Feature lists
You know them; they tell you all the wonderful things that the game’s going to have, and how it will be sooo much better than any other game you’ve played because of the extensive and wonderful feature list that will differentiate this game from all others.
It always reminds me of that real estate sales pitch “Renovator’s Dream”. This more or less equates to a shithole dump that’s going to cost you an absolute fortune to get it to a state where you can live in it, let alone resell it. I don’t really take much notice of feature lists, or at least I try not to.
Warhammer: Age of Reckoning has an extensive feature list, and to be honest I couldn’t really tell you much about any of it. I’ve read a few blogs, checked out the websites and so on, but I haven’t looked into the features in any depth. The Living Guild feature, couldn’t tell you what that’s about. Then there’s the Open Group thingy. Not sure how that works. Public Quests anyone? As for the rest of the features *shrugs* I don’t know, what are they?
The reason I don’t bother too much with the feature list is because they always sound awesome, and you think “Wow, this is going to be the best game EVA!” But when it comes to release and I’m in the game doing my thing, it all just feels much the same as any other MMOG. Will the Living Guild system affect me? Certainly not in the first 20 levels.
Now don’t misinterpret what I’m trying to say here. I don’t think that WAR’s features are going to be bad or insignificant; I just don’t see that it’ll be the huge evolution in gaming that the WARbois will have you believe. It’ll be the sort of thing that you might notice as you level and learn the game, a kind of “Oh hey, that’s pretty cool” sort of feeling.
I’ve made up my mind to play Warhammer at release, or as close to release as I can, seeing as how my local EB Games store can’t seem to match their release date with EA Mythic’s announcement. For me WAR is kinda like Dark Age of Camelot and looks kinda like World of Warcraft. And that’s all I need. If it’s an improvement on DAoC then it has to be good, doesn’t it?
Comments
Comment from Keiri
Time: August 15, 2008, 8:59 am
I never played DAoC. *ducks*
Is it safe to come out now? *creeps back in*
I’m kinda with Cal on the “not paying too much attention to promises” thing. I am trying to keep my expectations low, so that I won’t be disappointed. For me, if it has solid game play with enough content to keep me busy and entertained, combined with half-way decent graphics that don’t make my character look ridiculous, then I’ll be satisfied.
That and if it has cookies. I like cookies.
Comment from 
caliga
Time: August 15, 2008, 9:26 am
@Openedge
I agree with everything you’ve said, hence the reason I’m not paying too much attention to the awesome feature list. In the end, will it be a case of kill 10 wolves, then kill 10 grey wolves, then kill 10 hungry wolves, 10 starving wolves, 10 rabid wolves….you see my point. So long as the group dynamics are fun and good and work then I don’t care if I have to kill 100 wolves.
@Keiri
I’m sure your toon will look hot anyway *winks*. But yes, if it has solid gameplay and enough to do, and stuff that has meaning. Not just kill 10 X, but kill 10 X and earn X amount of points towards your guild, faction, unique item, whatever. That and someone to feed me cookies *grins*
Comment from Keiri
Time: August 15, 2008, 9:42 am
Exactly. One thing AoC -does- have (at the lower levels anyway) is very involved questlines that make you actually want to READ the quests. Each quest has a really good story to go with it–it’s not just, “The wolves are being pesky again. Go kill ten of them.” Instead, it’s “I need wolfpelts because I use them to make fancy underpants which the whores use to entice the evil invading army, and then we creep up on them after they are asleep and strangle them with the wolfpelt-undperpants.” You get my point. I’m still killing wolves, but at least there’s an in depth reason for it. And, you know, underpants. hehehe. I kid. I kid.
What AoC LACKS however, is consequence for those quest lines. There isn’t any faction to be earned, or status, as Cal mentioned. Yes, you earn xp and loot, but it’s nice to see a long-term benefit from completing quests.
I’m more of a “let’s get a group and go kill things” kind of girl, so quests have to have something more to keep my attention. I am hopeful WAR will have at least some elements of this. Grouping and instances for grouping. Please o mighty gods of gaming, give me lots of group instances to run. If I have to solo all the time, I get bored FAST. I play MMO’s to interact with other players. If I wanted to solo, I’d pop in a single player RPG and go to town. MMO’s are for social creatures.
@Openedge I haven’t even gotten far enough in my research to know about the things you mentioned. Thanks for putting them out there–I look forward to learning more.
@Cal–Of course my toon will be hot. I am a character creation goddess, and don’t you forget it. 
Comment from
caliga
Time: August 15, 2008, 9:49 am
Keiri said Quote “give me lots of group instances to run. If I have to solo all the time, I get bored FAST. I play MMO’s to interact with other players. If I wanted to solo, I’d pop in a single player RPG and go to town”.
Exactly. I hate soloing in MMO’s. If I dont have time to group then that’s when I’ll harvest or craft of solo quest. But hell, give me a dungeon to clear because it’s full of evil, or good, that needs to be cleared and I’m there. Give me wolves to clear ’cause they’re wolves and I’m going to the SPCA.
And I know your toon will be hot, who am I kidding 
Comment from Openedge1
Time: August 15, 2008, 8:23 am
I have been having a back and forth on this a little with Heartless Gamer. I see the Public quests system as a new way to quest, but it still is the same TYPE of questing.
The Public Quest sounds unique in that as you enter a zone, it will announce that a “Public Quest” is active. Then you can join in the merriment without dedicating your life to a schedule. You can play for 5 minutes, and still get some type of reward, and of course rewards increase the longer you are there.
This explains the “open group” feature as well. The search feature will show groups in a zone, and if they are open, you can hop right in.
My first issue is the Public Quests, though unique in how you do them, can still be the EXACT same quests (kill 10 of this, get me 5 of this, kill a boss)
And the open group looks like a situation where you join another group, and they see you don’t have heals, then they kick you right back out.
In so many words, hopefully as we play, this data will be fleshed out more. For now, I just see strife and grinding ahead.