Warhammer Online's free trial becomes endless, caps level at 10 -- Joystiq

Warhammer Online's free trial becomes endless, caps level at 10

by Griffin McElroy { Nov 6th 2009 at 2:00PM }

Most MMO players tend to spend significantly more time in their virtual environs than a 10-day free trial could possibly permit -- that's why Mythic Entertainment recently made some drastic changes to its trial program for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. From now on, folks who demo the game for free will have an unlimited amount of time to try it out -- however, their characters can only reach level 10 before they stop accumulating experience.

Sounds like a wise move on Mythic's part to increase interest in the title, but we're worried that it might create a new breed of Warhammer trial players who get treated like second-class citizens by their subscription-paying counterparts. "Keep walking, ten-capper," they'd say without making eye contact, "we don't take kindly to you folks around here."

Tags: demo, ea, free, mmo, mmorpg, mythic, mythic-entertainment, trial, warhammer-online

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Shadowfax (PSN: u2fan4894) @ Nov 6th 2009 2:05PM

I'm going to download this and try to do everything in the game without going past level 10.

Demo @ Nov 6th 2009 2:16PM

We don't take kindly to folks that don't take kindly around here

freaparn @ Nov 6th 2009 2:35PM

I don't much cotton to your lack of taking kindly.

jynxycat @ Nov 6th 2009 2:17PM

Honestly, this is a great move. The game offers lots to do even before you get to 10, since PVP arenas are viable at every level tier.

WAR was a fun game, but immediately at launch, the content for about level 25+ wasn't balanced correctly. There wasn't enough quest XP to level up with zones correctly, faction imbalances were starting to amass, only a few PVP battlegrounds were played due to the rewards/time involved.

I'm sure they've sorted it out by now, I just don't have any time anymore to play MMOs.

Shagittarius @ Nov 6th 2009 2:25PM

"...I just don't have any time anymore to play MMOs."

It looks like you spend most of your time removing your undergarments.

Shadowfax (PSN: u2fan4894) @ Nov 6th 2009 2:27PM

@Shagittarius

That, sir, is time well spent.

Rhamsey @ Nov 6th 2009 2:22PM

Well, they peaked my interest, I'll download it now.

Martin Greenberg @ Nov 6th 2009 2:24PM

*piqued
/nazi

Martin Greenberg @ Nov 6th 2009 2:23PM

Well, I'll direct it to you. What do you think when you see a car labeled "student driver" (or those of you in the UK, "L" plates)? Is it, "This is a student driver! I must support them in their learning process by being sure to be polite to them!" or something closer to, "God damn, another one of these student drivers. Why don't they just LEARN TO DRIVE AND GROW UP ALREADY N00BS?!?!?!" Think hard.

TwistedBishop @ Nov 6th 2009 2:44PM

It's not like the free trial people have a big scarlet A on their chests. Tier 1 (up to level 10) had plenty of people before this offer. You won't be able to tell them apart.

Don't you see? They're here already!

You're next!

YOU'RE NEXT!

Doctor John Smith @ Nov 6th 2009 3:11PM

I kept my student driver sticker for a long time after I got my license, because most people reacted like "Oh dear that is a student driver let us give him lots of space so he doesn't kill us."

...I hope you liked my irrelevant story.

TravistyOJ @ Nov 6th 2009 2:37PM

Not sure why this game gets so much hate, but I love it. If anyone is Chaos on Gorfang look me up, I'm Capaneus.

Das @ Nov 6th 2009 3:14PM

I wish they would allow free play for existing accounts too so I could go back and see how it plays now. 3 of my chars are over the limit but I would gladly reinstall and play one of my pre 10 dudes to see if I want to come back to it. I did like the game but the lag issues were what caused me to stop my sub twice.

dogmaticatheist @ Nov 6th 2009 3:19PM

They might get more paying customers if they make a game that isn't a blatant "me too" WoW ripoff. Yes, I know Blizzard ripped of GW's ideas, but at least make a different kind of game.

Ghen @ Nov 6th 2009 3:25PM

*facepalm*

TwistedBishop @ Nov 6th 2009 3:50PM

Different how, though? It's an MMO, so you're going to have quests. I guess they could have not included mounts and tradeskills?

The rest of the game is structured very differently from WoW. Between open world RvR, city sieges, Public Quests, the Tome of Knowledge, PvP levels and armor/ability rewards, Tier and Chapter influence levels and resultant rewards, PvP loot drops....there are few WoW comparisons that can be made past the superficial. It does a great job merging PvP into a traditionally PvE-centric MMO genre, rather than just stapling some battlegrounds onto a PvE game.

Mopo @ Nov 6th 2009 4:13PM

You do realize that the Warhammer franchise has been around, oh about 22 years...

You may want to do a bit more research before you sound like a complete asshat; Blizzard did not rip anything off of Guild Wars/ArenaNet. ArenaNet was formed by a group of senior developers from Blizzard back in the day and made Guild Wars from it. WoW was already in development.

That is like saying Honda ripped off Ford, because that thing has four wheels...

So /facepalm would be the correct reaction...

TwistedBishop @ Nov 6th 2009 4:46PM

He meant Games Workshop, not Guild Wars.

dogmaticatheist @ Nov 6th 2009 4:53PM

GW == Games Workshop, where Blizzard ripped off all their ideas.

All fantasy MMOs are *mostly* the same. Sure they all have their differences, but it's all the same gameplay mechanics, quests, etc.

I play WoW for a number of years, then moved on to LOTRO (which I found was a better implementation), then I tried Warhammer and realized I had been playing the same game the whole time.