Warcraft Tales Cancelled

[Triceratrozer]

So, Elder Scrolls, but WoW, from what I understand?

[Aeula]

Yeah, I mean I just don't get it why blizz would even care about this.

I mean it is just an addon, right? Or did it actually require a custom patch?

Just an add on as far as I'm aware.

[TriHard]

Ok so the TLDR

What was the project about?

[Relapses]

Yeah, I mean I just don't get it why blizz would even care about this.

I mean it is just an addon, right? Or did it actually require a custom patch?

The way they were trying to crowdfund the production of the add-on is probably the biggest issue Blizzard had with it. More than that, though, when they talk about trying to "re-envision" the leveling experience that starts to get into IP manipulation territory which is a legit concern for Blizzard's legal department. The SC mod this is being compared towards is a bit of a different discussion since SC isn't a subscription based service.

[RobertMugabe]

Just an add on as far as I'm aware.

This is really really weird. I hope I can find any offical statement from these blizz lawyers. There's no way they would just call this a 3rd party xpac or anything

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The way they were trying to crowdfund the production of the add-on is probably the biggest issue Blizzard had with it. More than that, though, when they talk about trying to "re-envision" the leveling experience that starts to get into IP manipulation territory which is a legit concern for Blizzard's legal department. The SC mod this is being compared towards is a bit of a different discussion since SC isn't a subscription based service.

Oh ok, this makes sense

[Deleted]

Mod that is enhances the level experience by having quests with voice actors instead of having to read a boring quest journal.

Lol, RIP.

He took on a pseudo-project just to have something to do I guess.

I found that snot long ago and never really liked his videos(I guess it was the voice), anyhoo subjective opinion to the side.

Wise of him to actually cancel it. I don't think he grasped the size of the undertaking at first and now realized.

Not even thinking about the legalities...

[Aeula]

Ok so the TLDR

What was the project about?

Redoing the old world zones to be completely voice acted and stringed together. The original quest text would have been reworded and important enemies would have had new taunts throughout the questline.

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The way they were trying to crowdfund the production of the add-on is probably the biggest issue Blizzard had with it. More than that, though, when they talk about trying to "re-envision" the leveling experience that starts to get into IP manipulation territory which is a legit concern for Blizzard's legal department. The SC mod this is being compared towards is a bit of a different discussion since SC isn't a subscription based service.

They've stated crowdfunding wasn't the issue. Plus deadly boss mods has a patreon.

[A dot Ham]

The project seriously sounded like it was going to be a huge amazing thing that blizzard literally could've done to improve questing, but Bellular's team beat them to the punch. Sad that the legal department totally killed it even though it had a massive community support and even the warcraft Devs seemed to support it as well. Hopefully with enough people supporting it maybe something can change on the legal end.

Blizzard has already redesigned the old world once... and players hated them for it. Intellectual property is intellectual property.

I'm not going to go into a long winded explanation for you. If you're interested there is plenty of free information out there on the subject. The simple answer to this is anytime you allow someone to tweak your intellectual property you lose some control over it.

Dota (Defense of the Ancients) is perfect example of losing control over intellectual property. Dota which was a fan creation using WCIII map editor was completely free (as this mod would have been). It created a new breed of game entirely. Blizzard didn't act then. When Dota 2 came out Blizzard still didn't act. It wasn't until Blizzard wanted to turn their (originally a SCII Mod) dota, or all stars, and then wanted to create a full fledged game that became "Heroes of the Storm" that they decided to attempt to protect their IP. By that time it was far too late. Dota had evolved into something completely different than what Blizzard was offering or had offered in the past. Thus Dota 2 got to keep its name, and Blizzard got stuck with "Heroes of the Storm".

Now would this mod develop into its own game? Probably not. The Dota lesson that Blizzard learned was, you have to rigorously defend your IP or you lose it. No one is going to defend it for you, you have to be proactive.

[Deleted]

WTF was he expecting?!

Anyway, it makes me happy coz I hate that jerk piece of shit and his videos.

[Relapses]

They've stated crowdfunding wasn't the issue. Plus deadly boss mods has a patreon.

When you couple an "add-on" which alters Blizzard's IP together with crowdfunded production costs, it's a recipe for failure which should come as a surprise to nobody. DBM's Patreon is hardly comparable since they're not relying on the donations to even get the project going.

[Riistov]

Mod that is enhances the level experience by having quests with voice actors instead of having to read a boring quest journal.

It was a pretty neat idea. Sad it's not gonna happen

[Aeula]

WTF was he expecting?!

Anyway, it makes me happy coz I hate that jerk piece of shit and his videos.

.......why?

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When you couple an "add-on" which alters Blizzard's IP together with crowdfunded production costs, it's a recipe for failure which should come as a surprise to nobody. DBM's Patreon is hardly comparable since they're not relying on the donations to even get the project going.

Well, he said that it was because the lawyers considered the add on 'expansion' (Guess that's a hint at how much work blizzard will be doing next 'expansion' hue hue hue)..

[A dot Ham]

They've stated crowdfunding wasn't the issue. Plus deadly boss mods has a patreon.

Well first you know that's completely different.

Second who stated crowdfunding wasn't the issue? Blizzard doesn't typically get involved legally until money starts to be exchanged.

The reality is that it changes Blizzard's design. The current model for the game is to get you to level cap as quickly as possible so you can actually MM part of the MMORPG. If they wanted to make the leveling experience more enjoyable... they would just do this themselves. They have opted to have you skip most of the old world. Not saying right or wrong... it is what it is.

By allowing this mod to continue you create a third faction of players. We already have (2). The 2 we have are those that want the vanilla/pre cataclysm experience to the old world. The other faction are those that are perfectly content with how live is. The third faction that would be created are those that feel Blizzard themselves should undertake this project to give the modern touch to the old world.

There are quests in Legion that didn't get the voice acting touch. In fact there were many complaints that the Kara patch didn't have that level of development.

As stated previously most people hate what cataclysm did and most people didn't even experience the changes in cata until MoP when they leveled a monk.

So we have an in game example of Blizzard trying to update the "old game" and proof that it fell flat... why waste development dollars? Most die hard fans of Star Wars hated the special editions... going back and changing starting zones into fully scripted and voice acted questlines is a waste. Those aren't epic and not worth the time. Go kill 10 bunnies.

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Well, he said that it was because the lawyers considered the add on 'expansion' (Guess that's a hint at how much work blizzard will be doing next 'expansion' hue hue hue)..

Perfect example of that third faction I was talking about. A group of people that thing THEY should be able dictate where Blizzard spends their development time and money.

[Santti]

How many voice actors did they have?

There are a billion different NPC's giving quests, meaning most would end up sounding exactly the same. Also, some NPC's already have official voice actors that aren't used for the quests. It would just be weird to hear someone trying to imitate Sylvanas in quests given by her, only to hear her actual lines during those quests.

Or is the voice actor(s) just reading with his/her own voice? I'd find that awfully tedious, but I guess someone could appreciate it?

[AlmightyGerkin]

Pretty sure blizzard will use this idea. Remember when people tried to create a garrison app for warlords. Now we got legion app that is the exact same concept of what they tried to create.

[Lasombria]

Of course you can. Print a page however you want, rip one form the book and insert yours. Done. You can also offer said page for everyone who wants to do the same with their book.

Or go into any basic movie editing and remove/edit/add whatever you want.

As long as you're not reselling it as a new/different product, pretty sure it's legal in almost all cases (thought it might be agaisnt the private terms of service of the original source).

Not really. You're talking about what copyright law calls derivative works here. (A good intro PDF on the subject from the US Copyright Office.)

A derivative work is a work based on or derived from one or more already existing works. Common derivative works include translations, musical arrange- ments, motion picture versions of literary material or plays, art reproductions, abridgments, and condensations of preexisting works. Another common type of derivative work is a “new edition” of a preexisting work in which the edito- rial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications represent, as a whole, an original work.

To be copyrightable, a derivative work must incorporate some or all of a preexisting “work” and add new original copyrightable authorship to that work. The derivative work right is often referred to as the adaptation right. The fol- lowing are examples of the many different types of derivative works:

• A motion picture based on a play or novel
• A translation of an novel written in English into another language
• A revision of a previously published book
• A sculpture based on a drawing
• A drawing based on a photograph
• A lithograph based on a painting
• A drama about John Doe based on the letters and journal entries of John Doe
• A musical arrangement of a preexisting musical work
• A new version of an existing computer program
• An adaptation of a dramatic work
• A revision of a website

All of these are things that the copyright holder of the original work likely also holds copyright in. There are specific categories of exception - fair use - for review, parody, and so on, but they are exceptions to a broad standard of "yup, if you made the original, you hold copyright on this stuff too".

[Queen of Hamsters]

What he'd done would just be overwritten by the developers anyway when they do get around to redoing 1-60 content.

[Ave07]

Pretty sure blizzard will use this idea. Remember when people tried to create a garrison app for warlords. Now we got legion app that is the exact same concept of what they tried to create.

Maybe they have it in the works as leveling from 1 to 110 for a new player is a bit ridiculous unless you use boosts.

[Kaleredar]

Despite of the superficial details, none of the zones really invites you to explore what's behind the next hill; and almost every square meter crawling with mobs that scale with your level isn't exactly encouraging that either.

And that's below the pale of other expansions... how?

What about burning crusade made you "itching to explore over the next hill?"

And most of the voice acting is completely unnecessary, often being more annoying than anything else. Want voice acting? Try Swtor. At least there you can speed up the chat and skip it.

So you complain about Blizzard axing voice acting by saying that voice acting is unnecessary? What?

[Flytanx]

Of course you can. Print a page however you want, rip one form the book and insert yours. Done. You can also offer said page for everyone who wants to do the same with their book.

Or go into any basic movie editing and remove/edit/add whatever you want.

As long as you're not reselling it as a new/different product, pretty sure it's legal in almost all cases (thought it might be agaisnt the private terms of service of the original source).

It's part of the concept of modding as a whole.



The correct Subway analogy would be:

"It's like standing in front of a subway and offering free pickles to which ever customer who wants to add them to their sandwich."

They wanted to change the WoW experience, but they weren't re-selling it. You would still be playing WoW on the official client and servers, it was an add-on, not a "modified version of WoW"

I disagree. Sure I specifically wouldn't be forced to pay for it but it's literally funded by Patreon so some players are indeed paying for it. The addon needs the donation money for them to make it (promising more to the addon if more money is invested).