So I sprang for a 60-day timecard for Warhammer Online via that Black Friday deal. I’m not exactly sure when I’ll use it though; pretty sure it won’t be until after the 1st of the year at the earliest.
I’ve been reading the blogs of some of the folks who are still playing and still enjoying the game, and the more I read, the more I understand that they are looking for something very different from what I’m looking for in a “full time” MMO. And while I’m glad they’re finding what they’re looking for, I don’t think my MMO needs and desires are likely to change enough to make Warhammer my next home, unless Warhammer changes.
I do enjoy RvR, but not as a ‘staple’. It’s something to do now and then for a change of pace. What I really enjoy is playing co-op against PvE with a few folks I get along well with (I also enjoy small-scale raiding, but again, not as a staple..I’ve never tried any large raiding but am pretty confident I’d dislike it a lot). It’s a laid back social event, filled with gaps in the action to laugh and joke around during, without the irritation of Ventrilo, which I hate. I love my text; yeah, I’m a dinosaur.
To go into more general terms, most of the time I play MMOs to relax and escape the mundane dreariness of real life. I play MMOs for the same reason a lot of people read fiction. I tend to do PvE while semi-overlevel because I don’t really need more frustration in my life than I already get outside of games. I also like “immersion” in my games. I like crafting, and social clothing, and goofy pets that are just there for fun, and housing, and hanging around in an Inn listening to people come and go and chat. Warhammer is very focused on the gameplay experience, which makes it unique and (in my opinion) very valuable. Just maybe not right for me.
It would’ve been perfect for me if EA had offered a Lifetime Membership to Warhammer. I would’ve snapped that up and would’ve enjoyed it on an occasional basis for a long time to come. But they didn’t and that means $15/month for a game I’ll probably want to play once a week or so. I can route that $15 to other games instead; games I’ll play 3-4 times a week.
I wonder if Mythic/EA will change focus of Warhammer at all, and bring in more PvE content? Despite what others remember, I recall Dark Age of Camelot having a very rich PvE component, and that’s where I spent a lot of my time, only heading into RvR every so often, usually on weekends. I can’t think of a primarily PvP MMO that has done well. EVE is the closest, and it has a huge economic component to it, from what I remember. There’s a lot more to do than just do PvP in it. Yes, the blogosphere is full of very active and chatty people that love PvP, but again and again we see that the general populace isn’t as interested on a long term basis. The constant consolidation of Warhammer servers seems to indicate that the players who want full-on RvR as a main leveling system aren’t as plentiful as us primarily-PvEers.
So I’m going try Warhammer again come January, and I’ll try to keep my mind open and try to level up a single character to Tier 4. People constantly tell me there’s “enough” PvE content in the game, but leaving Warhammer and going into LOTRO or EQ2 or WOW, it becomes really evident how huge the gap is in the PvE between Warhammer and these other games. What I never did is jump Pairings when doing PvE and I’ll have to start doing that to get more quests.
The pity of it all is that I’ve fallen in love with the Warhammer world and lore. Some of this is from Warhammer Online but a lot of it is from reading the Gotrek & Felix novels, and now I’d *love* to play a rich-PvE MMO based in the world.