Warhammer Online Week Two Impressions

IGN follows up their earlier set of Warhammer Online impressions after trouncing through the game a second week.

Starting at rank 11 you start earning mastery points, which seem to come at about one point every two ranks. You can go to a career trainer to “spend” and specialize in different fields. In the case of the shadow warrior, you can put mastery points into the “path of the scout,” which affects long-range bow attacks; the “path of assault,” which affects hand-to-hand combat; and the “path of the skirmisher,” which affects short-ranged bow attacks. Putting a point into one of these categories boosts its core abilities, so a point in assault improves your sword abilities. And as you progress higher into a specific path you can unlock new and special abilities.

At first I dumped mastery points into the assault path, figuring that I needed to improve my shadow warrior’s ability in sword combat. However, after watching other players, I realized that there’s definitely something to be said about some of the archery abilities. Rapid shot lets you release a devastating volley of arrows at a target, while fire arrow sets your target afire and creates area-of-effect damage for about seven seconds. It’s awesome, especially if you can target a group of baddies. Thankfully, for a fee, you can restructure your mastery points if you decide that you need to improve archery, sword fighting, or short-ranged bow attacks.