A World of Warcraft player's guide to Warhammer Online

[JoeThePlumber]

(this guide not is written by me, but by Michael Zenke from massively)

Whether or not you see many similarities between Blizzard's epically popular title and Mythic's Warhammer Online, the reality is that World of Warcraft players are going to feel very comfortable in the brand-new game. Much of the framework that has made the world of Azeroth so successful over the last four years is in full force within Warhammer. Questing as a central component to leveling, an intuitive user interface, and combat very much like that found in Warcraft are all going to be great handrails to incoming players.

There are plenty of MMO players (rightly) curious about what kind of game Mythic has created for them. For the curious Azerothian citizen, despite the familiar handholds, there are a number of big differences and additional features you're just not going to have experience with. Warhammer's a brand new world, with a lot of different sights, cultures, and expectations. To help you out as a brand new WAR player, we've compiled a guide to ease that transition, WoW players, welcome to a brand new world ... one without gnomes!

World Setting

As a WoW player, you're going to have to put aside a lot of your preconceptions about lore and setting when coming into Warhammer Online. Despite the obvious DNA the two worlds share, Stormwind is a very different place than the battle-scarred walls of Altdorf. Put off any expectations you have about what kind of fantasy game Warhammer is, and just read your quests as you go. The world of Warhammer is a great one ... it's what Azeroth is built on, at that. Here are some of the biggest differences a WoW veteran will probably notice:

• WAR is low fantasy. Magic is obviously a powerful force in Warhammer, and several classes sling it around like hash at a buffet, but generally the world is much grittier and brutal than what we see in Warcraft.
• One faction is evil. No, actually evil, not just 'misunderstood'. The Orcs want to eat babies, the Dark Elves are sadists, and the Chaos Marauders want everyone dead or corrupted. You are playing a very bad person if you fight for Destruction.
• The humans are deeply religious. The worship of Sigmar is a driving force for their culture, and religiosity is present in the game in a way very much absent from Warcraft. Not that this doesn't make the humans virtuous - in truth, they're every bit as conniving as the residents of Stormwind.
• War is now. In Warcraft, the war has been over for a bit. The world as a whole is in a state of relative peace, though there are obviously plenty of border skirmishes and political problems. In Warhammer what little peace and prosperity people can find is beset on all sides by violence. There are famines, plagues, and war is everywhere.

Classes

As a WoW player, you might initially find the number of classes in Warhammer overwhelming. Counting the Death Knight, there are ten classes available in World of Warcraft. There are exactly twice that many in Warhammer, and which race you pick dictates which classes you'll have available. Massively has been putting out a series of guides to help new players understand their options, and they tie into the faction/role combinations of each class. Essentially, you can think of each class as filling one of four roles: healer, tank, melee dps, and ranged dps.

While many classes are going to feel fairly familiar, healers are a very different animal in WAR than in WoW. In Warhammer, almost every healing class is more like the Druid or the Shaman: a hybrid that does a 'little bit extra' on top of the pure healing experience. To get a good sense of which careers feel like Warcraft classes you may have already played, check out our 'translation' list below:

# Warrior: Ironbreaker, Black Orc, Swordmaster, Chosen
# Rogue: Witch Elf, Witch Hunter
# Mage: Bright Wizard, Sorceress
# Priest: Rune Priest, Zealot
# Druid: Marauder
# Hunter: Squig Herder, White Lion, Shadow Warrior
# Shaman: Goblin Shaman, High Elf Archmage
# Paladin: Warrior Priest, Disciple of Khaine
# Warlock: Dwarven Engineer, Chaos Magus

Obviously, these are very rough comparisons. Players most likely to feel left out are fans of the Druid class; there's no direct analogue to the strongly multi-role shape changer in Warhammer. The Marauder is probably the closest you'll get, and he focuses primarily on damage dealing with his mutation powers.

Combat and Character Advancement

Combat in Warhammer online is similar enough to World of Warcraft that you'll probably be able to jump right in and start swinging. The biggest difference you're likely to find with WAR combat is how much slower it is; abilities just take a bit longer to fire than many WoW players will be used to. This is primarily so that player vs. player fans can have time to react to incoming attacks, but the PVE experience is just as stately.

New abilities for your class will be made available at almost every level, and to gain them you'll have to go train with a Career Trainer. There's one at almost every hub in the game; just look for the 'arrow-in-a-bullseye' icon. There are many different ways to advance in Warhammer, including the Mastery Path system. It's available via your Career Trainer as well, and can be thought of as an analog to the talent points in World of Warcraft. Other advancement lines include Tome unlocks, Renown rewards, Tactics, and numerous others ... be sure to read the help tips as they pop up when you explore the world.

Tone and Graphics

As was probably obvious in our discussion of world setting above, Warhammer is a much more 'serious' place than Azeroth. You won't find pop culture references thick on the ground, no Paris Hilton stand-ins selling merchandise in a tavern. This isn't to say that Warhammer is without humor. Quite the opposite, actually - the game is full of black humor and fart jokes. The tone is just very different than what you're used to from WoW.

The graphics are an equally big departure. Bright colors and rounded edges are the exception in Warhammer, not the rule. The most 'pleasant' places you're likely to see in Warhammer are in the High Elf areas, and even there the ravages of war have left their indelible mark. The world as a whole is a pockmarked land of old battlefields and burned villages. Colors are muted and toned to match.

Questing

Instead of the typical yellow exclamation points, players new to Warhammer should be on the lookout for green circles. They're hanging over the heads of NPCs with stuff to do, and much of the questing experience in WAR will feel very familiar to a WoW veteran. What is different is that your questing experience creates an actual story for you, which you can follow via the Tome of Knowledge. Looking back through the Tome at past quests you've accomplished gives a real sense of an ongoing tale, one which is well worth exploring.

There are also a few different types of quests in Warhammer Online, most of which are fully explored in the famous 'bears bears bears' Mythic podcast. Kill Collectors have been implemented in the game only for certain creatures, and the collectors are located in specific hubs. Look for their distinctive markers on the map to get credit for your kills. The most talked-about new quest type is the Public Quest, an epic event that bands numerous players together to accomplish a unique story-based objective. Be sure to read up on PQs in one of the couple of features we've done on the subject.

grouping

Open grouping in Warhammer is radically different from WoW, and WoW players who don't understand that really miss out one one of the best innovations in WAR.

IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE? there's a button you can click that will show all groups in your area and how close they are to you.

WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING LFG! - you can invite yourself into any nearby group with an opening! You don't have to hang around a main city or spam general chat begging for a group.

WARHAMMER REWARDS YOU FOR GROUPING. In WoW you wouldn't want random people just jumping into your group, because in a lot of cases it would make quests take longer to complete and would penalize your XP. The *opposite* is true in Warhammer, groups get XP *bonuses* compared to soloing and "kill 10 rat" quests get completed *faster* because everyone's kills are counted towards the total. Group full and you want to add more people? Turn into into a warband (think WoW raid group) and keep on going!

In WAR, all groups are open unless the group leader specifically closes them.

To join an group, you can open the Open Group window and find one close to you.

in WAR, full groups are good things. And if you need more room the leader can turn the group into a 24 man warparty with two clicks.

Crafting

Though WAR crafting will feel somewhat familiar to WoW players, the act of crafting occupies a very different role than it does in Azeroth. Crafting in Altdorf and Inevitable City isn't the full-fledge hobby you have in Stormwind or Undercity. There are only two actual creation crafts, potion-making and talisman-crafting, and a handful of collection/gathering crafts. Full details on the WAR crafting process can be found in our in-depth interview on the subject. Suffice it to say that if crafting is your favorite thing about World of Warcraft, you might be a bit disappointed by its backseat role in Warhammer Online.

Guilds

Players who are only used to the 'chat channel and a tabard' will be very pleased by the numerous options and advancements available in Warhammer Online. As players advance, so to do guilds - unlocking new abilities, privileges, and rights. Unlike the sometimes-fleeting state of guilds in other online games, the Mythic designers are very firm in their wish for guilds to be fixtures and encampments. Permanent structures to which old players can cling and new players can enjoy.

User Interface

Warhammer's user interface is as customizable as Warcraft's, and within months you're sure to see user-generated mods from the community. Alongside those external mods, though, Warhammer features a user-changeable interface. Elements can be rescaled, resized, and moved with almost limitless freedom. However you want the screen arranged, you're going to be able to create the experience you need. Each class, too, has a unique UI element on the hotbar at the bottom of the screen. This UI element ties directly into class's mechanics, and informs you how you should be playing the game.

Player vs. Player

Without a doubt the biggest departure from the World of Warcraft experience is the role of Player vs. Player combat. Where competition with other players is a sideline activity to inject some differentiation into your experience in WoW, it's one of the primary things to do in Warhammer Online. That's not to say you have to PvP, of course, but it's a much more important part of the WAR experience. Players who choose to engage in PvP will gain experience, money, and a sort of PvP experience called renown for doing so. Gaining levels in renown allows player the opportunity to select tactics, slottable improvements to your character that change and shape your play experience.

The most familiar WoW PvP element is probably the battleground, known in Warhammer Online as RvR Scenarios. Scenarios are short, 15-minute long directed experiences in instanced maps. They're joined by entering a queue, something that's as easy as clicking on the tiny Warhammer symbol to the left of your mini-map. Each Tier of content in each racial pairing has its own Scenario, and you automatically join the Scenario associated with the tier you're in and the zone you're in. Low level Greenskins and Dwarves join the Gates of Ekrund, for example, and a high elf, human, chaos or dark elf in either the dwarven or greenskin zones would join the same queue.

RvR also takes place in the game's open world, in what are called "RvR lakes". These are special areas of the map, highlighted in color, in which RvR combat is always enabled. Within these lakes are special objectives, including huge landmarks like fortresses and keeps. Warhammer features a full-fleshed out siege gameplay component, and capturing these landmarks is all a part of the game's ongoing struggle between Order and Destruction.

The 'end-game' activity for Warhammer Online is entirely focused around this struggle. At level 40 players compete over the highest tier zones, seeking to control them for their faction. By pushing the enemy back on all fronts, players open up the possibility of invading and sacking the opposing side's capital city! This elaborate endgame scenario is discussed in full in yet another of our in-depth articles. Despite some changes to how this mechanic works (there being only two capitals in the game at launch), the gameplay is still compelling and a very different experience.

Conclusion

Despite all the differences, PvE players looking for endgame dungeons will find those to explore. Players looking to bust orc heads or split dwarven skulls will have plenty of fun doing so. There are lots in common between these two games, and as a World of Warcraft player you're going to find a lot to enjoy in Mythic's new creation. Go check out the Open Beta, explore the lore in the Tome of Knowledge, and get ready for launch day next week. Waaagh!

[hi675]

Copy and pasted directly from Massively. A World of Warcraft player's guide to Warhammer Online - Massively

[Kaelian]

He says that at the start of the thread...

[Doomerang]

In your rush to post something you thought was useful, you failed doing so. Miserably. The first line in this thread is, and I quote:

(this guide not is written by me, but by Michael Zenke from massively)

[laren]

Really liked it. I'm starting a roleplaying campaign of WHFRP, with no manual and no idea of the background...

This helped me to undersand the settings

+rep

[wouterflip]

Was looking for a nice guide, thx

[Stormyt]

Yeah great help. Thx for the info.

[Hoboo]

Mate this was nice info i've not seen it before thanks a lot. looking in to buy WAR myselfxD

[Multitask]

nice guide. i am currently playing beta. i still like wow more.

[raveks]

i here teh beta its pretty bad right now

[mtaylor117961]

has anyone managed to get a hold of either of the 2, 1-40 guides that are out there.
I believe penn has made one and someone called Ashling’s World have made the other.

[devmode]

Thank you *yet a TY pays the bills.... jk* +rep

[dashela123]

Copy and pasted directly from Massively. A World of Warcraft player's guide to Warhammer Online - Massively

GTFO! lulz, he said it at the begining of the thread.:homer:

[HeyaEveryone]

i can't wait for this game. Is anyone working on bots for it yet?

[ubrpwnt]

So what if it's a Copypasta, it's not against the rules, and he even gave credit.