Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

By Cody "Micajah" Bye, Managing Editor

The past few years for MMOG veterans have been action-packed, but there really hasn't been anything that could compare to the excitement many of us felt during the late summer / early fall of 2004 when the up-and-coming World of Warcraft took on the sequel to the incredibly popular EverQuest. On top of that, other big name titles like Star Wars Galaxies and Guild Wars were looming in the background, giving players other options to choose from as well. In retrospect, it was a perfect storm of massively multiplayer online gaming. Eventually, World of Warcraft won the battle, but the drama behind the whole situation was priceless.

Although solid games like Lord of the Rings Online and Pirates of the Burning Sea have been released recently, there really hasn't been a pair of blockbuster titles (unless you count Vanguard and the Burning Crusade) released at the same time since that fated 2004 match-up. Now nearly half a decade later, we're finally going to see a pair of games going head to head in the late summer / early fall of a given year: Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

Managing Editor Cody "Micajah" Bye thinks WAR has the recipe for success.

Most of us can assume that Blizzard will probably sell a few million copies of Wrath of the Lich King, but will we see Mythic's Warhammer Online garnering any sort of success? Will players be interested in purchasing this new MMORPG? Once they do, will they stay for more than that free month?

Those are the questions Danny "Ralsu" Gourley and I asked each other in our "round the water cooler" conversation we had a few days ago. Would WAR really be here to stay? Or would we be having a "where did all the player go" sort of situation a few months after the games release. While Danny played the devil's advocate and struck the chord of negativism, I was far more positive about the upcoming game. In my opinion, Mythic Entertainment has a winner on their hands, and we'll finally be seeing a game that can compete with - and maybe even defeat -  the reigning king of MMOG's.

Something a Little Different

First and foremost, we've seen time and time again that World of Warcraft is beginning to see some players that are itching to find a new MMOG to play. With every game that is released, WoW players seem to get continually more eager to try new titles. Nearly every game that's been released since the original launch of World of Warcraft has seen a migration of a number of players to the latest game, and each time a fair number of them stay with the particular game. While all of the other gamers have seen a large number of that WoW population travel back to the game, WAR does a few things that may increase their retention rate and keep those WoW players from going back to their game, namely among those is the idea of providing a gameplay evolution rather than a revolution.

Just like World of Warcraft did back in 2004, Warhammer Online is not trying to reinvent the wheel when it comes to gameplay. On the contrary, the developers at Warhammer Online seem to be expressly trying to improve the gameplay elements that they began in Dark Age of Camelot and have seen progress throughout the life of that game and modified in other MMOGs like WoW, EQ2, LOTRO, and AoC. In fact, Warhammer Online even bears a fairly striking resemblance to World of Warcraft, at least in the fact that the graphics are a bit more stylized than what players have seen in many other MMOGs (and this is also the general style of the Warhammer unverse). All of these elements should keep more players around WAR than in the previous games.

A Dedicated Unofficial Player Base

One of the elements that may have had the biggest influence in WoW's success - and looks to have a similar affect on the end results of WAR - is the idea of a dedicated fan base that will automatically be interested in the game and be one of the most vocal groups in attracting more players to the game. Just like WoW had in 2004, Warhammer Online already has a dedicated fan base that has been created through the exciting antics of the WAR developers (more on that later), the popularity and success of other Warhammer-based video games, and the sheer popularity of the Warhammer Online miniatures game.

The WAR developers have created a cult of personality all their own.

However, as we've seen many times in the past, it's not wholly about having a dedicated player base; it's also about having the ability to keep those players and then giving them the confidence to go out into the interwebs and spout their mouth about how "freakin' awesome" the game they're playing is. On the opposite side of the coin, Mythic also hopes to keep those angry, distracting, "vocal minority" people away from other interested players.

Mythic Entertainment has already created a particularly effective way of insuring that some players will go out into the world and voice their opinions while keeping those "nasties" away. As Mark Jacobs has said over and over again, Warhammer Online will never feature an official message board. Ever.

What does that mean? For many players and forum veterans, this veritably insures that a vast percentage of the negative element will be eliminated.  If you go on to any official message board, there are literally thousands of "negative" posts. The individuals that post are often those who want to "nerf X class" or "fix broken class Y" or "know how to design better than Josh Drescher" or......the list goes on and on and on. However, most of those individuals are only interested in the potential of having a developer see their post and give them their 30 seconds of fame. Although the WAR developers still post on various forums, there will never be the same sort of piss and bile on non-official forums compared to what's on any official boards.

Yet the contrary is almost true when it comes to the players that actually enjoy the MMOG their playing. While most complainers are simply looking for attention, those individuals who actually have constructive comments or simple compliments are willing to disperse them on any message board. Those are the individuals that are willing to spread the word of WAR, and those are the type of people that the WAR team has recruited with their online strategy.

The Competitive Edge

However, even with that fairly large fan base and a whole host of players that are willing to go out and spread the word of Warhammer Online, the developers have the monstrous task of actually insuring that all of those players that initially buy their game continue to play the title after a month of gameplay. Although we won't know whether gamers truly enjoy Warhammer Online until the game is actually released, there is one major portion of Warhammer Online that World of Warcraft will never be able to truly compare with, and that's the realm versus realm content.

For those that may not agree that realm versus realm content is a guaranteed draw for Warhammer Online, one must simply look back to the first title that Mythic released with realm versus realm combat, Dark Age of Camelot. Back when DAOC was released, EverQuest was the reigning king of the MMOG hill and many expected DAOC to be totally destroyed by EQs popularity. However, with DAOC's RvR content, the developers eked out there own chunk of players that truly enjoyed their content. Due to EverQuest's lack of true PvP content, Dark Age of Camelot really grasped that particular chunk of the market.

Like EverQuest, World of Warcraft doesn't have a truly integrated PvP environment like Warhammer Online. WoW does have more PvP options then EverQuest did, but it still doesn't compare with the thoroughly integrated PvP experience that WAR claims. The realm versus realm content and the powerful immersion that it creates will keep players playing WAR for many years.

Add a Dash of the Untouchable

Will WAR really succeed? We'll have to wait and see.

Warhammer Online - to this editor anyway - has that same touch of the undefinable "power" that World of Warcraft did when that game was first released. Although it's certainly a position that will bring up a lot of arguments, I think many MMOG aficionados would agree with me. As Warhammer Online continues to draw closer to their release date, writers and editors all over the internet continue to sing the praises of this upcoming game.

While the majority of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, there were dozens of articles pushing out of popular websites that sang the praises of WAR. If you read the recent gameplay blogs of our WAR community site managers, you'll see just what I'm talking about. WAR continues to spread, and thousands - if not millions - of players are just itching to jump into that world.

In addition to all the articles coming out, an individual can't deny the sheer exuberance, passion, and creative lust that seems to exude out of all the Warhammer Online developers. Mark Jacobs, Paul Barnett, Jeff Hickman, Josh Drescher, and the many other WAR developers have done everything they could to drive the hype of their game to astronomical levels. If you haven't been paying attention, just check out all of these WAR videos to see what I'm talking about. 

The Perfect Storm

Finally, I think Warhammer Online is striking at exactly the right time in the MMO market. Although Age of Conan may have hit things first, Warhammer Online jumps in before the release of Wrath of the Lich King and the rest of the late 2008 releases and the PR extravaganza that is BlizzCon. Perfect timing and perfect hype - and by all accounts really exceptional gameplay - and Warhammer Online should have nothing but the recipe for success.