Did Yoshida went a bit too far by cloning WoW?

[Kisshu]

1.0 had a lot of problems during it's start, for example the combat system was changed several times from having to execute your basic attacks to suddenly have auto-attacks. Also the exp system was confusing, given you exp for healing someone not in your party and having a reverse rest system when your exp gain suddenly plummeted sharply unless you changed to a different class.
Back then leves when the name of the game for exp, but that also got changed a lot. I recall being able to handle lv 20 leves on my PUG15, but suddenly it was changed and now I had to do lower level leves for crappy exp.

What drow me away were all the different changes, it felt like they didn't have a clear direction for the game back then and it felt imcomplete, like questing getting patched in later and wasn't a part of it from the start. I did love the very big open worlds, I hope they get more programmers and money to this game so we can have truely big maps like in 1.0(but with less copy paste locations)

[Aeyis]

I hope they get more programmers and money to this game so we can have truely big maps like in 1.0(but with less copy paste locations)

Nature likes to copy paste. If you want natural landscapes, then you will need to copy paste to some extend. Its interesting that people use the copy paste argument as a reason tho. I dont think they looked on the current maps; there is plenty of copy pasting in 2.0 and 3.0 as well.

[Shougun]

Nature likes to copy paste. If you want natural landscapes, then you will need to copy paste to some extend. Its interesting that people use the copy paste argument as a reason tho. I dont think they looked on the current maps; there is plenty of copy pasting in 2.0 and 3.0 as well.

Yeah but it isnt as obvious, well most of it. 1.0 had a number of extremely obvious locations, then some that were well done but you could tell had similar structure. Well done similarities are acceptable but that is not what people think of for 1.0. It wouldn't be such a popular thing to mention if it was done really well.

[Eye_Gore]

Nature likes to copy paste. If you want natural landscapes, then you will need to copy paste to some extend.

Even Bob Ross had similar looking mountains. That guy was the man, but how much can you make a mountain scape unique, eventually they all look the same.
For the youngins:

[zipzo]

Nature likes to copy paste. If you want natural landscapes, then you will need to copy paste to some extend. Its interesting that people use the copy paste argument as a reason tho. I dont think they looked on the current maps; there is plenty of copy pasting in 2.0 and 3.0 as well.

And yet you don't see such complaints about other games that do it or, rather the beauty of nature rather as per your example.

The reason it's an issue with 1.0 is because it was blatant, obvious, and lazy. Every map was literally a grid of the same square mapped sector for sector across the entire grid. You see this formation of rock/hills/plants, you take 10 paces, and it's literally the same thing. Sure, you do get that in nature occasionally, but not as ever so consistent as this. This wasn't nature. It was a game created by people who have the choice to make it that way or not, and they choose quite possibly the most lazy direction for their map design that I think has ever possibly been conceived in a newer generation MMORPG.

The argument you use here, what that nature itself can "copy paste", is the one that is lame. There's literally no excuse. It was just plain shoddy development.