Remember the WAR 'this is glory' video from a few weeks back? It was a scripted pile of crap, but anyone with some common sense knew it didn't actually portray WAR's RvR realistically. What is realistic? Chaotic bedlam! This new video ganked from Gamespot showcases how PvP plays out on a smaller and more nubish scale. Classes in on the action: Witch Hunter, Chaos Chosen, and the Witch Elf.
Paul Barnett appears, surprise, and dials down the hyperbole explaining in calmer terms the hobby experience that will make WAR a free-time friendly fun MMO to play. That way WAR players can still go to the bar wearing Warhammer shirts, and bring along some Warhammer figurines to impress the svelte ladies or the burly gents. While I really enjoy the hobby versus immersion outlook, there will always be hardcores that take it to the immersive extreme and play until someone in a bio-hazard suit shows up with the eviction notice.
It's nice that there are some MMO developers that want to make sure their players stay safe and function as normal law-abiding citizens that can afford their subscriptions and buy all sorts of WAR loots. I still have a bad feeling WAR will be an immersive soul-sucking experience. I better get to work on fire-proofing whatever I can. If you still hunger for more footage, and like me you're stuck back in the line for a beta invite, there are moregameplayvideos to watch. If you want to join the line, be sure to register for the Warhammer Online beta.
"I still have a bad feeling WAR will be an immersive soul-sucking experience."
I don't even know why folks talk about MMO's or video games in general as if it's a cancer on society. Billions of people inhabit the Earth and some of them either can't function as normal human beings or they're high school/college students with tons of time on their hands. If they play for three days straight then that's a issue of priorities or something for mental health professionals to sort out. It's not a video game issue.
If *you* feel that you need to keep up with the Jones' and you're pissed that it would take you hundreds of hours to get the shiny things you need to "pwn face" in pvp then take a step back and realize that: just because the option is there...that doesn't mean it's a good idea for everyone.
I play Lineage2. For me to be competitive in the end-game PVP I would probably need to spend the next nine months of my life just grinding. My answer? No. I don't blame the game. I just realize that the kind of time and energy I would need to put towards that endeavor is something I am wholly unwilling to do.
I get that a lot of people feel burned by MMO's. That's fine, but personal responsibility is still 90% of the equation. I'm tired of reading stuff like this only to be left feeling that I need to ask the author, "show me on the doll where the bad MMO touched you."
Hey Arabica, thanks for your comment. I understand where you are coming from. I happen to agree with you that it is the individual who is responsible for their own actions and there is nothing wrong with being hardcore unless it's impinging on your real-life in a detrimental way.
My post contained a poor attempt at some humor, I thought this would be a bit more obvious given a few lines. It's not appropriate to use emoticons in posts that better indicate that humor is trying to be taken with a grain of salt and a hearty guffaw. :)
Note: A hobby is not less engrossing than a game. In fact, a hobby is far more engrossing than a simple game. People who look at comics as a good time spend maybe $100 a year on them. People who look at comics as a hobby spend far, far more.
The hobby approach and the time-friendly approaches are traditionally unrelated. That said, I truly appreciate the time-friendly approach, as I don't have hours a day to play games anymore.
What's up with you guys at Massively? Two weeks ago you referred to the first WAR gameplay video like this: "...chocked-full [sic] of great RvR footage. . . you'll also be treated to giant axe-wielding Dwarves and plenty of spellcasting. . . really have got to give it up for the High Elf Swordmasters -- they just look cool looking with their big swords swinging around. " And now you look back at that video and say: "It was a scripted pile of crap, but anyone with some common sense knew it didn't actually portray WAR's RvR realistically." So which is it? Were you full of hot air then, or are you too cool for your own good now? Give me a break!
The response is one reason why I posted my own thoughts. Not every writer at Massively is going to have the same opinion on every video, MMOG, beer, fill in the blank with whatever. If that were the case our opinions would be one-sided and probably come across as being fake. While it is important to try and remain optimistic and positive, I tell it how I see it.
So only some of your contributors are industry shills? Hey, dat's comforting! I kid. I'm a kidder. In all seriousness, I'd be happiest with less "OMG" and less "teh sux." Moderation, in all things moderation...
I dunno War is looking kinda sucky. It looks like every other MMO out in the market now. RvR looks mildly entertaining at best but hey if your War fan then by all means buy this game.
There is a stupendous lack of obvious innovation - both in the footage in the video and in the comments of Paul Barnett. The visual style may be different, but not substantially (and sure, maybe Warhammer invented the aesthetics of the genre, but others have taken it and embellished it to the point where it's something new). The character classes are still fundamentally framed against their WoW counterparts. The UI looks like a clumsy rehash of the WoW button bar (why put two rows of buttons in such a central location, leaving spare screen real estate at the peripherary, effectively making it useless?).
Overall, whilst there's obviously been a lot of thought gone into the visual style and design of individual races and character classes, the game still fails to offer anything substantially new enough to tempt me. Which is a shame; I used to play Warhammer when I was very young, so it has a lot more nostalgic cachet than WoW ever had.
Yeah, I'm not buying that this is anything different than WoW.
He sounds very much like he's trying to excite people using the words "cool" "mega" "ultra" "uber" and all that crap.
Maybe if the game didn't remind me of a game that I already like that is already functioning and already has a thriving economy and playerbase, I might be interested.
I'm not. Not at all...
I don't even want to try a free demo because that would mean I'd have to uninstall it.
My god, could this game look any more like WoW? Everything from the hotbars to the location of the chat box, player and group avatars. This game better knock the snot out of every game out there because it certainly doesn't too original. At all.
