Warhammer Online was predicted to be one of the biggest and best MMORPGs prior to its release. Like with many MMOs, Mythic has lost some subscribers and were forced to merge servers, but despite this, Warhammer Online is still very popular and it’s an MMO with some unique PvP elements.
Warhammer Online Overview and Game Play
There are two factions or Warhammer Online. There are Order and Destruction. The races and career options for Order are:
- Dwarfs – Ironbreaker, Runepriest, Engineer, Slayer
- Empire (human) – Bright Wizard, Warrior Priest, Witch Hunter, Knight of the Blazing Sun
- High Elves – Sword Master, Archmage, Shadow Warrior, White Lion
The races and career options for Destruction are:
- Greenskins (Orcs &Goblins) – Black Orc, Choppa & Shaman, Squid Herder,
- Chaos (human) – Chosen, Magus, Zealot, Marauder
- Dark Elves – Witch Elf, Disciple of Khaine, Sorceress, Black Guard
In addition to normal spells/abilities, as players level they can earn renown, tactics and moral abilities. Players have a renown rank in addition to their player level. Renown is earned from killing players of the other faction. Renown points can be spent on special armor and weapons from a renown trainer in the war-camps.
Tactic abilities are earned as a player levels up and as tactic slots open up. There are three types of tactic abilities; career tactics, tome tactics and renown tactics.
Morale abilities become available when a player builds up morale during combat. When combat begins, the morale meter begins to climb until the morale ability becomes available. It will continue to rise while the player is in combat reaching the next morale ability and so on, unless the player uses the skill or stops fighting.
Morale abilities tend to do a decent amount of damage and are good to use to finish off an enemy. Morale abilities are learned as a player progresses and there are three types available; career morale, Archetype moral and mastery morale.
Realm versus Realm (RvR) and Player versus Player (PvP)
Warhammer Online features exciting RvR scenarios. Players can join as a party if they are grouped or join as a solo player. The player will be transported to the scenario location, which is an instanced PvP challenge for a set number of players (eg: 12 Order and 12 Destruction). All scenarios are times and players run around trying to complete the battlefield objective, for example capturing the lighthouse or barracks as in the Nordenwatch Scenario.
When a player dies during a scenario they can be resurrected by other players (healers) or they will resurrect after about 20 seconds at the beginning of the scenario so they can keep fighting. The winner of the scenario is to first team to 500 points or the team with the most points when the scenario timer expires.
Depending on the group of people, and the balance of classes, scenarios can be very organized and productive or a total blood fest with one side annihilating the other. Either way, they are a lot of fun.
The other RvR play is taking over keeps in battlefields. Battlefields are large open areas; once a player enters they are flagged for RvR. The goal is to take over keeps and kill the opposing faction for renown points and rewards.
Warhammer Recruit a Friend and Endless Trial
As a reward for returning players, Mythic are offering 10 days free play. They also have a ‘recruit a friend’ program that offers the recruiting friend an Epic Mount. Another way Mythic is trying to entice new players is the endless trial, which allows gamers to play forever for free, but only to Tier 1. Tier 1 includes scenarios but restrictions apply such as not having access to Capital cities, send mail or use the bank or auction house. but now is as good a time as any to try Warhammer Online if you haven’t already. Warhammer Online has great graphics, cool music, decent quests and fun RvR/PvP.
Sadly, there are very poor options for character creation and having such a beautiful and detailed world to play in, it is a shame that gamers can’t make their characters unique and pretty. Characters are ugly and all look the same. While role-players will hate this aspect, PvPers wont care and if gamers can get passed the ugliness of their characters, and the ten look-a-likes they see, there are plenty of other aspects to keep them entertained.
Readers may also be interested in Aion: The Tower of Eternity and Fun Free Online Games.
Roberta Goli - Roberta has a Bachelor of Science Degree (Zoology), has worked with animals for over 10 years and enjoys writing short stories and flash ...
