WAR (Warhammer Online)

I honestly don't know weather or not I should pick up Warhammer or not. I have seen so many more negative posts about Warhammer than positive posts.(maybe its just mmorpg.com trolls) I have been waiting a while to see if the game would get better but, from reading the negative posts about Warhammer that people post pretty much everyday; I honestly don't want to have my hopes high for nothing and only end up being disappointed like everyone else. So I ask the fans of Warhammer and the ones who enjoy it and the ones who might have enjoyed and just got bored quickly---should I just play something else like LOTRO (which was a second option I had in mind) or go ahead and get Warhammer?

As an elder beta tester, WAR just never got its hook in me.  At all.  Ever.  I left RL friends in EQ1 to play DAoC and couldnt stop praising it.  But its now 2008 (thats the year it is now yeah) and WAR just doesnt have what it takes.  

If I could put my thumb on it (thats what she said) I would say its a mix of uninspired PvE (which DAoC had too, imho) and RvR which can not come close to making up for the other shortcomings.   At least when my assassin climbed a keep wall in DAoC and knocked off some caster, it was fun.   I dont see any similar experiences here.

Lord Of The Rings is much better than WAR.

I thank you for your honest opinion and I ask any others willing to express theirs to do so....because Im so skeptical as to weather I should get this or just got pick up something else.

Originally posted by nick4545

I thank you for your honest opinion and I ask any others willing to express theirs to do so....because Im so skeptical as to weather I should get this or just got pick up something else.

I can honestly say that if you like PvE, EQ2 is an incredible experience.  Some servers, such as Antonia Bayle, have very high populations.  And the amount of content is unsurpassed by any current generation MMORPG.  There is so much to do, so much to see, and even more to kill that it would take the casual gamer years to see all the content it has to offer. 

As for PvP/RvR I dont know what to suggest at this point.  If I say "Darkfall" someone will scream.  Maybe even me.

OP, there's always going to be lots of negative opinions, but before believing in any of them, you have to know what you like and don't like in your games.

I'll tell you that the game didn't seem very much like DAOC, it seemed more like WOW.  If you never played/liked DAOC, that means nothing to you.   If you despised WOW, maybe that's a great reason.

It seems right now the best way to level up is to run the scenarios ad nausem.  If that is something you enjoy, (my son does), great, you'll love the game.  If you prefer more open world pvp with all of its imbalances (like I do), then maybe not so much.

I didn't like WAR, but I do know that this.  There are lots of folks playing WAR and having a great time.  Your results may vary.

In the end, you are risking 50 bucks to try it out.  Not really a huge risk.

There is a ton of negative misinformation spread on the mmorpg boards about WAR. And there is also is a little bit of negative information that is true, but only for specific servers or pc configurations.

Many will try and lead you to believe that all people play is scenerios. Or that there is no open rvr. Or that the servers are dead/unpopulated. Or that no one  talks in chat, or noone does pqs. What they won't tell you is, that this is only true on certain underpopulated servers, and NOT true everywhere. It can be quite the opposite on many servers, if people pick or transfer their characters to one of the more populated servers. There are servers out there that are constant action, from the time you login till the time you logoff. I personally recommend Phoenix Throne because it has a good population and balance between factions.
 

You might be led to believe that classes are severely unbalanced. Or that there is missing content, or problems at the endgame. I find these things to be outright lies personally, or severely skewed perspectives. There is definitely a 'grass is greener' mentality that is very strong in this game, people get rolled in RvR and think everyone else is more powerful. Make a character on the opposite faction on the same server and guess what - you hear the same exact thing being said about the OTHER side. There is more pve content in game than you need to hit level cap - you will still have tons of quests you never picked up after you no longer need the experience.

Endgame is about RvR even though there are end game dungeon raids. People saying there is no endgame are pretty much ignoring what is there, probably because their only understanding of what an endgame is comes from WoW, or they are choosing not to do it because it isn't their playstyle. And its true there is no mindless loot grinding at endgame like WoW, and if thats what people want from endgame they arent going to find it. But that doesn't mean there isn't an end game - it means there is a different kind of endgame that focuses on other things than WoW did. As mentioned, RvR.

Lastly, I've heard people say performance is slow and choppy or animations and interface is slow response time. My personal experience and those ive talked to in game tells me this is entirely depending on pc configuration. Some people have slowness, some dont have any problems at all. My 8800gtx runs flawlessly with the game, until I get more than 100 people on screen at once then i start to notice slowdowns but still playable. But its entirely possible certain configurations run slower and have issues. RAM seems to be the biggest factor.

What you want to be wary of more than anything else in the game, are people thinking their own private little experience is the same throughout the game, because its most definitely not. It is important to play on the right servers, without a doubt, so pick one with a healthy pop, there are several. But don't make the mistake of thinking the guy who got the unlucky draw and never made friends knows what its like on every server.

The game is almost entirely doing the same scenarios over and over.

Scenarios are fun, the game is enjoyable.

so far as PQ's are concerned, they are rarely done, mostly just solo the first two parts, let it reset, rinse and repeat for the epic reward.  Compared to the rest of the very fast paced game PQ grinding for the elite rewards seems really slow. When you can find a group for them, t2 and avove (no one will do t1 pq's anymore) they can be fun for a bit but quickly are just a grind. There is not much of a story line really....

The game is by no means bad, but for me gaming money is tight. I could not justify 15$ a month for it. My sub ends in a few days. Mythic never lied about the game or made promises they will not keep. The game is what it is. Fast paced action, lots of anonynmous players who level so quick you don't get to know anyone, a loosely built community.  The game makes everything so easy, so fast, the meat of the game is missed.

I have not been happy with a mmo since DAoC.  So take my word with that bit of caution. I have tried a lot of asian mmo, free mmo, beta tested various mmo's, played various big name mmo's, none reminded me of the wonder, awe, and sense of community as DAoC. 

I like to think of it as a pay-to-play Guild Wars, technically you never HAVE to PVE to lvl up your characters.  Quite a bit of the game is all about scenarios (think Warcraft Battlegrounds, instanced PVP).  I don't think this was the intent, but scenarios are such an efficient means of leveling that open world pvp seems to have suffered. 

Having said that, I actually like the scenarios and combat, but then again my highest character is only lvl 25 and I don't play melee characters.  I hear melee have it rougher at the higher lvls.

If you do decide to play, I'd say go with the Skull Throne server as it seems to be the most populated--by that I mean its population seems to be at medium for most of the day, the other servers tend to be at low and only get to medium during prime time gaming hours. 

Lots of ppl post about server mergers, but I dunno how they can do that--some ppl may have opposing faction characters on merged servers. 

Maybe Mythic might release some kind of free trial in the future and you can try it out then.  Amazon had the game on sale for $25 a while back, some one-day kind of deal--you may want to pay attention to similar deals in the future.