: For TBS it's Warlords 2; for RTS, Age of Empires 2 and Warcraft 3 are both
: good benchmarks; and I'm not a big RPS guy, but nothing will ever compare
: to the early days of WoW. Ever.
For RTS, I'd replace Warcraft 3 with the original Starcraft (of course, I've never played Warcraft 3, but whatever). Nothing beats the thrill of amassing a fleet of twelve Battlecruisers against your enemy, or slowly crushing a Terran encampment into dust with Siege Tanks and Marines, or watching as a wave of Zerg beasts annihilates an unsuspecting foe.
And then Blizzard killed all that by subjecting us to pathetically far-fetched love stories about Raynor and Kerrigan, mixed with the most ridiculous clichés ever imaginable. It's hard to believe Chris Metzen really did all the writing for every one of these games - the difference in quality is just incredible.
Vale,
Perseus