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NDA has now dropped, so start sharing!
Krazco
Member Posts: 167
NDA is offically lifted now, so everyone.. Start sharing your videos, pictures and outher info.
how come that it isnt on the us page yet?
Want to play: Lego Universe
Comments
this post begs for a sarcastic reply, but eh... nda has been lifted for some hours now, it's all over the forum, youtube, other forums, etc... sooo, go read some other posts, as they're already sharing
Ok, I'll start...
some history. I LOVE MMO's. I have played most all US Commercial releases, some for a year plus. I see the positives in most all of them. EQ, DAOC, WOW are in my top three. EQ2, CoX are runners up. All games have good and bad qualities. So then, what do I think of WAR. I have been in the WAR beta for almost a year now, so its not as if I just got in (not that that invalidates anyones opinion).
Positives: The game is loaded with great ideas. Tome of Knowledge is stellar. Public quests are awesome. RvR/Scenario's are good. Number of classes is perfect. Number of zones at launch feels about right. I wont expand on each of these, as I am sure MANY will talk of each in great length. My lack of depth should not take away from the fact that they did these things right.
Negatives: Graphics/animations. they are horrid. Not the graphic style. I personally like the style. But the world shadowing, mob pathing, PC animations, most spell animations, and choppy fighting ALL plain stink. I loved DAOC. This looks and feels like DAOC 1.5. Its as if the programmers didnt grow in their abilities nor learn from others out there to better their techniques. Its very poorly done. Thankfully, this is something that can be corrected more easily than not. Core pieces are good and in place, but the polish plain stinks. Usually, I wouldn't let this deter me from playing it, but I am having a real hard time in this game getting past these flaws. Also, they need to give more than 1 skill per level in the lower levels. All I am is a button masher early on. start fight... 2..2..2..2..2..2...2..2...2..dead
Maybe I am spoiled by WoW, where I get 1-5 skills every couple levels. Or at least make the other skills more interesting or graphically pleasing so I want to use them.
All in all, I think they have a great foundation. But MAN do they need to step it up in the graphics department. Again, not to go for realism, like some games have chosen to, but to go for fluidity and polish.
Ok I have been in Beta since Push 3 so I will share my experiences thus far. For a little background I have been playing MMOs since DAoC, and have hit every major MMO since then.
Ok on to the Beta stuff. I love WAR. It really is that simple, I love this game. I will tell you how much I love it, I love it so much I am trying hard not to, if that makes sense. I get so easily attached to my characters in this game, much more so than other MMOs, yet we are still in Beta and I am trying hard not to. It really makes testing difficult because I get so wrapped up in having fun I sometimes forget what I am there for. Now all that praise does not mean that the game is perfect, because it is not. I believe it will need all the time until release to get the game into shape.
Ok I will try and break down the game into different categories and then a brief on some of the classes I have played.
Lore: I am new to the Warhammer lore, only really learning about it when Mythic announced they would be making WAR. So I am not as attached to it as other people may be, however I found the story to be fun and in my limited Warhammer knowledge to be Warhammery. The greenskins are a little bit crazy, all about fighting, and just generally and humerously stupid. The dwarfs are stubborn and solemn, and they are drinkers. The empire are religous nuts gone off the deap end, and very human. The elves are well elves, even the dark elves if only darker :P And chaos is well, chaos, doesnt make much sense.
World: The world does not seem overly large until you actually get going in it. And when you get a mount it sucks to go back to running everywhere, and that is when you truly appreciate the size of it. Also they seemed to have crammed mobs and npcs everywhere, there is not a whole lot of empty space on these maps. I enjoy the different zones, and yes the world is a pretty dark and grim looking place. Especially the noob zones, it is nothing like WoW. Also you see quite a few NPC fights when you are adventuring, whether it is dwarfs fighting greenskins or humans fighting chaos, or even a cold one hunting and killing deer and other small animals. Also while the game is set up pretty linearly, there are enough nooks and crannies that you arent sent to for you to run around and explore to your hearts content.
Gameplay: The gameplay honestly is like other MMOs, except maybe a little more action packed. With the AP system instead of energy, mana, rage, etc. You will be hitting skills more than relying on auto attack. Also the fast AP regen, especially when you stop hitting skills allows for very quick downtimes, even at the higher levels. However it is not a limitless supply, when spamming skills like a madman I found myself running out of AP quickly and that is not fun, especially in a heated fight running around for a few seconds waiting for AP so I can do something.
Scenarios: I did not play a ton of scenarios. Mainly the ones in the noob zones, some in T2, and the T4 ones. I enjoyed them, they are a good break for me, I personally enjoy the open RvR. They seem a bit more thought out and put together than WoWs BGs, and overall they are just plain fun. I think what makes them so fun is the fact you can win by just kicking the crap out of the other side. No more ignoring the other side because its easier to win by getting the objectives. There are a couple scenarios where you can ignore the objectives and if your organized enough and kill enough still manage to get a win. So the game really urges you in scenarios to not only follow the objectives but to kick the crap out of the other side.
Open RvR: This is what I love the most. There was not so much 6 vs 6, like in DAoC with the 8 vs 8 groups. Every time I was in a group of 6 and we managed to run into another group of only 6 (like 1 time) it escalated into a major fight ending with at least 1 Warband on each side if not more. This is very much brings back memories of DAoC, especially the keep warfare and I love it. There are some things that need to change, such as nukers aeing through keep doors and such. I also believe that it would be better if there were more than just 1 way into the keep. Also collision detection is now a must have in any PvP/RvR based MMO.
ToK: This thing is wicked cool. You can get unlocks from damn near anything, and if you are one of those people that have to get them all, well..... Good Luck. I would just go around the world and go about my business and read the unlocks later. Well that got to be a problem as I could spend way too much time just reading all the little tid bits of info that you can unlock. I can not wait to see what else they do with this.
Guilds: I really like the way they did the guilds in WAR, they give you a reason to really pull together as a guild. Instead of a bunch of people just joining up to get "phat lewtz" there is a reason to band together and really work on a bunch of things. I did not really get to mess around with the standard, as my guild is usally winding down its activities when I log in at night
But it seems like a really good idea, and I was hearing some really funny stories centering around it. Also like Renown the early levels are easy to get so guilds can get fundamental things like ingame calendar and schedular thingy, and guild bank, and the first standard with a tactic slot.
Ok I am a little tired of writing and most people probably wont read this block of text. In the beta I played the Runepriest, Swordmaster, and Engineer pretty extensively I played all 3 in T1, T2, and T4 if any one has questions. I dabbled with the IB, BO, SW, WH, Sorceress, Magus, Shaman, WL, AM, WP, hell pretty much all the classes
Or if you have any other specific questions I dont mind answering.
Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.
I know people will hate me for this, but I'm going to compare WAR to WoW. The first thing I want to say is WAR is what everyone claims WoW to be: an MMO with something for everyone. It doesn't matter if you like PvP or PvE, soloing, small groups, or raids. It's all there. The second thing is WoW is considered to have the most flawless release of any MMO. If that's true, WAR's release should be just as good, if not better. That's not to say it doesn't have issues. Some of what I've seen is graphic glitches and crashes that force you to restart the game, targeting problems with pets and the 5th party member slot of the UI(a big deal if you're a healer in a massive battle), and NPC pathing glitches(very annoying when they cause the boss of a pub quest to reset). Despite all of that, it's still a fun game and I can't wait for the full release.
btw.. Does WAR have any forms of humour?
seriously, thats what every mmo i have ever played, have lacked.. exept for wow.... and its fun imo with voice emotes, jokes and fooling around and having a laugh.
Want to play: Lego Universe
the entire greenskin race and lands are rich with humor. I have not played to order side, so my apologies