Is this a casual friendly game?

[Adari]

Hi guys,

I'm looking into playing an mmorpg again and I'd like to try WAR. However, as I would only have a few hours of play time (lets say 5 to 15 at most) a week I'm wondering if it's worth even trying.

Any feedback is appreciated.

 

[mooSe_]

WAR is quite casual friendly imo as you can solo pretty much all pve content up until end game. However pve isn't whats good about WAR; it's about RvR. doing some open RvR might take a bit more time to get into but the RvR zones aren't huge and on the right servers there is usually a few groups of players running around which you can easily join. In addition to this there is scenarios (instanced pvp), which you can join from anywhere in the world which only take a maximum of 15 minutes each and are (arguably) quite enjoyable; so if you don't have the time to venture into and rvr zone but you want to fight other players then scenarios are actually very convenient. Only problem is sometimes the queue times for certain realms on certain servers is a bit long for joining a scenario.
Hope that helps.

 

[Cirandi]

Yes it is. I guess as in any MMO you get sort of diminishing returns on the time you put in. Hardcore gamers will be a bit ahead of you due to higher Renown Rank and, at first at least, better gear.

The big difference between bad players and good players in this game isn't in the gear, but in their ability to function as a part of a group as a teamplayer, so casual works fine.

 

[pikeh]

Yes it's very casual friendly. Soloed my SH up for 40 in about 5 days /played, mix of scens and questing, casually.

I think thats a great attraction of WAR tbh, its very much a drop in drop out kinda game. The longest raid is LV (at the moment) and that only takes 2.5 hours on average from what I've heard.

 

[Yeke]

Think its probably better to be casual atm due to most of the end game content being total garbage bugged and in no way fun, playing this game more than a few hours a day is just being masochistic.

 

[Gahn]

Most can be accomplished solo via quests, influence rewards soloing 1st stage pqs and scenario/oRvR.
It surely is the most casual friendly MMO atm out there.
Then again it got is FAIR share of problems ^^

 

[Adari]

Hehe thanks for the info, that's good then. Any recommendations on server choise? I hear K8P is where all the old daocers are.

 

[pikeh]

Unfortunately, old daocers are kinda spread out a bit, but there is a healthy population of them on K8P for sure

 

[Case]

I would reccomend you go and play on US servers, this game is not casual friendly on europe servers as in all liklihood you will have an entire days worth of progress deleted and GOA CSR`s refuse to help you out. As a casual player this would affect you much more than a hardcore player.

Go and play US or play WoW instead

 

[dee777]

Go and play US or play WoW instead

Apart from the obvious troll, do you really consider WoW in its current iteration casual friendly?

 

[Case]

Depends do you lose a days progress regularly and get the fob off from CSR`s? if not then yes I`d say it`s more casual friendly than GOA`s supported version of WAR.

 

[Lubbock]

I agree with Case, if someone asked me should i start playing Warhammer : Online, atm i would reply no, its just to frustrating atm, nothing to do with Trolling, once game has sorted out all these issues thats bugging it atm, ill recommend it again, but the current state of the game, ill say No try something else.

 

[dee777]

[...] nothing to do with Trolling, once game has sorted out all these issues thats bugging it atm, ill recommend it again, but the current state of the game, ill say No try something else.

I can see why people would not consider WAR a casual game in itself. However claiming that the casual-friendliness stems from the company that runs the show seems a lot like trolling to me.

Being pissed off about losing stuff for rollbacks is absolutely reasonable, but tainting your arguments by rage is not IMO.

BTT, I think this game is your best bet if you are looking for a casual and major MMORPG at the moment, however it has a lot of issues that will get on your nerves quickly. Still, there is no better candidate available right now IMO.

 

[Flimgoblin]

if you don't hit t4 you'll probably not notice the big problems (stability on the forts/cities)

These things bug me but as I'm quite happy alting away in the lower tiers it's not such a gamebreaker for me.

The optimist in me thinks that they'll sort the server problems at some point ... though it seems to be a two steps forward, two steps back with the latest few patches.

And yes, WAR is very casual friendly imo.

 

[Cadelin]

Hi guys,

I'm looking into playing an mmorpg again and I'd like to try WAR. However, as I would only have a few hours of play time (lets say 5 to 15 at most) a week I'm wondering if it's worth even trying.

Any feedback is appreciated.

Its not casual friendly, especially if you compare it with a game like WoW:
1) WAR requires a decent spec computer to run it.
2) WAR still has a lot of bugs.
3) You can solo level well in WAR but you can in WoW and most MMORPGs
4) RvR learning curve is alot steeper than PvE learning curve.

 

[mooSe_]

I would reccomend you go and play on US servers, this game is not casual friendly on europe servers as in all liklihood you will have an entire days worth of progress deleted and GOA CSR`s refuse to help you out. As a casual player this would affect you much more than a hardcore player.

Go and play US or play WoW instead

Actually a hardcore player will be more affected by a day's worth of gaming loss than a casual player as a hardcore player would lose like 8 hours of gaming or whatever whereas a casual player would only lose a few.

In addition to taking in how casual friendly it is you should also think of the game itself. If you played daoc then you probably want to do pvp right? Well then I think even with bugs and roll backs war still has more to offer than wow.

 

[Gahn]

Its not casual friendly, especially if you compare it with a game like WoW:
1) WAR requires a decent spec computer to run it.
2) WAR still has a lot of bugs.
3) You can solo level well in WAR but you can in WoW and most MMORPGs
4) RvR learning curve is alot steeper than PvE learning curve.

Rofl

1) Nothing to do with game being casual friendly.
2) True but then again wtf has to do with being casual friendly?
3) It's the mix of things you can do to level, the relatively short time needed to hit the max level and the easy ways to gain equipment that makes the game casual friendly, War > WoW a billion of times in that regards.
4) ?? LOL ex Daoc players won't have a single problem with RvR "learning curve".

 

[Mas]

Rofl

4) ?? LOL ex Daoc players won't have a single problem with RvR "learning curve".

Yeah once you get used to not seeing a stun button...... oh wait BW morale 3 skill

RvR is nice in the lower tiers especially T2 and T3, lots of skirmishes and now with the current live event badlands is crazy at the moment in T3, lots of solo action picking the bits of destro packs and lots of zerg on zerg depending on your flavour ofc.

 

[Cadelin]

1) Nothing to do with game being casual friendly.

It has everything to do with being casual friendly. To use an example both WoW and EvE run comfortably on my laptop meaning I can often play them at all sorts of times. Allowing me to stretch my available gaming time.

2) True but then again wtf has to do with being casual friendly?

Fixing bugs eats up valuable play time and if you don't have much time anyway it can ruin all your enjoyment of the game. To go back to the WoW and EvE examples, both of those games crashed to desktop once/twice during my trial period (I think due to connection issues).

When I started WAR for some reason there were no key mapped to the keyboard. So I just stood there pushing buttons for the first 10 minutes doing nothing until I figured out what was going on. Also ALL the character skins had screwed up so I had to mess around with my graphics card settings until it worked. (I have a "supported" Nvidia graphics card AND had played a year+ of closed beta!)

If I had been a casual player I might well have just given up!

3) It's the mix of things you can do to level, the relatively short time needed to hit the max level and the easy ways to gain equipment that makes the game casual friendly, War > WoW a billion of times in that regards.

You may be right that there are more things to do while you level but casual RvR can be very frustrating. Also why is it important to hit the max level? I thought the point of a game was to enjoy yourself? Most people seem to agree T4 is a pile of shit but you are marketing it as a good thing that you can get there faster?

4) ?? LOL ex Daoc players won't have a single problem with RvR "learning curve".

You seem yo have mis-read the question. The question was:
"Is this a casual friendly game?"
The question was not:
"Is this game friendly for a previously hardcore DaoC player who doesn't have much time currently?"

However maybe you are right, RvR is alot easier in WAR than in Daoc. You certainly don't need buffbots which is a really good thing, infact you don't need any skill either, simply follow the zerg taking undefended BO!


Most people who play online games now should be considered casual players. WAR has lost many of the original players and is still losing players at a rapid rate while games like WoW and LotRO are gaining players.

 

[TheBinarySurfer]

players won't have a single problem with RvR "learning curve".

There's a learning curve? I see no evidence of anyone learning new ideas/tactics/tricks especially on Order...Run out of warcamp, run into zerg, die, repeat ad infinitum.

There's me saying "hey guys 1-2 groups come with me to flank them / kill their support"...Five minutes of spamming it in warband and region with directions/instructions everyone bar 1-2 people are still doing the run out, die, respawn, run out loop...

 

[pito]

i think whoever says that tshi game is not casual frinedly needs to get their heads out of the sand. I am a single father with a 2 year old i work monday-friday from 8 am -5:30pm, i pick up my daughter from nursery at 6pm get home at 6:30 put my computer on start making dinner by 7pm i wouel have sepnt 15 min playing a scenario/pqs i woudl then stop playing and have dinner with my daughter, at 8pm i will do more scenarios and if i see i can get away with it i do some rvr for 30 mi, at 8:30 pm i wash mydaughter and put her to bed, by 9pm (if i am lucky) i will get back on and do most rvr for 45min to an hour at that point i go to bed to wake up early next day.

so now if this game was no causal friendly at all ppl like me would not be able to enjpy it at all yes i do sometimes wish i could do longer hoours but because of my situation i cant and that is fine because the game has enough things there for you to just go do something stop and start again is not like wow that if you are in the middle of lets say an istance u cant stop since you be harming 4 other guys, ye syou can quest in wow but the most of teh quest lines are long and time consuming. So if you think that WoW is more casual than WaR i would say you need your head examined.

P.S you also get nice xp and reknown in scenarios unlike wow bgs were all u get is honor.

P.S soryy for teh spelling mistakes typing to fast and not paying much attention

 

[Raven]

Rofl

1) Nothing to do with game being casual friendly.
2) True but then again wtf has to do with being casual friendly?
3) It's the mix of things you can do to level, the relatively short time needed to hit the max level and the easy ways to gain equipment that makes the game casual friendly, War > WoW a billion of times in that regards.
4) ?? LOL ex Daoc players won't have a single problem with RvR "learning curve".

Well in WoW you can fart and get epics these days, long gone are the days where effort meant anything. You can get a toon levelled to 80 in a week or so (even faster with the recruit a friend program) and have him kitted out in purples a couple of days later.

Not saying either is better than the other because I have no idea what WAR is like at the moment (renewing at the weekend) but WoW is definitely extremely casual friendly these days, too much so really, the WOTLK content can be done semi afk really, especially as a healer (I play a holy paladin). though I have not been in Ulduar (the new dungeon) yet as I quit a few weeks ago, I have heard from guildies its pretty much first night boss kills yet again, when they aren't bugged that is. Where before it could take a few weeks to master a fight.

WoW is having a bit of trouble at the moment, they have made the same mistakes as Mythic did with DAOC by making the game far to easy, they have given everyone what they want which means they no longer have the drive to achieve something, everyone you see is in full epics and it has lost all meaning. The PvP is still dire in WoW too, they did promise to have open siege battles, what we have got though is Wintergrasp which is a timed event and utter dogshit. Population numbers are falling.

 

[pikeh]

Also, didn't Blizzard use subscription figures based on people that had cancelled their accounts as well?

 

[Gahn]

It has everything to do with being casual friendly. To use an example both WoW and EvE run comfortably on my laptop meaning I can often play them at all sorts of times. Allowing me to stretch my available gaming time.

War runs on my laptop, actually i'm only playing with it, admittedly not that good, but then again this game won't run good even on such thing HP Integrity rx8640 Server - overview, blame the shit engine Mythic uses and the obvious code hicups.
Nowadays every game out there needs a pretty solid hardware under your toes if you wanna play, so no difference really.

Fixing bugs eats up valuable play time and if you don't have much time anyway it can ruin all your enjoyment of the game. To go back to the WoW and EvE examples, both of those games crashed to desktop once/twice during my trial period (I think due to connection issues).

You don't have to "fix" bugs and every other patch of any game comes out with some bugs, which eventually you'll stumble upon.
Ctd in War (thx god at least that) didn't buggered me too much till now tbh.

When I started WAR for some reason there were no key mapped to the keyboard. So I just stood there pushing buttons for the first 10 minutes doing nothing until I figured out what was going on. Also ALL the character skins had screwed up so I had to mess around with my graphics card settings until it worked. (I have a "supported" Nvidia graphics card AND had played a year+ of closed beta!)
If I had been a casual player I might well have just given up!

To my best knowledge every game needs some tweaking of graphic settings, also no game gives a fixed kb layout bar the usual wasd and the abilities lighting up on 1st numeric bar while you progress and train, features which War has.

You may be right that there are more things to do while you level but casual RvR can be very frustrating. Also why is it important to hit the max level? I thought the point of a game was to enjoy yourself? Most people seem to agree T4 is a pile of shit but you are marketing it as a good thing that you can get there faster?

Is where the real action lies and the so called end game is.
Altaholics will always reroll and try all careers no matter how long the game forces you to pve to top level.
For the ones that wanna cap a char and test out the whole game, yes, i find it good that it doesn't take 50 days played ala Daoc -.-

You seem yo have mis-read the question. The question was:
"Is this a casual friendly game?"
The question was not:
"Is this game friendly for a previously hardcore DaoC player who doesn't have much time currently?"

Any1 who played Daoc longer than trial period will get used to War in 2 mins flat tbh, no need to be an "Ex Daoc Hardcore player"

However maybe you are right, RvR is alot easier in WAR than in Daoc. You certainly don't need buffbots which is a really good thing, infact you don't need any skill either, simply follow the zerg taking undefended BO!

Can tell the very same thing to any PvP game out there sadly.

Most people who play online games now should be considered casual players. WAR has lost many of the original players and is still losing players at a rapid rate while games like WoW and LotRO are gaining players.

It's losing players and gaining back some, attracting some more.
It is now in the typical flaw of MMOs, some grown tired and leave, some get back cause they grown tired of other MMOs etc.

Don't get me wrong there are MANY fundamental flaws in this game (even tho they are slowly correcting the bar) but non of them puts the game at UO, EvE or Lineage level as for learning curves, need for equipment and so on.

 

[mooSe_]

Most of the negative views in this topic are valid arguments for not liking WAR, but not really valid for saying that it's not casual friendly.

 

[Cadelin]

Most of the negative views in this topic are valid arguments for not liking WAR, but not really valid for saying that it's not casual friendly.

I disagree. The problems I highlight would effect casual players more than a MMO vet.

For example needing a high spec comp won't effect a gamer who always has the latest graphics card but it will effect the casual player who only buys a new comp every 4-5 years....

 

[Seanpaul]

I've found it an easy game to play on a casual basis, but maybe thats just because i'm lucky that the guild i'm in has agreed to play fixed nights during the week so i can manage real life around it.
Sure i can play more if i choose and the way that the tier system works i can play an alt at my own pace too.
Just trial it and see how you get on, sure plenty of people have had negative experiences and take the recent events to heart, but thats only because they havent had their 24/7 fix, and if your playing casually i'm sure you can find something else to do during poor periods of stability and downtimesm which are bound to end sometime soon anyway.

 

[Tallen]

Warhammer is VERY casual friendly, more so than probably any other mmo out there at the moment.

Log-in, flag for scenario, go scenario and mix-it-up. Takes a few minutes tops.

Want pve? Log in, go pve, takes no time at all to find a quest.

Want orvr? Log-in, go to an orvr pool area, never more than a few minutes walk tops, port around a bit, find a fight, join a warband (open warbands are everywhere and incredibly easy to find, no invite needed, just join em), have a blast.

You don't have to farm anything, you dont have to EVER pve if you don't want too, you don't have to grind anything, you don't have to have a tradeskill, you don't HAVE to do anything you don't want to do, the only time sink is the game itself.

Like it or hate it, it suits most casual players.

 

[Tallen]

I disagree. The problems I highlight would effect casual players more than a MMO vet.

For example needing a high spec comp won't effect a gamer who always has the latest graphics card but it will effect the casual player who only buys a new comp every 4-5 years....

Why do you assume a casual player will have a crap PC?

I consider myself a casual player and i'll take the Pepsi challenge on that, my PC is very high specced as i use it for a lot of stuff other than online gaming. Can play on top settings without it breaking a sweat in the busiest of forts, shame the server can't say the same

Also, why do you assume a casual gamer and a MMO vet are mutually exclusive? I played DAoC, EvE, Lotro, Planetside, SWG, Vangard, CoH, CoV, Ryzom, WAR, WoW, EQ, UO, EQ2, Lineage, L2 and more than i can't remember right now. I could consider myself an mmo vet (if it wasn't such an epeen-massaging thing to say), but at the same time im still a casual player.

 

[Cadelin]

Why do you assume a casual player will have a crap PC?

I consider myself a casual player and i'll take the Pepsi challenge on that, my PC is very high specced as i use it for a lot of stuff other than online gaming. Can play on top settings without it breaking a sweat in the busiest of forts, shame the server can't say the same

I didn't assume they will have a crap computer but it is more likely. If you are a hardcore gamer you are going to be prepared to spend more of your income on computer hardware. It doesn't stop casual players from having high end computers but they are more likely to be playing on lower end systems.

Also, why do you assume a casual gamer and a MMO vet are mutually exclusive? I played DAoC, EvE, Lotro, Planetside, SWG, Vangard, CoH, CoV, Ryzom, WAR, WoW, EQ, UO, EQ2, Lineage, L2 and more than i can't remember right now. I could consider myself an mmo vet (if it wasn't such an epeen-massaging thing to say), but at the same time im still a casual player.

I didn't assume they were mutually exclusive. There will be casual players such as yourself with plenty of experience but there will also be casual players who aren't MMO vets and they are the ones likely to have problems.