ModifiedLogic

Warhammer is probably the first MMO since WoW that is actually a solid game to some degree. All of my friends decided they were going to play it so of course, I am playing it. I got all crazy with the collector’s edition like I always do and I have to say, I was a bit disappointed in the offering. The graphic novel and art book were very well done, but I’m not into miniatures. I know miniatures are big in the Warhammer community, but I prefer cloth maps, mouse pads, posters, and things like that. The box is beautiful. It’s probably the nicest thing EA has ever had the chance to put out.

The in-game items you get though are awesome. You get a special face (which doesn’t work right now), a tome that has 3 charges that allows +15% xp for 2 hours, a special ring that really helps your stats in the beginning, some exclusive quests (free XP), and an endless drink that has a great buff for leveling. Mythic spared no good idea or quantity for the in game inclusion benefits for us “CE” people.

Warhammer is not without its problems. Last night, which was launch night, was riddled with plenty of issues. Scenarios were down completely. My CE face “fell off”. I feel through the entire world in one zone then hovered above it in another. Our server (Azazel) has a constant queue during prime time. So if you want to log off to fix issues, you are in for a 30-40 treat in the form of a wait. I have gripes with many common sense issues. I have to agree to TOS twice every time I load the game. I have to sit through 4 (loud) splash screens every time I load the game. My UI settings are not memorized after each logoff. There is lag during battles with more than 5 people on a screen. I have only 5 people on my friends list, but when I try to add more, it says my list is full.

This game, at its core, is casual. That’s one good thing it has going for it. But it’s issues like the ones I’ve listed that really could turn off a casual player. Many feel like Mythic rushed this game out to get ahead of Wrath of the Lich King. They recently took out a chunk of content in favor of a faster launch. Some of these issues are issues that you would expect to find in beta. But every MMO gets to use the excuse that it’s launch, more capacity than we expected, etc right?

WoW is my game. Warhammer is my casual backup. I will play Warhammer until November 13th as my main game. Then, I might visit it on weekends and such. In the end though, while Warhammer currently doesn’t have the chops to be THE #1 MMO right now, it does offer one of the best alternatives for the traditional fantasy MMO genre. Many people WILL play this game as their main and it will most likely thrive. It’s casual and very PvP driven. I do question the end game. Will a few scenarios and RvR really carry it for those who will play it day in and day out once they are rank 40? Or is there (will there be) more than that. It’s a game you can just hop in and out of without much guilt, unless you’re friends are already rank 20 and you are still only rank 13 like me.

This browser is pretty damn slick. It just feels light. I really am going to try to use it as my main broswer for as long as I can. My main browser of choice on the Mac and PC is Firefox. Hopefully there will be a Mac version in the future. I love having addons like the del.icio.us setup. I like Lifehacker’s greasemonkey scripts Better gmail and Better greader. But, I think I can give up the UI tweaks for a smaller memory hog. 

For now, I can obviously use the del.icio.us bookmarlet still on my bookmark bar in Chrome. I just have to completely leave the “betters” behind. 

Here’s to something new.