On the WAR path
Mania’s posted a short review of one of the potential WAR online (Warhammer: the reckoning MMO) classes, the white lion – the class sounds a like a melee hunter (with axes.) I must confess that I have preordered the game and signed myself up for open beta, soo does this mean I am quitting WoW?
In no way.
I have also pretty much have WotLK on preorder too. Basically I love MMOs, and WAR is probably about the only one being released that may have a chance of being different enough from WoW to be worth a look-see, despite them both being of the fantasy genre. I further predict that WAR and WoW are going to be playing the whole “no you first” thing when it comes to releasing the game (I’ve already heard WAR is going to be doing a two-part release) to compete with each other.
So my very personal take on the upcoming WAR:
The motto you hear everywhere for this game is ‘WAR is everywhere’ (that’s the WAR catch cry), so it’s going to be darn heavy on the PVP and Realm Vs Realm stuff. This may put off people who prefer WoW PVE servers. However a friend of mine who plans on playing WAR but refuses to play WoW (don’t ask – it’s a stubborn issue more than anything else – silly sod was a neopet and runescape addict – he’d LOVE wow /sigh ) claims that the WAR development team assure that PVP aspect can be turned on or off. I myself reckon that they are going to be sinking a heck of a lot into the PVP aspect because that’s where their competitive angle lies with the old fan base – I don’t reckon it will be as easy to progress PVE wise, and I bet all the best scenarios (like the public events) will have a heavy PVP aspect. The way the best WoW endgame is to do the epic PVE raids really.
What this means to me: Not a negative. I love WoW PVP servers. I may enjoy the WAR is everywhere philosophy… I have never participated in RVR before (I don’t think cross server BGs count really.)
The next interesting thing about WAR is they are attempting to make it an evolving environment. I think there will be technical limitations on how individualistic this ‘evolution’ will be able to be – but basically realm city landscapes should change, War will change the landscape, guilds will be able to decorate keeps they conquer and dwarf beards will grow. This is the aspect that really interests me – the possible WYSIWYG aspect – no lvl on enemy players you have to guess how hardcore that orc is by how green he is and by the quality of the trophies he is wearing . Although I bet someone will make an addon to help with that issue. This may make the PVE environment interesting to explore – maybe not as pretty as Wow is but they make promises on the detail… we’ll see.
What this means to me: Not a negative, well to start with anyway. It may get old if it’s an evolution cycle that simply repeats and then I play the game for oh 3 years (if WoW has been any indication of my MMO tolerance.)
Players can loot pillage and burn when they take a village. Thank god no rape mentioned. Still WAR is looking a little more hardcore (or adult? do I get to use that word when talking about a comp game lol) then even the gory forsaken lands of impaled corpses and rotting patch-work fiends. Graphics look a bit less cartoony too
What that means to me: not sure if that is a plus or minus really – however I will be happy to burn shops for the side of order – the idea makes me laugh.
In order to compete with WoW they are offering a few variations on standard MMO features, the development team promise that crafting professions will not involve grinding, farming or the recipe based system. What they really mean is they are throwing in some Nintendo style game play, you will grow your herbs like in harvest moon, and mix your potions like they are Pokémon poffins – all experimentation baby. The other gathering professions seem rather similar to wow … just more WARified. The equivalent to skinning will be called butchering for example.
What this means to me: bloody hell its two gathering professions for me then – I am far far too lazy to experiment with combinations for potions, and potions and talismans are the only crafting types that have been mentioned lately. Other side of the coin – my druid buddy is going to love this.
Guilds get exp. Guilds level. Guilds get a heck of a lot more than a tabard and bank space. On the flip side I get the feeling that you are really really going to want to be part of a guild to survive, or to do the fun stuff.
What this means to me: well I’m curious – I get the feeling really ambitious guilds will go far in WAR, but I’ve never been the type to join hard core types – don’t know how I am going to fair.
Okay that’s enough WAR talk really.
Some races which sounded similar to the hunter (due to bows or pets):
• High Elf White Lions
• Goblin Squig Herder
• Witch Hunter
• Heard rumors one of the dark elf types may get to summon phase beasts– but they sound more like warlocks really.
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