Warhammer

As you can see the game itself looks amazing. All of these screenshots have minimal editing, most of them taken the lowest graphic settings. The game uses a wrapper program to port it from it's native windows to work on mac machines. My Imac is reaching it's second year, and it runs this port relatively smoothly. The lag so far is no worse than I've experienced in WoW. Although I've read some comments around the net that this port won't run on their macs. Granted the game will really only run smoothly on the latest hardware, but it isn't horrible on machines as old as mine. Since the mac port is still in Beta, set for official release in late Sept/Oct, things can only improve.



The game itself is a strange breed. They incorporate styles that are a mish-mash of fantasy, horror, fairy tales, steam punk and historical motifs. A word of warning, I'm not familiar with the Warhammer publishing franchise. I've never read any of the books, illustrated novels, card games or role paying games that created it's popularity. There has been some sour milk over characters that weren't represented in the computer game, such as Vampires. Since I'm not familiar with the mythos, the game is quite a different experience for me than most. I like the magpie feel of it. And far from lacking character classes, I feel there are way too many. It has led to a gross imbalance of class representation and I can see that already, even as a lowbie.



The game places more emphasis on their RvR scenarios (player versus player battlegrounds). RvR takes place on instanced battlegrounds and in special quest zones. The one scenario I completed, was a simple capture the flag. The enjoyable aspect of RvR in War, is that lower level characters aren't handicapped. The spells you receive in War have no levels really, they are powerful from the start. So there aren't an awful load of twinks pushing around low levels as they do in WoW. And in zones, War has put the kabosh on twinks and gankers by turning higher level characters into chickens. The zones require capturing keeps and defending them from enemy players. However the zones can suffer if there are a lack of players. Some are more popular than others which leads to too many players in some areas and not enough in others. In one zone, I walked to each quest area and finished with nary an enemy player in sight. It is easy to level in War RvR, but that can lead to problems in PvE. It will leave your character in a misfit conundrum. In which they are too high level for their current quests and too low level for the next round of PvE quests.

There is quite a bit of PvE content for those not interested in bashing on other players. The player travels in linear fashion, along a route on a map. This is an intriguing set up for me personally. I was delighted with the fairy tale ambiance, as if I was a character in my own book. Indeed you can read about your past triumphs and characters that you meet in your journeys via a journal. Apparently there are hidden quests sprinkled around the areas, however I only found one. And since most of the quests are thrown at a player all at once, its daunting to go gallivanting off to search for even more. The quests culminate in areas called Public Quests. In which every player in the area whether in a group or not, works on a massive quest which leads to different phased levels and end with a mini-boss. The only setback is that there aren't enough players to work on the public quests. I myself, only completed one, because I was part of a spurt in new players. However newer toons that I created missed that initial influx and now quest in empty areas.

Not only do players win some nice gear at the end of PQs via a loot bag from the mini-boss, but they are also nicely rewarded by NPC quest givers as well. So it is a bit easier to gear up here than in WoW. Also merchants also offer viable gear to a player as well.



Which leads me to the Auction system. The auction system in Warhammer is basically the same as WoW. But the interface of it, is rather clunky and hard on the eyes. The font needs to be changed from that fancy, medieval script to just plain Helvetica. It also needs to be reorganized in a way that makes it more intuitive. It takes a bit of staring before you discover the input fields for searches. That should be right on the top, no questions asked. The economy in Warhammer is rather moribund. I believe this is due to the fact that most people gear up through public quests and RvR renown merchants. There isn't an incentive to really use the auction system. So the gear on offer is for really inflated prices.

The professions system in War is weird as well. I took something akin to alchemy on one of my toons. But with no instructions or potion recipes, I had to muddle out what was required to make anything. Eventually I found it fascinating that different ingredients created different potions and amounts of potions. However I believe most people wouldn't stick long with it since it is so obscure. Perhaps the results of these various professions would fetch more on the auction system. However since I haven't looked into it yet, so I don't know.



One of the main problems I see with the lore aspect of the game, is that it is too black and white. One side is really demonically evil and the other is unicorn friendly angelic. There isn't room to grow in that situation. You can't grow more evil or more good. Although I know some players like this straight forward aspect of the game, I don't. I like ambiguity. Which is why the WoW lore works better for me. I like that the darker side in WoW, The Horde, works on generally benign quests given by certain NPCs and also really awful quests by others. The bad side in WoW is fracturing into different factions. And this is mirrored by the Alliance as well. That isn't so in War. And I think it is a failing.



My final opinion on the game despite some of it's setbacks, is that it is enjoyable. I do like that storybook feel complete with gorgeous graphics. I hope that the mac port adds much needed players to the War servers to kick start its quests and economy. Which will give the War developers room to change and expand the game.

Labels: apple, computers, mac games, mmorpgs, technology, video games, warhammer online