Update: This column was written before we knew that Nexon has decided to sunset the game in April, unfortunately. Consider this our eulogy and a reminder of what could’ve been.
Winter has come on strong the past week, and I once again found myself browsing MOP’s PvP news for something to keep me warm as I huddled in front of my PC. The recent Warhaven update caught my attention. I remember playing the game prior to even the pre-release events. That must have been sometime in the middle of last year, right? Let me just do a quick look up on MOP again and… holy moly! October 2022! That was a while ago. I guess the game has released by now and.. no, apparently we’re technically still in a pre-release stage. Well, whatever. If it’s freely available and we can launch into it right now on Steam, then it’s released to me!
I remember enjoying the game and the combat overall. It was a bit stiff at the time, but perhaps that’s changed. Or maybe I’ve changed,. It’s been nearly a year and a half, so let’s get in there and see if it’s ready for prime time.
So what’s changed in the past two years of pre-release content?
Apparently a lot. Back when I originally played, the game was solely a 16v16 battler. There were three different game modes and six different classes you could play. Now, a ton of that has been updated and streamlined. Some for the better – some, maybe not.
First, the number of players in a match was reduced. Rather than see 16 players per side, we have 12 at most, though you can also queue for a 6v6 match. I certainly prefer having the choice here. You’ll almost never find me advocating for less options. With fewer players, the matches certainly felt more contained, which was actually an improvement for the type of battles this game was encouraging. At 16 players, with the speed of how quickly you die, it absolutely felt as if I was just zerging, respawning, and repeating. Reducing that number by a quarter improves the experience.
The game modes seem to have taken quite a hit, however. When I first played, I was navigating three different Conquest type of modes. It looks as if the only one still surviving is the Skirmish mode. But the devs did add deathmatches. In Skirmishes, players compete over three points, but only one provides victory points, and the others act as buffs. Over the course of this week’s playthroughs, I entered this game mode a few times, and as a result of the reduced total number of players, I felt I had more impact playing it.
It might be because I was a new player and I hadn’t unlocked the ranked modes, but I couldn’t see how to queue up for a specific game mode, only whether I wanted to queue into the 12- or 6-person teams. It could be that everyone simply queues into a single gigantic pool and you get randomly assigned a match type, which frankly would be awful. That is what I remember experiencing the last time I played SWTOR, and I absolutely hate it. Let me play the mode I want to play! And if that means some modes don’t have enough players to support it, well I guess that mode needs to go back to the drawing board.
I also found that most of the matches that popped for me were straight deathmatches, which I am not against at all. I love me some senseless, face-to-face action. There’s no downside to this one, actually. I just wanted to point it out since it wasn’t a mode offered originally.
I did really appreciate the option to join a battle lobby while waiting on a queue. I’m seeing this more in games, and I’m a fan. It lets you tool around for the two minutes or so in a queue rather than just staring blankly at a queue timer. That’s something I advocated for in Guild Wars 2 for years – and ArenaNet eventually implemented it, surely to appease me personally.
Finally, there are several new classes added to the game, while one was spruced up quite a bit. Of the original six I tested before, five of them are basically the same. The Arch, which was an archer, has been remade into the Claw. The character model is basically the same, but rather than shoot arrows, it’s now another melee character utilizing a single Wolverine-style claw weapon. I considered giving it a shot, but the Hush really got my attention instead.
The Hush is an assassin type of character with some heavy Assassin’s Creed and Prince of Persia vibes. In fact, it also reminded me a ton of when I played the Persian hero added to Conqueror’s Blade. It’s a fast-moving hero with extra dodges and a scimitar-styled sword. Very cool. Unfortunately, it was also very squishy.
Lastly, I have to mention the Bard hero – an absolutely excellent addition to any game’s roster. I won’t allow you to even attempt to convince me this hero isn’t based on the king of rock, Jack Black. With some passive buffs to allies and guitar smashing melee attacks, it rocks.
Gameplay and the combat design is so close to what I want, but it just misses the mark
Now, when I first logged in and played through the tutorial to re-familiarize myself with the gameplay, I was initially pretty happy. The combat started to come back together for me, and the gameplay isn’t really overly complicated. You honestly have only a handful of moves to use, and there are skillful ways to play them.
My first evening of gaming really had me hooked. The battles were tight. Some of them were blowouts, but the matches went by quickly enough that it didn’t begin to grate on me. As the next night of gaming began to approach, I was really champing at the bit to get back in there.
But then, reality hit. About halfway through the second evening, I was already seeing through the veneer of Warhaven. The Hush, whose concept and playstyle I adore, just didn’t feel great in actual combat. In most of the battles, she just got popped instantly. You do get a bunch of dodges and some cool sliding and jumping attacks, but the nature of the battles in Warhaven don’t often encourage that style of play, which leads me to the biggest issue: the balance.
There is a large imbalance in the game right now from what I could see. By the third evening, the Warhammer class was a glaring concern. Essentially the hero has a large swing that is unblockable, uninterruptable, and nearly undodgeable. It also one-shots most other heroes. It’s just too dang strong.
As the Hush, I had nearly no skillful way to outplay a Warhammer. You could argue that the longer buildup time for it means landing the hit should be rewarding, and while that’s true, there should be more ways to counter it. And perhaps the reward shouldn’t be a one-shot kill. That’s what a balance is: It’s weighing something and placing an equal weight to counter it. Here, I believe the only counter was “don’t let it hit you,” which is really no solution at all.
The good news is that the game is really fun except for some balancing issues, which – if they can be addressed – means this game could have legs. It’s not unsalvageable at all, and the devs certainly appear to be working towards improving the game. If you read my original hands-on, then my interview with Warhaven’s game director, then come back to this article you’re reading now, you’ll see just how many of my original complaints were addressed and modified between then and now. So I’m going to put this one in the hopeful category. We’ll have to check back in soon to see if Nexon gets the balance right.
Oh, and one more thing: There is an odd but hilariously subtle meme-style emoji system built into the game, and I just can’t get enough of it.
Every other week, Massively OP’s Sam Kash delivers Fight or Kite, our trip through the state of PvP across the MMORPG industry. Whether he’s sitting in a queue or rolling with the zerg, Sam’s all about the adrenaline rush of a good battle. Because when you boil it down, the whole reason we PvP (other than to pwn noobs) is to have fun fighting a new and unpredictable enemy!
