Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Well, up to the first 10 levels anyway. It’s quite the move; replacing the traditional 10-day trial, you’re now able to play Warhammer Online as much as you like. You can’t go past the first ten levels, but that still allows you to try all the character classes to see if any fixes. Also, rather than the enormo-client download, the game’s been re-jigged to work on a Guild-Wars-esque streaming basis. So you can just go and get it here and start playing. If I get a chance, I plan to actually go back and have a nose – I’ve heard some interesting word on stuff they’ve been doing on the quiet, and I want to see if it’s true or not. How’s RPS’ Warhammer-playing readers finding it?

Once more unto the breach of reviewing that which is many ways unreviewable… This time around, I’m taking a sober look over on Eurogamer at the Euro-state of Mythic’s MMORPG Warhammer Online, nearly a year on from its high-profile launch. You’ll find my ruminations lurking over yonder, and including chin-scratchy nuggets such as these:

Mythic don’t want you to waste your time saving up money for a bigger rucksack. They just want to you to fight – ideally, to fight other players. The game’s greatest triumph is a largely seamless blend between punching NPCs and punching real people – no need for different skill sets or alternative armour. The enemy is the enemy. That row of number keys and a few team-mates, be they anonymous or known chums, are all you need. The sad side-effect of such single-mindedness is a glaring loss of personality.

A few bonus thoughts are below…
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If you’ve not yet grasped the squig and tried Mythic’s Warhammer Online for yourself, then now might be a good time. The main website has just launched a 10-day free trial for the game. But Europeans are excluded from the offer. And, ah, okay, I missed this completely: Euros have a separate offer entirely.

So that’s good.

More or less cut off from my sugary internet drip-feed for a couple of weeks due to a house move (look ma, I’m in That London!), the very idea of playing an MMO seems absolutely ludicrous to me right now – it’s like dreaming of going swimming while stranded in the desert, or asking for a Big Mac in Burger King. What I can do while I wait is appreciate Mythic’s cheeky viral hints as to upcoming Warhammer Online updates. Remember all those classes they cut a while before release? A couple of ‘em were reinstated last month, and now it looks like the remaining fellas are inbound too. Either that or Mythic are just really rude about bloggers’ haircuts.
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Mythic have announcified two new careers for Warhammer Online, due to appear this Winter. And they’re beefcake. The Empire’s Knight of the Blazing Sun, and the Dark Elf Black Guard will be available to the game’s current 750,000 players, as part of the first major patch, 1.1. Discussed by Mark Jacobs in his first State Of The Game address, we’ve cobbled together the highlights of the rest of the included updates below.

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Another one of our favourite things has sort of come back into life. We’ve only mentioned consolevania in passing before, but the web-TV show (which sprouted TV spin-off Videogaiden) has returned for a series 4. Except rather than their traditional shows, they’re doing a rolling-feature model, with youtube videos added as and when they’re finished. Thankfully, one of the first three is PC-game related, thus justifying a linkage. Rab is embedding himself in Warhammer Online to return in the world’s most long-form review. That he seems to be even more of geek than yours truly bodes well, but… well, surely nothing can go wrong?

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In a move that’s a little less Led Zeppelin and inching into Spinal Tap territory, Mythic have done a punky-metal song about Warhammer and put together a video for it featuring footage from the last two years on the road. And it looks like this…

Brief cameos of RPSers Matt Kumar (00:34) and myself (00:36). I’m having some manner of fit.

Spore has only sold 1 million copies. Warhammer Online has a piffling 500,000 subscribers. Ah well. Might as well call it a day for the old IBM Compatible, eh?

Pffffffft. It’s been a grand Autumn for PC so far, and with Left 4 Dead, Far Cry 2 and Fallout 3 (shut up) also incoming our beloved maths-box’s star isn’t going to dim any time soon. Two things worth noting about the Spore/WAR (hey, that rhymes!) success though.
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About time for a general update on all things Guild Based and has generally been pillaging for over a week now. It’s still on the ever-busy Karak Hirn. There’s been a server cloning thing, which means that we could move the Guild, but general feeling is to stay at Karak – and discussed on the new Warhammer Guild Forums. Equally, Poisoned Sponge has actually got into gear and sorted out the Order side of this endeavour, which rather than actually being at Karak Eight Peaks is off at Tor Arnoc instead. Details on the actual forum and the latest details on how to join the guilds beneath the cut.
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There was a smattering of confusion yesterday with our WAR Collector’s Edition compo, regarding who could enter. We’re super-sorry, but because this is the GOA edition of the game, it will only work in Europe. So to the rest of the world, understand that we love you, but this one’s not for you. However, to the rest of the European continent, you’re welcome to enter. Hey, we’re not paying the postage. All the details for entry are in the previous post. We recommend reading it before entering however – four people so far have entered without including, um, their entry. Odd choice.