WI: Warcraft IV instead of World of Warcaft

[Yorel]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I saw several threads regarding films having a different director or realisator and I think it's a bit similar to the point of this thread.

What would have happen if Blizzard Entertainment had chosen to keep the Warcraft franchise as a series of RTS Wargames, and had thus released Warcraft IV instead of the infamous MMORPG?

What would Warcraft IV have looked like?
How much could the stroy have been altered compared to what WoW did?
And how much impact would it have had on the Video Game World?

 

[Laurentia]

I'm not sure what it would have looked like. Storyline could be focused more on lands shifting hands, specifically in The Eastern Kingdoms, since there wouldn't really be a playerbase that would lose their characters in the RTS games.

Story would be greatly altered, because, as above, there wouldn't be such a push to have regions remain static under one faction's control.

And seeing as Warcraft III made a fairly decent dent on the market, I'd say Warcraft IV would do even better.

 

[SavoyTruffle]

There'd probably be a continuing shift towards the RPG mechanics introduced by Warcraft III and away from the more traditional RTS elements.

In fact Warcraft IV would likely be closer to a Real Time Tactics game, and Warcraft III was already micro-heavy...

 

[Smyg]

The story and background would be far less advanced.

 

[Maponus]

The story and background would be far less advanced.

I disagree, the story in a RTS will always be better in RTS than in a MMORPG, as MMORPG's just endlessly add more elements without ever going anywhere, and without forcing the player to even pay attention to them.

 

[Imladrik]

The story and background would be far less advanced.

Yeah but it would be more realistic, with more geopolitical changes, less vilain of the extension heavy, and would provide a true evolution of story instead of the quasi status-quo introduced by the MMO.

 

[Laurentia]

The story and background would be far less advanced.

Actually, it would likely be more realistic. You would actually, *gasp*, see regions and capitals changing hands without having to worry about half of the player-base bemoan at you.

 

[Yorel]

There'd probably be a continuing shift towards the RPG mechanics introduced by Warcraft III and away from the more traditional RTS elements.

They would probably still have to keep some sort of a RTS style of gameplay: after all, they would be mostly aiming at the players of Warcraft III who wouldn't love a gameplay that evolved too much.

In fact Warcraft IV would likely be closer to a Real Time Tactics game, and Warcraft III was already micro-heavy...

I may sound dumb, but what's the difference between a RTS and a Real Time Tactics game?

The story and background would be far less advanced.

Actually, it would likely be more realistic. You would actually, *gasp*, see regions and capitals changing hands without having to worry about half of the player-base bemoan at you.

I have to agree with Laurentia here: a RTS game would give more liberty to scenarits regarding the Scenario. After all, if the scenarists were wishing at one point to have Lordaeron fall back into Human hands, they would be able to do so without Forsaken players complaining. Plus, I tend to think you might end up with better explanation regarding the fate of some characters like Illidan Stormrage or Kael'thas Sunstrider.