WARHAMMER ONLINE: Fellow MMO blogger, Michael Zenke has written up an excellent article over at Massively entitled, “A World of Warcraft Player’s Guide to Warhammer Online“.
The helpful guide offers up info on world setting and gameplay style, as well as class comparisons, combat and character advancement. If you are a WoW player interested in dipping a toe into the dangerous WAR universe - it’s worth reading.
“The world of Warhammer is a great one … it’s what Azeroth is built on, at that. Here are some of the biggest differences a WoW veteran will probably notice:
WAR is low fantasy. Magic is obviously a powerful force in Warhammer, and several classes sling it around like hash at a buffet, but generally the world is much grittier and brutal than what we see in Warcraft.
One faction is evil. No, actually evil, not just ‘misunderstood’. The Orcs want to eat babies, the Dark Elves are sadists, and the Chaos Marauders want everyone dead or corrupted. You are playing a very bad person if you fight for Destruction.
The humans are deeply religious. The worship of Sigmar is a driving force for their culture, and religiosity is present in the game in a way very much absent from Warcraft. Not that this doesn’t make the humans virtuous - in truth, they’re every bit as conniving as the residents of Stormwind.
War is now. In Warcraft, the war has been over for a bit. The world as a whole is in a state of relative peace, though there are obviously plenty of border skirmishes and political problems. In Warhammer what little peace and prosperity people can find is beset on all sides by violence. There are famines, plagues, and war is everywhere.”