Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is finally coming out today! After a little over 3 years of waiting, several delays and a few overhauls, the game is finally launching and opening the gates for play. It’s been a bumpy road at times and even I can admit that there were times when the game’s appeal was lacking. Other games jumped into the limelight, new ideas threatened WAR’s ‘oldschool’ RvR style, an all we had was promises to cling to for years.
I remember the state of turmoil I was in for over a year as I sat waiting, wanting, and really needing a beta invite to the game. It was not until the end of June that I was actually able to play the game on my own PC. Looking back, with 20/20 hindsight, I am glad that I did not get into beta now. It would have been nice to test the game and be apart of the smaller more intimate process rather than the beginning of the larger stress testing but I think my experience in WAR will be the better because of it. I don’t do anything small when it comes to gaming–more specifically mmorpgs. I invest myself in my character, the process, the journey, and I form attachments. This is a great thing and a horrible thing depending on the state of the game. Had I been given more time to play I would have certainly burned myself out.
Mythic did a pretty good job with WAR. They’ve deliver on most of their promises, saving for a few that are currently up for debate as implied or not. The game is in a “launch ready” state of stability; the bugs in the game a being squashed, remaining few; the content is all there. I look forward to seeing the entire game now as I level a character and experience all the things I have been excited about for so long.
Congratulations to Mythic for seeing the game through to release. That in itself is an accomplishment these days, but they’ve gone the extra mile and made a game worthy of the hype and players’ time. Regardless of where I end up in this game’s future I hope it has a very, very long life. I hope the game expands and does Games Workshop justice, which I feel it will. I hope that Mythic utilizes the 25+ years potential game elements that Games Workshop has attached to their Warhammer IP. I REALLY hope that Mythic keeps on the same teams who worked on the game during development and doesn’t implement a skeleton crew or some new crew to step in and handle things while putting Josh and Jeff onto the next project (COUGH IMERPATOR PLZ COUGH) and sending Paul back to the queen.
Now it’s time to see what the future holds! Today marks the beginning of the end of hype and theorycarfting and begins the next phase of analyzing and application.
I wonder who will step up to take WAR’s place? Will it be 38 studios‘ project Copernicus, Red 5 Studios‘ potential, or another Blizzard game? We’ll just have to wait and see!
Interesting that you mention game burnout if you had ‘played’ in the beta longer – wonder how many testers,that started from the early closed beta, have felt this now that the release draws near?
I’m willing to bet that a good many of them who did not pace themselves or detach themselves from the game and ‘test’ rather than ‘play’ are feeling the burn. Some people have been in the beta for well over a year now.
I only played in CB that I got for being a CE. After I played that I tried to avoid the game as much as possible. Since the starting areas get very boring and wanted to save as much as I could for today.
I had only run through a few levels in OB & my CB experience was the level 31 template so I didn’t venture much there either.
Maybe CB went on too long & OB wasn’t long enough?
All academic now I suppose – have a great time in-game, Keen.
I wonder who will step up to take WAR’s place?
Easily the most interesting (and not in a good way) sentence in the article, and indicative of the larger problem of MMO junkies never being satisfied with one high, but always looking for the next — and higher — fix.
Indeed! Although slightly less cynical. 😛
Did they finally unlock the graphics? I was under the impression that Mythic had the graphics turned down all during Beta.
I still have a few more days Keen. 🙁
Hmm.. Only three years?
That’s a kinda short development process, especially for a mmo-game? And when looking on the animations and sounds in the game I bet it could have still being developed another year or so, but then again this is Electronic Arts and they don’t really give their developers the time they really need.
Still the gameplay feels rather polished, it’s just parts of the graphics, the animations and the sound being poor, and that should really have been addressed before a official release. At least the sound, which is easily the worst I’ve heard in a game for quite a while.
But it’s not yet officially released, and I’ve heard rumours about a rather big release patch going live right before release, so lets hope that gives both the graphic and the animations a nice little boost!
@Vort
Did they finally unlock the graphics?
Good question. The constant “They are not using Hi res textures” argument got old, and so many a fanboi stuck to their guns. “No Hi-res” yet.
So, now I would like to see what the game looks like now that it is launched.
The performance during Open Beta was ok, but not what I would have expected out of such muddy graphics (note: Not “stylized” but muddy and old looking)
But, now we should see some new fangled looking visuals I assume, so does anyone have some better pics than what I have seen?
One of MY personal favorites
I have become ZOMBIE!
Due to the new status of WAR being out, I demand more ChaosCasts! 🙂 One near the launch of the game would be tons of fun 😉 Maybe a live cast via Ustream? If you need help with it, feel free to shoot me an email or AIM.
Howdy,
Question about the Head start for us standard Pre-orders. Do I need to download another client, or can I just use the one from Open Beta? I appologize if this is a known thing, but I am unable to find this listed anywhere.
Thanks,
Doody
@Sam
If you really like ChaosCast, as I do, give them your review on I-Tunes. It disgusts me that the Waaagh podcast is much more popular than ChaosCast. The Waaagh guys just belch into their microphones and curse every other word. A bunch of crap with absolutely no substance imo. I think that ChaosCast is one the best podcasts that I have come across, in any genre, in quite some time. Give them some love.
I never got the criticisms about textures. Warhammer uses higher resolution textures than WoW (if that’s the baseline we’re comparing too). The framerate remains smooth on my two year old system, only dipping during massive spell effects.
More importantly, the game is addicting. You think about playing it when you’re away from it. Mythic has a hit on their hands, and everyone knows it (Blizzard is even re-running its old Shatner/Mister-T commercials the week of release!).
@Toadee
Hmmm…I can play AoC at 60FPS on my ATI 4870. Why should I see a dip in such older graphics performance?
The textures are still grainy, and overall muddy. WoW is at least bright, and certain lighting features work to it’s advantage.
Also, AA and AF works splendidly in WoW. Not in WAR.
That would be the real complaints.