Mythic Unveils Endless Free Trial for Warhammer Online

[Tom Goldman]

Mythic Unveils Endless Free Trial for Warhammer Online

Warhammer Online's new trial system could end up enticing a bunch of new players to give the game a try.

Mythic Entertainment has just implemented a new endless free trial system for Warhammer Online. This does not mean that the game can be played all the way up to level 40 for free, but it is a great way to try to get players hooked.

Warhammer Online's endless free trial period is played through a "streaming client," requiring only about a 1GB download, and allows players to reach level 10 at their leisure. Any of the game's 24 careers can be tested out up to this level cap. The trial will limit players to tier one zones, including tier one dungeons and tier one PvP scenarios.

I wouldn't be surprised if some players end up playing tier one PvP for free for a very long time, but I do think this endless free trial is still a very smart idea. It takes a cue from the free-to-play MMOG movement, and is also a way to drum up new interest in a game that is actually quite good, but somewhat overshadowed by the similar World of Warcraft.

What Warhammer Online does much better than WoW, taking a cue from Mythic's predecessor Dark Age of Camelot, is PvP. At any point during play, a PvP scenario can be queued up. When it's ready, the player is teleported instantly, and teleported back to the same spot afterward. Some scenarios are simpler, requiring a team to grab an item and defend it for the longest while points accrue, while others are more complicated and involve various types of terrain and hazards. PvP gets deeper later on with all out Keep Sieges and capturing enemy capital cities.

Warhammer Online's PvE has its strong points too, with a WoW-ish questing structure in place alongside the unique public quest system. Also, dwarves fly around with helicopter backpacks. So basically, Warhammer Online is worth taking the time to try with this new free trial system in place, especially if you're a PvP-focused gamer. The client can be downloaded at Warhammer Online's official website [http://www.warhammeronline.com/]

Permalink

 

[Ranooth]

Hmmm how long till Blizzard copy this??

 

[Vlane]

Hmmm how long till Blizzard copy this??

Blizzard doesn't have to. You can download the 14(or 10?)-day trial play it up to lvl 20 and if you like it you can turn your test account into a real account. If you didn't like the gameplay up to that point....Well I can say you won't like the endgame because that is completely different but you get the idea.

 

[Angron]

is someone trying to advertise WAR?

i played it in the closed beta and altho i obv cant comment on the later stages, but I thought the start ofit was nothing special, not enough to make me join...

dont hate me but, i thought WoW did it better...and if i was actually gonna get a pay monthly i think i would go wow, altho keep sieges do sound fun...

 

[Byers]

Warhammer PvP is horribly broken for a vast number of reasons.

It's simply not a good game, irregardless of what lengths they go to to promote it.

I really wanted it to be great, but WoW is sadly much much better, and I say that as an avid WoW basher.

 

[cainx10a]

Except that T2 players can come in T1 zones and ruin their fun, at least in ORvR.

 

[dodokiller88]

What Warhammer Online does much better than WoW, taking a cue from Mythic's predecessor Dark Age of Camelot, is PvP. At any point during play, a PvP scenario can be queued up. When it's ready, the player is teleported instantly, and teleported back to the same spot afterward.

This actually isn't something that WAR has up on WoW anymore; at time of release, WAR had the "queue up anywhere you like" functionality but WoW did not. However, as of one of the more recent patches to WoW (3.1 or 3.2, can't remember), WoW has this functionality as well.

All being said, WAR's scenarios are still very different from WoW's battlegrounds, but both have the same queuing functionality.

 

[Wandrecanada]

Although I was a Collector's Edition owner of the game and left it over a half year ago due to balance issues in the endgame (some of which is been addressed) I'm kindof glad that they've finally done this. The level 1-10 game is a masterpiece that everyone needs to experience at least once, if only just to see what a really fun MMO can be. Not only does it make PvP fun for those who may not be terribly interested in PvP but the early PvE is astounding with the amazing visuals and the immensely fun Public Quest system.

If your PC can run this game at all I urge you to at least give the Greenskin or Dwarven areas a try (I understand everyone starts in the Empire/Choas zones now). They have to have the most engaging start areas of any MMO I've played and the funny dialogue and quests will actually have you laugh out loud. Give it a try and I bet you'll like it.

 

[Abedeus]

Too bad that you get to level 10 really fast and the game starts to suck after level 20-22.

 

[Worgen]

it did have some fantastic pvp, too bad lvling after 20 became a pain in the ass

 

[Ohlookit'sMatty]

I always feel bad for WAR, it's like the young brother of the Doctor who discovered the cure for cancer // No matter what he does it will never be enought // But this is a smart move as I have loads of friends who will go to it for the free trials

-M

 

[GamingAwesome1]

A smart move. Not that I'll play it as MMO's aren't really my bag but fair play to them.

 

[Skizle]

Warhammer PvP is horribly broken for a vast number of reasons.

It's simply not a good game, irregardless of what lengths they go to to promote it.

I really wanted it to be great, but WoW is sadly much much better, and I say that as an avid WoW basher.

The only problem this game had is that they released it early. If they would have taken another year to fix up the game then it would have been marvelous. The last time I played it was in early September and the only unbalanced classes were the sorceress(underpowered), bright wizard (overpowered compared to the sorceress) and the choppa (horribly overpowered).

 

[Cowabungaa]

You know, while playing WAR back when it was launched, I actually found the 1-10 route the most fun one to play, especially in RvR, espécially in scenario's. I can't remember the exact name, but that beach-head scenario was so incredibly fun.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Yeah, I have to say, I wish WOW did this, I tried to get a friend into it, and while she enjoyed some of it, we didn't have time to invest in it properly over the ten days, meaning she didn't get to experience dungeons, group play etc, before her trial was up.

Wow's limit of level 20 means you can at least experience group play and dungeons, but only if you can pack in enough gaming time in 10 days to level up that far, and a lot of people might only have one spare evening a week, making 10 days maybe 2 evenings if you're lucky.

I just sense loosening the limits would help.

 

[DazZ.]

Hmmm how long till Blizzard copy this??

Blizzard doesn't have to. You can download the 14(or 10?)-day trial play it up to lvl 20 and if you like it you can turn your test account into a real account. If you didn't like the gameplay up to that point....Well I can say you won't like the endgame because that is completely different but you get the idea.

Warhammer online had basically that exact same thing before they switched to this though, so the trial they already have isn't the reason they don't need to.

Blizzard don't need to do anything, they are raking it in with WoW already, but I do prefer this method of trial as some people don't have enough time to cram in as much gaming as possible in 10-14 days to see if they like it. (Probably shouldn't play MMOs if that is the case though, for moneys worth sake.)