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Best way to describe WAR is "Generic Meh".
John.A.Zoid
Member Posts: 1,531
WAR isn't a bad game but it's just not a very good one, the word meh just means to me that WAR is just another one of those average games you buy to pass the time in a game drought and after the first month will be tossed into the pile with all the others you didn't want to subscribe to.
I feel the problem with WAR is it tried to be WOW too hard and lacked doing anything original. The thing is everyone whose played WOW is fedup of WOW and they don't really want to play a game that plays esactly the same and people like me who have played mmorpgs for a long time just looks at it and thinks this is a sure sign the genre is going backwards, not forwards.
The problems with the game started early on for me when I logged in and wanted to customize my character to find out that theres only a few options to choose from and my class is locked down by the race. So I often found any class I wanted to play was on a race I didn't want to play as like the Witch Elf was female only and I didn't want to cross game. What I hate is games 5 or 6 years ago offered way more customization than WAR does today and I would have thought as time goes by we'd have even more, but no.
This is where I came to the problem of finding the right class because I found myself rerolling until I gave up because I couldn't find any of them fun. They were all so dull and boring and I don't get why you'd basically have 4 main types of class and then water them all down into 20 odd. I know I'm going to get all the Warhammer fanbois flame me about how WOW sucks but I don't care because it does nearly everything better than WAR but WOW is a perfect example of how to do classes right. Instead of watering them all down to make up a large quantity of classes then condensed them into 9 fun to play and very different ones.
The boring classes brings me onto my next point which are linked and thats the bad combat. I can't quite put my finger on the problem but I just felt it was lacking variety. Alot of them played the same where you'd have skill chains and you'd have to use some skills to make others more powerful. I didn't like this because all it does is makes you use the same skills over and over again and its very button mashy. I wish all the skills were their own so you have much more choice and strategy about the way you play. All I did with most of the classes I played was hit the same few buttons over and over and it wasn't fun and PVP required no skill.
This brings me onto the problem of PVP because most the time I'd find it to be all about what class I faced and not how good I am. Like some classes could never beat others and thats the way WAR is setup because its a game about having diverse groups fight against eachother. However I don't understand why we can't have the best of both worlds and make it so if I'm good enough I can beat anything with the class I picked. I want to be able to fight 3 vs 1 and win like I can in WOW because I'm that much better than them. However in WAR if you're outnumbered then you better run because it doesn't matter how good you are, whoever has the most people wins. This is tied into the lack of diversity of skills you have in each class and the lack of crwod control and all the kool unique skills.
Again this is like dominos where one problem leads to the next and takes on this effect which makes the whole thing unfun. Thats how every class has the same skills like these two tanks I think it was Black Orc and Chosen were esactly the same. They both have the same snare which is part of a chain so thats annoying and they both have the same skill to break the snare. They both have te same basic attacks but do it in different ways and they both have the same defensive stuff. I just found them to play the same with the only difference being Chosen have that AOE skill but then again. I seemed to find a pattern as I played that most classes were like this and I noticed how alot of them had the sane snare and escape from the snare skill and I thought then whats the point of the snare?
Another thing that makes combat so crap in WAR is how bad the animations and spell effects are because they feel like they came straight out of DAOC. I really don't get how when I see Warhammer it's all dark and blood everywhere and yet in WAR it's all colourful with bright spell effects and theres no blood.
That sums it up for me because Warhammer Online doesn't make me want to like Warhammer. I mean if I was a fan of Warhammer I don't think I would even like this game because it's just not interesting. When exploring the world there was no moments of "WOWWWWWWWWWWW thats amazing" because it all felt very generic and very bland. Theres no vistas or major landmarks or far off places you can see in the distance that you want to go to. This is down to how the world is created as more of a bunch of linear levels rather than a world and also because of the horrible fog in the distance which greys everything out.
I mean theres no storyline to get me to care about each faction and it doesn't do a great job at the start of the game describing each one, specially when you can hear sound sin the background which drown out the voice. They just all lack a personality and feels very lifeless from the characters which are static to the barren world. I remember them saying how much humour is in the Warhammer universe and yet I never laughed once while playing and thought their attempts at humour was poor like the guy sitting int he toilet with the door open..... oh great HAHA thats so original. The cities arn't very good too and as I walked through the main gates of the Empire city it felt like something out of doom with a big open corridor with the same poor detailed patterned texture and nothing to fill it. Then I walked into the main part of the city and thought "thank god" lol I was getting worried. However once in the city it felt as lifeless and pointless as the rest of the world.
So seeing as I didn't care about any of the factions, I couldn't find a class I liked, I thought the combat was boring and the world was boring you can imagine I'm not really going to care about doing the RVR too much because I don't have an incentive to win like I love my faction or I want to fight for this kool bit of land. I was hoping they'd give me some incentive for my character and yet in tier 4 each keep we captured was totally meaningless and played out the esact same each time, which was a constant back and forth. There was no sense of reward and there was no risk because we didn't lose anything.... like we cared about losing the keep because it was esactly the same as all the others. I don't even care if they capture the city becuase its boring and theres nothing to do there.
The whole PVE game feels like they took out the first few quests from WOW and then pasted the over and over again on a ladder. Imagine each step being a new chapter and following a straight linear path till you get to the end and the quests never get any harder. I mean I thought Public quests were meant to be amazing and yet to me it felt like a bunch of solo'ers fighting over mobs for their quests. There was no team work and noone talked to eachother and any group you joined was full of AFK'ers who just wanted INF. Then every PQ you went to was the esact same format......... Only if they wern't in the empire or Chaos area then they'd be dead because Mythic took out the other 4 cities making their RVR zones pointless. I'd rather have 5 player instances like WOW had that were fun and took skill than PQ's.
I could go on for ages about everything I don't like about the game and I can honestly say I don't like one thing. Thats not because it's a bad game because it's a mediocre 5/10 one but its because theres other mmorpgs out there that are far better. What makes this worse is I find the other mmorpgs that are far better, really really boring. So what is the point of WAR? Because I certainlly wouldn't play it because it's Warhammer as it didn't make me like Warhammer.
Finally to talk about some smaller points quickly about the horrible sounds of the game which are just sooo forgetable and the really bad music of the game which just feels sooo outclasses by games such as EQ2 or WOW or the other licensed mmorpgs such as Lotr or SWG. It sounds like it was all made by one guy on the computer or something. Also the crafting is just a piss poor attempt and really I don't even know why they bothered.
So overall even though I had nothing good to say about my time it's that WAR isn't a bad game as in Dark and Light because it actually works. However it does nothing to stand out in the sea of mmorpgs and you just think to yourself that you'd rather just play something else. The main highlight of the game which is the RVR ends up not being that because of several flaws that make it unfun.
My Score.....
It doesn't make me like Warhammer and it doesn't make me like mmorpgs.
Comments
No, I stopped reading after you said WAR tried too hard to be WoW.
The problem is you are trying to hard to play WAR like WoW
Always change your signature.
Can't say it any better. I also compare Apples with Oranges, they are fruits sure they taste different but they are Fruits.
Pretty good review and I mostly agree.
Tried: LotR, CoH, AoC, WAR, Jumpgate Classic
Played: SWG, Guild Wars, WoW
Playing: Eve Online, Counter-strike
Loved: Star Wars Galaxies
Waiting for: Earthrise, Guild Wars 2, anything sandbox.
That last sentence is damaging for the whole MMORPG business btw ...
Grtz Mythic.
What the hell. I saw how long that post was and I said F it. I give this post a Meh.
basically to sum this up for everyone the OP wanted and hoped the game would be like WoW. Found out it was different. Quit playing. And proceeded to waste his time writing this post. If you don't like the game that's fine. But you went a tad too far here rofl. You should try reading this yourself, if you haven't, its really funny bro.
I must agree that the game lacks in one big and important thing: It doesn't make you care. You dont care about your people, your faction or the world. It feels like a competitive sports game. You fight out fair matches (even in open RvR it is mostly fair fights). And this is where I disagree with the OP. Warhammer is actually really good in this sportgame like pvp. The pvp requires skill, but not only individual skill but skill as a group.
In this matter it works perfectly and thus its a direct challenger to Guild Wars, which is great in this field too.
What Warhammer, just like Guildwars is not, is an MMORPG. The World is bland, difficult to connect to or to like or dislike. The Mobs are dumb grindmobs that dont make you use different skills to kill them. The bossmobs are every single one just Tank & Spank. The quests are ... boring like hell.
So I see Warhammer as a competitive Match game. You hop in and try to win the match (scenario or RvR Objective). But you don't really develop a character but rather more a sportsplayer.
It is Battlefield the MMO
u think that war is like wow?
mate i am playing wow since released and i never thought when playing omg i am playing wow
the only similarities are that both are MMO, and got similar graphics
Play some real pvp in WaR and then go in WoW to compare...
This is exactly my feeling about WAR.
What WAR players really want is a kind of COD4 with an attached system of:
- character evolution with better gear and accomplishments (up to 40 levels and 80 renown ranks).
- a stratego like map with connected battlefields that makes for a "capture the ennemy's HQ once a week".
To jump from battelfield to battlefield : use a loading screen of a heli-flight.
Forget crafting, economy, emotes, too much variables on items. Certainly forget an open world you fly over or travel in, because that is just a waste of time.
If Activision would make such a game for free play, WAR would be empty.
No, I like WAR for what it is, you should try playing it instead of trying to play WoW.
Always change your signature.
I think the problem is War got so much hype, people really expected a WOW killer (not that WOW is any good). People prolly expected some great grand game and got this very limited very generic game. Lower your expectations ad ull be fine
toast w/o butter is meh. WAR is not.
WAR is fun for me. Meh is not.
EQ is the game you are looking for or maybe WOW. But a game doesnt have to be mostly PVE for it to be a MMORPG.
With Guildwars - people were arguing its not a MMORPG because its PvE is fully instanced and at most you can adventure with 8 people.
WAR is not instanced for RvR and PvE - just for scenarios and end city siege. So everyone in Empire Tier 2 is in the same area. The areas are large.
So just because you dont like the world, the PvE or the classes doesnt mean WAR is not a MMORPG.
Actualy no. Sorry bud no one ever cared about some digital world or its npcs. And if you found them challenging and smart well then um your iq is on par with a script.
I stop playing house and pretend a looooong time ago.
- public quests
- tome of knowledge
- open groups
- RvR
- city sieges
And I play WAR with 3 people who played WOW for a few years and we are having a blast - so dont generalize. Just because you played WOW but dont like WAR does not mean everyone who played WOW feels the same. And just to be clear - I have never played WOW.
Well if you really care what race or gender your character is - then yes I can see how this would be limiting. You only have 3 or 4 choices. Perhaps a bit more research before you rushed out to buy the game would have saved you some grief.
I am playing a male Warrior Priest, and a female Witch Hunter (didnt like the bald look). I find both play completely differently - which you expect.
Dang - the game is balanced - who would have thunk?
So yes a group will beat a solo most of the time - although tanks can stay up a fair while with lots pounding on them if they are getting healed.
But its still a class/level/gear game so what does skill have to do with anything - apart from knowing which skills to use in which situation/opponents?
And you dont get all the cool skills at the start you gain them as you progress. So my witch hunter at level 16 cant beat a healer solo. But wait until I hit 21 and get that nifty skill I am eyeing off.
Its about teamwork.
I must say some people's replies in here are just down-right ignorant. I read the entire post from the OP and I must admit that he makes some good points and at least put the effort into a decent write-up, not like some other people around here. Ultimately WAR is it's own Achilles' heel, in so far as it tried ever so hard to bring PvP to us en-masse, but at what cost?
Meh...agreed. Weak at best - failure without major fixes. I want my $50 back.
"He wanted his $50 back but all he got was this lousy reply"
$OE lies list
http://www.rlmmo.com/viewtopic.php?t=424&start=0
"
And I don't want to hear anything about "I don't believe in vampires" because *I* don't believe in vampires, but I believe in my own two eyes, and what *I* saw is ******* vampires! "
same goes for me
It brings RVR not PVP, and all his long thread said was "I play WAR like WoW and I am miserable".
That's it.
Always change your signature.
Warhammer has never, in any way, tried to be wow, on any scope.
They based the game off of 20 years of warhammer lore, yup everything you see in game is based of books and table top games created before computers and before wow.
I has never been contested that blizzard approached gameworkshop for the right to mesh warhammer lore into their, at the time, under development, game called world of warcraft, gameworkshop pulled out. So you know the lore is solid if blizzard tried to get it. If anything wow is trying to be warhammer in the lore department.
I would also like to add that blizzard took their playstyle, UI and some other stuff directly off the everquest/UO games that predated it. So again nothing new in wow, you cant really "copy" a copy..it is basically the definition of what a mmo is. Saying war tries to be wow is the same as saying war is trying to be a mmo...its is.
Secondly the whole "this game doesn’t make me care" argument is 100% objective and 100% based on how you YOU care. Tell me what % of wow players care about their "faction" or race, all anyone care about is their class and the potential for nerfing it or making it stronger. I would like to see you ask "who cares" on the RP server, i bet most, if not all, do care. Its really not the game or developers fault that you ended up having no faction pride.
The only thing i can agree with the op and the "meh" crowd, is that if you play this game wishing it was wow, its going to be meh, if you play it just like you played wow, it will be meh.
If you embrace the team based strategy, embrace the NEED for strategy and support from other players, your friends and your guild, the game rocks.
This is the huge difference between the meh crowd and the warboi crowd.
Also i would like to add that the RvR type mmo has really only been done, in a p2p format, with DAoC, you could argue RF online did it, although much differently, but thats history. So you see the market is sturated with pve grind to endgame followed by raid/pvp endgame type mmos, they all fit this modle, especially wow. As far as war type games you really only got its older/dieing gradfather to choose from, DAoC.
i guess the wow crowd was expecting a game that wasn’t an mmo when they heard war was different, and where disappointed that it looked like an mmo and kind of played like a mmo.
so play warhammer for what it is, a team strategy based RvR mmo, not for what its not, a pve grinder like wow. youll have much more fun this way.
sadly i would like ot argue that with these complaints, its not the game its the player. If you want a wow type game go back to whatever other game youve been playing, i mean that in a nice way, this game wasnt for everyone and wont appeal to most "i want a pve game with 1vs1 pvp at the end" people.
I agree I think the OP is crying becuase he can't play WAR like he plays WOW.
-I personally think War has more in common with RF-online and Requiem online, why does everyone keep crapping on about WoW for?
- Will you guys/gals stop invoking it's name and let the poor mmo died in peace,((talking about WoW) yes wishful thinking on my behalf)
well while RF online had RvR, it was done much diffrently, more of a skill grind game with RvR ganking on all levels, with a chip war as an add on, its closing down in nov anyway so its dead.
I played requium's beta and saw absolutly nothing in common with what im seeing in war...nothing. That games a pve game with gankfest maps on the pvp servers.
really the only game could really compare war with, as far as mmo type would be DAoC, no games done RvR like this, even close.
hell i even tried neosteam while waiting for war to release because i was desperate for RvR, and all that was, was pve grinding on the RvR tiny maps, with a all out brawl where both sides just stad opposed to eachother and it ends in a tie.
so its really hard to compare war with any other mmo out there, aside from looks/classes.
we need an apples to oranges coversion formula...
Well, here's a little secret of WAR.
Alot of boss mobs are tank n spank, but so are most in most games.
There are some that are not. Just like most games.
Did you ever find the Lord level boss in tier 1? Definitly not a tank in spank (saw it wipe a full warband twice trying to tank n spank it)
Have you ever tried to take a "Boss mob" of even a lightly defended Keep tier 2 and above? Never a zerg or tank n spank.
Just my opinions and observations.
Have a good night