So it has been a few weeks since my last post.  There are a few reasons for this:

1. I canceled my EQ2 account and was waiting for the WAR open beta to begin for me. (Thanks again to Landuran who bought all the EQjunkies the game).

2. School started again.  For the fellow graduate students out there - you know what a complete time sink this is.

3. UPS & USPS can be annoying (details below)…

I did get a chance to play WAR beta for a few nights, maybe a total of 10 hours or so.  I had mixed feeling about it.  When you first start the game you have to wait through a couple of developer splash screens to come up and also click through two agreements every time you log in.  The annoyance of clicking these agreements has been well documented.

For me, the license thing is annoying, but it isn’t a game breaker.

Once you get into the game the graphics are refreshing.  They are kind of a cross between EQ2 (who goes for realism) and WoW (which is admittedly cartoonie).  The result is scenery that flows in the background and characters that look like a split between Conan (the movie, not the game) and Dragonball Z.  I really enjoy how my Blight Wizard looks like a bad ass. (I went for the spiked hair and a couple tattoos).

The game play in the noob zones (I only played for a few hours) is similar to other MMOs.  You are given some basic quests and are asked to perform some basic functions to get used to the game.  The main difference is the existence of open groups and open raids.  Basically, if you are in the same area as an open group/raid you can join without being invited and everyone works together.  What is really impressive is how seamlessly this works.

Now to why UPS/USPS is annoying - I still haven’t received my game in the mail.  Landuran, Greldor, and Myclawz all already got it.  Mine was shipped UPS, but they handed it off to USPS.  They are holding it hostage somewhere in PA and hasn’t moved in a couple days.  Consquently, I haven’t been able to log on and play (I am busy enough with school that it hasn’t bothered me all to much yet).

One last thing - my weekday posts won’t be back to normal for a couple more weeks.  I have a lot of homework to do & it is more or less consuming my life.

If you have some free time, I would recommend buying WAR and giving it a shot.