It looks like many World of Warcraft players might be going to WAR.
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning finally went live on Sept. 14 for collectors edition owners, and pre-orders were able to play Sept. 13 and it was a sight to see. What should have been a modest affair of lightly populated areas turned into a surging melee of gamers filling up the public channel with:
“This. Is. Awesome.”
“I’m never going back to WoW.”
“This is so much better than WoW.”
“My whole guild from WoW quit and came to this server.”
“Why can’t WoW be like this?”
In the online gaming business, WoW is the MMO to beat. With more than 10 million subscribers and developer Blizzard planning on expanding the game into Russia, WoW will only continue to dominate the market. They can afford to loose subscribers – they have already.
I’ll admit that my love for WoW has faded in the last six months, dust collecting on a level 70 rogue in PvP gear. He’s a fun toon to play and WoW has given me lots of laughs and introduced me to some great people. But as classes got nerfed and lore was ignored and trampled on, the game became less of a game for me and began to turn into a tedious job that held little joy for me.
Me, and thousands of WoW gamers like me… and there will be more to come.
When WAR started to take shape, I watched with much anticipation as it matured into the game it is today. There is room for improvement of course, and the game is far from the piece of polished perfection that has been promised but I take heart in the Paul Barnett, Mark Jacobs and the Mythic development team to get it right. Here’s some reasons why:
PvP: Borrowing from their Dark Age of Camelot roots, Mythic has put the best of DAoC into Warhammer Online. Last night playing the “Defile the Castle” scenario I was impressed with the class balance and graphical detail, but what really got me was this: I was having fun. Collision detection made tanks a useful barrier for squishier classes to form up behind, and the way the map is laid out affords players the ability to truly run amok. Even outside of the RvR, world PvP is truly genius – taking city’s, holding them and fortifying them is exciting. I cannot wait to one day lay siege to Altdorf.
Graphics: The polish graphics have received is phenomenal, and I don’t want to use that term lightly. While WoW uses a cartoon-style look to their environments and characters, WAR exudes a more realistic, darker look and tone that comes off well and truly sets the mood.
Lore: Adhered to in such a way that pleases uber-geeks such as myself.
Naming policy: Now this truly made my day. When I logged on this morning a page popped-up declaring WAR’s name policy. I actually let out a wild and visceral “WOOT!” that woke up my roommates. According to the policy, anyone who rolls a toon and doesn’t have a name that conforms to the WAR world will be forced to rename their toon or have it renamed for them. This is huge for me, if not my roommate “The Nathan,” who is unflinchingly strict and opinionated when it comes to names – something I used to make fun of but now respect. Please consider the names you see in WoW… “Ponygirlninja,” “Pallytrainer,” “Yourmom,” “Chalupacabra,” and on and on… this ruins immersion and frankly reflects just what kind of gamer they are. Personally I’d like to throw them all down a well with a feral animal with nothing to eat but Hot Pockets and toenail clippings but unfortunately I have not been granted that power. Yet.
Pop culture: This is one of the things that drives me insane about WoW is their idiotic – yes I said it – devotion to pop-culture. Paris Hilton, Oprah Winfrey and other allusions to celebrity ruin the games immersion. Isn’t the point of the game to immerse you in a world outside of the one your in, a mild form of escapism you can frolic in and indulge your inner dragon-slayer? Seeing pop-culture in WoW isn’t clever, it’s pathetic and lazy. WAR has none of that – something they should be proud of.
What’s missing: It may seem funny that I’m applauding something that’s not in the game, but I’m glad Mythic has made the decisions to cut certain classes, not include some cities, and hold back on some in-game features. Why? Because they want to get it right, rather than just dump the lot on our laps and say “Alright here it is, play in it.” I am encouraged by the fact that they are making an attempt to put out a game that is going to impress and entertain the gamer.
To put it in perspective, WAR is everything WoW is not. Gritty, immersive, and fun. Put another way, WAR is unto WoW as Saving Private Ryan is unto Delta Farce, The Beatles are to The Monkies, and a Harley Davidson is unto a Schwinn.
WAR may not be a WoW killer but if nothing else is will be honest competition for the MMO giant, perhaps even ending its reign of banality.
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