Warhammer Online Beta NDA is lifted

Yesterday, they lifted the WAR Beta Tester NDA and I can now offically disclose information about the game.

If there is something specific you want to know - fire away with the questions.

Post NDA - Day 1
In an effort to find an Order class - I tried a High Elf Archmage today. The Archmage is a hybrid Ranged DPS/Healer class that deals with alot of HoT and DoTs. Very similar to the DAoC Mentalist class.

I completed some starter quests and the High Elf Chapter 1 Public Quest - which involved killing this 2 headed dragon! I maxed my chapter 1 fame and move on to Chapter 2. I hit level 6 in about 2 hours of mostly solo play.

During this time - I also took 2 runs into the RvR Scenario of Khaine's Revenge. Khaine's Revenge involves capturing 2 shrines which you must hold for 10 seconds to unleash the power of Khaine and kill your foes. It is pretty cool! A massive nuke like wall of fire goes up and burns everythign in it's path. If you see it coming - you need to run for a cave or some cover! I gained Rhelm Rank 5 in those 2 15 minutes sessions of healing like a mad man.

All in all - a fun AM of gameplay before work!

It's nice to see that other locals here also got accepted into the closed beta.

I've been playing for about a week or so, myself.

Strictly Disorder, though. I haven't had the time to make a Warrior Priest and check out the Empire.

Im playing Disorder right now, there seems to be lots more disorder than order players, and yet the order players are beating the crap of disorder in RvR, at least in my server, im playing a Squig hunter now and they are lots of fun. Im glad they did a good job on the game, im gonna see if i make an Order character to try the other side of the fight. But i wont make an Elf ! thats a line i will not cross !!!

luis the young wrote:Im playing Disorder right now, there seems to be lots more disorder than order players, and yet the order players are beating the crap of disorder in RvR, at least in my server, im playing a Squig hunter now and they are lots of fun. Im glad they did a good job on the game, im gonna see if i make an Order character to try the other side of the fight. But i wont make an Elf ! thats a line i will not cross !!!

I've had an exceptional time as Disorder, and I rarely if ever see the Order side do a good job of completing enough content to take a zone.

I've got a Goblin Shaman, Chaos Chosen and a Witch Elf I'm fiddling with from time to time.

i will play thing game and i will roll Chaos, probably some type of mage. you guys have any experience with those?

chaos has 2 types of casters, a Magus ( who rides a disk ) is an offensive caster but can also summon a flamer or horror to assist him, the summoned demon cant move, is like a mini tower ( kinda like the animist from DaoC )
the other chaos caster is the cultist and offenive/melee healer, havent tried him but it looks nasty.

one nasty class is the marauder, they are melee/dps and from what ive seen they do a shit load of dmg.

I played a Magus up to Rank 11 in Beta 3.3

As Lu said, they are a ranged DPS pet mage.
You can summon a Pink horror for long range nukes, a blue horror for short range AOE attacks, or a flamer for mid-range attacks. The class specs are similarly focused - single target, mid range aoe, short range PBAOE.

The class does very well in PvE. You can summon and chain pull a whole field of even con mobs with little downtime.

The negative of the magus is the same as the positive - The pets. Since they don't move you will need to resummon them often. This means that it takes you longer to start causing damage than other classes because you must summon or do less than your max DPS with no pet.

In RvR the Magus is great when he can set up and wait in a Defensive location like a bridge; however, they are in trouble if you surprise them on the move and no pet out.

The Order counter-part is the Dwarf Engineer who uses Guns, Grenades, and Mines along with a non-moving "Turret" pet to lay down the damage.
==================
As for which side to play - I am torn. I like the Dark classes a bit better than their mirrored Order versions; however, teamwork in this game will be key and it would be cool to have a local group that games together and anchors a big guild. Since Israel wants Dwarves, that means Order unless something changes.

Any word on the dwarves outside the little tid bit there? I figure if I play I'd like to try them out just because I like the runty little buggers.

Just as an FYI, if you guys are interested, I am part of a fairly well known (in certain games) gaming clan called Darkness. We started playing together in Lineage 2 and now have moved onto WoW and Age of Conan.

We will all assemble and play Warhammer as well. We will be well-organized, large and we consist of more mature gamers who love to pvp and kill legions of people. We will be one of the most competitive clans on whatever server we play on so let me know if you guys are interested in joining up.

how about racial differences? does this game have them? or are certain classes specific to certain races?

OK another question i have is about game and racial balance.

It seems that the OVERWHELMING favorite race to play is Disorder Chaos. I would of course prefer to play Disorder since the Empire blows balls but i also love pvp and do not enjoy being part of a zerg.

Those of you who tested it, what do you think?

i see a LOT more of Disorder guys than Order. If thats the case i might play on the Order side and either a human witch hunter or human warrior priest

From the way Bill talks about it.

It just seems like the Games Workshop version of WOW.

Are they that similar?

Can I play as a black witch hunter named Samuel L. Jackson the third of Wissenland who runs around shooting at everyone while shouting "Gotta get these goddamn heretics out of the goddamn Empire!"? Oh and if they release an expansion some years from now they better relese the Skaven Confederats as a playable faction.That's the only way I'll play.

CLASS STRUCTURE
Classes and Races are very strictly defined. You do not get the option to mix and match any race with any classes - just the class choices for that race. At some point - all races will have 4 class options. Tank, Healer, Melee DPS, Ranged DPS. Currently there are 10 classes for each side with 2 to be added back in post launch (no timetable) pending some rework.

Dwarves get Ironbreakers (Tank), Runpriests (Healer), and Engineers (Ranged DPS). The Dwarf Melee DPS (Hammerer) was recently removed and should be added again down the road.

Now understand - ALL classes can do some damage. So all Healers are more "Hybrids" than the traditional Cleric version.

All classes are also mirrored between Order and Destruction to some degree. For example, the Bright Wizard and Sorcerer both work the same in that they cast build up spells which lead to massive damage nukes. Both Warrior Priests and Disciples of Khaine are melee healers that build their healing power pool by dealing melee damage. This makes both sides easier to balance in the traditional sense since if something is over-powered, at least both sides will benefit/suffer.

Bill have to disagree with you on the Iornbreaker's roll, sence the lost of the hammerer WAR designers recevied more then an ear full from the dwarf loyalist, the Iornbreaker can be spec'd to Tank or be speced for Melee Offensive, because of their path choices.

1. Vengance= Melee dps Two handed Great weapons like Axes
2. Path of Stone= Tank Spec for tanking and taking damage.
3. Bath of the Brotherhood= Buff type archetype.

Rob and I were both playing Vengance breakers and let me tell you even without a healer we were tough as hell to kill because of "Oathfriend and Guard" Which dose the following : Anytime your party member with either or both are damaged, you take a % of the damage and gain grudge with it: Grudge being the most important aspect of an IronBreaker, also WAR designers have already said we won't be seeing the Hammers or da Choppas because the IronBreakers and Blackorcs have a tree avaliable to make then a strong melee dps class.

Sad to say we wont be seeing the Hammerer.

WOW COMPARISON
A quick history note before we get into specifics. WOW is the most popular MMORPG to date; however, it was far from the ground breaking genre anchor that it is given credit for being. There were many EXCELLENT MMORPGs to come before WOW - Ultima Online (now in year 10), Everquest, and Asheron's Call laid the ground work for what you see developed by every major studio today.

Now what makes for a good MMORPG differs from person to person. Some like PvP combat, some like the open options, some like owning a piece of the world (housing), some like crafting - everyone likes fantasy adventure. With that said - WOW is an AVERAGE MMORPG (IMO). It is very easy to play, has cartoon like graphics, and lacks alot of the key features listed above. You can PvP - but there is no purpose for it. You can not own houses. The end game is 100% raid grinding that turns MANY players off (just look at Age of Conan and it's quick 15 minutes of fame).

OK, enough digression - on to the comparison.
Both are fantasy based MMORPGs - so they share those features such as races, classes, quests, and treasure. Both have a good vs. bad side based conflict at the core of the story line. Both have a similar UI where you fight using abilites on hotbars with cool down timers for reuse of the same skill.

Now, why WAR will be better IMO.
Experience - Mythic already has launched a very successful MMORPG based around RvR combat, so they have many years of experience and leassons learned to draw from to make the game solid and fun. You can see alot of the leasons implemented already in the base game design (ie: Participation Engine - see below).

Tome of Knowledge - This is a giant game guide you unlock as you go. No need to surf the net to find the solution to a quest your stuck on. No need to patch the client with 3rd party apps to enhance your maps to find what you need.

Public Quests - Very cool PvE build right into the landscape. At the core is the PARTICIPATION engine, which rewards players for helping even if they don't get the killing blow or do the most damage. This engine extends into the RvR battles as well - so a single player can score by running close to a group and helping them out - even though he is outside the group and he did not make the killing blow.

Open RvR - Each zone has keeps with can be captured and held. Siege weapons include cannons, rams, and boiling oil. WOW has nothing like this and WAR has 5+ years of DAoC siege to build off of to make these features great.

Scenario RvR - Adds FPS like action to a small RvR zone with various scenario objectives (capture the flag, kill count, etc.). These are a bunch of fast paced action fun. Again, WOW has nothing like these.

RvR vs. Raid based endgame - The WAR endgame is not raid based. Raids can be fun on occation, but most people do not want to require the help of @15 others for 4+ hours to try to get one piece of needed gear. Raids grinding benefits only the power-gamers.

WAR endgame is based on RvR and fighting to take the enemy capital city. There are raids in WAR, but much more of the game is based in RvR than PvE. You can level AND get the gear you need through RvR without ever playing the PvE side if you so desire. Again - something you can not do in WOW.

Now if you hate MMORPGs - then you'll probably want to pass on this game. If you like MMORPGs, then one based on WHFB lore to a WHFB fan is gold. Earning your Cold One mount as a rising Dark Elf in the Destruction Armies is cool! Taking control of an Elven RBT and picking off Destruction players from the keep battlements walls is just awesome!

DarkAngel_Cesar wrote:Bill have to disagree with you on the Iornbreaker's roll, sence the lost of the hammerer WAR designers recevied more then an ear full from the dwarf loyalist, the Iornbreaker can be spec'd to Tank or be speced for Melee Offensive, because of their path choices.

1. Vengance= Melee dps Two handed Great weapons like Axes
2. Path of Stone= Tank Spec for tanking and taking damage.
3. Bath of the Brotherhood= Buff type archetype.

Rob and I were both playing Vengance breakers and let me tell you even without a healer we were tough as hell to kill because of "Oathfriend and Guard" Which dose the following : Anytime your party member with either or both are damaged, you take a % of the damage and gain grudge with it: Grudge being the most important aspect of an IronBreaker, also WAR designers have already said we won't be seeing the Hammers or da Choppas because the IronBreakers and Blackorcs have a tree avaliable to make then a strong melee dps class.

Sad to say we wont be seeing the Hammerer.

I was not aware of the complete class removal, and I'm sure they will be replaced with something eventually.

I did not play a Ironbreaker, but they seem similar to the Swordmasters which can be spec'd with GW for extra damage, Sword & Board for better D, or down a magic line which gives them buffs in combat.

I have to say, one of the best things about this game is the ability to do damage with any class - Tank, Healer, or whatever - and level solo with them. In DAoC and some other games, you could not level all classes solo. Mages could not cast if engaged in melee and required a tank to protect them. Healers could not do the damage to win. Tanks could win the fight, but took forever to make the kill. All classes in WAR seem to roll through PvE content at a fun pace with little down-time. At least they got that part right!