Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (PC)

Warhammer Online catapults itself into the class of elite MMO, and it should only get better.
9/30/2008 7:28 PM | 0 Comments | Page 2 of 3

The "Public Quest" (PQ) system was designed to alleviate this. The game is broken down into chapters, each with its own storyline for each of the six races and containing huge Public Quests, which must be tackled by a group of players. The PQs have multiple stages: The first stage of a Greenskin PQ might require you to kill 50 Dwarf Longbeards; the second stage would then require you to kill something a bit tougher, and the final stage might demand that you slay various Dwarf Hero units -- which you definitely cannot do alone. It's a brilliant idea that allows PvE-focused players to partake in group action without the fear of being killed by enemy players. At the conclusion of a Public Quest, you might earn rewards, and you also earn influence with the Boss of the chapter you are in. If you earn enough influence you are rewarded with various trinkets, and you can repeat this process as often as you like.

Here's the problem, though: There is usually one Public Quest right at the start of a chapter, and people tend to flock to that one quest -- leaving the other PQs completely unattended. Because the influence rewards are the same for all the quests, players just sit tight, wait for the quest they just completed to reset, and have at it again. In every chapter, you are bound to stumble upon a Public Quest that has barely been touched, and it's impossible to complete it on your own. Some players are unaware that there is more than one PQ per chapter; others don't care and see no reason to hike over hills and streams to do another PQ when all they need to do is sit and wait for a reset. There need to be varying influence rewards for each quest or a limit to the number of times you can do one specific Public Quest. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to be able to kill the same Hero 10 times over just to earn more favor with the Boss. How many times does that guy need to die?

One devious aspect of the Public Quests is the fact that many are placed where enemy factions are within shouting distance of one another, which provides great fun on "Open RvR" servers where any player is fair game. Even in non-RvR zones, enemy players can whack you, which adds "edge-of-your-seat" gameplay that you just don't get on a Core server.

One last tidbit about the PvE quest design: The quests are grind-free without a "drop quest" in sight, so you will never have to try to gather up five doohickeys by killing 75 creatures. Mythic earns huge points for killing off the most annoying quest system ever created.

WAR's crafting system is tied to PvE play and it is, by far, the weakest part of the game. It's pretty abysmal, actually. You can be an Apothecary (potion maker) or a Talisman Maker (socketing talismans into your gear boosts stats), and these are supplemented by gathering skills (Cultivator, Butcher, etc.). The Cultivator literally grows plants and uses a watering can. Picture this if you will: Your evil-to-the-core Chaos Zealot, slayer of Good and champion of Darkness, works part-time as a first-rate grower of shiny green seeds and uses his trusty watering can to make them grow happy and strong. World of Warcraft caught some flack for its flower-picking skill, but this takes the cake and has absolutely no connection to the world of Warhammer. (Unless you're a Halfling from the Moot or a peasant farmer of the Empire -- keep your mitts off the watering cans.) The crafting comes off as an afterthought, and either needs to be completely redone or scrapped altogether.