More fun in an MMO than I've had for years!
I played Anarchy Online, waiting for the next big thing. SWG came out and sucked. I got cynical, so ignored all the buzz about this new WoW game that was coming out. Then I joined in January after the game had been rolling for a month, learning that all the hype was true.
I burned out on the time sink that WoW endgame raiding became. Who wants to grind mats on your off nights of the week to support the two days you raid every week?
I tried Tabula Rasa last fall. Great interface, but becomes a 'wait to get a group' to be able to do anything meaningful game at midlevels. Can't log in for half an hour and have a quick break? Forget it.
Next was Hellgate: London. Fun, playable, but you rn through the content at lvl 30, with 20 levels to go. The answer? Repeat the content. Welcome to the grind. Blech!
Next? Lords of the Rings Online. Great story line. Good looking game. But, mostly a WoW clone with few significant improvements.
Then AoC comes out. The combat mechanics were awesome, and the first twenty levels were amazing, but that's where that game ends. After that, it's a completely different game, riddled with bugs and a distinct lack of content. So, here I am feeling cynical again.
It's midsummer, WAR is on the horizon, and I'm really cynical about it. I remember writing a forum post about what a piece of junk WAR is going to be because of the shutdown to the beta last year, the partnership with EA, the (perceived) rush to market; and the content that got dropped (the other capital cities for the other races and four classes that needed retuning).
All I am thinking is What a disaster this is going to be. Still, I had a preorder of the CE, so I decided to heck out of the preview weekend. I was blown away! The content goes forever.
The game play is fun from the outset. I don't feel the need to rush through everything to get to the next new thing because there are so many things to explore with the levels I'm at.
I am not a PvP enthusiast, but have found myself loving the PvP. I don't win everygame, but even the one's where we get crushed go quickly enough that I can get back in to another where I am just as likely to be the crusher than crushee.
The graphics aren't overpowering; they're not supposed to be. The Devs want to minimize lag issues in big multiplayer events.
They take the best stuff from other games and make it better, to make the game feel familiar, while adding enough new gameplay elements to make the game feel cutting edge, new, and different.
This game has had the smoothest start I have ever seen. It has so much content that you will be perpetually finding new and exciting things for a long time to come. The game scales the content so that the game gets more complex as you but, but giving you the basics to tackle the new content. There's even hidden raid bosses for each of the level tiers (1-10, 10-20, etc...).
The game has a party system that gets people working in groups without even realizing it. You don't have to look for groups forever; just hop into something and you're part of a group whether you realize it or not.
You have three to four variations on each of the familiar class Archetypes, but each one has a different feel to the game play. You can really find the playstyle in the archetype you enjoy best suited to your personal playstyle.
There is no direct funnel to max level. You can get experience is a number of different ways. So, go with whatever catches your mood on a given day.
WAR is fun. WAR runs smoothly. WAR is immersive.
You can tell this game came from other gamers who care. What are you waiting for? Get out there and join the WAR! WAAAAGGGGHHH!