Warhammer Online

Don't forget to read this Warhammer Online Strategy Guide if you want to learn more about Warhammer Online. It features several detailed chapters about various aspects of RvR, PvE, Public Quests, equipment, masteries and more.

If you're only interested in leveling to rank 40 as fast as possible, check this page!

For a guide specific to gold making, I recommend Andrew's The Ultimate Warhammer Online Gold Guide!

When I talk to many casual MMO-playing friends, I get the question "I like to play solo (or casually); what should I play as?" With WAR, I would say the choice depends more on gameplay preference (melee or ranged, weapons or spells), content preference (orc silliness or elf haughtiness/beauty), and the Order or Destruction choice than how much time and devotion you want to give to the game.

Also this game feels very alternate ("alt") friendly. I didn't feel married to my main character because WAR bleeds gameplay at every Chapter (sub-zone area of content) of the game. What you are doing at Tier 1 will be about the same as what you will be doing at Tier 4. There is no I-have-to-grind-level-so-I-can-play-the-end-game. You can join in the amazing Public Quests ("PQs"), RvR, PvP Scenarios, etc. at every stage. There is definitely a hand holding portion (some call it a tutorial), but I never felt the longing I did in other MMOs to get to Level X so I could hit my first dungeon or actually feel worthwhile in balanced PvP scenarios.

The bottom line is to try a few different classes. Plenty of people will argue on all sides as to the merits for casual/solo play for their favorites class, and there is no harm in reading their opinions. But, don't feel that once you choose a main you can never go back. The game is a far cry from that.

There are three modes of grouping in WAR: solo, group, and war group. Solo is painfully obvious, or should be. A group is anybody from 2-6 members, and a war group is a group with 2-24 members.

The first and most important part of grouping is open groups. Other MMOs have this feature where you can open your group to allow anybody to join at any time (rather than invitation only), but WAR has made it core to the game. Basically you press a button and a list of open groups will come up. They will tell you whether they are flagged for RvR, in a PQ, or merely just doing PvE, as well as how many open slots they have left in the group, and how far away they are. Small groups or war groups both have this feature available. Unless you feel the need to hardcore solo the game, you will want to use this feature as much as possible.

The open grouping system makes the need for groups very dynamic. People come and go moreso than any MMO I have experienced. Here again, Mythic has succeeded in making the "marriage"-feel of many MMOs insignificant. You should no longer feel guilt-tripped into staying with a group until the objective is completed. Play with the group as long as you want, and leave when you want. If the group is open (and it should be), someone will soon take your place.

Finally for this section, the sum of the group is far more than individual parts. The synergy that occurs when classes group up is huge. If you plan on soloing til the end, i.e., never joining an open group, you will follow a bitter path. You want to group up. Many of your skills become more pertinent, and the flow of combat becomes quicker.

The bottom line is use grouping as a dynamic tool rather than as a social contract, which requires you to stay until everybody is happy. There is plenty of stuff to solo on, but for group content don't be afraid to jump in and jump out.

Most quests in this game are soloable. There is really nothing new here for MMOs, but I want to touch on a few points.

There will be item collecting quests that require you, for example, to kill dwarves to receive dwarf beards. Unlike other MMOs, every dwarf you kill will have a dwarf beard on it. But, the awesome doesn't stop there... the dwarf beard is not an item that you have to loot. As soon as you kill a dwarf, even at long range, you get the dwarf beard. If you have three people in a group and a dwarf is killed and you all have the dwarf beards quest then all three of you will receive a dwarf beard for the quest. This is another reason to group as much as possible. You will not be fighting for that 20% drop chance dwarf beard with another player and the pray you can loot faster than your party members. You want to join up so you can kill dwarves as twice as fast and get dwarf beards as twice as fast.

Another staple of MMO quests present is the kill-the-important-person quest. You will find times where you are standing around waiting for Captain Rumpchunks to respawn so you can finish the quest you are on. Ideally as you are waiting for the respawn you will be hitting invite, invite, invite because like I said above you will all get the kill item or the kill count when in a group. The kicker to this is when you have to group to share the kill. I'll give an example: Player X starts to attack an elite mob for a kill quest after standing there for three minutes waiting for the respawn. Player X is a good player and would have invited any other people standing around, but unfortunately there was none to invite. As Player X starts worrying about whether he will drop before the elite mob does, Player A runs up and starts whacking the elite mob. Player A invites Player X into the group mid-fight, and the elite mob is dropped. BOTH players get the kill count and/or kill item for the quest. So don't be afraid to invite mid-fight with a baddy or join a group. It can only be to your benefit.

Public Quests ("PQs") are zones where a scripted encounter occurs. The encounter has multiple phases, and an objective must be completed to advance to the next phase. The first phase is kind of the warmup phase of killing 100 or so of the normal mobs in the area, and occasionally burning down some shacks as well. There is no time limit to completing this phase. The second phase usually involves killing champion level elite mobs, and occasionally burning more shacks. There is a time limit for this phase. The third phase involves killing the boss hero-elite mob, and there is a time limit. Now this is the core idea behind PQ, but the phase-pattern does not always hold. If the PQ is won, everybody rolls between 1-1000 for some loot bags (usually 3-5), and that gets added to their contribution bonus (0-400).

You will want to do PQs for a few reasons. First, quests and PQ objectives overlap a lot. You might as well hit two birds with one stone. Second, as you kill things, complete objective, and advance phases, you get influence. There are three influence levels per Chapter, and at each influence level you get a chooseable reward. Some can be really good. Finally, it is a rocking fast way to get experience. You get a ton of experience for completing each phase of the PQ and more for beating it.

PQs are "soloable." Taking a random Tier 1, Chapter 4 PQ... you can definitely grind out 100-150 kills by yourself. You might be able to take down the champion elite mobs in the allotted time during the second phase, and if you are lucky or overleveled, you could take out the hero elite boss. But be aware, the PQ mechanic is not meant for that.

The PQ mechanic works in that everybody in the area can contribute to the objective. If you have to kill 100 dark elves, some guy can run through the PQ and kill a dark elf without stopping, then leaving the PQ area. That player gets influence for doing so, and everybody gets another dark elf point for the objective. With so many people working on the same objective, you will really want to group up. At the base level you can heal or be healed much more easily in groups, and therefore get more contribution points as a healer or because your healing downtime is lessened. On higher levels, the group dynamics kick in, and the PQ goes all the quicker. Quicker PQs = more influence and more chances to win the loot bags. The only downside to joining a group is that you will be splitting gold, experience, and influence from kills. However, as each kill occurs around you by a person in your group... you will also be gaining gold, experience, and influence from mobs you didn't touch. A fine trade-off if you ask me.

You can also find PQs by using the open group window. It will show the name and Chapter of the PQ. The downside to this is that there has to be an open group present for this to work.

Scenarios are also a great way to advance. You get gobs of experience for completing them, and the realm rank is very worthwhile to pursue. When I hit Rank 13 (at Realm Rank I upgraded almost everything from the Tier 2 PvP-gear vendor. I also get a perma-buff for Toughness and Strength. I highly recommend doing a bit of both PvE and PvP. In fact, with the ease of getting the lower Realm Ranks, you are almost shooting yourself in the foot by ignoring them.

You can join scenarios solo by clicking on the join scenario queue button on your UI. When the scenario has enough players it will notify you, giving you about a minute, and then warp you to the scenario and automatically put you in a party. When the scenario is over, you get warped back to where you started.

I don't have any tips for the casual gamer except to play with your group. Don't be a lone cowboy. You will just get killed quickly if you decide to make a run in the scenario solo-style. Make sure your group synergy skills are working all the time as well.

RvR (Realm versus Realm)

RvR, basically overworld PvP with objectives, is definitely doable for the casual gamer with a group, and with the amazing open grouping system... finding an RvR group is a breeze. Like scenarios, I don't have much to say. Most of the play will come from experience. Be a considerate person in your group.

I do have a story though. I was in the RvR zone with a full group of six, and we were steamrolling the lesser battlefield objectives and other enemy groups we faced. At an objective we collide with a group of another three or so people on our side. I ask in party chat to open up to a war group so we could merge us all. The party leader replies that "we are awesome enough, and don't need any more people." This is the opposite kind of mentality you want for WAR. Sure, you might split the experience and renown (realm rank experience) a little more, but your efficiency is worth the trade off. As I envision Paul Barnett saying, "Make groups. Make bigga groups! Then punch, smash, and beat the snot out of the other enemies all the better."

To learn more about RvR, check this lens!

Crafting is fun, and as a casual gamer the small chunk of change you get from crafting can add up. Now, I will be honest. I only tried Scavenging (taking stuff off of a dead sentient's body), but I found I was supplementing my income fairly well. Basically with Butchering and Scavenging, when something dies and it gets looted, flie start buzzing around the body. Then you can butcher or scavenge the creature. If you just run away, then a few minutes later someone that didn't have looting rights can also butcher or scavenge the creature. In PQs you can see flies buzzing around so many bodies it can be overwhelming (and very lucrative).

If you are a solo player at heart, I would also recommend crafting so that you can be buffed all the time with potions. Since you won't have that synergy available from being in a group.

As a gamer with little time to spend, I find WAR to be a complete blast. It gives you the end-game gameplay right away, and the whole game feels rewarding for just playing. I have not felt the need to grind. I just play how I want to play, when I want to play it. While 30-minute session might feel a little rushed, a large amount of accomplishments can be done in a good hour of gametime. The only MMO I find to be more casual friendly is Guild Wars, and then you start trading off a lot of core MMO gameplay for the casual player's "benefit." All in all, I can't wait until Live... WAR is going to rock the socks off of the MMO genre.

If you're having trouble with anything in Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, you should consider getting this Warhammer guide. It will save you hours of research about gear, RvR combat, career mechanics, gold making and everything else you can think of.

Also, check this if you're interested in a leveling guide for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.

Your favorite store ran out of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning copies?
Amazon.com is here to your rescue.