Lum the Mad on the many pros and few cons of WAR
Scott Jennings, known to the blogosphere by his nom-de-keyboard Lum the Mad (a reference that crusty old D&D players like this blogger have no trouble recognizing) has set out to amend his image as Mark Jacobs' personal imp of torment, and post a hearty list of things he likes about Warhammer Online which he thinks other games should learn from.
The list is fair, honest, and educational - did you know you can earn the title 'AAAAHHHH' by jumping off cliffs enough times? - and makes some sound points. He's particularly on the money when writing about WAR's open groups, which he sees as much more radical and innovative than the more commonly trumpeted public quests. It's a feature we've also appreciated; instead of looking for a group or sending messages to ask if there is room in one, you can just dive on in to any open group nearby.
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Scott observes that open groups have positive long-term consequences as well as being convenient in the moment: 'Open groups encourage socialization, and in the long term draw people into guilds. And being part of the core game from the start instead of the result of various reactionary patches (such as WoW has seen) ensures community adoption.'
By way of balance, Scott also lists the things he doesn't like about WAR, which (as he says himself) makes for a much smaller list. The 'grind' is at the top, and other criticisms include the apparently rushed nature of the High Elf/Dark Elf pairings, the generic nature of the PvE quests, and the absence of official forums. All we'd add to that is that there isn't one item on the negative list that isn't fixable in the short to mid term.
