Warhammer in Review – March 09

Tomorrow, for anyone who hasn’t heard, brings the release of the Bitter Rivals live event! This also means that 1.2 is not far behind and I thought it was a good opportunity to reflect on where the game is now. From time to time I’ve done a check-up Warhammer Online review and I think this is a good opportunity to do so again.

Warhammer, for the most part, has come a long way from when it was released. Mythic has done a good job of responding to player requests when it comes to features. Look at how quickly we got a “queue for all scenarios from anywhere” button. It is in this area that the company excels and continues to do so. Bugs are constantly squashed and upgrades to the mail, group and guild system are on the way. All around I think Warhammer is doing fantastic in this department.

Population balances are starting to even out across the game as well. Despite what a lot of folks will tell you on the forums one side no longer greatly out numbers the other. On Monolith each side has now laid siege to the other side’s city. I think that says a lot about a community’s ability to self regulate. Of course there were some incentives to switch.

When the Blackguard and Knight were added the game seemed to be pulled out of a brief lull and back into full swing. I expect the Choppa and Slayer to do the same. Many players were looking forward to those careers before the game released and they will most certainly play them now. I only see this drawing in new bodies as well as getting others to return. Lower level characters bring a lot of life to the first three ORvR tiers and other players will roll alts to play along with them.

One the other side of things class balance is still a nightmare. I’m really not certain that the C&C team has a good handle on what they want to do. There seems to be little true direction and often times long standing bugs go unnoticed and classes who’re in woeful need of attention catch nerfs. Mind Boggling is about all I can say when it comes to this aspect. I think it is time that Mythic laid down clear and overt directions for each class as other games have. This makes things transparent to everyone and changes our expectations. Many players still believe the classes should be as they’re described on the website. Why shouldn’t they? Mythic hasn’t clearly defined each class at this time. I think with these definitions both players and the C&C team will have a better understanding of what a class should be.

RvR is still a bit shaky but the outlook on it is good. I think with 1.2 we’ll see less keep swapping and more battles. The seeds of that are already beginning on a few servers. Players just seem to be more interested in fighting these days. Siege weapons will matter soon it appears and upgrades to keeps won’t be too far behind. Adding the zone domination system will actually pull defenders in and make city raids more frequent. All of this is quite positive.

PvE, on the other hand, is still suffering and will likely continue to do so. Long lock out timers are a plague but more importantly the futility is what is getting people. What is the purpose of doing this content? Unfortunately you can’t even ward out for a sovereign fight. There simply isn’t a peer zone in PvE to match the second stage of a city siege. With no new PvE content coming until June and by the fact you have to PvP to get to it I can’t really say this portion of the game is healthy. There is no multi-group content and no reason to gear out in these zones. I think PvE has a long way to go and most likely won’t get there.

Ultimately Warhammer is doing well when it comes to the core focus. I only see that getting better with time. If you’re interested in battling other players I don’t think you’ll find a better experience in any other MMO!  I see a lot of gloom and doom preached but I think it is safe to say Warhammer is here for the long term. On the whole I give the game, as it stands now 1.2 coming along, a B+. If 1.2 is as it seems then I’d have to say A-.