Ten Ton Hammer's Four Great Reasons to Look Forward to WAR

by Brock "Brokain" Ferguson

Continuing yesterdays look into some great reasons to look forward to WAR, we pick up where we left off at reason 3...

Sense of Purpose

Nothing makes a game better than when the actions of your character have a direct effect, no matter how small, on the world around you and when those actions result in some sort of change. Everyone wants to be able to be a part of something bigger in these MMOG worlds that we escape to. When you do a quest and then the guy behind you turns in the same exact quest, you get that feeling that it was nothing more than a scripted event that anyone could do and it kind of messes with the “I’m the Mighty Hero!” immersion thing you had going on. So your purpose becomes to just finish all the quests, to get the super magical item, to level, to *yawwwwwwwn*. You just don’t have any real effect on the world around you and at higher levels, it can suck the interest of playing the game right out of you. But what if those quests meant something? What if your actions in the world had a direct effect and caused change to your environment? NOW you have a sense of purpose. NOW you have a real reason to play!

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is about war. It’s about two factions trying to beat the unholy living hell out of each other and WIN! As such, everything you do, everything, will have an effect that will benefit your faction in the war effort. Think about that. How fun is that idea? Trust me, it’s great fun. Star Wars Galaxies did something similar when it released its GCW (Galactic Civil War) update mid game. Suddenly, you could affect the faction of your planet based on your Rebel/Imperial actions, how many faction bases you had placed at any one time, etc. It revived the game for many players who were just going through the motions. You were doing “bunker busting” raids nightly on Rebel/Imperial bases, attempting to turn the tide and establish your factions dominance over the planet.

In WAR, you’re trying to gain supremacy over your zone. If you dominate all four tier zones? You get the chance to sack the opposition’s city and even possibly kill their king. However, it’s not going to be that easy. The folks on the opposite faction can destroy your dreams of plunder by taking away even one of the tier zones, so you have to constantly keep working to maintain your dominance over that zone. THIS is what I’m talking about. The players have the ability to affect change over their environment and when that happens, the game takes on a whole new life.

Adherence to the IP/Background Lore

This is probably the single most important aspect of making a game out of a well known and well loved property. Warhammer has a bazillion fans worldwide and they define the word “intense”. You have to be to be involved in this game. It takes an immense amount of time, more money than your average tabletop game, and a decent amount of effort to build your army. Warhammer manages to blur the line between game and hobby rather well. A properly painted army, complete with adaptations and additions to the figurine, makes for an impressive and intimidating foe. Add to the armies a well constructed and planned out battle field and you have something that seems less of a game and more of a work of art. There isn’t a tabletop gamer out there who hasn’t been exposed to Warhammer miniatures in his/her local gaming shop and thought “MAN! I really wish my miniatures looked that good!” or “Holy crap! Take a look at that battlefield! How cool does that look?” Warhammer miniatures look bad ass, the battlefields are awesome, and the background lore is rich and detailed. It really is an awesome tabletop game.

So, how do you do justice in bringing a game like this into the virtual world? It’s a simple concept that many have failed to execute. You stick to the IP. An IP is well loved and popular for a reason, don’t change it and you’ll do well. Apparently, the folks at EA Mythic thought “Hey, that’s a good idea” and they started working closely with the IP’s owner and creator, Games Workshops. Anything they do, it gets run by Games Workshops. They want to make a change in the IP for gaming purposes; they get the ok from Games Workshops. They need a design idea for characters, they talk to Games Workshops. See a trend here? And guess what? The fans LOVE this. They love knowing that the game that they’re going to play adheres closely to the lore, to the look of the game they’ve invested so much time in. The people who don’t play Warhammer? Well, they’re taken in by the things the fans of Warhammer have come to love over the years; the rich history of the world, the look of Chaos and its minions, the clearly defined roles of good and evil. By sticking with the IP/Background lore, EA Mythic is managing to create a game that will attract players for years to come.

There are a lot of reasons to be excited about Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. It has the potential to impact the industry like WoW has done. It has the potential to make PvP more popular than it has been in the past. It has the potential to introduce thousands of Warhammer fans to the world they love in a virtual form. However, there have been a lot of games that had the potential to do a lot of things that they never lived up to. You just never can tell until launch... but based on the four things I've listed? I think things are looking pretty good for EA Mythic and Warhammer Online.

Disagree with the things I think make WAR so great? Let me know about in the Ten Ton Hammer Forums.

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