I've played a bit now, both as my main, a High Elf Swordsmaster (a tank), and on behalf of my affiliate personality, an Empire Witch Hunter (range and melee DPS).
Quick summary? It's definitely not My First MMO, and the avatar detail and graphics aren't much to my liking, but it's much more social for a lowbie than World of Warcraft. I'll keep playing.
Let's start with the negatives, because starting the game is one of its biggest drawbacks: the time from launching the application to starting play is *endless.* Three unavoidable splash screens, the infuriating need to scroll through the EULA and click twice *every time* you enter the game, and long load times leading into and out of the character-choice menu make for a long long long long long wait.
Next, one account gets you 10 characters as opposed to WoW's 50. 10 is plenty for me, but I know that's going to be a liability for some people (hi, Ali! :p ).
Surprisingly, the avatars seem visually cruder and less interesting than WoW's, as part of Warhammer's overall aesthetic. WAR looks a lot like a circa-2003 PC game (I'm thinking of Heroes of Might & Magic V in particular). I know WoW's painted-cartoony style isn't to everyone's taste, but I found WAR's style much more game-like and less immersive than other things I've tried.
Also, I haven't found a way to zoom my camera in, or a tool for taking screenshots other than "PRT SC" and pasting into a graphics program. Very limiting. Here's a screenshot:
It seems to me that Electronic Arts sees its market as bored veteran WoW players, rather than first-time gamers: the similarity to WoW is enormous, but WAR lacks WoW's slow, gentle start: rather than teach players basic skills through quests, WAR drops them into the middle of an invasion, and it's possible to get very dead very fast, while trying to learn the interface and systems on the fly. I still haven't figured out quest tracking, crafting, or any number of other things I probably should know by level 4.
And, WAR can't be faulted for being what it is, but omg am I sick of Tolkienesque fantasy! Give me *anything* else, please! I think a huge contributor to my staying more than a day in WoW was my coming in Horde-side and staring in the gorgeous red desert of Durotar. I really hate the northern European mythology that dominates MMOs the way superheroes (which I like) dominate comics. If anything drives me out of WAR, it'll likely be having my fill of the setting.
On the positive side:
I like the immediacy of it: the premise is that the lands of Order have just been invaded, and you've got to get your butt out onto the front lines *now*! Lore also plays a much more intimate part than it does in WoW: as you interact with the world, you unlock large blocks of story that build out from the immediacy of the invasion.
Public quests are terrific. The starting area has several mini-stories that reset fairly regularly - if you wander into their areas, you can join pick-up groups for a 20-minute-ish sort of instance run. They're fun, fast-paced and rewarding.
Rissa was right: Realm vs. Realm, little "capture the flag" instances against a group of players from the opposite side is fun, and in my one try without the psycho teen aggression that seems to characterize player vs. player in other games. In my one run, Order got stomped- we were a mob, while Destruction was working as a team. I was about half an hour into the game, and hadn't really known what I was getting myself into, but it was still fun and a good introduction.
While the first hour of play isn't as brilliantly crafted to socialize newbies as WoW's is, one thing that I did like was the character creation screen's clarity on the roles of the various races and classes: they *tell* you whether the type is a tank, or ranged DPS, or front-line healer. That information might have saved me the frustration of starting in WoW with a Shaman, a class I never really got a handle on, and abandoned at Level 28 in favor of the *much* better fit of a tanking class.
So, if you want to give WAR a try, come to the Middenheim server, Order side, and look for me among the High Elves! We'll probably get a guild going soon - I'll update when we do.
7 comments:
Hey! Glad to see you in! I picked up the game a couple days after release, and I'm having a blast!
One thing I wanted to point out was, there is not a 10-character limit on accounts. I have 13 on Avalorn alone (one of each class :P I'm the first in my little circle of friends, so I wanted to get my feet wet with everything and give my impressions), as well as several on Ostermark. Order on Avalorn, Chaos on Ostermark.
I'm having a blast in RvR. Just wait until you get into the open RvR zones and start capturing objectives and driving off invaders ;). I'm a little suprised I enjoy it to much, I never liked PvP in WoW.
Anyway, count me as part of the "bored with WoW" crowd. I've played on and off since release, and was bored to tears of it.
@Vel:
thanks for the correction on the 10 character limit - I wonder what I'm doing wrong to get that notice...
Any chance we could get you to start somebody in Order on Middenheim? We'll probably try to get an SL/metaverse guild going like Metaverse Explorers on Arathor in WoW...
Hey, Soph!
EA may also be pitching this game at Warhammer players and lore-geeks first, with the hope of picking up interested WoW players as they go. Games Workshop has been working away at the Warhammer mythos for 20-plus years.
As you become more conversant with the lore, I think you'll find that the underlying mythology isn't quite standard Tolkienesque. There's a healthy (?) dose of paranoia among the forces of Order; a strong right arm isn't always enough, but use of magic exposes you over time to all manner of Chaos blandishments... Much of the tone of the world partakes of the macabre, totentanz side of medieval folklore.
(And then there's Warhamemr 40,000, set in the 41st millenium. You want paranoia, follow THEIR Withch Hunters as they chase down rogue psykers -- who can become inadvertently posessed if they use their gifts, and literally spawn daemons. My, my, MY...)
Hope you have fun storming the castles! ;-)
Hmmm, I could always roll an alt up. I'm already in a guild on Avalorn, so I can't just abandone it, but I'd love to join you bunch...
Dr Bill - good point on lore, and the existing Warhammer market - I'd overlooked that.
Vel, please do spin up an alt! We'd love to have you!
Heh, Hi Soph! It may surprise you.. (not really) But I'm already in WAR. I am actually a collector's edition pre-start/Beta tester person. 2007 was Warhammer's 25th anniversary, and I've been following and playing the table top miniatures and roleplaying games for nearly that long.
So, needless to say, I'm a huge fan, and it's the lore that draws me to the game. And the fighting is a lot of fun. I will agree with you that it's not so much a 'beginners' MMO. You can learn a lot from the manual and stuff, but they don't really do a lot in game with teaching you the is and outs and how to play.
The character max is 10 characters per realm, and you can only play one side (Destruction or Order) on each realm. Since there are 10 classes per side right now (there are supposed to be 12 per side... the other 4 got cut a few months before release because they wouldn't be ready and will be added in later). I don't know if there's a maximum limit to characters per account, like WoW has a max of 50 characters.
Anyway, I'm in a guild of mostly old WoW players who rolled on Phoenix Throne for Destruction and Ostermark for Order, but I've got characters on other servers to play with other friends too. I'll be sure to roll someone on your server so's I can play with you too. :)
Okay, and edit: I just rolled up on Middenheim. Ali the Witch Hunter, and Ashuria the Archmage. I hope to see you there soon. :)
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