DAoC gets Tauren in new expansion

http://darkageofcamelot.com/lotm/overview/

It’s an interesting idea to release a new race for all three realms, but the race choice could have been …more unique. I’m sure that someone must have realised the inevitable comparisons, right?

… right?

Does a Minotaur Hero get Moose?

yes, because minotaurs didn’t exist before warcraft.

Of course they did. The problem is, there is a whole pantheon of mythology that Mythic could have drawn from. They chose a minotaur race, which isn’t even that original from their own internal mythology. There are NPC taur monsters in the game, and the characteristics of the new race are very similar to what their original intentions for half-ogres were.

I mean, they could have done a satyr race, or a centaur race, either one of those would have been cool, and more original and less derivative looking. And those are just examples I pulled out of my ass.

Maybe I read it wrong, but it sounds like the new race is an unlockable, for folks I guess who complete a quest or something? Hmm. Read it wrong. The new class, The Mauler, sounds like an unlockable.

I can tell you this if that is the case: I would be willing to do quests and stuff to unlock a playable Minotaur race. I would most certainly NOT be willing to do that to unlock a poncy Centaur or Satyr. Fuck that. Double all that to play a Minotaur Mauler. That just sounds cool as shit.

Minotaurs > Mr. Tumnus.

Centaurs aren’t poncy. I’d be all over playing a centaur, especially if they got a native run-speed bonus. Going back to WoW for a second, that would have been a much cooler choice for the new Horde race than Blood Elves, though I don’t know if it would have been too much work in terms of armor/art assets etc.

I’ve already written too much to start a flame here :)

But glad to see some comments, at least.

You know, this is the perfect thread to go cyclonic over how utterly, painfully derivative Blizzard is in terms of artistic design, but I just don’t think I care any more. Anyway, the skeleton of my argument was going to be that all their designs are embarrassing ripoffs of WarHammer (which itself owes plenty to various obvious sources of inspiration from Tolkien to D&D and Aliens).

No question Blizzard is derivative, but IMO they carry off WoW’s look with tremendous style and panache. And they have created some of the most magnificent settings I have seen in a videogame – like Dun Morogh/Ironforge and Thunder Bluff and Blackrock Mountain. I was never really a Warhammer devotee, though; if I were, I might be more conscious of the derivative elements.

I think WarHammer is kind of retarded, which is partly why I find Blizzards freaky infatuation with it so annoying. I probably care about this because I do art\design stuff and take a special interest in it, but I also have a strong distaste for plagiarism, which Blizzard has come pretty dangerously close to from time to time. It mainly shows up in their -craft stuff: a lot of their Diablo monster designs were pretty rad.

Sure, but they made the only MMO that has an artistic design. The rest of them look like they were made in poser. They have a design direction that they execute on consistently across all parts of their world, and it’s at least more original than “lets make it look as real as we can”.

Athryn:

You have made a fundemental mistake. Tauren are NOT Minotaurs.

Do you know why?

A Tauran is an anthropomorphic cow.

A Minotaur is human in every way except for his head, which is the head of a bull.

If you only look at the head, then yes, you could call them the same, but beyond that, there is no comparison.

Oh, well then. Definitely not ripping off WoW. Then again, DAoC has been happily copying WoW’s features since the release of the Catacombs expansion. Nothing wrong with that - WoW has some good UI ideas.

Only when fighting Moos Dickinson. Rumor has it that Moos drops Gold Plated Diapers.

-Walt

Ba-dump, tish.

Bastards ripped off SB!