I recall the exact moment when I was sucked into the beautifully ravaged world of Warhammer Online (WAR), and subsequently signed away any hope of a proper social life. I was slogging through a secluded river with no quest or waypoint to guide me. I happened upon an alcove of rocks and trees tumbling down a steep hillside and decided to climb, simply because it was there. After ten minutes of falling and restarting my ascent, I stood in the lair of Silveroak – a hidden, endgame boss. I gained a little experience for my efforts, but the greatest reward was knowing that even in a world with thousands of players, I could say, “I discovered it.”

MMOs don’t typically cater to the desires of the individual. Too often I have been frustrated playing in worlds without repercussions, and felt the sting of being called “healer 2” in a dungeon-crawl that granted me no reward. In WAR, I have a purpose and identity all my own. You can sense the weight resting on your very first choice – to ally with Order or Destruction. It’s a major decision that can never be altered on that server and one that determines which of the 20 classes you can play as. Standing on the side of Order are the Dwarfs, High Elves, and Humans of the Empire, while conspiring in Destruction are the Greenskins (Orcs and Goblins), Dark Elves, and formerly-humans of Chaos.

You’ll see the familiar tanks, DPS fighters, healers, etc. but no race shares a single class. The Zealot, Shaman, and Rune Priest all adopt the role of healer, and yet they each have a satisfyingly unique play-style. As if being an armored warrior isn’t enough to differentiate you from the cackling Goblin at your knees, a wide range of character creation options, trophies to visibly hang from your gear, and the ability to easily dye your armor will keep you from being an anonymous face in the crowd. Three specialized skill-trees and slots for unique enhancements known as Tactics and Morale ensure that even if you find a twin, you won’t play by the same rules.

You don’t have to wait until you’ve topped out at rank 40 to get to the good stuff either. Almost every rank gained grants a new ability, with none of that nonsense about upgrading from ‘Attack 1’ to ‘Attack 2’. All of your abilities scale in power with your rank. You can also say goodbye to the serene pastures of newbie-zones. Within your first hour, you’ll delve through haunted crypts, brave cannon-fire amid burning cities, or face down a tree-toppling giant. You’re at the frontlines of a perpetual battle, and wherever you go and whatever you do, your actions do make a difference in the world.

Three areas of the world pit eternal enemies such as the Dark Elves and High Elves in a struggle for dominance known as Realm vs. Realm (RvR), which is more than a fancy name for PvP. It’s a server-wide tug-of-war in which the winners walk away with additional XP, vendor discounts, and later, the opportunity to sack a capital city. General questing contributes to a realm’s grasp, but the epicenters of the conflicts are the RvR zones, where you’ll engage the enemy head on in heated feuds over battlefield objectives. The later tiers of RvR get more exciting with fortified keeps and player-controlled siege weapons. That’s the theory at least.