Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
From HammerWiki
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, also known as Warhammer Online, WAR or less commonly WHO, is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) under development by EA Mythic, licensing the Warhammer Fantasy world and characters from Games Workshop. WAR details the epic struggle between the righteous forces of Order and the evil forces of Destruction.
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[edit] Setting
WAR is set in the Warhammer universe, a dark fantasy universe over 25 years old. Warhammer was created by a U.K. company called Games Workshop and is much like our own world, even down to the geography, but takes a darkly humorous and brutal spin on elements of our own world, put into a fantasy context. The Warhammer Intellectual Property is extremely extensive and provides more than enough background for the game designers to draw on.
WAR is set outside of the mainstream Warhammer Fantasy timeline, and takes place in a newly developed setting known as the Age of Reckoning, which establishes the iconic Warhammer themes and imagery in an environment suitable for a MMORPG. Essentially the developers can pick and choose which events in the Warhammer Timeline have occurred in the Age of Reckoning, and can bend the background material to better suit the gameplay. Despite this, the developers have remained remarkably faithful to the background and all the elements of the game must be (and have been) approved by Games Workshop before being finalised.
See main articles, Warhammer, Age of Reckoning and Warhammer World for more information.
[edit] Game World
The virtual Game World of WAR attempts to be a virtual, online depiction of the lands and regions described in the Warhammer setting. When starting the game, players will be asked to pick a server to play on, a server is one individual copy of the Game's World, and can support several thousand players playing various characters simultaneously.
[edit] Zones
The game world is divided up into over 30 separate Zones or regions each representing a different section of the Warhammer World and as such many iconic locations in Warhammer such as the city of Altdorf, the Chaos Wastes and the Marshes of Madness will be able to be visited by players. Zones are divided into three battlefronts which correspond to the racial pairings outlined in the next section, there being 11 zones per battlefront. Additionally zones are divided into pairs called Tiers, all tiers are connected however, and the fourth and final tier will consist of five zones. Within a tier transition is seamless, exactly as if the virtual world were a real one, however when travelling between tiers or battlefronts, a loading time is required. This is because if all zones were connected seamlessly, a large amount of players causing the game to run slowly ("lag") in one area, would affect all zones. With the tier system, lag in one tier will not affect other tiers, allowing gameplay to continue normally. Tiers also reflect the advancement of Characters (explained below) with content being more advanced the higher the tier.
[edit] Player Characters
In war, players a create a virtual character which is able to be one of 20, possibly 24 at a later time, "Careers" -what other games may call "classes". There are four or three careers per Race (aka army or faction) - (explained later). This character serves as their point of interaction with the virtual world of WAR, and the "avatar" is customisable in many different ways and is the figure the players will have control of in the game's virtual world. A player's character will be unique to the server they created it on, meaning they only exist on that server, and they are unable to make Characters of the opposing Realm (explained later) on a server they already have a character on.
[edit] Advancement
As a character traverses the game, they will gain Experience Points from various activities such as killing their enemies, completing Quests (explained later) and unlocking sections of the Tome of Knowledge (explained later). After a certain amount of Experience points has been gained a character will increase in rank (level). There are 40 levels in total and each time a player gains a level they will become more powerful, however it will also take more experience points to reach the next level. As a character in level the storyline of the game will progress, as well as new items and areas becoming available to the character.
See main articles Career and Advancement for more information.
[edit] Races (Factions)
When creating a character, players will be able to choose from one of six races or factions called "Armies" (Though many more Races exist in the Warhammer background). These six armies are divided into two opposing alliances called "Realms", not to be confused with the traditional meaning of Realm, which is a computer server. The realms are Order (Though flawed "good faction") and Destruction (The "evil faction") which are pitted against each other in unending combat. This unending combat has been the source of the phrase "WAR is everywhere".
[edit] Pairings
While any character can travel to any area of the virtual game world to help his allies in their fight, various races are paired against each other and the story in-game will reflect this, The pairings are:
- The Dwarfs versus The Greenskins.
- The Empire versus The forces of Chaos.
- The High Elves versus The Dark Elves.
See main articles: Realm, Army and Races for more information.
[edit] Game Features
These are the main features and gameplay elements which make up Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.
[edit] Realm versus Realm
Player versus Player (PvP) gameplay is gameplay where the primary focus is interaction with other players, usually hindering or attacking their characters in-game whether through combat or other means. Realm versus Realm (RvR) is a type of PvP unique to WAR and Mythic's previous game Dark Age of Camelot where entire factions of allies engage in combat with another, opposing faction of allies. Or if not direct combat, an indirect form of hindering the enemy. In WAR, the Realm versus Realm system is represented by a perpetual war and struggle between the alliance (realm) of Order and the alliance of Destruction, and their constituent factions. However realm versus realm encompasses almost all aspects of gameplay and even Player versus Environment gameplay (explained later) contributes to the overall war effort.
[edit] Campaign
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See main articles: RvR, PvP, Scenario, Keeps and Capital city for more information.
[edit] Player versus Environment
Player versus Environment (PvE) is a type of gameplay where the player's character is primarily interacting with the computer controlled virtual environment of the game, and not the characters of other players. Unlike PvP gameplay, interaction with other players (let alone hindering them) is not the main focus of this type of gameplay. All activities in Player versus Environment gameplay still contribute to the control of Zones and the Realm versus Realm war effort, however, and players are still able to participate in PvE with other players -just only from their realm. The main form of PvE content will be Quests, tasks given to the player by NPC's, Public Quests, a feature unique to WAR in which people undertake a Quest together that constantly runs in a certain area -and the exploration of Dungeons (semi-instanced areas to explore, full of danger, typically underground or inside a structure).
[edit] The Tome of Knowledge
The Tome of Knowledge or ToK is a virtual record of all the player's progress through the game, various entries in the ToK are "unlocked" and expand to add more information about something as the player's character experiences them. The Tome of Knowledge is presented as a vast book which appears on the Player's screen. The ToK contains entries for the Background of Warhammer; a complete log of Quests the player is on or has completed; a complete bestiary of all mobs in the game - and how many of each the player has killed; a complete list of all NPCs in the game and information about them; and even unlocks for trivial things such as finding an out-of-the-way area, or clicking on yourself 100 times.
See main articles: PvE, Quest, Public Quest, Bestiary and Tome of Knowledge for more information.
[edit] Combat
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See the main article Combat for more information.
[edit] Travel
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See Travel and Mounts for more information.
[edit] Other Information
[edit] System requirements and Game Platforms
WAR is developed exclusively for the PC (Personal Computer), at least initially. And while developers have hinted that they are considering an XBOX 360 version, it is beyond dispute that no servers will ever be available to host players from more than one platform at a time. The minimum system requirements for WAR can be found on our System requirements page.
[edit] Release Schedule
WAR is currently officially slated for release on September 18, 2008 worldwide. WAR's release date has been pushed back twice in it's development history (ie: the game has been "delayed") however this is not unusual for a game of it's type and even if it releases on schedule, it will still have taken less than other popular MMO's to develop.
[edit] Rating
Warhammer Online's rating reflects who will be allowed to buy and the game in a certain country according to local laws, and who it is appropriate to allow to play the game. WAR has been rated T for Teen by the ESRB - see the previously linked page for full international ratings information.
[edit] Monthly Fee
Warhammer online will require a Monthly fee to play, this can either be paid per month, per 3 months, or per 6 months. Pre paid game cards for 1 and 2 month periods are also available. See the previously linked page for full information.
[edit] External links
[edit] Official WAR websites:
- Official Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning website (US)
- Official Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning website for Europe (UK and Europe)
As of yet there is no official site for Oceania, Canada or other sections of the world, users from these regions are advised to visit the US site.
[edit] Unofficial fan websites
For a list Fan websites see Fansites.
