Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (War)

EA Mythic’s Warhammer Online is one of the most-anticipated MMORPGs on the horizon, thanks in no small part to the huge and rabid Warhammer fan base. The long-awaited MMO is now in beta, and EA was showing the title off at a recent press event held at their Redwood Shores headquarters. The build of the game showcased some great new concepts along with some design features to make it an adaptable and accessible MMO. Not to mention that the developer is taking the license very seriously, and shouldn’t disappoint fans of the Warhammer universe.

The main feature on display at the press event was the public quests. Public quests are a way for users to interact with other players in the game without actually teaming up on the same quest. Players will be able to provide assists if they’re in the same area of the game, helping to complete a mission by adding to your kill quota. They’ll also get some kickbacks for their assistance, but only based on their level of involvement in the quest. For example, if it’s a dwarf killing contest and you sweep in and kill one at the end of the quest, you’re not likely to get as much of a reward as someone who’s killed a lot more.

The beta version also played out pretty easily for newcomers or those with limited MMO experience. It feels a bit like World of Warcraft in terms of mission structure, at least early on. The game felt a bit more action oriented, as warrior classes could perform combos in order to do the most damage in the shortest amount of time.

Graphically, the beta had a few issues, but looked pretty competent throughout. The art direction is well done, benefiting from the robust Warhammer universe that’s many years strong at this point. There were a new weird technical issues, with strange artifacts and some environmental pop-up. Generally though it looked pretty good and had some nice detail elements.

Warhammer Online is turning out to be an accessible MMO that stays very true to the Warhammer universe. While the look at the preview event was pretty brief, the game showed a lot of potential and could be one for burnt-out WoW fans to check out.