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The BEST MMORPG ever! Let me explain why
UnleadedRev
Member UncommonPosts: 568
Warhammer Online:Age of Reckoning...
Let me explain.
For those in the know, the Warhammer Fantasy Universe as well as its futuristic sibling Warhammer 40K Universe; are two of the largest IPs in book, miniatures, PC gaming and tabletop gaming. They have both been around since the early 1980's and before World of Warcrafts universe. In fact, World of Warcraft was actually first supposed to be a Warhammer MMO made by Blizzard. But, for whatever reason the deal fell thru.
Now, why is this the MMO I keep coming back to after I have abandoned other MMOs, and feel its still the best?
Well, its different....for one it was and still is the only 100% Realm versus Realm (RvR) MMO, and was the first MMO to have Public Quests and Public Scenarios. The amount of different gear types is mind boggling as well as character customization. But the BIG thing is the RvR game play. Picture huge Warbands and sometimes multiple Warbands of 24 players each advancing across the countryside and world lead by the players and usually one Warband player leader who knows STRATEGY. Capturing and defending objectives across a vast landscape and world with the intent of capturing an entire zone to not only reap XP and Renown, but to effect the game world as a whole.
There are four Tiers divided by level so that lower levels dont get ganked by higher levels, and once you reach a level cap for that Tier, then you must go to the next or be turned into a chicken. T1, T2, T3, and T4. The tiers range from a small town battle in T1 to a giant city battle in T4 to take either the Chaos city or the Order city. T2 and T3 are castle/keep sieges.
Consider, the above the basic foundation...next comes the players...imagine a world where its the players organizational ability and strategy that marks success. Imagine players who are out scouting objectives reporting back in Warband chat where the opposing army is, and then the Warband Leaders giving orders for all of use to advance, retreat or attack. Bodies lay dead on the battlefield after each confrontation adn the glory or terror of Order and Chaos adds flavor thru the great character skins and animations.
Also, its very easy to find a Warband and you do not need to spam for groups. This game has the best group finder in the industry. Just click on parties and warbands and a window pops up showing you whats out there. One click and you are in!
ok...now for the bad....a RVR/PVP player centric games success is dictated by player population. Thus, when their is good player population Warhammer Online is GREAT. But, if lower population exists then its very bad...That is not to say you cant have fun in single digit encounters....however, the more the merrier applies here.
Do not expect DEEP quests like other MMOs...the quests are mediocre. But there is a solution. For after playing this game on and off since release in 2008, I find that the changes Mythic/EA made are for thw better resulting, and less waiting around.
So, if you want to play a great RVR/PVP MMO then Warhammer Online is for you. Unfortunately, there is a monthly subscription, and the game has server merged down into single digits. Also, there is more Chaos than Order it seems at the moment, but that can change.
I feel if this game would go free to play more people would play it, as the days of the monthly sub are over IMHO. So if you are a Warhammer Fan, or want to start getting into the Warhammer Universe, the web is stuffed full of info on the Warhammer and Warhammer 40K universe. The game has a free endless trial as well.
I hope this post helps and opinions are welcome.
Comments
I loved the game when it came out. I did not love Tier2 or Tier3. Best MMO? Most likely not.
Guess your still a pup and have never played Dark Age of Camelot.
Crafting was an after thought....It was incomplete and useless...A lot of people probably do not care, but that is part of being a mmo imo...
The RvR was not well thought out, and people would capture something, and then run off to get more points, even when what they just captured was being attacked to be taken back...I would be one of the only people staying to defend, it was irritating...
RvR was 2 faction, I think 3 is much better and adds to combat in the open world..
I think they did some good stuff, that people have obviously taken and improved upon, but to call it the best, no. Top 15-20 maybe, some may even say top 8-10...But it is not in my top 5, and my top 5 does not even have WoW in it, which a lot would have in theirs.
+1
time to move on to GW2 which is 100x better.
My problem with the RvR was that it was more fun to go roaming solo in the lakes than it was to take part in the lame zone flips, especially in T2 & 3. Scenarios i enjoyed but again in T2 & 3 they didn't pop and T4 ended up with a MASSIVE gear gap.
When WAR first released and had a large population it was really fun. It just had that perfect combination of features that made it good.
After the population fell off that game just died ...
T1 & 2 were a lot of fun doing the scenarios, but once you hit 3 the CC was a little crazy, but most mmos seem to have a cc balance issue....
I prefered RvR, but a lot of the lakes were usually dead, scenarios often kill open world/lake RvR/PvP, as it allows you to accumulate points/xp a lot quicker, so people play the numbers....Just like what happend in RvR with keeps, they slowly worked on fixing it, but it shouldn't of been in such a bad state or rules to begin with.
In the beginning stages of WAR, the RvR was good. After a while it became a "we'll stand on this hill and you stand on that hill and we will occasionaly zerg" PvP system. It became boring to just stand there and pop down to fight for a few minutes and then everyone go back to their hill. I was so excited for WAR, but it was a big let down for me since I also like PvE and crafting. And, my favorite class (white lion) used to be so gimped due to horrible pet pathing issues.
I can imagine a lot of things, but WAR as even a good RvR game isn't one of them.
Find undefended RVR point, attack it, fight NPC's, take it, run to next one. When I experienced more PvE doing PvP, something was wrong; especially when I had to constantly "imagine" what it would be like if there was some actual PvP happening.
Unfortunetly, even the people that made the game disagree with you.
I experienced all what the game has to offer. Too bad that RvR always was outnumbered and sometimes there wasn't any soul to take. Players would prefer to play in Scenarios, which were fun, but PvP mini-games get old fast. I came back to the game and played the free Tier 1. I couldn't get into the game anymore. I liked the healer classes the most.
What warhammer needs is a monthly server with an actual winning side.
Everyone starts at level 1 the first day of each calendar month.
Double or Triple the exp earned.
All dungeon lockouts set to 1 day.
Stars can not be regenerated, only earned for the cities.
First city to reach 0 stars loses.
Meteors start falling from the skies decimating the defensive protections starting the 25th day of the month.
On the last day of the month, if there is not a winner, they start hitting the cities taking them down stars.
Warhammer should have been the best MMO ever. But Mythic messed up by using Wows mechanics in a missguided attemp to steal all Wows players instead of translating the classic Warhammer mechanics from Warhammer fantasy RPG.
2 sides in a RvR game didn't help either since they know better.
WAR do have it's good sides but I can just see what they did to the IP I like so much. The worst thing was that they censored it down for the kids....
That actually sounds rather fun.
Squid herder and shamam = awesomely fun!
the writing was on the wall when they cut racial cities from the game.
Loved the game.
To bad anything EA touches DIES
I played DAOC, but didnt like it, but that was a long time ago.
I am in the GW2 BETA and do like it alot.
Alot has changed, for example , bag rolls are no longer random loot, also FRR is plentiful as is XP. There is alot less waiting around and more playing. Also, at least in T2 the WBs are very very organized.
I love crafting in WAR, but hate it in other MMOs. Talismans are the way to go!
The game was good population all weekend (Memorial Day).
Now for the bad:
1) Pre - RR increase toons are at a disadvantage. Especially Tanks. However, my 22/26 Warpriest is getting RR 4x faster than my KOTBS ever did. Ranged always seems to have the advantage in this.
2) Non-Peak hours are brutal...its 9:30am Eastern Tine USA here and the game is dead...no Warbands, no RvR, cant even do Scenarios. Only quests....
3) I hate the emblem Medallion System...forget about getting Emblems (For weapons) as the Scenarios just do not pop. Thus, i am relying on renown vendors for my weapons. I curse WoW for creating a token system everyone copies.
Now having said all this, last night players were repeatidly saying things like "This is the most fun I have ever had", "I love this game", "that battle was the most epic ", so clearly everyone was having a great time.
But...then again it was peak time....unlike now in the morning during the week.
DAOC had this issue somewhat back in the day, at least on the MLF server. Only thing that kept it more interesting is MLF was an unnofficial EU transfer server and the official Japan transfer server (when their servers closed) so we had a lot more offshore activity during non-US primetime with Euro's in particular rampaging across keeps and forcing us to retake them late in the day or early evenings.
WAR could have been a real contender, but it's missing many of the things that gave DAOC it's charm, specifically a real reason (cause) to fight for.
Back in it's heyday, people fought RVR because controlling the most frontier keeps meant your realm got sole access to Darkness falls, which was the primary PVE money generator and allowed for epic battles when another realm gained possession and then swarmed in to try and oust the previous owners.
Not sure WAR has any sort of similar cause to fight for (DAOC no longer does either, which is one reason why its population remains small, the only folks left PVP strictly for the fun of it, (IMO) but that wasn't the core audiance back in the day)
"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 love the game and i keep coming back to it after i get bored with others (Aion, Rift, Swtor). 100 RR Shamie FTW !
Nice try. This game was fun for a while but MMOs are not meant to be funnels and directed maps. They should be open, explorable, make you nervous at every turn.
WAR was like entering the turn style at Disneyland...."OK guys where to first, Fantasy Elf land or Scary Ork Fort"....
Dragnon - Guildmaster - Albion Central Bank in Albion Online
www.albioncentralbank.enjin.com
Which reminds me of something. Funneling all new players into Empire vs Chaos pairing despite their race choice might've been a good idea to bring people together, but they've absolutely wasted the best starting pairing - Dwarf vs Greenskin. Hell, I'd argue that was the best zone in the entire game thanks to how they nailed the atmosphere so perfectly.
For shame, WAR, for shame.
Nice read, but im gonna go ahead and say This^.