Anyone else think Blizzard is overrated?

[ZeroAX]

Anyone else think Blizzard is overrated?

I keep hearing (well reading but anyway) people comparing them to Nintendo or calling them the Pixar of gaming. Imo, no they are not.

They basically copy everything everyone else has done. Warcraft and Starcraft are gameplay clones of Westwood's games (with only Warcraft 3 starting to mix things up with heroes, which I never liked, but I can accept that other people like them as a gameplay mechanic) and thematically are rip offs of Warhammer Classic and 40K.

World of Warcraft has hardly had any original ideas after launch (though I do believe at launch it has very different from the rest of the MMOs at the time so kudos for that), but only take the good ideas from other MMOs that have tried and failed and put them into WoW.

Ok I don't know the first thing about Diablo so I won't attack it.


But still there remains my biggest gripe with them. They keep making the same games again and again and again. Really Blizz, when was the last time you released a new IP? And there isn't anything wrong with that, but there is something wrong with people comparing them to Nintendo who do make some very different games from time to time, and whose IPs are so different they require different skill sets.

And don't even get me started on comparing them to Pixar. We've had some very talented studios in gaming from time to time. Westwood, Rare (in its Ninty days), Valve, Clover Studios, Platinum Games ect. ect. I just don't feel Blizzard is one of them. They play it waaaaay too safe and hardly innovate, outside the launch of WoW which changed the MMO market forever, but since it basically created a market all to itself, I don't know if it actually did any good to the industry.

What do you guys think?

[AppleQueso]

I'm getting sick of seeing the word "overrated" personally

[ZeroAX]

I'm getting sick of seeing the word "overrated" personally

overrated is overrated.

would you prefer any of these synonyms: exaggerated, hyped-up, overestimated, overpaid, overpriced, overpromoted, puffed up, pumped up

[Pabstblueribbon]

i kinda agree on this one as far as comparing them to nintendo or pixar. they play it way too safe and never really seem to stray too far from the beaten path. While I do enjoy Warcraft/ Warcraft II, Diablo, etc. I do not feel that they are as creative and great as a lot of people tend to think.

I will give them kudos for WoW, I absolutely hate that game but theyve obviously done something right because that game is insanely popular with a lot of hardcore gamers and casual gamers alike.

[jfrost]

I don't know, to compare Blizzard to Nintendo, Blizzard would actually have to release games.

[AppleQueso]

I'm getting sick of seeing the word "overrated" personally

overrated is overrated.

would you prefer any of these synonyms: exaggerated, hyped-up, overestimated, overpaid, overpriced, overpromoted, puffed up, pumped up

BILZZARD IS PUMPED UP.

[futuramaguy42]

I wouldn't compare them to Nintendo or Pixar either, but they are a great company.

They made the standards for the RTS and action RPG genre. Look at Torchlight and Titan Quest, they are newer games but you can still see so many similarities to Diablo.

RTS's I don't know as much about but I do know that tons of people still play Starcraft, which came out over 10 years ago. (I only just bought Starcraft, I'm really bad at RTS's so I will probably never try multiplayer but the singleplayer is fun)

I only tried WoW once, it seemed solid, people seem to enjoy it, thats all I know about that.

Diablo is the only one I've played a whole ton of, so I guess I'm basing a lot of my opinion on that. Diablo 2 is still one of the best action RPG's out there, and people still play that online too.

Blizzard also keeps remembers their non WoW fans, they just released Starcraft 2 and are releasing Diablo 3 in 2011.

So, while I don't think they are the best company ever, they definitely deserve credit for what they've done.

[Reccos]

This argument has few flaws.

Primarily, while Blizzard tends to take inspiration from other sources the things they do with them are completely original. So yes Dune 2 beat Blizz to the RTS scene but Warcraft improved on that concept in almost every aspect. It could be argued that StarCraft was the pinnacle of RTS in the 90s.

To say that Blizzard is derivative or a copycat is like saying Lamborghini stole their idea from Ford's Model T.

But yeah Blizzard makes no secrets about putting in popular ideas that other games have used. More accurately though they put concepts that were in popular WoW Addons into the game proper. Look at the Calendar or Scrolling Combat Text or any other number of Addons that have since become part of the actual game code.

Blizzard's closest comparison is Valve and I think that's a fitting one. But to say its overrated just because they take the time to perfect a handful of franchises instead of a smorgasbord of near hits is a little harsh.

[boobie]

i would never say that blizzard is overrated. meanwhile i would never compare them to nintendo or pixar.

sure they only have a couple of franchises but they are all in the best of their gategory. they may not be that revolutionary but they sure are really well tuned to perfection.. theres very little to complain about the games themselves. if you dont like fantasy based games then theres little blizzard can offer. they are really good at making the games approachable and making the game mechanichs smooth.

and i really like the fact that blizzard makes games that rarely have high requirements regarding your computer.. it makes the games availble to even more people..

+ i personally think they have one of the best multiplayer systems on the market atm.

sure i am a huge diablo buff but i think this is not just fanboyism.

[baschlives]

overkill is underrated