WAR (Warhammer Online)

First, I feel the need to qualify...I'm an Elder Tester that has been in beta for almost a year, and have been playing MMO's for almost 8 years now (holy s#!% has it been that long...), starting w/ EQlive I played almost every major AAA western MMO developed since then, including DAoC, Horizons, WoW, LoTRO, and most recently had been playing EQ2 up until I had gotten into the WAR beta. Feel free to check my Xfire profile (linked in my sig) to verify that I was, indeed, a beta tester for WAR. Keep in mind though that I only recently figured out how to get Xfire to detect WAR and record my playtime, and that was after I had become an Elder tester which uses a different client that Xfire doesn't detect (yeah, I probably could've gotten it to if I had really wanted to, but I didn't )

So, the game is actually in pretty good condition atm, and IMO, ready to launch. Overall, the game is well polished, ALL the advertised content is there, and well fleshed-out. There is no point in WAR where the content just ends, or drops-off , it is all solid, polished content from level 1 through 40 with no periods or places that just aren't done or don't have things to do. What i'm trying to say here is that the game is, truly, "content complete", unlike many other MMO's that have launched in the past few years that didn't have end-game finished, or what-have-you, at launch.

In general, WAR is a pretty deep game w/ it's system of progressive "chapters" that lead you through the over-arching story of the game, it's "tiered" zones, racial pairings, "open-world" objective and keep warfare, and RvR combat. Not to mention the pure awesomeness that is capturable capitol cities. Seriously, I have never experienced such meaningful PvP combat in ANY game, except maybe DAoC, but WAR even has DAoC beaten in that regard. Gone are the days of fighting back and forth over a flag for no reason other then, it's there and it gives me xp/points. Now, every, single battle and objective/keep taken or lost has an impact on the world, both in the form of xp/coin/renown bonuses AND moving your realm closer or farther from taking the ultimate goal, the opposing realms capitol where the spoils of war await. It all comes together really well and culminates in a truly epic battle within the capitol cities walls where you and your realm mates will eventually, if you defeat the enemy players and defending NPCs in your way, earn the right to take on the leader of the opposing army, Emperor Karl Franz or Tchar'zanek.

While you are progressing through the chapters/levels of the game, happily questing and pvp'ing along, you will occasionally run into a totally new type of quest. And this new system of quests is such an amazing, and natural addition to the game that you will almost be mystified that no one had thought of it before. I refer to the Public Quests, which are one of those natural evolutions of the game, much like exclamation points/question marks above npc's heads, or a quest journal, that once you have experienced them you will have a hard time imaging any game not having them going forward. They are basically a scripted event that occurs in the same place repeatedly, consisting of at least two stages and almost always culminating in a type of "boss" fight w/ a Champion or Hero, which players have to cooperate to defeat, and are rewarded with nice loot, xp, coin, and a separate type of xp that you use to claim rewards in each chapter with. I can almost gaurantee that a lot of the time you spend in game, especially early on when you first discover them, will be spent participating in PQs. They are all over the place, usually in natural gathering spots, or at points of interest and there are almost always quests that will lead you into the PQ. It is also not at all uncommon to stumble into a PQ where there is one or two guys, join in, and before you know it have half of a warband hacking away. It adds a whole other dimension to the game, almost on the level of dungeon runs.

Performance has really been a non-issue for me for the most part, the only time I ever experienced a drop in frame-rate was during the biggest open-world RvR battles, and even then the game was playable. Something to keep in mind though is that they are running debugging/monitoring software in the beta client that won't be present in release, but even still I didn't run into any situations that brought my fps below playable levels. My computer specs: AMD X2 4400+ oc'd @ 2.8ghz, 3GB Corsair-XMS DDR400, 7800 GTX 256MB, on an ASUS A8N32-SLi Deluxe.

One thing that I have to say really surprised me is how much fun each class that I tried is to play and how generally balanced they all are. I came into Beta not knowing which class I wanted to play at release, as my preferred role is that of a Support class, i.e. EQ Bard or Enchanter, and WAR didn't really have anything like that. Well, over the course of the last year I have tried almost every class, and I can honestly say that they are ALL fun and engaging, while still filling the role they were designed for. I still haven't decided on my main for release, but I have it narrowed down to a Witch Hunter or Disciple of Kane.

The Witch Hunter is an amazingly fun dps class to play as they combine elements of melee and ranged combat, although they are really melee-dps and don't have much range. They are one of the so-called "stealth" classes along with the Witch Elves, although the "stealth" mechanic in WAR isn't at all like stealth in WoW, EQ, EQ2 etc as you are never truly invisible and can be seen if you pass in front of someones field of view. Essentially the "stealth" mechanic in WAR will allow you to sneak around players to get behind them without being seen, but if you pass in front of someone, you WILL be seen as you are never truly invisible, you're just kind-of "dim". The Witch Hunter has a form of "combo" system, where certain attacks will give you "points" called Accusations, each "point" gives more power to certain other abilities called "Judgments". Judgments are basically "finishing" moves, as they do a lot of damage over a short period of time and are your most powerful abilities. The Witch Hunter, like all the other classes, never degrades into simple button-mashing. If you did only button-mash with this class (again, like all others) you WILL die, quickly.

The Disciple, or "DoK", is a very engaging, challenging, and surprisingly fun, class to play. I feel compelled to tell you all that the healing archetype is easily my least favorite. I never have, and still don't find it fun to stand there in the back, staring at HP bars trying to keep them as full as possible. I'm not trying to take anything away from people that play healers, as it most certainly is challenging, it just isn't my thing. But  the DoK is anything but a "traditional" healing class, and that's why I find them so enjoyable I think. They are "front-line healers" or "melee healers" meaning they pretty much have to be engaged in combat to be a good healer. Balancing these two aspects, melee and healing, is really an interesting challenge and one I found to be very fun. You see, basically you have two separate "power pools", you have "action points" like everyone else, but then you also have "Soul Essence". Your action points power all of your abilities, and are used similar to mana in other games. Then you have your Essence pool, which is used to power your heals, this starts out filled btw. What it all boils down to is this...your melee/dmg abilities add to your Soul Essence cauldron, while your healing abilities take from it, and you have to balance it all out so that you are able to keep healing your allies, and keep them alive. There is an ability that allows you to convert Action Points directly to Soul Essence, but it is very inefficient and is really only for emergency use. As I said earlier, it is pretty challenging to keep things rolling, but once I got the hang of it, I found it to be one of the most engaging mechanics, for any class, in any game and a DoK that knows his stuff is a HUGE asset to his realm, and one of the biggest threats to the enemy.

The only thing about the game that I really didn't like is that the world isn't "whole", per say. But even that didn't bother me for long as once I started exploring a bit I saw that, even though it's broken up into 3 pairings which are far removed from each other geographically, the zones in each pairing do have "flow". In other words, you don't go from desert to tundra by crossing a zone line, maybe by using a "Flight Master", but not walking from zone to zone.

I can't complain about the performance b/c the game really ran pretty well on my computer. What about graphics though? I know a lot of people seemed to be under the impression that the game was a WoW-clone b/c it used a similar art-style, but that really isn't the case. WAR is simply put, darker and grittier. That isn't to say that there aren't bright colors here and there, just that it isn't as "light", or exagerated as WoW is, and is, generally grittier and more realistic.  For example, the higher-end armors aren't so garish and outlandish, with the huge shoulders, crazy helms, and  "interesting" color schemes  seen in WoW. But that doesn't mean they are understated or boring. All I can really say is that they fit the classes they are made for well, and give the impression of power,  and they all do look pretty bad-ass. Basically, if you want to see what your class will look like all decked out in good gear, go to the Games Workshop site and look for the corresponding miniature (if there is one) and it will give you a pretty good idea...and I think that says a lot.

So, all in all, I am really enjoying WAR and think it will be a success. It might not be the "WoW killer", b/c honestly, I don't think there will ever be one, WoW has just ascended beyond the bounds of MMO's, and maybe even games in general, to be a genuine pop-culture icon. That being said, I certainly can see WAR competing w/ WoW, at least in the North American market, but we'll see.

I hope you were able to make sense of my ramblings and get some kind of feeling for the game. If you have questions about anything I mentioned, or didn't mention for that matter, don't be afraid to ask. Most of you will get to try it in the upcoming days anyway, with all the previews, open beta and such.

Oh....one more thing for those that may be interested. I have an Open Beta code that I don't need (b/c I am automatically in it being a tester already and all) and am willing to give it to someone that is interested in the game and doesn't already have one. Shoot me a PM if interested

edit: wow, that turned out to be a lot longer then I intended, I have a tendency to ramble at times...

edit1: I totally forgot to mention PQs...added a bit about them

I really enjoyed reading the intressting thread and I found it intressting since i havent played WHO yet, and I am looking forward on trying it thanks to the thread .

good feedback

a long read but worth it.

I will impregnate many women and name all of my children after you for that beta code.

Great Read thank you for the thread... i can't wait to try out the DoK class your descripition put me over the edge haha bring on the  WAR

Great review m8,  i cant w8 to play it!!

Now the good reviews start to come in.....bout damn time people...

Question to OP...DoK...Whats its viabililty in rvr?

survivability? does it play like a drood,so to speak?

how is dps?  and as far as casters,are there any with good dps AND survivability......

im having a bit of trouble finding someone to answer these questions.....ty for the original post..nicely done