Warhammer Vs WoW - Will Warhammer Be the Next Big Thing?

So maybe you are one of the ten million current World of Warcraft subscribers and you are wondering if Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is for you.

I'm betting you are looking forward to the new Wrath of Lich King expansion and leveling up again, but when you think about it, it doesn't sound all that much fun. You know that all that armor you have worked so hard to get and upgrade is going to be worthless when the expansion comes out and you will have to start over again spending time and money to get new equipment just to keep up to speed.

Warhammer Online offers WoW players a new and exciting world to explore and new quests and a great RvR experience. Its possible playing WoW that you have never participated in Horde versus Alliance combat. I can promise you, playing Warhammer, you will not escape the conflict between Order and Destruction. If your realm has tipped the scales of RvR in their favor, everyone in the area gains experience bonuses, sometimes very significant bonuses.

There is no resurrection penalty in Warhammer. If you die repeatedly, you can resurrect again without waiting an additional thirty seconds. There are also no crowd control options in Warhammer. This means you won't spend the entire fight feared or stunned watching your group mates drop like flies.

At this time, there are no armor/jewelry rewards for participating in RvR in the world or Warhammer. Players gain renown points and renown ranks when they kill other players. For each renown rank, they gain a point to spend on stat increases or battle tactics. There are armor sets for each tier, but they can be purchased from a keep vendor once a player reaches the minimum level and renown rank for that area.

The look and playability of Warhammer is very similar to World of Warcraft and I think those who try it out will find themselves very comfortable with the interface and the character models. The RvR scenarios are similar to WoW as well. There are capture the flag and get to control point scenarios as well as capturing battlefield objectives by having more members that the other realm. In this aspect, WoW players will feel right at home.

Will Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning beat out World of Warcraft as the greatest MMORPG ever? I don't know. But I do know it's hard to keep ten million people all happy at the same time.

James Ostenson is an avid gamer and has played several online fantasy games starting with Ultima Online. Warhammer Online looks to be the next best thing in the MMORPG world. Check out his Warhammer Review where he does a review of the Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning preview weekend.