Warhammer: Age of Reckoning

[drumheller]

I demand people play this game! I am currently in the closed beta. While there are currently some annoying bugs (duh, closed beta) it is a pretty awesome game. The PvP is the biggest draw to me. It doesn't quite live up to GW, of course, but it is still one of the best fleshed out PvP I've seen in a game like this. The amount of skills that you actually -use- is pretty impressive, unlike WoW. And the fact that you can level entirely from PvP (kinda like GW) is a big draw. Plus, keep and city sieges = the win.

So, since I am in Closed Beta, and will be in Open Beta, etc. (thank you Collector's Edition Pre-order) I probably won't be around GW much...wait, I have been around GW? I will probably still do my normal thing. Stalk the forums and jump on Vent every so often .

[Darkwind]

Myself and 8 friends will be picking this up on launch, then LANing it up for four days straight during the holidays (luckily and unluckily, ladyfriend will be in Japan during this time)

Good to hear some positive impressions. If you don't mind me asking...

How are the graphics as compared to Guild Wars?
Is there armour that makes you salivate like WoW's?
Does Destruction annihilate Order?
How large is the game world?
Have you played a Witch Elf? Impressions if so?

I too have access to the Open Beta, I just can't be arsed to download 10gb + I have exams

[drumheller]

1) Hrm, hard to say, pretty different graphical style. I would say they are a bit below GW. GW simply has amazing lighting, whereas WAR is a very dark world. The detailing in WAR, though, is pretty extensive on the characters, but the land is not as detailed.

2) Unfortunately, I have no played past Rank 20, so I wouldn't really know about the endgame armor. And as far as I know, there are no screenshots with the best armor. I would say, from seeing some of the Tier 3 (Tier 4 being the highest) armor sets, that there really are some amazing looking sets, and they will still get better. But you have to remember, though, that WAR does not have nearly as big of an emphasis on gear statistics-wise.

3) It really truly just depends. I already am part of a guild, and as such we pretty much roll Destruction when we come across them, because we are well organized. This game really is all about teamwork. So far, though, Destruction has quite a population lead on all servers, which gives them a slight advantage in open PvP (non-instanced Scenarios, which are kinda like BattleGrounds), put a well-organized Order group can still kick some ass lol.

4) Somewhat hard to say. At the moment, I would say it's not too big. I can run from the north end of a zone to the next Tier (remember, 4 tiers) in...I dunno, about 10 minutes. But, I feel like there is a larger concentration of items to do/see/etc. than there was in WoW. Also, each zone is split in half, with the Order faction controlling one side, and the Destruction faction controlling the other side. And the Open PvP areas take up a certain amount of map space. About 20% for Tier 1, and 80% for Tier 4.

5) I have not, I've really only played Order characters. I believe WE and Witch Hunters share similar mechanics, and I have played a Witch Hunter to Rank 10 (so, not very far). So far, they are pretty good melee DPS. The witch hunter, though, does seem to have very little armor, so you have to make sure to get in and out quickly, or have a group around you. Otherwise, they are a very solid MDPS.

And pfft, I did the 9.2gig download from a TORRENT, it literally took 2 straight days of downloading. At least now the client is on FilePlanet, and is about 100x faster. Though you do have to wait in line for a couple hours, apparently.

[Darkwind]

Thanks for that.

Yeah I wasn't really doubting the graphics, some of the newer videos are rather impressive. Some are under the impression that the highest settings haven't been released, I'm not sure if that's bullshit or not.

I was worried about Destruction dominating (even if I am playing Destruction) due to what seemed like almost overwhelming favouring support towards Destruction, so that's reassuring.

I'm really looking forward to the Open PvP. Hopefully it does feel like a full on war

[drumheller]

I will say that I do believe not all of the graphics are "up to date". The game size is apparently 15gb at launch, and we only have a 9-10gig client, so I imagine some graphical changes are going to incur. Currently, the High Elf and Dark Elf graphics are not on par with others, because they were the last pairing to be implemented, so I know at least those will be touched up.

Battle animations still need a bit of smoothing over, but they have already undergone a HUGE revamping, so right now they are a hell of a lot smoother than they used to be.

Also, though pre-release numbers should Destruction dominating in numbers, I wouldn't be too concerned about it. If I remember correctly, pre-release of WoW had the same thing with Horde, but post-launch, Alliance has far more numbers...only thing is, I think it might not make such a big impact on WAR, because Desctruction classes do simply look a lot cooler than Order.

Open PvP really is pretty awesome, even when just waiting around to join a Scenario or something. I was involved in both a defense and an assault of a Tier 2 keep, and that was extremely fun. The defense didn't work out too well, because there were only about 10 of us, and literally 50 of them, so we didn't last long. The assault we could have one, but unfortunately one of the NPCs bugged and we couldn't take it. And I hear that Tier 4 keeps are even more insane.

so far, I am really impressed with the game, for still being in closed beta. The only real bugs deal with NPCs and how far they are allowed to go out before resetting. They have a very short leash due to a variety of factors, and this causes some bugs sometimes, but that's about it. Very, very impressive for a CB game.

[drumheller]

Fyi, it's amazing! Could use a bit more polishing, though. And is somewhat graphically intensive at the moment, could use a bit more optimizing. I can only run at ~40 FPS at its lowest settings, and can run WoW at 40-60 FPS at its highest. Graphics are better in WAR, but dunno if by that much.

Plus, the CE box is a freaking weapon, I swear! The damn thing weighs 20 pounds and I seriously feel like I could kill someone by simply hitting them with it.