My guess is that Blizzard has people who actually play games in the upper levels of management. You know, the guys who make the decisions.
They are excellent at taking an idea and making it better. These other companies who attempt to copy WoW just totally fail. I guess, its not as easy as it looks.
To that I say EQ2 released 2 weeks before wow did, so why isn't it dominating the market? EQ2 is built on all the same basic building blocks and copies mmos that came before it.
Are you kidding? Who do you think a lot of the people swarming at the WoW launch were? People that were severely disappointed with EQ2 and didn't have a juggernaut pc to run that game.
Myself included.
That was exactly my point.
EQ2 shared the same exact benefit of "releasing at the right time", but due to the design of the game and other factors they had to merge servers within the first year. Long story short, timing wasn't the magic bullet people try to make it out to be. Otherwise EQ2 would be a mega success.
EQ2 shared the same exact benefit of "releasing at the right time", but due to the design of the game and other factors they had to merge servers within the first year. Long story short, timing wasn't the magic bullet people try to make it out to be. Otherwise EQ2 would be a mega success.
I don't believe most are saying that is the sole reason for the success of WoW but it did play a role. One of many.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
Guys, "backwards-engineering" doesn't work. And because of this no one ever managed to copy wow successfully. And because of this wow's success had NOTHING to do with copying others. Most of the playerbase today wouldn't have touched EQ, FF XI or Asheron's Call with a stick. WoW is unique in every single way that matters. Compared to the other MMOs mentioned it provided a whole other level of quality and gamedesign which made MMOs actually FUN from the moment you stepped into the World, not just two years after grinding meaningless stuff ad infinitum. THAT'S the difference.
And what exactly did they steal from Warhammer again? Orks? Spacemarines? Do you really think that these are the reasons for the success of WoW, Warcraft or Starcraft?
Guys, "backwards-engineering" doesn't work. And because of this no one ever managed to copy wow successfully. And because of this wow's success had NOTHING to do with copying others. Most of the playerbase today wouldn't have touched EQ, FF XI or Asheron's Call with a stick. WoW is unique in every single way that matters. Compared to the other MMOs mentioned it provided a whole other level of quality and gamedesign which made MMOs actually FUN from the moment you stepped into the World, not just two years after grinding meaningless stuff ad infinitum. THAT'S the difference.
And what exactly did they steal from Warhammer again? Orks? Spacemarines? Do you really think that these are the reasons for the success of WoW, Warcraft or Starcraft?
BS it's all IP and Marketing. WoW is successful because you could have a celebrity say "dog shit is awesome!" and the next day a million people would buy a pound of dog shit. People are followers, it is why we have this whole hierarchy thing that our society is structured by.
12 million people are into WoW because 12 million people are following empty hype and nothing more.
--When you resubscribe to SWG, an 18 yearold Stripper finds Jesus, gives up stripping, and moves with a rolex reverend to Hawaii. --In MMORPG's l007 is the opiate of the masses. --The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence! --CCP could cut off an Eve player's fun bits, and that player would say that it was good CCP did that.
Guys, "backwards-engineering" doesn't work. And because of this no one ever managed to copy wow successfully. And because of this wow's success had NOTHING to do with copying others. Most of the playerbase today wouldn't have touched EQ, FF XI or Asheron's Call with a stick. WoW is unique in every single way that matters. Compared to the other MMOs mentioned it provided a whole other level of quality and gamedesign which made MMOs actually FUN from the moment you stepped into the World, not just two years after grinding meaningless stuff ad infinitum. THAT'S the difference.
And what exactly did they steal from Warhammer again? Orks? Spacemarines? Do you really think that these are the reasons for the success of WoW, Warcraft or Starcraft?
BS it's all IP and Marketing. WoW is successful because you could have a celebrity say "dog shit is awesome!" and the next day a million people would buy a pound of dog shit. People are followers, it is why we have this whole hierarchy thing that our society is structured by.
12 million people are into WoW because 12 million people are following empty hype and nothing more.
If that where the case Blizzard would have allready hired some prominent people to pretend they play their game and even recommend it on TV....oh wait...
You are certainly entitled to be wrong, but the truth is WoW is a lot of different things to a lot of different people. In the end the main difference between a failing game and a good game is whether or not its fun. Your mechanics can be well executed and intuitive but if they are no fun to deal with your game will fail. You not liking the game is also fine but the vast majority in this genre like it just fine. Would they jump ship if something came along that was better? yes but it hasnt yet. Not a single game.
Guys, "backwards-engineering" doesn't work. And because of this no one ever managed to copy wow successfully. And because of this wow's success had NOTHING to do with copying others. Most of the playerbase today wouldn't have touched EQ, FF XI or Asheron's Call with a stick. WoW is unique in every single way that matters. Compared to the other MMOs mentioned it provided a whole other level of quality and gamedesign which made MMOs actually FUN from the moment you stepped into the World, not just two years after grinding meaningless stuff ad infinitum. THAT'S the difference.
And what exactly did they steal from Warhammer again? Orks? Spacemarines? Do you really think that these are the reasons for the success of WoW, Warcraft or Starcraft?
BS it's all IP and Marketing. WoW is successful because you could have a celebrity say "dog shit is awesome!" and the next day a million people would buy a pound of dog shit. People are followers, it is why we have this whole hierarchy thing that our society is structured by.
12 million people are into WoW because 12 million people are following empty hype and nothing more.
If that where the case Blizzard would have allready hired some prominent people to pretend they play their game and even recommend it on TV....oh wait...
Sorry, that doesn't add up. WoW already had at least 10 million players before there were ever any celebrity ads, or much of any tv ads at all really. So maybe there are one or two million people who played because it was popular and because of celebrity ads, that's still a small part of the games population. Most of it was word of mouth, friends getting other friends to play.
BS it's all IP and Marketing. WoW is successful because you could have a celebrity say "dog shit is awesome!" and the next day a million people would buy a pound of dog shit. People are followers, it is why we have this whole hierarchy thing that our society is structured by.
12 million people are into WoW because 12 million people are following empty hype and nothing more.
Yeah right. I think you have no idea how little the name Blizzard is known outside the gaming community and nowhere near popular enough to draw in 12 Million just because of some adds and a name. And as everyone else already stated, the celebrity adds came when wow already had 8+ Million subscribers. Do you really think people buy and play the game for years just because Mr. T told them so? Ridiculous. Hype may lead people to buy. But as soon as the game is installed it has to deliver, otherwise no one would last more than the free month let alone years. If you really think that 12 Million people invest hundred of hours and money into a game because of hype or marketing you're completely dillusional.
BS it's all IP and Marketing. WoW is successful because you could have a celebrity say "dog shit is awesome!" and the next day a million people would buy a pound of dog shit. People are followers, it is why we have this whole hierarchy thing that our society is structured by.
12 million people are into WoW because 12 million people are following empty hype and nothing more.
I wish they would do more of those with the likes of R. Lee Ermey, Betty White, or Christopher Walken. Those would be hilarious. Then again those three in just about anything would be.
Wouldn't get me interested in the game itself though.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
Yeah right. I think you have no idea how little the name Blizzard is known outside the gaming community and nowhere near popular enough to draw in 12 Million just because of some adds and a name. And as everyone else already stated, the celebrity adds came when wow already had 8+ Million subscribers. Do you really think people buy and play the game for years just because Mr. T told them so? Ridiculous. Hype may lead people to buy. But as soon as the game is installed it has to deliver, otherwise no one would last more than the free month let alone years. If you really think that 12 Million people invest hundred of hours and money into a game because of hype or marketing you're completely dillusional.
If advertising and brand awareness wasn't that important and effective and it was all about the quality of a product by itself, then there would be a hell of a lot less advertising around. It works, that's why companies use it.
That doesn't mean that a product doesn't have to be good. But advertisement and brand awareness campaigns can surely make your product jump out among the other products.
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums: Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Guys, "backwards-engineering" doesn't work. And because of this no one ever managed to copy wow successfully. And because of this wow's success had NOTHING to do with copying others. Most of the playerbase today wouldn't have touched EQ, FF XI or Asheron's Call with a stick. WoW is unique in every single way that matters. Compared to the other MMOs mentioned it provided a whole other level of quality and gamedesign which made MMOs actually FUN from the moment you stepped into the World, not just two years after grinding meaningless stuff ad infinitum. THAT'S the difference.
And what exactly did they steal from Warhammer again? Orks? Spacemarines? Do you really think that these are the reasons for the success of WoW, Warcraft or Starcraft?
BS it's all IP and Marketing. WoW is successful because you could have a celebrity say "dog shit is awesome!" and the next day a million people would buy a pound of dog shit. People are followers, it is why we have this whole hierarchy thing that our society is structured by.
12 million people are into WoW because 12 million people are following empty hype and nothing more.
I'll call BS on your BS maybe you weren't around then but WOW was the most successful mmorpg in history long before Mr. T brought his Night Elf Mohawk into the game, I don't recall seeing that commercial until a few years after WOW. That takes care of the marketing part and as far as ip goes I think Star Wars and Star Trek as well may beg to differ with your opinion of what it takes to get the sheeple to part with their hard earned dollars.
WOW is successful because it is an engaging (not fun for me though) and easily accessible product that on average creates a negligably better experience for it's intended audiences (pvp and pve) then most of the other games that stand as it's competition.
People need to start remembering that folks like some of us on these boards are the exception and not the rule, most people don't want to "pwnz" everyone and everything in the game, hell for some people this is only a small part of the entertainment they engage in and for those types of people World of Warcraft is where it's at.
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
Why is it that Blizzard can Copy Cat any MMORPG out there, and benefit greatly from it,
Yet when other MMORPG developers try to Copy Cat, it flops right in their face?
It seems to me as if Copying Ideas from other mmo has become an intolerable cruel behavior in this genre since 2004.
Whats going on?
What is Blizzard's copy cating agenda doing differently that gives them this major advantage?
A near infinite money supply.
SWTOR will put your theory to the test. FFXIV too since it had to borrow from their own game...
Ive already gone on record saying I think SWTOR will bomb. I think FFXIV will be just as successful as FFXI was. I guess I should elaborate that the money isn't 100% the reason. The other trick is Blizzard seems to be able to pick only "good" things to copy and improve upon. Whereas other developers can't seem to differentiate the good from the bad.
Budget guarantees absolutely nothing without a minimum of talent to go along with it. Some of the latest flops in mmo had pretty big budgets too.
It takes talent to copy things?
No, when you don't have to waste any development time on coming up with new ideas or balancing them, you can the money into marketing, which is Blizzard's sole reason for WoW success.
Budget guarantees absolutely nothing without a minimum of talent to go along with it. Some of the latest flops in mmo had pretty big budgets too.
It takes talent to copy things?
No, when you don't have to waste any development time on coming up with new ideas or balancing them, you can the money into marketing, which is Blizzard's sole reason for WoW success.
I could cite a zillion features in WoW that can't be found in other MMO's.
I don't care if you don't see them.
I don't see the need to explain them either.
My job is not to educate, my post is to show that people simply are incapable to grasp the basic success/mechanics of WoW.
Most of their copying was done before the game was launched. It was a synthesis of a number of game styles. It was not even really seen as copying at the time, as it was the first major MMO to take that approach.
Later day copiers are the ones who get a dodgy name. Since launch any MMO will look to add extra features or refine its own based on what looks good in other MMO’s. But most MMO’s don’t have the resources to do this; they are too busy sorting out issues in their own MMO. Blizzard does and it is the time and people it can throw at such additional features that makes them more often than not a success.
Budget guarantees absolutely nothing without a minimum of talent to go along with it. Some of the latest flops in mmo had pretty big budgets too.
It takes talent to copy things?
No, when you don't have to waste any development time on coming up with new ideas or balancing them, you can the money into marketing, which is Blizzard's sole reason for WoW success.
It is just a such a damn shame that all these other mmos don't market their games, because if they did they would all have millions of players too, right?
That worked wonders for Age of Conan and Warhammer didn't it?
Blizzard succeed because they don't just copy-cat. They study, analyse, test, re-iterate and polish constantly. Blizzard took 3 times longer to develop WoW than any other MMO on the market.
They succeed because they only release when they are ready.
BS it's all IP and Marketing. WoW is successful because you could have a celebrity say "dog shit is awesome!" and the next day a million people would buy a pound of dog shit. People are followers, it is why we have this whole hierarchy thing that our society is structured by.
12 million people are into WoW because 12 million people are following empty hype and nothing more.
I wonder what the market will look like when someone makes some terrible mmos out of some really popular IP's. I bet millions of people will flock to buy them.
Blizzard is is trouble when someone gets around to making an mmo out of one of these popular IPs.
Star Wars
Star Trek
Lord of the Rings
Warhammer
Dungeons and Dragons
The Sims
Conan
DC Comics
Marvel Comics
Final Fantasy
Pirates of the Caribbean
The Matrix
Disney
Ultima
I can't wait until one of those games release and proves your theory that an awesome IP will lead to huge success.
Budget guarantees absolutely nothing without a minimum of talent to go along with it. Some of the latest flops in mmo had pretty big budgets too.
It takes talent to copy things?
No, when you don't have to waste any development time on coming up with new ideas or balancing them, you can the money into marketing, which is Blizzard's sole reason for WoW success.
It is just a such a damn shame that all these other mmos don't market their games, because if they did they would all have millions of players too, right?
That worked wonders for Age of Conan and Warhammer didn't it?
The time has long passed. Back when Blizzard was advertising on every single website, sending a beta key to every person imaginable, had advertisements on TV when most video games didn't, it was a big deal. WoW appealed to the casual market of people who didn't really like MMOs. Now, games trying to do the same thing, making a casual game with mass appeal... well, there's already a game on the market for that. It's too late, just like EQ before it, WoW is the name that means "MMO", thanks to the juggernaut marketing team and lucky timing.
WoW pulled in players who had never touched an MMO and had no standards. AoC and WAR pulled in casual gamers too, but ones who already had WoW. There's a big difference between being able to pull a casual audience out of nothing, and pulling an audience away from anything. Look at the Wii
The time has long passed. Back when Blizzard was advertising on every single website, sending a beta key to every person imaginable, had advertisements on TV when most video games didn't, it was a big deal. WoW appealed to the casual market of people who didn't really like MMOs. Now, games trying to do the same thing, making a casual game with mass appeal... well, there's already a game on the market for that. It's too late, just like EQ before it, WoW is the name that means "MMO", thanks to the juggernaut marketing team and lucky timing.
WoW pulled in players who had never touched an MMO and had no standards. AoC and WAR pulled in casual gamers too, but ones who already had WoW. There's a big difference between being able to pull a casual audience out of nothing, and pulling an audience away from anything. Look at the Wii
Marketing will only get people to try a game. It will not make people play and subscribe to something they don't enjoy as can be seen over and over again the last 6 years. People did try mmos before wow and for the most part they didn't find them enjoyable. That is why millions did not play EQ or other games, because they did not offer what most people found enjoyable. The word of mouth about mmos wasn't very positive and even when it was, it was difficult to get your friends to grind through 70 levels of hell just they could play with their friends. The millions of players have existed for a long time before wow, but no one gave those players what they wanted.
I call bullshit on your representation of marketing, because if success was as simple as throwing money at marketing we would see a more competitive market. EQ2 released during the magic time period as wow and was closing servers within a year of release. Explain that. Marketing did not somehow loss its ability in 2005 after wow released. The only thing that is keeping wow as the dominant game on the market is the incompetence of so many other companies. It really is just that simple.
Marketing is not working for those other games, because people are not going to pay for busted incomplete poorly designed mmos when they can return to their previous mmo and at least get some value for their subscription fee. Again, marketing will only get player to try a game. It will not get them to stay and it certainly will not get them to spread positive word of mouth to others.
Blizzard hasn't really copied anything. It's like saying CoD 4 copied Doom. Sure, you could technically make a case to support that notion, but it's not necessarily true. If you guys worked in the upper echelon of industry (entertainment or otherwise), you would realize that ideas, whether new or old, are still just that: ideas. And ideas mean absolutely nothing in the real world.
Comments
My guess is that Blizzard has people who actually play games in the upper levels of management. You know, the guys who make the decisions.
They are excellent at taking an idea and making it better. These other companies who attempt to copy WoW just totally fail. I guess, its not as easy as it looks.
That was exactly my point.
EQ2 shared the same exact benefit of "releasing at the right time", but due to the design of the game and other factors they had to merge servers within the first year. Long story short, timing wasn't the magic bullet people try to make it out to be. Otherwise EQ2 would be a mega success.
Because when blizzard copy cats it works when its put in the game. If its a broken concept in another game they make better.
WoWs primary success is that it doesn't suffer from a lot of bugs. Not saying there arn't any but there are very few.
I don't believe most are saying that is the sole reason for the success of WoW but it did play a role. One of many.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
Guys, "backwards-engineering" doesn't work. And because of this no one ever managed to copy wow successfully. And because of this wow's success had NOTHING to do with copying others. Most of the playerbase today wouldn't have touched EQ, FF XI or Asheron's Call with a stick. WoW is unique in every single way that matters. Compared to the other MMOs mentioned it provided a whole other level of quality and gamedesign which made MMOs actually FUN from the moment you stepped into the World, not just two years after grinding meaningless stuff ad infinitum. THAT'S the difference.
And what exactly did they steal from Warhammer again? Orks? Spacemarines? Do you really think that these are the reasons for the success of WoW, Warcraft or Starcraft?
BS it's all IP and Marketing. WoW is successful because you could have a celebrity say "dog shit is awesome!" and the next day a million people would buy a pound of dog shit. People are followers, it is why we have this whole hierarchy thing that our society is structured by.
12 million people are into WoW because 12 million people are following empty hype and nothing more.
--When you resubscribe to SWG, an 18 yearold Stripper finds Jesus, gives up stripping, and moves with a rolex reverend to Hawaii.
--In MMORPG's l007 is the opiate of the masses.
--The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence!
--CCP could cut off an Eve player's fun bits, and that player would say that it was good CCP did that.
You are certainly entitled to be wrong, but the truth is WoW is a lot of different things to a lot of different people. In the end the main difference between a failing game and a good game is whether or not its fun. Your mechanics can be well executed and intuitive but if they are no fun to deal with your game will fail. You not liking the game is also fine but the vast majority in this genre like it just fine. Would they jump ship if something came along that was better? yes but it hasnt yet. Not a single game.
Sorry, that doesn't add up. WoW already had at least 10 million players before there were ever any celebrity ads, or much of any tv ads at all really. So maybe there are one or two million people who played because it was popular and because of celebrity ads, that's still a small part of the games population. Most of it was word of mouth, friends getting other friends to play.
Yeah right. I think you have no idea how little the name Blizzard is known outside the gaming community and nowhere near popular enough to draw in 12 Million just because of some adds and a name. And as everyone else already stated, the celebrity adds came when wow already had 8+ Million subscribers. Do you really think people buy and play the game for years just because Mr. T told them so? Ridiculous. Hype may lead people to buy. But as soon as the game is installed it has to deliver, otherwise no one would last more than the free month let alone years. If you really think that 12 Million people invest hundred of hours and money into a game because of hype or marketing you're completely dillusional.
I wish they would do more of those with the likes of R. Lee Ermey, Betty White, or Christopher Walken. Those would be hilarious. Then again those three in just about anything would be.
Wouldn't get me interested in the game itself though.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
If advertising and brand awareness wasn't that important and effective and it was all about the quality of a product by itself, then there would be a hell of a lot less advertising around. It works, that's why companies use it.
That doesn't mean that a product doesn't have to be good. But advertisement and brand awareness campaigns can surely make your product jump out among the other products.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
I'll call BS on your BS maybe you weren't around then but WOW was the most successful mmorpg in history long before Mr. T brought his Night Elf Mohawk into the game, I don't recall seeing that commercial until a few years after WOW. That takes care of the marketing part and as far as ip goes I think Star Wars and Star Trek as well may beg to differ with your opinion of what it takes to get the sheeple to part with their hard earned dollars.
WOW is successful because it is an engaging (not fun for me though) and easily accessible product that on average creates a negligably better experience for it's intended audiences (pvp and pve) then most of the other games that stand as it's competition.
People need to start remembering that folks like some of us on these boards are the exception and not the rule, most people don't want to "pwnz" everyone and everything in the game, hell for some people this is only a small part of the entertainment they engage in and for those types of people World of Warcraft is where it's at.
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
MONEYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
just my 2 Cent
Hubpages
SoE doesnt have that? EA doesnt have that? NCsoft doesnt have that?
come on,,,
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
A near infinite money supply.
Ive already gone on record saying I think SWTOR will bomb. I think FFXIV will be just as successful as FFXI was. I guess I should elaborate that the money isn't 100% the reason. The other trick is Blizzard seems to be able to pick only "good" things to copy and improve upon. Whereas other developers can't seem to differentiate the good from the bad.
It takes talent to copy things?
No, when you don't have to waste any development time on coming up with new ideas or balancing them, you can the money into marketing, which is Blizzard's sole reason for WoW success.
I could cite a zillion features in WoW that can't be found in other MMO's.
I don't care if you don't see them.
I don't see the need to explain them either.
My job is not to educate, my post is to show that people simply are incapable to grasp the basic success/mechanics of WoW.
Most of their copying was done before the game was launched. It was a synthesis of a number of game styles. It was not even really seen as copying at the time, as it was the first major MMO to take that approach.
Later day copiers are the ones who get a dodgy name. Since launch any MMO will look to add extra features or refine its own based on what looks good in other MMO’s. But most MMO’s don’t have the resources to do this; they are too busy sorting out issues in their own MMO. Blizzard does and it is the time and people it can throw at such additional features that makes them more often than not a success.
It is just a such a damn shame that all these other mmos don't market their games, because if they did they would all have millions of players too, right?
That worked wonders for Age of Conan and Warhammer didn't it?
Blizzard succeed because they don't just copy-cat. They study, analyse, test, re-iterate and polish constantly. Blizzard took 3 times longer to develop WoW than any other MMO on the market.
They succeed because they only release when they are ready.
I wonder what the market will look like when someone makes some terrible mmos out of some really popular IP's. I bet millions of people will flock to buy them.
Blizzard is is trouble when someone gets around to making an mmo out of one of these popular IPs.
Star Wars
Star Trek
Lord of the Rings
Warhammer
Dungeons and Dragons
The Sims
Conan
DC Comics
Marvel Comics
Final Fantasy
Pirates of the Caribbean
The Matrix
Disney
Ultima
I can't wait until one of those games release and proves your theory that an awesome IP will lead to huge success.
The time has long passed. Back when Blizzard was advertising on every single website, sending a beta key to every person imaginable, had advertisements on TV when most video games didn't, it was a big deal. WoW appealed to the casual market of people who didn't really like MMOs. Now, games trying to do the same thing, making a casual game with mass appeal... well, there's already a game on the market for that. It's too late, just like EQ before it, WoW is the name that means "MMO", thanks to the juggernaut marketing team and lucky timing.
WoW pulled in players who had never touched an MMO and had no standards. AoC and WAR pulled in casual gamers too, but ones who already had WoW. There's a big difference between being able to pull a casual audience out of nothing, and pulling an audience away from anything. Look at the Wii
Marketing will only get people to try a game. It will not make people play and subscribe to something they don't enjoy as can be seen over and over again the last 6 years. People did try mmos before wow and for the most part they didn't find them enjoyable. That is why millions did not play EQ or other games, because they did not offer what most people found enjoyable. The word of mouth about mmos wasn't very positive and even when it was, it was difficult to get your friends to grind through 70 levels of hell just they could play with their friends. The millions of players have existed for a long time before wow, but no one gave those players what they wanted.
I call bullshit on your representation of marketing, because if success was as simple as throwing money at marketing we would see a more competitive market. EQ2 released during the magic time period as wow and was closing servers within a year of release. Explain that. Marketing did not somehow loss its ability in 2005 after wow released. The only thing that is keeping wow as the dominant game on the market is the incompetence of so many other companies. It really is just that simple.
Marketing is not working for those other games, because people are not going to pay for busted incomplete poorly designed mmos when they can return to their previous mmo and at least get some value for their subscription fee. Again, marketing will only get player to try a game. It will not get them to stay and it certainly will not get them to spread positive word of mouth to others.
Blizzard hasn't really copied anything. It's like saying CoD 4 copied Doom. Sure, you could technically make a case to support that notion, but it's not necessarily true. If you guys worked in the upper echelon of industry (entertainment or otherwise), you would realize that ideas, whether new or old, are still just that: ideas. And ideas mean absolutely nothing in the real world.