A Full Day of WAR
Ten Ton Hammer’s
Warhammer: Age of Reckoning Games Day Overview
By
Garrett Fuller
As the first in a series of three articles we will be running
about Games Workshop’s Games Day, I wanted to give my overall
impressions of the event while also talking about all the interesting
new monsters, landscapes and elements we saw from Mythic EA. The second
part of the series will be a write-up of the quiet, sit down chat I had
with Paul Barnett and Jeff Hickman, and the
third iteration will feature my interview with Mark Jacobs . I’m serious, it was a
quiet chat I had with Paul and Jeff! I swear Paul can be calm… I saw it! Honestly,
the guys gave an amazing interview about the game and the vision they
have for bringing Warhammer
to the MMO world. Without any more delay, let’s start with
the overview of Warhammer’s
Games Day event and my experience of the day of WAR!
Arriving at the Baltimore Convention Center, we saw loads of
crazed Warhammer
fans were already lined up to get in. Luckily, we got to enter a little
early due to our press credentials. Dave Taylor, the man who handled
the press for the event, met us at the gates and was kind enough to let
us walk around before the flood gates opened.
alt="Warhammer Booth" title="Warhammer Booth"
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A view of the Warhammer booth.
As we walked, Dave mentioned that the Games Workshop staff had
come in the day before and set up all the tables for the event, which I
estimated at around five hundred. Hats off to the Games Workshop crew
for preparing the painting, gaming, tournament, and display tables all
over the giant convention center. Dave had a busy day scheduled and we
didn’t get to see him after the morning, so I wanted to thank
him publicly for running a great show and keeping all the crazed
style="font-style: italic;">Warhammer fans
psyched and playing all day long. Well done, Dave, well done.
After talking with Dave, we made our way over to the Warhammer
Online booth. Located near the entrance of the center with huge flat
screen monitors and loads of gameplay stations, EA Mythic was prepared
to meet the masses. Twenty PvP computers were set up to run fights
between the factions of Order and Destruction. Players used Empire and
Dwarf characters on the Order side of things, while the Greenskins and
Chaos armies teamed up for Destruction.
The fans queued up at the gate for a chance to fight it out.
Players jumped on as Tier 2 characters (think along the lines of level
20 out of a possible 40 levels) and began to battle through different
scenarios in the game. For those who are not familiar with
style="font-style: italic;">Warhammer Online,
the scenarios are instanced RvR realms where teams of players fight it
out. Don’t get the wrong idea; the instanced
scenarios are a small part of the overall RvR mechanics that are being
put into Warhammer
Online.
We got to see players cheer, scream, and fight it out while
being coached by the EA Mythic staff. Alongside the fans, Paul Barnett,
Jeff Hickman, and Mark Jacobs were all on hand answering questions and
talking with anxious WAR followers! It was great to see a company whose
top guys put themselves out there with the masses to talk about their
game.
alt="Jeff Hickman-Entrance" title="Jeff Hickman-Entrance"
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Jeff Hickman making his entrance.
Not only did players get a chance to RvR against each other,
they also had the chance to play in some of the starter zones as
Empire, Dwarf, Greenskin, and Chaos characters. Unfortunately, not all
the classes from the Empire and Chaos realms were open yet; the Bright
Wizard was available for the Empire and the Zealot and Magus were there
for Chaos. Still, fans could take some time to explore starting zones,
fights some NPCs, do small quests and my personal
favorite…summon Squigs as my Squig Herder! It was a great
set up for players to experience both the RvR and regular play sides of
the game.
High noon heralded the first presentation by Paul Barnett and
Jeff Hickman, or what I’d like to refer to as the Paul and
Jeff comedy hour. Those guys are hilarious! Yes, these two individuals
gave two full presentations to fans who lined up quickly for the chance
to hear the latest on Warhammer
Online as well as ask the guys some questions.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Warhammer 40,000: Storm of Vengeance Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Game Page.
