Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Preview
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They're not rats by name but by nature: weak, passive, idle little beasties infesting each race's starting zone, just begging to be culled by bored newcomers. It's a strange opener for an MMO focused on player-versus-player (PVP) combat, not only because it isn't indicative of how the late game operates, but also because -- as an attention grabber -- it's so incredibly marginal. From levels one through three, I couldn't think of a single outstanding positive about WAR and dreaded the thought of completing enough kill-that and fetch-those quests to write a review. Now, at level 12, I feel like I've experienced more content than most MMOs offer throughout a given character's lifespan, and I'm worried that I might be hooked.
The jump from abhorrent to potentially addictive happened quickly, thanks largely (but not solely) to readily accessible PVP. Readers may remember that I said roughly the same thing about Age of Conan, but similarities between the two games are scarce. Combatants in AOC cooked up new instant-kill combos daily, and PVP was a frantic, disjointed flurry of spastic movement and impotent rage -- a temporarily fun mess of glitches and empty promises completely devoid of risk or reward. WAR brawls are methodical, controlled, meticulously balanced, and, most importantly, integral to the game. Scenario sessions, where teams enter an instanced arena to fight for objectives, are available from the get-go, and realm-versus-realm territory conflicts follow shortly after. So far, PVP offers more challenge, more rewards, and more fun than WAR's PVE quest content, to the extent that I'm starting to wonder why Mythic even bothered to include the latter.
