Despite the numerous bugs and flaws, Warhammer is a great win for PvP playing.
From the box Warhammer is a win. You can que for a BG anywhere you like as early as lvl1 seconds from your first spawn into the game. You actually get exp from killing players! But we'll get back to that... first I want to talk about the PvE.
PvP is a huge part of this game, but there is still PvE. PvE levels you the fastest when you don't need renown. Renown is a PvP level system second to your actual lvl, called "Rank". Renown allows you to equip PvP gear. But unlike low lvl WoW PvP gear, it doesn't cost a fortune and take forever to get. But as I said, I want to discuss the PvE first.
Questing it lot more convenient than WoW. Remember having to do look ups in a second window on Thottbot or something every quest because you didn't want to spend half an hour looking for it? No such time sink here. Quests shade the included area on your map! It sounds like it makes questing too easy, but it doesn't tell you exactly where most things are, it just tells you the correct area to search in. Most quests are easy and short, usually always involing killing, and aren't a long ridiculous line of deliveries like WoW ones. No quests wanting you to kill 30 something mods or make deliveries between zones/towns back and forth miles apart. There are also "Public Quests", or PQs, which are repeatables in certain areas. Each one is different, but you get a specific boost to a Reputation, or "Influence". INFs give decent items. There's tons of INFs in PvE but also in each area for each PvP area.
Instances? There isn't as many but they aren't as stupid as the WoW ones. Remember the Wailing Caverns? It went on forever and was retarded in its many paths and turns. One of worst instances I ever had to endure. Here low lvl instances are simple and short, but there's only 2 of them. Into Tier 3, or the 20s, there's a huge one with multi parts which is kind of confusing, called Gunbad. But it has its own INFs with great rewards too. One thing I like is not needing food or water to keep fighting. Remember killing a few mobs then stopping to eat or drink for a whole minute? No such burden here. Health/mana comes back just as fast, but without needing to do such a task or even stop or sit.
Let me explain the PvP a bit more. The game is divided up into tiers, or brackets. 1-4, each being a bracket. What's best about Warhammer's version is that people past the bracket can't come and kill you, even out in the world. That's right, remember the old days of world PvP and how awesome it was, at least until some unwanted 60 came and ruined the fun for the fighting 30s? No such nonsense here. If you are past the bracket, you can't come kill them. No 40s coming to kill lvl10s anytime soon. Imagine world PvP at every bracket with people ONLY IN that bracket? It's beautiful.
Then there's the fact that there is tons more to do. Keep sieges as early as Tier 2, and even objectives at Tier 1. Did I mention that every Tier has unique BGs, called SCs here? Ya, WoW didn't even have any during release, and later only had 2, finally adding a 3th and then a 4th with BC. Warhammer launches with countless, between 1-2 dozen, unique for each bracket too. But it gets bigger with each bracket. Tier 3 keeps(22-31) get 2 doors while Tier 2(12-21) keeps only have 1.
I love many things about Warhammer, such as a better class/race system. No Gnome Warriors... ugh. How's a huge Tauren weaker than a tiny Gnome? Well here there is no such nonsense. Races are limited to a better selection of classes. Goblins for instance can't be tanks, but can be hunters and shaman. Imagine that, Goblin Archers. Sorry WoW, Warhammer didn't wait forever to do it.
The PvP system is FAR more balanced. I'm not saying its perfect, but it's a huge improvement over WoW. No matter what class you play you feel useful with advantages and disadvantages. No running around feared and useless or CCed for half a fight because of the nonsense allowed in WoW. There is no such crap here. There are stuns, knockbacks, snares, disarms, silences, roots, and the like, but nothing that prevents TOTAL INABILITY TO USE YOUR CHARACTER FOR AN ENTIRE FIGHT. Here, Hunters don't get mail and Warlocks aren't walking gods. Mages don't suck. Paladins don't get plate or a shield to be unkillable healers. They can't out damage other classes. Clothies are actually weaker than leather like they should be. The system actually mostly makes sense, where as in WoW it was a total mess from the start and always was.
Let me explain a bit more. Ranged classes are really nice at ranged, which is great with the pushing back and forth found anywhere in PvP. But they suck at melee range and die easily in cloth. Hey, balance, there you are! Melee damage classes do a good job or pwning face but need support due to not having the plate armor of tanks. Tanks are great for pushing their team forward by rushing into enemy players and taking all the hits to distract. With heals it works wonders. But tanks don't do a lot of damage, even with a 2h specced for it with your talents.(But speccing helps)
I played a lot at this point so now I want to comment on each class, for Destruction of course:
-Tanks, Chosen/Guard/Black orc: These are the guys that tank for your instances, and preferably flag run. Tanks are extremely useful in this game in RvR unlike with WoW. They get abilities that makes them hard to ignore even with a sword and board. One is Guard, which causes the target ally to split all his damage taken with you. Hard to feel useless when your buddy Choppa/Rogue is spliting half his damage with you and therefore lives lot longer and causes more damage. Another great ability is Hold the Line, an amazing ability that causes all allies behind you(grouped or not), to receive +Dodge/Resist for as long as you channel it. As you think, you use a shield with this. So you can push forward and make an entire raid stronger. 2h or shield tanks get plate and their main reason for existing is to push forward, or stall as long as possible on a losing flag cap.(They can't cap your objective until they kill you or you let them)
-Melee dmg, Choppa/Witch Elf: Choppa gets amazing damage at melee range, unlike the tanks. You're in medium armor but you're damage blows theirs out of the water. You need more support to be successful, Guard/Heals are usually a must, but all in all it's a great class to help push with. Witch Elf is your rogue, but here you don't need to bother with extra professions wasting your time or buying crap. They play like a normal class. Melee with cloth sucks if not played right. Not an easy class, must pick your fights and let allies charge first to tank the blunt of the beatings. Extremely high single target damage from stealth, the best class to gank enemy healers with and hurt an enemy force.
-Healers, Khaine/Shaman/Zealot: Khaine is a hybrid, like the Order's Warrior Priest. You can melee as a primary or stay back and heal with a chalice. But either way healing is a must for any class that can. It's your best thing to do. These classes have terrible damage and are best at healing.
-Ranged damage, Sorc/Magus/Squig: These classes all excel at ranged fighting/dmg and suck when closed up in on. This isn't WoW where you get amazing roots that last 5-10seconds or CCs that last up to 12 and can be spammed. No, snares aren't that great, are usually short, there is no CCs for you, and you can't just "tank" it. There is no Drain Life or Ice Block. An enemy closes up, you basically nuke spam him and hope for the best. Squig Herders are the hunters and a bit less defenseless than the others. You get a melee tree like WoW Hunters, a pet, and melee abilities that help. Sorc is by far the highest damage one of the mix, but hurts themselves with Backlash and the most defenseless up close. Magus's are a bit more like Warlocks. More dots, less nukes, a helpful pet(even though it can't move), and more survivability.(No Backlash) The payoff for your extra survivability comes out of your damage as any Sorc will blow your dmg away, but you won't die as much or as easily and that may be more your thing.
I hope all that was helpful to you and anyone considering the game. No I'm not done yet. Next thing I'm going to discuss is end game.
Warhammer doesn't have tons of raid zones like WoW, but it is loaded with huge keep sieges with masses of players, a mass of Tier 4 BGs to grind in, with no lame arena system or point decay. When you lock enough zones you can raid the enemy city for amazing gear. There are plenty of instances at 40 too, divided up unto levels requiring "wards" to do, higher ones needed a higher ward. Wards are mainly gotten through gear.
How does PvE gear compare to PvP gear? Well it depends on your class and how easily you can do the instances. PvE gear requires no renown to equip, so you can probably get it lot faster even if it isn't as good. But most classes have different sets. A PvE tank set might focus on tanking while their PvP set focuses on strength with a 2h. It just depends. Or a healer PvP set might have less healing on it than a PvE but more defense/health/survivability to help with all the targeting you'll endure. I'm just giving a general summary here and not trying to cover any specific class. Best thing to do is look at them all and decide if you want to PvP more or PvE more.
At 25 you get access to a "bonus" area of sorts which is 25-40. It comes with a risk as 40s can attack anyone in it. Only 1 faction can access this zone at at a time, if you die in it after losing control you are kicked out and can't come back until you regain access. It is called Land of the Dead and has some lvl40 instances in addition to great weapons, items, and experience.
Warhammer isn't without its many flaws or bugs. I've come across far too many to name. Quests getting stuck/bugged, getting stuck in the environment, not getting some exp/rr sometimes when I should have, but WoW was loaded to the brim with such things during release; and BC just brought many more of them. I remember doing SL runs at 70 and not getting all of the required token drops. Page a GM, what's he say? "Sorry I can't give you that stuff you worked for, you'll just have to do the instance again and hope it drops like it's suppose to." Well not exactly like that, but pretty much. Here if you accidentally vendor an item and don't buy it back in time, a GM will GIVE YOU the item back! GMs actually help, what a shock huh? 99% of the time in WoW a GM never did anything to help but paste pre-typed texts to you as a response.
In fact there's a newb guild you are put in automatically on each new character with GMs in it that are on most the time that chat regularly with the players. They can be commonly seen answering newb questions and generally being helpful all the time. They also play the game sometimes too when they feel like it! Ever have a GM from Blizzard in your PvP group with a toon? Hell no. One time when grouped with a Mythic guy in Tier 1 I said, "You must be a huge target with "Mythic" in your name."(GMs have the game company in their name) He said "You have no idea... huge bulls eye... " But I also like the newb guild because it puts all new characters in it and easily allows you to find a group for early tier instances. $$$
In short it's a MUCH better community of people and I'm still struggling to figure out why WoW is 10x the size. I'd never consider going back to WoW. Keep in mind I was playing for free on official servers(And it was legal), and I STILL QUIT THE GAME. Warhammer on other hand I'm happily donating that 15/month to. Keep right on with the good work!
One of the bad things about Warhammer is the lack of endgame content and how it can become a repetitive grind that many will quit long before finishing. But in all honestly, you still got your money's worth compared to any other game. I read other reviews from players that say it's bad but also said they spent 5 or so months on the game! It obviously entertained you for a good long time...
The last thing I'll discuss is the professions. There aren't many and they aren't hard to work. While they are simply and maybe not really satisfying, I like the system because it doesn't cost a fortune to work up. Remember trying to get Enchanting or Blacksmithing to 300 post BC? Ridiculous. You'd spend a fortune or waste a month grinding. No such crap here. Professions are simple and easy. You don't even have skill caps you need to train past to worry about. You pick it up once, and THAT'S IT. You can skill build, no trainers required again, from 1 all way to 200. Material needed is easy to kill for, you don't need rare items like a specific type of ore of disenchanted piece of junk for a skill up. You can only get 2 like with WoW, but only 1 gathering and 1 production. Apoth is basically Alchemy while Talisman making is basically Jewelcrafting. Tons of gear, even in earlier tiers, have gem slots so Talisman making is a good choice for a newb. Apoth leaves you without easily getting needed gems for gear and instead gives you potions. Definitely a pro profession, but not recommended for new players.
Covering everything in Warhammer, or any MMO, would take a book or walkthrough. I tried to cover all the big points I could think of in a general review. I hope this was helpful to you. It took months for me to learn it all on a professional level and I still haven't experienced everything the game has to offer. I don't see myself wanting to quit anytime soon so there might not be any new reviews from me in a while.
In short Warhammer is a must play for any PvP fan and is probably the best PvP MMO on the market today. I recommend that you at last TRY the game. It isn't without its flaws but you'll quickly ignore them because the rest is so good.
It now has an endless free trial, meaning you can play as long as you like with 1 account and keep any character forever but just can't lvl past 10 until you upgrade. So you can to fully enjoy the first tier(1-11 is Tier 1) of the game free as long as you like with as many rerolls as you see fit on your own time. Most people want to upgrade soon after doing this. Once you taste a delicious cake... you just want to keep on eating the rest.
Merry Christmas!
Single player:
(Experience) A (Good)
Presentation:
(Video/Audio) A(Good)
Performance: A (Good)
Multiplayer: A (Good)