Warhammer Online: A Waaaghview
Updated Mon, Nov 10, 2008 by Coyote
Some wars are simply engrained within us. They are part of our nature, our mentality, our very way of life and they seldom need to be explained past their initial mentioning:
Darkness versus Light.
Good versus Evil.
Fat Kid versus Cupcake.
These are the age old battles that drive the forces behind Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.
Except, ya know...without the cupcakes. At least *I* haven't seen any cupcakes as of yet, but admittedly I'm still very new to the game and might not have made it to that particular zone. The newest MMOG to hit the market, Warhammer has been given the same title that countless games before it (6) have proudly tried to bear:
The WoW Slayer.
It seems that no game being created is done so out of purity or love for adventure anymore. No one wants to be the best in their particular genre, or happy with a modest following from the playerbase.
Everyone wants to be King.
They want to knock World of Warcraft off of its throne, claim the largest portion of the population and be crowned ruler of the geek people. Age of Conan, Vanguard, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings - all of these games at one time or another have strapped on their God slayer banner, and all of them have officially failed harder than an Alabama Spelling Bee. And like all of these games, Warhammer has been thrust into the light as the next best thing. But UNLIKE all of these games...
Warhammer just might have a chance.
Storyline
The face of the land is changing, the Gods are pulling strings and empowering their avatars and the world has been thrown into turmoil. Armies have been raised, combined, and split violently down the middle as the forces of Order clash in the heat of battle with the soldiers of Chaos.
Humans, Dwarves and Elves band together in hopes of shining the light of good into the heart of darkness as they face down the hoards of Darkness. Orcs, Dark Elves, and Chaos twisted men and women who follow the path of Destruction stand in the way of hope and salvation as they try to wrest control of the very land upon which they stand.
Who will win you may ask?
That's easy.
Destruction. DUH.
Because good is dumb.
Game Play
Warhammer's twist on the MMOG world looks like just any other online game at first glance. Player Verses Player opt ins and contested zones, and quests to further your level to make you stronger than your foe.
But looks can be deceiving.
Deeper game play shows you that while the formula may look the same, unique twists can give it an entirely "new" flavor, regardless to how familiar it may look.
Realm Verses Realm is simply part of this game. If you hate PvP and being jumped by gangs of the opposite team looking to hunt you down - then this game is NOT for you. While not every zone is flagged for side verse side combat, and there are plenty of areas in which you can play peacefully...
...the name of this game is WAR for a reason.
You are at war, and even if you are the most devout pacifist, you will find yourself thrust into the fray for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And what is the worst part of PvP? Some level 50 war monger coming to the newbie zone and destroying all that he sees as he laughs like a bully, right?
WRONG.
In Warhammer, you WELCOME that.
Because that bastard is in for a bit of a surprise.
Newbie Zones are full of combat, contested locations and bonuses for taking or defending key landmarks. But they are also full of win and bunnies in the fact that if you are above the "tier" for that zone and you feel like picking on the weak and the young...
Your ass gets turned into a chicken.
That's right. A level one CHICKEN.
BAAAWWWKAAAWWWK MOTHER F***ER!
And as much as it pains me to share this knowledge as I don't want those inclined to killing noobies to find out online, but instead in combat - I love this mechanic.
LOVE it.
In other games there are restrictions, no combat rules, and limitations for level - but in Warhammer Online? Your ass gets turned into a chicken and you're suddenly left finger licking vulnerable.
Add in workable weapons such as catapults and ballista throwers that give you a sniper scope and a chance to impale some stunty that wanders his bearded ass too close to your base camp...
...and the game just continues to surprise and delight.
Conclusion
It's too early to rate the game at this point, I'm sorry to say.
While the game has some amazing aspects that make me want to play, it has some weaknesses that annoy me to no end wrapped in an air of "Wowishness" to the graphics and characters.
Chat functions are limited with no personal channels for friends to chat out of character, no voice chat yet - which in THIS day and age should be a standard part of ANY MMOG release - and you sometimes get the feeling that you've done this all before. Tomorrow we'll get into the races that make up the game (Destruction and Order) and we'll work towards that final grade, if such a thing is even possible in an MMOG.
But as it stands, Warhammer has definitely caught my attention and is worth checking out as it has done the one thing that no other MMOG to date has inspired me to do:
I'm playing a bad guy.
Dat's right. Da boyz gots demselves a Coyote.
If you've got a problem with that, join the Order and DO something about it, because if there is ONE indestructable player in the game - he's in MY guild and cannot be killed by ANYONE, even if you were to get a group of players and hunt him down DAY AND NIGHT NON-STOP and pay me for his character name so that you can try to kill him every time he logs in. He laughs at you and then hits on your mom.
And like me, he's a CoW. Moo bitches. Moo.
-Coyote
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Normally I hate pvp. In WoW I sorta enjoyed BGs etc but Id never play on a red server. Ever.
WaR however, PvP, or RvR as its known, is just so well done. Its not an afterthought. Its not bolted onto an essentially pve game.
It doesnt even feel like pvp, and I surprised myself by loving it.
Madhog Says:
September 24th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Normally I hate pvp. In WoW I sorta enjoyed BGs etc but Id never play on a red server. Ever.
WaR however, PvP, or RvR as its known, is just so well done. Its not an afterthought. Its not bolted onto an essentially pve game.
It doesnt even feel like pvp, and I surprised myself by loving it.
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I feel the same way about pvp that you do Mad, and I love it in WaR. Its great and your are right it doesn't feel like its tacked on. I love this game its only drawback is that it's feeding my alt addiction something fierce!
And Coyote you can make private chat channels just type /channel "insert channel name" Only it doesn't persist in your UI yet (I hope they make it permanent) and you have to make/connect to it again every time you log in.
Stop being racist Kuane sheesh.
*giggle*
On a serious note, the game just feels more finished than almost all games Ive played just after release, and Mark Jacobs, well he just rocks.
I aint linking it but theres a funny and interesting article on the bbc news website about english v yank teeth Coyote....
I "brick-walled" in WoW at lvl 70. I took some time off only to come back and find my guild in ruin. Was I the glue? Nah.
I'm hope the upcoming Lich King release will help me get back into it this winter.
Moo!
Let me just reconfirm that Keep sieges are the best. Better than best. Also, there's nothing wrong with 1:30am gameplay...
*yawn
Hah day off sick my ass!
Its a great game though, and imo its a wow beater, cos I cancelled wow. Just sucks we get Goa.
When I saw the fat kid from Wonka and the title of the article, I thought the picture was going to be referencing how you reacted to Warhammer like that fat kid did to the river of fudge...
I might have to try this game after I finish moving, setting up my computer and getting internet access...if I ever get a #(%& closing date
The other reason to love this is Mythic and Mr Jacobs. I know if you aint seen this Coy, you will love it...
http://onlinegamesareanichemarket.wordpress.com/2008/09/21/a-banning-we-...
Even the title of his blog rocks!
Coyote, at this rate, you will NEVER get your epic.
Bah. EQ2 is still my baby and my true love.
But I'm kinda ya know..PAID to talk about video games, so I gotta try'em all.
Why does it feel so wrong to stop playing a game and playing a new one...
Games are like women, we should chop and change as we see fit!
Ok ok I wish too, snice to dream tho.
Seeing the spammers getting so publically booted is a hoot- and Mythic is doing a good job at killing spam =)
Plus, the title rewards are awesome (I am running around with the Order title "Pirate", destruction side gets Ninja- OMG!!! Coyote is a closet Ninja!!).
You get Titles and XP for really impressive feats such as getting killed 10X by the same mob, looting so much crap, logging in succesfully 5X, verifying your email account, puttingpeople on /ignore...
Game is full of win =)
Bah! I played WoW for four years....I miss it, but I will admit that WAR sounds fun....Coyoute I am excited to hear more from you.
Moo?
Moo.
MOO!
I have been bitten by the Warcraft bug. I admit it. I even put EQ behind me. Warhammer does sound like a lot of fun though! I will pick it up when Target clearences it out like how I pick up most of my MMORPG's :)
Then again the tales stormshaedow is sharing with me sounds amazing and makes me want to pick it up sooner. He sure is evil.
Just an FYI here. You can create your own chat channels in Warhammer. If you want a channel for you and your friends to hang out in for ooc chat then just create one.
MOO! *stab* Public Quests plus Keep sieging equals just pure fun.
You know why there will never be a WoW killer? Because the people that were excited about "Age of Conan, Vanguard, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings" and now Warhammer are all MMO people. Like you said, EQ2 is your home. WoW did as well as it did because they managed to collect a playerbase of people that, before WoW, didn't give a damn about MMO's. Me? I like shooter games. A few people in my guild play WoW because they were fans of it's RTS predecessors. When WoW started scooping people like us up, the MMO world got excited, because they assumed after we got tired of WoW we'd try out other MMO's. A few of us did, but the huge majority are going back to other genres, because MMO's just aren't our bag. I'm looking forward to Diablo 3, Postal 3, and the PC release of GTA4. And other than Wrath of the Lich King, I really couldn't care less about what's happening in the MMO world. So yeah, eventually Blizzard will move on to something else (World of Starcraft, Rock n Roll Racing II), WoW's playerbase will decline, and something will come along to then overtake their faltering position. But to think that that all 8 million WoW players are just waiting to jump on the next big MMO is just a fantasy (yes, I realize a big portion of that 8 million is overseas, but how many of them are gold farmers? Are all those gold farmers going to stay in business once American gamers [and their money] move on?).
Coyote, are you writing on other sites? I had a Liberal friend send me this article, and I'd swear it was written by you.
I do not agree nor disagree with everything in the following article, but I believe Coyote has been moonlighting on another site. This article has the "Coyote" style (or a copy-cat) written all over it)!
http://www.cracked.com/article_16656_6-brainwashing-techniques-theyre-us...
It's obviously written with an Obama slant, but ignoring that, it has some excellent points. So is readable by everyone.
veaudaux, you have it exactly right. i was a die hard Warcraft player, C&C addict and Age of Empires, even a bit of Empire earth. Now if they could bring AoE or C&C to the MMO world I would play. But the truth remains I am an RTS player and always will be. That said, how many people play Warhammer 40k. There is a huge player base for this. so we will see if WAR can unseat the mighty WoW.
Anybody who uses the phrase "WoW-killer" (or any other MMO killer) deserves to be drug out into the street and shot. No MMO has ever killed any other. Every MMO has the same life cycle: a rapid increase in subscription numbers, whether "rapid" means "months" or "years", followed by a steady decline. How rapid the increase depends on how polished the initial game is; how steady the decline depends on how deep the gameplay and how polished the added content. One factor that NEVER comes into play is "release of another MMO."
Also, WAR has the EXACT same things going for it that WoW did: a built-in non-MMO playerbase (WoW had the warcraft RTS juggernaut, WAR has the offline Warhammer table top players) and a developer who knows what they're doing (Blizzard needs no introduction, and Mythic developed DAoC which was one of the most successful pre-WoW MMOs).
So where can we find the legendary coyote, so we can a kill him or B. join him
@ Taea 1:30am? You lightweight.
;)