The problem with Warhammer : Age of Reckoning’s RVR

If you have been playing the game and reading the various forums that deal with WAR, you will have noticed that some are not completely satisfied with how the game’s RvR component has turned out. Some frequently mentioned items that people feel contribute to this are the preponderance of scenarios and scenario grinding to the detriment of overland RvR, class/side/balance issues, mediocre rewards for keep and objective taking/ defending and bugs/exploits.

What I find problematic with WAR’s RvR boils down to one simple thing : I don’t really feel like there’s a war going on in the game. For me there is no clearly defined ”us and them” feeling attached to the whole Order vs Destruction conflict. Strangely enough, when I fight other players in scenarios and RVR, I don’t really see them as ”the enemy” but rather as fellow gamers grinding their way up the renown ranks, almost in a cooperative mentality. You allow me to get to some kills on you and rank up, I do the same for you and your mates. Everybody wins. Even if the whole war theme is recurrent and much in evidence in the PvE quests, the lore and even in the landscape, I find that from a game mechanic perspective, it still seems absent.

In my mind, what causes this phenomenon is the lack of a clearly defined and identifiable”front line” in the game. Taking Lotro Monsterplay as an example, when I log in with my creep, by looking at the map, I can rapidly see where the main areas of contention are and measure the progress either side made since I last logged in. I have little problem seeing the ebb and flow of combat throughout the Ettenmoors by looking at what keeps have been taken. By monitoring chat I can understand what is going on and get the feeling that there is a dynamic struggle between ”us” and ”them”. I get the feeling that there is some strategy involved and a concerted plan by either side to attain a given objective. In short, Lotro Monsterplay gives me the impression that there is a ”Big Picture” in the strategic sense of the word, which is manifested by the easily measured loss or gain of territory.

I don’t get that in WAR. In Age of Reckoning, combat is ”all around you”, omnipresent, but seemingly unfocused. I don’t really know, or in the long run care, that the other side is ”pushing here” or ”massing there”. I’m just going on my merry way through the tiers with no real stake in maintaining the territorial integrity of my side. The enemy just took a keep ? So what, good for them. I won’t be here long so I don’t care. I am just not drawn in to a larger picture in WAR. Heck I can’t even see one.

Hopefully I will get to experience another side of WAR’s RVR when I reach tier 4, because I do realise that I can’t have seen everything the game has to offer in this area after having only just completed tier 2. Until then though, I am anxiously awaiting the upcoming free play weekend Turbine has set up for lapsed Lotro subscribers in order to jump back on my Black Arrow and take part in a much smaller scale, but more easily identifiable and understandable, war.