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Warhammer Online: First Impressions
MMORPG.com's Jon Wood has been playing the Closed Beta for Mythic Entertainment's Warhammer Online and today shares his impressions of the early game from the perspective of the Chaos and Empire relams.
Well, the time is upon us and it seems as though that pesky NDA has been lifted. While my time in WAR has been short due to other commitments and circumstances beyond my control, I do have some observations about the game and the functions that I have experienced thus far:
While I have to be honest and say that I haven’t really had a chance to do any extensive testing, but I have dipped my feet into the world enough that I can offer some initial insights to those of you out there who may not have had the opportunity to get your hands on it.
First of all, I’m going to take a minute to talk about the art style of the game. There are critics out there who say that Warhammer looks like WoW. While the stylistic concepts may share some elements, the reality of the visual gameplay is quite different. WoW, in maintaining the look of previous incarnations of the franchise, is a more animated-looking take on the visual design whereas Warhammer take a grittier, more realistic-looking approach.
Ok, now that I’m done flogging a horse that I only now realized has been dead for a while, I can move on to talk about some of the other elements of the game:
In the Beginning:
The first thing that I noticed upon joining the WAR was that you don’t start, as I’m used to, in the middle of a bustling city. Instead, you begin your career somewhere near the front lines of a battle. I’ve come across places that feel like they resemble standard cities, but it’s all much grittier. Don’t get me wrong, all of the quest folk, vendors, trainers and the like are still in place, it’s just the setting that’s changed slightly. I guess the best way to describe the starting location for my Chaos character is to say that my Magus started her career in a war camp built on a cemetery.
Speaking of my Magus… she is, as promised, moving around not by using her legs like some kind of sucker, but on a floating disc. I remember in one of the early presentations given by Paul Barnett, he talked about the Magus and their Disks of Tzeech. How do they move around? “On the Disk,” he would reply. What about when they’re talking to vendors? “On the disk“, he would reply. Basically, he over-emphasised in his own Paul way that this class would always be perched on top of a disk, for everything from looting to combat to travel. “On the Disk”.
At the time, I wasn’t sure how to properly picture my character floating around on a disk. Turns out, it’s actually pretty natural. Not only does it hearken back to the days of playing Warhammer miniatures games, but I’m one of those people who has never really seen character movement done the right way. The way characters run always looks… un-realistic. The Disk totally removes that issue. I’m not saying it’s a game-making feature. I’m just saying that it helped me.
Since we’re on the topic of careers, my brief time in the game has allowed me to notice that Mythic has done a pretty good job of making you feel like every career you try is significantly different from each of the other ones. Not just mechanically, but in the way they look and handle and the strategies that you have to use. The Disks are a perfect example of that. No other class travels the way mine does. Let’s look at the War Priest. The War Priest has to perform in melee combat in order to rejuvenate his healing powers. The Witch Hunter builds power for pistol shots by attacking with his rapier and so on.
I found that these little differences took what could have been a very formulaic, static combat and made it a little bit more interesting. Personally, I would have like to have seen something a little more innovative on the side of combat, but I also realize that’s just a matter of taste.
Public Quests
We’ve all read about them, but now they’re here and live. I was curious how I would feel about this system once it was implemented into the game. To be honest I was concerned that PQs were one of those features where the devs talk about them, and they look great in demos, but once you get into the world, they’re so scarce they may as well not exist. Well, no worries. You’d be hard pressed, even in the early stages, not to stumble blindly across one while going about your regular business.
Honestly, I think they’re great fun. They give you the raid / grouping feel without actually having to go through the hassle of finding a compatible group for a short time. In the end, not only will PQs promote cooperation later in the game, but they also do a fine job of setting the stage for the RvR nature of the game. That’s the core difference between calling something RvR and PvP. While they both end up the same way, with killing other players, RvR almost requires that team-based mentality that is fostered by elements like the Public Quests.
Don’t get me wrong, PQs have their flaws. For instance: if you happen to stumble across a public quest that’s already in action, you can take part and even gain some pretty good XP, but you’re not going to score as high as others might when the end come along and treasure is handed out. The good news is that if you have the patience for it, they restart with decent frequency.
All in all I give the Public Quest mechanic a 4 out of 5 on the innovation scale that I just now made up. While there are occasions of small frustration, overall the experience is extremely enjoyable and accomplishes what Mythic intended it to.
Scenarios
I know that scenarios are a topic that can create some pretty heated debates. I know that some players feel like they break the immersion of the game, and don’t really make a lot of sense. On the other side of the coin are players who feel that they add to the game, giving them something to do that contributes to the overall war.
Personally, I’m more of the latter opinion. Scenarios give players a chance to engage in some pretty intense, short-term PvP as Order fights Destruction in an RvR free-for-all that so far ahs seen my characters fight to protect control points until either a timer runs down, or 500 points are reached (anyone who has ever played Battlefield or similar games knows what to expect).
Scenarios are a short term commitment that provides some quick action.
The down side of these is that you occasionally have queue up to play. Essentially, you hit the scenario icon, it asks you to select a scenario and then you wait until a new one begins. Fortunately, you can still putter around doing this quest or that while waiting. When the scenario is ready, you have the option to go now, go, but wait or don’t go. If you’re mid-combat or in a dangerous region and you escape into a scenario, you’re only prolonging the inevitable. You’ll be dumped right back into the same situation you left, so it’s better to get free before you join up.
Overall
So far, my overall experience has been a positive one. I’m impressed with the feeling and construction of Warhammer. I honestly like the way that it looks and I think that they are implementing a lot of great ideas, either fresh of adapted, and will have a game that should entertain RvR fans. I think that even people that normally shy away from PvP games might actually enjoy it in WAR.
You forgot a linky in your post to read the rest Jon! :)
Edit: NM...ya fixed it!
though the interview wasn't so interesting, i think too that the Concepts behind WAR are awesome; the problem imho was the lack of time, and therefore the humongus size of ideas couldn't fit in the game
i will give a deep shot to this product, but i think the game needs 5 months at least ( hoping for no Funcom style ) to be competitive
i think anyway WAR will score 1 Mil+ sells on release; let's see =P
I don't think it needs 5 months. They are working on it and fixing some of the lag issue already. Also, I suspect theres a big 'ole patch waiting on the 'special' test servers that will be implemented just before RTM. *shrug* Aside from some cosmetic issues (and yes there are a couple actual 'bug' things that need work) I think it's going to go in strong given another month before release.
As a 5+ year DAOC veteran and beta tester....I won't be buying the game in its current state.Stable ..sure...great pve..yep......RVR a step backwards from DAOC.
Am I disapointed...sure.I think the games at least six months away from consideration
I applaud your journalistic talent! You sound exactly like me (sorry, more professional, but the idea is the same) – I did not like the game in beta and not going to buy it but did not want to hurt feelings of huge base of Warhammers fan, so I masked the truth talking about small positives I managed to find.
I especially like the part about classes. This sentence “I found that these little differences took what could have been a very formulaic, static combat and made it a little bit more interesting.” Is perfect! I am not sarcastic or anything – you said it all yet you make it look almost attractive. For those who does not know: classes in WH are the same. Yes, the same – not only within the archetype but also in general. And Jon described it perfectly: “The War Priest has to perform in melee combat in order to rejuvenate his healing powers. The Witch Hunter builds power for pistol shots by attacking with his rapier and so on.” Visually, you do the different things, but in reality the only difference is that Priest use one weapon to get his action points and the Witch Hunter – another. And to make it worse you do not get any class-defining abilities. Not at the start, not anytime on the way up in levels. All you will get is many-many-many (really, a lot!) buttons doing the same thing – X damage. If it would be only one button with fast cooldown you would not noticed a difference.
Yes, some of these damage-abilities will have a side effect, like a chance to stun opponent. But this is really just a side effect, nothing more. It makes game-mechanic easy to balance for RvR, but god knows how boring PvE becomes!
Just make no mistake – this game is ALL ABOUT RvR. For that purpose “little differences” mentioned by Jon is all you need. But do not expect any uniqueness or deep immersion in to your class.
PvE is nothing more as grind. You feel its only purpose is to reach level, not to have fun. RvR is just a bunch of ideas, nothing ready to enjoy. WAR will have another unfinished buggy release which seems to be state of the art for current MMOs. I am not even sure the game will survive the first year but perhaps hype alone carries the game to a somehow finished state. Quality an fun will certainly not do the trick.
Well DAoC was a pretty good game when Mythic introduced it, until everyone got to RVR that is. Then the veil was removed to show it's flaws. Flaws that weren't addressed and in some instances enhanced in their future expansions.
So, for me, once burned by Mythic, you won't find me trying the game this year. I will wait for the nerf a lot kids to do their dirty work first.
If the reviews keep coming out positive I will probably give it a try next year.
One thing you can be sure of, especially when dealing with Mythic, that the initial reviews will be good, but it will be the follow-up ones that will be the important ones. The big question will always be, has Mythic learned from all it's mistakes with DAoC.
Umm... ("Quality an fun will certainly not do the trick.") ??? That's two main things that makes a game, PVE should be a grind that's the point to levels in a game and as far as RvR just being a bunch of ideas... have you played beta? I agree this game needs a couple more months before it should be released but when it does get released on the 18th it won't be no different than most MMO releases it'll need patches, etc...
I like how you covered your ass by saying the game will have an unfinished buggy release, but perhaps may get finished somehow due to magical powers provided by some MMO god.
You just, just incase you get caught actually enjoying the game a few months down the road and you have something to point to as an excuse.
As for the first impressions, they seemed about right. I hope you get a chance to more thoroughly enjoy the game after its released with more polish though.
any one else notice a fresh influx of haters with less than 20 posts?
ahh you gotta love the release of new games.....great write up as well
I concur. Sounds like some people just created new accounts to create some anti-buzz.
Yeah, I'm actually a bit surprised by all the sudden hate. Especially considering how great the game is. I've been playing for a month now, and this is the most fun I've had since UO and DAoC.
Nice and well written review. Thanks for your incite. For a little constructive criticism, you use the word "honest" or "honestly" in almost every paragraph. It's just a crutch is all. Again, nice job overall.
Yeah I agree with the comments about the new wave of haters.
I have been playing for about a week or two now and I have had an absolute blast. There are still a few things I think could be fixed and may very well be . For example, minor lag issues (which have steadily gotten better over the time that I have been playing) and disconnects from server(also seem to be going down in frequency). There are other minor issues that I could give voice to but in all honesty none of things will stop me from buying this game at release. It has plenty of fresh concepts and the game play of the different classes/careers is imo amazing.
That being said I am eager to see what improvements they manage before release.
Lot of that going around. I expect all the AOC haters to be moving over soon to warhammer.
I've been playing the CB and honestly, don't let anyone tell you the game is not fun. My gf and I both got in with the CE invites. The game is awesome. It's currently in contention for my personal favortie MMORPG ever. I've played EQ, DAoC, WoW and various smaller names. The game is just fun, always. They took every grind element and either removed it or revamped it to make it not a grind. If you're into grind, then this won't be fun for you (but the definition of grind means boring and repetative, so I don't know who likes boring). The PvP is fun, you don't die in two hits, but it's not overly difficult to kill someone. The PvE is fun, you know where to go and what to do. The 100% quest mob drop rate speeds the quests up. There are so many quests you will outlevel areas if you want to do them all (which of course I want to do). The Tome of Knowledge is a cool added feature (but it really doesn't make or break the game). The individual character mechanics are the most innovative I have seen so far. PQs are just awesome, most of them have a ton of people running them all the time (although there are some out of the way PQs that can be pretty dead at times).
Look at it this way, the CE CB servers are hitting max pop regularly. If the game wasn't fun, people wouldn't keep coming back for more. That really is the main thing it has going for it. It's fun, even if it's just for an hour you have to kill.
haters?
because they might have a different opinion than yours?
that's novel - haven't seen that before
haters?
because they might have a different opinion than yours?
that's novel - haven't seen that before
lol...reread it again. I didn't say it was bad...just noting how they come out of the woodwork for every mmo release
lol...reread it again. I didn't say it was bad...just noting how they come out of the woodwork for every mmo release
reread the posts you are commenting on
haven't seen a post just stating "that game suxxors!" - though i'm sure they exist somewhere on this site
i see explanations and reasons for their opinions
Killion is right this game is just plain ole fun! I've played most of the different player character careers and found them to be significantly differenet from one another, enough so that I look forward to trying to level many of the classes up. The Public Quests (PQ) are an innovation I'm sure most games will copy as its a blast and a good way to replace/supplement questing for xp and items. The open RvR areas start very early and do a good job of bringing new players into the realm verus realm atmosphere, and by all means don't pass up the early scenario RvR instant areas. Only problem ther is some can take a while to get into. In my opinion the RvR here is much better than DaOC was and the fights actually have some substance to them, haven't seen the gank fest mez disasters that DaOC had.
lol...reread it again. I didn't say it was bad...just noting how they come out of the woodwork for every mmo release
reread the posts you are commenting on
haven't seen a post just stating "that game suxxors!" - though i'm sure they exist somewhere on this site
i see explanations and reasons for their opinions
reread it again..no where in my post did i deny that these complaints are valid or invalid
Wow. That first sentence is almost word for word what I wrote in my article. I almost head to check my email to make sure I didn't send it over. I guess this means I need to write a different article.
A "reason" for their opinions is not "I got burned in DAoC and won't play Warhammer because it's from the same company." They judge the game before they've even touched it.
Also, perhaps you missed this lovely bit of hate...
There is no explination, no "why I think this is a grind" or "why I don't think the RvR will work"... it's just uneducated hate by a troll.
Well, I will say that I started the beta intending not to like it. However, AoC was such a major letdown as far as realized potential that I almost reactivated my WoW account. I had seen some videos on betaleaks, and thought that WAR looked washed out and similar in style to cell-shading. I suppose these videos were old, before the shadows were really fleshed out.
Anyway, I wanted to hate it. I wanted to dismiss it as WoW 2.0, etc. However, I have been surprised. Normally, I prefer to PvE in games, but have found a new taste for it in WAR. I think all of the classes are very distinct and individual (as long as you don't compare them to their cross-faction mirrors), and it was very difficult for me to narrow my choice down to a main for release.
The main thing that I love about the game is that you don't have to wait until end-game to start playing. Yeah, I know you have to play to get to the end-game, blah blah...but what I mean is that the game starts at...mmm...let's say level 5. I have, on a couple of alts, jumped into PvP at level 1 (the game gives you an artificial level boost to a competitive level of 8), and on others, I wait until level 5 or so, just to get a few abilities before jumping into the fray.
I've played minimum levels and nearly max level (Rank 32+), and the game feels the same to me as it does at level 5. Well, by "same" I guess I should say that it is more intense, more involved, and there are more options at max level than at low level. Chosen only have 4 abilities at level 5, so, working with 20 or more at level 32 is a lot more complex, but the essence and soul of the game are very similar.
For me, that's a good thing. I'm tired of having to play games for a couple of months before I hit the meat and potatoes of the game. I mean, look what Blizzard did with the XP curve and speed of levelling to rush people to 70.
So, Mythic changed my mind. I approached the beta with very little interest, and negative expectations. I was converted my first day. It goes without saying that there are little things (I'd like to have more 2h Great Weapons available for my class, less disconnects, and classes that aren't bugged [Bright Wizard]) but I expect those things to flesh out over time.
You for got to note that combat is all about special spamming. Your auto attack is just an extra hit that happens once in awhile. Also, I don't know if this intended, despite the fact that tooltips on skills say no cooldown there is a 2 sec global cooldown.
I've never posted here before. I've been a subscriber for a while though. Some of the information here seems not only great but greatly clouded. I haven't played WAR yet, but I've seen all the movies and I've played all the MMOs out there. Even some of the free ones. With my background in gaming I have to say that yes, if you look at a game from WAY back; you will see that it is cookie cutter. What will make a game "different" is how far you have to step back to get that "cookie cutter" look. It seems that all classes have a mirror on Order/Chaos, and you mash buttons repeatedly in combat.
I've read many places that the reason people get addicted to online games is social acceptance with people that have similar interests and the sense of accomplishment when attaining levels. Whats this got to do with WAR? Well, as I said, I haven't played it and it seems that there are mixed feelings about the quality of this game. So what I would like to have you understand as fellow gamers is that until people start using the hardware that is available today (ie: multi core processors) and hardware in the future (ie: VR); we wont have a revolution in online gaming in the aspects of (many many definitions of and labels) grind, pvp, pve, and general entertainment.
Have to say "Since the NDA is Lifted".
This is a fun game. The only time I ever see lag is during RvR fights. Usually thats people only teleport 5 to 10 feet away. I have seen some other issues true but its still in beta (I have been stuck numerous times, crashing due to having Vista and other things). If things stay on par this will probable be the second best launch in history. The first being City of Heroes which had no problems at launch. This game will outdo any fantasy MMO on the market. It will have everything they say its going to have at launch.
Well if thats not about the most blanket generalized conservative zero-feedback review I have ever read then I dont know what is. I guess he did say he hardly played it... but the question begs: why write a review (even a first impressions) review if your not going to put at least a little effort into it?
I'll just count this as though it didnt actually happen and not hold it against WAR or Mr. Wood.
You are analytical, that isn't my criteria for a game. I'm having fun in War and enjoying the differences in starting areas between races. The differences between classes in a category such as ranged, are minor, but the special effects are different. Anyway, my criteria is: Am I having fun? You betcha! Do I see a long run for that fun? I think so, but it remains to be experienced. There is a lot of content to explore.
You just violated forum posting 101... you can NOT have a logical response.
Actually I'd give you a cookie because you hit the target dead on. Games are subjective as is most entertainment... So it really doesn't matter what someone else thinks. If you are having fun or enjoying something that is really the ONLY criteria that matters... PERIOD.
After being in closed beta for the last 7 months.. my personal experience was the exact opposite.. and is why I won't be buying the game (at least for now).
The problem with forums is this usually ends up in a debate of who is right or wrong... troll or fanboi.
When in fact its just two different personal points of view on subjective matter.. that no universal "objective" statement can be made about.
In fact that's why I hate reviews.. I almost never agree with them for games or films.
Anyway.. be careful with these logical posts.. you might get kicked out of the forum club!! (ya that's a joke.. maybe).
Lol....
This has got to be one of the most enjoyable games Ive played since the early days of EQ1... and that says a lot considering most of the MMO's out today in my opinion didnt have that wonderful nastalgic feeling to it that grabbed you and sucked you into the game. Warhammer gives me that wonderful feeling. PvE was fun, PQ's were damn fun, Scenarios were damn fun, the RvR was amazing specially the siege I was in where it was about 200 on 200.. My god wonderful days are ahead for Warhamer and Ill be sure to take part of it. I also dont understand how some ppl are saying how buggy the game is... Umm what the hell are you playing? Are we playing the same game? The game Ive been playing for the past few weeks has been nearly flawless. Ive only experienced a few crashes. All the quests Ive done and Ive done a lot have yet to come up bugged. Im really looking forward to the dungeons. Their gonna be massive :)
I applaud Mythic for a wonderful job done!
well yea there's always be the haters.. they make new accounts because they don't want get there other account to be known and hated for there hate of the game.
well I've played warhammer and it's so much fun. lvl 1-26 in 3 days :D
-there is lagg issues and combat issues.( etc down below)
like my sword gets drag back when I changed from the bow. this is from my play time from shadow warrior.
-sword vanishes when using. ( but comes back later)
- some icons are messed up in the vendors. like (shoulders pads icon on a sword status).
- very lil lagg.
- NPC running away and healing fast then coming back to fight while your at 1000 health left.
- Spawns are really fast so you gotta be quick in killing things in pve.
Well, I’ve not played this game but I’m excited. WoW has become such a routine that i haven’t been having fun for a long time and not noticing it. I have been playing several MMOs but nothing could keep my interests. RvR looks like fun and the whole concept of getting exp for killing other players is very exciting. I just hope it doesn’t end up like AoC with super hype the first month then all the problems came out.. Also this has been an interesting thread all the posts give me good perspective of people that do and don't have a taste for the game which is a good thing as when AoC was going through beta and all that stuff all I would hear was "ZOMG! Best game ever! None compare."
Well, a lot of what I'm hearing sounds good but I still have concerns. EA/Mythic axed 4 classes and 4 cities (almost all of them!) just to release. Esp with the way the tiered rvr stuff was supposed to work, that's pretty much destroyed a TON of content. It just really bothers me.
nice impression. lol, i like what you said about the run cycle vs the disc, i am the same way. but with all mmo run cycles i usually get use to them in a day or 2.
...some people with less than 20 posts have been members of this site longer than those with nearly 2000.
I do not see the relevance between number of posts and an individuals opinion. Perhaps some people only post when they find something worth posting about.
I'm not sure what all this talk about it not being ready to release is about, it's going to be as buggy as any other fresh MMO, and yet it still runs pretty smooth as is. I've been thoroughly enjoying the game as is and have been throughout the earlier beta stages.
The basic PvE quests are nothing new, but there's so much more variety as far as gaining XP goes in this game than any other I can think of, there wasn't a moment where I logged in trying to find what to do next.
PQs really ARE awesome and are plentiful as mentioned in the review. The scenarios, though exactly what I expected them to be, are well done and I personally find them very enjoyable.
However, world PvP is where this game truly shines for me, they've done a great job at capturing what they set out to, constant struggle between two opposing realms.
Well I am not someone who just created an account, or has less than 20 posts.
But I agree with those people are dismissing. I have been in WAR beta for over a year. I tried to like it, I really did... it just isn't fun for me. The combat is so clunky that it's been the biggest complaint in beta from the start.
Unfortunately, it was never fixed. The combat is so slow and boring, it's the worst combat I have ever played in a P2P MMO game. And for a game that basically focuses 100% on combat, this is not a good thing.
For a game that also focuses on RvR, none of the mechanics that have been broken in PvP from the beginning were addressed in WAR. Tanks are still useless for RvR, ranged healers far outperform melee based healers, ranged classes dominate the field while melee classes are lucky to even get to their target. (I'm speaking in general here, of course there will be exceptions, but for the most part this statement holds true)
You can not level from 1-40 by only RvRing, this is a flat out lie. You do not get nearly as good of gear, or money rewards during RvR. For tiers 1-3 you have to be 1-2 levels from the max for that tier or you will get steamrolled. Tier 4 is a little better, you can start RvRing from level 30 in scenarios (the game will give you a buff to boost your HP, defense and damage when you join a scenario) since you have most of the skills you are going to be using anyway, but the gear difference matters a lot, and you will still have a hard time doing damage.
The game is more along the lines of leveling 90% of the time in PvE and then go do some RvR for 1 or 2 levels, then back to PvE. Until level 40, then you can full on RvR, but the combat is so boring, I found myself not even wanting to.
PQs are nothing but a grind. In beta we had to do the tier 3-4 PQs 30+ times each to get the best rewards. Sure, they are fun from level 1-10, when you only have to do them 3-10 times to max out your influence, but once you have to grind them 20+ times it gets a little old.
I'm not speaking from a few minutes, or a few hours of gameplay. I'm talking about months of play time, a good portion of it being tier 4.
As a long time beta player, I will not be playing when the game is released.
If anyone has any questions on specific areas of the game let me know, I will be happy to answer.
The same is true of me. I've been in the beta since last August and can't say I have been impressed so far. The graphics, sound and music are obnoxiously bad, non-combat features are embarrassingly thin, PvP is just a case of Groundhog Day, the Tome of Knowledge is an unintuitive mess, and the Warhammer lore is scarcely represented.
Public Quests are interesting, though.
A "reason" for their opinions is not "I got burned in DAoC and won't play Warhammer because it's from the same company." They judge the game before they've even touched it.
Also, perhaps you missed this lovely bit of hate...
There is no explination, no "why I think this is a grind" or "why I don't think the RvR will work"... it's just uneducated hate by a troll.
First off, you have to love posters who call others haters when they have a differing opinion. That pretty much puts them in the clueless category to start.
Secondly, Mythic as a company, has a very less than stellar track record with the previous game DAoC. Game companies, as a norm, don't change their spots. Until Mythic demonstrats to the playerbase that they have changed, the right to be skeptical of them is a no brainer.
The game could be a great one, who knows, playing a few weeks in beta is not a very good indicator either. Look at all the glowing reports we recieved from AoC. That game was flawed from the start, just that many of you could not see it yet.
Personally, I hope that Mythic has learned from their mistakes and comes out with a great game, the genre needs a distinct success with all the less than stellar games released this year.
Most comments here seriously dent my faith in WAR, but than again, I'll have to play it to make up my mind :)
I'll definitely be buying it, as I did with AoC and might regret it, as I did with AoC.. but with AoC that was no surprise.. I expected better criticism for WAR, because of the energy that seemed to have gone into it.
If WAR fails, all that's left is Chronicles of Spellborn.. which I at least played for a bit and enjoyed.
Jon,
While I agree with most of your article I found it complexing that you call a flaw in the PQ system the looting system. It wouldn't be fair to the 5 people running the PQ through all the stages to have a 6th member join them at the last fight and walk away with #1 loot rights. The PQ system also allows for influence rewards which you did not touch on, so there is a need to run the PQs a few times so that you can maximize your influence in that region.
Steve - Melwe
I am CB tester, and I have already buy the game.
I like the scenarios, the lore, the rewards to exploration and the pq.
I don't like the UI, some visual glichs that the game have,
Once the game start, I will be a dude in a raid, steamrolling da hummies on nordland :D
Youre totaly correct. I'm not saying you can't have fun. I hope I have fun. However all the haters seem to have against any game is how diffrent it is. I am excited to see if I will have fun in WAR. I am happy that you do. Maybe we will cross paths ingame...good or bad.
Agreed. I hope they make up for it soon with an in-depth review before launch.
Seems like what would help the most with these user reviews is if there was some kind of official poll asking questions that help us understand the reviewer. Maybe results could be applied to their sig. Questions like age, gaming history/favorite games, how much time in said game, what elements are most important to them in games, things they enjoy the most about their favorite games, what do they wish for in future games. It would help to know the person reviewing and in comparing them to yourself you might better predict how much you'd enjoy or not enjoy the game being discussed.
The thing that's disappointing so far without having tried the game myself is people who say they've been in beta awhile and aren't buying it and list detailed complaints. Doesn't bode well.
I have mixed feelings about WAR also... I do love DAoC, but I am a guy who loves also immersion... Althought the concepts of WAR sounds terrific (I havent played beta, so I am assuming that the features that Mythic is telling us is working fine, in other words, they are not pulling a ´funcom´ on us), the char classes also are making me droll of antecipation, the major problem what I have with WAR is... the graphics... Please, no one try to insult my intelligence telling me that the graphics are not cartoony.. They are, look at the weapons and armours, out of proportion (on purppose, thats what cartoon is....). Its a WoW made by Tim Burton, but neverthless I can feel the cartoonish... And this is a total let down for me, since I look mostly for immersion and cartoon do not immerse me ...
Anyway, I am going to wait a bit more before trying it...
I disagree. I think cartoony art if done professionally with fun in mind can be very immersive. Animation and art can be dramatic and provide good gameplay and action. It's an imaginary world and it's not hard to activate the imagination with exaggerated cartoony art. Give me an example of an rpg that was done right with true to life characters. It's very hard to accomplish good true to life anatomy and animation in a game because if it's not done perfectly it's simply not believable and ruins the whole thing. Assassin's creed may have succeeded in this but it's not any more immersive a game world than wow in my opinion and most developers just don't have that kind of talent.
IMHO, all depends on intention... Of course its not possible to have a very realistic graphics, natural (specially on a fantasy genre) on a MMO game. However, it all depends on the intention, as I said.. When you have a graphic ON PURPOSE thats lacks any kind of realistic proportions , in fact, goes more for a humurous kind of proportion, then its safe to say that the dev teams choosed humour instead realism...
I can get as example LOTRO... Some graphics look cartoonish (some) but you can feel that the game as whole avoid it ... Its considered a mistake the lack of realism (in the direction of cartoon) on LOTRO. however, when you see WoW or WAR you can say that the colorful armour, gigantics swords are there on purpose, to incite you the humour behind the graphics. And I dont see it as immersive, but its for MY taste, I would not find Smurfs Online immersive, sorry... It would be fun, but not immersive. And thats so truth that the only big gun cartoon MMO around (WoW) do not have any kind of RP, EVEN having RP servers its just kind of ridiculous RP on WoW...
seen quite a few of beta tester reviews (new ones) and they moan about the graphics, i might have missed a post or something but i was under the impression that the graphics were still on the low setting.
i had a go on my sons account and i was impressed and if the graphics are turned down at the moment when it has the high rez stuff and bells and whistles turned on it will look nice.
as always i will try it when it launches and make my own mind up learned a long time ago to not listen to player reviews as we all have differant tastes :)
I enjoyed the article, but I have developed my own opinion by playing the game. I like it.
Good game and a Good company
They work at it, they want it be good, so they have put as much effort into it as possible...
Worth the money to see it, test it, and decide for yourself.
Don't go just by the reviews.
Why can't the reviewer talk more about the game? Instead of what they think about it.
I want to know whats actually in the thing so i can decide whether I want to buy it.
Would it kill for some screen shots? Or aren't you allowed to post any? How about a low res movie of some combat.
Looking forward to the future reviews.
To be honest, it sounds like this early review only covers the first 10 levels. This game continues to grow after that. Those 10 levels are just a warmup session - the public quests, scenarios, and open rvr get more complex as the game progresses. I am repeatedly and consistently blown away by this game. I was not looking forward to it, as I am typically not much for pvp (I applied for the beta, because, hey, it's what I do), but this game - wow - I don't even know where to begin. It is not without flaws or bugs, but for this long-time veteran from the days of muds, this is the best massive yet. If I can pull myself away, I'll write a more formal opinion and review so those of you who want to know more about the actual mechanics will have something to read.
I don't consider myself a fanboi but I had the most fun I've had in ever in a mmo for the past 2 weeks in war - blows wow out of the water imho - I cant even play the 3 other mmo's I had subscriptions to (even deleted them from my harddrive) just cannot get into them after the fast paced constant action of war -
That said I did some PQ (love them) but from lv 2 - 21 prior to preview weekend and then again to 20 in pw i did most of my time in war in pvp of some sort, be it scenario or the world objectives and was not bored once
There are some minor bugs but I've played Every mmo in that list on the left except for like 5 or 6 and it is in way better state than many of them even this much later.
Will my other half, my 2 best friends and their spouses buy it? yep we all did ce-preorder and do not regret it at all. I have a beefy system and during the cb I had a crash every few hours but I did not crash once during the pw weekend. I'd like the graphics slider options to increase the detail of character models but other than that and pathing (which has been addressed) I have not much bad to say.
I was too busy to take screenshots but the healer classes are all great to play - each actually contributes to pve AND rvr in a good way and have some forms of damage - cc is almost non existant which is great and the longest someone can "stealth" is 20 seconds once every minute or 2 so stealth zergs are not an issue. Once you are past lv 10 gear really isnt that big of an issue either because the steps in gear are like 2.5% better per incriment which is not bad and unlike wow, everyone can get the gear fairly regularly so its not like you will always have someone with omg leet gear giving you no chance whatsoever - unless you are lazy and dumb (you can be casual though)
The world is in tiers (1-4 basically with the "cities" being tier 5)
each racial pairing has its own areas and each tier's area is 2 zones or so with tier 4 being 3 or 4 (cant remember the actual zone numbers)
Elf/dark elf
chaos/order
greenskin/dwarf
and they all have their own feel the chaos/order ones were the most popular in pw beta.
they are fairly big and they all contain a central "pvp" region ie, you walk across an invisible line and get the message "you are entering a pvp area blah blah" these are well defined but not in an "immersion breaking" way once you are in there you are "boosted" to the average level for that regeion, for example, if you are lv 12 and go to a tier 2 rvr area you get boosted to lv 18 stats.
There are more and more rvr objectives as you go up in tier as well. And PQ's get better.
Scenarios are cool (my favorite lowby one is kain's wrath - you run around capturing 2 "flag posts" and once you own both it blows them up killing everyone that doesnt get out of range fast enough (even the people that set it off) but not the game determining "fun" for me - they are a nice interlude and good for quick action when you want it.
I played both order and destruction (will be a runepriest in release and have a sorc and brightwizard alts) and both were fun and their areas convincing. The chaos/order tier 1 zone seemed like the best for action due to the fact that it is set up around a town and you have great battles there.
Well I got wordy unintentionally and I'ms ure its a mess to read but if you did, hope it was useful:P
Why write up a review of a game you have hardly played. No information here.
Ummm.... Because these are "first impressions" and not a review maybe?
Anyway, I enjoy reading first impressions because it is those first few days in-game that can make or break a game for me. Many of the trial periods for MMOs I have tried have won me over totally or turned me off from a particular game forever.
Trial periods won me over completely to Guild Wars and LOTRO -- and yet showed me that certain other games (Tabula Rasa, CoH, etc.) were just not worth it.
So, thanks for posting these first impressions!
As it happens, while I am interested in reading *about* Warhammer Online, it is a game, like Age of Conan before it, that just does not interest me personally. I like story-centered games, and Warhammer sounds very much like WoW in that regard: a killing-, leveling-, gear-based game spread out over a paper-thin "story" backdrop. No real objective or substance to it beyond that. Thus, Warhammer Online, from what I have read thus far, sounds like something I'd get bored of pretty quickly. It seems to be technically very good but to have no real heart to it.
I'll be interested to see whether future reviews give me any incentive to actually try this game, but so far ... yawn. Maybe, at some point down the road once WAR is offering free trials, I might give it a go. But with Mines of Moria coming out this fall, Warhammer is barely a blip on my radar screen.
Set your expectations low, very low and wait at least 6 months and maybe you won't freak out about the quality of the game.
But honestly aren't we all a bit tired of paying for unfinished games. Not in the, "oh it just needs some time to polish out the bugs" but in the missing 4 classes and 4 capital cities kind of way.
I guess I'm a little disappointed. They couldn't find somebody who actually had time to play the game? The five qualifier sentences at the beginning basically said "I didn't really play all that much, but it was one of my assignments, so here goes..."