At some level, though, there’s also the whole “it’s not a *real* MMO” argument that comes up, often levied against Guild Wars, or more generally, anything that’s not like the writer’s preferred MMO drug of choice.

It’s all silly. While some level of comparison is useful for shorthand communication, since the terminology is in flux, comparisons are almost useless. I get far more out of an article that describes the game in question without comparisons.

That aside, defining WoW-like might be difficult, but I think we all ‘know’ what it means.

It’s pretty much like people will say that every single EQ Clone (as people that have been playing MMOs a bit longer would say I guess) “stole” from WoW.

I agree with Woody that there’s usually an amount of “mass appeal” (or to be blunt “dumbing-down”) involved, usually because that’s really the only way to get the people that’d say things like “WoW-like” (i.e. not actual MMO players but WoW players) interested in the game.

It happens in every “former” niche that becomes more popular: difficulty, challenge, complexity, entrance barriers that however allow for more options later on are removed, leading to a much more “streamlined” experience…. and the same bland crap every other mainstream game has.

Without bad there can be no good. Without good there is no bad. If it’s easy to do is it really worth it? It’s the ying and yang that todays games lack.

Sorry rant off

Wood

Comparing their game to WoW inevitably makes them see red. I think it’s paradoxically one of the things that keeps some of WoW’s competitors back — they’re unable to realistically evaluate WoW’s successes and failures because their fans are so invested in how much they dislike WoW.

@hudson: LOTRO is prettier than WoW too, but that doesn’t change the feel of the gameplay. If that was your point.

From a very narrow perspective saying “Aion is like WoW but with wings” might be as nonsensical as saying a tiger is “like a cow, but it eats meat and is extremely dangerous.” Conversely, from a very broad perspective, cows and tigers are certainly much more similar than either is to a jellyfish. Damn near identical from a broad enough biological perspective.

I certainly agree with you that the “feel” of combat in Wizard 101, Dofus (which I was inspired to download mainly because you mentioned it in your response…not sure if I like it but it certainly feels different!), and TR is much different from WoW, EQ, LoTRO, ect. However, I’m not certain that whether you generally try to pull a single even con is really the best distinction. Even in WoW there are several classes that can very easily handle even con (or even OJ) multi pulls by the mid to late 30s. And that’s before you get into kiting or anything fancy.

TR felt different because the combat was semi real time. Wizard 101 feels different because it’s a card battling system (more MtG than typical CRPG). Dofus feels different because it’s tactical and grid based. The basic pulling mechanics are all pretty similar though. Some mobs aggro, some don’t. Don’t get too close to mobs that aggro if you aren’t ready to fight. And be aware of what mobs are linked and strategies for breaking up linked groups if you can’t handle all of them at once (in Wizard 101 and TR at least, only an hour in to Dofus).

I can see your point that strategies for breaking up linked groups are extremely similar in EQ, WoW, LoTRO, ect. However, it seems like a pretty arbitrary (and somewhat uninformative) cut off for whether something is “like WoW” or not.