Game makers can ideas from anyywhere to improve upon their products. In this list we explore the five most important things that World of Warcraft learned from Warhammer Online Age of Reckoning.
The Warhammer Influence
Blizzard makes no secret that they take influences from books, films, and even other games. Prime among those influences is that of the miniature game Warhammer. The first Warcraft game, Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, is one of many games at the time that took design and even gameplay cues from Warhammer, and certainly the most successful. Since that time Blizzard has made the universe their own, spawning a game series capped by the most popular MMO of all time: World of Warcraft.
Warhammer Online, or WAR - short for Warhammer: Age of Reckoning - was released on September 18th, 2008 was seen as a direct competitor to World of Warcraft. Some even thought it went so far as to copy WoW's style, which frustrated Warhammer fans as evidenced by a now infamous Penny Arcade comic. It's success has been marginal at best, (you can read all about Why Warhammer Online Failed in Michael Hartman's article) but it brought a lot to the table that WoW didn't. Always looking to improve their product, Blizzard saw ways to improve WoW and did so. Below is a list of the five most important things that World of Warcraft learned from Warhammer Online.
5. Achievements and Titles
Achievements weren't new to Warhammer Online, they had been implemented into the Xbox 360 and PS3 years before the release of the game. What WAR did, though, was integrate achievements in a way that had not been done before, making them an essential part of the experience.
Players all have a Tome of Knowledge, a book that acts as part tracker for Warhammer Online quests and part achievement guide. Different achievements are unlocked while going through the game, some of which have helpful, cool, or downright hilarious rewards. For example, clicking on yourself 5,000 times will get you an achievement and a title "The Vain" which is displayed after your name.
World of Warcraft adapted this system in a much more limited fashion, but effective nonetheless. While completing WoW achievements won't net XP like in Warhammer Online, you can still get some pretty cool prizes and titles, including a one of a kind epic flying mount.
4. Guild Leveling
The ability to level up a guild not only brings the guild closer together, uniting them towards a common goal, but it also encourages players to seek out a guild, and not solo their way through the game. Though it wasn't exclusive to Warhammer Online, they integrate
d the idea of a guild leveling system in a simple and effective way. Allowing guilds to level simply through a player's normal actions made guild leveling painless.
Blizzard knows that the better a social experience World of Warcraft is, the longer people will play it, and the longer they play it the more Blizzard gets paid. It's definitely in their best interest to get people into guilds. Though overshadowed by the announcement of New Races in Cataclysm, there was much talk, although few details, of a guild leveling system similar to that of Warhammer Online.