Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (Game)

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning

GAME » on September 18, 2008

An MMORPG based on the Games Workshop franchise developed by Mythic Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts. Some of the features were brutal RvR battles (Realm vs Realm) and siege warfare. Warhammer Online was shut down December 18th, 2013.

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Overview

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is a "Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game" developed by Mythic Entertainment (Company), the studio behind Dark Age of Camelot (Game). The game isn't based on any games before it but rather on the existing Warhammer (Franchise) universe. It was published by Electronic Arts (Company) in American and Oceana and GOA (Company) in Europe, however on June 29th 2010 the European operations transiationed back over to Mythic Entertainment.

Warhammer Online features realm versus realm gameplay between the Armies of Order and the Armies of Destruction. Each side will have three different races to choose from, and each of those will have up to four different career choices, some of which are gender specific. Additionally, the Greenskin army only has one gender, which appears visually to be male.

The RvR campaign is split up into four tiers starting at Tier 1 (levels 1-11), Tier 2 (levels 12-21), Tier 3 (levels 23-31), and finally Tier 4 (levels 32-40). Tier 1 is the basic RvR with battlefield objectives, Tier 2 adds in keeps, Tier 3 adds in the outer walls of the keeps and Tier 4 is the main campaign with the City Siege at the end of it.

The ultimate goal in RvR (Realm vs Realm) combat is the complete destruction of the enemy's capital city. This is achieved through a constant struggle for territory in the frontier zones. Everything you do in the game will contribute to the WAR effort.

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 -The pinnacle of RvR is laying siege to your enemies capital city and then attacking their king in an epic 24 man instanced encounter.

The Armies of Warhammer Online

Armies of Order

Dwarves
The Empire
High Elves

Armies of Destruction

Greenskins - Includes both Orcs and Goblins
Chaos
Dark Elves

Warhammer Online Archetypes

Tank - A heavily armoured character that can absorb a lot of damage and take on multiple enemies. They are meant to keep the enemies off of his allies.
Melee Damage - Less armor than a Tank but can do a lot of damage in a short period of time.
Ranged Damage - Spell casters and classes that use a bow or a gun. They deal out a lot of damage and have area of effect (AoE) spells that can damage multiple enemies at once.
Support - They can buff and heal allies. They can also debuff and damage the enemy, but not as much as the melee or ranged damage archetypes.

Warhammer Online Careers

Armies of Order

Tanks

Dwarf - Ironbreaker: Ironbreakers build up Grudges when doing or taking damage. They can use these grudges to unleash stronger abilities.
High Elf - Swordmaster: Swordmasters use their sword dance ability to build attack combos which increase in power.
Empire - Knight of the Blazing Sun: Knights of the Blazing Sun use commands to buff nearby allies and debuff enemies.

DPS

Dwarf - Slayer: Slayers build up fury, which increases the damage they deal, as well as unlocks certain abilities, but also reduces their resistance to damage.
High Elf - White Lion: White Lions are named for their favored pets, which they command and fight alongside on the battlefield.
Empire - Witch Hunter: Which Hunters are stealthy and righteous characters who build up Accusations against enemies, which they use to unleash devastating Execution abilities.

Ranged 

Dwarf - Engineer: Engineers use guns, as well as building turrets and mines to damage enemies from afar.
Empire - Bright Wizard: Bright Wizards are pyromaniacs with the ability to magically control fire. Despite their inherent instability and dangerous nature, they are still a boon to the Empire, as they can use their magic to attack enemies from a distance. Their attacks get stronger as they build up Combustion, but cause an increased risk of backlash, which damages the player.
High Elf - Shadow Warrior: Shadow Warriors can fight in both ranged and melee, and use different Stances to unlock or boost certain abilities.

Support

Dwarf - Runepriest: Runepriests use runic magic to heal and buff their allies. A largely support class, the Runepriest lacks strong offensive skills.
Empire - Warrior Priest: Warrior Priests build up Righteous Fury by attacking enemies and use this power to heal and buff allies. Followers of the warrior god Sigmar, they use hammers in combat, and have the best ability to take damage in the game outside of the Tank classes.
High Elf - Archmage: Archmages can both attack and heal -- and doing one will boost the abilities of the other. Archmages build up Force from attacking, and Tranquility from healing; increased Force boosts healing, and increased Tranquility boosts attacking.

Armies of Destruction

Tanks

Greenskins - Black Orc: Black Orcs build up 'plans' which unleash stronger attacks and status effects as you attack.
Chaos - Chosen: The Chosen use their auras to buff allies and debuff enemies.
Dark Elf - Black Guard: Black Guards are the vanguard of the Dark Elf army and are incapable of believing that they might be bested by another. Black Guards build up Hate by attacking or taking damage; by unleashing Hate, they can use a number of devastating attacks.

DPS

Greenskins - Choppa: A melee AoE DPS class which deals better damage by reducing its defensive abilities.
Chaos - Marauder (male only): the Marauder receive a number of 'gifts' from the Chaos gods - these allow mutations of the Chosen's body which enable a number of different attacks. The Marauder can do both AoE and single target DPS.
Dark Elf - Witch Elf (female only): The Brides of Khaine, a group of fanatical Dark Elf women devoted to the god of murder, the Witch Elves practice killing as a religious ritual. They specialize in single target damage, and have the ability to use stealth to remain unseen. Witch Elves use kisses to damage opponents, and build up Blood Lust which they use to unleash their strongest attacks.

Ranged

Greenskins - Goblin Squig Herder: A ranged DPS pet-using class, Squig Herders can use a variety of ranged and melee attacks, while also commanding a Squig pet. While a Squig herder may only summon one pet at a time, they are able to summon a number of different types of Squigs, as well as heal and buff their pets.
Chaos - Magus: Chaos Magi are known for their distinctive Transport Discs, which they always ride on -- once bound to one of these demonic entities, a Chaos Magus' feet never touch the ground again. The Magus is a ranged damage dealer, who has stationary demon pets and, crowd control, and strong Damage Over Time (DoT) abilities at their disposal.
Dark Elf - Sorceress/Sorcerer: The Sorcerer is a mage with control over Dhar or dark chaos magic. Sorcerer's spells are usually identified with the element of Ice.

Support

Greenskins - Goblin Shaman: A hybrid healer and damage dealer (though veering more towards healing). Using healing abilities increases their damage abilities and vise-versa.
Chaos - Zealot: Destruction's one and only "pure healer"class, the Zealot uses heals and buffs to support their team. Zealots also have the ability to place a Mark on an enemy; while the Mark acts as a direct debuff, there are other abilities which act on a marked enemy, for example to do damage, or act as a life tap.
Dark Elf - Disciple of Khaine: A melee healer, the Disciples use Soul Essence to heal their allies; this Soul Essence is replenished by attacking. Disciples dual-wield, and may equip swords or chalices, which boost healing ability.

Warhammer Online Professions

Gathering

Cultivation - Growing your own plants and fungi, mostly to be used by apothecaries.
Salvaging - Destroying magical items to obtain their magic essence, mostly to be used to create talismans.
Scavenging - Searching intelligent creatures after looting for extra materials.
Butchering - Searching/butchering non-sentient creatures after looting for extra materials.

Crafting

Apothecary - Creating potions, lotions and powders from various materials.
Talisman Making - Creating talismans which can be attached to equipment with an available talisman slot.

Gameplay

Warhammer Online features next generation Realm vs. Realm (RvR) combat. This takes place within three different racial pairings: Dwarfs vs. Greenskins, Empire vs. Chaos, and High Elves vs. Dark Elves. Although there are only 2 races per pairing, players may travel to either of the other two pairings to help fight with their friends and allies. There are four types of RvR combat: Skirmishes (random world PvP), Battlefields (object-driven battles in RvR-specific areas), Scenarios (instanced, point-based battles against the opposing faction) and Campaigns (invading enemy lands and capital cities). RvR contribution includes both Player vs. Player (PVP) combat and (to a lesser extent) Player vs. Environment (PvE) quests so that you can assist your realm in their victory.

All activities in WAR contribute to the campaign, as it is the primary focus of the game. Each of the aforementioned activities generate victory points (VP) which measure a realm's progress in capturing a zone. When one realm reaches a designated amount of victory points in a particular zone, that zone falls under their control and the war pushes deeper into enemy territory. This back and forth struggle for zone control continues until the war eventually reaches one of the capital cities where the attacking side may sack, loot, and pillage that capital city. The capture of a capital city is the ultimate objective of the campaign. .

Open RvR

Keeps can be captured for victory points towards your realm and can be claimed by the capturing guild. NPCs will be stationed at all keeps (claimed or unclaimed) to ensure a certain level of difficulty is maintained and that at least 1-2 full groups are required to capture. Should players decide to defend it, the difficulty in capturing the keep will increase greatly. The game design decorates each keep according to the race that controls it; however, the basic layout will stay the same. Siege warfare includes four types of weapons: rams for keep doors and other targets, ballistae for enemy players or siege weapons, cannons, catapults, and trebuchets for AoE (area of effect) splash damage, and boiling oil to use from keep walls. Strategically located near keeps, siege pads can be destroyed by players of the defending realm, inhibiting the siege process.

Recently Mythic and GOA introduced the Underdog system on all live servers to help balance the realms, each time a capital city is Captured the realm who successfully captured the city will lose one Underdog Rating point to a maximum of -3 while the realm who defended the city will gain one underdog rating point to a maximum of 3. Underdog Rating points will decay up or down back toward 0 by 1 point per 24 hours during which no city is Captured. Underdog Rating points greater than 1 or less than -1 each add or remove 5% to the percentage of Victory Points needed to capture zones in the Tier 4 Open RvR Campaign and also increase or reduce the Tier 4 pairing lockdown timer by one hour per point beyond the first. Additionally, Zone Domination timers are reduced to 45 minutes for Keeps and 10 minutes for Battlefield Objectives at an Underdog Rating of 2, and 30 minutes for Keeps and 0 minutes for Battlefield Objectives at an Underdog Rating of 3. New underdog rating icons and tooltips have been added to the Zone Control bar in Tier 4 to display this information.

Scenarios

Scenarios are instanced RvR games in which the forces of Order and the forces of Destruction fight for the highest score. Unlike Open RvR, scenarios may be joined from anywhere in the world; when a scenario instance is available, the player will be notified and can join with the click of a button. Scenarios come in different varieties, such as capture the flag, bombing run, or domination. There are separate sets of scenarios for each tier, although from time to time, there will be special events that offer certain lower-tier scenarios to all players. Scenarios are tied to racial pairings, so that a win or loss affects the domination points of each side for that racial pairing. Scenarios are capped in terms of the number of players, and if a scenario population becomes unbalanced in favor of one realm or another, it will end without awarding a victory or loss to either side. Players may leave a scenario early, but they will be subject to a Quitter debuff, which prevents them from gaining experience points or renown for five minutes.

Capital Sieges

In patch 1.3.6 WAR brought in completely revamped city sieges, which is 100% RvR driven. Each siege will end with a climactic battle of the two opposing faction leaders in a duel and each realm assisting their king in anyway possible.

Tome of Knowledge

Warhammer Online features a "Tome of Knowledge" (ToK) that is an extension upon similar mechanisms in many other MMOs. The ToK is a multi-purpose reference tool that is designed to provide the player with a great deal of information about the game world. It is also meant to serve as a reduction in the need for players to feel like they have to rely upon third-party sources of information pertaining to the game. The Tome of Knowledge keeps track of all information pertaining to an individual character and their progress through the game. This progress unlocks lore-related information about quests, the gameworld itself, NPCs, and defeated MOBs. For example, upon first encountering a MOB within the game, a basic entry is added for that creature in the Bestiary chapter of the ToK. However, with increasing contact, kills, and associated activities involving any specific creature, the information available about those encounters will be added to the Tome of Knowledge. Likewise, the ToK keeps track of the story and progression of the character through the gameworld as they complete quests, explore the map, and otherwise accomplish activities within the game.

Public Quests

Public Quests are area-specific, ongoing quests that are automatically assigned to each player that enters the area. All players are automatically working on completing that same quest (if they choose to do so). They typically conclude with a large "Boss Battle" fight. When a public quest completes, each player who participated will receive a reward based on his contribution to the whole. Public quests are confined to PvE zones and as such only indirectly affect RvR. Public quests have 3 reward-tiers: basic rewards, advanced rewards, and elite rewards. You are allowed to choose one reward from each tier per chapter.

Collision Detection

Warhammer Online features collision detection, a feature that prevents players from moving through other player characters. The feature works on both hostile units and friendly ones, but only when flagged for RvR combat. This feature creates added layers of strategy to combat, as Tank-type characters can literally block off a choke point while ranged attackers fire on the enemy from behind them, with healers able to heal the tanks without coming under attack from the enemy.

Development

Before Mythic Entertainment, a studio called Anthill Studios which was later acquired by Climax Studios (Company) and renamed "Climax Nottingham" was working from 2000 on a Warhammer Online game of their own, even showing a trailer at E3, some behind the scenes videos here and here, and was even presented by Paul Barnett (who worked at Games Workshop at the time and later joined Mythic Entertainement) at Screenplay Festival 2004. However in mid 2004 due to the costs involved in brining the game to market was cancelled. The game was to be published by Sega Europe.

In 2005 Games Workshop was approached by Mythic Entertainment with a pitch for a new Warhammer Online MMORPG. The original design was to have three factions; Order, Destruction & Chaos and was for the first half of its development lifecycle was aimed to be a PvE focused game to compete more directly with World of Warcraft (Game) whilst a sequel to Dark Age of Camelot (Game) would focus on RvR content. However the sequel was later cancelled and the RvR elements were adapted into Warhammer Online.

The game was originally also planned to have an Xbox 360 (Platform) release which Mythic had a working prototype.

After the success of the Land of the Dead expansion Mythic had planned for a Vampire Counts themed expansion dubbed "Bloodhunt" however this was cancelled halfway through development and resouces were poured into Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heros.

Release

The game finally released on the 18th September 2008 selling over 1 million copies and peaking at 800,000 subscribers. Several months later this dropped down to 300,000 subscribers.

The launch did recieve some criticism due to bad client performance on low-mid computers and lag due to high density of players caused by the Realm vs Realm design. This lead to Mythic Entertainment removing Fortresses from the game, due to large amounts of players being able to crash the servers on demand if they were losing.

The game was later released on Mac OS X as a beta on 30th July 2009 utilizing a a Wine Wrapper called Cider by TransGaming Technologies. As there is no x64 version of the client and the translation was based on the Windows x86 version the client would not work on macOS Catalina, however is compatible with Crossover.

System Requirements

For Windows XP

· 2.5 GHz P4 (single core) processor or equivalent
· 1 Gigabyte RAM
· A 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
· At least 15 GB of hard drive space

For Windows VISTA

· 2.5 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
· 2 Gigabyte RAM
· A 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
· At least 15 GB of hard drive space

Supported Video Cards

ATI Radeon(TM) series

· 9500, 9600, 9800
· X300, X600, X700, X800, X850
· X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900, X1950
· 2400, 2600, 2900,
· 3650, 3850, 3870
· 4850, 4870

NVIDIA GeForce series

· FX 5900, FX 5950
· 6600, 6800,
· 7600, 7800, 7900, 7950
· 8400, 8500, 8600, 8800
· 9400, 9500, 9600, 9800
· GTX 260, GTX 280

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