Are you a Warcraft fan and interested in the new Warhammer game? This article should serve as a primer and hopefully help you feel more at home in WAR.
- Leveling. In WAR, levels are called Battle Ranks (BR) and there are 40 ranks. You gain experience by questing and killing monsters, just like in WoW. WAR also allows you to gain experience through PvP if you choose. As far as questing content, WAR does not have as much as WoW, but they tend to be less frustrating too.
- Sides. There are two sides to this conflict, Order versus Destruction.
- Races. WAR has 7 races total: 3 for Order, 4 for Destruction.
- Classes. WAR features 22 careers to choose from. The careers are unique for each race. For example, if You want to play a Bright Wizard, you must be a Human (Empire).
- Dungeons. WAR has dungeons, similar to WoW. There are not as many, but they do offer a small group something to do. Groups in WAR consist of 6 people.
- Combat. The combat is very similar to WoW, so you should feel right at home (as opposed to Age of Conan).
- Raids. WAR does not feature raids as you know them in WoW. The end game instances are in your enemies city and must be unlocked by conquering them. The fight versus the King is the end-game PvE encounter at present. It is only open for a limited amount of time, so there is no real raid farming or scheduling. It is mush more casual.
- Crafting. Crafting in WAR is nothing like WoW. The main goal of WAR crafting is to make things that your character uses, rather than 100 swords that you will just vendor. There are no recipes to learn. You gather ingredients in order to make potions and talismans (temporary enchants). Different ingredients have different results.
- Battlegrounds. WAR calls their Battlegrounds, scenarios. There are quite a few more than WoW has and they have a different purpose. First, they are not cross-server. You will always fight the enemy that is on your server. Second, they contribute to the overall war effort to capture your enemies city. They reward Experience and Renown. Also, you can participate at any level, as it boosts your rank temporarily so you can compete.
- Arena. No Arena equivalent in WAR (or dueling for that matter)
- Renown. Renown does not have an equivalent in WoW. Think of it as a seperate leveling system, which has 80 ranks. Renown ranks allow you do get and use different items and allow for further stat customization.
- Loot. WAR uses the familiar Gray, White, Green, Blue, Purple loot system. However, Loot is not nearly as important as it is in WoW. It helps, but is not the primary factor.
- Mounts. In WAR, you can buy your mount at rank 20. Each race can use one type of mount. At this time, there is not much in the way as variety like WoW has. Also, there are no flying mounts.
- Money. The same basic money system can be found here. However, gold really doesn't matter much. There is no grinding to get your 5000g for an epic mount. Money never really is a worry.
- PvP. WAR, just like the WoW PvE servers, features consensual PvP. There is only PvP in designated areas, so if you don't want to, you don't have to.
- Guilds. Guilds in WAR have all the features that the ones in WoW do, and much more. Guilds are able to level and gain access to rewards, such as custom heraldry. There are also alliances, which allow for groupings of guilds.
- Auction House. WAR also has an Auction House.
- Addons. Curse has a wide selection of WAR addons.
- Wowhead/Thotbot. If you are a fan of those site, one exists for WAR too, wardb.
- Armory. WAR has an armory type site that also gives the status of the battle on each server. It can be found here.
- RvR. Realm versus Realm, the goal of the game is to defeat the opposing side by capturing their city. Almost everything you do in the game, at any level, contributes to this end goal.
- Public Quests. A PQ is a multi-stage quest that takes place in a certain area, where every player there can participate to accomplish it, without being in a group. Often time it ends with a boss battle which requires the cooperation of the players. When it is over, everyone has a chance, based on contribution, to win rewards.
- Influence. Influence is gained for every chapter by completing Public Quests. Compared to WoW reputation, it is easy to obtain the rewards.
- Open Grouping. When you form a party, by default it is open for anyone else to join too. When you enter an area, you get a list of open parties and what type of activity you are doing.
- World PvP. In each area, a part of the map is reserved for world PvP (i.e. Lake Wintergasp). Here you can fight the enemy over battlefield objectives, keeps and fortresses. Victory gains you Experience, Renown, Loot and gains victory points for your realm.
4 comments:
It's actually 7 races - the Greenskin faction features both Goblins and Orcs. =)
Other than that, nice summary.
Doh! You are correct, those Greenskins are always causing me trouble ;)
Also, there is a raiding game in WAR if you choose to participate. It starts in Bastion Stair and then moves to your city's main dungeon. Then there's another one after that (can't remember the name). Each of these raids give you better gear, which give bonuses to the king battles.
You can skip the raid scene though by getting these same items from RvR (first set comes from T4 oRvR/golden loot bags from keeps, second from fortresses, third from city siege PQs, etc.).
Great Write up Werit.
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