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For the Casual
melwe
Member Posts: 78
I like to consider myself a casual MMO gamer. I'm married with 3 kids, hold an executive level position in New York City and commute 4 hours a day total to go to and from work. I'm lucky if I get an hour in during the week and maybe 2 to 3 hours Saturday and Sunday. I have played hardcore doing 6 day a week 5-6 hour a night PVE in Warcraft when my wife was pregnant with my third child and since then have had to cut back. I have been looking for a game for over a year and a half now that would allow me to kind of come and go as I please without feeling like I got left behind in the dust.
I feel I have found that game with Warhammer. Time will tell really when the game gets released, but these are my impressions from playing Closed Beta since Thursday evening last week. At first I was very skeptical about the game. The website really was confusing in how the game works and what it was about to the point that I didn't want to get involved. I applied for beta in early 2007 and it finally got approved last week. GO FIGURE! I gave it a whirl. Hated it. I tried 6 classes bringing them all to level 3 and hated it. I still didn't understand the game. When I finally rolled a Bright Wizard I was very unsure if I would like the class at all, but quickly fell in love with how she moved through battles and was able to assist others. But I still disliked the game. I wouldn't go 20 minutes without logging off. But I kept forcing myself to try it again. I wanted to see PVP and RVR and the first few levels did not give me that experience.
Then I dinged level 6. I did a public quest. I was impressed at how the whole process works. You don't need to be part of a group to get credit. You just need to be in the area of influence for that quest and contribute and depending on how much you contribute will give you better rewards (not just loot). I was like wow!! I did group up just so it allowed communication to flow easier, and got to know people.
So now I'm walking down the road, and I come across a quest where I have to get teleported to a PVP instance. Quickly groups are set up, my level gets increased to 8 for this instance as it was the average level of the others. I'm thinking WOW!! This is stupendous! I had a blast! I got killed to the point I have the title "The Victim" and "ow my eye" and I laugh cause it isn't a grind, it is just so much fun. Yea the order lost a few, but when we won, well, when I won my first time, the feeling was great!
I'm finally understanding my class at level 9 now. I'm able to decipher my toolbars quicker and place them in a fashion that has helped. I encounter my first RVR town quests and boy is it fun. It is very interesting to watch how each side develops tactics and attack/defend the objectives. It is fun to learn what I can and cannot do. The game is really put together well for the hardcore and the casual alike.
Comments
A very well written post that almost echos my own experiences. I was distinctly underwhelmed with the first few levels, then I hit my first PQ and RvR and I was hooked.
What he said.
"Then I dinged level 6. I did a public quest. I was impressed at how the whole process works. You don't need to be part of a group to get credit. You just need to be in the area of influence for that quest and contribute and depending on how much you contribute will give you better rewards (not just loot). I was like wow!! I did group up just so it allowed communication to flow easier, and got to know people. "
That's just what i need since i am a casual player too. I had trouble finding groups in other mmorpgs since the free time i had to lfg was actually the time i had available to play. I will give it a shot.
P.S: any photos-videos are welcome.
Glad you liked it as a casual gamer, howver I'm afraid that playstyle won't last much longer. Tactics is one thing, but as soon as they feel the need to force everyone in using VOIP it will go wrong I'm afraid... They'll start shouting, swearing, laughing with other people's accents, etc.
Another thing that might get out of control is the high-leveled killed the low-leveled, over and over. Or the older players won't give newer players a chance to get to know the game, and answer every question with "n00b".
Those are the worst case scenarios of course, I'm hoping it won't be that bad, as I'm going to buy the game in a month or 2.
You know it, the best way to realize your dreams is waking up and start moving, never lose hope and always keep up.
You and so many (me included). Let's get out hopes up the game will remain fun for casual gamers, who enjoy relaxed PvP.
You know it, the best way to realize your dreams is waking up and start moving, never lose hope and always keep up.
I support this post, having been a beta tester for a very long time this game has a ton to offer the casual crowd.
I like to consider myself a hardcore casual meaning I am a married guy, two kids, a job requiring tons of travel, but I raid, and play MMO's pretty hard when I do play. I was a WoW "endgame raider" right up to the point I started the WAR beta, I have since cancelled all the wow accounts in the house and am ready to spin up 2-3 WAR accounts in my house 1 for me, one for the oldest son, and one for the wife/youngest son. This game offers me a ton of stuff to do.
And yes I have played the WAR endgame, it there and it is a hell of alot of fun.
I've played all of these mmo since UO. EQ and CoX were the last ones I really grouped in. With kids and stuff it can get hard to sit and search for groups. In WAR I can log on, click the group button on the side and take my pick of the groups listed and join one. Grouping is so easy to do there's no reason why people shouldn't do it in this game. If I remember right Mythic made grouping a little easier than previous games when DAoC was released.
But just like the OP...The first few times I logged in I hated it. But the more I learned the more fun it became for me. Then I hit the battleground type things and the open RvR areas and fell in love. To me this says a lot because a good majority of these games that tout PvP I hate. FFA gankfests, where nerdy dudes 50 levels above you doesn't=fun PvP to me. Mythic is really the only company I've seen that gets the concept of this. They did a great job at the time in DAoC and this game they really expand on what they've done before. So for a non-PvP person to almost strictly play RvR it says a lot to me.
The PQ also helped change my mind too. They are a lot of fun and some of them have some pretty cool things going on. Like finishing a few waves of meatshield and mages. Then hearing trees crashing down and some giant comes charging out of the forest. That was the coolest! Or another one had sort of a lord of the rings finish. The water and rocks from the damn come crashing down.
I wasn't so sure about this game. I even debated cancelling my pre-order because I was hearing bad things about it. Then came the class and city cuts and I thought this ship was in trouble. I'm glad I didn' cancel and I see myself playing WAR for a very long time to come.
4 hours a day! Are you nuts! That's noting short of insanity. Do they pump nicotine into the trains in NY to get you addicted to that craphole.
I work from home and surf at lunch. I'm a VP a bank.
some of these comments really add hope to my concept of a successful casual pve gamestyle. Thanks for the report
so in other words your saying its an awesome game and we should give it a go ahead.
When I lived in the UK, some of my friends worked in London and traveled 3-4hrs a day. I've also had plenty of jobs were I had to travel, live in a hotel Monday thru Friday and travel home for the weekend. France for the 6 months was the funest... Monday morning up at 4am, drive to Manchester Airport (1hr), fly to Paris, drive/fly/take train to where they needed me that week... do the work, head on home Friday afternoon... rinse and repeat. No I work to live, no travel, occasional night work that I can do from home... plenty of time for fun.
Now, to the point... thanks to the OP for his comments. Although I'm not hardcore I do play a bit more than him but like the OP I hate starting a game where the controls are difficult to understand. If I can't grasp it within the fist 10 levels and it still feels weird, I'll give up and quit playing. Also, I'm glad the LFG system is good, there is nothing worse fhan spending an hour looking for a group when you should be playing only to find that 10mins after you get one the tank has to go as his mom says dinner's ready...
I'm looking forward to it, just need to get my atiquated PC upgraded...
This thread is spot on true! Casuals are even better off than Hardcore players in some ways. For instance, a hardcore player will always be trying to max out, and as a result, will fly thru rvr 'scenarios'. However, a casual player can take his time, get to one or two levels below the maximum needed for that tiered scenario then enjoy the RVR scenarios to its fullest.
Scenarios are 'tiered' meaning they have a level range. Tier one is like lvl 1 through lvl 11. If you're below lvl 8, you will automatically be upgraded to lvl 8 while in the scenario. Only problem one might have is that in the FIRST tiered scenarios, you really don't get all the abilities of that class...you get a new one each level. So, a lvl 3 healer type will be upgraded to lvl 8 but will still only have the 3 abilities/spells you chose like a HoT, nuke, and DoT while a lvl 8 going into that tier will have up to 8 abilities, same strength spells but more variety.
I'd recommend you give it a whirl. However, I also recommend you don't judge the game immediately but give it a good run. It was very easy for me to determine which class I liked and which I didn't. Most of the classes have special attacks/heals as your fight progresses which took me a while to get used to.
Each career is very different. I can't stress that enough. Like I stated in my OP, I kept rolling different toons until I found one I was able to feel at one with. I don't recommend people just jump into a PVP instance (because you can) at level 1, but get some skill first and extra attacks, you will be more viable.
I see some state they worry about high levels not allowing low levels to get into the game. This game is not set up like other MMOs. It will take you a while to get used to the user interface. There is a lot to keep track of but it only takes 8 levels before you understand what the tools and bars are all for.
Very user friendly. I can't wait to tackle the game again, and can't wait until my toon doesn't get deleted over and over so I have the ability to play past level 10.
Best post I read yet.
Good post by the OP. I am a long time Closed Beta player (6+ months) and i can tell you that WAR is the most casual friendly MMORPG to date. There are NO restrictions on when you can do things other than maybe you will be a bit underpowerd but you can do everything right from Level 1. More sensible would be to start doing Scenarios/PQ/RvR/PvP at around 5-8 though.
As a casual player you want to log in and get right into the action. That is exactly what you get here. Log in, join a scenario queue, open the public party window and see what type of parties are in your area and what they are doing. Then just join one and go have fun while waiting for the scenario to start. You can get so much more fun in an hour than compared to other games because there is no overhead.
KJ
I really think WAR is going to fill the gap in giving players a FUN game that is FUN for all types of players, be it casual, hardcore or in between. This means a huge diversity of player-types can actually enjoy a game no matter their play style and have FUN.
I used caps to emphasize the things that I feel most MMO's lack nowadays...