Warhammer Online



Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (officially abbreviated as WAR) was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy setting. It was developed by Mythic Entertainment and was simultaneously released in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand on September 18, 2008.[1] The game revolved around the continual worldwide conflict that the Warhammer Fantasy setting is known for, and the game is geared toward ongoing, constant war laced with dark humour.

A spin-off, Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes, was a free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena game. It entered open beta on April 10, 2012 but was shut down before it left the beta on March 29, 2013.[4]

On September 18, 2013, it was announced by Mythic that Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning would shut down on December 18, 2013, due to the license agreement with Games Workshop coming to an end.[5] The shutdown took place as planned.

Overview
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning featured Mythic's Realm versus Realm (RvR) combat system, originally developed in Dark Age of Camelot. This took place within three different racial pairings: Dwarfs vs. Greenskins, Empire vs. Chaos, and High Elves vs. Dark Elves. Although there were only two races per pairing, players could travel to either of the other two pairings to help fight with their friends and allies. There were four types of RvR combat: Skirmishes (random world encounters), Battlefields (objective-driven battles in RvR-specific areas), Scenarios (instanced, point-based battles against the opposing faction), and Campaigns (invading enemy lands and capital cities). In RvR players fight other players and, to a lesser extent, non-player characters.

Each activity generated Victory Points (VP) which measured a realm's progress in capturing a zone. When one realm reached a designated amount of Victory Points in a particular zone, that zone fell under their control and the war pushed deeper into enemy territory. This back and forth struggle for zone control continued until one side held two racial pairings, and the attacking side may sack, loot, and pillage the enemy's capital city. The capture of a capital city was the objective of the campaign. Once a capital city was taken, the attackers were given a period time to loot the city. When this period expired, the defeated players received increasing support from NPC guards until they were able to force the attackers out of their city and close the gates. At this point the campaign then begun anew, restarting the cycle.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning was a Realm versus Realm (RvR) game with two factions: Order and Destruction. Each faction contained three separate armies, each of which was further broken down into four career choices.[3] Each of the careers (classes) in Warhammer Online conform to an archetype role. For example, the Warrior Priest is an archetypal support or healer career, though he also has many melee DPS elements. In this way, the careers are given variety and avoid being simple reiterations of common archetypes.[citation needed] The initial character creation process allows players to select the race, career, and basic look of their character, including facial features and accessories. In addition to the original name that the player chooses for their character at creation, the player has the option to add a surname to their character for a small fee at rank 20. Dye is available at NPC vendors for recoloring armor and accessories. Players are able to decorate themselves with trophies, such as the heads of fallen enemies, which are equipped and displayed at various points on the character model.

Mythic offered four different server types at launch: Core, Open RvR, Role-Play, and Open RvR/RP. On Core servers, enemy factions can only attack each other if both players are flagged for RvR. Players are automatically flagged for RvR upon entering RvR-specific areas or enemy PvE areas, and can choose to turn their flag on at any time. Open RvR servers are flagged for RvR at all times, with few exceptions. Role-Play servers have the same rules as the Core servers, and players are encouraged to role-play their characters. Finally, Open RvR/RP servers follow the same rules as the Open RvR servers, and players are encouraged to role-play their characters.