MTV Multiplayer » Five Impressive ‘Warhammer Online’ Features, From A Fan

Five Impressive ‘Warhammer Online’ Features, From A Fan

Posted by Tracey John on 8/27/08 at 12:14 pm.

MTV News video editor Joe DeShano got a chance to play the “Warhammer Online” beta over the weekend. Here are his thoughts as a gamer and our resident “Warhammer” fanatic…

I sat down Friday afternoon on my computer, mouse and keyboard with soda by my side. I was ready for whatever was to come. I logged in. The patch loaded on my screen and then a splash page, “Warhammer Online.”

I’ll say this upfront: I loved “Chaos” faction. They always seemed to have the coolest miniatures and artwork. But I decided for my online experience I was going to go in a completely different direction though. The servers loaded and I noticed right away I had a problem getting into the game because of traffic. Finally I was able to get in and decided to play the “good guys.” I picked a Witch Hunter (yeah, I’m that guy), battling for the Empire.

I clicked “Play” after a modest, but not-too-varied character creation and bam! I was thrust into the world of Warhammer.

Here are five things I noticed about Mythic’s new game…

#1 - WAR! I was thrust into the battle right away. There was explosions and yelling, and plenty of NPCs and player characters running around. In the distance I could see canon fire. As far as the lore goes, Mythic did this right. From the onset, you are in a constant state of war. Playing the Empire, one of the first things I ran into was a Public Quest (or “PQ”), and I joined my fellow comrades in arms to fight against Chaos sympathizers and a giant. I had to stop a second and look up at my level (um, I mean rank) again. Being that I’ve played MMOs before, I’m used to the slow-paced grind as you get to know your character. However, here I was thrown right into the action and — for better or for worse — PvE (player vs. environment) seems to take a back seat.

#2 - All PvP all the time: This game is heavily PvP (player vs. player) with the scenarios (queued instances), RvRs (realm vs. realm — open areas designated for PvP), and a few of the PQs* (public quests — open area mini-boss battles you can join with random people on your side). The PvE and quests seem to be overshadowed. The lore I was looking for is there, but it’s more incorporated into the PvP action and not what I was expecting. Something I found out was that the realms are defined by levels, and once you reach a certain level you can’t go back to an RvR zone. Each zone is demarcated by “tiers” and if you pass a certain level you graduate into the higher tier. If you happen to get your diploma while being in a lower tier, this happens…

I turned into a chicken with one hit point. Pretty funny, and a unique way for Mythic to make sure any higher rank characters don’t move into the lower PvP areas.

#3 - The Tome of Knowledge: To add to the lore, Mythic has included a system called “The Tome of Knowledge,” and I loved it. It’s basically an in-game encyclopedia that holds your quests and describes different monsters, lands and other bits of “Warhammer” goodness; the tome brings a whole new element for those taking the time to learn more about the world. It pleased me to see that Mythic is paying attention to the “Warhammer” fanboys by including surveys about the lore and not just the gameplay. This encouraged me greatly about the direction of the game.

#4 - Altdorf is cool and BIG: Altdorf, the capital city of the Empire, is huge and takes up its own zone. I spent an hour or two running around the place, kicking the tires and discovering some interesting stuff. I saw and killed a Skaven with the help of some nearby players. Then, I finally found a PvE instance in the game. Oh, I ran into this…

For a fanboy this made the entire experience worth it. “Greater Daemon of Nurgle one day I will defeat you!” With 23 of my closest friends, of course.

#5 - I love to dye! I believe this is the final key component — and the most important one — in this game. I was desperately trying to get a hat. As “Warhammer” fans know, a proper Witch Hunter needs a hat. I finally figured out I needed to go to Tier 2 to get it. When I did, I also bought a cape. The cape was dull white. Seeing that white cloak on my guy reminded me of the plastic miniatures you would buy for the tabletop game. Part of the fun (although I wasn’t that good at it) in “Warhammer Fantasy Battle” was to paint the models. Mythic has incorporated this element into the MMO and in my opinion it’s genius. I went to a merchant, dyed my cloak to look like the rest of my attire and voila! I had just “painted” my model.

This concept has further implications if you think about it. Usually when you get an army, said army is painted similarly. For instance, if I was going to make a Chaos army of Khorne I might paint all my models black and red (a common color scheme for Khorne.) So when I played “WFB” you’d see all my guys in different forms of black and red in one cohesive unit. In the “Warhammer Online,” guilds (if they’re so inclined) could do the same thing. The guild leader could decide on blue and white and all the guildmates would change their armor to look like some fashion of blue and white. On the battlefield (the many PvP environments), those guild members would instantly stand out from the rest of the pack. Combine that with the customizable banners and you have a full-fledged army ready for battle just like “WFB.” The only difference is that each person controls one guy. With all this and the enormous amount of guild support this game offers, it truly has potential and gets me excited.

All this being said, I have to make a comment about how this looks like “World of Warcraft 2.0.” The truth is that parts of this game (particularly the characters) remind me of “WoW.” And sure, the components of all MMOs are extremely similar; but the same could be said of first-person shooters. I’m not going into the debate of who had what first, but the play styles of “WoW” and “Warhammer Online” couldn’t be more different. Overall, the game was entertaining, thought-out and engaging from my experience with Preview Weekend. Although it is far from perfect, I will definitely be online come launch to see what more Mythic has to offer for “Warhammer Online.”

Got an opinion? Let us know what you thought of “Warhammer Online” if you got a chance to play during the the Preview Weekend.

[*UPDATE 6:30 P.M. - Correction: PQs were further clarified to avoid confusion. The majority of Public Quests are indeed PvE.]

Filed Under: MMO, Mythic, PC, Warhammer