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Warhammer Online - Analyzing the Response
By Cameron Sorden | August 19, 2008
I’m not going to give you my long-winded impression of Warhammer Online because 1) I didn’t play it long enough in beta for a proper review, and 2) everyone on the internet has been exploding with that information since the NDA belatedly dropped this morning. I suggest you hit any one (or all) of those links if you want a full run-down of the pros and cons of each aspect of the game.
Instead, I think it’s more interesting what people are saying about how they feel about the game. The reviews range from positively glowing to lukewarm-at-best, and everything in between. I don’t see anyone saying that it sucks, but there’s an unsettlingly large quantity of the “It’s okay, nothing special” sentiment floating around — especially when you get into the nitty gritty analysis of the individual features.
For the brief time in beta that I played, I had more fun than not… but I also didn’t feel motivated to log in much after I got off. It definitely has a heaping helping of the same old stuff, the combat feels as slow as molasses (something a number of people have mentioned even in the positive reviews), and the quests I encountered were fairly uninspired (and uninspiring). In games like these, where combat is 90% of what you do, the slow combat is a deal-breaker. Maybe it gets better at higher levels, and some people think they’ll speed it up, but I’m skeptical on both counts. Call me jaded.
Furthermore, while reading through the various reviews, I saw far more disappointment and apologizing for the game than I expected. Not a lot, mind you. But definitely more than I expected from primarily WAR bloggers. It sounds like many people are describing a good, solid game, built on established mechanics with some new twists and its own collection of relatively minor flaws… but nothing more than that. If you’re not really psyched about realm vs. realm I don’t see why you’d play it over the obvious contender at all, based on what I’m reading.
The bottom line is that it’s probably going to do well (probably a lot better than Age of Conan did) and it’s going to be fun for a lot of people. However, it’s also not going to be huge, and for those of us who are a little tired of this whole Diku/EQ/WoW thing, there’s not a whole lot there to pique our interest. I tend to agree with Darren’s and Brent’s assessments of it the most, having read through everything and experienced it firsthand.
Ultimately, I think it doesn’t do enough new things with an old formula to ensnare hardened MMOG veterans, while keeping too much of the old formula intact to really excite brand new players (who will likely gravitate towards stuff like SOE’s upcoming roster and WoW). I’ll be buying it and playing it, but not at launch, and probably not for long.
Topics: Blogosphere, Massively Multiplayer |
August 20th, 2008 at 7:46 am
I think you read the only two negative views on the game from the blogosphere, from people who obviously have no interest in mainstream MMOs, and somehow construed that to a “an unsettlingly large quantity of the “It’s okay, nothing special””.
I think what you are finding is a large contingent of beta testers being fair to the game they have played. Yes, a lot of them spent more time than they care leveling 1-10 and got sick of it. Yes, a lot of them did the same quests repeatedly, for hours. Yes, Mythic confined the beta test periods into focus tests. Yes, it was a real beta test and real beta tests aren’t meant to be much fun.
I think the truth is in the “pudding”. Take a pole of any group of beta testers and you will find that at least 75% are more than willing to pay to play now. That beats teh 75% of AoC, Vanguard, and PotBS testers that were screaming “THE GAME IS NOT READY!”.
I think those people sick of the EQ/WoW/Diku thing are playing the wrong types of games or are playing these games for short term experiences. Would you argue that its the mechanics or the socialization that matters most?
To me, mechanics are a means to support socialization (not force it!). When a game like WAR arrives with a classic set of mechanics geared to support socialization, it will be a big hit in the MMO genre. No, it won’t beat WoW, but it will dent it enough to show that games that focus on socialization can still exist in this market.
Maybe it will even bring some of the other MMO developers out of the kiddie pool and back into the traditional market.
August 20th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Mark recently mentioned that one of the three primary reasons for delaying the NDA lift is the heavily reported sluggishness of combat. They have made some massive improvements over just the last few days, so if you haven’t tested recently, your thoughts on this may change.
They are also continuing to work on it moving forward toward release.
I can’t really contradict anything else you said though, because it’s all pretty true from my accounts.
August 20th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Well, aside from the fact that Heartless is right about beta not being very fun.
Not that the game wasn’t fun, just the fact that we were put through the wringer several times in specific focus tests and only granted access to specific tiers at specific times. Also, I found it extremely hard to invest anything at all in my characters because I knew they would be wiped within a few days. These are all necessary parts of a good beta, but as Heartless said, it isn’t supposed to be “fun” for the tester.
August 20th, 2008 at 9:41 am
[...] “It sounds like everyone thinks it’s a good, solid game, built on established mechanics with some new twists and its own collection of relatively minor flaws… but nothing more than that.” (from Random Battle) [...]
August 20th, 2008 at 10:11 am
I’m really enjoying it, even though I have not been in the Beta very long. I have been playing WoW pretty steadily for several years now, and am ready to scale back with that game and will play this one quite a bit.
It helps that I love the Warhammer world. I also love the elements that people don’t talk a lot about. The feeling of the world is right for Warhammer, and they have taken a number of steps that have helped support the story and atmosphere of the Warhammer world.
I am getting just as sick of Blizzard’s treatment of their own lore, more than I am getting bored with the game play at the moment. That motorcycle really does need to come with a Fonzie jacket, water skis, and colorful Hawaiian shorts.
These games are social, sure, but they are also a chance to run around in a world. I just really LIKE the Warhammer world that Mythic has made, and I think that is an important element.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:22 am
@ Heartless: That’s fair. I might have been projecting some of my own discontent or reading too much into some of the negative comments.
Ultimately, you’re right. We’ll just have to wait and see.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:43 am
August 20th, 2008 at 11:46 am
I went back and changed some wording slightly so that it was more clear what was my opinion versus what others are saying.
August 24th, 2008 at 2:26 am
The slow combat is a feature, not a failure. AoC cmobat is 1 shot ridden and that sucks ass majorly..
August 25th, 2008 at 8:39 am
I should have my preview weekend thoughts up on my blog today. I know it will surprise some people when I criticize the game. I knew most of the criticisms going in and I came out with some of the same myself.
I don’t think combat is physically sluggish. I think its perception. Between the UI cooldown confusion, ability not ready spam, lack of visual feedback for when a skill is being used, and the fact that everything has more hitpoints than most MMOs it is easy to perceive a sluggish pace of combat.