Warhammer: Age of Reckoning Sept 18th

[Krug]

Sounds good. Am looking to play a Squig Herder or a dwarf engineer.

Have ditched WOW after 3 years, though I'll be back for WotLK. Not sure which MMORPG I'll stick onto in the long term though.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Sounds good. Am looking to play a Squig Herder or a dwarf engineer.

Have ditched WOW after 3 years, though I'll be back for WotLK. Not sure which MMORPG I'll stick onto in the long term though.

I suspect it'll do better than AoC. I've not been quite as much a fan of WHFB, but it should be decent. The news that they've cut down a lot of stuff could be a sign that they know that they bit off more than they could chew, and I have heard they've made some reasonable changes based on the beta.

I have heard of a 40k MMO, but it was a while back in PC Gamer, so not sure if anything is actually out there.

 

[Krug]

Yes AoC has been a dissapointment from most accounts. Lots of folks signing up but with the bugs, a lot of folks left. Without probably enough time between WAR and WotLK, Mythic has a good chance of grabbing a sizeable MMORPG pie away from Blizzard.

 

[TwistedBishop]

Yes AoC has been a dissapointment from most accounts. Lots of folks signing up but with the bugs, a lot of folks left.

Most of the AoC complaints I read blow things way out of proportion. I've levelled two different characters to the mid-40s and in that time I ran into only two bugs. It was a really exceptional game, imo. I appreciate that they intentionally made a game that wasn't WoW, that was violent and mature-themed and had exceptional high-end graphics.

As to how AoC is performing in sales, I've seen Blizzard state that, while a good number of people did leave to play Conan, about 40% of people who left have come back. Since I have no context to put that in, I'm not sure if it's a good or a bad thing. Just how many people do stick with an MMO? Has even Blizzard, as the most successful MMO in history, retained as a subscriber every person that's purchased the retail box? Right now it's looking like AoC has around a 500k subscriber base. Far behind WoW, but ahead of every other subscription-based MMO.

Anyhow, back on topic. I am looking forward to WAR, even though I'm not really interested in all the RvR stuff. There are some very good ideas there, like the Tome of Knowledge or Public Quests, and I certainly would love to play a goblin or orc in the Warhammer lore. My only concern is that the PvE side might not be very robust, with so much focus on PvP and RvR.

The game has the potential to sell extremely well with such a long-established fan base, and the modest system requirements will be a real boon. Ironically the thing that will hurt it most, imo, is how similar it looks to WoW. Most people won't know that Warhammer developed that art style to begin with. They'll see a game that came 4 years after WoW, that looks incredibly similar, and consider it the knock-off.

 

[TwistedBishop]

I have heard of a 40k MMO, but it was a while back in PC Gamer, so not sure if anything is actually out there.

Vigil Games is working on the 40K MMO. They're a THQ-owned developer without many games to their credit. Right now, aside from the 40K MMO, the only other project they have listed is the Darksiders action game coming next year.

The 40K MMO itself is still exceptionally early in development. I don't think we'll even see it for another couple years.

 

[Felon]

Well, my interest is always piqued by a new MMOG. I really don't like the WoW model (now also the D&D model) that treats individual characters like a generic, interchangeable cog.

All I know of WAR is what I've read off the Wikipedia page, which is pretty light on info. It seems that they have copied the cog model, with classes being designated by roles (tank, striker, support). Does anyone if you can do anything to personalize a character in WAR? Is the game soloable at all?

 

[Krug]

Sorry I don't really know more details, but sites like www.massively.com and www.tentonhammer.com have more details for WAR.

One thing I would like to see is that the various races still have their own specific quests at high levels. For WOW, the quests start to converge, and even Horde and Alliance are doing similar quests, which is just plain silly. The low level quests are the ones that give the most flavour and background, and are some of the most fun.

 

[Thanee]

All I know of WAR is what I've read off the Wikipedia page, which is pretty light on info. It seems that they have copied the cog model, with classes being designated by roles (tank, striker, support). Does anyone if you can do anything to personalize a character in WAR?

What do you mean with personalize?

From what you write, you might want to take a look at Tabula Rasa. Not the most successful MMO out there, but the developers are working constantly to make it better and it's definitely not working in the usual tank/striker/healer group principle. You can play every class in very different ways. It can be solo'ed. It's a lot of fun, IMHO.

Is the game soloable at all?

I think so, but it is - of course - meant to be played in groups (or even huge groups)... like DAoC it is based on the Realm vs. Realm principle, though they want to include PvE in there, so it's not pure PvP.

Bye
Thanee

 

[DarkKestral]

Felon: There's supposedly a lot of customization in WAR. The spec system is somewhat like Guild Wars'; you have a certain number of points to spend in paying for different specs, and each point you spend increases the effectiveness of all skills linked to that spec by a certain %. But there's a slight difference: You can also buy certain combat abilities with those same points once you've reached enough points in a spec. So you have to balance buying those abilities with being less strong in general. However, the abilities are VERY strong, supposedly, so as far as is known, the beta testers say they balance well.

Additionally, you can dye your armor and add trophies (non-combat effect items which are displayed on your character) for further customization.

Krug: There are race specific quests up to the current level max, reportedly. I think they get a LITTLE more sparse as time goes on, because you're supposed to be a Big **** Hero who makes a difference in the war and so are expected to switch between battlefronts, but I've read that they were trying to make each race's content feel slightly different. This is also made a little easier in that all class-specific content is going to be race-specific, due to the design of the game.

Myself, if I can get some money to afford a subscription and can get one of the house's computers to run the game, I'll probably be playing a healer class. I'm also thinking maybe a Witch Elf, if only because I play a lot of rogue-archetype characters.

 

[DarkKestral]

Felon: There's supposedly a lot of customization in WAR. The spec system is somewhat like Guild Wars'; you have a certain number of points to spend in paying for different specs, and each point you spend increases the effectiveness of all skills linked to that spec by a certain %. But there's a slight difference: You can also buy certain combat abilities with those same points once you've reached enough points in a spec. So you have to balance buying those abilities with being less strong in general. However, the abilities are VERY strong, supposedly, so as far as is known, the beta testers say they balance well.

Additionally, you can dye your armor and add trophies (non-combat effect items which are displayed on your character) for further customization.

Krug: There are race specific quests up to the current level max, reportedly. I think they get a LITTLE more sparse as time goes on, because you're supposed to be a Big **** Hero who makes a difference in the war and so are expected to switch between battlefronts, but I've read that they were trying to make each race's content feel slightly different. This is also made a little easier in that all class-specific content is going to be race-specific, due to the design of the game.

Myself, if I can get some money to afford a subscription and can get one of the house's computers to run the game, I'll probably be playing a healer class. I'm also thinking maybe a Witch Elf, if only because I play a lot of rogue-archetype characters.