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Fantasy MMO fans will find much familiar, but expect some cool surprises.The Tome of Knowledge however isn't the only unique feature WAR has in its considerable cannon which helps differentiate it from "that other MMO". The six major capital cities, including Altdorf for the Empire (Dwarves and High Elves make up the rest of the good guys) and The Inevitable City for Chaos (Greenskins and the Dark Elves finish the bad guy set), will be the centre of attention for end game RvR, or realm versus realm play. Unlike "that other MMO", the capital cities will be more than simple social hubs. They will be the pinnacle of WAR's PvP.
In keeping with Dark Age of Camelot, EA Mythic's previous MMO, WAR will be an RvR centred game. This will take the form of open world combat in designated areas of the game world, but players will also get it on in Keeps, ala DAoC, where guilds can capture and earn special rewards. That's just the appetiser though. The main course is siege warfare. Battering rams can be used to knock down city gates, burning pots of oil can be poured over attackers from high defensive positions and catapults can be manned and fired. Entire six-man groups can come together to use siege weapons. Taking on the opposing realm's capital city, we're told, will take the combined effort of multiple guilds, not just to force their way in but to battle the other players, NPCs and to burn the place to the ground. It will take a monumental effort, and won't happen every week either. EA Mythic imagines it will be a rare event, perhaps occurring once every few months.
AdvertisementCities will also be organic, ever changing places. At the beginning of a server's life the two capital cities will be in poverty, or at the lowest rating. As the realm versus realm combat starts to kick in victory points will start to funnel their way into your side's capital, enhancing its reputation and improving its look and services. EA Mythic hopes the state of a server's two capital cities will become a matter of pride for players, and worth preserving - an invading force can reduce a capital city rating, thus undoing all the hard work.
Once the enemy capital city is captured, players friendly to it won't be able to use it. Instead they'll only have access to essential items in a refugee style camp - black market traders will provide the basics. Essentially you've been booted out. EA Mythic is still undecided on how long exactly it will be before the game starts resetting the city, but we get the feeling it will probably be about 16 hours or so. Long enough to give the controlling force a shot at the ruler of Order or Destruction - an instanced encounter which will provide the ultimate, and hardest, task in the whole game. It all sounds supremely savage of course. I can't wait to pour burning oil over scores of invaders. And work out how to cope with it when I'm part of the invading force.
I absolutely love the idea of Public Quests, too. When you enter a new area in WAR which has a public quest running you'll automatically be offered the opportunity to join in the fun.
So, we've got the Tome of Knowledge and city sieges blazing a trail for WAR. But it doesn't stop there. I absolutely love the idea of Public Quests, too. When you enter a new area in WAR which has a public quest running you'll automatically be offered the opportunity to join in the fun. PQs run in stages, the first might be a collective effort to kill a certain number of monsters, usually culminating in a player versus environment battle against a double-hard computer-controlled boss (there are currently 300 PQs in the game, resetting every 15 minutes). The point is everyone in that area will be working towards a common goal, a goal which will have benefits for your realm, as well as dishing out big fat loot.
I love WAR's high concept ideas, the city sieges, the Tome of Knowledge and the Public Quests. However, this enthusiasm was dampened somewhat by the hands-on time I received with the game. I, along with a pack of journalists, snagged pre-made low level High Elf and Dark Elf characters to get a taste of levelling. This played out in an extremely similar fashion to WoW, with quests obtained from NPCs to kill a certain number of monsters, return, gain experience and items. My character class - the Shadow Warrior, played similarly to WoW's hunter, with the emphasis on ranged attacks with a bow. I found myself "kiteing" (stunning your opponent so you can damage from a distance) and spamming special abilities with hot keys in much the same way as I have done for more hours than I care to admit in WoW.
WAR is shaping up nicely, but is it different enough to stand out?I'll balance this by saying WAR promises more classes than WoW to play around with, and while many of them are similar to the class types typical in most fantasy role-playing games, there are some interesting choices. In WAR, the Mastery System, which supplements progression through the 40 levels with 15 levels of its own, provides the opportunity to customise your class further. A Morale system, which carries up to four tiers, is built up over the course of a successful fight and, at the highest level, provides some of the most powerful attacks available. And, to top it off, through the Tome you'll be able to unlock Bane Tactics, which are PvE or RvR specific buffs. EA Mythic is keen to stress that WAR will provide a level of character customisation unseen in previous class-based MMOs.
I also got the chance to get my MMO trigger finger dirty with some High Elf versus Dark Elf battleground-style PvP action, called Scenarios in WAR. Again, it felt unnervingly similar to battleground combat in WoW, with capture the flag and take and hold game types. I left with the impression that WAR, Tome of Knowledge notwithstanding, won't really show its differentiating spots until players near or reach the level cap, and thus get a shot at the city RvR.
With an autumn 2008 release date scheduled WAR also runs the risk of going head to head with Wrath of the Lich King, WoW's upcoming expansion. This potential fantasy MMORPG heavyweight head-to-head could make things very difficult for EA Mythic's game. But don't count WAR out just yet - this underdog is one of the most polished WoW alternatives I've seen. At this stage it sounds better than it plays, but soon enough we'll get the chance to sink our teeth into what we're all dying to taste - city sieges, Public Quests and the chance to pour burning oil over those snotty High Elves.
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is due out in Fall 2008.
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James wrote at 16:57 on 31 March 2008
Sounds like you have never played any other games except for WoW. As a veteran of over 20 MMOs(beta &/or retail) I can tell you that with very rare exceptions, all MMOs have that same type of beginning... where you wrote "This played out in an extremely similar fashion to WoW, with quests obtained from NPCs to kill a certain number of monsters, return, gain experience and items. My character class - the Shadow Warrior, played similarly to WoW's hunter, with the emphasis on ranged attacks with a bow. I found myself "kiteing" (stunning your opponent so you can damage from a distance) and spamming special abilities with hot keys in much the same way as I have done for more hours than I care to admit in WoW."
Guess what. Legend of Mir had that, Earth and beyond had that, everquest had that, Every text based or 2d mmo had that, shadowbane had that... even the korean ones had it(i.e. fung wan online, etc...) If you really want I will give you a complete list of the games I've played that had that(which is pretty much every one of them, except Risk Your Life, which was just a grind-fest, although the gameplay was fun... or maybe I just didn't find it). WAR has taken what has become very formulaic and distilled the best parts of it... WoW did some distillation also, but mostly they distilled out the parts that were most addictive, and left out most of the parts that were just cool...
Mike wrote at 17:17 on 31 March 2008
The author of this article is definately a WoW fanboy if i've ever seen one... War is awesome. WoW is fun for a couple months when you first lvl up but horrible end game.
balls055 wrote at 17:40 on 31 March 2008
now i do appreciate the way you have come out with the highlights of warhammer online.....it does disturb me to see how pve factor is affecting your views on other games.
i started playing warcraft from beta till the first expansion.first we were told we could seige cities...hero classes...and there was alwyas the excitement of sneaking into lil towns and lay waste to the players there.....
then slowly...they sidelined pvp ....until there was a point where world pvp was non-existent and it was alla bout repetitive unsurprisingly boring raids and gear.
now you should try to understand that warhammer online and wow are 2 completely different games which carters to two different populations and i can guarantee you that all the pvpers in wow will switch to warhammer the first chance they get.
as someone before me pointed out....end game in wow is dead and gruesomely painful...but in war endgame is when the real game starts =) .all the basic classes and gameplay style [archer] has been there for quite some time....hell even from lineage 1 ....i used to hate rangers because they kited my paladin all the time .
oh and one more thing....there are a total of 6 capital cities that can be seiged....not 2
wyp100 wrote at 18:28 on 31 March 2008
For the record - I've played plenty of MMOs in the past, including Guild Wars, Lord of the Rings Online, Pirates of the Caribbean and Tabula Rasa. I'll admit I'm no where near coming close to 20 though, like James.
The comparisons with WoW are inevitable I'm afraid - by a country mile it's the biggest MMO out there. And, if you take a step back, both WoW and WAR are fantasy MMORPGs with similar playable races and classes. As the preview states, there's lots to be excited about in WAR, unfortunately what makes it stand out, the city sieges etc, wasn't playable during the event.
SuperDyu wrote at 18:50 on 31 March 2008
Sorry Wyp, but having played all the ones listed post WoW release doesn't really qualify you to compare. You could just as easily have said that the classes play out like they normally did in DAOC (which would make more sense) than WoW.
The problem is that you compare components that are in practically ALL MMO's with the connotation that they are like WoW. If you compared something like instanced PvP vs World PvP (ie: Blizzard Vs Mythic) or anything that WoW did uniquely then you would have made much better arguments.
IF you did any research as well, you would have easily found that Warcraft originally was going to be a Warhammer IP, but the deal fell through the cracks and Blizzard created their own IP and tweaked the images a bit.
I mean... any plot with green orcs in the story is obviously based of Warcraft universe since there were no green orcs prior to that right?
I do agree that there is a lot of good in Warhammer, but just do your research, and be familiar with the history of the genre.
Bloodstorm wrote at 00:06 on 01 April 2008
PLEASE be kidding me......for the love of god nooby please.
Death trap dungeon? Green orcs. Elder Scrolls? Green orcs. Hell, ANY Ian Livingstone book GREEN FECKING ORCS.
Orcs are like vampires, lore galore, everyone of them is differently potrayed so just do your research, and be familiar with the history of the races in other games? k?
James? 20 mmos??? God you must have no life what so ever........
sgpigeon wrote at 01:59 on 01 April 2008
Good preview wyp100. Dont mind most of these other posters. I have played quite a few mmo's, and sure the beginning game in all of them is mostly the same. But the insight you provided us about public quests and tome of knowledge, etc. was well written. Anyone who has played a couple of MMO's can relate to your initial playtest of WAR, but as you pointed out..all of the "unique" stuff is not in yet. Good work.
And like Balls said, its all about pvp. Many wow people remember the "honor" system in wow was not in the game until like update 5 or so, WAR seems like it wont require u to raid many hours a week so you can one shot people in pvp, because it is designed around pvp.
jinthin wrote at 02:07 on 01 April 2008
what a pve noob
go back to carebearcraft
James wrote at 14:43 on 01 April 2008
Bloodstorm, it wasn't 20 at one time... heh. I jumped from beta to beta. For example, after WoW beta, I went to The Matrix Online beta(still one of the most fun combat systems of an mmo, I think), and after that I believe it was CoH.
There are certain games which stick out to me... DAOC(which I wound up playing till trials of atlantis came out), Legend of Mir.... Shadowbane... Who doesn't love Flying Valks with GTAoE, hehehe...
A lot of them were mediocre at best. I am currently playing requiem(closed beta, although it will be f2p). I kind of felt like the offer at first "geeze, nothing new here. lvl 1, get quest, kill mobs, return...) But around lvl 16 or 17 I hit up this dungeon called chaste sanctum... This is the first MMO I've seen where they made proper use of running jumping and other mechanics. It played like a cross between a classic MMO dungeon and a platform game. Was incredibly fun, not too long, good loot. The only thing which could improve it would be more loot, as there are only 3 bosses in there right now.
James wrote at 14:45 on 01 April 2008
Just realised my last post made it sound like I had never played any into retail, which again isn't true... games I played retail(most of them after beta testing) which stand out in my experience...
EQ (Xegony server)
DAOC
Shadowbane (briefly)
CoH
WoW
There were also some others which I signed up for a month or two, but then jumped ship on.
Zach wrote at 21:29 on 01 April 2008
There are 6 capital cities. 6, not 2. And Altdorf and The Inevitable City aren't the 2 "Major" ones. All 6 will have the same aspects of each other.
Just had to add this so that people don't read your article and think there are only 2 capital cities in the game.
wyp100 wrote at 22:10 on 01 April 2008
Thanks for the heads up - mistake corrected :)
dinowii wrote at 09:54 on 05 April 2008
anybetter i love things like that every day i play on wow
Dave wrote at 23:24 on 05 April 2008
Sure, you can go to battlegrounds in WoW, but did you really mention the significance of each of the tiers? Scenarios, as well as general PvP (even at low levels) contribute points to the next tier (Win Tier 1, get bonus points in Tier 2, etc). Battlegrounds in WoW really lack any major significance until you get to a much higher level anyways, as honor points you earn are exchanged for high level gear. I've played a lot of WoW, and honestly, this more PvP focused aspect sounds fantastic compared to WoW's system. The ability to contribute, even at a low level, seems to add to the overall system in War. WoW lacked any significant PvP at all, honestly, so to have a game built from the ground up with PvP in mind seems like a wonderful idea. It just seems like you downplayed the significance of lower level Scenarios and PvP, as they are much more integrated into the story and RvR gameplay that you indicate in your article. Higher level PvP will be better, and I believe the game will absolutely shine there, but could you give it a little more props? You sounded a tad harsh. :P
Jeremy wrote at 21:39 on 25 April 2008
How about this, WAR>WoW, end of story.
Jeremy wrote at 21:40 on 25 April 2008
WoW = Waiting on Warhammer
Taldrezam wrote at 00:20 on 26 April 2008
I think it fair to say that from the point of view of the educated MMO community WAR will definitely shine as WoW conqueror, and if not it will support a large enough community to expand and evolve in the future. I no longer play wow and those others I know who do are bored of it, but still play for lack of alternatives of any real interest. PvP is of central import to all MMOs and the only worthwhile portion of the games in the end game. Ultima gave us visual, EQ gave us another dimension, WoW gave us a story to fight for, now I believe WAR will bring the sense of pride that will drive the passion of PvP that has been lacking in other MMOs. The idea of actually unlocking and supporting your cause/nation by your participation will be that motivator that an MMO needs, truly.