Warhammer Online’s Graphics and Gameplay

Now that I have seen the game at E3 in person I have to make an observation.  It looks A LOT better than the game being shown in the movies at places like Gametrailers and other video sites.  It’s almost a completely different game… Albeit the version shown at E3 is probably the most up-to-date and polished client, I still have to say that no video I have ever seen has done the game any justice at all.  It’s 10x more fluid and 10x more beautiful.  The gameplay I saw of Nordwatch (Chaos tier 1 scenario) blows the stuff I’ve seen in videos away.

I’m not claiming foul play here or anything, but it’s definitely confusing as to why the game looks one way in videos and so much better in person.  Maybe it’s just me.  I actually liked what I saw in the videos as you’ll recall.  I was just shocked how much better it really is.  Anyone else who has seen the game in person agree?

No complaints from me though.  I’m psyched at how good it looks.

  • You’re right Lumio – those videos do it a lot more justice than others I’ve seen before. Those were from E3 as well which makes sense.

  • I’ve been in the beta for awhile and I can say that I really like how the game looks and plays (framerate wise) though I can see the masses having nit-picking and having a few concerns that it may look a little dated when it gets released this fall.

  • I think it’s just MMOs ingeneral, they all tend to look not as good in videos. You just have to play it yourself to truly understand how good or bad an MMO is and looks, or watch someone actually playing it in front of you.

    I think WoW videos are a good comparison, the game just looks dull and not that great in videos, but when I played I enjoyed it a lot, and personally loved the look of the game. I have a feeling this is how WAR will be for me, though the more videos I’m seeing the more I’m liking what I see, because the gameplay looks similarly paced to WoW.

  • Watching a video of a 3d video usually doesn’t convey very well, most are low quality. Watched one video that was extreme HQ… thought I was playing, it looked 3D lol. I was used to watching youtube vids.

  • @BigKab – with the advent of fiber optics becoming so readily available, youtube has been slowing moveing to better quality. Some of the videos you can change ot high quality at the bottom right of the video. Within 2 years almost everything is going to be streamed at high quality, maybe even HD. Check out hulu.com and watch some of their HD streams, they look great even at fullscreen @ 1920×1200.

  • Dose the game stilly carry a art style graphices that look much like warhammer? a friend of mine was in beta and after the first week couldent stand it becose of how much the art reminded her of Wow… she hates wow >_>

    I know 99% will say wow stole that art from warhammer first… But thats not the point of this question ^_^

  • I’m like most of you guys as I ‘ve been very impressed by what I’ve seen in the recent footage here and there.The Chosen armor and movements and the Inevitable city(really have the feel of pain and terror) in the video @ Jeuxvideo website is impressive.

  • I want to be that chosen! I want his gear! I want his cloak! I want his chaos steed! I want to play! NOW!

  • @SwS – Heh, I know what you mean. I still remember the first WoW video I seen, the game play didn’t look fun at all. The video was funny as hell though.

    Leeeerooooy Jennnkkinnnnnnnnnnns

  • @Elspath – I think the art style is very similar to the Warhammer Table top game, they’ve really nailed the models. Though the landscapes and environments will remind people of WoW, that’s not necessarily a bad thing for the majority of the MMO population though.

  • Yea…I guess I don’t see this “quality” in those videos that were linked.
    It still looks “WoW” like, and colors look dull. Movement looks good, but then when I watched the one with the combat and the war lion, I was like “OMG, it took fricken almost 2 minutes to defeat 1 mob”
    But, speed has improved.
    Many goods and bads to compare.
    Guess Open Beta cannot come soon enough so I can have my answers.

  • It looks nothing like WoW when you’re seeing it in person, aside from the similar use of highly stylized graphics. The game is extremely colorful compared to some mmorpgs (Conan, Vanguard, EQ2… I had no idea the color brown had THAT many shades).

    Combat is of average length in WAR in PvE. It takes no longer to kill a zombie in the level 1 chaos area than it does a boar in LOTRO’s level 1 area. Is it Conan speed? Nowhere near that pace; which I actually felt was perpetually frantic. PvP however feels much slower in WAR and I think it’s on purpose. There is slightly more time to think while in combat about what abilities you’re going to use or how you’re going to defeat your opponent.

    You really have to play it for yourself or see it in person for these things to sink in. Then, if you still feel the same way, it’s a matter of personal tastes. Not everyone likes Pizza… but it’s still so darn good.

  • I’d be really thrilled if WAR actually looked like Warhammer, where the grit meets the clever twist to almost-cute and it all looks amazing in Game Workshop’s art.

    Every once in awhile I see a WAR video that almost nails it and invariably it’s Destruction, which is a huge mistake regarding faction balancing. The above linked videos are a perfect example, I even noticed that the shadows had been applied for the Chaos videos (which look great) while they don’t seem to be fully enabled in the High Elf ones (I’m seeing circle-shadow spots), which, using my gf’s term she’s been applying lately, look WAR-goofy.

    My gf’s full comment was “I’d rather play EQ-ugly than WAR-goofy”. And it’s not goofy cool, it’s goofy messed-up.

    WAR’s visuals so far have been sporadic. Arguing that it’s just a style preference is well– It has… not… been CONSISTENT. It NEEDS consistency to be a particular style at all. If it’s a pizza then it’s got mushrooms, anchovies, shrimp, beef, teriyaki and BBQ sauce on it. You can pick off the toppings and keep what you like (Chaos?), but overall that’s a terrible style of pizza.

    I’m just hoping they settle down on a style they like. Pick cartoony, pick WoW-stylized, hell please pick looking like the current Warhammer art and actual Warhammer figures. I’d love that last option!

    Here’s a Warhammer Dwarf: http://uk.games-workshop.com/download/popup.htm?/dwarfs/painting-miners/images/5b.jpg

    And here’s a WAR Dwarf:
    http://mythicmktg.fileburst.com/war/us/home/images/screenshots/WHandIB-01.jpg

    The easy prediction: almost no-one will be playing Dwarves. All those players eager to get their Dwarf-hate on are going to have to fight each other for targets like UO players waiting on a spawn-point.

    There are some parallels between the two styles above, but all the coolness factor is sucked out of the WAR dwarves. Where’s the sense that they could trip over their beards? Or the wonder that they can see from under their helmets? Warhammer Dwarves should almost have a Yosemite Sam nature about them, crazed dwarf!

    http://rog.gameslate.com/gfx/other/warhammer_dwarf_example.jpg

    Instead WAR’s dwarves look like a mishmash of WoW and LOTRO dwarves. They look so docile. =(

    That they’re sticking to Warhammer’s colour palette for dyes is promising, they need every little bit of consistency they can get. Animation looks greatly improved too, but still not where I’d like to see it, it seems mismatched to the static poses (most games look better in video, not worse). Sounds don’t seem to match the animation appropriately either.

    When you say what was at E3 looked great, I’m trying to believe you, but with these videos linked above all I can think is– you’re playing Destruction eh? If this game comes looking like these videos, there will be huge cries of imbalance and desperate pleading to add the same attention to detail to Order that they’ve given Destruction or Chaos in particular.

    I’m sure this will be read by some as anti-WAR and a time to get their fanbois heat on, but this is honest-to-goodness frustration. I’d really like the overall game to look a whole lot better than it does, I’m disappointed by what I see. =/

  • I found a nice warhammer HD beta a bit ago but lost the link. The game did look quite nice but as for landscape and stuff it did look much like wow… Just a much better updated version *shrugs*

    Mostly it was out in the forest type area. Maybe a starting area. No buildings and only just the main char so thats where this question is based from

  • @Keen

    Uh oh…you had to go say the “LOTRO” bad word. Evil game, badly implemented…yuck.
    But, I was fine with the pace of combat in WoW and EQ2, so if I advance and it feels like it speeds up…then I will be ok with that.
    I guess I was spoiled by AoC and now Guild Wars. I even gave up EQ2 after going into GW and seeing how fast and fun combat was and can be.

    But…something you are so wrong about.

    EVERYONE loves PIZZA, and anyone who does not has a disorder..

    Geez.

    (lol)

  • @Openedge

    Have you tried City of Heroes/villains? I think that combat style would be right up your alley

    I recently went back and it has changed a lot from release. Just good ol pve killing and tons of alts 🙂 Nothing more than to tide me over to War but it is doing the job well

  • Zomg! It looks just like WoW! It has trees, WoW has trees! It has ground, WoW has ground! Total rip off!

    :p

    Snarkiness aside, most online videos are low resolution and compressed, so tend to be a poor representation of graphics (due to low resolution) and animations (due to skipped frames). There are HD videos around, and they really make a world of difference. WAR won’t be cutting edge like Age of Conan, but for some of us that’s a relief, not a negative.

  • I just a chance to play for a bit down at Comic-Con tonight.

    The game was nice and ran really smooth. I jumped on to a Zealot and was blasting some zombies around the local grave yard. The game did pass my “how quick can I jump in and play” test. The guy Mythic gave me a quick note on the mini-map pointing the general direction to quest area and off I went.

    Although I most likely missed a few things, I could quick read the tool tips and figure out everything in about minute.

    I don’t really see how this game “looks like WoW.” Maybe the model animation but that is it. The color pallet and the art work has a different flavor.

    I really like this game. I look forward to when it comes out.