Preordering Warhammer

[dane323]

Hey guys, I had a question for you and as you may be able to tell from the title, I was curious what the attitude was on the forums regarding preordering Warhammer. Given the troubled nature of Attila and Rome at release, I have seen a lot of people being very hesitant about this game. However, I know that they have pushed release back a month to make sure it is ready and I would imagine that CA (or whoever it is at this point) would be keen to release something that is actually ready for launch, given all the negative feedback they received on both games. Also, as someone who doesn't know a lick about Warhammer I'm a little hesitant but from watching the gameplay videos it looks like a fine game that adds so much new and interesting content to explore. Frankly, I'd like to see some pre-release reviews (if there are some please let me know!) before preordering ANYTHING they put out regardless of additional content and despite my intense loyalty to the franchise. That being said though, I cant imagine not buying the game and look forward to seeing the finished product!

Salut!

[HigoChumbo]

Well, let's say this is the most accurate representation of you right now



If my own opinion is of any help: I don't think pre-ordering gives any advantage to the client other than for those who already know they will be getting the game soon after release no matter what (in which case, there is just no question that having the Chaos DLC discounted from the total price is a plus). I personally believe CA does not deserve the vote of confidence required by pre-ordering given their recent releases and handling of the community (although I have to recognize there has been an improvement in that area). In my opinion, pre-ordering does as well no good to the gaming scene since the usual outcome is companies giving more importance to hype marketing -in many cases deceitful- than to releasing a high quality game that sells itself, so keep in mind that the only party which will profit from your pre-order is CA/SEGA, not you. Nowdays, since digital distribution has removed the potential shortage of high-demand items and late mail postage, pre-orders are nothing but a way of supporting the developer (independently of whether you consider it development funding or giving CA an interest estimate to soothe their investors), and this close to release, I'd say further support means little for the development of the game and is therefore only a way of taking advantage of the hype to sell games before reviews.

All that said, it's your own decision and your own money, you should not base your judgement on the "general opinion". It's perfectly fine if you decide to pre-order the game, and also keep into account that if you purchase it directly from Steam, you'll be able to refund it under some conditions.

In any case, whatever you choose, there is absolutely no reason for you to pre-order now and not the week before release, where you will have more available information to make your judgement.

[Jom]

If you want to give CA a vote of confidence, then pre-order, but I haven't played a Total War game from release since Shogun II, learning that I should wait for patches to iron out bugs. In fact, it's a pretty good rule of thumb to never pre-order and wait and see what happens with the game in general to avoid disappointment. I'm a little hypocritical in saying that, though, as I pre-ordered The Witcher 3, but luckily I wasn't let down in the slightest.

[Pyrrhus the Molossian]

I preordered and I've never preordered before. For everything else I've waited till it was cheap on a Steam sale. Yet, this game looks so undeniably awesome that I had to preorder. I've read a number of Warhammer Fantasy books especially the Vampire Wars and story of Nagash. So the inclusion of Mannfred Von Carstein is definitely a dream come true. The fact it includes Chaos Warriors is just a bonus to me.

[Påsan]

Wait for the reviews and youtuber lets plays to come out, then if you're still positive you'll buy it, go for it. Make up your own mind.

[Frost, colonel]

Wait for the reviews and youtuber lets plays to come out, then if you're still positive you'll buy it, go for it. Make up your own mind.

Well I keep asking myself when will I order mine? I want the game, but I have had my desire to play exasperatingly crushed so many times with their new releases and the bugs that rob me of the desire to continue, or campaigns which can't be continued after the latest updates and so weeks of work has to be written off.
If the reviews are not out in good time, they may not do us much good.

Sure any simple bugs will be picked up quickly enough but, some of the bugs take a while to come to the surface, and it's not so easy when your all bug eyed about the new good stuff.
Several of CA's releases have caught me out like this(I raced into an English campaign in MTWII then after a full week of play found the 2 handed weapons bug, thus wasting that whole 1st week to a trashed campaign. I waited months just to play as the English, and their main infantry were useless), then their is the quick fixes they bring out which cause problems(when the sound went kaput in ETW, or the Roman Pila went kaput in RTWI).

The pattern is quite funny really, how easily CA manage to hype me up for a new game, and how each time their inept buggy launches manage to throttle my resolve to play. By the time the game is fully patched half of me by then can't be bothered to play, in other words much of the lustre has departed.

What sort of a testing team have CA got this time around? Is there finally an open Beta to really help dig those bugs out early? Was that ETW whose launch was put back because of bugs?
Seen as CA could and indeed did release RTWII months earlier than they should have, why will Warhammer be fine at release? because it's so closely based on Attila that it can't be to buggy? or that they can't afford a poor release because that will affect sales of the other 2 parts to the trilogy and all the pre planned DLC?

Oh I don't know, you lot make your own minds up.

[dane323]

Hahahaha thank you for the opinions gents! My reason for posting was really to see what people who have been following it more closely/who like Warhammer think of the game so far from what we have seen, apologies if I sounded silly in my original post! Has the game been handed over to youtubers for review? I know the development team has been releasing videos but I wasn't sure if we had some third-party input.

Edit: Also, has there been any recent updates on their historical title?

[Frost, colonel]

Has the game been handed over to youtubers for review?

I would be very surprised if CA handed out the game to someone this early, I could well be wrong but I think maybe a week or so before release, what do you others think?

[The Holy Pilgrim]

I'm preordering just because I know that: (1) I will most definitely play this game (be it at release or otherwise), (2) I won't want to wait a year for it to be on sale, and (3) I might as well get some free content out of it.

[Chris P. Bacon]

I did the same reason I preordered Rome II and Attila. Even if the game is a COMPLETE train wreck on release I can just go "thats a damn shame" and come back in 6 months when (hopefully) most of the problems are ironed out and tons of mods have been made.

[DavidtheDuke]

And if you buy on Steam you can refund the game, just don't play over the 2 hour window and refund within two weeks of release. I intend to preorder a few days before to preload it. AFter it releases I'll play a custom battle or two then wait for independent reviews and lets plays as if I haven't played the game before.

[badbomb]

The way i see it. If you are going to get it anyway unless you plan on waiting for a good sale price just preorder it, even if you dont plan on playing it til a few patches are out, so you dont have to spend more for the Chaos DLC.

And for the youtuber reviews they seem to give it to them early within the last month/3 weeks before release and asking to wait the week of release or so, or i remember thats how attila was, and there has been other videos from non devs mostly either just commenting on the dev footage or showing themselves playing the already released battles and recently released the siege videos which were all different places.

[hep]

I've been wanting this game to happen for years, so I really wanted to preorder it. I don't even mind "beta testing" the game on release because of how badly I want it to succeed into a well made trilogy.

...but, I really don't want to preorder the game because of how strongly I feel against CA's preorder DLC policy and how its been abused in the past. I don't want to perpetuate the cycle of preorders encouraging CA to release unfinished games.

So far I've resisted pre-ordering, but I think I may pre-order when the pre-release reviews are out, regardless of whether they are good or bad.
As daft as it sounds, I would rather have my statistic coincide with increased transparency, rather than after the release of some cinematic trailer or some buggy battle with nice graphics.

I'd really hate it if they only handed out review copies to the people who are going to sing CAs praises and give it a high score, I really don't want to contribute to dishonest corporate behaviour.

The sad thing is that I no longer feel hyped for this game, because of how disappointed I am with the design decisions that CA have made.
If it was a historical game I probably wouldn't bother getting it, because of how shallow the gameplay looks (deep rather than wide lol).
But seeing as it looks like it is warhammer fantasy's grand finale I feel compelled to stick with it.

I really hope mods can get it on the right track.

[Fallen851]

I have been ridiculously close to pre-ordering this game several times because I've wanted this exact game for so long.

But the more I see of it beyond the first few videos of it, the more I see a game that isn't as "deep" as it is supposed to be. The sieges look awful. You can only attack one side of the city, and every unit can simply climb the walls with magically appearing ladders? And the towers have so much range that the attacking army can't sit out of range and wait for the gate to be captured or a section of wall to be destroyed? So everyone just bum rushes the wall and then uses magical ladders to climb them. What is that, where is the strategy?

That is a giant step back from the sieges of the original Rome Total War. CA literally just bled almost every offensive or defensive siege strategy right out of the game.

So I'll probably sit this one out, and if the game turns out to be awesome, I'll purchase it then. I have no problem at all paying for quality DLC if the game is awesome and fun, so I'd happily pay a bit extra for Chaos knowing the game is awesome.

[Frost, colonel]

So far I've resisted pre-ordering, but I think I may pre-order when the pre-release reviews are out, regardless of whether they are good or bad.

No criticism hep, but why not just pre-order it and get it over and done with, I mean if you plan on doing so even if the early reviews are bad?
I think there are quite a few of us who are trying to stand on principle but want the game, even more we want it to be a good game, not a shallow cut paste of Attila with warhammers cool units.

I am both amused and pissed off at the same time that CA have me over such a barrel. I can't think of another situation in life like this, and how many times CA have had me in it. You would think an old dog like me would of learned, but oh no it's the same old sh_ _! Basically I feel like a junkie who can't seem to say no.

[hep]

No criticism hep, but why not just pre-order it and get it over and done with, I mean if you plan on doing so even if the early reviews are bad?
I think there are quite a few of us who are trying to stand on principle but want the game, even more we want it to be a good game, not a shallow cut paste of Attila with warhammers cool units.

I am both amused and pissed off at the same time that CA have me over such a barrel. I can't think of another situation in life like this, and how many times CA have had me in it. You would think an old dog like me would of learned, but oh no it's the same old sh_ _! Basically I feel like a junkie who can't seem to say no.

It's the timing that I'm being fussy about.
CA will have a load of preorder sales statistics.
E.g. 1000 people preordered on the 20th of March after we released this video.

As insignificant as it may seem I don't want my sale to look like it was placed after the release of a buggy but good looking siege battle.
I want it to look in CAs statistics like I've preordered it after they've done something good, such as the game being reviewed by a mixed bunch of reviewers prior to release.

One sale might not make a difference but if enough people took the same approach it might nudge CA towards honesty and transparency.

I agree to feeling over a barrel, CA desperately need a competitor.

[econ21]

Given the troubled nature of Attila and Rome at release,

Attila was fine at release; imo the best TW game to date. Rome 2 had issues, I agree. I think CA have done a reasonable job supporting these titles after release, though.

I cant imagine not buying the game and look forward to seeing the finished product!

May as well pre-order then and get Chaos free, then. A lot of the negative sentiment on youtube and here is against CAs business practice of making Chaos a pre-order DLC, rather than a judgement about the quality of the game based on the pre-release information.

[Person012345]

I did pre-order on the basis that I could refund if it was fundamentally broken. However, the closer it's gotten to release, the more they reveal, the less enticed I have become and after the azhag quest battle I took the decision to cancel my pre-order. I'll be sticking with Call of Warhammer until 1. They've fixed any bugs on release and improved the gameplay 2. They've fleshed out the game a bit more with expansions and DLC and 3. I know how much it's going to cost me to give me what I consider to be a satisfying Warhammer game (if at all).

[Person012345]

I would be very surprised if CA handed out the game to someone this early, I could well be wrong but I think maybe a week or so before release, what do you others think?

It's not even finished yet, if it was then release wouldn't have been postponed until may.

[Yuko]

I'll pre-order, I wasn't disappointed with Attila and I know I'll want to play the game at release.