Warhammer Online

Killavodka · Post by **Killavodka** » September 16th, 2008, 2:42

Well I just started tonight, a Dwarf engineer called Valdahaz (Dwarven for brewery just for extra geekiness

) on Karag-Orrud. Looking at the server list, it states how full each side is on each server and so far nearly every server is full on destruction side, and only medium / high on the order side. Does remind me much of warcraft except the opposite way round for some strange reason...

First Impressions

A lot of people complained about how much it would be like warcraft however during the first 3 hours I never felt like I was playing a warcraft clone. There are some obvious similarities such as the controls and the UI but IMO its better to have a familiar control/UI system instead of going for something alien which won't necessarily work. Feels a bit clunky at the moment but I reckon a few patches and levels under my belt and that will work itself out.

Gameplay

Lots of additional features which make it stand out. Firstly Public Quests which make a pleasant change from normal questing. Instead of having a simple go here, fight over the NPCs with another person then move on affair, they employ a short storyline of 3 or more chapters where everybody works together to complete an objective and afterwards the amount of input each players goes into a hat and the 5 highest contributors get a prize. Each chapter has it's own objectives such as "kill this" or "plant gunpowder on these" and at the end there is a boss fight. Worked very well when I tried it, although later in the day when there is only two or three people it kinda fails because you can't kill the boss.

Another feature are the RvR scenarios which are very similar to your battlegrounds in Warcraft. Each side joins via the interface (rather than seeing a specific NPC) and when there are enough players the round begins. You get small amounts of XP for completing these and also you get PVP XP which allow purchasing of special items.

Also they have created many achievements which translate into titles you can use, ranging from the simple "Quester" (complete 25 quests) to the silly "Ow my Eye" (clicking on yourself 100 times) for you badge whores from CoH

Conclusion: Only played it for one night but its looking good. Definitely less broken than AoC and there is plenty of content for everybody to enjoy, even for those less tempted by the PVP aspects. Plenty of lore to be read for you super-geeks, but its not in your face and doesn't cloud the way for somebody who doesn't know/care for the Warhammer Universe.

Post by **Dog Pants** » September 16th, 2008, 7:16

I was predicting the masses of people exclaiming it was just like Warcraft. Every MMONG gets that. As for being not as broken as AOC, I don't think that's a fair comparison until you reach at least level 30.

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » September 16th, 2008, 10:23

I managed to get some playing in last night and it seems quite good.

It's looks nicer than I thought it would, somewhere in between WoW and AOC, so I can run it on the high graphics level no problem. Unlike AOC which looked a bit shit with the graphics config that allowed a decent framerate. And WoW that looks a bit basic these days.

The controls are obvious right away if you've played Generic MMO before. Which is handy for playing drunk.

The brief go I had (before my PC BSOD'd, which is probably the fault of my soundcard drivers) the gameplay seemed fine and the social aspects seem to be better implemented than other MMOs. There's a tool for browsing available parties to join.

Overall I like.

I made a couple of chars on Eltharion, as I like the idea of OpenPvP.

Hehulk · Post by **Hehulk** » September 16th, 2008, 10:50

HereComesPete wrote:I'm most likely going to be khornate, I've been heavily into violent and mindless close combat since I was about eight years old.

Just noticed this. You can't be a khornate warrior sadly. Only faction represented is Tzeentch (hence that huge great whacking lord of change in the trailer). Khorne would have been cooler but such is life

Closest you'll get, I think, is a chaos marauder

spoodie wrote:I made a couple of chars on Eltharion, as I like the idea of OpenPvP.

Order or Destro?

Ballunatic · Post by **Ballunatic** » September 16th, 2008, 11:17

spoodie wrote: I made a couple of chars on Eltharion, as I like the idea of OpenPvP.

OpenPvP isn't as good as it sounds. In Core servers, theres a PvP area marked out by the red outline on the map, so everyone will be fighting in the same place. If you're on an Open server, people will be spread out around the entire map, and you'll probably encounter less opponents.

I think the compromise is that you can go back to the previous tier you were in to smash some lower level people, which could end up being a poor choice on EA's part.

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » September 16th, 2008, 11:21

Hehulk wrote:Order or Destro?

Order.

I'm not sure whether my chars still exist though as I checked after my PC crash and there were none.

Is the general consensus to go for a girly-man / core / non-PvP server? I just wanted to see what openPvP was like, I may switch.

Hehulk · Post by **Hehulk** » September 16th, 2008, 11:23

I'm sure EA are just the publishers, and that it's Mythic who made the game

/pedant

What it's true that's possible, the guilds I'm gona be rolling with (Ma hommies yo) are just trying to grind the hell out of the 40 level cap so we can start city sieging. Destro guys seem convinced that their numbers are going to steamroll everything, despite us kicking their faces in thus far at scenarios while outnumbers (7v12, 500-49 points victory for the 7

)

Imperatore · Post by **Imperatore** » September 16th, 2008, 16:53

I appreciate that not everybody has the game yet but I think we need to decide promptly what server we want to play on before we all get too settled into our current realms.

Imperatore · Post by **Imperatore** » September 16th, 2008, 18:09

OpenPvP isn't as good as it sounds. In Core servers, theres a PvP area marked out by the red outline on the map, so everyone will be fighting in the same place. If you're on an Open server, people will be spread out around the entire map, and you'll probably encounter less opponents.

I think the compromise is that you can go back to the previous tier you were in to smash some lower level people, which could end up being a poor choice on EA's part.

100% agree, I think it should be core realm to be honest.

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » September 16th, 2008, 18:55

So I nominate (as someone has a char on it already and it's not "full" or "low")

Code: Select all

Name             Order    Dest
Axe Bite Pass    Med      High

or

Karak Izor       Low      Low
Karak Norn       Low      Low

Do we want a high population server or low, that is the question?

Imperatore · Post by **Imperatore** » September 16th, 2008, 18:56

The two at the bottom only launched yesterday, I say get on the lowest pop one to avoid any potential queues.

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » September 16th, 2008, 19:07

Karak Izor then. All in favour raise your hand, take a photo of you doing it, upload it to flickr, post the image here.

Post by **FatherJack** » September 16th, 2008, 19:07

I've preordered this, so should get it Friday, but I also have Ichy Ring on preorder, so there's stuff I need to do in WoW to benefit from that and my time will be divided.

I don't know anything about the lore, other that what I've picked up from the other games in the franchise I've played, which won't be much because they are Space Crusade and Dawn of War - the latter being set forty thousand years after this one.

I care more about the gameplay quality, although I am a quest-log reader, so an engaging story would also be a plus.

I find all the abbreviations and race/class comparisions appearing on various forums (even before anyone played the game) a little scary, as if I'll be at a massive disadvantage to people who are familiar with it all, but that never stopped me in WoW, or helped me in LoTRO.

I like questing, soloing and exploring, as there aren't always mates around when I want to play, so a realm where the PvP areas do not intersect with the places you have to for questing would suit me personally. I assume the version I've ordered only allows European play.

While high population give more opportunity for interaction and possibly money-making, even low-population servers are likely to fill up sufficiently in a month or two - ensuring that future 5punky players are able to join us seems a higher priority, particularly since many seem to be waiting to hear other's views before buying.

Imperatore · Post by **Imperatore** » September 16th, 2008, 19:12

Totally understand that FJ, the issue I have is I have full acess to the game and I don't want to play it because I want to be on the same server as you lot but I'm wondering how long it's going to take to make that decision?
When you all get it on Friday and log on you will have to choose a server right away so I'm not sure how this is going to work.

Hehulk · Post by **Hehulk** » September 16th, 2008, 19:16

Just finished a 5 hour session. It's fun, I like it, but it seems to have a memory leak that keeps making it crash ever 30 mins or so. Not sure it's got long term appeal, but beating in other players faces and getting rewarded for it is nice. Also gives me access to gear people who are doing PVE only won't get access to since you need renoun levels to use some items, right from the world go.

Imperatore · Post by **Imperatore** » September 16th, 2008, 19:18

Played four hours solid yesterday with no crashes at all. Running V64 and 4gb Ram.

Post by **HereComesPete** » September 16th, 2008, 19:23

spoodie wrote:Karak Izor then. All in favour raise your hand, take a photo of you doing it, upload it to flickr, post the image here.

That'll do. I've not got it yet but when I do I'll head that way. Everyone is fragmented enough already.

Hehulk - the word is spelled renown and it actually means rumour, but that fell by the wayside a long time ago.

No doubt PvE servers have different exclusive gear better suited for single player grind, be silly not to.

And 'right from the world go' that kind of makes sense, but did you mean it to?

Imperatore · Post by **Imperatore** » September 16th, 2008, 19:25

Karak Izor ahoy, I'll go start now, might do another Witch Hunter or take a faaabulous elf.

Post by **FatherJack** » September 16th, 2008, 19:29

Imperatore wrote:Totally understand that FJ, the issue I have is I have full acess to the game and I don't want to play it because I want to be on the same server as you lot but I'm wondering how long it's going to take to make that decision?
When you all get it on Friday and log on you will have to choose a server right away so I'm not sure how this is going to work.

I wasn't suggesting waiting, just choosing a low pop server, which it looks like Spoodie already did while I was typing. I'll head for Karak Izor unless I hear any different, but in any case I'm prepared to start over at any point in the first month, as I'll want to try out all the different classes and stuff.

Imperatore · Post by **Imperatore** » September 16th, 2008, 19:41

I didin't see it either so ignore it.

Pre order ftw!! Look I'm an epics whore at level one!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3250/286 ... 7247_b.jpg