Now, if your title has the word “reckon” in it, I reckon that may not be a good thing. Banal jokes aside, this game have the potential of taking over my life if it were to live up to its hype and promises. I have been closely following the development of this game, through its podcasts and devlogs.

Currently, WAR is the hype leader of the bunch and I must admit to disliking that. However, the features and sheer amount of content is making this to be a game I may probably call home. Now I can’t deny the fact that I have been praying for a beta invite. I can’t deny the fact that I do check my inbox every day to see if I would, by chance, be selected. The hype is annoyingly enslaving. Hold on…ok, nothing in the inbox yet.

Let’s make a couple of things clear:

1. I love the Warhammer universe. I have, in the past, followed and played much of Warhammer’s table top games. I do own Warhammer licensed computer games. I am a Warhammer fan in general.
2. I do enjoy a good mix of PvE and PvP in a game and WAR is looking like it will have a good mix of both.
3. I thoroughly enjoy Paul Barnett and think that EA-Mythic picked the most charismatic bloke to make those podcasts. He’s absolutely hilarious and entertaining. And no, I don’t have a “thing” for him.

Now that that’s out of the way, here’s my thoroughly biased take on this game.

WAR looks to be a shoe-in for game of the year. The hype it is building has the potential to knock current MMO king, World of Warcraft, off of its throne as MMO leader. I know, I know. That’s a pretty bold statement to make, but WAR, in my opinion, has its sights set on Blizzard. WoW is in the cross-hairs, we’re taking a deep breath, slowly squeezing the trigger…BAM!

It has a large following, only half a million beta tester applications and even larger base of fans that are eagerly waiting for its release. It promises both PvE and PvP action, without obliging you to participate in both if you so wish it. It features beautiful graphics, staying true to the artistic style of Warhammer’s universe, yet having its own flavor. It features a great amount of lore. It has discernable race/class combinations and a promise to allow one to personalize its advancement to make it feel truly unique. It has also, just recently announced that it will feature full-scale DAoC style forts, sieges and RvR action.
I have to admit that I really stoked about this game and hope that it lives up to the hype. Let’s just keep one thing in mind; the bigger the hype, the harder the fall and disappointment.

Mythic is a 10 year MMO game developer, gaining its fame with Dark Age of Camelot (DAoC). That game still has a rather strong user base (for a dated product) and allows Mythic to have veteran status in the playing field. Hopefully, with the experience gained with DAoC, they will be able to deliver a solid product with WAR.

What I’m worried about with WAR is the fact that at end game, we’ll have the same boring rep grind to get gear. The race for loot will dominate. 3+ hour scenarios will be what are necessary to make yourself better. I personally do not have 40 or more hours per week to dedicate to a game to get the best decent high level gear, to gain that pretty mount, to access that 73 main raid. Let’s not forget the 2.5 hours it takes to get a group together… My problems aside, a large amount of subscribers do not have that much time to invest either. The game cannot turn into a job (unless you’re a gold farmer of course). Honestly, I do not know much about the end game content, besides the high level RvR scenarios (capital city raids), so my worries are based solely on past experiences with other games.

Overall, WAR should be a spectacular game, if it lives up to the hype. I’m chalking this one up on my “TO BUY” list. Warhammer Online is scheduled for release sometime during the second quarter of 2008 (Q2 2008).