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For the last time, WAR is not WOW.
akita47
Member Posts: 7
It just isn't.
Got to finally play Warhammer at the Camelot Roundtable in Vegas.
It's looking good so far. Visually it's impressive, particularly the character models and the armor. It doesn't look at all like WoW, by the way - the only thing even slightly inviting the comparison are the presentation on a couple of the screenshots, and it has dwarves and orcs (even though the orcs look almost nothing like Warcraft orcs except skin color). It actually looks pretty much unique in the MMO genre, and very cool. I look forward to playing with character customization - one of the orcs I played had a goat skull mounted on his shoulder. Very detailed, very cool, shame it wasn't a dwarf skull though.
As far as controls go, it's going to take some getting used to. It invites a comparison to DAoC here, with momentum preventing immediate stops, and acceleration so it takes a moment to get up to speed. It isn't as pronounced as in DAoC, but it's definitely there. You CAN strafe while moving forward in Warhammer, unlike in DAoC, and as far as I know it won't impact your ability to deal damage. Collision Detection is one of the the major new features here - if you run into another player you stop. I only really saw this in action once, where I was trying to get past an enemy and was prevented from doing so for a good 8-10 seconds. Player fears that it'd just be like sliding along a zone line and therefore would not impact anything appear unfounded; I didn't get a close enough look to say what the exact mechanism is, but it was pretty clear that even one guy really trying could keep you from moving past if he really focused on it. One more thing worth noting - there's a turn radius while moving. This won't come into play if you tend to move your character like a real person, but if you like to jump up and spin with your mouse at 500 rotations per minute, well, tough. To be clear: most people won't even notice this happening, unless you're trying to spin at unrealistically high speeds while running full out. /stick and /face are out, though I didn't group so I didn't get a chance to see if there was a /assist command. My main concern at this point is how tanks are going to prevent casters from just kiting them - casters certainly can't turn around and cast on you while kiting, but they can neutralize your damage pretty effectively.
Combat is a hard one to judge, since a lot of what I saw could just be because I was playing characters that are only about 3/4 of the way through the progression, and gear was pretty much nonexistent, and also I was thrown into a relatively high level character with no prior experience. It seems very fast paced, with a lot to keep track of. Using skills is pretty much button spamming... or would be, except that "Action Points" (endurance or mana, except you have a very small pool of it and it regenerates very fast even in combat) prove to be a rather significant limitation after the first 10-15 seconds of action. I'm guessing that if you throw healers into the mix you'll see some very interesting tactical choices. I'm also guessing that 99% of players won't bother to make these choices, because the pacing means it will take some pretty significant coordination to be able to make use of everything the combat system offers. I could be wrong about this one, again, there's a number of factors in play here that make judging this difficult, but my impression is you'll be able to see significant differences in DPS output between more skilled and less skilled players. Another thing is that the difference between an Ironclaw and a Black Orc taking damage looks to be more like the difference between a Warrior and a Savage than a Warrior and a Berserker in DAoC - you're going to actually need tanks to take damage for your group (and they have a number of mechanisms to do this without actually forcing the enemy to target them, but this stuff has been covered plenty and doesn't need a regurgitation here).
It's looking good, basically. The skill trees for Greenskins and Dwarfs are mostly in, with the first three tiers for Ironclaws, Black Orcs, Shamans, Hammerers, Ironbreakers, and Engineers available to see (and play with). There's a lot going on there, basically twelve different full scale skill trees (Core, Secondary, and one other which I can't recall the name of) - characters are going to be markedly different in skill selections. It's the "spiritual successor to DAoC" but doesn't actually play all that much like DAoC, or much like WoW - it's its own entity. I'm guessing they'll be ready to go on time, and I look forward to playing it again.
EDIT, by the way: I've received a lot of questions about the momentum thing I mentioned. It was a bit like playing Dark Age of Camelot, really, where you can't stop on a dime, but a much less pronounced effect than in that game. Really it was small enough that it could even have been caused by a sticky keyboard. Don't get too excited about that one, it just means controls are a little less responsive than in WoW, a little more responsive than in DAoC. I didn't mean to imply there's some hawt new gameplay or control feature being worked on that they haven't told us about.
No, it really isn't.
Morg'th n'Throg from Only-WAR
(Do not assume) that people will be forced into roles. Mythic has stated flat out that any Career that just plays one role is only playing half the game and will ultimately find themselves far too weak to compete. This game relies on player skill more than the other MMOs where gear or "paper, scissor, rock" mechanics rule all. You have to know when to switch from healing to attacking, from tanking to attacking, from attacking to pulling back otherwise you and your allies are just plain toast.
The reasons people in WOW are forced into those roles is that the talents don't offer real diveristy for players and in order to do ANYTHING in WOW you have to PvE for the proper gear. And in order to do that you have to fall into the typical and unimaginative roles. Tanks, DPS, healers, buffers, support.
This is W.A.R. and not WOW and it's unrealistic to expect two very different games to hold onto the same ideals when it comes to careers or classes. WOW is a PvE-centric game. W.A.R. is a PvP-centric game.
Mythic has promised and so far shown that every career will be self sufficient (ie. Black Orcs can pull off heals to themselves if needed), every career will be diverse, players won't be forced to play any way but their way, and we will have to rely on player skill and tactics not gear to get the most out of our W.A.R. time. Until shown otherwise, I say we keep an open mind and give them the benefit of the doubt. W.A.R. will break the mold, it's not like the typical EQ Clone like WOW is.
Not at all.
Comments
Obviously everybody doesn't know it, hence the repeated "WoW Clone" posts and topics.
Just trying to be helpful.
actually, I hadn't seen either of those write-ups, so thanks for posting...
Too bad we have a year to wait on the release....
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Heh... I hadn't noticed that I was close..... thanks for the early gratz.... now on to 1000....
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I'll say it again, 1 more year!!! I CAN't WAIT THAT LONG!! I want it now!!
The Illuminati Gaming Society
Aside from that WAR owned it all
No not at all, I mean WAR looks like they just ripped WoW's interface right out of their game
Age of Conans interface looks much different from WoW's
EDIT: Ok I just looked at beta footage that leaked of AoC and it looks NOTHING like WoWs and it doesn't even have the circle target thingy from WoW and WAR
Playing - --
Played - AO, CoH/CoV, DDO, Eve, Guildwars, LOTRO, WoW.
Waiting - For WAR, Fury.
No not at all, I mean WAR looks like they just ripped WoW's interface right out of their game
Age of Conans interface looks much different from WoW's
EDIT: Ok I just looked at beta footage that leaked of AoC and it looks NOTHING like WoWs and it doesn't even have the circle target thingy from WoW and WAR
You know I saw this car once...I think it was a Model T Ford...and every other car made has ripped it off so bad. I saw this toyota earlier today that had 4 wheels that were black and made of rubber and a engine that was composed of different types of metals. What a ripoff.
These car companys need to be original.
Very true, the "zOMG, WoW Clone" threads will continue.
I think we should all make "ZOMG WOW RIPPED OFF WARHAMMER" threads in the WoW forums.
See how they like it. We could all come up with the most retarded ideas. And then all support eachothers opinions. And then when someone says disagrees with us we can all post "there just WoW fanbois and are too stupid to understand". You know, like they do here lol.
That would be poetic justice.
EDIT: My opinion changed on this, so I edit my post
The Illuminati Gaming Society
Analysis and Conclusion:
Blind Fanboy.
i find it funny people STILL make generalizations, forexample: those who have play WoW are the BAAD("my mommy told me that was the word") people.
and yet its even more funny people judge an entire game on ONE simple feature: the interface.
yes yes, you also found similarities in the graphical department, and that is because both companies choose the "right" way to make the game - in my opinion.
so what? we could also discuss if vanguard looks a hell lot like everquest 2, but we wont.. because?
now i will make a stereotype: people who think WAR looks like WoW, are shallow shallow people who do not belive in gameplay, but the only "real" meaning of games; the graphics.
ow a little sidenote: the interface seen in all the youtube movies arnt the final products.
The Illuminati Gaming Society