Guild Wars 2

So I was having a conversation today I figured I would share with the Guild Wars community.

I was talking about the new expansion earlier today and apparently Balthazar is a “blatant rip-off” of Ragnaros from WoW.

Can anyone explain to me in what way they are a rip-off? Other than the obvious fire powers I don’t see in what way they could be considered similar in any way.

EDIT: When asked the person responded with;

“He’s huge, has a GIANT FLAMING LEGENDARY WEAPON, summon FLAMING MINIONS OF DOOM! Is ANNOYED THAT HE’S NOT THE BEST OF HIS KIND! he TAKES HIS FIGHT TO THE MORTAL REALM….Ragnaros ripoff.”

They also added “I love GW2 but I just recognize an obvious rip-off when I see it!”

Because people like to compare this game to WoW all the time. Balthazar has been around since GW1. I don’t see the resemblance.

usnedward.9023:

Because people like to compare this game to WoW all the time. Balthazar has been around since GW1. I don’t see the resemblance.

Me either. I said, if anything, he’s a “rip-off” of Ares. I don’t see how a giant fire elemental with a giant hammer is similar to slightly-larger-than-normal transcended human with a sword.

Perfice.4097:

“He’s huge, has a GIANT FLAMING LEGENDARY WEAPON, summon FLAMING MINIONS OF DOOM! Is ANNOYED THAT HE’S NOT THE BEST OF HIS KIND! he TAKES HIS FIGHT TO THE MORTAL REALM….Ragnaros ripoff.”

Does anyone know how accurate this comparison is? I don’t know enough about the lore of either to say yes or no.

Perfice.4097:

usnedward.9023:

Because people like to compare this game to WoW all the time. Balthazar has been around since GW1. I don’t see the resemblance.

Me either. I said, if anything, he’s a “rip-off” of Ares. I don’t see how a giant fire elemental with a giant hammer is similar to slightly-larger-than-normal transcended human with a sword.

I think developers are careful on both sides of the fence. With magical worlds there are always going to be certain “similarities” with skills, spells and the like. I think Blizzard or ANET/NCSOFT would already be screaming if this was even remotely true.

I mean, they definitely have similarities, but calling Balthazar a blatant ripoff is pretty far fetched.

….

….

….

Um, Ragnaros was a demon made of fire stuck up to his waist in lava (ok ok Ragnaroses got legs). If I recall correctly from raiding years ago, his summoned minions were not canine in any way.

Balthazar is a human-shaped god who favors battle and war and has fire powers and burning hounds that his followers can also invoke in lesser form in a fight.

WoW was first released (with the Molten Core that had Ragnaros as end boss) in November 2004. GW1 with its lore of the Six was first released April 2005 (source: Googling "when was (game name) first released’). MMO game development and central matters of lore aren’t originated in the last five months before release.

Consider it parallel development, at most, but your conversational partner is really reaching to call one high powered flame being a rip off of another. It’s not like no one had ever thought of a destructive deity of flame before these games came out. Now, the newest twist on Balthazar does involve going to the mortal realm to undim his light but we haven’t heard the whole story yet and what we have seen so far has a more Greco-Roman pantheon feel to it than a demon-of-wrath vibe.

Yeah I told them they were stretching it pretty far to compare them in any way. They don’t look anything like, don’t have similar biography’s, don’t have similar motives. The only similarity I could find at all was that they both had fire powers. But Ragnaros doesn’t have a monopoly on fire powers lol.

Then I got threatened to get banned because I was apparently being argumentative lol.

Donari.5237:

….

….

….

Um, Ragnaros was a demon made of fire stuck up to his waist in lava (ok ok Ragnaroses got legs). If I recall correctly from raiding years ago, his summoned minions were not canine in any way.

Balthazar is a human-shaped god who favors battle and war and has fire powers and burning hounds that his followers can also invoke in lesser form in a fight.

WoW was first released (with the Molten Core that had Ragnaros as end boss) in November 2004. GW1 with its lore of the Six was first released April 2005 (source: Googling "when was (game name) first released’). MMO game development and central matters of lore aren’t originated in the last five months before release.

Consider it parallel development, at most, but your conversational partner is really reaching to call one high powered flame being a rip off of another. It’s not like no one had ever thought of a destructive deity of flame before these games came out. Now, the newest twist on Balthazar does involve going to the mortal realm to undim his light but we haven’t heard the whole story yet and what we have seen so far has a more Greco-Roman pantheon feel to it than a demon-of-wrath vibe.

That’s pretty much exactly what I just said haha.

Yeah, I said the closest thing he comes to ripping off was possibly Ares.

I also said that they “have to be trying to troll me to compare either of them in any way” and apparently I was being “mean.”

The “flaming sword” in the hands of a giant/god/angel has existed in various literatures and legends for several thousands of years, a lot longer then either WOW or GW2.

A giant angel sent down to Earth and wielding a flaming sword so as to keep Adam and Eve and their offspring out of the Garden Of Eden and ensure no Mortal can enter it is mentioned in the Bible.

babazhook.6805:

The “flaming sword” in the hands of a giant/god/angel has existed in various literatures and legends for several thousands of years, a lot longer then either WOW or GW2.

A giant angel sent down to Earth and wielding a flaming sword so as to keep Adam and Eve and their offspring out of the Garden Of Eden and ensure no Mortal can enter it is mentioned in the Bible.

Yeah I’m pretty sure they were either trolling me or there is something wrong in their head. Someone defended them saying “well they’re just opinionated.” I’m like sure but that’s a severely wrong opinion to have haha.

The similarities are hardly existent but they were acting like Blizzard better start legal action or something…

Perfice.4097:

Yeah I told them they were stretching it pretty far to compare them in any way. They don’t look anything like, don’t have similar biography’s, don’t have similar motives. The only similarity I could find at all was that they both had fire powers. But Ragnaros doesn’t have a monopoly on fire powers lol.

Then I got threatened to get banned because I was apparently being argumentative lol.

That sounds about right of a fanboy defending their ip. He probably also told you wow has better grapics.

Justine.6351:

Perfice.4097:

Yeah I told them they were stretching it pretty far to compare them in any way. They don’t look anything like, don’t have similar biography’s, don’t have similar motives. The only similarity I could find at all was that they both had fire powers. But Ragnaros doesn’t have a monopoly on fire powers lol.

Then I got threatened to get banned because I was apparently being argumentative lol.

That sounds about right of a fanboy defending their ip. He probably also told you wow has better grapics.

Not better graphics but the people in that chat really do believe that WoW is still the best MMO out there, I’ll tell you that. Which hasn’t been true for quite a number of years so far haha. So yeah, they’re pretty big fanboy/fangirls lol.

Ragnaros and the other “Lords” of their respected element were a few of the original living entities in the Warcraft universe. They roamed Azeroth, causing conflict with each other until they were eventually sealed into their elemental domains by the titans. Ragnaros is a powerful elemental. Not a god.

Balthazar is a “Human God,” which based on the story of Dhuum and Grenth seems to be a Pirate Captain Roberts kind of situation, where you can inherit or usurp the Godhood out of a god and take it for yourself, or leap frog the person that did all of the heavy lifting and take it for yourself (Kormir). Whether Balthazar is an original god or not is not clear, but he is far more than a mere elemental that a level 60 and later a level 85 faceroller can defeat.

There are no similarities outside of the fire element.

/thread

Unlike ragnaross balthazar has an actual character. And balthazar wont be all “too soon” he will be like “when its ready”

Wonna play the rip off game? Ill start: world quests, mythic plus, world bosses…

Balthazar is very clearly based upon Ares, the God of War. His behavior is the same, his motives are the same, everything about him is the same.

He’s not ripped from some other game just because he’s all firey and stuff.

Didn’t Ragnaros come with the Cataclysm expansion which was well after GW1 launched?

Ayrilana.1396:

Didn’t Ragnaros come with the Cataclysm expansion which was well after GW1 launched?

No. Ragnaros existed from the beginnings of WoW. It is the representation of fire element, final boss of Molten Core, since Vanilla.

Balthazar has been a figure in Guild Wars since Guild Wars: Prophecies. Politely tell the person who is calling him a ripoff of ragnarok that Guild Wars 1 released less than half a year after WoW, the lore was long in development before WoW launched including the design and lore for Balthazar.

They may share similarities, and some aspects of his current incarnation may have had inspirations from WoW, but he is not a ripoff. In fact his design is heavily based on Ares the Greek god of War, who go figure was often depicted as wielding a giant flaming axe and burning everything around him, including raising warriors of flame to fight for him.

As if most things in WoW aren’t borrowed or modified tropes from older games or literature. Gods of War are often representing with fire and big weapons; I don’t really see how WoW has a monopoly on the idea.

Reminds me of the time I was playing Lord of the Rings Online, which is obviously based on the books by Tolkien. During initial release there were many “WoW kids” around calling LotrO a rip-off of WoW because it had Elves, Dwarves and Orcs. Made me laugh. There are many players out there, especially younger ones, who think their first video game was the original.

Tell your friend to educate himself before talking about rip-offs, especially when talking about a company like Blizzard, which has a mastery at rip-offs.

Balthazar is the god of war, similar to the Greek god Aries. He rules over the fissure of woe, which has the spirit of dead warriors in it. It also has some fire in it, and he happens to use fire. He also has two hounds made of fire which is similar to the Greek god Hades who has Cerberus the three headed dog which guards the gates of hell.

So if anything, Balthazar is closer to the god of war Aries mixed with Hades the god of the underworld. If you want to compare it to any video game I’d say it’s closer to the god of war franchise.

Balthazar also has a touch of Apollo in him, since that is the sun god who wields fire. In addition the fissure of woe has a great forge for crafting armor for Balthazar and his army, this is similar to Hephaestus who forges armor for the gods.

Ragnaros in wow is the lord of fire elementals, one of four, (water, earth, fire, wind) which, the shaman class commune/control.

Since gw1 came out with Balthazar in 2004 as did wow come out with Ragnaros in 2004, I’d say they aren’t ripping each other off at all, and are totally unrelated, except that they both use fire.

A while ago someone claimed that Harathi Hinterlands was a rip-off of an area in WoW called Something Hinterlands. Explaining that it’s a common term for an area considered distant (literally it means ‘place behind’ or more collequally ‘back end of nowhere’) didn’t help.

Oddly enough someone jokingly claiming they both ripped off The Netherlands (yes the real life country) because the name means almost the exact same thing did help convince people it wasn’t a term either game had invented.

Honestly most fantasy copies from what’s come before. Whether that’s previous games or DnD or Tolkein or the fairy tales and folklore than preceded it or the actual historical events that inspired those. Plus sci-fi ideas, more recent real-life events, and all sort of other things.

And as people have pointed out gods of fire and gods of war and even gods of both together aren’t exactly uncommon.

Now if Balthazar was called Ragnarok and was a demon made of lava that Tyrians worshipped (like the titans in GW1)…well that still wouldn’t be a rip-off of WoW because all of those ideas preceded the Warcraft franchise.

(And as much as I love their RTS games a series which started from being unable to get the rights to Warhammer so they 1/2 changed the name and threw in the resource management concept from Dune II is hardly in a position to complain about rip-offs.)

Perfice.4097:

Justine.6351:

Perfice.4097:

Yeah I told them they were stretching it pretty far to compare them in any way. They don’t look anything like, don’t have similar biography’s, don’t have similar motives. The only similarity I could find at all was that they both had fire powers. But Ragnaros doesn’t have a monopoly on fire powers lol.

Then I got threatened to get banned because I was apparently being argumentative lol.

That sounds about right of a fanboy defending their ip. He probably also told you wow has better grapics.

Not better graphics but the people in that chat really do believe that WoW is still the best MMO out there, I’ll tell you that. Which hasn’t been true for quite a number of years so far haha. So yeah, they’re pretty big fanboy/fangirls lol.

Well they’re not wrong on that, WoW is still the best MMO out there in my opinion. It’s not the best in everything, GW2 does a lot of things better which makes me keep coming back to GW2. But overal I think WoW is back to being the king after Legion came out.

That being said, Ragnaros is nothing like Balthazar. Nothing at all. Ragnaros is a fire elemental risen to godhood, in affiliation with the old gods, lording over his lands from deep beneath the surface inside The Molten Core.

If anything, Ragnaros is more like Primordus, but even that comparison is a stretch.

Panda.1967:

Balthazar has been a figure in Guild Wars since Guild Wars: Prophecies. Politely tell the person who is calling him a ripoff of ragnarok that Guild Wars 1 released less than half a year after WoW, the lore was long in development before WoW launched including the design and lore for Balthazar.

They may share similarities, and some aspects of his current incarnation may have had inspirations from WoW, but he is not a ripoff. In fact his design is heavily based on Ares the Greek god of War, who go figure was often depicted as wielding a giant flaming axe and burning everything around him, including raising warriors of flame to fight for him.

Well they blocked me because I was apparently being unreasonable. But yeah, that’s literally what I said that he is a rip-off of Ares, if anything.

maddoctor.2738:

Reminds me of the time I was playing Lord of the Rings Online, which is obviously based on the books by Tolkien. During initial release there were many “WoW kids” around calling LotrO a rip-off of WoW because it had Elves, Dwarves and Orcs. Made me laugh. There are many players out there, especially younger ones, who think their first video game was the original.

Tell your friend to educate himself before talking about rip-offs, especially when talking about a company like Blizzard, which has a mastery at rip-offs.

Lol, everything with elves in it is literally ripping it straight from LoTRs lol. I have had the discussion before that Blizzard rarely has original ideas and they had gotten kittened off pretty bad about that.

Jumpin Lumpix.6108:

Balthazar is the god of war, similar to the Greek god Aries. He rules over the fissure of woe, which has the spirit of dead warriors in it. It also has some fire in it, and he happens to use fire. He also has two hounds made of fire which is similar to the Greek god Hades who has Cerberus the three headed dog which guards the gates of hell.

So if anything, Balthazar is closer to the god of war Aries mixed with Hades the god of the underworld. If you want to compare it to any video game I’d say it’s closer to the god of war franchise.

Balthazar also has a touch of Apollo in him, since that is the sun god who wields fire. In addition the fissure of woe has a great forge for crafting armor for Balthazar and his army, this is similar to Hephaestus who forges armor for the gods.

Ragnaros in wow is the lord of fire elementals, one of four, (water, earth, fire, wind) which, the shaman class commune/control.

Since gw1 came out with Balthazar in 2004 as did wow come out with Ragnaros in 2004, I’d say they aren’t ripping each other off at all, and are totally unrelated, except that they both use fire.

How true is it that they are both “annoyed they aren’t the strongest of their kind”? As far as I know they both want to be stronger but that doesn’t mean they are jealous or weaker than the other gods/elementals.

Danikat.8537:

A while ago someone claimed that Harathi Hinterlands was a rip-off of an area in WoW called Something Hinterlands. Explaining that it’s a common term for an area considered distant (literally it means ‘place behind’ or more collequally ‘back end of nowhere’) didn’t help.

Oddly enough someone jokingly claiming they both ripped off The Netherlands (yes the real life country) because the name means almost the exact same thing did help convince people it wasn’t a term either game had invented.

Honestly most fantasy copies from what’s come before. Whether that’s previous games or DnD or Tolkein or the fairy tales and folklore than preceded it or the actual historical events that inspired those. Plus sci-fi ideas, more recent real-life events, and all sort of other things.

And as people have pointed out gods of fire and gods of war and even gods of both together aren’t exactly uncommon.

Now if Balthazar was called Ragnarok and was a demon made of lava that Tyrians worshipped (like the titans in GW1)…well that still wouldn’t be a rip-off of WoW because all of those ideas preceded the Warcraft franchise.

(And as much as I love their RTS games a series which started from being unable to get the rights to Warhammer so they 1/2 changed the name and threw in the resource management concept from Dune II is hardly in a position to complain about rip-offs.)

Yeah I’ve argued before (much to the anger of the Blizzard fans) that Blizzard has very rarely had an original idea in any of their games.

This comparison is just nuts though…

Anyone claiming anything has ripped off Blizzard is by default an idiot. Almost every Blizzard property is a rip off of something else.

LucosTheDutch.4819:

Perfice.4097:

Justine.6351:

Perfice.4097:

Yeah I told them they were stretching it pretty far to compare them in any way. They don’t look anything like, don’t have similar biography’s, don’t have similar motives. The only similarity I could find at all was that they both had fire powers. But Ragnaros doesn’t have a monopoly on fire powers lol.

Then I got threatened to get banned because I was apparently being argumentative lol.

That sounds about right of a fanboy defending their ip. He probably also told you wow has better grapics.

Not better graphics but the people in that chat really do believe that WoW is still the best MMO out there, I’ll tell you that. Which hasn’t been true for quite a number of years so far haha. So yeah, they’re pretty big fanboy/fangirls lol.

Well they’re not wrong on that, WoW is still the best MMO out there in my opinion. It’s not the best in everything, GW2 does a lot of things better which makes me keep coming back to GW2. But overal I think WoW is back to being the king after Legion came out.

That being said, Ragnaros is nothing like Balthazar. Nothing at all. Ragnaros is a fire elemental risen to godhood, in affiliation with the old gods, lording over his lands from deep beneath the surface inside The Molten Core.

If anything, Ragnaros is more like Primordus, but even that comparison is a stretch.

I’m geniuinely curious what makes WoW better in your eyes. I heard Legion was pretty good but I always respond with: “Unless they majorly overhauled the game I’m not going back to it.” I always compare GW2 to a great relationship. In all the other MMOs I just dealt with all the sruff that annoyed me or was lacking because I thought thats just how MMOs are. Then I played GW2 and said: "Holy crap, I never knew it could be like this!:

Since no one has pointed it out yet… I a quick wiki look up yields the following.

-Ragnaros is based on Surt, the fire Giant of Norse mythology, and his appearance takes cues from the Balrog from LotR.
- His name is taken from Ragnarok
- Hes part of a quartet of Elemental lords, each of which is a reference to old world mythology.
- Is not a god, but a primordial force of nature (more akin to Elder Dragons in this lore)

- Balthazar is based on Ares, both of whom are titled “God of war”.
- The name Balthazar is a Greek pronunciation of the name of a Babylonian Prince; but I would wager that its more a reference to Baldr’s Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, with a Monk named Balthazar who seeks to end Bhaal’s curse by ascending to his throne, and ending his own life. In Tyrian Lore, Balthazar is the patron god of Smiting magic for Monks, and theres the currently fuzzy story of Balth, Menzies and their Father’s head.

There has been a long growing trend among people who are bad at arguing (ie internet arguing) to use reductionist premise as evidence of something to elevate their view point. Implied plagiarism is an internet favorite, but usually fail to realize that neither of the 2 things they were comparing were the original to begin with.

There’s goes…

LOL! So now Balthazar is a ripoff of some demon lord in WoW just because they are both powerful beings who use fire? Clearly you misunderstand where Blizzard themselves ripped off norse mythology with Ragnaros.

Ragnaros = based on norse mythology (Surt/Ragnarok)
Balthazar = based on greek mythology (Ares)

Just another fanboy /facepalm moment, let them dwell in their ignorance and blizz – I mean bliss and move on.

Its a pretty common theme to have some wargod with fire powers or a big flaming sword in pretty much every game. WoW players seem to think everything in WoW came first when that’s far from the case. Apparently they’ve never heard of Rallos Zek from Everquest. He was around way before WoW even existed.

They’re drastically different both in their approach and their respective origins. Ragnaros is Elemental lord of fire. This harkens back to the concept of the elements themselves being entities of power. Ragnaros would definitely be stronger in his control of fire since he’s basically a physical representation of it. Balthazaar is more the standard god of war. Ares is most likely where this type of god comes from, the six kind of represent the pantheon though less overall gods.

Ragnaros is no god he’s fire incarnate and that’s why he can never be truly be destroyed. You would have to end the element of fire to kill him.

Balthazaar is a classic god of war, the embodiment of war and fire is usually associated with that, we see the same combination in many other ideas like Warhammer’s Khorne.

Perfice.4097:

How true is it that they are both “annoyed they aren’t the strongest of their kind”? As far as I know they both want to be stronger but that doesn’t mean they are jealous or weaker than the other gods/elementals.

Not at all, actually. Balthazar is one of if not the most powerful of the Human gods. He has unmatched strength, prowess, and cunning, bowing only to Dwayna’s authority as his queen and occasionally Lyssa’s trickery and wit. In terms of worshiper numbers, he is third (behind Dwayna and Lyssa), but his are by far the most devoted, as a proper military would be. He is the only god besides Abbadon (that we know of) who created their own demi-plane in the Mists, and the only one to have made two of them (the Fissure of Woe and the Hall of Heroes).

I suspect, however, that there are more complex themes at play here. You see, Balthazar has a twin brother, Menzies (pronounced “Mingkus” or “MenLeez”), who hates Balthazar and everything he stands for, yet has always stood in his brother’s shadow… literally. (For cultural reference: Menzies is to Balthazar like Loki is to Thor, or Scar to Mufasa, or Prince John to King Richard, etc., etc..) Menzies even attempted to invade the Fissure of Woe from the Mists, and succeeded in capturing key points, such as Balthazar’s Eternal Forge. With Balthazar’s aid, some powerful mortal heroes were permitted to join the battle and liberated the zone. Supposedly, Balthazar decapitated Menzies at one point, but his minions continued coordinated attacks on both the Fissure and the Underworld, so… odds are he’s not permanently dead. It stands to reason that Menzies might make a move on the mortal realm, especially now that a great weakness has been exposed, and pose as Balthazar, his twin, to create a schism between him and the Humans. (Wouldn’t want a Deus Ex Wargod to show up and ruin his plans, would he?)

PS: Kitten it, Ragnaros, you one-note lava plume.

Perfice.4097:

Perfice.4097:

“He’s huge, has a GIANT FLAMING LEGENDARY WEAPON, summon FLAMING MINIONS OF DOOM! Is ANNOYED THAT HE’S NOT THE BEST OF HIS KIND! he TAKES HIS FIGHT TO THE MORTAL REALM….Ragnaros ripoff.”

Does anyone know how accurate this comparison is? I don’t know enough about the lore of either to say yes or no.

I know minimal WoW lore so cannot say there, but best we know Balthazar’s motivation is not “annoyed he is not the best of his kind” – he’s been weakened, cast down from his former glory, and is seeking revenge. And he isn’t “taking his fight to the mortal realm” so much as “going to the mortal realm to gain new power so he can even take a fight”.

Donari.5237:

Um, Ragnaros was a demon made of fire stuck up to his waist in lava (ok ok Ragnaroses got legs). If I recall correctly from raiding years ago, his summoned minions were not canine in any way.

I think the OP’s person is talking about the Forged in PoF, rather than Balthazar’s hounds, for “his minions”. It seems the person is saying that Balthazar as he is now is a rip off, rather than the original lore (which did not include the Forged (or, technically, even Temur and Tegan), going evil, or fighting in the mortal realm).

Perfice.4097:

So I was having a conversation today I figured I would share with the Guild Wars community.

I was talking about the new expansion earlier today and apparently Balthazar is a “blatant rip-off” of Ragnaros from WoW.

Can anyone explain to me in what way they are a rip-off? Other than the obvious fire powers I don’t see in what way they could be considered similar in any way.

EDIT: When asked the person responded with;

“He’s huge, has a GIANT FLAMING LEGENDARY WEAPON, summon FLAMING MINIONS OF DOOM! Is ANNOYED THAT HE’S NOT THE BEST OF HIS KIND! he TAKES HIS FIGHT TO THE MORTAL REALM….Ragnaros ripoff.”

They also added “I love GW2 but I just recognize an obvious rip-off when I see it!”

Ragnaros? Isn’t he the huge fire elemental boss from the end of the Molten Core raid? Or is he back in some other form in a more recent expansion? I haven’t played WoW in awhile, but the human god of fire and war doesn’t seem similar to the Ragnaros I recall in any way besides the fact that they’re both associated with fire.

But if you want WoW ripoffs in GW2, you don’t have to look far. Mordremoth – the jungle dragon that operates in a dream world? Really? That’s not in any way similar to the Green Dragonflight and their Emerald Dream is it?

How about the music? I could swear I’m in Ironforge when a certain track plays (sorry, I don’t know the names of any of the songs).

Nikkinella.8254:

Its a pretty common theme to have some wargod with fire powers or a big flaming sword in pretty much every game. WoW players seem to think everything in WoW came first when that’s far from the case. Apparently they’ve never heard of Rallos Zek from Everquest. He was around way before WoW even existed.

WoW fanboys have been saying EverQuest ripped of WoW for ages now. ????

Considering WoW’s entire universe is a copy paste of Warhammer, no WoW player should ever complain about something being “ripped off from WoW”.

Ragnaros is an elemental lord, ruler of all fire elementals.

Balthazar is the god of fire.

That’s basically it. They’re both the “rulers” of fire. I would argue that Ragnaros is more of the absolute ruler of fire in WoW than Balthazar is in GW. Apart from that they’re pretty much completely unrelated to one another.

I would guess that that person you were talking to doesn’t know anything about GW lore (and I would hazard a guess that he knows little about WoW lore either) but has fallen into the standard internet trap of hearing “fire” in two descriptions and then assuming “rip-off”.

Perfice.4097:

So I was having a conversation today I figured I would share with the Guild Wars community.

I was talking about the new expansion earlier today and apparently Balthazar is a “blatant rip-off” of Ragnaros from WoW.

Can anyone explain to me in what way they are a rip-off? Other than the obvious fire powers I don’t see in what way they could be considered similar in any way.

EDIT: When asked the person responded with;

“He’s huge, has a GIANT FLAMING LEGENDARY WEAPON, summon FLAMING MINIONS OF DOOM! Is ANNOYED THAT HE’S NOT THE BEST OF HIS KIND! he TAKES HIS FIGHT TO THE MORTAL REALM….Ragnaros ripoff.”

They also added “I love GW2 but I just recognize an obvious rip-off when I see it!”

HAHAHAHAHAHA! Does this person not know when GW1 was released?? There is no comparison, GW2 doesn’t care to copy WOW. Last time I checked WOW’s new Xpac is wannabe GW2 101. The god is clearly inspired my ares god of war.

I’m a ripoff????