WAR and AOC

Warhammer Online and Age of Conan have always felt like distant cousins to me.  After all, they were both released to huge box sales and initial critical acclaim back in 2008.  Both games had a ton of money behind  them and ridiculous amounts of hype to swell the population.  Both of them suffered from very different issues after launch, and eventually watched as subscription numbers plummeted and servers were shut down.  Their attempts at success faded into bitter memory and most people moved on, confident that we would never hear from either game again.

You think people would eventually learn that MMOs are forever in a state of growth and change, so what is true now might not be in 6 months.  Sometimes these games change for the better, sometimes for the worse.  But it is never a good idea to write a game off for dead, given that only a small percentage of MMOs have ever been closed since the genre began.  That number has gone up in the last few years, however, as more and more companies grapple to get a piece of the subscription pie and ultimately fail at doing so.

With WAR and AOC, both games began under similar troubled circumstances and now find themselves gaining respectability.  WAR is steadily improving, with brand new City Sieges on the way and many improvements made since launch.  As for AOC, it has undergone a titanic level of bug squashing and made significant improvements to performance, player attributes, PvP Murder System, better gear itemization, along with adding Offline Leveling and new PvP/PvE content on top of all that.

I have said for some time that what Warhammer really needs is the announcement of an expansion.  With all the positive changes that have been brought to WAR, an expansion would really draw some attention towards WAR’s progress and get the playerbase fired up in a way that only an expansion can.  That is exactly what has happened to AOC and now could not be a better time for them to launch their new x-pack.

MMORPG.com – Rise of the Godslayer Beta Impressions

Rise of the Godslayer, the first AOC expansion, will be released on May 11, 2010.  It will feature an Asian-themed continent for players to explore, more dungeons to plunder, NPC factions to align yourself with, faction armor sets, new mounts, and the addition of an Alternative Advancement system similar to that of EQ 1 & 2.  As I said, this all couldn’t come at a better time for AOC.  I am a little jealous actually, as I would love to see Warhammer benefit from the exposure an expansion would bring.

I have had my troubles with Funcom in the past (haven’t we all), but I am sort of curious to check out this expansion on the side and see how the new content holds up.  This might all mean that my little trip back to Star Wars Galaxies could be put on hold.  But that is the difficulty we all face…so many games to play and so little time to play them all in. 

The WAR Discourse

The Gaiscioch Family will be hosting a walk-through of the new Altdorf City Siege tonight at 8:00pm EST on Badlands.  Bring your standards if you got em, as we will be using those to mark the different objectives.  So if you’re interested in getting a first glimpse as to what the new design entails, make sure you are there at 8:00pm sharp!  There will also be more siege testing this week on Tuesday and Thursday.  I will have my usual commentary and vids up after it is done.

It’s been a rather slow weekend here and I find myself thinking continuously about WAR’s evolution since it so eagerly leapt into the public’s arms back in September of 08.  I remember clearly those first few weeks, with players surging through the zones and into battle with such glee.  The atmosphere around the game was very positive at that point, and this was despite many of the bugs and glitches.

The unanimous feeling both then and now has been that WAR takes a nose dive at level 32.  There have been many reason given for this, whether it be the general dullness of the PvE at that point, the PvP imbalances becoming even more pronounced, the repetition of Open RvR, or the way that Crowd Control just completely dominates the game at higher levels.  Whatever the reasons, it has always been very clear to me that WAR runs into some major issues in Tier 4.

That’s probably why I find myself so eager to see the days go by right now, as I feel that EA Mythic is finally tending to the things that so direly require their attention.  The new City Siege design is a huge step forward for the game, and once they tone down the frequency of the sieges I think the system will be in a healthy place.  Turning to Open RvR is the next objective, and this where WAR will move into a very critical time in its life.

Getting Open RvR right is so essential to everything else that EA Mythic could possibly do, that I sometimes wonder if they should even allow themselves to think about how crucial it is for the future of their game.  If they can make the proper adjustments to Open RvR, adding more depth and variety into the system and giving players even more reason to get out there and spread the general chaos…then you will see WAR move into a better place and hopefully become set for a long and full life.

Player groups of all sizes need to be given goals in Open RvR.  You need to encourage people to get out there and fight, give them something to do that promotes more than just huge zergs roaming around in droves.  Adding a little bit of PvE to the Open RvR areas would facilitate this as well, and bring a richness to the RvR Lakes that is sorely lacking right now.  We all know that Keeps could be more interesting on top of this, with more options for both defense and attack.  Tying them in more closely with the Battlefield Objectives couldn’t hurt either, and would create a system with an extra level of dependency between its key elements.

BOs must be given an increased effect on the taking of Keeps, thus forcing players to spread out and be more tactical.  Strategy is somewhat lacking in Open RvR right now, and that will be a key component to whatever changes EA Mythic is considering for the current system.  WAR stands upon the cusp of a better future right now.  It’s an exciting time to be a part of it, as I have said before.  The important part to remember is that we all have a hand this, we all have a say in WAR’s design as it moves forward.

We are one big community here…we all share the same passion for the game, we all experience the same triumphs and tribulations while playing it, and we all have a burning desire to see WAR improve as the years pass by.  So if you have an opinion then don’t be afraid to get out there and speak it!  Just remember that hurling insults will not get you anywhere.  For some of you siege testers, whining during the tests will also get you a one way ticket on the train to nowhere.  Our job it to ensure that the new sieges are running properly.  Moaning like a bunch of babies when we lose or gloating like a bunch of pricks when we win is not going to help this process.

We are working with a development team that wants the same thing we want.  That is too often forgotten in the course of player/developer relations.  So try to remember that you are dealing with other human beings here.  Respect can go a long way towards making even the most bitter of disagreements tolerable.  So get out there and get involved in healthy discussion!  This game that we all love can only be the better for it.

Until next time…WAAAGGGGHHHH!!! 

Friday musings

I updated the 4/29 Videos post with commentary, so scroll down a bit if you haven’t checked it out yet.  I’ll be back this weekend with some more thoughts.  In other news, we have a new April letter from WAR Producer Carrie Gouskos.

http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=1086

My biggest takeaway from this is that EA Mythic’s next focus after 1.3.5 will be be Open RvR at last.  This is exactly what I have been talking about lately. Once you get the City Sieges into a fun, playable state, the next step for Warhammer is tweaking the games Open RvR system.  Things just aren’t as interesting or dynamic as they could be (particularly in Tier 4), so I am really excited to hear what Mythic has in store for us.

This is an exciting time to be a WAR player.  It fills me with a great sense of joy to see things improving.  RvR is the staple of WAR, the calling card of its developers, and their greatest claim to fame.  The system has to work and fill players with a sense of glee at the possibilities.  Open RvR must be packed with variety and strategy…it must be engaging and bring about a sense of ownership in the world and realm pride in the playerbase…and most importantly it must be fun.  Right now there are times when City Sieges and Open RvR can be enjoyable but they are few and far between.

This is especially true once you have taken a zillion Keeps and Battlefield Objectives.  There is just too much repetition in the current design and not enough investment in the game world for the players.  EA Mythic has seen the results of this and now they are focusing their attention on the proper game elements.  As I have said all along, if they can get City Sieges and Open RvR flowing and thriving the way they should then everything else will begin to fall into place.

I for one, can’t wait to see what the future holds.    I’ll be back for some more banter this weekend.  Happy gaming!

Gaiscioch Family City Siege Madness

As a companion to my write-up a few posts below, we now have a video framed by the fearless leader of the Gaiscioch Family, Foghladha.  Full credit goes to him for putting this together.

Foghladha has also been working on a new recruitment video.  I will throw it up here for all to see, along with a link to our website following!

http://www.gaisciochnaanu.com/

City Siege Commentary and Screenies

So there I was standing in the Maw…anxiously awaiting this moment that I had been yearning for with such unrivaled anticipation.  I was planning to vid the entire thing of course, and so I hammered away at the video key for XFire and discovered with a growing sense of dread that nothing was happening.  I tried reloading and realized that my failure was because I was logged into the test server.  So yeah….

Alas, there will be no video here tonight.  What I can do, however, is give all of you good people a summation of the experience along with the screenies I took.  I apologize for my vid failure and I will have that all sorted out for the next round of testing on Thursday.  So on to the new City Sieges…as tonight we would be testing the Inevitable City.

We gathered together at the entrance behind the Maw and begun the stalwart tradition of hurry up and wait.  Organizing all of the Warbands was no small feat, so we spent a good bit of time just waiting for Andy and the rest of Mythic to get everything sorted out.  As most of you already know, the new City Sieges are 24 v 24 battles involving three stages.  Once we were given the go, we zoned in to find Emporer Karl Franz standing before us in all his glory.

The first stage involves breaching the palace gates and battling over 6 different control points.  Each control point is armed with siege weaponry and once that is destroyed, an NPC called a Sapper will run in and set a bomb that will take the control point for either side once it explodes.  So we charged forth from the gates and made our way to the first control point…expecting to see a herd of rabid Destro at any moment…

The Sapper is highlighted with a shining beam to help distinguish him from a crowd, and once you down the weapons he will come stampeding towards you to set his bomb.

We did not run into Destro for some time at the beginning, as I think Mythic wanted to make sure the mechanics were all working correctly.  But it did not take much longer before we finally met our foes in heated battle and the result would be a portent of things to come.  Some of the control points are positioned in areas surrounded by hazard, as they stand just above the narrow walkways that litter parts of the Inevitable City.

With nothing preventing you from being launched off, knockback abilities became devastatingly powerful as many were catapulted into the abyss.  Positioning can be key here, and I was fortunate to meet my maker from enemy fire and not from the latest onslaught of Order tossing.

The goal here is to take the points leading up to the palace gates, then downing the gates as quickly as possible.  There is another mechanic to help you do this faster, but since we never quite got that far I am unable to comment further on Stage 1.  So far, the entire experience did feel like an improvement even if we were consistently being thwarted by UI problems and occasional bugs.  With Destro winning Stage 1, we gathered back up next to Karl Franz as the realm Warlords prepared to enter the fray for Stage 2.

For Stage 2, each realm has 2 Warlords who emerge and make their way to the palace gates.  Your mission is to escort your own Warlords safely or defeat the enemy Warlords before they reach their destination.  These Warlords can be healed and ignore player attacks.  It should also be noted that as the Warlords proceed through the city, if they happen to bump into each other during the journey they will fight to the death.

We did our best to defend our Warlords but they fell rather briskly to the Destro forces.  One of the issues we had during this Stage was spawning, as we kept respawning back at the middle control point where the entire Destro warband was busy carving our limbs into fashionable decorative arrangements.  So this became a spawn-camping fest that did not go over well with some.  We were told later that this will be looked at, as Andy reminded all of us that the purpose of testing was to evaluate how things were working.

Once again, the entire process felt much more refined and personal than it did before.  All three stages happen no matter who wins, as both realms acquire victory points from the various City Siege instances in order to decide the outcome.  I like the very specific objectives that we were tasked with here.  It was more far more interesting than the current sieges at this point.

With Destro winning Stage 2, the war moved to Stage 3 at the main entrance to the city.  If Order had been victorious in Stage 2 then this fight would have taken place inside the palace itself, I believe.  We huddled next to our King as he attempted to rally the troops with his best Aragorn impression.

Once Karl Franz was finished stretching his lungs, he chose 4 Champions among us, one from each archetype (tank, ranged dps, melee dps, healer).  This happens with both realms, followed by each King leading his 4 Champions and the rest of the warbands into a glorious climactic battle with the fate of the city hanging in the balance.  One thing I will say is that the 4 players chosen as Champions must have promptly guzzled some of that juice that Merry and Pippin smuggled to buff their size.  Once you are selected as a Champion you morph into hyper-inflated version of yourself!

Each Champion has extra abilities as well, though I do believe some people were not able to access the icons necessary to perform them.  This will be looked at I am sure.  But the goal in Stage 3 is simple, you must take out the 4 Champions of the opposing realm and then topple their King.  The battle was intensely chaotic, with all manner of spells and abilities being slung about in every direction.

At the end of the day, Destruction completed their clean sweep of all three Stages and defeated us.  So with that being said, let’s get to the heart of my first reaction to the whole experience.  We all know how maligned the current City Sieges are and how we all wish they were different. The sense of disappointment from within the player base has always been palpable with regards to this subject.

Some expectations are probably impossible to meet, as I’m sure that many players envision huge lag-less battles involving  hundreds on each side.  For those more rational, we just hoped that Mythic would go back and tend to their endgame.  We prayed for a day when they would craft their sieges into something that would truly feel rewarding at the close of a hard-fought campaign of zone control.

For those in the latter category you can now breathe a sigh of relief.

This entire City Siege just felt more relevant this time around, its impact more immediate than the current versions.  There were opportunities for strategy, there were specific goals to complete that felt more involved than the current sieges…the entire feeling I got was one of vast improvement.  Every moment felt just a little bit more engaging with the new design.  The sinking feeling that so overwhelmed my thoughts back when I first saw the City Sieges after launch was completely absent.

The majority of testers seemed to be genuinely enthused by the proceedings.  There were particularly loud howls on vent as the Champions were chosen in Stage 3 and we all surged forward against the enemy King and his Champions/warband.  I had never heard that kind of joy on vent during the sieges we have now, and that speaks an awful lot to the progress Mythic is making here.  This is a step in the right direction.

With our appetite for exploring these new City Sieges barely sated, we held a feedback session with Mythic once all of the instances were complete.  This was just the first step in the testing process and there are certainly a number of bugs to fix.  But I walked away from this event with a deep smile etched onto my face, which is a noticeable enhancement from my reaction the first time I witnessed the current version of Warhammer’s endgame.

A huge thanks goes out to Mythic and my fellow Gaiscioch testers!  I can’t wait to get back at it this Thursday!!!  And yes, this time there will be video.  I promise! 

City Siege Testing – Tonight at 8PM EST

Tonight at 8pm EST, I will be joining my Gaiscioch guildmates as we test out the new City Sieges on Warpstone.  Be sure to check back here throughout the night for info, commentary, and videos!!!

This is your place for City Siege testing info

That’s right, dear readers, I will be joining the Gaiscioch Family on the following dates to test the new City Sieges…

4/27: Tue @ 5PM PST / 8PM EST
4/29: Tue @ 5PM PST / 8PM EST
5/4: Tue @ 5PM PST / 8PM EST
5/6: Tue @ 5PM PST / 8PM EST

So be sure to check back here often, as I will be following up our testing with commentary, screenshots, and videos!!!  I can’t wait to try out these new 100% RvR-driven City Sieges and I look forward to bringing all of you as much coverage as I can!  In case any of you missed the info Mythic released regarding the new design, I present it to you here for your viewing pleasure. 

General Information

• City sieges will now be a 24 versus 24 battle.
• City sieges will now last a maximum of 2 hours.
• All PVE instances within the Contested city have been disabled
• Defenders and Invaders will both have a chance at obtaining some of the best items available in the game, including Sovereign equipment!
• As a similar direction taken with the Scenario rewards, players will be awarded for their effort at the conclusion of each stage. The winning Realm will have a PQ chest drop – those who win the roll on a PQ chest will have to make a conscious decision as to what they want from the PQ bag. All other players in both the winning and losing Realms will have Crests placed directly into his or her inventory, with the losing Realm’s based upon how well they performed during the Stage.
• The winning Realm of any Stage will receive a Scenario Insignia.
• Players will be forcibly placed within a Warband upon entering a City instance equipped with an instance-specific chat channel. Manipulation of looting rules will be disabled.
• Players will be resurrected in 30 second waves unless resurrected by another player.
• A scoreboard is accessible within a Contested City by clicking on the mini-map icon. (PLEASE NOTE: This feature will not be present in 1.3.5 but is to be added in a later version)
• Players present at the conclusion of any Stage within the Contested City will have a reward lockout timer applied to their character. This reward lockout timer will force a character to opt out of PQ loot for that specific Stage for the duration of the timer. You are still able to participate in a Contested City battle even if you have a reward lockout applied to your character and will be rewarded with spoils in the form of Crests in lieu of standard rewards.
• Players exiting the Contested City after the setup phase will have all three Stages’ reward lockout timers applied to their character. This is to discourage players from leaving a Contested City battle mid-way through if it appears his or her Realm is going to lose.
• UPDATED: Upon entering a Contested City a player will receive a “Personal Preparation” buff. While this buff is active, a player may leave the battle without incurring any penalty. After this buff has faded, leaving a battle for any reason will result in the player receiving the “Quitter!” debuff and will be unable to rejoin any city battle for the debuff’s duration.
• Players will respawn at the nearest point that is controlled by their Realm during Stages 1 & 2 unless the closest point in the initial entrance location.

Stage 1

• Setup Phase: 5 Minutes
• Duration: 15 Minutes (Maximum: 45 Minutes… details included in the description)
• Invader’s Win Condition: Breach the Palace Gates
• Defender’s Win Condition: Hold Out (until the timer expires)
• Reward Lockout Duration: Approximately 20 Hours

Description:

When a city battle begins, both Realms will be locked within a gated area for 5 minutes in order to allow both Realms to gather reinforcements. During this time, players will be addressed by their Realm leader who is also present within the battle. Just to visualize the idea, here are the two Realm leader parties:

There will be six, chained control points that are represented by familiar locations within the cities. Points will be clearly identified on the map as to what Realm currently has control and whether or not the point is vulnerable to attack. Here are the two city maps with the new control points:

Control points will be locked and impossible to be captured unless a connecting point has been taken by the invading forces. In the images below, connections that have the same line color represent the options within the required progression path in order to siege the gates of the defender’s palace:

Defenders may not recapture points in this stage. Capturing a point increases the duration of the stage by five minutes.

The act of capturing a point is not directly done by players (e.g. there is no proximity bar or interaction with a flag). A point controlled by the defenders will be outfitted with siege equipment. Destroying all the siege equipment will cause the point to become vulnerable. Once vulnerable, the invading Realm will have an NPC sapper that spawns and makes its way toward the location. Here are the sapper NPCs:

As you can see from the images, the sapper NPCs are easily spotted as they both have the familiar RvR “Glow Beam” to distinguish their Realm and location.
The invading Realm must escort this sapper to ensure that he detonates the location and thus claiming the point for the invaders. The sapper can be stunned, rooted, snared as well as being able to be healed by allied players. If the sapper dies then another will respawn shortly and this process will continue until the overall stage timer elapses or the sapper successfully captures the point. Sappers are equipped with the Greater Ward.

This capture process continues throughout this stage until the invading Realm controls one of two points closest to the palace gates. Using Altdorf as an example, this would be the North Dock and the Library. Once the North Dock is controlled by Destruction, reinforcements will arrive by ship in the shape of escorted siege equipment (Goblins with Rock Lobbas). These NPCs will need to be kept alive as they unleash assaults against the palace gates. Players are incapable of harming the palace gates directly and must be done through the usage of these NPCs. Alternatively, controlling the Library will allow the summoning forth of a Lord of Change that will cause massive siege damage to the palace gates.
The moment the palace gates are breached, a two minute timer will occur which is time to allow for the PQ loot window to select winners and such. Since I know that losing Realm will be doing anything they can possibly think of to interfere with the PQ chest looting… we have a fun plan in place to deter players from that behavior

Stage 2

• Duration: 30 Minutes
• Invader’s Win Condition: Escort Either Allied Warlord to the Palace Gates or Defeat Enemy Warlords
• Defender’s Win Condition: Escort Either Allied Warlord to the Palace Gates or Defeat Enemy Warlords
• Reward Lockout Duration: Approximately 44 Hours

During this stage, both the invaders and defenders will have their two Warlords taken to the field; akin to a game of chess to bring out the rooks after the pawns have done their damage. For the defenders, these Warlords are the only method for recapturing points lost during Stage 1. Invading Warlords cannot capture points in this Stage.
After spawning, each Warlord will make its way through capture points along their two unique paths to the enemy gates. Upon reaching a capture point controlled by the invading enemy, a defending Warlord will begin its recapture actions and will successfully recapture the point within a period of time. Invading Warlords ignore capture point ownership and simply pass through them. Warlords will ignore combat initiated by players and will always press forward toward the enemy gates. Warlords may be healed by allied players and are not immune to any form of damage or crowd control abilities by enemy players. Warlords are equipped with the Superior Ward.
If two Warlords of opposing Realms cross paths, they will stop all previous actions (including recapturing a point) and fight one another until one of them dies.
The moment a Warlord from either Realm reaches the enemy’s gates, or at any point in time where both Warlords of a Realm have been defeated, the PQ stage will end and a two minute timer will occur to allow the winning Realm to claim their rewards from the PQ chest.
If the timer on this Stage ever reaches zero, it will be considered a draw. Both Realms will receive rewards based upon their effort as if they lost and no PQ chest will be dropped.

Stage 3

• Duration: 30 Minutes
• Invader’s Win Condition: Defeat the Enemy King
• Defender’s Win Condition: Defeat the Enemy King
• Reward Lockout Duration: Approximately 68 Hours

This is the final stage of the 100% RvR-driven city. Depending on which Realm won the previous Stage, this final battle may occur at one of two locations:

• If Invaders, then within the enemy King’s Palace
• If Defenders, then at the main entrance of the Contested City

Once this Stage begins, all players will be called to the side of their Realm leader (e.g. teleported) and given a brief period to recover from the disorienting effects of teleportation as well as observe the role-play event of their Realm leader. During this role-play event, each Realm leader will select four players and declare them his Champions. Both Kings will be completely immune to all hostile effects so long as any of their respective Champions are alive.

Champions are players blessed with incredible power by their Realm leader. If chosen to be a Champion, you will acquire the following:

• Equipped with the Monster-Version of the Excelsior Ward (your opponents will hope they have some Wards!)
• Increases Damage Dealt
• Increases Healing Done
• Increases Maximum Health
• Cannot Guard or be Guarded
• Reduces Damage Taken from Non-Champion Sources
• Reduces Healing Received from Non-Champion Sources
• Receives the stacking buff of Building Reprisal after being the victim of a critical strike. Cannot acquire a Building Reprisal charge more than once every 6 seconds. Stacks to a maximum of 10 times.

• If Destruction,
  • Receives Temporary Ability: Plead to Tchar’zanek
  • Requests the aid of Tchar’zanek to unleash a devastating tornado of chaos energy at a specified location. Deals X damage immediately at the location and then causes Y damage every second thereafter. Lasts for 20 seconds. Consumes all charges of Building Reprisal on use.
• If Order,
  • Receives Temporary Ability: Petition to the Emperor
  • Requests the aid of Emperor Karl Franz to unleash a comet of Sigmar at a specified location. Deals X damage immediately at the location and then causes Y damage every second thereafter. Lasts for 20 seconds. Consumes all charges of Building Reprisal on use.

Champions will be chosen at random in a manner where one player of each archetype is selected:

• Tank (Black Orc, Chosen, Blackguard, Ironbreaker, Knight of the Blazing Sun, and Swordmaster)
• Healer (Shaman, Zealot, Disciple of Khaine, Runepriest, Warrior Priest, and Archmage)
• Melee DPS (Choppa, Marauder, Witch Elf, Slayer, Witch Hunter, and White Lion)
• Ranged DPS (Squig Herder, Magus, Sorcerer, Bright Wizard, Engineer, and Shadow Warrior)

In addition, while Control Points are no longer able to be captured in this Stage, each Control Point owned by a Realm provides the following additive bonuses to all players of the Realm (including those chosen as Champions):

• Damage Dealt increased by 2%
• Healing Done increased by 2%

Once the final Champion of a Realm dies, his or her allied King will become vulnerable to damage. Defeating the enemy King results in a win. When this occurs, defenders will no longer respawn within the Contested city and the surviving King will… clean up the mess
If the timer ever reaches zero, the invading King will call for a retreat. Both Realms will be rewarded for their effort but no PQ chest will be dropped.
There you have it folks – the exciting new changes to the Campaign that is now 100% RvR-driven! As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, please offer any comments, concerns, complaints, etc. as you see fit but please try to remain on topic.
Thanks!

Mike Wyatt

RvR/Content Design Lead

Warhammer Online has a pulse

Back in October of last year, Bright Hub posted a fascinating look back at Warhammer Online; analyzing its strengths, weaknesses, and ultimately where it went wrong.  This was not an attempt to bash the game, as the writer pointed out from the get-go.  It was intended to help us gain a better understanding of where WAR went awry, what might be fixable, and how it could be avoided in the future.  I remember feeling that this article struck a deep chord with me when I first read it.  So I am going to post a link to the article here, and then revisit some of these points and assess where Warhammer Online stands now, from the perspective of a returning player.

http://www.brighthub.com/video-games/mmo/articles/44427.aspx

The writer’s first point goes without saying these days.  Regardless of how you try to frame your remarks, any attempt to point out the faults of an MMO tends to result in a massive…

Luckily for me, I was able to snatch a tried and true flame retardant suit off of eBay.  This thing has stood the test of time and some intense heat along with it.  Tiger Woods is still regretting the day he sold it at auction.  Ben Roethlisberger keeps calling me about borrowing it, but I think it has its hands full here so I keep having to turn him down.  I could follow that with a real low blow but my better angels are telling me to let it pass.

So moving on…

People do seem to have lost the capability to agree to disagree, or to at least disagree with some measure of civility.  But let us see how this goes.  So the writer points out that Warhammer Online is in fact, not a terrible game.  It has many enjoyable aspects and various things about it can bring a smile to your face, so to speak.  WAR is a game of ever-present action.  Battles await you at every turn and that gives the world a true sense of glee, if in a slightly sadistic kind of way.  The Public Quests introduced by Mythic were also full of win, though they could have stood to have a few less than they do now.  But as this writer said, WAR has plenty of virtues and I couldn’t agree more, so let’s get on to the stuff that ticks people off.

First Point:  No Third Realm

Yeah, this was a whopper and I just don’t know what to say anymore.  Looking at Warhammer now, it still seems painfully obvious that so many of the troubles would be cured by the presence of a third realm to balance out the warfare when it ends up too one-sided.  Most people I have spoken to can agree on this, so let us continue.

Second Point:  Too Much CC

Once again, I can’t argue.  Though I am happy to report that Warhammer has finally instituted some genuine resist timers, so things do seem to be a little better on the CC front.  I will never understand why Mythic felt the need to give everyone 3 or 4 CC abilities to begin with.  It turned Tier 4 battles into an epic clusterf*** of “You have been knocked back, You have been stunned, You have been disabled, You have been disabled, You are Dead.”  This was not exactly what people wanted to spend their time doing during a fight.  So old players will be happy to know that CC is a little bit more under control now than it was during launch.

Third Point:  Class Balance

Ahh yes, the third rail of PvP MMOs…the dreaded Class Balance card…and what a problem it has been for WAR.  Let us take for example the Bright Wizard compared to the Engineer and Shadow Warrior.  These are the 3 Ranged DPS classes for Order.  I am pretty sure that the Bright Wizard has undergone several patches of nerfs since launch and they can still outdamage an Engineer and Shadow Warrior.  The writer points out that a third realm could have helped this as well, and I cannot argue that point.  If one realm had possessed an overpowered class, the two others could have ganged up on it.

Fourth Point:  Population Balance

If it were possible for me to walk up to the Mythic offices and hold up a sign other than “WAAAGGGHHH”, it would be a sign that read “Population Balance!”  Nearly everything in WAR is dependent on population.  We have three different racial pairings and each pairing has 4 separate Tiers, each pairing has its own RvR Lakes within said Tier, each pairing has its own Public Quests that require groups, and each Tier has its own Scenarios that require people on both sides to pop, and…are you getting tired yet?

I have never played an MMO that seems so insistent on segregating its population at every step of the leveling process.  They had a model in DAOC that worked beautifully, as all three sides had their own lands where they leveled up and prepared for battle.  Then the frontier lands opened up to all and that is where the warfare took place.  Mythic is trying to alleviate some of this by streamlining scenarios and the like, but this still leaves us with RvR lakes that are void of anything except the occasional…

Fifth Point:  PvP that lack emotional connection

This is what happens when you break everything up into pairings and then into Tiers on top of that.  DAOC had realm pride, and that was because you felt a definitive attachment to your own lands.  In WAR, with all the lakes spread over pairing and tiers, it just doesn’t happen.  There is no cohesiveness to the conflict.  Taking keeps as a guild and then claiming them also feels pointless, as the segregation just leaves everything with a hollow feeling.

Sixth Point:  Performance

The article’s last point may be the area where WAR has made its greatest strides.  Performance is much improved on a wide variety of machines, making the majority of those battles a little less lag-tastic.  This is a welcome change, and WAR even looks a bit better to boot ,with recent additions like post processing.

So where does all of this leave us today?  Here is how I see it.  I think that perhaps for the first time, Warhammer Online has a pulse.  There are issues, yes…some are fixable and some are inherent to the game’s design.  But I truly feel like Mythic is on the right track for the first time since launch.  Right now their focus is on the City Sieges, perhaps the last vestige for realm pride available to either side.

The sieges that launched with the game were PvE-filled disappointments of epic proportions.  The first reports came out and the general response was…

So now Mythic has gone back to the drawing board and given us an outline for the new sieges that sounds much more like…

They have put a hold on PvE content for now, because they recognize that theirs is a PvP-first game.  Once you get that right then the rest will follow.  They already consolidated their newer players by creating a new player tutorial and funneling everyone into the same racial pairing.  They have given us better peformance, improved graphics, tweaks to RvR and how the pairing are locked down, CC timers, new RvR weapons and armor, improved ways to earn gear with special tokens, the list goes on and on.  We also have a statement coming from the head of EA’s MMO Division, Bioware.  His name is Ray Muzyka and on the topic of Warhammer Online he had the following to say.

“It’s a really high quality MMO, and it’s one of the highest-rated MMOs of all time. We are really proud of the team that did it.  They did an amazing job delivering a really high-quality experience.  It’s been very successful; a lot of people have played it.  Right now it’s really profitable business unit within my group. I think the team is really focusing on continuing to make sure it’s a stable, high-quality service for the fans who enjoy the universe.  It’s neat because,we’ve actually seen more people come into the universe which is fun.  We’ve tried some free-to-play models for some of the earlier levels, and I think that’s actually drawing people back in.  We have new content planned and all kinds of cool expansions for it.“

I highlighted the parts that should be of interest to everyone.  That is all you want to hear when the head of your division talks about your MMO.  Warhammer needs to be profitable and doing so could pave the way for an expansion and serve as a rebirth for the game.  I think Warhammer Online has discovered the light at the end of the tunnel.  I think it is slowly crawling its way out of the doldrums of mediocrity and into the haven of profitability.

Warhammer Online has a pulse, my friends.

And it doesn’t matter whether the game boast 100 servers or 10…as long as they are active and the game is profitable…that is what clears the road for continued development.  Yes, some of WAR’s faults really can’t really be undone at this stage.  I’m well aware of that and it is something I have come to accept.  I never even mentioned some of WAR’s other issues, like the total lack of a real economy to help make the world feel alive.

But all of this pales when compared to one simple idea.  If the foundation of a game is enjoyable and rewarding then people will overlook many faults.  Mythic is focusing on the right things now and that bodes well for the future of the game.  So this is one returning player who is eager to see what lies in wait around the corner.  *says a quick prayer for Skaven*  Until next time! 

Now that is what I call WAAAGGGHHHH!

Shadow-war has put up his question/answer session from day Two, so feast your eyes upon the goodness!! 

http://shadowwar.wordpress.com/2010/04/13/the-city-scoop/

A big hearty thanks goes out to our bloggers and Mythic for putting all this together.  I think it’s a great step towards enhancing the dev-community relationship.  It’s a shame that the billing issues struck when they did and stole some thunder away from this trip.

But now it’s time to move on to the much-anticipated City Siege info!!  Mythic has finally thrown down the gauntlet with a meaty post on the Official Forums regarding the new 100% RvR Driven City Sieges.  Now I need a little bit of time to digest all of this information, but my first reaction was something along the lines of…

Have a look for yourself…

http://forums.warhammeronline.com/warhammer/board/message?board.id=dev_discussions&thread.id=8243

Now like I said, I need a little time with this…but it really does seem as if Mythic has laid out a clear recipe here.

New 100% RvR Driven City Sieges

4 lbs. of kick ass

1 lb. of awesomesace

2 doses of pwn

A pinch of dirtnap

Add WAAAGH to taste…

This version of City Sieges sounds so much closer to what I originally imagined when I listened to Hickman, Drescher, and Barnett talk about them.  Color me pumped… 

Developers versus Bloggers Rd. 2 – Forts and how you wish they would just die

Hello my friends!!  Here we are once again with a new week ahead of us.  So to all of you who are slyly joining me through computers in offices, cubicles, warehouses, clinics, hospitals, bathrooms (really?), mobile laptops in motor vehicles, and wi-fi enabled Starbucks…I think we can all agree that…

Wouldn’t it have been great had you been able to gather a few of your friends this morning, take your alarm clocks, carry them out into a field and then smash ‘em to pieces with baseball bats like the copier-scene in Office Space?  I am going to fulfill that dream someday, I swear I will.  Anyways, on to Warhammer news!  Our trusty bloggers have posted up day 2 of their dev questions and answers.  Well, everyone except for Shadow-war…who is experiencing some kind of spouse aggro I believe.  That’s a Hero-level mob so everyone be sure to extend him some sympathy. 

http://www.weritsblog.com/2010/04/mythic-trip-combat-and-careers.html

http://gaarawarrgabs.wordpress.com/2010/04/08/mythic-answers-your-twitter-questions/

http://mykielwar.wordpress.com/2010/04/10/friday-night-webcast/

http://www.shadowwar.sidelinedsbywifeaggro.wordpress.com

So what do you guys think?  Some interesting info in there, but like always, I find myself more fascinated by the things they couldn’t tell us yet.  I also love when we get answers like, “Yes we think Chosen/Kotbs resistance auras are way too powerful but we have not plans to fix them just yet.”  lol  That will be sure to set a few people’s hair on fire.    I am happy to hear that the Warlord encounter is now 100 percent RvR driven and “is nothing like you see in the game currently.”

It really makes me itch to check out these new City Sieges, though.  I’m either going to be forced to bring my Shadow Warrior out of exile or start leveling one of my alts pronto.  It also seems that Mythic is trying to figure out the best way to bring Forts back into the game.  Ahh, Forts…you guys remember Forts, right?

Yes those…they were fun weren’t they?  As for bringing them back, I fear the only real way to do it is to ensure that we don’t have everyone going there at once.  How do you do that?  I’m not sure, but maybe you they could pick two Forts and have them part of the first stage of the City Siege.  You have to take both forts at the same time, thus spreading people out and making the battles less of a clusterf**k.  I don’t know, it’s not an easy question to answer.  Anyone else out there have a good idea of how we can bring Forts back to Warhammer Online without causing aneurysms?