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Warhammer Online PvP Video Idiocy
By Cameron Sorden | February 4, 2008
This video that was recently posted shows some PvP action from Warhammer Online, and it’s totally and completely useless:
Do you want to know why I say it’s totally and completely useless? Because no one PvPs like that! I am SO sick of epic scenes of battle in MMOGs where both sides line up in formation and then rush together in epic chaos and then stand around in little 1v1 pockets without moving, poking at each other, everyone with his own opponent. Even if that wasn’t the stupidest possible way to handle a PvP situation (hello, have you heard of focus fire?), that’s a style of warfare that went out of style with the 18th century. You know who lines up and marches forward towards a slaughter? The British, circa 1776. And we all know how that worked out.
This is just more puffery and hype, without really telling us anything about the game itself other than that the movement bears a striking resemblance to World of Warcraft.
Topics: Warhammer Online |
February 4th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
But… it’s GLORY! One full minute of GLORY! Don’t you see the GLORY?
Oh yeah… it is just puffery and hype after all. Just glorious… /rolleyes
Warhammer: Age of Realization: We can’t topple WoW after all!
February 4th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Oh and by the way, Cameron, you used your own hated, over-used buzzword up there: EPIC
February 4th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Yeah, yeah. Well, it’s not epic. There’s maybe 20 people in that video. So I proved my own point. Buzzword puffery.
February 4th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Really, no one PvPs like that? You mean, precisely what Paul says before the clip starts? Thanks for restating it for us, dude.
February 4th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Right, but why even show it then?
It’s just silly. That’s my point.
He’s like “Hey, here’s some footage that is no way related to the game you’ll be playing any more than a FRAPS movie is related to the game it’s made from. Enjoy!”
How about some real substance, considering how far into development they are?
February 4th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Well that video was a heck of a lot better than their original rvr video with just the dwarf running around. If this game came out last year or back in 2006, it would have given WoW a run for its money. Now its too little too late. If they don’t get the game out before Wrath of the Lich King, you might as well call it vaporware.
February 4th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
I doubt you can call it Vaporware, given they said last year that they pushed the game back to Q2… is it Q2? no
(I’ve also heard that Q2 refers to Q2 of EA’s 2009 fiscal year, but meh)
I think what people fail to realise with this video, is it is about 1 minute that was cut out of a 30 minute video designed for an internal presentation.
You might say, that this month’s production video went by the wayside as CJ (the guy who usually does their monthly videos) was busy with that 30 minute presentation. You would have seen this if you watch the monthly podcast.
If anything, this shows that the team is actually busy doing stuff, rather than having plenty of time to just hang around and make videos - I think its only a positive thing for the game.
February 5th, 2008 at 6:18 am
[…] have to completely agree with Cameron from Random Battle about the latest Warhammer video […]
February 5th, 2008 at 8:31 am
I wasn’t overly impressed with this video, however, Paul states up front that it isn’t a representation of an actual RvR video. Are you really that anal about battle posturing though? This is supposed to be a trailer, giving people an idea of what some of the classes look like compared to others…
How could anyone discern anything in the middle of an RvR fight with more than 20 people?
February 5th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Awww the hate, the mis-information, and other general idiocy.
This is almost as bad as the Wired article comparing the video to WoW. Did anyone complain four years ago when WoW used the exact same tactics while making a video to promote the game? Nope, but people can’t shut up about the WoW clone bullshit.
Fortunately, Michael got to the point before I got a hold of this, because I was probably going to be really un-nice about it.
February 5th, 2008 at 10:54 am
The animations seem really clunky.
The music was laborious.
Judging from the video, WAR is so screwed vs. WotLK next year.
February 5th, 2008 at 11:44 am
I am kinda that anal about battle posturing. To be honest, I probably am picking on Warhammer unfairly here. I’m just tired of every MMOG commercial showing battle scenes like this, when it never ever looks like that in game. Who actually lines up and engages like that? Even WoW battlegrounds don’t look like that. It’s more like an in-game movie than a gameplay demo.
Which is fine. You’re all right. Your ire is justified. I’m being mean to Warhammer unprovoked.
February 5th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Also to note, WAR RvR has collision detection between enemy players and plenty of “stay in place” combat will occur.
February 5th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
See, that’s something I didn’t know.
Maybe I’ll LOVE Warhammer PvP and I can eat a delicious plate of crow when it looks just like this video.
And we can have a party.
February 5th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
It does look samey, sure.
But it still looks tasty for all its commonplaceness.
February 5th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
In order for RvR to even work right, you have to get a large portion of your player base to particapate. WoW has lots of PVP servers, and even they had problems getting people into the larger BG ques to the point where they had to form battle servers with PvE servers, just so they could actually have enough people.
Not to mention, I think this is another attempt at HYPE, only designed specificly to draw out your wallet when the game comes out. Course I don’t think its working on Cameron.
February 5th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Getting large groups to play in the Battlegrounds was never a problem for the older established WoW servers such as Kel’Thuzad.
The actual reason the BG queues were formed was to make the system more efficient overall for all servers, reducing the alliance/horde imbalance on certain servers, and linking low pop servers to high pop servers so they’d have enough BG’s to play in without long wait times.
Regardless, I’m an one of the few that despises instanced combat, if I had my way there never would have been fake instanced BG’s, and PvP would have been entirely around World PvP with persistent meaningful objectives in the world that can be fought over.
Hopefully Warhammer delivers engaging and fun pvp like that, but you wouldn’t know it from the video now would you?
February 5th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
[…] below, and on his blog. Some back and forth discussion has been taking place there and over at the Random Battle blog where Cameron also got called out for the same reason of taking issue with the craptastic […]
February 6th, 2008 at 8:09 am
Quite the sh*tstorm you’ve created, Cam. Well done.
February 6th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Never trust MMORPG PvP videos, especially the epic ones that have edited shots. My biggest gripe with War Online, which is also the reason why I won’t be buying it, is that they didn’t do anything new for combat. The system is the same as nearly every other MMORPG on the market, P2P and free. I’m tired of this overdone mechanic and the stale combat systems that have become the definition of MMORPGs. Where is the action and skill-based combat? Where is collision detection and manual targeting?
Well, as much as people may hate to admit it, Age of Conan is an example of the genre taking a step in the right direction–a new direction.
February 6th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
I think it’s funny that scripted NPCs fighting remind so many people of WoW.
As for the question “why show it” ..
I ask you, “Why not”.
February 8th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Well..
I am coming in kinda late to this discussion party…but here is my issue…
This does NOT look like WoW to me…
Now, If I don’t see some naked dancing in a city or beggars looking for gold chat real soon, I will not be buying this game.
Thank you
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:45 am
[…] The complainers: - Game|Life - Random Battle […]
March 16th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Don’t judge the game by 1 video, checkout some others at http://warhammeronline.tv
June 26th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
In this game, your character can not walk through another character if it is of the opposing faction.
So, in theory, if there is an organized group of players, they could force the opposing side to line up like that, and come at them.
Imagine, a line of tanks blocking the path, of the opposing faction. Healers standing in the back, casting heals, the opposing side’s non-spell casting DPS being usless as they will be smashed by tanks.
Seems like it will be a very fun game, and if there are two organized Guilds going at eachother… No end to the fun that will bring.