The Warcraft killer (Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (PC))

Member Name: Dejavudreams

Product:	Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (PC)
Date:	17/01/09 (23 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Incredible PVP, less grind, looks beautiful, etc etc.

Disadvantages: It's extremely stable, but still needs a little polish from Mythic

Warhammer Online is a better game than World of Warcraft in almost every way. There we are, it's out in the open. That's not to say that WoW itself is a bad game, as it certainly is not -- my review of that particular MMO makes that very clear -- but Warhammer has just taken World of Warcraft and, well, made it much more fun.

Firstly, if you don't like Player versus Player combat (PvP) this probably isn't the game for you. Although the normal PvE questing is there and there is an undeniably interesting storyline to follow, as well as public quests with superb rewards, PvE is mainly just something to do when you're not fighting other players and seems like more of an afterthought.

PvP (or Realm versus Realm as this is called in WAR) however is outstanding and is the most fun I've had in an MMO ever. It can generally be split into two elements.

- Scenarios are instanced battlegrounds, where a set number of players from Order (think Alliance from WoW) take on the same number from Destruction (think Horde) in various types of play, on a variety of interesting and beautifully put together maps. Scenarios are just great fun, and it is definitely worth your while doing some research and joining a SERVER WITH A HIGH POPULATON in order to get the most out of them and to reduce queue time.

- Not that queue time is really an issue, as while you're queueing for scenarios (you can do this from anywhere in the world simply by pushing a button - a VERY useful feature) you'll be having far too much fun in Open Realm versus Realm combat (ORvR). Each zone has a large area dedicated to ORvR, with separate entrances for Order and Destruction, and upon entering this area you become flagged, meaning players from the opposite faction can kill you. ORvR is therefore a big free for all and you can simply run around searching for the enemy and killing them once you find them (there are always one or two running around, if not many many more). Or, if there are other groups of friendly players areound, you can gang up try and take various battlefield objectives or the main keep for your faction by killing any enemy players, enemy NPCs and then the very powerful keep lord. Once this is completed, you can then wait and defend against the inevitable counter attack or you can head off in a warband and take another keep - some of the best fun in WAR is found in ORvR. Seriously.

WAR also introduces the concepts of renown and influence - renown can be increased by killing other players, and as your renown rank increases you can upgrade your gear and get some very powerful items (getting good gear is much simpler in WAR, I find). Influence, in terms of ORvR, can be gained by participating in sieges and keep defences, as well as from the capture of battlefield objectives or generally just killing players of the opposing faction - more excellent gear is available from influence rewards.

To summarise, although Warhammer Online is undoubtedly less polished than WoW and still requires a little evening out in places (this is expected as it is still a very new game in relation), War simply takes a lot of the grind out of MMOs and removes many of the more boring and stressful elements out of playing this type of game. To replace them, it has introduced the best PvP available in an MMO so far and has made killing people over the Internet amazing fun.

Summary: Better than World of Warcraft? Certainly.