World of Battles just shows how out of the loop I am. Someone was making a real time army building/troop collecting fantasy MMO wargame and no one told me? I probably got a PR announcement about it months ago, but today’s note from Calico Media was a bit of a surprise.
Hard to tell from the video or screenshots exactly what is going on besides people/beasts/creatures killing each other, but I encourage all of you to play it and let me know if I should give it a more serious look.
hmm I had spent 10 minutes writing out a mini-review of this game, and when I clicked submit without having website backup it erased it all and said I should fill out all the fields….
so long story short
It controls exactly like a Total war game(camera and hotkeys) and plays like it on a smaller scale with far less units. RPG element seems to be good for fun and variety. Big problem right now is that there are far too few people playing to jump into battles as quick as I should be able to.
I’d say it is worth picking up. thanks for the reference: I would have passed right over this if not for your link.
Another Online RTS – wish they would stop stringing MMO and RTS together where its not valid. Game looks interesting though and each new entry, either MMORTS or Online RTS, brings something new and innovative.
How can folks play nerfed D&D still I dont know, seems pc’s are ideally suited to RTS and MMORTS. There is no way WoW etc can simulate the options and risk of tabletop D&D whereas computers bring so much to those who strategise. Painting one figure was fun, 300 was grind!!
hmmm maybe thats why I hate MMO’s in general: as I have been playing D&D 3.5 for around 4 years(tried 4.0 but the combat was too slow… was I doing something wrong).
I kinda like it, or rather, I want to like it, but after I mention competent graphics and generally solid game play, it’s downhill from there.
Unit control gets finicky and unforgiving once you engage given the retreat rules.
The camera is always and forever too close to the ground. Even after playing for a few hours, I was still trying to zoom out further in vain.
The first three to five minutes of every ten to fifteen minute match is getting your army to their army. Add on the setup phase and it’s like the initial base building phase of a traditional RTS without the base building. Which is also to say that most units are pretty slow given map sizes.
Now imagine a game mode where you’re stuck on a map for twenty minutes. Add in the part where you’re army respawns when and only when your last unit has died, all the way back in your starting location. Suffice it to say, I only played the Deathmatch mode once.
The battles are most interesting with a good mix of unit types, but you also get those matches where there’s only two or three which makes for a pretty direct and pretty boring slug fest.
I like RPG mechanics, and they’ve put a lot of them into this game. However. On one hand, they make the game a grind fest that only really works in a single player game, while on the other, they splinter the player base all to hell. Together, you have this fun situation where you’re slowly grinding your army into a smaller and smaller segment of opponents.
And now we come to Yahtzee’s dog* bullet between the eyes – the pay for perks mechanic. Because you actually aren’t paying for perks, you’re paying for parity, and there’s two tiers of this. If you aren’t paying, you’re at a substantial disadvantage. If you are paying for a basic subscription, you’re *still* at a disadvantage compared to those who are paying more.
There may be some quibbles about balance in certain game modes, but eh. It’s clearly in Beta, but I’ve this sense that it could turn into one of those games that stays in Beta forever.