EA Mythic announced today that over 400,000 players have signed up for the Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning closed beta test. This milestone makes it among the most successful betas in MMO history. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning's Beta Center is open and accepting applications at betacenter.eamythic.com/signup.php.
Based on the classic Games Workshop's tabletop fantasy war game, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning will focus on Realm vs. Realm play. The MMO game is set to release in 2008. More information can be found at www.warhammeronline.com.
The first day of the Leipzig Games Convention certainly began with a bang as Jeff Hickman and Paul Barnett from the Warhammer: Age of Reckoning crew unveiled the High Elves and Dark Elves to the seething masses. On top of that, the High Elf and Dark Elf classes have been revealed and we have the first look!
Even with Warhammer Online delayed until early next year, the entire crew at Ten Ton Hammer has been itching for some new images of the Warhammer world. We sent word to Mythic about our dilemma and they responded with a whole slew of exclusive Warhammer: Age of Reckoning screenshots! Go in and take a peek at them, but don't forget to visit Ten Ton Hammer next week. The EA Mythic crew will be introducing the last two races at the Leipzig Games Convention, and the Ten Ton Hammer team will be there in force!
I'm moving the discussion to the actual game since the discussion related to the game more than the article.
I haven't seen enough gameplay for Conan, but everything I have seen makes it look like a WoW clone, not anything that is different at all.
Even if something comes down the pipeline over the next year I think WAR will still dominate simply because it will be there first. The game is slotted for an 08 release and is currently in its beta test phase, any of it's potential competitors must release something before that time that can trump this game or it will be cemented into it's position.
Part of the reason for this is because with MMOs you invest a great deal of time and money into your characters. Not wanting to give up those characters is what makes these games persist. Some people move over to new games to try them out, but they tend to only stay for a short period then move back, only a fraction stick with these new games.
This is historically the pattern MMOs follow, there is one or two major games that have the lion's share of the marketplace, a couple lingering players for the old giants, and a smattering of people in little niche games.
The timing is about right for a new generation of replacements for WoW and FFIX, and I think this is going to be one of them. I suspect another major game will be announced either at E3 or within the next 6 months that will take another lion's share, there are a couple I am watching but haven't seen any/much gameplay for them.
So far anything else I've seen pales in comparison to the gameplay improvements of WAR over WoW.
Some of these gameplay improvements are as follows:
Fully Customizable characters and equipment.
Noticable changes to your actual character as they level (IE Dwarves grow longer beards, Greenskins grow in size ect...)
Public Quests that you automatically pick up when you start fullfilling the requirements for the quest, and automatically share with other people in the area working on the same quest. (No more fighting with other parties over who gets to kill the boss.)
HUGE improvements on the PVP front.
Your actions actually affect the world around you. Everything goes toward the war effort and when you fullfill quests and win battles against the enemy in PVP or PVE it changes the outcome of the war effort.
You can compete against rival teams in Instances, working against one another for points.
There are three different battle fronts for you to choose from, Empire vs Chaos (Humans), Dwarves vs Greenskins, and Elves vs Dark Elves.
You can make a character from any race and move to any battlefront you wish.
The big focus seems to be on allowing players to make their mark on the world.
You also have a journal that chronicles your life and your achievements which I think is a nice touch.
Many other games feature graphics improvements over WoW, and they might also have more complex fighting or a more hardcore environment that penalizes death, but nothing that really enhances the gameplay that much,
WAR is different, the focus is on gameplay, and they have the world and the development team to make it happen.
Excellent insight Pilias_Simber. I would tend to agree with you on this probably being the next WoW. Unless something comes down the pipe in the next year to trump this one it probably will be the shiny new crown for MMO's.
I think Conan will probably be a niche player. There as some interesting aspect of what they are trying to do, but I don't see how it really stands out from all the rest so to speak.
LOTRO didn't do anything innovative to differentiate itself from it's competitors. Hardcore fans of the world will keep playing it and those that invested time/energy in their characters might stick around as well, since they are providing tons of expansion content for the game, but LOTRO is nothing like WAR.
WAR is not trying to sell games just based off of the power of the Warhammer name. They have taken a look at MMOs and improved on just about every aspect of gameplay from currently popular MMOs and back that up with the rich content provided from the world.
What I'm saying is there is a good chance that WAR WILL be the next WoW.
Remember WoW attracted lots of people at first because of the power of the name, but the simplicity and gameplay improvements over their previous game (Everquest) is what kept them there for the long term and attracted new players to the game.
Sales and active accounts on WoW are beginning to decline, people are ready for a new MMO, and after looking at all of the MMOs coming out in the near future my money is on WAR being that game, though Conan might surprise us as well.
Will be interesting to see how LOTRO first year sales compare to WAR first year sales.
You would think that LOTRO would have a larger fan base because of Tolkien, but I know several Die Hard Warhammer addicts.
I would tend to agree with you On this Pilias_Simber. If LOTRO can get close to the 1 million mark for first year sales, I can't imagine this game not matching or exceeding that total.
But like every other MMO out there, Once it has been out for awhile people will drift from it as well to the "next WOW"
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