【WarHammer Online】：The Good, The Bad and the Crashed?

I recently resubbed to WarHammer for about a month. I am enjoying it greatly. The game has drastically improved. Classes have been balanced, RVR has had an over haul, and new classes have been added. I will break down my review on the game into three parts. The Good, The Bad, and the Crashed.

The Good
The RVR had been adjusted in the fact that XP and reknown rewards have been increased. I have managed to level the ruggedly handsome dwarf engineer seen above, from T2 to T3 relatively easy and only, yes only in RVR and some scenarios. The action is fast paced, exciting and never gets boring. I find at every log on there is something going on somewhere. Places to see, people to kill, you know the usual. You just have to look. I joined a guild a few days after my glorious return, which has helped me find groups much easier. There is a feature that every other game should steal right now. In the guild roster where the members are listed, on the same line as their name there is a little guild flag icon that shows up if the person is part of a group or warband. This is the great part, just right click on the flag and you have the option to join said warband if there is room. Done, insta-group. Yes done. I said done! The best part, they don’t even have to be in the same zone.

Once you character joins a warband, just head out and partake in RVR. The RVR influence system allows players to gain influence, similar to the Public Quests that can be used to purchase PVP gear. Every racial paring has its own influence. This provides another method to acquire gear without DKP, raiding and the other nonsense other MMO’s make a player do. A player can currently acquire gear through RVR influence, reknown gear in Keeps, or bag drops during Keep sieges. Anyone can get good gear in this game. Everyone has access. Allowing players such accessibility to good gear allows them to focus on the fun aspects of the game, RVR, Keep sieges, Scenarios. Mythic keep up the good work on this one!

The Bad
The PVP in this game is intense and fun there is no denying that. The drawback, the Achilles heel to Mythic’s WarHammer is server balance. If you are on a dead or dying server there is no action, no PVP, no RVR, nothing, nada, sorry your bored. One of the game’s greatest features is also its greatest failure. You need opponents. Without an enemy to fight the game is pointless, there is nothing else to do. This leads me to my next point.

The PVE in this game has broken the laws of quantum mechanics. The reason is because the PVE game sucks and blows at the same time. There are plenty of quests but do not expect WOW quality of quests. Something is missing from the quests. I can quite place my finger on it, but trust me they suck and blow. Don’t join WarHammer for PVE, come for the PVP and join a med to a high server.

The Crashed
This is the final deal breaker for WAR. The game has been out since last fall, and yet it still crashes consistently, and for most of the players. This is completely infuriating to have a game continue to have these issues so far after launch without any kind of acknowledgment from Mythic. Yes they have stated that they have corrected the ctd issue and crashing is down..blah blah blah. Bull! Mythic, your game still crashes. Don’t argue, don’t place a PR spin on it, fix it and fix it now.

The game crashes come in two flavors from what I have experienced, and what my group members and family members have gone through. The first is the common CTD, crash to desktop. This is when You are running or fighting..And then POP! You are looking at your desktop. No biggie, just sign back on, and you are good to go. Ok, again should not be happening but at least you can get back in rather quickly.

The second and worst kind of crash is the driver hammer. This is the worst kind of crash I have ever had. What is the driver hammer? I am glad you asked. This one can happen at any time. Basically WarHammer takes that big Hammer and applies it liberally to your video card drivers. Next your screen goes into a VGA mode notifying you that the drivers have stopped working. Your only solution is to reboot. Thanks driver hammer. Thanks. Luckily these crashes happen but not daily. I have the driver hammer happen once or twice a week, and the CTD about the same. Most people I have spoke to in game, agree that they crash but nowhere near where it was before. So there is some grain of truth to crashes going down. Not enough, not enough by any means.

Final Thoughts.
The game is fun, accessible and highly entertaining. I will gladly put up with the bugs and crashes at their current level for about a month. I cannot in good conscience pay for a game with constant crashes for a longer period of time. This game has a loyal player base, great PVP action and provides nonstop fun when located on a balanced server. I will look forward to trying the game again somewhere down the road.