News is starting to appear and I like what I hear

Ok my lovely readers, we are now starting to get more news filtering out of Gamescom. Werit has a post up that he is updating as more news is discovered; I highly recommend you keep an eye on it. Now, I wasn’t going to write anything until after the weekend, but I’m addicted to blogging now and can’t bloody resist… So at the time of writing, what news is out there and where is my head going with it all?
 
New RvR zone (possibly multiple), part of the campaign and not like Land of the Dead. The options for this are massive, so I don’t know what to predict, but it can only be a good thing, particularly when you read the next bit…
 
Campaign completely revised, no more victory points or zone locks! Oh man, you know what I don’t care what this is replaced by, I think I will like it. You may have encountered me recommending all zones are open at once, if this brings that in… Just woah… I will be absolutely delighted and it will be a monumental improvement for WAR’s campaign and gameplay.
 
New armour set/s. No details yet. I was advised last night that Mythic mentioned recently that Sovereign would remain the best armour in the game, but I don’t have a link to that, anyone know? Assuming that its correct (I trust the judgement of who told me this), then presumably new armour sets will be sideways progression, which is all good in my book. EDIT - just got proved WRONG lol
 
Sounds like the Realm Ability system, as in what you spend renown rank points on, is being redeveloped.
 
Skaven will NOT be a normal playable race with four archetypes etc. It’s something that doesn’t exist elsewhere apparently. Hmmm I’m treating this with caution. I really want substantial and well themed Skaven to play, I don’t want re-skinned, or watered down LotRO monster play. As of yet it is hard to know where this is going, but from debate and discussion with fellow bloggers and guildies, I’m thinking the it does sound reasonable as some kind of third faction. Just not in the normal way we’d expect. Whatever it is, I’m hoping it provides substantial and interesting new game play options.
 
That’s what we know so far. I’m feeling pretty stoked now tbh. The possibility of a true open world campaign more like DAoC’s is just “OMFG I hope that happens duuuuuuude”. Obviously it could work all kinds of different ways, but I don’t like zone locking and have moaned about it as one of WAR’s biggest mistakes before. So whatever happens, I’m all for change in that area. BTW last night a kind and distinguished gentleman suggested some ideas on how the different ways of purchasing the RvR pack’s 3 components could work and not be sucky cheap arse DLC or paying for overpowered. I’ll not go into detail as I don’t want to steal their thunder, but in short… imagine an expansion where you could pay less than full price and only get the parts you were interested in. Worth thinking about. Also this weekend, keep an eye on my blog roll (and of course here) for updates and any news from Gamescom and Gamesday Baltimore. Obviously I won’t be going, bit of a long flight from England, but I’ll be scanning the net for news. BTW I am going to Gamesday UK at the end of September and hopefully will get to talk with Andy, Carrie and the other folks from Mythic there.