Warhammer Online gives up a point in re-review

"And don't even get me started on how lame the achievements are. I've just been killed by an orc? Woot achievement time! They call *this* an achievement?"

Well, it's a tome unlock, technically. Not really an achievement. But I know what you mean.

I think the main problem with WAR is that people don't know how to play it.
It's really about group dynamics, not min-maxing a single toon. If you are in an unorganized group where everyone runs off in their own direction, an organized opposition will mow you down in 5 seconds and the game is "not fun", "imbalanced", etc.

If you get in a good group that communicates, WAR can be one of the best group fighting games of all time, especially if the opposing team also communicates.

Granted, it takes good leadership, coordination, communication and skill. Maybe Mythic made it too group-focused, idk. If they nerfed the knock-backs you wouldn't hear me complain...

Quite frankly that review hits on some of the points that i think are very pertinent. The game does lack immersion but frankly they should fix the more important things before trying to improve that aspect of the game. Fortunately they seem to be on the verge to do that with 1.3.0b and 1.3.1.

Brooke i recommend you to play in the Iron Rock server since it is the most populated and where most of the fun is.
Could you please try out the new keeps and say what you feel of the fights in there as well as try out the new city sieges and the LotD?

That's been my problem with WAR -- the shallowness.

I _want_ to like the game, but it bores me fairly quickly. PvP "skull-thumping", as Eurogamer calls it, is not enough to keep me playing every day, for months on end.

I am new to WAR, having been lured in by the fact that they released a beta client for the Macintosh. I've played several other MMO's, including WoW since launch and LotRO.

I must have really missed some bad mojo before the game's current incarnation, because I don't see much of what I see people posting about. I find the game to be very enjoyable. I love the art. The stories could be fleshed out more, but are acceptable. And for me, the RvR blows away anything I've done previously. I'm still learning a lot about the game, but am having a great time doing so.

It seems to inevitably get compared to the 100-pound gorilla of mmo's, World of Warcraft. People seem to forget the amount of development time that went into WoW though. Not months, but years -- during a time in which the term "mmo" meant nothing to most people. I doubt Blizzard had any pressure on them from fans or from the executive side at that time, they were developing in something of a vacuum. Not a luxury afforded to Mythic/GW.

In all fairness, I also happen to be someone who thinks that WoW has jumped the shark -- some time ago in fact. It is not the same game it used to be and most of the people I've played with for the last several years have grown increasingly frustrated and left.

All in all, I think there are some brilliant concepts implemented in WAR. Yes there are flaws and bugs and such. No game will ever be free of these things. But at this point in time, I've converted my trial to a full subscription and plan to ride it out. I want them to succeed and the best way for me to show that is to continue to contribute to the game as an active player and subscriber. I hope that those of you saying you want it to succeed as well will consider doing the same.

I like WAR, but I do agree that it is missing something - people. Honestly the world feels empty, even when you actually are in a place where other people are.

Maybe it is because, in Beta, I got to see it in a much better light. Because we were limited by level, everyone was in the starter areas and the energy was fun. The first public quest that both factions participated was a blast - often breaking into open world PvP.

The actual game feels empty of life - which is mainly the players. That said, starting a new character in WoW also feels dead, even if the world feels more expansive and not a collection of valleys. I honestly think that WAR would have done way better if it didn't use the level system. That way every new character joins the big fight immediately - just with less unlocked skills and armor. Then the whole game could have been balanced around world sized epic battles.

War is dead