Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Review
The game world in Warhammer Online is rather unique in that it's not implemented as one giant world map. At the highest level it is divided into three realms aligned with the major rivalries in the war: The Empire vs. Chaos (good humans vs. evil humans), Dwarves vs. Greenskins (orcs), and High Elves vs. Dark Elves. Your starting realm is determined by your character's race, but once in the game you're free to travel between them or to stick just to your race's areas and follow its story arc exclusively. These realms are further divided into tiers based on character level ranges, with each of the four tiers supporting roughly ten character levels each. In turn, each tier is divided into several maps.
Each map has the usual assortment of towns, NPCs quest givers and merchants, mobs, etc., but they also contain two kinds of special zones. The first is for public quests, or PQs. These are continuously running, multi-tiered scenarios that players can jump into or drop out of at any time. If the participants manage to meet all of the goals of a PQ, then the game holds a loot lottery of sorts, with the players who made the largest contribution to the win given a higher weighted chance to win. After the dice are rolled, the top three players are awarded a special loot bag that gives them their choice of reward. All players who participate earn points that accumulate from one PQ in a zone to the next and allow players to earn special award items when enough points are accumulated. The PQs are a great feature and the variety of PQs and their objectives and the frenzied non-stop action they provide make them a lot of fun to play. I know that the first thing that I would do when entering a new zone would be to seek out the new PQs and I'm sure that a lot of other players do the same thing.
The other special zones on the maps are the areas designated for PvP combat (there are also open PvP servers available for gamers who want the freedom to fight it out at any time). Enter one of these zones and a count down timer starts � once it reaches zero, you're flagged for PvP. The PvP zones are not just combat free-for-alls (although they can sometimes feel that way); each has its own set of objectives and if a side can accomplish these it wins control of the zone. Controlling zone has its rewards. All players on the map who belong to the side in control receive a bonus, and there may be other perks as well, such as the appearance of allied NPCs in the zone to help fight for your side. The PvP zones can be hosts to some pretty elaborate battles, at the highest tier culminating in city sieges.
Each tier also features three instanced PvP battlegrounds, one tied to each realm. Joining one of these battlegrounds is a simple matter of clicking on a button and then choosing to enter a queue for one of the battlegrounds or in a queue to enter the next available battle on any of the three. There are a variety of game types that all to beyond the typical multiplayer game types like capture of the flag. The developers put some time and effort into the design of the game variants and battleground maps and it shows. One of the more unique aspects of the PvP battlegrounds in Warhammer Online is that lower level players will be boosted to the mean level for the battleground for the duration of the battle. Lower level players won't have all of the skills earned by higher level players but they'll still be able to contribute to the battle in more positive ways than simply adding to the enemy's kill total.
It is certainly possible to play the game and avoid the player vs. player battles. There is plenty of PvE (player vs. environment) content in the game and you'll never have a shortage of active quests. However, the game will try to nudge you towards PvP action by giving your quests with objectives that just happen to reside in a PvP zone or require you to accomplish something in one of the PvP battlegrounds. Also, avoiding PvP will put your character at a disadvantage. Not only to you earn regular experience by participating in the PvP aspects of the game, you earn a second kind of experience known as "renown". Renown accumulates in the same manner and you'll increase in renown levels as well. Leveling in renown gives you points that you can spend to specialize your character's class and gain access to additional abilities.