Warhammer previews impressive.

by WyldKard on December 21, 2006

Even as much as a year ago, word of Warhammer Online, the massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG), gave hope to concerned players of World of Warcraft (WoW). Warhammer, many mused, would be what WoW should have been. While this statement may have been made hastily given the lack of Warhammer information at the time, we now have a year’s worth of development to consider when making comparisons.

Warhammer Online, now recognized more formally as “Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning” (WAR), parallels WoW in many ways. Obviously, both titles are set in a fantasy world with similar races. Both are also based on intellectual property (IP) with a history; WoW is based on three real-time strategy (RTS) titles that began in the ’90s, while Warhammer is based on a 25-year-old tabletop wargame. Sadly, the younger generation will likely see WAR as a “rip-off” of WoW, when in fact, it would be more accurate to say that Warcraft borrows heavily from Warhammer, which in turn (like most fantasy settings) borrow extensively from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.

While we still don’t have complete information on WAR, including all the careers (classes), we do know that the game appears more complex than WoW. Whereas WoW has a set number of classes which multiple races can select from, WAR uses a system similar to Dark Age of Camelot (also created by EA Mythic, who is developing WAR), wherein every race has unique classes. Certainly, for balancing purposes, classes among the various races will have some similarities (there will be tanks, healers, DPS dealers, etc), each will play somewhat differently. In effect, EA Mythic will do what Blizzard attempted to do with the Paladin and Shaman: create classes with similar roles, but make them unique. Only, EA Mythic intends to do this with every class, so playing a tank on one side of the war will be very different from playing a tank on the other side of the war, unlike the repetition one sees playing a Warrior on the Alliance versus a Warrior on the Horde, in WoW. Will EA Mythic be successful? Given that they’ve already done this in Dark Age of Camelot, creating what is effectively over 40 classes, one would be inclined to say “yes”. WAR will ship with 24 classes available, with six races whose appearances will be more customizable than characters in WoW.

Perhaps the greatest difference between the two titles is the integration of PvP. While Blizzard has thus far failed to integrate balanced World PvP, WAR’s design considers it from the start. Again relying on their experience with Dark Age of Camelot, EA Mythic is adding contested territories into WAR, wherein the two warring factions (openly at war, unlike the Alliance/Horde in WoW) have strategic aims. This, of course, does not take away from the other MMORPG aspects players expect: the equivalent of WoW’s Battlegrounds will exist in WAR, and a good deal of quests will exist in the game that players can solo or group up to tackle. Also available in WAR are “public” instances, where difficult objectives can be fought for individuals even if they don’t have the luxury of forming a group head of time. In fact, certain objectives can be jumped into even if they were started hours ago, giving players enormous flexibility in the type of play they are looking for.

With similar genres and similar feels, WAR will undoubtedly attract many former and disgruntled WoW players. With a well-received guild system (again borrowing from Dark Age of Camelot), and making positive changes to the way quests are received, WAR may very well become the game that steals WoW’s thunder. Currently in early beta, the game may still be a while off, but with EA Mythic addressing many of the issues that players hate about WoW, WAR is looking to be a beautiful game both graphically and entertainment-wise.

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