I know, I know, you should use special visual filters, or ideally some form of direct projection or display screen, but like a fool I looked directly into the Paul Barnett and have thus developed an unquenchable desire to play Warhammer Online. There’s a strong argument for not leaping into a new MMO at the very moment of release (see Van Hemlock‘s three month rule), but as Jon pointed out at the ChilliFest the lower level regions might be somewhat empty (chickens apart) after a while, which would put a bit of a crimp on the early tier public quests and RvR scenarios, so there are rational reasons for playing from the start. As well as OOH SHINY NEW TOY WANT GIVE GIVE GIVE ok bored now.

Having decided to play, it’s time to start making choices. Or at least time to start researching some choices, draw a tentative initial conclusion, become wracked with indecision over every piece of information that emerges suggesting it was a terrible decision before finally, when faced with the actual options on screen in the game itself, going to pieces, forgetting everything and blindly clicking in panic at random buttons until something happens. Or is that just me?

Though vast swathes of the MMOG-o-blog-o-sphere are engulfed in the raging flames of informed debate, at the smouldering edges there’s some decent information to start working with, so first up, what ruleset? Nice easy starter for ten, Core ruleset for me, never been a fan of Open PvP and it doesn’t sounds like there’s any shortage of RvR options on a core server when you want them.

Next the faction, Order or Destruction? Call me a hippie but I’m in favour of peace and fellowship for all, and if I have to wipe out every creature of Destruction in a bloody frenzy to achieve that then so much the better. Order it is. Reports so far suggest Destruction has the edge in numbers on beta servers, but that might not carry through to release, and even if it does it could be quite fun to encourage that plucky underdog spirit. Or it might be a never-ending nightmare of continual invasion with the capital being burnt down on a daily basis (twice on Wednesdays), but hey…

Race and class; now comes the difficult stuff. I’m erring towards a DPS class, after interesting but ultimately not-entirely-successful forays into tanking and healing in various other games. The Bright Wizard seems to take a similar approach to my beloved Fire/Fire Blaster from City of Heroes (try and set stuff on fire before it kills you), so that’s the current plan, though I’ll try a few other options in beta.

That’s a start, at least. Still to come: The Great Server Debate (trying to predict what a server community might become based on the name alone), The Epic Quest of Guild Seeking, and The Agony of Career Mastery Indecision.