Slashdot Mirror
Mythic Launches Warhammer Online
After four days of "head-start" players getting the run of the servers, Warhammer Online launched today to the rest of the public. Mythic took the opportunity to explain why they think World of Warcraft players should give them a chance, highlighting their focus on PvP (or Realm-vs-Realm in this case), and their desire to keep time-intensive activities to a minimum. Creative director Paul Barnett says it's "a bit like Batman." 1.5 million copies of the game have already been sent to retailers, so they're clearly expecting a solid launch. The folks over at Massively have developed an excellent series of guides for players looking to get into the game. They explain and contrast general career choices and look at individual classes as well. They also have a variety of interviews and descriptions of gameplay.
Blizzard had to do it, there were so many unbalanced realms that one faction would have instant queues and the other faction would have 4-5+ hour waits. When I was still playing I would log in as soon as I got home from work, queue up every BG then wait 2-3 hours to get in one.. some evenings I would never get in AV after waiting for 5 hours.
If I hadn't lost my motivation to play games I would probably try it out. I guess sometimes getting older does that to a person..
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
Because Blizzard screwed it up with instanced PvP, lack of balance, and items defining who wins. In the old days before raids were big, it was the best part of WoW. The fuckups on PvP is why I no longer play WoW.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
I got in early due to pre-order and I must say that I am enjoying the game thus far. Only up to rank 10 (they say rank instead of level, but whatever) but I have had experience with both the controlled RvR (these you click a button for on the compass and it puts you in a queue for them, the only one I've experienced is very capture and hold, but fun) or the open quest areas which you can roam around in. Detaunt actually serves a purpose in this game when you go against other players, which makes playing a mage class a little easier as I'm no turned into beef jerky the instant a tank rolls up on me.
The other thing I particularly enjoyed were the PQs (Public Quests) that anyone can participate in. You come across these areas and there are objectives (kill 100 things, then smash 15 of these, defend this, etc) and anyone can assist in completing the objectives and the tallied points for them are persistant (save for the timed ones which if not completed autofail then reset the encounter). The loot is done in such a way in that if you took part in some way you are rewarded.
Not saying it's perfect, but so far I am enjoying myself.
"Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted." -Groucho Marx
I have been playing in different phases of beta for a little over a month now. I like warhammer so much I suspended my warcraft subscription. I am really excited about all of the new content in warhammer, and the pvp focus mythic promises is what I was hoping to get out of blizzard for a long time. Should be a healthy thing for the MMO industry to have more than a single AAA mmo title in the marketplace.
I'll have to disagree with the general sentiment that Warhammer won't succeed. I've noticed many, many, many former WoW players in love with this game, including myself and my boyfriend. The RvR is amazing, the classes are well balanced, and there's no cheesy stun-based PvP system. Will it "replace WoW?" God I hope not. WoW has become to AOL of MMORPGs, where any retard can get a 1700 arena score and be shining in purples. It's utterly ridiculous and so far, Warhammer has been the breath of fresh air serious PvP'ers have been waiting for, and it will be a success in its own right. If you're a carebear and you want to raid instead of melt faces, that's fine, but don't come to Warhammer. We don't want you.
Sure baby, I'll give you my phone number...in Hex
Tarren Mill v. Southshore fights were quite fun for awhile. Oh those were a hoot in the good ol' days of WOW.
I'm just very tired of PvP in MMORPGs - it's basically an admission that "we coudln't come up with an endgame, so please amuse yourselves". I still enjoy the occasional game of CounerStrike, but I'm not paying anyone a monthly fee for the priviledge of being entertained my the antics of other players.
Here's a hint guys: make it easy to advance the storyline. Let your adventure areas and even cities get created automatically as you make strategic decisions about the plot of the game. Then run it as a *real* RPG, letting the actions of the players directly effect the world, but continuously providing new and interesting (or at least humorous) challenges.
You're no longer blocked by the technology from having a shared world that constantly evolves and changes. Get out of that mindset!
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
I don't know why, but when I've been playing WAR in the pre-launch I felt like it was a little WOW-ish and a little BF2-ish. You can grind on some NPCs but there is always something attacking. Add interaction with cannons, hellblaster volley guns and other things and you have an Online RPGFPS feel. I'm digging it so far...really want to experience a siege of one of the capital cities. Talk about all-out mayhem!
I have not been a PvP style player ... I don't have the statistical / math mind for building the perfect build (skills, armors, etc). I love games for the production values, the spell affects and raid content.
However in WAR I greatly enjoy and do much more PvP!
To add to the conversation about the PvP system in War, I'd like to suggest a view videos:
Warhammer Online video production podcasts
http://warhammeronline.com/podcast/index.php
WAR Production Video Podcast #21
WAR Production Video Podcast #17 - Jeff on Cities
WAR Production Video Podcast #14 - RvR Keeps and Siege
WAR Production Video Podcast #11
Also great for other content lovers
WAR Production Video Podcast #19 - Crafting
WAR Production Video Podcast #18 - Introduction to the Guild System
How exactly would you do a 40K universe? 10k+ worlds, space fleet battles, willing turning to Chaos. To be truly representative of the material you'd have to be able to start as a lowly grunt, train/fight your way up to General in command of an entire sector, lead a space fleet to exterminate an entire planet inhabited by other players. How would you link together a million players into a single universe?
I'd say Warcraft became the bigger brand sometime around 1996. The original Warcraft II (released late 1995) sold over 4 million copies.
I've played both the beta and head start for a little bit. Here are my thoughts
-I've completed all my quests without ever once having to go through the pain of getting a group together. The public quests are GREAT. Just jump right in and start fighting. They also have a concept of open groups, where you enter a new area and it tells you about any player groups you can immediately join.
-I have yet to worry about grinding for mats. To craft a talisman, I don't need to mine ore for an hour, then buy mats on the AH. Instead stuff comes naturally while doing the quests.
-It actually feels like a world.... at war. There is destruction everywhere, fighting everywhere. Invading enemy cities is encourged. WoW got to the point where it felt like a couple of Humans would get bored and call on some Orcs for a game of flag football.
-The races aren't wimped down. The bad guys really feel like bad guys. The orcs aren't struggling to find their place in the world, they just want to kill things.
-The races and classes are all very different. This game can't cop out and make both major sides mirror images of each other.
-It feels like a game, not a job.
Comparing WoW to WAR is difficult to say the least. Fundamentally at their core, they are completely different games. WoW is a PVE game, endgame content is focused on PVE Raids. WAR is a PVP/RVR game, focus is on Realm vs. Realm combat.
If you are a PVE endgame raiding junky, and NEVER PVP, then WAR isn't the game for you. Questing in WAR is no different than any other MMO.
If you like PVP, whereas you grind out Uber Gear to give yourself a distinct advantage over opponents, and you want to be a solo superstar ganking machine.. WAR is NOT FOR YOU!
If you like GROUP BASED PVP, PVP That matters to the overall goal, and battles won/lost effect the world, where you have to rely on the group and group tactics (forming lines, choke points, for one because this game contains collision dectection), WAR will be for you.
Just mah $0.02, ya I'm oldsk001
Awesome!