As many pople know, I take time away from this site during my waves of World of Warcraft addiction. That being said, I finally broke free of my WoW addiction only to be introduced to Warhammer Online.
First thing you need to know, a lot of people in WAR spend about 80%+ of their time comparing WAR to WOW. Frankly, this is stupid. WAR has only been out for a handful of months, while WOW took years to master into the money making machine that it is today.
That being said, who is WAR for right now? Right now, if you're interested in balanced PVP that feels rewarding (i.e. you actually get things from it instead of grinding for a month to get a pair of gloves) then WAR is for you. If you like "raids", questing and the occasional PVP encounter with little satisfaction, then WOW is your game.
WOW is by far the dominate player in the PVE world and will continue to hold that crown for some time to come. However, one thing that WOW has always lacked, is properly balanced PVP. I mean lets face it, a freaking priest should not stand a chance in melee combat with a warrior, yet that does not seem to be the case in World of Warcraft.
WAR changes that. Made by Mythic Entertainment, the creators of Dark Age of Camelot, they have many years of experience with PVP. DAOC introduced us to Realm versus Realm combat, and WAR continues the RVR trend in shining fashion. While truefully a lot of kinks are still being worked out, RVR is exactly what it sounds like. Certain types of classes are not suppose to stand a chance against other types of classes. In this style, we create the need for team work.
For example, a caster is extremely powerful at long range, but the second they get into a melee encounter, their going to get eaten alive. Unlike WoW, where a mage can dominate any class, a sorcerer in WAR is in serious trouble if a Slayer starts beaten on him/her at close range. At the same time, while a "tank" in WAR is hard to kill, he's going to have a very hard time killing anything too.
All this being said, WAR's PVE content is lacking. However, they have introduced something new to the MMO world and that is Public Quests. While a lot of people get frustrated some times with the loot distribution rules, the idea of PQs is really cool. Basically. set areas on the map have kill quests which are ALWAYS active and repeatable at all times. Anyone can help complete them at all times as well, creating a "psuedo-group". There are normally multiple phases of this quests and when it is complete, loot is distribute via a "magical" chest. You get extra points depending on how much you contributed to the group effort and are awarded according to those extra points and a random roll. It is a very addictive idea, extremely innovative and it keeps the "grinding" feeling to a minimum.
The great thing is, you get experience from everything in WAR! Questing, public quests, scenarios, RVR, etc. You name it, you are constantly leveling your character further reducing the "grinding" feeling.
All this being said, there is so much to do in WAR between questing, public quests, RVR, scenarios and the usual slew of professions that grinding doesn't even cross your mind.
WOW is always going to have its place with its millions of followers, but those looking for a change and some honest to god team effort PVP should check out Warhammer Online: The Age of Reckoning.
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