Yes, you read it right, and you've seen it a million times, too. I just felt the need to sit down and write out some facts, and opinions on the two after seeing all these "noob" MMO players posting saying that WAR is a "WOW clone".
First, and foremost.... WAR was around BEFORE WOW, so using that statement holds absolutely no water what-so-ever. If WOW is your first MMO, then perhaps knowing your place is the best thing to do. For those of you whom WOW is your first MMO, you must understand the WOW is most certainly not the only MMO out there, and it was most certainly not the first. You've entered a world that has existed for years, and there are a bunch of us who've been around long enough to watch the MMO evolution. For some of us, it started back in the 286 days with Multi-User Dungeons, or "M.U.D's". Those of us who've been playing them that long are truly old-school. Then you've got a large group who started with UO (Ultima Online), and you've got another group that started with EQ1 (EverQuest). I guess what I'm trying to get at, is that you can't call yourself an "elite", or an oldschool player if you started with "WOW". The MMO generation is much older than that.
Back to the infamous comparison...
WOW's original focus was on PVE (Player vs. Environment), with PvP as a nice side bonus. WAR's original design was RvR (Realm vs. Realm or Mass Player vs. Player), with PvE on the side. That's one detail that sets them completely apart right off the bat.
In WOW your ultimate goal is to get to the last boss, and clear that last dungeon, Where-as in WAR your ultimate goal is to siege the opposing faction's Major City, and claim it to loot and pillage. Yet another aspect that sets them completely, and totally apart.
Granted, WOW has changed quite a bit with PvP, and for that very reason a lot of the "Great" players have stopped playing. Why did they quit? One word, Arenas. I hear people defending arenas saying they're what defines you as the best, etc. I have to disagree. In arena you're stuck in a box, and forced to deal with many LOS (Line of Sight) issues. It's nothing more than a glorified duel, with a bunch of LOS variables / factors. When a game that was designed for PvE content starts changing classes because of Arena, or because of PvP, you've got a big problem. Perhaps that is what should define the difference between a PvP server, and non-PvP server these days, and they should take it from there. Only difference between a PvP / PvE server these days are gankers. Very rarely will you ever find yourself in the middle of a massive battle in Badlands, Southshore, STV, etc. Ironically, that's one of the main reasons they started making BG's, so people could quest in areas without worrying about these massive world PvP battles lagging them out, or getting them killed. How it got to arena? Money, plain and simple. Blizzard is a money making machine, and Arenas just upped the anti.
Back to the infamous comparison....
When it comes to mechanics, there are still some very different points for both games. However, they could be considered alike, but if you're going to be that vague then you should include the fact that WOW is like every other MMO that came before it.
Graphics: No comparison, other than the genre of orcs, elves, goblins, and man. Again, when it comes down to it, WAR was here first, not WOW. Warhammer's graphics use a lot more shading, and have FAR more detail, even at closer look. Warhammer has kept it's look much like that of it's original board game that came out many, many years ago. WOW is more of a simplistic cartoon graphic, and done purposefully so that the game can run on much older systems and still be able to see what the guy with the high-end computer can "see". If you try running Warhammer on an "older" machine, odds are you're not going to see the same thing a "top-end" computer is going to see, if anything at all. So, again, no genuine comparison there, either.
Character Creation? No contest there either. WAR allows for hundreds of ways to be "different". In WOW, aside from leveling (and even then it's noticeable) once you get to end game, the only difference between classes is race.
There are a lot of other things we could go over, but with the same results when you REALLY look at it. Warhammer Online is nothing like World of Warcraft, aside from the fact they're both MMO's that share the same genre. World of Warcraft is what it is today because it took after all the games before it, and made things EASIER, PERIOD. You can say all you want about WOW being hard, or having to be elite to be the best, etc. Fact is, WOW is an EASY MMO by design, and being at the top isn't hard to do. All you have to do is pay attention, focus, and not be hardware limited, or connection limited, and you'll own.
Other MMO's, including WAR, just aren't like that. So, if WOW was your first, and you wanna find out if you REALLY are that great, then come on over to WAR, we'll see how you fare there. If WAR just isn't your thing, then try EVE, EQ, EQII. Those are definitely games that will show you just how good you really are.
