Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning

by Electronic Arts

Product Features

• Undertake a wide variety of PvE quest types related to an army's war efforts,
• Based on Games Workshop's popular Warhammer fantasy world. Dominated by force of arms and magic, this world provides a rich setting for hundreds of thousands of players to experience the epic nature of war and the glory of battle.
• Join one of six Armies and fight for the Armies of Order (Dwarf, High Elf and Empire) or the Armies of Destruction (Greenskin, Dark Elf, or Chaos). Wage war across three unique battlefronts.
• Next generation Realm vs. Realm game system integrating both PvP combat and PvE quests on the same map in support of the greater war.
• Engage in four levels of RvR combat

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00166MCM6
• Item Weight: 6.7 pounds
• Media: DVD-ROM
• Release Date: September 16, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,568 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Platform: PC | Edition: Collector's

Amazon.com

War is everywhere in Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR), the new MMORPG from the creators of Dark Age of Camelot. Based on Games Workshop’s popular Warhammer fantasy war game, WAR features next generation Realm vs. Realm (RvR) game play that will immerse players in a world of perpetual conflict for years to come.

An MMO built on perpetual war

Pick your favorite character. View larger.

Battle to the end against rivals. View larger.

Wander through vivid env ironments. View larger.

Become the local troublemaker. View larger.

Realm vs. Realm
Upon entering WAR, players must determine their allegiance and join an army. Those inclined towards the side of good may fight for the Realm of Order as an obstinate Dwarf, noble High Elf, or loyal human soldier of the Empire. Those inclined towards darker deeds may side with the sinister Realm of Destruction as a savage Greenskin (Orc o r Goblin), corrupt Dark Elf, or marauding human worshiper of Chaos. RvR combat takes place on three fronts where ancient foes wage an unending war – Dwarfs vs. Greenskins, High Elf vs. Dark Elf, and Empire vs. Chaos. Players begin the game fighting their ancestral enemy, but are free to journey to other fronts to help their allies in their ongoing struggles.

The ultimate goal in RvR combat is the sacking of the enemy’s capital city. To do this, an army must invade and take control of the opposition’s homeland. Deciding battles take place in the persistent game world on objective-based battlefields and around fortified keeps that must be taken or defended, as well as in instanced Scenarios that contribute to zone control.

A New Way to Quest
For the first time, players can engage in Public Quests; these community driven Player vs. Environment (PvE) quests help to advance the game’s story and allow all allied players within a certain location to participate in an ongoing, multi-stage battle. This is an example of how every aspect of the game, including PvE content, is geared towards the greater war in some important way. Players are not required to participate in Player vs. Player (PvP) combat, and may aid in the RvR war effort and enjoy the game in its entirety via PvE content.

Key Features

• Dominated by force of arms and magic, Games Workshop’s popular Warhammer fantasy world provides a rich setting for hundreds of thousands of players to experience the epic nature of war and the glory of battle.
• Join one of six armies and fight for the Realms of Order (Dwarf, High Elf and Empire) or Destruction (Greenskin, Dark Elf, or Chaos).
• Never fight alone thanks to a next generation Realm vs. Realm (RvR) game system. With an army of allied players at your back, you will defend your homeland, invade enemy realms, and ultimately join the siege of your opposing Realm’s capital city. Different types of RvR combat include:
  • Open World RvR: Participate in melee skirmishes, objective-based battles and keep sieges.
  • Scenarios: Join instanced battles with up to 24 players per side for multi-player combat action, including Capture the Flag, Murder Ball, and more.
  • Capital City Siege: Take part in an ongoing campaign to invade an enemy’s land and sack their capital city.
• Journey to the frontlines and undertake a wide variety of PvE quest types related to an army’s ongoing war efforts, including the new Public Quests: multi-staged, communal quests to be completed by allied players fighting together against overwhelming odds.
• Embark on an epic quest to complete the Tome of Knowledge and unlock Warhammer lore, detailed monster information, new abilities and rewards, and major story plot lines.
• A robust combat system allows players to customize their character’s combat abilities with Career Masteries, Tactics, and Morale Skills.
• Explore ma ssive Living Cities that become more or less prosperous based on a Realm’s overall performance in the ongoing war. Navigate a maze of twisting streets, visit the local tavern, explore a dark undercity, and meet colorful personalities in a city full of adventure.

Drawing from a quarter century of highly detailed source material, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning brings Games Workshop’s fantasy world to life in a way that will allow players to create characters destined for great deeds and glory on the field of battle.

Collector's Edition Bonus Content

• Exclusive Games Workshop Miniature - Greenskin Warboss, Grumlok, and his shaman, Gazbag.
• The original graphic novel "Warhammer Online: Prelude To War," by acclaimed Games Workshop writ er Graham McNeill, and illustrated by Chad Hardin, Joe Abraham, Rahsan Ekedal, Tony Parker, and Kevin Hopgood.
• "The Art Of Warhammer Online" - A Stunning Collection of art that gave birth to the Age of Reckoning
• Bonus in-game item – The Librams of Insight. (XP-gain modifier good for 60 minutes, 3 uses, 90 minute reuse timer)
• Twelve additional quests in the Tome of Knowledge, each offering an exciting reward, as well as an unique character title.
• Bonus in-game content – Twelve character heads (with male and female versions)

The Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning servers will go live on September 18th, 2008 at 10 AM Eastern time.

Product Description

Product InformationEA Mythic is proud to present the Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Collector's Edition a limited-run premium version of the game for true Warhammer fans. It is the perfect addition to any Warhammer collection and can be proudly displayed alongside your army of miniatures. This special oversized box contains unique collectibles and exciting in-game content to help you get the most out of your journeys through the battlefields of the Age of Reckoning. The Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Collector's Edition includes:Product FeaturesUndertake a wide variety of PvE quest types related to an army's war effortsBased on Games Workshop's popular Warhammer fantasy world. Dominated by force of arms and magic this world provides a rich setting for hundreds of thousands of players to experience the epic nature of war and the glory of battle.Join one of six Armies and fight for the Armies of Order (Dwarf High Elf and Empire) or the Armies of Destruction (Greenskin Dark Elf or Chaos). Wage war across three unique battlefronts.Next generation Realm vs. Realm game system integrating both PvP combat and PvE quests on the same map in support of the greater war.Engage in four levels of RvR combat

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exactly what I needed (and an excellent package, to boot), September 24, 2008

By 

Terry Mesnard (Bellevue, NE) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Collector's Edition (DVD-ROM)

Note: My review is below, but I wanted to address the Collector's Edition, since that is the version I purchased. What a wonderful CE; much better than the more expensive Age of Conan edition (without taking the game into consideration). The unpainted miniature is fantastic and a nice nod to the table top game from whence it came. The two hard bound books (art book and a comic book) are fantastic, with terrific art and, in the case of the comic, a great precursor to the game.

The best parts, though, are the ingame items. The Libram isn't too great, since it works on charges (3) and the two hour buff vanishes on death. But, each race receives two quest items that provide titles and a unique item, like a cool cape or an item that provides various bonsuses. The Collector's Edition faces are terrific. I've only seen the Destruction side versions so far, but the Chaos face looks like a cyclops, the dark elves get a red warpaint/birthmark and the goblin face is crazed, if adorable. Very cool and definitely noticeable.

All in all, a very worthwhile purchase that complements an excellent game. If you can get your hands on one, I'd doubly recommend it.

Onto the review.

Mythic knows how to run a successful MMO. They make the big, hard decisions. When class balancing and fun was at stake, they cut four classes in order to both balance the races, but also because the classes weren't up to snuff. And when all six capital cities were being problematic, they took out four of them and will release them as free content later.

Coming from Dark Age of Camelot, a game that unbearably belongs to the first generation of MMOs, Mythic decided to take the Warhammer lore and craft a game that they know best: realm versus realm. Warhammer Online (WAR) takes everything they tested, tried and made work from DAoC and pushed it forward into a new generation. Writing this review is tricky, because on the surface WAR is like most MMOs out there. But it's the details and the small things that make it something completely different.

Let's start with the way the game is set up. From the beginning, PvP is important as one of the first quests you receive will be to complete a scenario. In this way, WAR emphasizes its committment to more than PvE. In fact, a PvP'r could spend his or her time entirely PvPing and level all the way to the endgame. It helps that scenarios are constantly running and chances are you'll be in one before you know it.

The distinction, though, is that if you don't really care much about PvP, there are other opportunities. Spread throughout the entire game are approximately 300 (according to developers) Public Quests (PQs). These PQs are areas within each zone that are open to everyone of your side to participate in. No matter whether you're grouping with someone or not, you'll contribute to the various stages of these areas (stages that range from killing a number of things, fighting a boss like a dragon or destroying urns) and, when the PQ is over you roll on a loot bag. What makes this work even better is that each loot bag will have a piece of equpiment that your class can use, guaranteed.

Additionally, there's a bar that tracks your story chapter's PQ progress and awards you three different items (usually a potion or talisman, followed by equipment and then a weapon) as you progress through three tiers.

Awards abound at every turn, even in PvP as you are tracked separately by your PvP level. At certain levels, or renown ranks as they're called, you'll have access to not only powerful equipment but also renown skills that will help you in both PvP and PvE. But let's not stop here; each of the race pairings have zones that are grouped into tiers, with tier four being the high content. Each zone has PvP areas with towers and, as you progress into tier two and beyond, keeps. Both sides (Destruction and Order) can take over a keep and, if your guild is high enough in rank (more on that later), you can capture a keep in your name.

But keeps are also treated like PQ areas, being populated by NPCs and a very strong leader that also supplies equipment. Fighting into a keep can turn into epic encounters, with siege weapons, rams to break down the keep's walls, boiling oil for the defenders to pour onto wouldbe attackers, places for ranged attackers to unleash devastating spells and arrows...it's quite a rush to be involved in one, especially as both sides start to get more aggressive, calling in reinforcements to help.

And as the game progresses, these types of battles become more common. Which is a huge difference from the elephant in the room, World of Warcraft. WoW crafts a similar structure, with two side duking it out...but it was never meant to be a truly PvP-centered game in the way WAR is. From the very beginning, you are immersed in this warfare, from the very first level all the way to the end and beyond.

And all of this is before you get into how many bars/levels there are to tackle. Sure, the game is capped at level 40 at launch, but that's not taking into consideration that each chapter of PQs has a bar with loot associated to it or that there's 80 renown ranks that will take a lot of PvPing to hit, or that your guild actually levels up to 40 based not on how many members you have in your guild but on their accomplishments, a system that benefits both small and large guilds. Guild ranks are actually important as they provide you with a ton of abilities, from being able to carry benefit-providing standards to having a guild vault to access to guild auctions, crafting vendors, quick flight paths to the dungeons, the ability to take keeps, etc.

There's just so much here, so many shinies to grab your attention. And it's all tied into the Tome of Knowledge, a large compendium that tracks everything you do from quests to accomplishments to titles, etc. It's so indepth that you have to wonder how Mythic pulled it off. And pulled it off, they did. WAR is a monumentous game that feels as relevant and genre-shifting as WoW did when it came.

So, there you have it. A very rambling review that didn't even touch on half of what the game has to offer (did you really want to be here for another century?), but will have to remain incomplete. Because, here's the thing. Even when you strip away all the little details, the leveling and all of that junk that I spent forever typing about, what we find is...this game is fun. And diverse. And it's just what I wanted and needed from a MMO.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Why Should you give WAR another chance? Because..., September 30, 2009

By 

Steven D. Thompson "riddik7" (HAFB, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Collector's Edition (DVD-ROM)

Ok i am going to review this game not just on a current quick play. I'll go in depth as much as i can so bear with me please.

I will be the first to say this game has had many issues and has been fighting an uphill battle on a hill made of ice. I know.. i stayed none the less (largly due to i beat GW and GW2 isnt out yet... and i am a mythic loyalist despite their many many many faults). They have had serious issues with bugs, balance and grinding, among other things. thankfully much of it has been fixed and more is coming, very soon! I won't sit here and tell you it's the perfect game because it's not but i will tell you whats wrong has been wrong and whats been fixed and is being fixed now or in the future.

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First thing, i've been on WAR for over a year now and i am dead sick of people comparing it to WoW. It is NOT WoW get over it.
1. wow has been out for years... multiple expansions and time to fix stuff. WAR has been out barely a year. Compare WoW at 1 year to WAR at one year. At 1 year WAR has more content and fewer bugs than WoW... looks promising to me but most people have gotten so used to zombifying to an old game that has been in the market for years they are to impatient to wait for a new game to fix itself thus slowing down the fixing process when everyone impatiently leaves thus preventing the compony from having enough money to support all of its employies...
2. It is PvP primarily not PvE primary... so dont bother grinding for PvE and then complaining it's a grind fest... it isn't you can start PvP right off the bat, no grind and if you so choose you dont even have to touch PvE at all, as you can level in PvP as well.

Ok it's been a year what now what then?
1. Ok there are still bugs but they aren't all the same they are new bugs from new content. And they are fairly minor bugs that hardly effect gameplay. Not to mention i see bugs vanish every couple of weeks as they get fixed.
2. They have had more content added, not just simple oh hey here's a new quest or armor piece but an entire expansion worth. Guess what. It's free... as of right now WAR is aiming at making their expansions free, they have considered making a pay for expansion maybe (i stress maybe) somewhere down the road but likely keep it at free. Entire zones and classes have been added. And i expect new races even in the next year or... (hopefully not) two years.
3. Revamped: The game is being revamped based on player, not developer but player feedback. RvR and PvP has change drasticaly making it run smoother and quicker... no more wasting 24 hours to take a capitol city.
4. Revamped: Major complaint was class balance. This is gonna be fixed in the next month. They are putting through a major patch that will make the classes on order and destro sides mirror eachother more closely like they were meant to. Same skills diferent names and apearance... but same skills essentialy. Also crowd control is finaly being fixed and is no longer the mass spam nest it has been. It will be harder to get, have more requirements to trigger, and will be more limited class wise (most classes will lose most of their crowd control, tanks will gain crowd control making them better at their job).

Leveling and costomization did suck... end game was lacking and what was with the repetitiveness?
1. Ok if you are playing PvE and you were so sick of hitting that brick wall at one tier or another... they fixed it... leveling is much smoother like it was meant to be...
2. Customization is getting much better. There are more trophies, armor sets (and more armor set design variation), and even mounts. granted some are a little harder to get than others but that's how it should be... some stuff easy some hard...
3. Even the repetetiveness as fallen down... now the live events are more frequent and more varied... dont worry though they aren't one time only things... They plan to bring them back...
4. end game... the end game has been revamped so much... now things are easier so you can access more of the end game content, and more end game contect has been added (for example an entire continent of new stuff)

Ok the bugs, population and the graphics.
1. i hear people quit due to crappy graphics. that is no longer the case. the graphics are much much better than they were in clossed beta and early game... and rumors abound about another graphics update.
2. Graphics have been ironed out more solidly so there is far less lag... much much better.
3. Population issues are next to mute now. Before it was sad... the server was maxed on pop, and yet you could hardly find anyone. Well they finaly fixed it. They merged most of the servers into i believe 7 servers, and raised the pop cap tramendously. I never log on and find things feal dead... lots of RvR and PvP, or PvE its amazing!!!
4. The bugs are so much less than they once were... most of them are hardly even noticable much less effecting your play. Server stabability can get 50/50 right after a major update to the game but usualy gets fixed in 1-2 weeks... or at least lessened till they find a more permanent fix.

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In End Note... the game is tremendously much better than it was... much much better. I did dock a star due to the bugs and such we still have but with the fixes going through right now and as fast as they are working i know this game can pick itself back up. (as long as they don't let EA rush them anymore). I would also like to note that they are under new management now, and the new management so far is much smarter... they have been more willing to tell us the players stuff straitforward with less beating around the proverbial bush. And they listen to the players much more than before. It is also promissing to note that another major compony is jumpin on the wagon and depending on how they handle things we may see things spead up as well on the game.. Looks promissing... can't wait to see what happens in the next year after the last years performance.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars get your RvR on, November 23, 2008

By 

Tertoo "Tertoo" (Florida) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Collector's Edition (DVD-ROM)

Tired of the 'pac-man' PVE game? Looking for a PvP/RvR game? This is it. Game starts with quests right in the middle of battle scene (rather than picking cactus apples). Research server you are on for max value. Level grind is much more fun than WoW, does not even feel a grind (maybe those last 3 levels to 40). Wolk? Another grind for 10 more levels? Rather have an elective colostomy. This game will need some polishing, but will be a diamond in the MMO ruff.

Played WoW since beta and will never go back.

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