Many are the flame wars going on now between WoW players and WAR players, but I thought it may be good to put my two cents in as an ex-WoW player, and current WAR player. I left WoW before WOTLK after many months of being capped at 70, running all the same instances every weekend with my guild. While I enjoyed their company, fighting the same battles week in and week out got very stale, and I decided to leave the game.

I had been following the development of Warhammer Online since it changed hands over to Mythic. I was very impressed by what I saw, and was optimistic that the final product would be as good as they were touting. I managed to get into the closed beta (one of my many MMO beta forays), and was glad to see that the developers took every step of game creation seriously, and genuinely cared about what the players were saying about their game.

When the devs announced that they were cutting 4 out of the 6 capitol cities in favor of having a spawling city on each side of the good/evil line, I was a bit taken back. I was also upset that they removed a few classes they considered unbalanced for the game. However, after playing the game and understanding why they made these decisions, I believe it to be the best choice. I'm also very grateful that they continued to work on those cut classes and now they're adding them back into the game- for free to any player.

As for what I like about the game, there are several things. As an ex-WoWer, the game was easy to pick up and play. The interface is fairly similar, and the game mechanics still borrow heavily from the tried-and-true MMO formula. However its the unique features of the game that have really grabbed me.

My guildmates jokingly call me the "Tome junkie", because I'm absolutely addicted to unlocking every entry in the game's Tome of Knowledge. Think of it as collectable rewards for doing certain things in the game. You get XP, bonuses to abilities, new titles, etc all for completing these tasks. I liken it to collecting a set of baseball cards (or Pokemon for you younger set).

I also thoroughly enjoy the RvR in the game, which is their equivalent of PvP. Whereas in most games, PvP has very little effect on the day-to-day of the game world, WAR's RvR makes all the difference.  As the game's population advances, the struggle for control of the game world goes back and forth, until finally, one side can capture, sack and loot the other's capital city.

The open RvR of the game is unlike anything else on the market right now.  Taking a keep away from the enemy is very exciting, and involves the use of ballistae, battering rams, etc. It's really a sight to behold when you first experience it. WoW has nothing even remotely close to this.

The most important thing to me is the inclusion of additional classes, RvR scenarios, and additional content for free. The developers are working hard to keep the game fresh and give players something new, all while maintaining balance.  I'm very satisfied with my purchase of this game, and recommend it to anyone who'd like to try something different in their MMO.