WAR (Warhammer Online)

Unfortunately it's the nature of the beast these days. Everybody wants to compare release and end-game similarities and differences with WoW because WoW has made such a significant difference in the MMO industry (whether or not anybody wants to admit that). This is all they have to compare to, most of these players haven't been playing MMOs for a longer period of time than since WoW launched. Most every MMOG since then has been total crap.

I have to agree on some level that WAR will come as a Better Lauched game than WoW did, but it's primarily due to the fact that four years ago, there weren't half as many people playing MMOs as there are today. The god-knows-how-many number of subscribers that are now customers of Blizzard Entertainment are now experiencing the same difficulties and social exploration with new game launches as all of the rest of us did when we moved from games like EQ to Horizons, or Shadowbane.

Think about it guys; history repeats itself. I doubt WAR will challenge the subscriber base of WoW (I've played beta/headstart, and there are just a few things about it that I really see holding it back from being the next big MMO), but it definitely will have an amazing launch.

So in that respect, EA/Mythic did a good job.

Originally posted by Jetrpg

Paul is 100% correct to not agree with this would automatically make you a fan boy. The facts are not disputable, the game works, you don't lag, you can loot items, mastery/talent system is in , pvp rank system is in, bg/senericos are in, open rvr, is in , keep takes + seige are in (still not in wow), classes are far more balanced, pathing is better, mob behavior is better, less crashes  (i still get more in wow than in war, both of which are rare).

Lets be honest war is a polished game at release, and it has plans/ and room for more polish.

You can say well mmos are differenet , but every major mmo released forever has been in worst condition including a few recently release, TR, AOC, Van, etc.

Now gameplay is another matter , i personally like it just fine.

Dont think you have tested so much, some thinks you comment on beeing good is not working that well. Try playing a pet user and you will see. But I am sure they will fix it soon hopefully.

I'm not sure Paul even played WoW at release. From my perspective, WoW was much more polished and, dare I say, finished at release. Unlike Mythic, who cut four classes shortly prior to launch the WoW's starting areas just felt complete. As a PVE player who chose a less-populated server to start on, the launch was painless for me. Most of WoW's early problems were that they underestimated the interest the game would generate. WAR seems to operate from the "We made DAOC. We know what we're doing!" mindset. Hubris only leads to a fall.

You have to take Barnett with a grain of salt. He's a PR man who has achieved a puzzling Rock Star status by his association with Mythic. Really, what else to you expect him to say? Time will be the determining factor on whether Mythic can deliver what Paul promotes.

Originally posted by Dkevlar

 

war better at launch than wow? maybe yes. thank god. not that wow was bad, but it is about time that a game at launch capitalizes on what wow ended up bringing.

war better than wow as game? debatable.

war is for sure a better mass pvp game. Might be a better overall pvp game. Will be a worst half /half pvp/pve game and well behind pve.

Not that this is a shortcoming when we consider that the aim of war devs was to make a  mass pvp game.They looked at the market and picked an area to settle, and explore. they achieved their objective. that also means that they are more limited in the pve since t is not the objective of warhammer to offer state of the art pve. 

blizzard's objective is to cather for all market segments. their game offers then above average quality in pvp and  good  pve. - for he simple fact that the casual crowd preffers randomly to do pve and pvp.

Both games will survive well. war will get a strong mass pvp audience, wow will keep cathering for the people that like pve and preffer non hardcore  pvp.

any way both games will continue to evolve . 

Good post.

Having been in closed beta for months, and playing OB and PW and now playing "live" since Sunday CE-Preorder head start...

It is my opinion that WAR is quite balanced and polished and I have yet to run into any real bugs since Sunday... So, thusly I must conclude that WAR launch will be > then the WoW launch was. I didn't start playing WoW till the end of the first week it was out, mostly due to the fact I couldn't log on and/or stay logged on for too long.

As for the longevity of WAR... the PvP hardcore will enjoy this game, thus far seems very balanced, you can level completely through PvP and it's very addictive.

I'm also a big fan of PvE dungeon crawling and yes, even raiding... so I will miss that aspect of MMO while playing WAR (mostly, there are some PvE type dungeons/raids) but WotLK will satisfy my desire to raid/dungeon crawl.

Thankfully I'll have WAR to satisfy my hungry PvP appetite.

We'll see if I get to max Rank in WAR by Nov 13th and if it offers enough to sustain my subscription.

Originally posted by LordDraekon

I'm not sure Paul even played WoW at release. From my perspective, WoW was much more polished and, dare I say, finished at release. Unlike Mythic, who cut four classes shortly prior to launch the WoW's starting areas just felt complete. As a PVE player who chose a less-populated server to start on, the launch was painless for me. Most of WoW's early problems were that they underestimated the interest the game would generate. WAR seems to operate from the "We made DAOC. We know what we're doing!" mindset. Hubris only leads to a fall.

You have to take Barnett with a grain of salt. He's a PR man who has achieved a puzzling Rock Star status by his association with Mythic. Really, what else to you expect him to say? Time will be the determining factor on whether Mythic can deliver what Paul promotes.

You accused him did not play WoW at release, but did you play it at release? You didn't remember what was cut prior to launch in WoW did you? Battleground, Hero classes, World PvP with siege weapon, PvP system,... a lot of thing did not make release in WoW, most of them were PvP features.

WoW also had major rebalance of classes right before launch, the paladin for example were change 180 degree the last week of open beta. The warrior was a mess and don't even mention the druid. Shaman were grossly overpower (frost shock, remember? it has a video in its name).

On top of that, Blizzard not just underestimate the game growth rate, they completely messed up the capacity planning for their game with the database back-end did not scale very well and this result many many server groups almost unplayable for months. They put in the queue and slowly re-architect their back-end and after months of screaming people can finally loot stuffs.

So, don't make it like WoW was oh so polished and perfect at launch, it was not. The game definitely more polished than any other MMORPGs at that time but the launch was messy with a lot of problems.

Far be it from me to respond to hype. I respond to truths.

I have no problems with WAR as it is. In the Closed Beta I had claimed that I would rather be playing it as it was then than WoW... Ever again. Now, I can earnestly say that WAR is a smooth game with a big future ahead of it unlike AoC or the dead-ended other games released not too long ago. For one, WAR is the first game to have made me dissent from WoW.

Barnett, Hickman, Drescher, and Jacobs are now favorites of my gaming world. All I knew before was Metzen because of the Draenei/Blood Elf Lore debaucle and the stupid as hell Christmas Quest.