If you have been part of the MMOWarlord community (VGNecro.com , AoCClasses.com ) you know me better under the nickname "Code Monkey". Short of bug fixings and tech support, I have very seldom taken the time to write about a game... until I discovered Warhammer Online.

It took Lifebane a good month to convince me to go ahead and try out this new MMO, which - truth be told - looked like a World of Warcraft rip-off with a non-existant marketing campaign.

Now here I was, on Saturday morning, driving back home with a pristine copy of Warhammer Online for passenger instead of "wife" (I know, some of you may call it a fair trade-off).

I open the box, there is no turning back, no refund. Will I regret it?

After a quick glance at the manual and my precious game key, my attention quickly turned to the media. I initially saw two discs, and quickly assumed I was staring at two CDs. My curiosity turned into doubt. Have we been let down? As far as I could remember, World of
Warcraft boasted four CDs (or 1 DVD) of content. The disappointment was short lived, and quickly followed by a scream of surprise:
  - "oh snaps! 2 DVDs!! woahhhhh!!!"
 
For the record, this was my first Warhammer induced shout.

A good hour passed by the time the game was installed, patched up, and ready to play. Time to grab that notepad where Lifebane scribbled my setup instructions. The plan is laid out on a manuscript and signed by Lifebane's blood. There is no mistake to be made, I shall become a greenskin, establish camp on the Role Play server of "ostermark" and play until I become worthy of the Shadowclan guild.

A curious visit to Shadowclan's greenskin website and I began to understand the kind of immersion that would be required of me... after all, I've never taken a class in "greenskin", so both the language and culture are new to me. How exciting!

Oh dear, what did I just get into, thought I!

My next move was to create my character. For fear of wanting to try myself out on some more familiar grounds I barely glanced over the races before setting my eyes on the race that will proudly engender my war-mongering, awe-inspiring, ahem... little goblin. The squig herder was an almost natural choice for me, my main on WoW being a dwarf hunter.
Wife helped me fix the cosmetics of my weakling. A big facial scar, long ears, and gorgeously hideous red eyes. And off I went, ready to explore the world and hurt some stunties.

I'm in, the interface looks somewhat traditional, mini map on the top right-hand corner, action bar at the bottom-center, my backpack opens by clicking on the usual "b" key. Even the style strangely ressembles that of World of Warcraft, though a notch better in terms of polygon count. It's obviously no "Age of Conan", but hey, this will do, provided the game experience is "au rendez-vous".

And it is! I had spent about half an hour in game and already had three levels down my belt, played quite a few quests, and participated in a public quest!

Did I mention I got catapulted at hundreds of goblin feet to go do what goblins to best? (kill dwarves a.k.a. stunties)

The master word that dwells in my mind right now is FUN. The game is plain fun!

I must say there isn't a lot that was promised, but everything promised has been given. And forget about grinding and questing in instances for hours to get NOTHING. Everyone gets something! And that's something! I truly enjoy not having to spend countless hours playing and "investing" into my character. I am a busy man. I want to play, if even for 10 minutes a week, and get some form of enjoyment. Warhammer delivered just that.

Mind you, from peering around the interface, I was intrigued by a new gauge called the "morale". And according to what is said, morale rewards the better players with better abilities. Does that mean that I may finally survive an attack by a school-skipping, computer-chair shaped kid by ways of sheer skills? Lovely!

With that said, I invite the countless players who never left World of Warcraft because of a "lack of alternative" to join us up here, in Warhammer's world. Because truly, that's where the fun's at!

And let me leave you with an old squig herder's saying:
"Bring dem stunties dat i squash dem. Waaaaaghhhhh!!!!"