Where to Buy Warhammer - To Download Or Not to Download, That is the Question

So you have heard lots of great things about this brand new MMORPG from Mythic and EA Games and you are wondering where to buy Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. Well, you have two choices - you can go to a store and actually buy the box with discs and all or you can sit right where you are and digitally download the game right now.

There are advantages to either option, but I would definitely recommend you buy the pre-order, assuming you are reading this before the release date of September 18th. The open beta begins on September 7th and all pre-orders gain access to the open beta. Pre-orders also get access to the Headstart Program that allows those who pre-order the game to begin before the release date and thus get a headstart on everyone else. Both versions of the pre-order come with a claimable jewelry item that gives some stats and a damage add proc that can only be used in PvE and Rittenbach's portable camp that is supposed to allow you to rest better between fights. The jewelry item's specific stats vary based on where you get the game, but I am pretty sure that neither one of those items will make or break the game for you.

You buy Warhammer Online at select retailers in the box if you prefer to spend your $50 on something you can actually hold in your hands. The game will come on dvds and will no doubt need updating before release with any changes made during open beta. One advantage to buying the retail version is having the actual disks in case you have to ever reinstall the game. The box sets also come with a Universal Fighting System CCG demo deck - that's a collectible card game of sorts, for those that don't know that already (these may also just be available in the preorder boxes, although no one has said for sure).

You can purchase and download a digital copy of Warhammer Online from certain file download sites. The advantage here is that it requires no gas and just a few minutes to set up the download. The game took me almost 24hours to download, but it was during a high traffic time and my Internet's download is always slow. Besides, you can spend that time researching Warhammer and all your race/class combinations to figure out what you want to start playing. Whether you order your copy from Amazon in a box, or download it digitally, buy your copy of Warhammer today. If you can still get the pre-order, I would highly recommend it. Warhammer Online is a great game - you don't want to miss this one!

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.