WAR is what it was meant to be.
First, on a purely asthetic level, the boxed edition blew my mind. It weighs like 10lbs. It came with two gorgeously illustrated books, hardcover. A Warhammer Mini combo of some Greenskins. The discs, of course. And it all fit into this massive box that looks like some ancient, bronze fitted tome. Nuff said.
Gameplay. WAR is RvR. It makes every other MMO pale in comparison. Ill log on to play a couple battles (you CAN do that. Theres no massive wait to get into the battlegrounds. And you can join in and be a valid fighter from lvl 2 on.) but then I notice two hours have passed and Ive not even noticed. What makes it so addictive? Its a challenge. You wont go into WAR and find some character that is just unkillable, simply because of its class. Or some uber epic'd out player who spends 20 out of 24 hours a day raiding and has the most leet gear in the game and can stomp through 5-6 players at a time. It just doesnt happen. The game is so well balanced that every single character is a viable and formidable foe. Especially now that they have made the bg's cross realm. In the beginning you had to fly to different realms in order to fight in different bg's. Dark Elves couldnt fight with Chaos allies unless they flew there. THis led to some problems. WAR isnt perfect, and one of those imperfections lies in the balance of the characters within races. Dark Elves simply SUCK at healing. Historically, this makes sense. Gamewise, it kinda sucks. Dark Elves also lost their one and only meatshield, the Black Guard. (And for that, shame on you Mythic and EA. That was a STUPID move.) However Dark Elves absolutly rule on DPS, with the Witch Elves being damage dealers extraordinaire. Chaos on the other hand, has some serious armour and decent heals, decent dps but nothing that stands out. (In fact, in Destruction, i would say Chaos has the most balanced classes.) Combine the two and youve got some major warbands set up for RvR. Add in heavy tanks like Black Orks, support classes like the Gobbo Shaman or Squig Herder...your set. And with the cross realm rvr now, thats how it always ends up.
And the battles, they are totally intense. Yes, occassionally you get stomped or stomp, but 9/10 times the battles run so bloody close your glued to the screen. Take your eyes off for a moment and suddenly your down 50 points. And it just gets better with every tier. Tier one was great. Tier two is amazing. Tier three...Oi...
That being said, WAR IS RvR. I mean, thats where they put all their eggs, and it shows. I havent actually teamed up for a quest yet. I havent had to, aside from public quests; which are a cool idea in their own right, but its basically a 3 phase quest. The first one is a grind, the 2nd usually an objective and the last a boss fight. Same thing, different stories. Whats cool is that do enough of them and you get some really nice loot, plus the chance to get some REALLY nice loot. Theyre nice editions, and they add to the over all feel of the game, but it just comes down to RvR. If you dont like it, give it a chance. You havent experienced pvp like WAR before, I promise. And if you find you still dont like it, then WAR isnt the game for you. But i have a feeling that 90% of the people that give WAR a chance are going to stick with it. It may not topple WoW from its 10 Billion people served throne, but I dont know if that was even the intent in the first place. WAR is for adults, it truly is. It has more character, more action, more vitality and intelligence, Its simply not a kids game any way you look at it. So let WoW have its following. New Kids on the Block had theirs too. Ill stick with Slayer and Maiden, and WAR forever and always.