Warhammer Online: A Beginner's Guide

Here's the beginning of my beginner's guide to WAR.

When you first log into the game you're going to have a few decisions to make.

What server are you going to play on?

If you have friends playing on a specific server you might as well join them, this game is exponentially more fun with guildies to play with. That being said you by no means need to have friends in-game already to enjoy WAR.

First there are different types of servers to play on. Core, Open RvR, and Roleplay.

Core servers are your basic servers that you would find in any game. The include pve and rvr areas. You can venture to the opposing realms pve areas and can "flag" for rvr fighting if you choose to do so or you can fight people in the rvr "lakes" as they are called.

Open RvR servers are a ruleset similar to a PvP ruleset server you would find in other games. Basically you can go anywhere and find your enemies to fight and kill them.

Roleplay servers are Core ruleset servers with the addition of a roleplay rule set. On these types of servers you are expected to create a character with a name that would fit the game world and you need to roleplay as your character in the world.

Here's a list of servers you may want to play on:

Core: Red Eye Mountain, Skull Throne, Volkmar, Sylvania.

Open RvR: Can't recommend any because I haven't played on them.

Roleplay: Phoenix Throne and Ostermark.

A good way to choose a server that you will be happy with is to log on during prime-time 7:00-10:00 EST and find which servers have a med or high population. Population matters in this game because rvr relies on having other people to fight.

Once you have chosen your server you will need to decide what Realm (or Faction) that you want to play for. Do you want to be the good guys with Humans, Elves and Dwarves? Or the bad guys with Orcs, Goblins, Chaos, and Dark Elves? Take a look at the class descriptions either in game or here http://www.warhammeronline.com/armiesofWAR/index.php. That way you'll have a good idea what you're getting into. Personally I play order and I really enjoy it.

If you've played previous MMO's and know what type of class you most enjoy playing then try the class that seems most like what you like to play. Or the class that interests you the most.

When I started playing I couldn't decide what class I liked so I basically tried them all to get an idea of how they played. Which is also a good way to choose a class.

Once you choose your class of choice, create your character and log in...

You will be presented with a little video with a voice over as you log in to the starting area for your race. Pick up as many quests as you can in the starter area. At this point you are in Tier 1 of 4. As you continue through the game you will get to higher teirs as you level up.

The tiers each have 2 zones, one for the lower level half of the tier and one for the higher level half of the tier. In the middle of both teirs on your map is a red zone which is called the RvR "lake."

The levels for the teirs work as follows.

Tier 1: 1-11
Tier 2: 12-21
Teir 3: 22-31
Teir 4: 32-40

You are able to travel to higher teirs but the mobs in the higher teir may be too high for you to fight. However, if you're close to the last levels of the tier you're in then you will find going to the next tier will give you better xp.

In each teir there are 4 chapters each with their own chapter hub. A chapter hub is where you can go to pick up quests and get influence rewards for the Public Quests that you have completed.

The quest system in the game is great. Once you accept a quest you will have an outline of the quest on the right side of your UI as well as red "lakes" on your map for where the quest area is for each specific quest. On your map if you hover over the red lake it will tell you which quest is there and what needs to be completed in that area. Anyone with green over their head or a green dot on the mini map will give you a quest. Anyone with a yellow circle on the mini-map has given you a quest to complete. Anyone with an orance circle above their head or on the mini-map is someone who you need to speak with to get the xp and reward for a quest that you've completed.

Public quests are a great way to get gear while you are leveling up. While completing your quests you will run across areas that are called public quests. After you have found them they will appear as a treasure chest on your map. Once you reach a public quest you will see in your top rigth corner to the left of the mini-map a bar that measures your Influence as well as something that needs to be completed. If you click on that bar it will open your Tome of Knowledge and show you the rewards availible for that chapter. Usually a public quest starts with kill x amount of x. Once this is complete Stage 2 will begin. Usually stage 2 deals with killing x amount of champions, you will not be able to complete this stage along. Stage 3 is usually kill a Named Hero. You will not have to worry about going to find them as they all spawn in the PQ area.

Everytime you kill something for the public quest or finish a stage you will recieve Influence xp. Your influence bar is divided into thirds. At each third you will be able to recieve a new reward from the rally master of that specific chapter hub.

Give it a go for now. That is definatly enough to get anyone started. Yes it's mostly PVE but we'll get to the RvR in future posts.