MMORPG.com Managing Editor Jon Wood has been playing the head start for Mythic's Warhammer Online and today offers his opinions of the game.

While the title of this article might be a little bit clichéd and obvious, the spirit behind it is perfectly legitimate. With the full launch of Mythic Entertainment’s Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning only a few hours away, I thought it might be helpful for those of you out there who haven’t rushed out and bought the Collector’s Edition or pre-ordered a box to hear my impressions of the game and whether or not you should go out and spend your hard earned money on this new RvR offering.

The answer to the question ,”Is it worth my money?” isn’t as easy or black and white as you might think. Like most MMOs, your enjoyment of Warhammer Online is going to depend on your own personal likes and dislikes when it comes to MMOs. I’m going to address a number of questions that you may or may not have about the game:

Read the preview here.

Where's mah link?

Edit: NM, there it is... I just posted too fast...

nm :)

i shall read it

Originally posted by SgtFrog

you said it instead of is in the tittle :)

 

The "it "and the "is" are in the wrong order. And there's this strange question mark at the end of it...

I wanted to add one thing to the article though. I'm generally the one who, in a PQ, starts up a group and sends out random invites to anyone else in the PQ area. Why?

Because WAR actually REWARDS you for grouping. There is no "dividing" of XP/INF... everyone gets the same as they would if soloing, but now there are six of you all earning XP/INF... so you get six times the amount as you would normally. I also enjoy "grinding" (though it doesn't feel like a bad grind to me) each PQ area until I max out the rep for that area. In a group, it's not uncommon for people to stay around for 3+ rounds of the PQ before leaving, so you all get a feel for each other. And, like Jon said, it's a great place to make friends.

Being in these groups also gives me a chance to get a feel for how tanking works (being a tanking class and all). In other games, I wouldn't get this experience very often, and what little I'd get before the end-game would be a LOT more stressful and not give me a chance to play around and see what skills I like and which ones work the best.

Good unbiased preview. I agree with everything you said, including:  Play Order. We will destroy the unruly denizens of destruction!

You Rock Jon. That was one of the most honest articles i have ever read. Bull S**T free.

fantastic review Jon

I agree with 2 great points you made yes its cartoony but it has enough oooomph at full settings with AA and AF on to give it that polish that wow just doesnt have I couldnt play wow because of the graphics.

Grinding what grind as you say there is just so much to do that it isnt a chore I hadnt pulled 9 hrs on a MMO since the days of pre-cu SWG yet have found myself doing exactly that in the last 2 days.

Ignore Jon dont join Order they are pansy elves and bridget the midgets get your squigs out and rain death on the stunties.

I was a MMORPG fan when I first started playing DAoC in 2001 and then switched to SWG in 2005. I can't say for sure if I am a MMORPG fan anymore though, because community is just as much a feature of a MMORPG as PvP or Raiding. The community since WoW came out in almost every MMORPG I've played has been rude, anti-social, and disrespectful with small pockets of mature people. This is the exact opposite of how the community was before WoW. Your last paragraph said that you would recommend the game to fans of MMORPGs, but I cannot say for sure if I am a fan of MMORPGs anymore. I love the idea of building a character over a long period of time with other people online, but I absolutely hate what the MMORPG community has devolved to.

I guess the question is: Is the WAR community like the DAoC and SWG community before WoW brought several million people into our games, or is the WAR community like WoW's?

very well balanced review in the article. i appreciate that because i wouldn't have been able to do it. i would have been warning people to make sure to roll a class that could actually build enough moral to use its top talents. but i'm kinda mr. negator on this one, i admit it.

Thanks for the comments guys. Like I said in the preview, it's not a "perfect game" without issues, but with that said, I'm online right now playing in my "free time" after a very long day at work. *shrug*

I don't see how you could have missed all the bugs because in 1 week I reported over 40

Excellent article, Jon.

Balanced, honest and not blatantly leaning either way; you were very clear that your personal opinions were entirely your personal opinions and not fact (something some posters on these forums could learn a thing or two about).

Also, I agree with your take about not racing to end-game. Heh, from your fingers to the players' eyes. I'm sure it'll happen, though. Dollars to donuts, there will be players who - despite the setup of the game and how it provides challenges and meaningful content at all levels - will still insist the "real game" is at level cap, will fly through all the levels and "necessary content" as fast as possible in a race to get there. I fully expect threads of "this game fails, it doesn't have enough endgame content!" to start popping up in about 2 weeks or less.

But there I go getting cynical.. :-p

Also, the "confusing modernity with art style" statement is probably the most eloquent description of the constant arguments over whether a game's graphics suck or not that I've ever seen.

In all... very good article!

Originally posted by WSIMike  

Also, I agree with your take about not racing to end-game. Heh, from your fingers to the players' eyes. I'm sure it'll happen, though. Dollars to donuts, there will be players who - despite the setup of the game and how it provides challenges and meaningful content at all levels - will still insist the "real game" is at level cap, will fly through all the levels and "necessary content" as fast as possible in a race to get there. I fully expect threads of "this game fails, it doesn't have enough endgame content!" to start popping up in about 2 weeks or less.

getting to level cap fast is a power thing in general and an actual goal in WAR with rewards. the power comes from having access to resources and money making opportunities before the rest of a server population. this is true in any mmo.

WAR in particular rewards higher levels by tieing your guild rank to the levels of the players in the guild.

just thought it would be good to point out these things.

Couldn't have said it better myself. :)

Good, straight-forward article.

It explains why someone would like the game and why they might not like the game and most importantly tells the reader to make up their OWN mind.    Often you see people posting others to tell them whether a game is 'good' when they should be looking at it themselves and decide.   This article encourages them to do this by presenting WAR's strengths and weaknesses in one easy read.

I did like how the article points out how painless grouping is in WAR.   I've done more average grouping/hour than any other game I've played.    The PQs and open RvR encourage it and the excellent Open Group system makes it easy.

It's not immersive for me like SWG was, where you have a complex social structure.  It's basically just combat, and as long as that is fun the game is fun.

The game looks solid.  It does add some things that I have not seen in other games, like the open groups where you can just add yourself, or the PQ's.  Being able to jump into a scenario is a lot of fun.

I rolled Order/healer on one of the open RVR servers.  I have never rolled a toon on an open pvp server, but so far I find it kind of fun.  Yesterday some guy was about ready to kill another guy and I jumped down from a hill, gave a couple quick heals and the two of us were able to take him down.  The whole time I was looking out of the corner of my eye for the gank squad.

I've never rolled a healer before and actually seriously wanted to play one.  This is the first time.  So I guess this game has gotten me to try some new things and that is good.

Its $50, just go out and get it and give it a try. 1 Month free anyways, so thats a good thing.

Jon, I loved your review. But I have one thing to point out about the way you represent it. You used the word "carebear". I don't hate the word but I think its very unprofessional to use words that put down other players playstyle that doesn't fit yours. You are a representation of MMORPG.com so therefore you shouldn't be using words that are used as what we call flamebait. This goes for "fanboi, failcom" and whatever other words people have used to put down something or someone. I suggest you think about this next time before making another review. To me, it's not that huge of a problem. But it could come off as being amaturish and very immature to belittle the other crowd. This site is for rpg gamers as a whole, wether you like PvE, PvP, RvR, or w/e is out there. Let's try to keep things that way.

Great review. I had been testing the game for quite some time before any OB announcements, and I find it to be entertaining, but also repeating common MMO mistakes.

I think it's a good game, but I've been playing WoW already. I really don't want to leave the spin-off of warhammer (WC1 was originally intended to be a Warhammer PC Game) for the real deal. Especially since there's alot of issues that Mythic representatives act like children about to the press. Perhaps later on, but as it stands, no thanks.

I think it's bad form to put a question into the title, if you're not going to answer it outright ... even if you do call yourself out on that.  Problem is, you don't call yourself out on it until the last section.

Originally posted by mackdawg19

Jon, I loved your review. But I have one thing to point out about the way you represent it. You used the word "carebear". I don't hate the word but I think its very unprofessional to use words that put down other players playstyle that doesn't fit yours.

i think you may have missed him playing around. the entire section was from the point of view that he usually prefers pve, which traditionally is "carebear," but he was pleased to be enjoying pvp more than usual due to how it was delivered in WAR.

I love this game.

---

Originally posted by Myrdek
I don't see how you could have missed all the bugs because in 1 week I reported over 40

---

Sometimes you are too busy having fun to report bugs. Or even look at something and think thats a bug.

In 8 hours of play - the server and client have been rock solid for me. No crashes, no graphic glitches, no frame rates dropping so low you cant move.

So I havent encountered a single game breaking bug.

The two bugs I have noticed were an NPC air walking and being unable to target a NPC that was standing right on me. So I had to run away before I could fight them.

I am playing on a Core 2 Duo 6600, 2 Gigs RAM and a 512M 3870 graphics card using Windows XP SP3.

Originally posted by Lex_Taliones

I think it's bad form to put a question into the title, if you're not going to answer it outright ... even if you do call yourself out on that.  Problem is, you don't call yourself out on it until the last section.

It really depends on how you look at the article. While I suppose I don't come right out and say yes or no (though if you look closely at the end, you might be surirpised) the article is ripe with, you shouldn't buy it ifs...

Originally posted by ardohain

Originally posted by mackdawg19

Jon, I loved your review. But I have one thing to point out about the way you represent it. You used the word "carebear". I don't hate the word but I think its very unprofessional to use words that put down other players playstyle that doesn't fit yours.

 

i think you may have missed him playing around. the entire section was from the point of view that he usually prefers pve, which traditionally is "carebear," but he was pleased to be enjoying pvp more than usual due to how it was delivered in WAR.

Yuppers. If you look at that section, which the magic of Control - C lets me paste below:

One thing to note though… If you’re a novice at PvP, don’t jump into the Open RvR servers. There is plenty of RvR action on the Core servers, and you don’t run the risk of getting ganked again and again by some high level clown looking for some kicks at your expense. On the other hand, if you’re one of those players who loves the thrill of being in danger at all times and enjoy the realism of not being artificially separated and restricted by level, the Open RvR servers are probably right up your alley. Who needs those carebears anyway?

You will see that I also called PvPers clowns looking for some kicks at your expense. It was kinda a little play on the way that both sides tend to see the other and was meant to highlight the fact that there were two different server types that might suit each case better.

I agree, temrs like "carebear" and "ganker" get thrown around a lot. That's really the point :) In the context of the paragraph (or even the whole article), I wasn't putting anyone down. I'm not a PvPer and I thought I was clear on that. I just think that the emotion pent up in those two terms is worth poking a bit of good natured fun at. Not unprofessional at all.