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.
