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While perusing my daily tid-bits of random gaming information I came across something that made me audibly gasp: An article on GamesRadar.com entitled Why WoW players should switch to WAR.

Everything I have heard about Warhammer Online is that it is basically terrible. Yes, it is similar to WoW, but it takes away all the things I personally love about WoW, and amplifies all the things I dislike.

I do not PvP. I mean, I have, and sure, I most definitely enjoy jumping on my hunter and brutally massacring hundreds of people from behind a tree; topping the dps/kb charts in welfare epics and quest blues. I have even been known to laugh maniacally in arenas as my partner reeks havoc on a team, while I throw my overpowered HoTs and cyclone/root to my hearts content; but when it comes down to it, I do not have a real thirst for blood. I do not wake up in the morning and think "I wonder who I am going to kill today?"

Therefore, a game like Warhammer, in all its PvP glory, never intrigued me. But, the author of the aforementioned article would have us think otherwise. Though, after actually reading it, I am inclined to grab a large stick and beat him with it... Ok, so sometimes I am a little blood thirsty.

Nagata goes on for 3 pages, listing why WAR is better, but in many cases, I tend to disagree. He says things like:

You won't 'dance' like Napoleon Dynamite in WAR. There are more important things for you to do, like killing other players

I like the cheesy dances. I admittedly rarely type /dance. On occasion I will log on my random Night Elf alt and do a little jig to impress a friend in to playing, and I have been known to drink a Noggin Fogger elixir and rock out as a skeleton; but for the most part, I do not like dancing for its style, I like it for what it says about the game: Warcraft does not take itself too seriously. WoW has terrible graphics and it knows it.

One of the largest gripes I have heard about Warhammer is that it has the same graphics as WoW, but tries to make everything look realistic, and in that, it fails. The characters come off looking, as my friend who played states, "too pixelated and incomplete".

WAR streamlines the grouping process so that joining parties, finding a large war band of players for PvP, and joining a guild isn't reserved for those who are close to reaching their level cap.

I can understand why this would seem like a good thing, but I personally like the good ole end game guilds. WoW has its fair share of random low level guilds *Queue Illegal Danish* "Wanna join my guild?!" The idea behind elitist guilds is mostly so that you are not stuck with people who do not know what they are doing. If you, like me, are not a fan of PuGs, then WAR is the devil; which brings me to this:

Since all groups are Open Groups by default, this means that you'll almost always find some friendly group to grind or PvP with.

NOOOOOOOOO!!! Ugh, flabbergast and disgust. I am deathly allergic to PuGs, having had one too many terrible experiences with them. I do not get off on joining random people who may or may not know how to press a button, who may or may not be a 10 year old who thinks fart jokes are hilarious, who may or may not blurt the ever tiresome "Oh em gee, yur a gurl?!"... You get my point. I understand my hatred of PuGs is a little extreme and outlandish (giggle, Outland), but that does not make me any more willing to voluntarily play a game that I know at any moment will throw me, against my will, into a Russian roulette style pick-up group.

Aside from all that, WAR looks pretty great. The PvP aspect looks amazing and the open world questing seems pretty nifty. Though I still feel that Warhammer Online is a game that eats, breaths and sleeps PvP. I personally do not want to have my morning bowl of PvP drenched in PvP, with a healthy glass or two of PvP and a side of, you guessed it, PvP. If you are annoyed by the term "PvP' yet, then you can remotely grasp my distaste for a game solely revolving around... PvP.

With an upgrade to graphics, and a larger fan base, it could very well compete with World of Warcraft (I cringe waiting for the WoW gods to smite me down).

I do not, however, think that us die hard World of Warcraft fans should up and leave. At this point Warhammer can not compare to the vast awesomeness and hours of mindless entertainment that WoW brings to the table. It has a lot of growing up to do before I actually cancel my age-old Warcraft account and move on to new waters.

No matter what my opinion, it seems the only way to solve my curiosity for whether the game is indeed terrible or the best thing since sliced bread is to buy it.

Before I run off to Gamestop and pick up a copy of my own, what are everyone else's opinions on the game? Who is playing it, and is it truly better than WoW? Will I begin spending my 15 bucks a month on a new "W" titled MMO?

Happy gaming,

CnC

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