Anxst

So, I quit WoW a few months back, feeling just burnt out. I'd log in and go through the motions, but I wasn't having fun anymore.

I'd heard a bit about Warhammer Online in the past, but hadn't paid a lot of attention, despite having played Warhammer 40k (the tabletop figurines game) for years in my youth.

Then suddenly, I got slapped upside the head by a friend with



Yep, that's a screenshot from over a year ago, and the game isn't even out yet. That Chosen looks bad ass.

Even better, we have



the ultra cool witch hunter. He's been making Puritan hats sexy since 1984.

So, I looked into the game a bunch more. It's being made by Mythic, who I loved for RvR in DAoC. They say they learned from all their DAoC mistakes (Trials of Atlantis, anyone?) and have made the best game they can make.

I think the video shows the best game they can make is damned pretty.

You can see it Here

I preordered a Collector's Edition just before they sold out using the last of my birthday money. So, what have folks heard? What do you think?

And most of all, who else from TFP is going to be there?

__________________
Work is the curse of the drinking class. - Oscar Wilde, Irishman Extraordinaire
Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness. - Terry Pratchett

CyCo PL

I've heard bad things about it, but one of my friends just got into beta so I'll see what he thinks about it.

Anxst

Uh oh. What kind of bad things? All the stuff I've found, regarding the public quests, grouping systems, and RvR, sound pretty cool.

__________________
Work is the curse of the drinking class. - Oscar Wilde, Irishman Extraordinaire
Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness. - Terry Pratchett

Dragonlich

I heard that they have dropped a few classes, because the game wasn't going to be finished in time otherwise. Some of those classes were pretty major. They have also dropped a few capital cities, which has a big impact on the game (given that one of the main features is that you can conquer said cities). These things will probably be added in a patch/expansion later. I haven't got the details right now, and could be wrong (I've read an article a few weeks ago).

Personally, I think I'd prefer a 40K game. But this might also be fun. Of course, I try to stay away from internet gaming; I know I'll get addicted, which is bad for my health.

Anxst

I can understand the concerns. However, I've seen a number of interviews with the game developers stating that they dropped the 4 classes because with the way they were built, they just weren't fun to play. Rather than releasing unfun classes, thay've decided to cut them and either drop them altogether or rework them for release at a later date by expansion or patch.

With the cities, they stated they dropped 4 of them so they could focus on making the 2 they are including as kick ass as can be, or the game wouldn't have released when they wanted. They also stated that as long as they had the mechanics up and running correctly they were okay with that.

I got the feeling from how they were talking they were unhappy with it themselves, but games have to come out eventually. I think such cuts get made in many games, but most of them aren't as communicative about it. It seemed as if they knew their plans had overreached their grasp, and they were simply informing the fans of it.

Maybe I'm just in love with the idea of the game, and therefore can't see the flaws as well as others. I dunno.

__________________
Work is the curse of the drinking class. - Oscar Wilde, Irishman Extraordinaire
Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness. - Terry Pratchett

Apokx

I got into the closed beta, played for two hours and promptly uninstalled.

reconmike

I am looking forward to release, I played DAOC for years when my entire guild went to WoW, I followed and played for a year, what a waste of a year. I reactivated my DAOC accounts and am still playing untill War comes out. Mythic has the best PvP system of any mmo released. I am just hoping that war has a /stick command because all that dancing around while in melee combat like in WoW is quite annoying.

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Anxst

Ugh. I know you're under the NDA, so you can't give my any details, but that doesn't sound good.

__________________
Work is the curse of the drinking class. - Oscar Wilde, Irishman Extraordinaire
Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness. - Terry Pratchett

Nisses

No NDA on me. Tried with the login of a friend, so to them.

I have to agree with Apokx, I tried it for one evening, and then deleted the whole thing.
It was bland, actually fairly empty and clean as far as areas go

And the interface for classes was nothing new either.


Mind you, this *is* almost a year ago. I can't say what it's like now. I'll keep my eye on it when it releases, might end up being a good game.

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Anxst

Well, I shall see how it goes. My pre-order of the Collector's Edition gets me into the open beta just before release, so if it truly seems horrible I can always cancel before my order ships.

Still, many of the Beta testers (who are under the NDA) have stated general things that make it sound as if they think the game is incredibly good. The NDA should come down soon, too, so we'll see what folks have to say at that time.

__________________
Work is the curse of the drinking class. - Oscar Wilde, Irishman Extraordinaire
Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness. - Terry Pratchett

Great_White

When I saw this at E3 it seemed pretty promising. But obviously playing with a dev and closed beta might be very different.


Also, if youre looking for a new MMO now, you should give Vanguard a go. At launch it was fucking awful shit, but last month they had a free month to people with old accounts, and I gotta say, I'm hooked on this. The improvements have been outstanding.

Seaver

For those of you that played one day and quit... you don't get it.

Dark Age of Camelot sucked for 49 levels... and was mind-blowingly awesome at lvl 50. The RvR (not PvP) is Realm vs. Realm. The ENTIRE server would mobilize for epic battles. Remember when PvP first started in WoW at that farm? Imagine that on steroids.... on a daily basis with guilds and alliances (up to 12 guilds) which are very well organized to take and defend keeps.

Imagine if an entire continent could be captured, and defended against instead of the "don't hit me" zones every 200 yards. Guilds worked with (most of the time at least) each other to accomplish goals. There were no afk rp-pharmers, there were no /afk droppers. Holding a keep with 8 people against 50+ occurred quite often as long as the defenders were organized.

I'm in closed Beta. I will say that it's on par with WoW PvE right now (no raiding yet). That is NOT where the game shines... the game shines in the RvR and the classes reflect it.

For example... Taunts. Taunts work in RvR, not by forcing them to attack the tanks... but lowering the damage (30% at the moment) they deal to anyone BUT the one taunting. This causes defensive tanks to become very powerful by one minor change.

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You, sir, need to drink more bourbon and be less married.

Anxst

Now THAT"S what I was hoping for. I loved RvR (RR4 Cave Shammy before ToA hit and I gave it up) and I was lookign forward to it again, and in the Warhammer universe no less!

Is the PvE at least passable, though? Sounds like most folks who gave it a try really didn't care for it, and I do rather like a bit of PvE from time to time.

__________________
Work is the curse of the drinking class. - Oscar Wilde, Irishman Extraordinaire
Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness. - Terry Pratchett

Seaver

PvE is actually "better" than WoW. I say it with quotations because it is WoW... but evolved. It's by no means revolutionary, but it's been built upon a very good system. They took the quest-giver sign, the map, and the quest log at the side of the screen from WoW. However it has evolved beyond it. You can see on your map and mini-map red borders in which the quests take place. So no more server-wide spamming of "where is this damn bug?" or whatever they can't find. Also, if you've already killed 6 bugs on your way to a quest area and return to get a quest where you have to go kill said bugs 20 times.... the 6 you've already killed are saved and you have that head start. In addition if a quest asks for 10 bandit heads, you don't have to kill 30 of them in order for the random quest head to drop 10 times. Kill one you get one.

Where it shines PvE wise are the Public Quests. No camp-stealers or anything you need to worry about. Public quests have 2-6 (so far) stages where it gets progressively harder. For example, orcs are landing in the High Elf area on a beach head. You as an Elf have to fight off waves of Orcs, supported by your NPCs. Each wave brings harder opponents, requiring more people to complete (time runs out and the PQ resets). So instead of competing others to kill the most for drops, you're working in tandem to finish it together... regardless if you're grouped or not. The final boss(s) drop decent loot, but the best loot for the level come with renown. You gain renown by participating in the quest. If you come just as the boss gets killed, you get very little renown of course and are not treated the same as someone who gets an invite at the last second. Said renown have merchants which you have a choice of armor/etc for your class. Also, your points for that round are tallied by your abilities used, and are ranked using bonus points in your random loot roll on the final boss. So if you've been afk you stand VERY little chance of a loot drop. Loot drops are a "bag" which gives the appropriate loot to your class if you win it.

None of this is NDA secret, it's available in lots of videos.

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You, sir, need to drink more bourbon and be less married.

Apokx

WAR isnt better than WoW in any sense of pve. They copy/pasted the basic elements of WoW(poorly), and the only real difference will be the rvr stuff. If you're as nitpicky as I am about alot of stuff (graphics, animations, ability types and classes) you won't be impressed.

Seaver, why would you play DaOC if it sucked for the first 49 levels just to enjoy the end-game? I would say WoWs strongest point is the 1-69 game. The leveling and quests(and areas you do them in) are just so interesting, and while the graphics arent the best, WoW definately has its own style that many people find appealing. WAR has none of that. They copy/pasted and came up with a mediocre game.

Obviously something is up if people are saying the RVR makes up for everything else.

btw, my closed beta account was less than two weeks ago, so its the newest build that I played.

Seaver

I joined after seeing how much fun the endgame of DAoC was. WoW was ONLY fun during the 1-59 level, at 60 they had nothing to offer. Even when PvP was released it was horrid, the classes were designed for PvE and in no way resembled PvP balance. DAoC had only mediocre stuff 1-49, and at 50 it was amazing. It had some balance issues, to which no one will lie. However playing WAR the classes seem very well balanced and reflect the focus on RvR.

Have you tried the Public Quests? Have you tried RvR? Be honest and tell us how long you played the game? If you play it for under 20 levels you can't pass judgement as you won't find a single MMO which gets good before then.

I remember reading the same stuff regarding WoW from EQ'ers. WoW was not revolutionary, and neither is WAR. Honestly, nothing in MMO's have been revolutionary since UO. You say you're nitpicky, I say you're going in with pre-conceived notions. The similarities between the WoW and WAR universe immediately give credence to those who say it's a copy/paste. It looks very similar because Warcraft was designed around Warhammer (couldn't get the rights).

I'm not saying it's the second coming, but I'm sold on it, and all of our old DAoC guild have had a blast with the RvR. I

__________________
You, sir, need to drink more bourbon and be less married.

Apokx

WoW was revolutionary in the fact that it was fun. I played EQ for about four years, and tbh, I hated everything about it. The boring grinding, the horrid graphics(Luclin was the worst thing I've ever seen that was meant to be an upgrade) the AA system, and the raiding. The PVP system was laughable at best. The only alternatives to EQ however were Shadowbane(rofl), FFXI, DaoC, and some other trash I can't even remember the names of.

WoW comes out, and is a breath of fresh air. Doesen't look horrible, the gameplay is enjoyable, it was fantasy based(mostly, until they started adding stupid crap like the space goats), and had a pvp system that worked for the most part. Even past the "new game" stage, I enjoyed myself quite alot.

As for WAR:
I did one of the public quests entirely until I was capped on whatever the currency was you used to buy the items(I got a 2hander I think). I didnt do RVR(didnt stay interested long enough to do anything but uninstall and I havent looked back), I played it long enough to get my Chosen to level 8 or 10 or somewhere around there(btw their class abilities are rather uninteresting. The skill system reminded me of Guild Wars).

Yes, I can and will judge a game based on the first 20 levels. If you design a game where the majority of the game is terrible, and focus on making the last 5% of your content worthwhile, you failed. Most games dont let people create a character and immediately jump into the end-game. You have to play it first. WAR does not play well.
Somehow trading NPCS for players wouldnt improve the experience for me, it's still not enjoyable.

If you really think WAR is best because of what RVR provides, they should have just skipped the PVE and let people jump right into the action. It wouldnt have improved my opinion at all, but then I could gladly say I did everything that WAR has to offer.

People burned out on WoW and thinking WAR will replace WoW for you, it will not. It will be another Age of Conan that will keep your attention for a couple months at best. A few of you may enjoy it and stick with it until it dies(Hi people who still play EQ) and thats fine. You will likely buy it anyway.

If you really enjoy WAR thats fine, but it's going to be a niche game. Most people who buy it probably wont stay more than a couple months.

Nisses

Apokx:

Seems from your input that the part of the game that I played has hardly changed in the last year.
I agree 100% that they need to make the game itself fun and engaging, not just the endgame.

Why would I want to buy a game and then have to spend 50+ hours "working" my way through it before I can actually enjoy it?
To learn to play the character? Control is roughly the same in every MMO and so are the skills.

Either give the option to skip it, or make it enjoyable.

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Zeraph

I like to hold my opinion until it's out, but I'll definitely be looking into it. I like mythic, and I like WH.

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what lack of sound compare
to a snowfall from dark air
falling quietly to sea?"

Anxst

Well, they announced 09/18/08 as the release date, and as a CE preorder person I gte into the closed beta sometime next week. The NDA is set to come down shortly after, and once it does I'll write up a full review here.

__________________
Work is the curse of the drinking class. - Oscar Wilde, Irishman Extraordinaire
Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness. - Terry Pratchett

Raptor20561

sounds good! hope this game lives up to the hype. My friend says the only reason they're rushing the release now is because of the popularity of WoW

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Catdaddy33

I am interested in the game, but will probably wait until the game has been out a couple of months before making a decision to buy or not. I'm still cooling the burn that I got from Age of Conan earlier this year.

Seaver

My money would be on the fact that it was originally geared to be released almost a year ago and the purse strings are being tightened.

__________________
You, sir, need to drink more bourbon and be less married.

Catdaddy33

I'd say it's a mix of both $$ and trying to beat the WoW expansion to release.