Grudge Match: Warhammer vs. World of Warcraft
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Jason Ocampo: Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's get this out of the way. Yes, World of Warcraft has millions upon millions (upon millions) more subscribers than Warhammer Online. There's no disputing that. And it's certainly a larger game; after all, it has the benefit of being out for five years now, with all the content updates and expansion packs that have passed. Yet, I think you can definitely argue that Warhammer Online does some things better than World of Warcraft, and not just in the technical realm. Graphically, WAR definitely has an advantage in that it's built on a modern graphical engine, and it's got a beautiful art style. Yet WAR also serves up large-scale realm-versus-realm combat; it's built on this idea of an ongoing war. Then there are public quests, which are a great way to quickly get in a shared adventure with other players without having to, you know, organize a party.I think the victor between these two is pretty obvious.
Ryan Scott: Yeah, WAR's a great game if you want to run around in a big, dead world where nobody talks to each other. The game's public quests and open-party system -- while sound in theory over-automate things a little too much, to the point where nobody ever freaking communicates. Yeah, they introduced a slightly more advanced chat system to encourage more frequent conversation... but the way the game's built, I usually feel like I'm playing alone, no matter what the situation. In WOW, I can actually form groups that feel purposeful and coordinated -- and I can experience a staggering array of endgame content (the most important long-term aspect of any MMO) that WAR just can't stand up to. I'd also like to point out that WOW's stylized graphics are by no means inferior; sure, it looks cartoony, but Blizzard hit it out of the park with that art style. MMOs that err too much on the side of realism just wind up looking like crap a year down the line -- and while WAR doesn't egregiously delve into the same territory as, say, Age of Conan, I think we're gonna start to notice its age sooner rather than later.
