Let me start by saying that, yes, this is the first time I have posted on this web site. That does not mean that I am new to the MMO scene, just that until now I have never been compelled to make a post. I prefer to spend most of my time in the game worlds, not on the forums. I was an active player of Guild Wars for about one year and WoW for about  two years. Recently I have been thinking about trying to find a new game to play. Not because there is anything wrong with my current game, but because it is human nature to get bored with something over time. After 2 years of WoW, Im gettting a little bored. WoW is an excellent game, which is why many people make comparisons to it. When someone makes a reference to WoW in a post reviewing another game it doesnt make them a WoW fanboi. WoW is the current benchmark for MMO games. Like it or hate it, it doesnt matter. It is simply the measuring stick that all new games will be compared to.Okay, now about WAR. First off ,I know that this is a beta version of the game and not the finished product. The finished version goes live in 10 days however, so I am led to believe that this version is very similar to the version that will cost $50 or more. I had no problems downloading, installing or registering the game. It took forever, but no real problems. The first thing I noticed upon entering the world were the graphics. I was expecting to be blown away, I was sadly dissapointed. The graphics are average at best. I would say they are on par with WoW graphics, A game that is 3 years old. The graphics are a different style in those two games but I would say about at the same quality. Guild Wars graphics still beats them both, hands down.Next thing I noticed was the gameplay. Again, sadly dissapointed. Slow, clunky, bad. Those are 3 words I would use to describe the gameplay. Both WoW and Guild Wars have far better basic gameplay. PvP you ask ? Well I didn't do a whole lot but when I did one of the scenarios the first thing that came to mind was "this is no different that a BG in WoW or AB in guild wars" kill the enemy players and capture/hold points on the map. Which brings me to the point of, so....how do you make PvP fun and exciting. Well I think you have to have good gameplay to even start to have fun with it . So no matter how balanced the game is or how rewarding the sysytem is, if the gameplay sucks ,so does the PVP. There are a couple of things about this game that seem pretty cool. The Tome of Knowledge seems like a pretty good idea. Nice way to track your accomplishments and progress in the game. After spending hundreds of hours playing an MMO it would be nice and look back and see what you have accomplished.The public quests also seem like a nice feature, I did a couple of them. So,imo,what we have here is another game with more of the same old stuff , subpar graphics and gameplay and a couple of neat new features. I think I will save my 50 bucks for Guild Wars 2.

dear god isnt your ENTER button working or what?

besides that.. i foresee another WAR vs WoW war... too bad

I agree with you but i will be playing WAR and the graphics as they are now in OB are way better than wow graphics by a long shot. i dont see how people are saying that..anyway. They are adding more graphics and stuff in the retail..i would provide lynx if i could remeber where i saw it. To each his own. i hope u have fun in GW2

  The "enter" key on your keyboard is there for a reason, learn to use it.

Apart from that, decent preview, pretty much what a lot of people are saying.

it seems to me that your review of the game is based on only a very brief couple hours playing it. (most likely you zoned in, did 1-2 quests, started a scenario at level 2, lost, did a PQ, then wrote the review). From personal experience the only people that compare the game to WOW ( and especially those that swear WOW beats it in gameplay,graphics and innovation) never spent the time to actually experience all the features of WAR. Personally, I am solely in the game for the PVP, and scenarios are by NO means be all and end all of pvp in WAR. ( besides the fact that you most likely only played the first scenario for 1 race).

Even so, I still find the PVE in this game more than amazing... I never find myself confused, bored or even wandering the map aimlessly. There's ALWAYS something that catches my eye, whether its open world PVP, sieges, PQ's everywhere or cool new areas of the map.

In conclusion, For anyone reading this post. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do a favor and at least play a class to level 10+ and engage in all the features WAR offers before reviewing 1/10 of the game.

Ok, this is of course still a beta version of graphics, but probably the best quality fan video yet. If you think WoW graphics are better than this, your out of your mind.

www.mmohell.com/videos/WHATrailer-1280x800.wmv

Enjoy

Play it some more you have not went into open rvr areas yet (it seems as you did not mention them). But the game is not the second coming and people think its a bit clunky but that a tardo fix for many of the wow etc players who want to play an rpg like an fps. You simply not supposted to be able to hop around and around around people, etc. you supposted to use tanks and collision detection to block etc.

But i would like to see it spiced up a bit. They have also wrote that they should be some video unlocks for release or shortly after, so they can deal with any hardware compliency issues that may arise before opening the floodgates moire. However, if they will do this is yet to be seen.

Some comments.. the graphics is a non issue.  They are far better than WoW in just about every espect.  There are more textures and polygons in everything.  The armor and weapons look better, The terrain and sky look better, the buildings and trees look better.  Do they look like Age of Conan?  No.  But, if you can't tell that they are a lot better, then you have been brainwashed.  That's exactly what Blizzard wants. 

Gameplay is earily similar.  For the most part.. same stuff.  But what I want to know is.. how is that a bad thing?  WoW is great for it's UI customization and excellent gameplay mechanics.  It is however, not greatly known by it's graphics, mind-numbing progression system and lack of meaning to do anything in the game.  So, you have Mythic that has taken the good and changed the bad.. but again, I ask.  How is this a bad thing?  The only difference is that combat and movement is a little bit slower.  Also, the animations aren't nearly as good.  But they aren't horrible.  Other than that, questing is gone about the same way.  There are some map functions that help you as you quest.  Question marks were changed into colored circular symbols.  I'm not going to get into it.  It's what you expect from a MMO.  You'd be more pissed off if they tried something crazy that sucked.

And I'd like to quash this idea right now.  Many people are under the impression that WAR is the first to introduce the Tome of Knowledge and that they are first to introduce a quest mechanic like public quests.  It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Lord of The Rings had a chaptered book that kept track of major quests, it took track of all of your reputation and kill rewards.  It handled your titles and whatnot as well.  WAR has simply given it another skin and add some different features that fit their game.  It is NOT a new idea.  But, it is a good idea for a MMO.  Do you guys know what public quests are?  They are a mix of the elite quests that you couldn't solo by yourself and world events that involve the entire server.  All Mythic has done is melded them into one, making the hard quests doable at your leisure, and downgrading the world events into a repeatable area quest that anyone can do, any number of times that it suits them.  So yes, it is something we haven't seen before, but it certainly isn't something I'd give them  a cookie over.  They took what was already there and gave it a twist.

I'm neither bashing WAR, nor hyping it.  I've played up to rank 8.  Enjoyed it so far.  I'll probably try some PvP tonight.  Though, I'm not a big scenario fan in any game.  I played AV long enough for exalted status.  I enjoy world PvP a lot more.  So that's what I'll be doing.  A lot of people consider this game WoW 2.  Only the ignorant can't see the huge differences in the two games.  Sure, there are similarities, but just because there are some, doesn't mean everything is the same. 

hehe ur dead right about his "Enter Button" lol

To the OP, I dont agree with your assessment of the game but as these are just our opinions, I understand we see things different.

For me the graphics are way better than WoW and GW ut worst than LoTRO or AoC.  The combat is fun and pretty good so far.

After all we play games for the fun and if you dont get fun in WAR, then the game is not for you.

Good luck and much fun in GW2! Wish you the best.

Originally posted by Keeper2000

To the OP, I dont agree with your assessment of the game but as these are just our opinions, I understand we see things different.

For me the graphics are way better than WoW and GW ut worst than LoTRO or AoC.  The combat is fun and pretty good so far.

After all we play games for the fun and if you dont get fun in WAR, then the game is not for you.

Good luck and much fun in GW2! Wish you the best.

 

I didnt know  'nice' people existed on forums.... my world is implodingggggggggggggggggg..ARGHH

Originally posted by voltman135

Let me start by saying that, yes, this is the first time I have posted on this web site. That does not mean that I am new to the MMO scene, just that until now I have never been compelled to make a post. I prefer to spend most of my time in the game worlds, not on the forums. I was an active player of Guild Wars for about one year and WoW for about  two years. Recently I have been thinking about trying to find a new game to play. Not because there is anything wrong with my current game, but because it is human nature to get bored with something over time. After 2 years of WoW, Im gettting a little bored. WoW is an excellent game, which is why many people make comparisons to it. When someone makes a reference to WoW in a post reviewing another game it doesnt make them a WoW fanboi. WoW is the current benchmark for MMO games. Like it or hate it, it doesnt matter. It is simply the measuring stick that all new games will be compared to.Okay, now about WAR. First off ,I know that this is a beta version of the game and not the finished product. The finished version goes live in 10 days however, so I am led to believe that this version is very similar to the version that will cost $50 or more. I had no problems downloading, installing or registering the game. It took forever, but no real problems. The first thing I noticed upon entering the world were the graphics. I was expecting to be blown away, I was sadly dissapointed. The graphics are average at best. I would say they are on par with WoW graphics, A game that is 3 years old. The graphics are a different style in those two games but I would say about at the same quality. Guild Wars graphics still beats them both,

Well as far as eye candy goes, Im glad they toned the graphics for this game as I expect that if I play it, having my framerates dropping into negatives would be a BAD thing when surrounded by bad guy players.  And on another positive note - more people can play this game by simply buying the box and installing it on their existing rig, save a tweak or two and / or a few cheaper upgrades.  This means, at least in my mind, that the game will have a larger READY TO RUN player base than games like AOC.  Nothing like logging into a ghost town and/or having your buddy tell you he wont be there to have your back cause he cant afford a new rig at the moment.

hands down.Next thing I noticed was the gameplay. Again, sadly dissapointed. Slow, clunky, bad. Those are 3 words I would use to describe the gameplay. Both WoW and Guild Wars have far better basic gameplay. PvP you ask ? Well I didn't do a whole lot but when I did one of the scenarios the first thing that came to mind was "this is no different that a BG in WoW or AB in guild wars" kill the enemy players and capture/hold points on the map. Which brings me to the point of, so....how do you make PvP fun and exciting. Well I think you have to have good gameplay to even start to have fun with it . So no matter how balanced the game is or how rewarding the sysytem is, if the gameplay sucks ,so does the PVP.

Well ok so you are saying you didnt play PVP but for a brief period and then only one early in the game scenerio.  This makes your opinion about the overall pvp system pretty unreliable. Not to mention you utter refusal to say, USE PARAGRAPHS!   

There are a couple of things about this game that seem pretty cool. The Tome of Knowledge seems like a pretty good idea. Nice way to track your accomplishments and progress in the game. After spending hundreds of hours playing an MMO it would be nice and look back and see what you have accomplished.The public quests also seem like a nice feature, I did a couple of them. So,imo,what we have here is another game with more of the same old stuff , subpar graphics and gameplay and a couple of neat new features. I think I will save my 50 bucks for Guild Wars 2.

I have heard gameplay issues discussed previosly on these and other forums. It has something to do with the interface having a delayed or clunky feel to it as I remember. I thought I had read a ton of posts saying this issue had been resolved? Would anyone like to clarify this issue for me?

But all in all I must say this to you.  While Im not always the best about punctuation or spelling everything EXACTLY right, I do give it some thought when I post and I do use PARAGRAPHS  to assemble my thoughts in a clear and cohesive statement.  Now I know what the kids on the forums mean when they say 'WALL OF TEXT CRITS YOU AND YOU DIE'

 

OK, sorry bout the enter button thing.

For the record I have played 4 1/2 hours and rank five for Order and 2 hours rank three for chaos.Not alot of time spent, I know ,but the things  that I feel are lacking (gameplay and graphics) are not going to improve the more I play the game. As far as content goes, I have no idea what this game really has to offer long term, as I only scratched the surface of its content

As for those of you who think that the retail version of this game is going to have better graphics, youre only fooling yourselves. The game goes live in a week. You never get a second chance to make a first impression, so Im pretty sure they are showing us all they got. They would be foolish to present a watered down version of the game this close to launch.The staement that they have "plans" for more graphics options is probably just damage control.

Originally posted by lumache

Originally posted by voltman135 

I have heard gameplay issues discussed previosly on these and other forums. It has something to do with the interface having a delayed or clunky feel to it as I remember. I thought I had read a ton of posts saying this issue had been resolved? Would anyone like to clarify this issue for me?

 

No this is no longer the reason that did happen like 4-5 months ago , they fixed it in two patches tho (4 days apart).