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

By Cody “Micajah” Bye – Managing Editor

The smell of salivating MMOG players is in the air. The open beta for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is only days away, and the beta keys are beginning to creep out of their caverns. Soon, players from across the globe will be bunny-hopping their way to success in RvR and plowing through Public Quests with their guilds. But what should you be doing while you’re in the open beta? With only a few days of actual game time available before the headstart kicks off, gamers need to have an idea of what they should really set their sights on before jumping into the open beta.

In WAR's open beta, you could try out all the different characters.

After having my own experience with the game, I’ve come up with a number of suggestions for inspired testers and what they can do to enjoy their time in the Warhammer world. As always, this is a truncated list – many other options are available – so if you have any other ideas, feel free to drop me a line in the forums.

Try Out the Different Characters

Although many gamers are sure that they have their mind made up on a particular class before they even enter the game, it’s in many gamer’s best interest to really try out a variety of classes during the open beta. Rather than spend all of your time leveling up your White Lion only to have your character wiped in a few days time, why not jump onto a Dwarven Engineer to see how their mechanics work? Or perhaps Order isn’t your cup of tea. Take a crack at a Squig Herder or a Zealot, they’re both interesting characters to play.

With six races and twenty classes available for players to choose from, there probably won’t be enough time in the open beta to even try out every class, but don’t let that undermine your efforts. Most classes can be “felt out” within an hour or two of play, and that should really give you a good foundation of what you’d like to try when WAR goes live.

Get a Feel for RvR

If you’ve already gotten a handle on your preferred class, perhaps you should really focus your attentions on RvR. Unlike PvE, tactics and strategies are alive and kicking in RvR, and the players that have the best methods going into battle will be victorious. Even if you’ve spent hours upon hours trying the classes on for size, rest assured there is even more to learn once you get into RvR. Perhaps you’ll find your true RvR partner in a random open beta skirmish. Or maybe you’ll find the one trick that allows your Chosen to absolutely gank the competition.

Planning an opening day strategy during open beta isn't a bad idea.

If you’re in a guild already, perhaps you should spend your time getting your perfect group together, one that will decimate everyone standing in your way. Even lone warriors can find some new strategies in their RvR tactics and collect some major trophies; there could be the best hiding place in the game waiting for you to find it in the open beta. RvR is the major feature in this game, so don’t ignore it!

Plan Your Opening Day Strategy

To say that the headstart weekend will be hectic is an understatement. Thousands of WAR players will be flooding into the realms, vying for the fattest pieces of loot and ripping the innards out of each other as soon as the servers go live. For those of you that haven’t played through an opening weekend, you’ll need to maximize your time in the world. Having a strategy before you enter the hallowed halls of WAR will push you ahead of the competition and insure your place of status and respect on your server.

So how do you plan a strategy? Find out what’s important to you, and make sure you attempt it right out of the gates. Do you enjoy RvR? Do it from the get go. Exploration? Find every nook and cranny in the world. Leveling the fastest? Go for it. Crafting? Gather your resources and craft away.

This may seem like a simple course of action, but so many players (Editor’s Note: And writers!) lose focus of their objectives when faced with lots of distractions. Cut away everything else and simply do what you do best.

Check Out the Public Quests

As I stated in my preview, the Public Quests in WAR are fantastic. Every time I jumped into a new area, I was eager to find the nearest PQ. If you’ve already established your class, know RvR forwards-and-back, and have your strategy all set, you’re obviously way ahead of the game. Rather than simply churn your wheels doing more of the same, go out of your way to explore every Public Quest you can find.

If you're not doing something strategic, try out a bunch of the Public Quests.

Hunting around Nordland? Go check out the Raven Host Vanguard PQ. Or perhaps the hunting ground of Ekrund is more your style? Then try your hand at Goldfist's Hole Recovery. If those two aren’t enough, go take a wack at Ugrog's Rage in Mount Bloodhorn. That should sate your PQ appetite. It’s a wonderfully fun system, and I would encourage everyone to try out as many as they can.

Test on the Elder Server

For those of you that have been playing on the Elder Server for the past few months, please continue toiling away on the content in those areas. While the rest of us will be merrily bouncing away in the open beta, you can be helping to find those last few bugs that mean gaming or no gaming for the rest of us. Without you, the game wouldn’t be anything like it is today.

Truthfully, we owe this open beta to the Elder Testers. In forum threads we may have cursed them for being able to play longer and more often than the rest of us, but it’s been their hard work (along with the WAR devs) that has made this all possible.

Thanks Elder Testers. Ten Ton Hammer salutes you.

So what do you think? Are you going to take any of these approaches in the open beta? Or are you going to do something completely different? Let us know on the forums!