Post by Celera on Sept 7, 2008 16:10:18 GMT -5
So in my ongoing search for new ways to waste time and accomplish nothing in my life, I've been playing a bit of Warhammer now that it's in open beta.
A common impression is that it's just more of the same, compared to WOW. There's some truth to that -- it's still high fantasy, and the classes are fundamentally the same as WOW and others. The graphics are slightly more finely drawn than WOW, but still rather cartoonlike, and not really state of the art. The music -- I turned it off almost immediately. Especially in the high elf area. Yikes.
The big difference is that, whereas PVP seems to be sort of tacked on to WOW as an afterthought, in Warhammer it's organically part of the game. I haven't gotten to any higher levels yet, but right from day one you can join a Scenario -- which is sort of a battleground. But there are a lot of scenarios available (a dozen or more, I think) and they are all timed at 15 or 20 minutes max. (On the preview weekend they were especially funny, as everyone is totally new to the game, so I'm not the only one wandering around looking sort of lost.) They modify everyone's stats in the scenario so that you are all essentially at the same level, so it's not unthinkable to join a level 1-10 scenario at level 1 or 2.
I think that a lot of the regular game content is also in PVP enabled areas, and it looks like there is a lot of group/guild/seige type of PVP out there also.
The other innovation that is really interesting is Public Quests. You are just walking along doing whatever, and suddenly you will be in a public quest area. You can ignore it, or you can join in. There's no limit to the number of participants. Altough only the top few contributors get loot, everyone gets influence, which accumulates for specific rewards.
The regular "looking for group" functionality is designed to be pretty open and to encourage people to start and/or join groups. You can still solo when you want, but it's a lot easier to find the alternatives.
On the downside, the Order races are a lot like WOW's alliance, and the Destruction races are more evil, especially the dark elves. I didn't mind killing humans and high elves, but I hated having to kill a unicorn, and I actually got kind of pissed watching some NPC's mocking a white lion. But, you know, that's just how I am.
So, there are three games out there besides WOW that you can consider: Vanguard, AoC and Warhammer. In summary:
Vanguard has made huge improvements in performance, content, and bug fixing. They have a smaller but apparently quite happy subscriber base. Definitely the only game where you can monitor general chat without feeling that you are losing brain cells, or your temper. It's a huge world. Crafting and Diplomacy are whole separate games in addition to (and very different from) combat. The more realistic artwork is gorgeous, and has been optimized so it runs a lot better than at launch. It's like an oil painting instead of a cartoon. If you love PVP, this is not your game, though.
AoC looks amazing. My characters there are definitely the best looking, most realistic and sexiest. (and not just because of the chest sizes, which range from full to "how does she keep from falling over?") Unfortunately, unless you have a computer stolen from NASA, you will not be able to fully appreciate these graphics, or run the game smoothly, or be in any areas where there are lots of other players. Since the whole seige warfare thing was a big selling point, this has a lot of people very disappointed. They have just implemented some new PVP rules, that may cut down on the relentless gankage, but there are still a lot of problems with the game mechanics and lack of depth to the content. Unless you are really needing to see some boobs and/or beheadings, I would check back on this one in a few months.
Warhammer is the least interesting to look at, and the most like WOW. But, if you like WOW, and just wish that there was more PVP and less soloing/grinding, War might be a nice change of pace.
A common impression is that it's just more of the same, compared to WOW. There's some truth to that -- it's still high fantasy, and the classes are fundamentally the same as WOW and others. The graphics are slightly more finely drawn than WOW, but still rather cartoonlike, and not really state of the art. The music -- I turned it off almost immediately. Especially in the high elf area. Yikes.
The big difference is that, whereas PVP seems to be sort of tacked on to WOW as an afterthought, in Warhammer it's organically part of the game. I haven't gotten to any higher levels yet, but right from day one you can join a Scenario -- which is sort of a battleground. But there are a lot of scenarios available (a dozen or more, I think) and they are all timed at 15 or 20 minutes max. (On the preview weekend they were especially funny, as everyone is totally new to the game, so I'm not the only one wandering around looking sort of lost.) They modify everyone's stats in the scenario so that you are all essentially at the same level, so it's not unthinkable to join a level 1-10 scenario at level 1 or 2.
I think that a lot of the regular game content is also in PVP enabled areas, and it looks like there is a lot of group/guild/seige type of PVP out there also.
The other innovation that is really interesting is Public Quests. You are just walking along doing whatever, and suddenly you will be in a public quest area. You can ignore it, or you can join in. There's no limit to the number of participants. Altough only the top few contributors get loot, everyone gets influence, which accumulates for specific rewards.
The regular "looking for group" functionality is designed to be pretty open and to encourage people to start and/or join groups. You can still solo when you want, but it's a lot easier to find the alternatives.
On the downside, the Order races are a lot like WOW's alliance, and the Destruction races are more evil, especially the dark elves. I didn't mind killing humans and high elves, but I hated having to kill a unicorn, and I actually got kind of pissed watching some NPC's mocking a white lion. But, you know, that's just how I am.
So, there are three games out there besides WOW that you can consider: Vanguard, AoC and Warhammer. In summary:
Vanguard has made huge improvements in performance, content, and bug fixing. They have a smaller but apparently quite happy subscriber base. Definitely the only game where you can monitor general chat without feeling that you are losing brain cells, or your temper. It's a huge world. Crafting and Diplomacy are whole separate games in addition to (and very different from) combat. The more realistic artwork is gorgeous, and has been optimized so it runs a lot better than at launch. It's like an oil painting instead of a cartoon. If you love PVP, this is not your game, though.
AoC looks amazing. My characters there are definitely the best looking, most realistic and sexiest. (and not just because of the chest sizes, which range from full to "how does she keep from falling over?") Unfortunately, unless you have a computer stolen from NASA, you will not be able to fully appreciate these graphics, or run the game smoothly, or be in any areas where there are lots of other players. Since the whole seige warfare thing was a big selling point, this has a lot of people very disappointed. They have just implemented some new PVP rules, that may cut down on the relentless gankage, but there are still a lot of problems with the game mechanics and lack of depth to the content. Unless you are really needing to see some boobs and/or beheadings, I would check back on this one in a few months.
Warhammer is the least interesting to look at, and the most like WOW. But, if you like WOW, and just wish that there was more PVP and less soloing/grinding, War might be a nice change of pace.