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Warhammer Online review - WAR is a World of Warcraft for PvPers
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The Scoop on Warhammer Online
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning isn't your ordinary MMORPG. In fact, having sold over 750,000 copies its first week, it might be the first real competition Blizzard's World of Warcraft has seen -- and for good reason. Warhammer Online is a solid game offering the same casual gameplay as World of Warcraft but with a heavier emphasis on player vs player (PvP) gameplay.
The emphasis and the quality of the PvP in Warhammer Online shouldn't come as any surprise. Mythic's previous MMO, Dark Age of Camelot, was one of the first MMOs to put an emphasis on PvP. And it is obvious that they've taken what they learned from Dark Age of Camelot, corrected some mistakes, and put together a solid MMO with a good PvP balance.
Warhammer Online - Pros and Cons
Pros
- Solid gameplay with few game-stopping bugs
- Quick and easy to get into PvP scenarios
- Good PvP rewards
- Public quests add something extra to PvE
Cons
- PvE lacks any real challenge
- Trade skills lag far behind other MMORPGs
- Player abilities lack diversity
Warhammer Online Review - Gameplay
Like most MMO's, you begin your adventures in Warhammer Online by choosing what type of character you want to play. The standard archetypes are here: tank, melee DPS, ranged DPS and healing. However, there is one notable absence: stealth classes. The Warhammer pen and paper game did not include stealth classes, so Warhammer Online does not include them either.
One key difference from the standard MMO is the division of the classes in to two seperate realms: Order and Destruction. Much like Dark Age of Camelot, players are restricted to choosing from a single realm per server. So, once you create a character on a server, all other characters on that server must be chosen from the same realm as the first one.
Another notable difference between Warhammer Online classes and other MMO's is the amount of firepower available to healers. This is a game about WAR and, as such, every class can dish out some ass kicking when they need to. But that doesn't make the healer's support role any less important -- in fact, good healing can be the difference between winning and losing.
Once you are done picking a class and customizing your character's appearance, you are ready to get out into the world and start racking up some experience. There are no real surprises to the PvE aspects of the game -- you'll run quests, kill baddies, collect items and slowly build up an arsenal of abilities to unleash on the enemy. It's your basic MMO stuff and veterans of World of Warcraft and Everquest II will hit the ground running.
But the difference between Warhammer Online and your standard MMO is readily apparent from level one. At any time, you can choose to put your character into a PvP scenario queue. In these scenarios, you will be grouped with other players from your realm in order to accomplish specific mission goals like holding certain areas of land or collecting artifacts.
The cool thing is that you will actually get experience, gold and even items from PvPing. You will also rack up PvP levels in the form of 'Renown Rank' that can be used to buy renown items and even acquire new skills. This means that those who find PvE to be a boring "grind" they are forced to endure so they can go out and beat on people can skip out on the majority of PvE and focus on the good stuff -- killing other peeps.
And scenarios aren't the only form of PvP. There are a variety of different PvP options from PvP areas to public quests that unlock PvP to open warfare on certain servers.
Solid PvP separates Warhammer Online from the pack.
Warhammer Online Review - What's To Like
Warhammer Online is the World of Warcraft for PvP enthusiasts. It's easy to get involved in the action from level one, you can focus most of your playing time on PvP, and yet it is a very casual experience. There's no need to stay online for long hours so that you can remain competitive -- you can play the game in small bursts of time and still get your PvP fix.
The public quests are also excellent. Similar to taking forts and towns in Tabula Rasa, public quests allow you to team up with your fellow realmmates without forming into actual groups. Working together, you will go through different stages of the public quest until it comes time to beat down on the lead bad guy. After the battle, the game will roll dice to determine who gets the top tier loot, who gets the middle tier loot, and who is left with nothing.
Public quests also allow you to rack up influence which can be used to purchase influence rewards like better armor or a quality weapon.
Warhammer Online also shines in the atmosphere and theme departments. Mythic Entertainment has done an excellent job of capturing the theme of war. From the very beginning, you will feel as if you are in an mighty struggle that is encompassing the world.
For a new MMORPG, Warhammer Online is fairly polished. There are few game-stopping bugs, and the classes are relatively well balanced. There are a few tweaks needed here and there, but I don't expect to see the wholesale nerfs come crashing down that are seen in other MMOs.
The war is ever-present in Warhammer Online.
Warhammer Online Review - What's Not To Like
While it does have a few nice additions such as public quests, Warhammer Online really doesn't do much to push the envelope in terms of MMO gameplay. So, those people looking for a new experience won't find too much here -- it's pretty much the same MMO we've been playing for the past eight years only the name has changed from Everquest to Dark Ages of Camelot to World of Warcraft to Warhammer Online.
One disappointing aspect of the game is the lack of variety in the classes and in the abilities. Almost ever class in one realm is mimicked in the other realm, so you won't find a huge variety of classes. And while each class inside of a realm has its own little unique twist, the same basic abilities tend to pop up over and over again.
While Warhammer Online is constrained by being based on a pen and paper game, it would have been nice to see more widely unique abilities to add flavor to the game.
There is also a lack of challenge and excitement in PvE. Without much of a penalty for death, I found myself often diving off the nearest cliff after completing a quest just so that I wouldn't have to walk back to town. It really takes the excitement out of being jumped by a mountain squig while you are already engaged with a bandit when you aren't really worried about dying.
This is understandable given that Mythic has tried to create a mixture of PvE and PvP with oftentimes those two styles of play colliding, but it still drains some of the excitement out of the game.
Warhammer Online Review - The Bottom Line
The World of Warcraft for PvPers, Warhammer Online is a solid MMO for anyone that likes the challenge of taking on another person rather than a computer's AI. The casual atmosphere means you won't need to dedicate hour upon hour to enjoy the PvP, and the nice rewards for killing other players means you won't need to waste much time "grinding" through PvE.
Final Grade : B+
A great game for the PvP enthusiast, Warhammer Online will let you invest as much or as little time into the game as you want while still being competitive. The richly detailed world has a good spit polish and just enough humor not to take itself too seriously.
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