| This is less a review than a compendium of plaudits and rants on Warhammer. If you’re looking for an introductory review, you’re better served elsewhere as the review assumes some familiarity with Warhammer’s gameplay. Otherwise, read on!

Warhammer Online is a game that has devoured my nights ever since it came out on Sept 18. I’ve a love-hate affair with this potentially great but raw game by Mythic (maker of Dark Age of Camelot (DAoC).
In my time playing this game, I’ve come to a few impressions after spending around 80 hours on two order characters in the lower tier 2 areas.
1. It is not WoW, so don’t expect it to be
It is not as polished. It has a smaller gameworld. Quests are not as elaborate, the economy is not as robust, the crafting system is WoW-lite. But Warhammer is designed for a massive army-on-army PvP endgame, not a PvE end raid experience. If you don’t want to PvP, you’re missing the whole bloody point of the game.
Will it hold gamers like WoW or fade away like other MMOs have? I’ll stick my neck out and say yes for now – Warhammer is sufficiently different from WoW and should attract a dedicated audience. WoW is still the game to beat in the current crop of MMORPGs because it caters to a wide variety of play styles, it is exceedingly polished, and has so much content.
But it is not inherently designed and balanced for wide scale PvP. Time will tell if Wrath of the Lich King will change that in November, but at its core, the feel of the games are different. Play Warhammer for large scale PvP, WoW for PvE. And Guildwars 2 (coming 2009) for brilliantly balanced arena PvP. 
…
|