Warhammer's Beyond the Sands event now live
by Kyle Horner 
Apr 21st 2009 at 12:00PM
Filed under: Fantasy, Events, in-game, Warhammer Online, News items
Although those looking for more PvE content won't be waiting too much longer, as this is all leading up to the Land of the Dead update which is purportedly bringing new instanced dungeons. Then again, it's also bring a large new RvR zone as well, so all things in balance we suppose.
The content just keeps on coming for Warhammer Online players, and that's never a bad thing. With the biggest content still yet to come, there seems to be plenty about this game to remain excited about.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
bilbo said on 12:54PM 4-21-2009
people still play this game?
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TheDrago said on 1:33PM 4-21-2009
Yes "bilbo", people do indeed still play this game for the simple reason that it is quite good. In fact, I'd say it is better than WOW. The only difference being that WOW started back in 2004 when the economy was great. WAR started in 2008 when the economy was crap.
Abriael said on 12:51AM 4-22-2009
Considering that the game has been back in the NPD top 20 sellers for the month of march (the only MMO there besides wow, a piece of news news that massively must have missed), I'd say yes, many people are still playing the game.
http://kotaku.com/5215458/and-the-20-top+selling-pc-games-for-march-were
The fact that it's back on the sales charts is quite a positive signal, that shows that the recruit a friend program and the free trials are working well, and that the game is getting more and more polished and fun.
When the land of the dead hits you can expect a sizeable percentage of users resubscribing as well, in spite of the doomsayers and the trolls.
samn said on 1:30PM 4-21-2009
indeed we do! Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is by far one of the best MMOs out right now- graphics, gameplay, and price. One fee per month and all expansions and extra content are included, none of this paying an extra $35-50 anytime an expansion comes out. Can't wait to try this new live event. woohoo!
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Anticrawl said on 1:35PM 4-21-2009
Agreed and well put. Out of all the MMO's I've played and tested (quite a few) Warhammer Online is by far the best; and that is taking into account that I really don't care for fantasy style MMO's (would have rather Mythic base it in 40K). Public quests, fantastic RvR, mature player base, xFire sponsered voice chat bandwidth, monthly fee covering frequent patches and expansion packs, built in UI customization, scenarios, and of course the rich lore that comes with the Warhammer name. I could go on and on, but I'd rather just play the game.
borgy78 said on 1:56PM 4-21-2009
yes it truly is a great game and beats wow at many levels. grpahics wise though it falls short in one area, and please prove me wrong. but i have noticed that PC's or NPC's become a bit papery (2D'ish) if you get far enough away with their motion not as smooth as it should be and the edges of the object being a bit jagged rather then smooth... do you understand what im talking about. and for this reason i say the grpahics fall short of WOW. upclose though they are spectacular....
cmasters said on 2:26PM 4-21-2009
The graphics degrade at a distance to reduce lag in the big RvR battles where you have hundreds of people fighting each other. If you think that makes the game look worse than WoW than that is your opinion but for me I am paying much more attention to my character and his immediate surroundings.
Xtofer said on 3:07PM 4-21-2009
Have they really specifically stated they'll never have any expansion packs you pay for? I thought their "live expansions" were just equivalent to a major patch in WoW (like AQ or Naxx were back in vanilla WoW days).
Otherwise, I don't understand the animosity that comes from people when it comes to MMOs. If you like a game and it works for you, then play it. I, for one, enjoy both WoW and WAR. *shrug*
samn said on 3:21PM 4-21-2009
yes, any expansions are treated just like patches in the game. I was just stating that it was nice not to have to pay extra to go buy an expansion disc on top of what we're already paying per month to play.
I, too, have played WoW, and.. its not really a bad game, it can be quite enjoyable, but it just didn't have the..."oomph" that i was looking for lol. dunno how else to put it...
I played Guild Wars since beta and it is and will always be one of my favorite games ever. yes, it charged for expansions, but it didn't have a fee per month so i didn't mind as much. but after 4 years of playing Guild Wars, it got pretty repetitive so i started looking for other games to play. And Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is the closest thing i've found that I really really enjoy.
So yes, it all depends on the gamer and their preferences on gameplay. I've learned not to degrade any games til i've tried em first. Most MMOs these days have trial clients that can be downloaded.
anywho... yeah....
Xtofer said on 3:31PM 4-21-2009
@samn
I see, and agreed, it is nice to not have to pay. :)
Abriael said on 12:18AM 4-22-2009
They never ever once said that they will never do boxed payware expansions. On the contrary, they said quite clearly that they will come, down the line. Just not on the short term.
JP said on 2:10PM 4-21-2009
The ideas behind the game are fantastic... the implementation is pure rubbish.
These events are tainted at every turn. Every patch gushes with "improvements and new features", yet each and every one remarkably brings huge, game breaking screw ups.
MMOs all have a slew of rout from bugs and glitches, but in my time w/ the game (from launch until this past Sunday) I’ve never played a game w/ a less focused and aloof patch cycles. I had high hopes for the game, but thus far Mythic has only proved how inept they are at bringing their game to even the “working as intended” level. I don’t expect perfection. I do expect game breaking bugs (can’t log into your own character?????) to be picked up long before they hit live. Their (or EA’s force on them) on keeping their name in the media through pushes of content and “fixes” only causes the game to suffer.
The polish on this game is marginal, at the very best, and I really disagree with the above posters saying this game is anything but mediocre.
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cmasters said on 2:20PM 4-21-2009
You should try WoW then. With all their money they have not been able to put out a stable patch for more than a year now. This seems standard in MMO's today - probably due their complexity.
JP said on 2:35PM 4-21-2009
I don't really have any interest in WoW. I always felt it looks to "Muppet Babies" for my tastes.
I can't comment on WoW's level of polish, but I will say that having waited to play Age of Conan until long after the terrible launch of lies and bloated egos, it's now a very fun and immersive game. It's got it's share of bugs as well, but not at the level WAR does. Maybe WAR being so new, it needs time to mature.
I don't doubt that WAR can someday be an epic and fun game. But, as is, the game boasts a great deal that when actually palyed and involved in, falls very flat. Specifically, City Seiges.
I imagine it was the same for AoC players at this point in it's release (7 months?), so I hope WAR can turn it around and keep me intrigued the way AoC has. I have friends playing WAR, and they'll continue to. So, I'll be keeping my ear to the grindstone.
If they can turn it around, I'd certainly return.
Cryptor said on 10:02PM 4-23-2009
We're having a total blast with this live event, Mythic is doing such a fantastic job on this game it's unbelievable. I have been playing mmorpgs since...WoW early beta and I never had this much fun, honestly.
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chriskovo said on 4:25PM 4-21-2009
The live event is ok so far but they really should be fixing are the problems created by 1.2.1 first and delayed this one. The token thing just sucks
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Davidw said on 6:34PM 4-21-2009
"yes, any expansions are treated just like patches in the game. I was just stating that it was nice not to have to pay extra to go buy an expansion disc on top of what we're already paying per month to play."
So you assume that when WAR does have an expansion pack along the scale of the WoW expansions, it'll be free? Think again.
For what it's worth, I could buy WoW and both expansions for only slightly more than I paid for WAR so who really is paying extra here?
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ArrA said on 7:36PM 4-21-2009
Warhammer Online.
What can I say, great idea for a game, poorly designed.
Live events weren't a bad thing while you played because they detracted from the horrible stale PVE the rest of the game has. Kill tasks taken to a new grind high with the Tomb of Knowledge. The instances are horribly dull and repetitive offering nothing new for a seasoned MMO veteran. Loot tables have been bugged since early beta and as far as I'm aware are still not fixed. I have screenshots of 3 pieces of the same set item dropping off a single boss for a class not in the group.
RvR T1 to T3 was great. T4 is nothing but a zerg-fest where the majority of the time people will avoid each other to PVE keeps and BOs for the rewards. The RvR lakes are too small to encourage any real roaming RVR. I've only recently left so I didn't have a huge amount of experience on the new token system, but the few days I did play of it seemed to still encourage people to avoid fighting each other and stick to the RVE mindset. Should you play an outnumbered realm, be prepared to engage in many a warcamp farming session.
The graphics on the game are of decent quality while the animations are robotic, clunky and old. The engine itself is as old as WOWs (or older) yet it seems to lack the capabilities needed to make it stand out for a game released in the last 6 months. It's quite common for your character to hang up on the corner of a step, a wall, a rock, blade of grass, a spec of dust...
Personally I wanted this game to do well as I was a huge fan of DAOC in its day, unfortunately I've become quite cynical of Mythic since playing WAR through beta up to this point. Maybe if they spent a little less time playing WOW and more in their own world they might be able to add some meat to their pie. Because as it stands, for me, it's currently just a crust with a WOW box baked inside.
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MannyCalavera said on 10:58PM 4-21-2009
Did Mark Jacobs ever publish the one true list of Warhammer credits? He said he would when the IGDA and ex-employees rightly called him out about the credits fiasco last year. I never heard anything about it after that. A cursory glance at both Mythic's website and the Warhammer website don't seem to show any page of credits.
I can't bring myself to play a game from a company that screws over the people who did the actual work.
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Abriael said on 12:37AM 4-22-2009
Honestly this is the most rubbish reason to bash a game that i ever heard in my life. And I've been screwed over credits (even if in another field) myself, quite a few times. It happens, in many fields of the entertainment business. Warhammer just has more people trying to nitpick over nothing.
The game is fun, and growing, period.