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Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning | 
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| From: Electronic Arts
Category: Video Games
List Price: $49.99
Buy New: $28.00
You Save: $21.99 (44%)
New (19) Used (12) from $21.97
Avg. Customer Rating:  74 reviews
Sales Rank: 93
Format: Dvd-rom
Platform: Windows Xp
ESRB: Teen
Media: Video Game
Edition: Standard
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Age: 12 - 20 years
Operating System: Windows XP
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0.1 x 0
MPN: 15656
Model: 014633156560
UPC: 014633156560
EAN: 0014633156560
Release Date: September 16, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Undertake a wide variety of PvE quest types related to an army's war efforts, | | • | Based on Games Workshop's popular Warhammer fantasy world. Dominated by force of arms and magic, this world provides a rich setting for hundreds of thousands of players to experience the epic nature of war and the glory of battle. | | • | Join one of six Armies and fight for the Armies of Order (Dwarf, High Elf and Empire) or the Armies of Destruction (Greenskin, Dark Elf, or Chaos). Wage war across three unique battlefronts. | | • | Next generation Realm vs. Realm game system integrating both PvP combat and PvE quests on the same map in support of the greater war. | | • | Engage in four levels of RvR combat |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
War is everywhere. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning will immerse you in a world of perpetual conflict for years to come. Experience the glory of Realm vs. Realm! Declare your allegiance and join hundreds of thousands of mighty heroes on the battlefields of Warhammer. Enter a grim fantasy world where the armies of Order and Destruction collide to determine the fate of nations. Invade enemy lands, besiege imposing fortresses, and sack sprawling capital cities for the glory of your Realm. The Age of Reckoning has begun.
Amazon.com
War is Everywhere War is everywhere in Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR), the new fantasy MMORPG from Mythic Entertainment, the creators of Dark Age of Camelot. WAR features next generation Realm vs. Realm gameplay that will immerse you in a world of perpetual conflict for years to come. Experience the glory of Realm vs. Realm! Declare your allegiance and join hundreds of thousands of mighty heroes on the battlefields of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning to experience the epic nature of war. Enter a grim fantasy world where the armies of Order (Dwarfs, High Elves, and Empire) and Destruction (Greenskins, Dark Elves, and Chaos) collide to determine the fate of nations. Invade enemy lands, besiege imposing fortresses, and sack sprawling capital cities for the glory of your Realm. Wield devastating magic and deadly weapons, battle monstrous creatures, and join your brothers-in-arms in epic Public Quests. Climb the Bastion Stair, carry your Guild Banner into battle, and unlock the secrets of the Tome of Knowledge as you travel the world. Sharpen your blade and prepare to unleash your inner mutation-the Age of Reckoning has begun and WAR IS EVERYWHERE! 
| Key Features
- Realm vs. Realm (RvR) gameplay means you will never fight alone, but as part of an army of allied players sworn to defend your homeland and conquer enemy Realms. Your every action-every quest completed, every battle fought-contributes to the war effort and can turn the tide of battle, bringing victory to your Realm!
- Experience the camaraderie of fighting side-by-side with allied players against otherwise insurmountable odds in groundbreaking Public Quests. These cooperative PvE encounters unfold across multiple stages and allow solo players to experience the glory of RvR.
- Embark on the endless quest to complete the Tome of Knowledge and unlock Warhammer lore, detailed monster information, new abilities and rewards, and major story plotlines. The Tome is also the story of your life in the game, tracking your achievements to share and compare with others.
- Explore massive Living Cities that become more or less prosperous based on a Realm's overall performance in the ongoing war. Navigate a maze of twisting streets, visit the local tavern, explore a dark under-city, and meet colorful personalities in a city full of adventure.
- Advanced guild features give unprecedented control to leaders and members, and make guilds an integral part of the war efforts. Guilds can create unique heraldry, capture and claim keeps, and earn Guild Tactics as they grow in power along with their members.
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Pick your favorite character.
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Battle to the end against rivals.
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Wander through vivid environments.
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| The Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning servers will go live on September 18th, 2008.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 69 more reviews...
 WoW killer- No, but it is better in many respects. September 16, 2008
118 out of 127 found this review helpful
This review is of Beta and of the first 2 days of release, there are some fine reviews further down and I suggest you check them out!
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Let me start out this review saying I am addicted to MMO's.I was in beta for Ultima Onlina, Everquest, Anarchy Online, SWG and WoW. I then went on to play each MMO for several hundred hours if not days. I played WoW for at least 20-40 hours per week for 4 years. My characters averaged 40 days played. That being said (not to brag but to say I know WoW), here is my review of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.
If there were any times that you played an MMO and thought that, something was missing... I am sure that the folks over at Mythic Entertainment thought the very same things. As the torchbearers for RVR or Realm vs Realm battle they understand how to do an MMO right from the beginning. What Mythic did was to build a game where the player vs player was not an afterthought to keep high levels occupied, instead it IS the game. After you are slightly acquainted with the interface you are then thrown head-long into battle. War is all around and they mean it. This game is about fantasy WAR and not about phat lewt, (although there is that sorta, more on this later).
Another feature that is built in is the amazing Tome of Knowledge. If you ever downloaded addons for WoW for use as a record keeper then you will know how this feature works. The really cool part is that this tome is utilized as a bragging tool and it also unlocks character titles. It keeps a record of the number of mob x you have slain, the number of sales to merchants and so on. You'll have to see it to completely get the power of this tool.
Another great feature is the open group system. Being I am almost 40 years old and have 2 kids of my own, the last thing I want to do is log in and be begging for groups with pre-teen jerks angry at the world because some girl turned them down for a date...etc. How the open group system works is there are areas you may be running through and need to kill "X" monster. Well just run into that area and do a group lookup. You will see who is there what step they are on and bam! you can join them. You don't even need to talk to them "omg roxx0rz!".... As long as you participate in the quest and don't just stand there then you'll get the quest done. Which leads me to the final cool feature;
Public Quests (PQ);
Public quests are there to help you complete quests that require a group. Basically same as the open group system except that these quests have several stages and you did not have to have this quest before you came to the area. You can join in at any point in the chain and depending on how much you contribute to the final boss section then the better the loot and experience. So you could walk away with a healing potion or the Sword of 10000 truths. Whatever you get it WILL be usable by you! That's a huge difference from WoW.
So why all the WoW comparison? Many people will say that this is WoW 2.0. I will have to disagree with that. Let me explain it this way. If you are into playing first person shooters. And say, you are looking over the barrel of your gun. Is Gears of War a Wolfenstein 3D ripoff? Well that viewpoint (looking over the barrel), comes directly from one of the first 3D shooters ever (Wolfenstein 3D). Mythic has the same sort of complaint against it. "It is trying to be like WoW too much". To be honest WoW took alot from Dark Ages of Camelot which was the MMO pre-wow. The look of the orcs comes directly from Games Workshop which is where Warhammer comes from. If you are playing an MMO would you rather the players playing not have an idea how to play or would you rather everyone could play pretty well on their own. Being that mostly everyone coming to Warhammer has played an MMO before it is a benefit to everyone that Warhammer has a "similar feel" to all other MMO's that predate it.
The game allows for massive customization of your character. You can customize it internally. Meaning you can get abilities and skills that are more about power on the field of battle and less about the glowing codpiece of doom. The graphics are at this time (just after release) moderate and do use DirectX 10 to some extent. They are scheduling to allow people with ubermachines to ramp the setting up soon. Just realize though when you get 200 people on the field fighting, you may not wish to be able to count the nose hairs on each player, instead blast them first and count nose hairs later.
I am beginning to get the feeling this this is a much more mature players game and less for the kids to show off in. It's like that Nivia for Men commercial, " they got to see me, I got to attract them somehow". Being there isn't a huge glowing customizable look it may be off-putting to some that feel they NEED to have a glowing sword. The artwork in this game is amazingly real and very beautiful.
Final thoughts, the look of this game is one of realism and is very close to what tabletop Warhammer players would find appealing. You can play greenskins that are crude and really fun to play, or be a serious Von Helsing type character that looks like a swashbuckling hero. Either way you should have no problem finding something you like among the 20 classes.
Hope to meet you ingame!
Exactly what I needed September 24, 2008
27 out of 29 found this review helpful
Mythic knows how to run a successful MMO. They make the big, hard decisions. When class balancing and fun was at stake, they cut four classes in order to both balance the races, but also because the classes weren't up to snuff. And when all six capital cities were being problematic, they took out four of them and will release them as free content later.
Coming from Dark Age of Camelot, a game that unbearably belongs to the first generation of MMOs, Mythic decided to take the Warhammer lore and craft a game that they know best: realm versus realm. Warhammer Online (WAR) takes everything they tested, tried and made work from DAoC and pushed it forward into a new generation. Writing this review is tricky, because on the surface WAR is like most MMOs out there. But it's the details and the small things that make it something completely different.
Let's start with the way the game is set up. From the beginning, PvP is important as one of the first quests you receive will be to complete a scenario. In this way, WAR emphasizes its committment to more than PvE. In fact, a PvP'r could spend his or her time entirely PvPing and level all the way to the endgame. It helps that scenarios are constantly running and chances are you'll be in one before you know it.
The distinction, though, is that if you don't really care much about PvP, there are other opportunities. Firstly, literally hundreds of quests are out there, each with rewards that are specific to your class, meaning you won't be doing a quest for a nice axe that you, a healer, can never use. The zones begin as approximately 80% PvE content, 20% PvP. As you continue through the zones and into different tiers, that percentage will change, but there will always be PvE content.
One complaint I hear all the time is "I don't like PvP," which usually means...I don't like to be ganked by people twenty levels higher than me when doing a quest. Don't blame you, which is why the PvP system in 90% of the WAR servers is perfect. PvP only occurs on your terms, by entering a designated zone. Stay out of those zones and you won't have to worry about that pesky Bright Wizard. What about balancing in the zones? I don't want a level 40 PvP'r heading into a level 1 zone and laying waste to everyone. Don't worry, if someone enters a PvP zone too low for them, they are turned into a chicken.
Then there are the dungeons, all made to be completed by a small group and not some bloated raid. And with each dungeon being split into wings that should take 1-2ish hours to complete and having armor sets, there's plenty of fun content to be had.
But that's not all. Spread throughout the entire game are approximately 300 (according to developers) Public Quests (PQs). These PQs are areas within each zone that are open to everyone of your side to participate in. No matter whether you're grouping with someone or not, you'll contribute to the various stages of these areas (stages that range from killing a number of things, fighting a boss like a dragon or destroying urns) and, when the PQ is over you roll on a loot bag. What makes this work even better is that each loot bag will have a piece of equpiment that your class can use, guaranteed.
Additionally, there's a bar that tracks your story chapter's PQ progress and awards you three different items (usually a potion or talisman, followed by equipment and then a weapon) as you progress through three tiers.
Awards abound at every turn, even in PvP as you are tracked separately by your PvP level. At certain levels, or renown ranks as they're called, you'll have access to not only powerful equipment but also renown skills that will help you in both PvP and PvE. But let's not stop here; each of the race pairings have zones that are grouped into tiers, with tier four being the high content. Each zone has PvP areas with towers and, as you progress into tier two and beyond, keeps. Both sides (Destruction and Order) can take over a keep and, if your guild is high enough in rank (more on that later), you can capture a keep in your name.
But keeps are also treated like PQ areas, being populated by NPCs and a very strong leader that also supplies equipment. Fighting into a keep can turn into epic encounters, with siege weapons, rams to break down the keep's walls, boiling oil for the defenders to pour onto wouldbe attackers, places for ranged attackers to unleash devastating spells and arrows...it's quite a rush to be involved in one, especially as both sides start to get more aggressive, calling in reinforcements to help.
And as the game progresses, these types of battles become more common. Which is a huge difference from the elephant in the room, World of Warcraft. WoW crafts a similar structure, with two side duking it out...but it was never meant to be a truly PvP-centered game in the way WAR is. From the very beginning, you are immersed in this warfare, from the very first level all the way to the end and beyond.
And all of this is before you get into how many bars/levels there are to tackle. Sure, the game is capped at level 40 at launch, but that's not taking into consideration that each chapter of PQs has a bar with loot associated to it or that there's 80 renown ranks that will take a lot of PvPing to hit, or that your guild actually levels up to 40 based not on how many members you have in your guild but on their accomplishments, a system that benefits both small and large guilds. Guild ranks are actually important as they provide you with a ton of abilities, from being able to carry benefit-providing standards to having a guild vault to access to guild auctions, crafting vendors, quick flight paths to the dungeons, the ability to take keeps, etc.
There's just so much here, so many shinies to grab your attention. And it's all tied into the Tome of Knowledge, a large compendium that tracks everything you do from quests to accomplishments to titles, etc. It's so indepth that you have to wonder how Mythic pulled it off. And pulled it off, they did. WAR is a monumentous game that feels as relevant and genre-shifting as WoW did when it came.
So, there you have it. A very rambling review that didn't even touch on half of what the game has to offer (did you really want to be here for another century?), but will have to remain incomplete. Because, here's the thing. Even when you strip away all the little details, the leveling and all of that junk that I spent forever typing about, what we find is...this game is fun. And diverse. And it's just what I wanted and needed from a MMO.
Best Game Ever or Game of the Year? You decide! September 22, 2008
23 out of 28 found this review helpful
"Warhammer is to PvP as Warcraft is to PvE."
That sentence should sum it up sufficiently for a lot of you. But I'll elaborate:
Warcraft took over the market not by doing anything radically new and special, but by taking common fun elements from a lot of other games and packaging them together with a good interface and a solid game engine. The really special thing about WOW was that there was nothing special to complain about, provided what you wanted was a PvE game -- players fighting the environment (monsters, quests, computer controlled bad guys in general).
Warhammer is taking almost exactly the same approach, but where WOW focused almost exclusively on PvE, WAR is focusing heavily on PvP -- players fighting other players.
There is nothing radically special about Warhammer as a game engine. It's not going to knock your socks off. The graphics are a small step up from WOW but still clearly aimed with "mass appeal" in mind (where "mass appeal" means "runs on 4 year old computers"). The design elements are things you will recognize from other PvP games. But like Warcraft, it takes these pre-existing elements and packages them together very nicely in a game that lacks the major flaws of its predecessors.
So to rephrase my first sentence a bit, World of Warcraft brought PvE to the masses. Warhammer Online is bringing them PvP.
And I think they're ready for it.
Warcraft whet your whistle with battlegrounds but Blizzard has never really understood the potential place of PvP in a game. Here we are, what, 4 years into WOW's lifespan and there are only 4 battlegrounds? And some Arenas you can run across in the space of 15 seconds? They toyed around with open world PvP, but nothing serious. And yet despite these limitations, a lot of WOW players spend a lot of hours playing battlegrounds, Arenas and looking for an excuse to get into open world PvP. People who are into online gaming generally expect to be able to engage in battle with other online gamers and WOW's failure to deliver on this has always baffled me. A lot of players want more PvP.
Warhammer gives you more. You can literally create a level 1 character, plop down into the world and immediately, without moving, queue for a PvP battleground ("scenario"). In your first 11 levels you have 3 different battlegrounds to choose from. Your next 11 levels will open up 3 more and I'm not sure how many open after that (I haven't gotten there yet!). You may find yourself engaging in meaningful world PvP ("RvR" -- Realm vs Realm) within your first day of gameplay. You certainly will if that's your aim.
However, they didn't completely abandon PvE. The only thing I think you'll see missing compared to WOW are the breadth and depth of "epic endgame PvE raids" -- WOW's bread and butter, the semi-mandatory "honey, hold all my calls, I'm going into a dungeon for 2 hours" gameplay that WOW made into its core. In Warhammer you'll still find ample numbers of regular quests and even some dungeons if you want to take a breather from PvP, but you're not meant to spend 2 hours locked into a dungeon fighting a computer. They've also done an interesting thing called "Public Quests" and "Open Groups" but I'll let you read up on that elsewhere.
Long story short, I won't say that Warhammer is a "WOW killer" because frankly they're going after different audiences. However, anyone playing World of Warcraft for the PvP element is wasting their time. Warhammer Online is the holy grail of PvP gameplay.
Better than World of Warcraft September 17, 2008
27 out of 34 found this review helpful
Bear in mind I am a casual gamer and not a hardcore reviewer. Also because I am reviewing this based on having beta-tested and upon its release date, some changes might have occurred to the game that might not make this review accurate.
Graphics: Surprisingly beautiful graphics, colorful, and has atmospheric dust and quality. Check it out yourself at Warhammer Online webpage. You can even customize your own armor's colors by purchasing dye kits. Character creation is a lot of fun, with many different hairstyles (braids, free flowing, locks, short cut, bald, ponytail, bifurcated), color adjustments, and effects (ie glowing eyes, tattoos, scars). One character on the Order side ("alliance" for WOW) looks like Angelina Jolie!
Humans, High Elves, Dwarves, Dark Elves, Greenskins (includes goblins and Orcs), Chaos (Evil Human-like).
Game Mechanics:
In regards to PVP, you can queue up to enter any "battleground", even at level 4, anywhere in the world and fight games similar to Capture the Flag (like Warsong Gulch). In fact, you gain experience, money, and titles for PVPing in battlegrounds. You could technically PVP your way up to level 40, the level cap, without having to PVE. In some cases, if you are too low for a battleground, Warhammer will even level you up so that you can participate in that PVP instance.
There are also public quests that you can enter into just by walking into the fight of a giant boss, and if you participate, are able to roll on the loot that drops from it withOUT having to join into a raid party.
There is a built-in quest helper that shows you where to go to execute your quest on the minimap. The keyboards and gameplay (such as backpack, looting, selling loot, NPCs that train you up for your ranks [aka levels] are similar to WOW and takes very little to understand. Quick learning curve. Tons of tips that pop-up as you level to teach you every step of the way.
Key bindings, movement, and fluidity of the game is smooth like WOW. Of course, WOW is much more polished, but this is a starting game and as time will go on, I'm sure Warhammer will get polished too.
Apparently if you are more than 10 levels above a person that you're trying to gank (like WOW, where a level 70 can repeatedly gank your level 30 butt without reparations), you will be turned into a clucking chicken. I really like that a lot.
Open RvR (Realm vs Realm) servers PVP, RP, and Core (normal servers). The RP servers in Warhammer have a serious reputation and not to be taken lightly. Your name will be erased if it doesn't fit RP standards, and there is to be no mention of anything outside of WAR, such as pop music, politics, pizza, etc that relates to Real Life.
Story:
If you don't know already, Warhammer has had about 25 years of history since the 1980s. The history is actually very well developed and linear, unlike WOW, which is slapstick comedy at best due to its lack of linearity and flip-flopping changes to the storyline. WOW, who also copied from WAR's storyline and races. You can read your own history and lore as it develops while you participate in quests (there's an option in the menu that has a thick manual including the lore).
Music: Ambience, music, and sounds are definitely sub-par in comparison to some MMO's I have seen, especially WOW. There seems to be very little "music" except random noise in the background while playing. The music itself is not that enchanting either, except the opening title music as you enter the game.
If you are still unsure about spending $50 to buy the game, my final word would be this: If you have enjoyed the passionate PVP fighting in battlegrounds and PVP-ing in general, in addition to exploring RP in a story-packed world with beautiful graphics and places, buy the game. This one you won't be disappointed in, like Age of Conan.
Don't let the negative reviews fool you! September 19, 2008
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
Warhammer is such a great game!
The graphics are amazing! There is such great attention to detail that it is very easy to become immersed in the game's environment. This coupled with a great musical score and exciting game play really adds up.
The servers are very stable. I have very little lag even during realm versus realm combat.
The game has done away with many of the time consuming and/or annoying aspects of some other MMORPGs like long flights from location to location, downtime for drinking/eating in player-versus-player combat, constant interruptions of game play in order to repair equipment, looking for group systems that require you to stay in queues for hours just trying to get a party going to name a few. There is none of that in Warhammer. Mythic really did a good job of making a game this is more fun to play and less like a tedious job.
The lore is great and the story lines are engaging. Public quests are fun, quick and challenging. Realm-versus-realm combat is very easy to find and you can start off fighting other players at level 1 if you choose to. You are able to level from 1-40 from realm-versus-realm combat, player-versus-environment or a combination of both, whichever works best for you.
The user interface is highly customizable and very user friendly.
There are still a few minor graphical bugs but they seem to have ironed out most of the bugs that affect gameplay.
I was hesitant to stray from World of Warcraft after playing that game for 3.5 years and investing so much time an energy into my characters. It is understandable that many World of Warcraft players will react negatively to a new MMO on the scene but please give this game a chance. I've only played Warhammer Online, Lineage II and World of Warcraft so I am no expert on MMORPGs but based on my experience this is the most fun I have had playing a MMO to date. I highly recommend it!
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