Let the games begin.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning entered Open Beta today and those that have only been able to read others views, can now taste War for themselves. The “roller coaster” ride that everyone gets when reading game info on the NDA lifted, up and coming, is similar to every one I have experienced. The good the bad and the ugly are described on every thread, repeatedly. Of course I am referring to the state of game play rather than what's broke, after all it is beta. I can only comment on the beta & release of games I have experienced and so far they've all followed the same criteria, a work in progress. A continuation of polish, fixes and content.

So what's next? Open Beta To See If I Like It, testing.

Open beta is synonymous to “Whats the game like?” for the majority of those that have been reading and waiting on the sidelines. After all, how much testing can we do 10 days before release. What's fun is relative and no matter what we have heard, in game is where our decisions are made. OB testers can now see if they like it as much as they thought they would. I haven't been in the testing stages long enough to appreciate the progress so my assessment is the “Open Beta To See If I Like It” review.

Verse of Verses: PvE and PvP/RvR.

Personally in an MMO I desire to be immersed. I want to be enthralled by the plights of those poor NPC's I encounter. I want to get lost in the story line as if reading a good fantasy novel. In many of the games past my desire has been fairly well satisfied, at least palatable. At first I let myself slip into the “Ho Hum, kill ten crap,” but soon realized for anyone that has never played this type of game before it's their tutorial. My eyes were opened to this when I fired my first cannon or crossbow. I am sure glad they showed me how to do that, it may come in handy. Putting my haughtiness aside, because I am an expert in MMO's, (choked on that one) I moved on.

The immersion that I look for was not overwhelming but enough to keep my attention. However; Public Quests are just the flavoring needed to make PvE, the soup de jour. I personally don't like spoilers so stumbling is what I do best. When I stumbled upon a bunch of people on a PQ, I jumped in to help and had a blast. I had no idea what was going on at first, failed to notice the “pop up” description of what I stepped into. I didn't help enough to get a roll on the loot but the “drive by” break in my present quest was a nice touch.

I also enjoy, not so much as a desire but a “put the novel down” break in the action change of pace. The camaraderie of group PVP and all the action surrounding it is excellent fun but it's a seasoning, not the main ingredient for me. In Warhammer, it's all about War and RvR so what in the hell am I doing here? Well I'll tell ya'.

Caught up in the moment.

My first experience of what War had to offer in RvR was the “Khaines Embrace” scenario. 5 minutes of this scenario is not enough for any useful verbiage but first impression was “capture the flag”. Exit and look for more PvE. ( these are actually somewhat better. “Never judge a book by it's cover” comes into play here).Working my little PvE heart out in Nordland I came across an area that, if I stayed, would flag me for PvP. A town called New Emskrank was crawling with those who follow the way of Chaos. I stayed and for the next 5 hours I was lost in RvR. Battlefield objectives which seem like “capture the flag” didn't have that stale mundane feel to me.

I spent time solo as well as grouped and both were exciting. Solo, I felt more mobile. Hit and run tactics that didn't necessarily turn the tide of battle but enough to be a pest. Of course the cannons on the hill came in handy once in awhile (I knew that cheesy kill so many whatever, canon/crossbow quest would come in handy). Now the flip side to this was after you make yourself enough of a pest, the more organized of the opposing masses put you on top of their hit list.

Grouped PvP offered the same as others I have experienced as long as the pick up group was in tune. “Do this, do that” team tactics that was satisfying if you helped save someones butt or yours was just pulled from the fire. What seemed to be different for me here was “the moment”. Overall the objective is to win your area back but it was the “moment”, that skirmish, group or solo that was the juice for me.

The early levels of PvE doesn't feel like climbing a ladder to max level but more of a feeling that its preparing me, preparing me for War.

...and this has my attention.