Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning reviews

Having played in the open beta, and now in the CE (Collectors Edition) head start, I feel I can offer a basic review of the game.

Split into four level-based tiers, focusing player energy, then a sharp introduction into the game's true focus : smashing the enemy players' faction city into the dirt. This is not a grind-fest, leveling is brisk and rewarding, with new and varied abilities earned every level, and can be accomplished via exploration, PVP, objective capturing all add towards the players' progression.

With concepts such as town, keep and fort capture, guild leveling, renown ranks (pvp-level) and their tangible benefits (more abilities, item sets, upgrades) promotes variety, teamwork and perhaps most importantly: a sense of purpose. The max level players performance will trickle benefits down to the the lower tiers. Likewise, player performance in the lower tiers adds more versatility to higher ranked players, giving them the flexibility needed to crush the opposition, and open the enemy city.

It should be noted that the enemy city, as the name implies, is a zone full of PLAYERS. You will actually have the opportunity to ransack them, destroy their buildings, and should your faction prove skilled enough, kill the enemy King. City sieges are the ultimate end-game, with interspersed pve max level raid-sized dungeons, pvp objectives, and of course, the finale of the King fight, there is something for all creeds.

Classes are varied and creative, with classes like “Warrior Priest” and “Goblin Shaman” whose mechanics – far detached from mana-micromanagement – give a dynamic new outlook on classes anything but generic.

Notable of all, the Public Quests. I'll leave it for you to discover why :)

My only real criticism is the Chaos Chosen (think evil paladins)and their auras, but that's probably because they kill me lots :(

I started off in the closed beta and played for about 3 or 4 months then gave it a rest. Now after a year I have gone back to it and see they have improved so much about the game. The PvE is still a little boring but unlike World of Warcraft there isnt so much focus on the end game content. I have to say the highlight of this game is the Player vs Player combat (RvR/PvP). Theres always battles going on in open world keep sieges or scenarios and it seems like a much more mature population in Warhammer also which is such a relief. You're looking at around $21nz per month but there are cheap game cards around. In my opinion it is really fun and worth the investment.

The 5 star rating is based on the potential score of Warhammer online, it takes a lot of the great staples from Wow and ads some fresh new concepts to the mix.
Needs some patching, tweeking and balancing, but that will come with time,
Darklands is the main server for AU and NZ players at the moment, but population is high (not always a bad thing when looking for people to help with public quests). It gets quite quiet when USA players are asleep so try find a guild with fellow down under players. If you plan to play the side of Order check out the ANZAC Guild, full of AU and NZ players, leaders name is Belras