Warhammer MMO- I have played it. This is an early review.
So, I played Warhammer. I’m only level 10, so it’s still early to start judging the game. However, I’d like to give a list of Likes and Dislikes that I hope you will find informative. I’ll be updating this regularly, hitting things point by point. For now, I’d just like to hit upon what I like about the game. First off, RVR- the PVP of WAR:
- WAAAAR! From the very get go- levels as early as 2 or 3- you are taking part of massive RVR battles. Said battles are comparable to WoW’s BG’s, but WAR has a much larger assortment and, for the most part, just feels bigger. Many battles include the usable seige weaponry or some kind of grand, cinematic element to keep them interesting. In an early RVR battleground, both sides (Order being the equivalent to Alliance, Destruction the Horde) are fighting for control of two flags. When one team holds both flags for ten seconds, a god smites both flags with a gigantic pillar of fire- killing everyone near them. You get an automatic 100 points for getting the flags, and even more for catching the enemy team inside them. The pillar does extend, but it does so at a rate that allows for escape.
Things aren’t limited to instanced BG’s, however. Like some areas of WoW, certain areas have objects that can be controlled by factions. Also like WoW, holding them give various bonuses to the controlling factions, but unlike WoW, holding them can have traumatic long term effects. Let me explain:
RVR is split into three separate battles- Chaos (demonic forces) vs The Empire (humans), Elves and dark elves, and orcs and dwarves. Each Realm occupy a part of the world together and fight for certain objectives. Capturing objectives in a zone can lock down that zone for your faction and allow the capture of the next zone. Capture enough, and you’re allowed to assault the opposing factions home fortress. These battles are gigantic. I’ve seen them in motion, and my god are things crazy. Itd be the equivalent to all the Horde assaulting Iron Forge, destroying it, and keeping it off limits to the Alliance for a set period of time. While the keep is taken, the victim’s faction is absolutely demoralized, feeling many different negative effects.
But capturing objectives is just as epic. Trying to take a zone over can take a lot of time and manpower, and the fights get intense. In one fight over an early RVR zone, the enemy mobilized poison goop cannons against our forces. We had pushed them all the way to their home camp in the area and I was standing over them on a cliff firing arrows at them. Standing next to me was a healer and a tank, and we were discussing the best tactic to push them (The guild, as a whole, that is) when I was completely knocked off my feet by a shot fired from inside the camp. They had targeted me with their cannons, and managed to not only take out me but the two others next to us with well focused canon fire. Nobody seemed to have saw this coming, and the inclusion of such firepower literally stopped our forces in their tracks. We had to pull back to the battle zone realizing that nobody was capable of assaulting them with an army at their gates and canons behind their walls. By next week, I would expect this to have changed, as our highest leveled character was only 22. I can’t wait to see how RVR grows as I approach the level cap.
