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Originally Posted by Exo
Actually my answer to that would be yes.
If warcraft hadnt been such a success and had floated away in obscurity then Warhammer would have nothing to worry about. But Warcraft is on the throne right now and all the "public" (that dont know the back story between the companies) see is a Warcraft "Rip-off". Those of us that know the story about Blizzard are in the light, but most people dont.
So it would be better if they had maybe gone with the Warhammer 40,000 theme or something, because its just going to be real hard to shake the reputation of being a "Warcraft Copy".
So if I was in the developers shoes I would put my recources into something that didnt so closely resemble a powerhouse that is out already. People will just compare you to it. Even if it meant changing a design I created.
Take the awesome creativity they used to come up with the warhammer universe, (which was actually created by Tolkien but we wont open that can of worms) and make something just as good but "different".
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See though, that's kinda why I really didn't want to respond to this question, because my personal opinion on all of this is harsh. I greatly respect thier courage to NOT back down from Warcraft. It would have been so easy to back down, and I'm sure it was in part Games Workshop's idea to stand thier ground. My opinion is that, people who judge it without knowing what it is (and I was guilty of this myself)... I don't care if they play. They are uninformed and unwilling to be open and flexible to new ideas. I'm glad I am not like them, and did my research... I'm glad I gave the game a chance to make it's case. In the end, most MMORPG players (well except for those new MMORPG players who only play WoW and don't even try anything else.... those people are hopeless) will try out different things. If the buzz gets around that this game is good, people will eventually play it. Those people with thier pre-conceived War=WoW notions will only affect the size of the launch, because I consider them to be followers not leaders... they don't attempt to think for themselves. I'd rather someone say they just don't like the game, rather than compare it to WoW... it lowers my opinion of them, and makes me think they are close-minded.
And don't get me started on Tolkien. My goodness, everything is attributed to Tolkein these days. No one wants to admit that every story in the world has been told, that Tolkein stole many of his own ideas from previous authors and mythology. He didn't invent elves and dwarves, but he did re-define them. You could say that Warhammer elves and dwarves are an off-shoot of Tolkein's take on them if you wish. But thier humans are based on mideval Germany. Greenskins (orcs and goblins), that was thier own creation... they are like nothing before it. Thier Chaos Humans are Cthulu, thier Dark Elves are Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone in origin. Like most authors, they are influenced from a variety of sources, with Tolkien being only a small part of the whole.