like the trinity of healing and such? Is it just a made up thing in old pen and paper rpgs made to give everyone a role of influence? Genuinely curious where / how it all started and how it evolved into what it was at the release of vanilla, with things like dispels, resistance auras etc. Not really interested in what they did on their own, but the pre wow and original wow inspirations on the whole thing
Dungeons and Dragons, Ultima Online and Everquest I think all influenced WoW. And of course Tolkien has provided the foundation for the fantasy genre in general.
1 Like
Well first you’d have to play Warcraft 1, 2, & 3 and Diablo 1. Most of what we got in WoW came directly from those games. The lore and to an extent some classes and abilities all came from the first Warcraft games. Some other classes and abilities and certainly the gearing system and sets with set bonuses all came from Diablo. Even your hearthstone came from the scroll of town portal from Diablo.
Play those games and you’ll get a good idea.
Tolkien was himself influenced by robert E howard (conan) and various european mythologies. These three things (tolkien, conan, and anglo/nordic mythology) are the foundation for most modern western fantasy.
Warcraft was originally going to be a warhammer game and it was pitched to games workshop but they wouldnt give the rights, so early blizzard changed it a bit and made tbeir own IP. But its heavily influenced by warhammer (which is of course also heavily influenced by the above). And starcraft is obviously heavily influenced by 40k, which is itself influenced by starship troopers and dune.
The tank/heal/dps trinity, RPG, and MMO concepts are largely derived from D&D (like all fantasy RPG games) and EQ (like most modern MMOs). WoW was a more casual EQ-type game (EQ and many other early MMOs were way more grindy and sweaty than WoW).
2 Likes
I think hardcore could be more like diablo 1. There were a lot of gameplay elements like potion cooldowns which disabled abusive mistake recovering gameplay (in wows case overhealing and spam heals). I’m hoping hardcore wow can develop in the future, not necessarily with content but with rules that fit the genre and make it a more accurate depiction of what a hardcore game experience should be.
Everquest and such was before my time but from what I’ve heard there was a lot more grind, which to me is not an element of something feeling hardcore. If you make a mistake and all you have to do is remember to drink that potion or cast a spell that doesn’t really feel like a hardcore game mode.
In terms of game play mechanics in the MMO, Ever Quest of course.
I purchased EQ a year before WoW came out. It was pretty. Then I woke up in Teldrassil and never went back to sleep.
The emerald dream is a lie.
1 Like
Nope D&D is behind it, if you listen closely, you hear the dice rolling 
Warcraft was originally supposed to be a Warhammer 40k RTS, but they couldn’t secure the licensing.
the original trinity was tank-dps-support before wow.
don’t forget some warhammer 40k 
I knew Warhammer 40k was a huge influence on Starcraft, I didn’t know the same was true for Warcraft. You learn something new every day.
I’m guessing a lot of inspiration came from Tolkien.
2 Likes
Healer/tank/dps was the trinity in games for a decade before Wow.
But its really a video game concept more than an Dnd one as roles are much less specific in Dnd, and healer/tank roles dont exist in the same way (theres no aggro for one)
The first time I remember encountering the idea of a group “trinity” was either FF1 or MajorMud all the way back in the 80s.
The style was largely Warhammer as others pointed out.
The systems were borrowed and refined from many other games. A lot of the loot/itemization mirrors Diablos, and many of the MMO mechanics were borrowed from the big players of the time: EQ, UO, AC, FF11 etc
Warhammer. In fact Blizzard first tried to sell the idea for a Warhammer but it was rejected so they made Warcraft.
The MMO trifecta is as old as RPGs themselves.
lord of the rings books.