Comments on: Why Warhammer hype works so well.

By: Abriael

Abriael — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:04:55 +0000

I’m not sure how long and extensively you played Dark Age of Camelot, but there people were definately loyal to their realm. People didn’t invent the expression “Realm Pride” just to give Mythic a catchphrase to advertise on :D

Of course in other games, where factions are nebulous and not actually involved in any meningful war between each other (like Wow for instance, in wich being part of the horde or the alliance just determines the kind of jokes one will be subject to, probably one of the worst and most anticlimatic flaws of the game), people won’t show any kind of loyalty to their faction.
Camelot was different. Most probably Warhammer will be as well.

By: Tipa

Tipa — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:17:40 +0000

Well, Abriael, you’re pretty much agreeing with me, when you say people will give WAR a try and finally find a game worthy enough to tear them from WoW.

However, I have to disagree that WAR will inspire camaraderie among players. People are loyal to their friends; often they are loyal to their guilds; but I have never been in any game where people were loyal to their faction. That’s just too nebulous and arbitrary. I imagine most of the people who come to WAR from WoW will be best motivated by what benefits them the most.

By: Abriael

Abriael — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:58:59 +0000

[People love Warhammer because it is the MMO world’s first self help program. And that’s all there is to it.]
Sorry to jump into the conversation a little late. But I’m afraid I have to disagree.
People love Warhammer because it will be a game with MEANINGFUL PvP (the fabled RvR, that brings along such levels of involvement and pride that mere guild vs guild you find on most other games can’t even hope to reach), because it’s based on one of the most fascinating, coherent and deep fantasy worlds ever created, and ultimately because it’s the comeback of Mythic: a company that gave many of us old gamers what probably was the best MMORPG community to ever be born on the internet, and that ultimately gave us many good memories due to the involvement stated above.

It has actually nothing to do with WoW, it’s shallow community tainted by thousands of lines of l33t sp33k, and it’s mechanics based on hundreds of hours of mindless grinding. Not to mention it’s IP, that managed to turn an already half copied (from Warhammer) and half assed one, into something even more messy and shallow.

So people that come to warhammer from WoW will find themselves quite surprised, and since for most of them WoW has been the first MMORPG, will finally learn what a true MMORPG is. An experience, a community, a place in wich you can’t be an idiot to the one appearing on your side in the starting zone, because in a few levels you might find yourself having to rely on him to save your silly rear while you’re defending a fortress or trying to push trough a blockade.
That’s how real communities are born, and a few legends between them.

By: Tipa

Tipa — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:25:52 +0000

Well, 60 troll priestess, but you were close :) I haven’t played WoW for a couple of years. Mt Hyjal wasn’t in when I played, but the roads leading to it were snowy. Anyway, details, details.

I find it interesting that you think the M rating will keep children away, though. That certainly has not been the case with the Grand Theft Auto series, which every teenager I knew (through my son) played. Since AoC is coming out for the Xbox 360 as well as the PC, I expect it to appeal MAINLY to teenagers — and the ‘M’ rating, sex and over-the-top violence will attract teenage boys like moths to an inferno. Have you caught the Funcom interviews at GDC? YOU may say you want to play for the innovative elements. FUNCOM is saying — we’re gonna splatter blood on your MONITOR! Sex everywhere!

Sounds like teenager heaven to me :P

By: lucky

lucky — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 10:07:41 +0000

Ok first off it’s Westfall not Westfield and 2nd there is no snow in Mt Hyjal, so i can assume you’ve played alliance till level 40 quit and now your an expert. The real reason people are looking for a WoW alternative is because the game is cliche and filled with casual carebear children. As for WAR, i played Dark Age Of Camelot for 3 years so yes the PvP will be nice but the graphics look like WoW and from what Ive heard alot of other things. Im not interested in a WoW clone sorry. Aoc has me interested because of the blood, mounted combat and the M-rating to keep most children at bay. Aoc will have much more innovative ideas combined with action based PVP not just button mashing. So enjoy Daoc 2 with WoW graphics and ill be where the party is at.

By: LT

LT — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:09:03 +0000

Im eagerly awating WAR myself, but praying to everything holy in this world that 99% of WoW players stay in WoW. Only thing worse then the game itself is the community powering it. But im an old man, and prolly way outside of WoW’s target audience.

WoW = Waiting On Warhammer.

By: Tipa

Tipa — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:21:35 +0000

@Hexx — I can’t imagine EA/Mythic is planning on forcing people into formations. Now, your GUILD might expect you to do formations, in which case, you’ll probably totally rule PvP. I think you’re correct when you say you don’t expect many radical differences from current MMOs. EA/Mythic has too much money in this to take chances. The more they spend, the more they will want a guaranteed hit. And that means, catering to WoW players, since if even a tenth of the ten million WoW players become WAR players, they will have a hit on their hands.

By: JoBildo

JoBildo — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:08:50 +0000

Er… rather, I hope the Hero System “inspired” char-gen system Cryptic makes up is good. Jack Emmert has always said that Champions was his inspiration behind CoH but that because of NCsoft they had to dumb down the gameplay and character creation… here’s hoping being that Cryptic is able to publish this one themselves they can do it right, or at least mostly right.

By: JoBildo

JoBildo — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:07:20 +0000

Well put, Tip.

I’m going to be watching it closely, and regardless of how it turns out… I’ll be trying it. I’m anxious for something more action-oriented as of late and this aims to feed that. But like you said, I hope the Hero System that is “inspiring” the char-gen is good.

By: Tipa

Tipa — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:46:42 +0000

Heh…. well played.

I was a big Champions fan back in the 80s and into the 90s. I wrote a cool character generator in BASIC that I wish I still had, it let people make their own abilities. I don’t know how they can possibly take the coolest things about the game and translate it into an MMO, since like most PnP games, the fun was all about being absolutely creative whereas MMOs send you down narrow little paths; and making your character was something that took a few days, usually, balancing the positives and negatives, keeping with your “theme”, making sure your origin and secret identity fit in with the game world, deciding which organizations you would be allied or opposed to, having people you cared for who could be put in danger… like most PnP RPGs, Champions was extremely heavy on story and role playing, since only by RPing and being creative could you possibly get another point for completing a mission. Yup. 1 point. MAYBE more if something extraordinary happened. No levels. No skillups. Just spending points to increase your power or to buy out drawbacks. Five points! I can lose my annoying boyfriend who is always in trouble! YAY!

ANOTHER thing about Champions — you don’t start out weak! You’re strong! You just get STRONGER! You can buy initially as many or as few powers as you like, as long as you have the points and your drawbacks don’t nerf you out of the game (hence requiring GM approval) (oh, you are powerless when out of water? well, that’s going to keep you out of, say, 99% of your missions… and your power is that you can summon fish? I dunno Aquaman… I don’t think we can use you in this game.)