Ask Massively goes to WAR

It is time for another edition of Ask Massively where we serve up opinions and information hotter than a room full of mages trying out Living Bomb for the first time.

One of the greatest things about writing a column on MMO gaming is that my research often consists of playing video games. One of the greatest things about writing this column is that whenever a new MMO comes out, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I'm going to get a question like this.

Dear Ask Massively Guy,

Everyone else, and their grandmother, has talked about Warhammer Online, so what's the deal? How come you haven't mentioned it yet? It's not like you don't have an opinion on nearly everything else.

-Llamas Notsheep

I hadn't originally planned on picking up Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, but with Lich King still a good month away and a 4 week old daughter who still hasn't learned the concept of sleeping through the night, it would appear that I had more free time on my hands than I had otherwise planned for. So in the process of picking up formula, diapers, and other baby necessities, I snuck a copy of Warhammer Online into the shopping cart and decided to give it a shot.

I'm glad I did. No, it's not a "WoW Killer". Yes, I'm still going to be playing Lich King like the rest of the lemmings out there. That said, I like some of the new concepts that WAR brings to the table. I am becoming more of a fan of World PVP than I used to be. It is easier to deal with gankers and corpse campers than it is to deal with "Barrens chat". It is more of a matter of choosing the people who will annoy you in an MMO. I like the fact that in WAR, you have plenty of chances to kill your fellow players. I like the fact that no two races can play the same class. An Elven ranged DPS class should have a different look and feel than a Dwarven ranged DPS class. Now there is a real stylistic difference between races that adds flavor to gameplay.

I like the public quests system so far, but I'm not sure how that translates at higher levels. I like the fact that there is a lot of detailed lore in the game. I like the achievements system. Basically, I like a lot of what I see so far. Of course, I liked a lot of what I saw in Age of Conan initially, and the game grew old on my fairly quickly. I'm curious to see what kind of staying power WAR has. I'd definitely recommend checking it out.

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