So I’ve been playing Elder Scrolls Online. Something I said I wouldn’t do. I played the beta a few times when they offered it on the weekends. I didn’t care for it at that time. But I guess I’m so desperate for a new mmo that I bought this when I had money to blow. Here are some very boring shots of the Character select screen:

Overall it’s a kinda bland mmo. It has no soul really. It sometimes feels like a Elder Scrolls game with the way the quests are done. But then it blows it with the whole way the classes are handled. It’s not at all like the single player game. In the mmo each class is limited to what they can ultimaley can do. Sure they all have access to the same weapons and armor. That in it’s self is petty cools and very Elder Scrolls. But then each of the named classes Dragonknight, Sorcerer, Nightblade, and Templar all each have their own set of three class specific skill lines. So a Sorcerer can’t take skills from a Dragonknight. That right there is were it totally loses the Elder Scrolls feeling.

Right now though it will do. Wildstar is comes out June 3rd. Which hopefully will be pretty fun. I mean I know it’s fun since I have played it in one of the betas. But I hope it’s become more fun since then. I know they just updated the ui recently. So it’s good to see changes happen this close to release.

So I’m playing Warhammer Online again. I had to transfer my highest level (only 15) off of the closed server he was on. I think there is are only four servers left. It took Mythic 4 days to fix the problem with transfers. In their defense they probably only have a staff of two. For some reason I really like the easy to get into RvR of Warhammer. Below is one of the result screens from a scenario match.

I’m currently playing on a free ten day come back type of deal. Not totally decided if I’ll stay and pay after the ten days are up.

To get an idea what the RvR is all about here are a bunch of screenshots of a little skirmish in front of a castle that happened last night.

Edit
Ten days was all I needed. Not coming back for $14.99 a month.

WoW is cancelled. I’m back to WaR. Gawain sent me many screenshots of his guys and talked just too much about Warhammer Online’s awesome RvR. So I rolled on the stupid gay role playing server G plays on as a Goblin Squig Herder:

It’s my first time playing a ranged type character. But it does have a pet. It is a nice change of pace after being a melee guy for so long.

So I picked up Warhammer Online even though I thought the game was just WoW and DAoC bastard child. But I got to admit I’m enjoying it. It is a relative of Dark Age of Camelot just because the same developers (Mythic) made it. It does at times remind me of Camelot a bit. The weird thing is I’m really enjoying the hell out of the RvR.

I’ve got two characters on two different servers. Like DAoC you can not have characters of the opposite sides on the same server. My Destruction character is a Chaos Chosen which reminds me of a DAoC Pally in the way it can twist his buffs. Then I have an Order Empire War Priest who also reminds me of the DAoC Friar.

As I’ve said I’m really enjoying the RvR. Which historically for me has always been something I just don’t get into. Which is odd I admit since my first mmorpg was Camelot. Warhammer borrows lots of things from both WoW and DAoC. Most of the RvR I’ve been doing is on a WoW type Battlegrounds. It plays a bit like CTF of King of the Hill in shooters. The servers I’m on are called Core and they only allow RvR in designated areas and of course if you voluntarily flag yourself for RvR.

Participating in RvR rewards you both standard experience and you also get renown. Renown is like DAoC realm ranks and works just about the same. Each renown rank gives you a point with which you can use to buy renown abilities. And when you finish a match it of course shows the statistics so one can brag about how good they did or cry about how much they suck.

On the PvE side of things Warhammer has Public Quests. These quests are tied to a specific area in a zone and it has a set of objectives anyone in that area can help complete. When a Public Quest is finished players roll for the chest of loot that is dropped by the boss. In addition everyone who helped with the objectives earns influence towards the specific chapter of the overall story that the Public Quest ties into.

In addition to the loot dropped by killing the boss of the quest there are three ranks of rewards a player can receive for getting influence in each chapter of the games story. There are three tiers to the rewards. First you can choose from four different potions, then there is two pieces of magic armor/weapons, and finally there are two even better weapons or armor to chose from.

The other mechanic of the Public Quest (and the game in general) is one can run into the area and help fulfill the objectives of the quest and not worry about being in a group. Or if you want a group the game let’s players have their group be open so anyone can join and help out. Admitedly I’ve not played around with groups yet as I am a solo player most of the time. In fact the game will let you know when you go into an area that has open groups.

All in all Warhammer Online feels more like a finished game than say Age of Conan. Which is important for a mmo even more than a single player game. And as I’ve said it is fun. To me the fun factor is the biggest factor in any game I play. So if your looking for a new mmo give Warhammer a try.

I made level 30 in Age of Conan.

Perfect time to do a new poll. Simple yes or no question.

Are you playing Age of Conan?

• Yes
• No

View Results

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I’ve been meaning to capture a few of the Age of Conan fatalities in action and finally got around to it. These movies are much smaller than that gameplay movie I did.

Click To Play

There are a few others. For example I’ve seen my barbarian clobber a mob over and over with his hammer when pulling off a fatality. So I think it depends on the weapons equipped. Cool stuff.

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Seeing screenshots of a game is one thing. It so better to see it in action. Here is just about 5 minutes of gameplay from the game Age of Conan. And it does not contain any emo fucking music in the background. I hate that bullshit with a passion. So what you hear in the video is what you hear when you play the game. At the time of the video was taken I was a level 25 barbarian.

Click To Play

File info is below. You can right click and save the file if you don’t want it opening up in whatever it is you have videos opening in on your computer.

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