So, like many, I have been playing the open weekend this past weekend of Warhammer Online.....and I'm not too impressed.
First off, I started heavily reading into the game mechanics of Warhammer just recently. That's not to say I didn't keep my eye on it for a long time, but actually sitting down and reading about how it plays out some. This is where I started to get a little worried about it.
- Race Specific Classes. Not that this is always a bad thing, but it's mostly always a bad thing. I have a hard time enjoying a game when I choose to play, let's say a Dark Elf, and I'm limited to only 3 classes.....which are the same 3 types of classes you would expect to see a player roll in EQ2. Create a Dark Elf, more than likely going a type of scout or caster. Except with race specific classes, you're now not even allowed to choose to roll those, you just ARE on of those.
- Gender Specific Classes. Oh yeah, they're in there. This really only effects the Dark side, and more specifically the Dark Elf (another point down for my favorite race) and Chaos. Everyone else actually can be male or female (save for the Greenskins) and choose any class they want....which makes no sense to me. Why they decided to pick on the Dark Elves and Chaos is beyond me.
- Female Dwarfs? Need I say more? lol. Not a big deal, but apparently someone never read or watched Lord of the Rings lol.
PvE And RvR(Essentially PvP)PvE is insanely lacking. As a healer class, I have been able to kill everything without even casting at least one heal on myself. I actually really have yet to cast it on myself, other than the Public Quests fighting Boss guys. Even though this game is strongly aimed at Realm vs Realm, and I am still below level 10 (max level is 40), I don't think that's right......
RvR is decent, but wanting. This is really my first time ever experiencing RvR personally, and if this is what it was like in DAoC, I don't think I missed much. Basically RvR consists on standard PvP, but with a "purpose". That purpose changes depending on the scenario you are playing, but the 2 I am familiar with are essentially capture the flag and domination (CoD4 players know what I'm talking about
). Was it fun? Yeah for the most part. I have never been a big PvPer, especially in MMOs, but I did pretty good (36 kills to 3 deaths), which always makes PvP that much better. But we've seen it before. It's been done for years.
Because We've Been Here Before....We're Going In CirclesOne of the VERY first things that disappointed me was when I logged in for the first time, and low and behold, a quest giver. I hadn't even had time to look much at the UI before I was being stared down to take a quest.....which consisted of, you guessed it, killing x number of x mob to attain money and a nice new shiny pair of boots. I had yet to even step 5 steps in the boots I was wearing before I was able to switch them out. Brings up the question, why didn't my newly created char just have rags on ala WoW and EQ2.
That quest lead to another quest, which lead to another and another and another and another to a guy with 3 more! Pretty linear. Complete these quests, go talk to Spanky McButtercream and see what he has to say to you. Perhaps he too is too lazy to tie his own shoe and will reward you with experience and coin for aiding him in his desperate time of need.
Co..co..co..combat System (Said like Killer Instinct's Combo Breaker)Once again, pretty standard. All of the abilities are on the exact same timer system (and not just for one class, but it seems all classes have the same refresh timers) so basically you use an ability and it refreshes all of your abilities. Once they all refresh you can pick and choose which one you want to use next. Nothing impressive really, nor new. I don't have anything terrible to say about it, or anything wonderful to say about it. Just........eh.
Animations, particles and char models are alright. Once again nothing at all superior (or worse) than what's out there already. The combat system is quick, so there's not a lot of time for really awesome dramatic animations. I was very disappointed that I got a new sword and it looked EXACTLY the same as the sword I was already wielding though.
The artistic style however is amazing. That's been one thing consistent since I first started looking at this game. The cultural differences in architecture and clothing is very well done.
Summary?It's alright. I'm still not bought on it, but I realize it's only been a few days playing. Playing with old guild mates again (cough Justin, Emil, Mark) would make the game immensely better, but I can see getting bored with it before long (long before my usual 6 month attention span). I'm not discouraging anyone from picking this game up and enjoying it, but I'm also not encouraging it either. Really the best thing to do is pre-order it and get into beta when it opens up to try it for yourself before picking it up.
The Good News!This company started out just like FI did, a bunch of guys who wanted to make a new MMO and were working on it for free until EA picked them up. Once that happened, of course EA pounded out a crap ton of money to them, and has done an AMAZING job at marketing it. Very promising for a company like us.
Also, since this does basically copy every other MMO formula out there, it also gives us a bigger advantage. We have a VERY good IP and a great team of gamers who are tired of the normal. We want something better, something different. Not the same old same old. And we're not the only ones. With each and every MMO that comes out basically cookie cuttered, it leaves the MMO community wanting something new, something different. We just may have to be the only one's with the balls enough to give it to them!
