing, and the demonic background elements? yeah...

...I'm doing this wrong, aren't I?

No, not at all.

 

[pawsplay]

Thank you! Folks seem to forget that WoW owes its existence to D&D and Warhammer.

By "folks," whom do you mean specifically?

 

[davethegame]

Boss/Elite/Minion monsters - general MMORPG concept, and a recent one at that

Buh? I seem to recall playing any number of NES games in the 80's that used this concept.

Wizards as alpha strikers - MMORPG concept, especially similar to Everquest wizards (utility plus blaster, with a handful of other effects)

Again, I don't see this as being an MMORPG concept. I've seen any number of tv shows where the wizards throw a lot of energy blasts around all the time, and I don't remember any of them talking about memorizing spells. The question is, will Eldritch Blasts be able to collide in the air with other Eldritch Blasts, and then turn into a battle of wills, until one side inevitably falls over?

 

[The Little Raven]

Buh? I seem to recall playing any number of NES games in the 80's that used this concept.

Queen of the Demonweb Pits features a final confrontation with a boss encounter: Lolth.

Any claim that this comes from video games is by a person that isn't paying attention.

 

[Kzach]

The designers and developers of WoW pretty much openly admit ripping off concepts from every fantasy game or book ever made. It's actually kinda an 'in' joke...

 

[Sir Sebastian Hardin]

Foci items - Clearly taken from The Dresden Files.

Rogues - Clearly taken from WoW. A guy who stabs people from the shadows is new from there.

Cleric - That's a WoWIsm. What other game has a dedicated Healer class?

Paladins - Never seen these guys before Diablo II.

Orcs, Goblins - ripped off that Tolkien guy. How rude.

Taking out summoning for its own class - Pokemon, anyone?

Halflings - Copied Huckleberry Fin.

Dude! You're sarcasm embodied! That's good!

 

[pawsplay]

Queen of the Demonweb Pits features a final confrontation with a boss encounter: Lolth.

Any claim that this comes from video games is by a person that isn't paying attention.

A "boss encounter" is not the same as, "This monster is a Boss monster, which is a different kind of monster than an ordinary monster." In 3.5, a mind flayer, who is a boss encounter, has the same stats as another mind flayer, who is a minion.

Maybe I'm not playing attention, but to me it seems more like you are talking about the relevant point. No one claimed that MMORPGs, or even video games, invented the final boss encounter.