Warhammer Online Beta impressions, Final

I have actually rolled over into live by this point, so really I am wrapping up my feelings on the game as I continue to level.

WAR really captures the essence of PvP and has succeeded in making it fun, meaningful, and rewarding. And fun. They went even further and found ways to eliminate or minimize the unfun elements. For example, ganking.

Ganking as we know it from WoW does not exist in WAR. There are no pure stealth classes who can pop out of nowhere and eliminate you in 1-2 hits. It almost impossible to fight someone who is far below your level thanks to the chicken mechanic. It is even viable to pick a fight if you run across someone a level or two higher than you. Combat is slow enough that you have time to make some choices. Even healing classes have a damage component to allow them to save themselves, and pure healing classes like the dwarven rune priest are almost indestructible on 1 on 1 combat.

Questing is tied in nicely into the PK aspect of the game. You can get repeatable quests to kill a certain number of enemy players, play a certain scenario (Battleground), or even visit a specific objective inside of an RvR zone (where you are automatically flagged for combat). When you are in the RvR zone, you are automatically buffed to have base stats equivalent to a level x8, which gives you at least a fighting chance against another level. Sure, you can still run across multiple adversaries, but you're pretty much screwed whenever that happens, anyway. Even more importantly, 2 lower level guys stand in very good chances (at least 3:2) of beating a higher level opponent of equal skill. Unless that opponent is a Warrior Priest, because those guys are friggin' OP.

Dead players drop XP, cash, and the occasional random green. Taking control of a keep opens up key vendors in the zone.

If you can find a good group of friends to play with, then WAR is fun. A huge difference is that the solo experience to max level seems hardly worth the trip.

So in summary, WAR has enough fun, and enough depth, to keep me coming back for many more nights to come. I hope to see you all there.