Putting the “Phat” in Your Lootz

For those of you who are more interested in PvE (player vs. environment), I was also able to get some time in as a Dark Elf Sorceress. Most easily likened to a warlock or a necromancer (but, in actuality, is neither), the sorceress class is another caster class with spells and abilities focused around Dark Magic damage dealing. As with all other games in the genre, character leveling is done through grinding and quest completion. “Find X place, locate Y guy, and kill him and all of his friends in the process.

Interestingly enough, Warhammer has put a little spin on one of the age-old methods of beefing up your character — the acquisition of “phat lootz”. Now, instead of just regular gear dropping from mobs, you’ll acquire broken armor and weapons. If a piece is salvageable, bring it to a town’s repairman, and you may end up with a piece wearable by your class and with some nice bonus status. A “badly broken belt”, for example, may be repaired to become a mail piece with extra stamina for a Marauder. The same bit of loot, if repaired by an Archmage, may become a cloth belt with an intelligence boost.

Mounts were kept pretty much under wraps despite a question about them during the Sunday panel, but Paul Jeff, and Josh did reveal that armor would be available for your mount to wear. Not just for looks, Warhammer’s mount armor will give added bonuses to your riding companion, including extra saddle bags for more storage or higher resilience to minimize the likelihood of getting knocked from your mount when struck. Mounted combat, however, is not part of the initial release (though they did seem to go out of their way to stress the word “initial”).

Conclusion

All in all, my experience with Warhammer Online was memorable and fun. As somebody who started playing that other MMO in early 2005, and have been looking for something new ever since, and Warhammer is both familiar and refreshing. The staff at the booth, seemingly all members of the EA Mythic team responsible for WAR, were all extremely helpful, insightful, and proud of what they had achieved with the game, and I think they should be. With a team so impassioned for both gaming and the Warhammer universe, their excitement was infectious and delightfully so. From what I’ve seen so far, EA Mythic has shown that their 2006 acquisition by EA hasn’t affected their ability to make an excellent, immersive MMO. As for me, you can count me among the faithful.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is slated for a September release and is currently in its closed beta phase.

[See also: Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning gallery]