The Anatomy of WoW: Seven games that inspired Blizzard
by Samuel Axon 
Nov 14th 2008 at 1:00PM
Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Game mechanics
Blizzard is one of the most prestigious and succesful developers in the world for good reason -- it takes the best ideas from all over the industry (even ones that don't quite work right... yet) and refines them, forcing them to succeed in ways they never did before.
Millions of people are playing World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King today, so we decided this would be the perfect time to dive into WoW's mechanics and see what other games inspired Blizzard when it was creating this monumental phenomenon. We'll look at seven critical predecessors to which Blizzard paid homage with its own design decisions. Join us and learn a bit more about why WoW is the enthralling experience it is today.
Millions of people are playing World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King today, so we decided this would be the perfect time to dive into WoW's mechanics and see what other games inspired Blizzard when it was creating this monumental phenomenon. We'll look at seven critical predecessors to which Blizzard paid homage with its own design decisions. Join us and learn a bit more about why WoW is the enthralling experience it is today.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
MajorMotoko said on 9:51AM 11-15-2008
Achievements are actually derived from one of WoW's competitors - LotRO. Excellent article apart from that, however
Reply
Tony said on 3:50PM 11-14-2008
I was under the impression that Star Wars Galaxies and City of Heroes had these too... Is that not the case? I've never seriously played either of them.
Low said on 10:08AM 11-18-2008
MajorMotoko and Tony are both correct at least in the sense that Xbox sure as heck wasn't the originator of Achievements.
This was a fine article and I realize Massively doesn't cover the Congressional beat but please, Please, research things a bit more. I truly don't mean to offend or be disrespectful (or to nerd rage on anyone) but it's rather disappointing when there's a lack of historical gaming reference in articles like these.
Maybe the author is young?
Cyanbane said on 2:07PM 11-14-2008
ROFL. So only Raids & Zones were influences from EQ to WoW?
please...
Reply
Wjowski said on 5:43PM 11-14-2008
EQ helped WoW by providing a clear model on how not to run an MMO.
John said on 1:58PM 11-14-2008
I really enjoyed this article. Thanks!!
Reply
House said on 3:53PM 11-14-2008
It's necessary to clarify that these are the external inspirations. So much of WoW is taken from Diablo and Warcraft (especially III).
Reply
Mr. Pickles said on 10:55PM 11-14-2008
Bullspit.! So much of WoW was, and is, stolen from the Warhammer universe. Races, weapons, name...it's all taken from GamesWorkshop's original product: Warhammer.
As for this article, they shouldn't say "Seven games that inspired Blizzard", it should say, "Seven games that Blizzard took their ideas from." And, that's key to say 'took' because that's exactly what they did.
Tab said on 4:07PM 11-14-2008
Have you ever heard of the game Dungeons and Dragons? You might want to look into it ;)
Reply
Buckeye said on 6:17AM 11-15-2008
Not to mention that Dark Age of Camelot had battlegrounds long before Battlefield 1942.
Reply
Nate said on 11:58AM 11-18-2008
All of these games took eveything from D&D.. period.
Reply
Tom said on 10:36AM 11-18-2008
You forgot Warhammer. Not the online game, the original tabletop game. I love wow, but blizz has been "borrowing" alot from game workshop all these years.
If I'm not mistaken, Orcs and Humans came about after a deal b/w the two companies fell through.
Reply
Wispur said on 11:06AM 11-18-2008
You are correct. Warcraft was originally going to be a Warhammer RTS game licensed by Blizzard. But for whatever reason, Games Workshop pulled the plug. So, Blizzard basically renamed the game, tweaked anything directly related to the Warhammer universe and released it as a different game, Warcraft.
Since then, Warhammer has been a direct influence to most of the Warcraft world. Both thematically and visually. While the idea of Orcs and Goblins was around before both companies, the idea of green skinned Orcs with protruding lower tusks in a stooped posture was and is purely a Games Workshop creation.
Heck, one of the Dwarf champions even says "My Warhammer cost 40k." A clear reference to the Warhammer 40k game by Games Workshop.
I'm a huge fan of the tabletop Warhammer world and have enjoyed for many years the many nods to Warhammer placed in both WoW and it's ancestral RTS games.
But when it comes down to it, yes, Warcraft was originally going to be a Warhammer game.
Greg said on 12:32PM 11-18-2008
No Nate. All of these games took everything from Lord of the Rings, which inspired D&D. Lord of the Rings took everything from Nordic and Germanic myth. Which I'm sure took there stuff from a Neanderthal somewhere.
Wispur. Games Workshop didn't license their IP to Blizzard because they're policy as far as other people playing in their sandbox is to have complete creative control. If a company making a game based on GW property wants to do something that GW dislikes, at all, they can't do it. GW also charges ALOT for their IP. That's also why we'll probably never see a 40k movie.
Also, Games Workshop's IP manager at the time Warcraft was being made was a moron
Reply
meio said on 12:48PM 11-18-2008
No Greg, Lord of the Rings books have no roleplaying elements. Lord of the Rings books have no game mechanics. D&D rules were radically different from Warhammer to focus more on the single player perspective, and that is what WoW was based off of. All these were related, but World of Warcraft was not directly a descendant of LoTR or Warhammer.
Saying that Nordic and/or Germanic mythology were "taken from neanderthals" is ludicrous as well. Just think about it for a moment.
meio said on 12:37PM 11-18-2008
SORELY missing from this list is D&D. Yes, Dungeons and Dragons. What people don't realize is that a significant amount of math were derived from D&D. For example, the original 5% miss base miss rate and the 5% base critical chance. The dual-wield miss penalty. Many spells pay tribune to D&D as well. Slow Fall anyone? Counterspell? Shapeshifting druids?
There are many more, but D&D is an extremely important influence that was missing from this list that included less influential titles just to make "a list of seven", while missing the big D&D.
Reply
Busilak said on 4:29PM 11-18-2008
Does anyone remember Tele-Arena? It was a text-based RPG game that was distributed to BBSes during the 1990s.
I was a GM for a very customized version of Tele-Arena called "Tele-Arena 1997" (TA97). TA97 was customized by Montreal-based Vircom. It was a dramatic move - it incorporated things like double classes (combining mage & priest talents), quests, but also battlegrounds.
I was a GM for the customer service aspects, so I never really saw the designing and programming side. Still, I have to wonder if my former colleagues went on to Blizzard (one of themis currently a programmer at Mythic entertainment for Warhammer) and implemented some of TA97's ideas there.
I already mentioned battlegrounds where people in a certain level range could win prizes, but we also implemented first aid, hunter pets, and even mounts.
Reply