I agree with just about everything written here. As a Beta Tester, I would have to say that this is a very fair review of the game as it is.

With that said, no mmo is perfect or even close to it, when it first releases. But we should all know this by now. Even the unstoppable WoW had plenty of problems when it released. Were I to start playing vanilla WoW as it was then today, I would most likely pass it up, acknowledging its potential.

The one thing I wish you could have touched on was the User Interface, which, in my opinion, completely owns any and all UI systems in any other mmo available. No UI that I have played with seems as complete and as customizable as WARS. I appreciated not having to waste any time to download a single mod to aid with questing, modification of UI layout, or aid in pointing out important data in combat, not to mention the time spent setting all those mods up. Play WAR as is in its starting areas and then try to play even the newest staring zones in WoW without any mods, and I guarantee it will feel like a lot is missing. If you haven't played WoW with mods, then you won't miss a thing, but play WAR and then try to, and you'll agree, I think, that it is time for Blizzard to step up their overall UI experience.

As for WAR being a WoW killer, it is with great sadness that I must admit that, in it's current state, it is not. But it is for this reason and this reason alone: the 'feel' of combat. This is where I agree with Mr. Zenke's review the most. For any mmo, especially one where the focus is war, the combat needs to be great. If you are an mmo developer and happen to be reading this, let me tell you the real secret to WoW's success- it has great combat. Period. That's it. That is the single most important thing that WoW does that other mmos don't. Yet as simple as that is to point out, all of the little things that make the 'feel' of combat great are what is difficult to nail down. The character animations, spell and skill animations, timing, speed, smoothness, reaction timing, UI lag, instant attacks, interrupts, length of time to cast, time in battle, truly useful and iconic skills and abilities, and the sound, for God's sake, get great SOUNDS (and more of them!), are just a FEW of the elements that help to make great combat in an mmo, or any game for that matter. I wish I could be there with developers and designers while they were making the game to let them know that their combat just is not right. Heck, I wish I could BE the designer! Devs, we want to play the next great mmo, we just need you to get the combat system right!

If WAR had truly great combat, I could say that it definitely has a chance at dethroning WoW, or at least sharing the throne to an extent. Without this, however, it will have to settle for second best, which is what I'm pretty sure WAR will be considered after some more polishing and patching. WAR is coming. Along, that is. Here's hoping one day, it truly does arrive. That day will be awesome.