WAR (Warhammer Online)

There are plenty of these reviews but wanted to be part of the waaahhh fest of reviews.
I have played many mmorpgs starting EQ and moving on up from there.

I played EVE  EQ2, CoH and WOW with regular consistency.

My last game was AoC and it left a bad taste in my mouth. So, I approached WAR with caution.

WAR:
Graphics: I am not happy with the graphics. This is a personal choice. I am hoping they are better at release. Right now the graphics were sub-par for current day and age games. If what the devs say is true then we can expect an improvement in textures. I am crossing my fingers.

PvP – Breath of Fresh air – simply fun and addictive. Unlike many other games in which you have to jump through hoops to get to PvP, WAR, off the bat, gives you options to roll around and knock some heads. Maybe this will get boring down the road, but for now, the PvP is just plain addictive. And there are many options for PvP – if your fresh into the game, select the scenario button, wait for the que (you can still pve and do other things while waiting) and then BAM, your in a “battleground” running around shooting and swinging. I never thought I would see a game (other then EVE mind you) that I can jump from character creation and then go attack others. Nice Job.

PvE – nothing new here except kudos for PQ. I can see many content updates in the future with more in-depth and more PQ’s (and there are plenty at release).

RvR – hundred on hundred battles. What’s not to like?

Bugs – did not notice anything that is game breaking

Community – people, it’s a mmorpg, why are you not talking in chat! With that said, any organized PVP group that communicates in battle is going to own at first until people get the idea that you have to coordinate. This promises to make the game social instead of people wandering around without getting to know each other. I know we are all a bunch of Geeks with little social skills but this game will promote interaction, even on a casual level. They should have implemented an in-game voice system. Hopefully that will be part of future updates.

Classes: again a breath of fresh air. The tank, healer, dps formula is still cut from the same mold but with some variation. The classes do remind me of WOW in many ways but there is a slight difference in the way they are played and their roles. Example, the engineer being a good example of a nice hybrid class. We’ll see how classes get balanced after release , but overall fun and easy to play.

What I don’t like: this is tainted from my experience playing EVE – PvP should have a bit more meaning, more objectives and options for more hardcore play. Maybe they should consider a hardcore PvP server with looting options or gear loss or landgrabs. They have established a core rule set that is great; mythic should consider some more variations on the theme. A hardcore server would not draw many but would appeal to some (myself included). Maybe something for Mythic to consider down the line.

Bottom line: this game takes the formula we have all been used playing and paying for in the last several years and has introduced some new innovative ideas that make it fun and rewarding (plus addicting). I did not think I would like this game and am pleasantly surprised.

And other then the GOA misstep, this game seems to be going towards a good release. This is the first game in a while that seems worth playing.
 

Last, why is not a WOW clone: The PvP in WAR sets is apart from what WOW had to offer. Yes, the games are similar but RvR, Scenarios and public PQ’s add a dimension that cannot be found in WOW at all. (Yes I know Scenarios are similar to BG but there are only 4 BG’s in wow and they not well thought out). It seems the focus of WAR is PvP with some PvE thrown in. This provides a whole different feel to the game. Also, if graphic textures are upgraded at release, then WAR graphics are nothing like WOW at all.

If you are borred with WOW and want something Fresh, you will like this game.
 

I agree and am also a wow player from the very beginning. I figure I have 2 choices, buy WAR, a brand new game that feels brand new in every way or WotLK which for most of us is another BC clone with 10 more levels to grind then we get to grind gear by raiding, arena or battlegrounds, kinda sounds exactly like what Ive been doing the last 4 years.

I'm sure you gonna wonder and think how game has good or bad graphic when you have 10 dwarves on your tail trying to kill you. What is first that come on your mind ? How do they look or ... ?

Could say it got me easy into quiting WoW after playing it since 2004.

Originally posted by hellspit

I'm sure you gonna wonder and think how game has good or bad graphic when you have 10 dwarves on your tail trying to kill you. What is first that come on your mind ? How do they look or ... ?

Could say it got me easy into quiting WoW after playing it since 2004.

You're sidestepping the discussion here. 

I like the fact that there's 2 custom graphic setting entries, so you can put one as max fx for pve, and the other as a bit toned down for pvp, and quickly swap on need

Mythic has stated that they will upp the graphic settings after release, they also added some of these options into the beta yesterday, options for higher end machines. Though this may be for the north american market only.

I will say that playing this on my old system, while low on the framerates, the graphics looks much better than another, cartooney, easy mode pve game, which shall remain nameless.

On my good system it runs good and looks great, i fear that making the textures and graphics better would seriously effect a majority of players with minimun req systems.

Ill take lesser graphics for smoother gameplay anyday.

I have to combat the claims of subpar graphics ( and I know it is subjective ) with the following question.

Would you rather have AoC style graphics where you can't even have 40 people fighting without dropping to 10FPS or would you rather sacrifice some level of graphics to have massive 100 player battles that run almost perfectly smooth? 

I'll take the latter.

Originally posted by cptnj4

I have to combat the claims of subpar graphics ( and I know it is subjective ) with the following question.

 

Would you rather have AoC style graphics where you can't even have 40 people fighting without dropping to 10FPS or would you rather sacrifice some level of graphics to have massive 100 player battles that run almost perfectly smooth? 

 

I'll take the latter.

I don't think the people who are complaining about the graphics are talking about the "level" of them...I think, like me, they're talking about how they look half-assed.

Originally posted by grimal

Originally posted by hellspit

I'm sure you gonna wonder and think how game has good or bad graphic when you have 10 dwarves on your tail trying to kill you. What is first that come on your mind ? How do they look or ... ?

Could say it got me easy into quiting WoW after playing it since 2004.

 

You're sidestepping the discussion here. 

Without open beta i would probably had to buy a game to test it out.

Game is in one word awesome. I'm too tired atm to type more. Don't really care what you think.