I managed to get a fair bit of WAR in this weekend, which turned out to be a bag of rather mixed blessings. I had some great entertainment roaming around with my Shaman like some kind of deranged vigilante paramedic, as well as some glorious fights with my Chosen running with a group or 2 of Kill Frenzy.
However, this has been counter balanced by a great deal of frustration and I have logged off from the game in a rage a few times, which is not that normal for me. Problems with Thanquols Incursion (again) were an irritant, but in particular the monstrous gear divide between even those in Sovereign and the RR90+ armour set equipped people has, well to be honest, pissed me off a great deal.
Nigh on unkillable MDPS combined with RDPS and MDPS that are bordering on instant killing people is getting more and more common as the hardcore play 24/7 type people are reaching renown rank 90+. Some of the things I’ve seen RR90+ MDPS players do were just plain ridiculous. I’m told it’s the MDPS defensive set at fault, which sounds about right. Regardless of the details, it has resulted in people that pre-1.4 were merely average players, being transformed into group destroying machines of death. All because of their god mode armour. No disrespect to them of course, I’m not saying they were bad players; they were just on a par with the rest of us. Alas the new gear (and stat caps) have gone just way too far. It’s a bit like Mythic have tried to copy WoW (with levels 80, then 85) and do a dramatic restart of itemisation, but that’s just bloody dangerous in a proper PvP game.
Right now there is a massive line being drawn between those that play more than others and WAR is becoming a haven for the hardcore gamer. But not hardcore as in most skilled, organised and dedicated, oh no, it’s purely about how long you stay logged in farming renown points, because if you don’t then you’ll quickly discover that playing well is completely irrelevant when compared with time played.
I’m seriously, hugely and abso-bloody-lutely frustrated, annoyed and disappointed by this. It is genuinely ruining the game for me at the moment and every single person I’ve spoken to feels the same way. We’re losing people because of it, new players and old, hell… it’s even pushing me to the edge. This is not some random hater having a whinge, this is me, a concerned WAR player seeing a proper game changing pile of poo dumped on us. It HAS to change. And fast.
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About Me
- Bootae
- Half man half pixel. Music obsessive, likes a drink, occasional bastard.
The game is dead, my whole Guild is moving to rift now and then the GW2 when that hits rather then continue playing a game where the designers obviously have no idea what they are doing.
ReplyDeleteIt is such a shame as WAR could have been so good, but I can no longer be optimistic about this game because of how badly it has been mismanaged.
If you are sitting on the fence about this you should just ask yourself one question. When was the last time I enjoyed playing more then I hated it?
Well spoken m8!, must have been fun to get tossed up into the south keep in CW though ;-), i thought damn its bootae in inner keep... is the door down already?? ow no...its a tosser ;-)
ReplyDeleteYou're 100% right..
ReplyDeleteThe whole RR80+ design (itemization and additional mastery points) is breaking the game and rewards players only for time played..not for skill.
I know of several friends who left the game because of this imbalances.. Rift is just adding to this RR90+-frustration.
Well tbh I do have more moments enjoying than hating, but the bad moments are increasing and I'm relying on Mythic to solve that... Don't go there :P It's a concern, RIFT is approaching, everyone is getting distracted.
ReplyDeleteFirkan - yeah mate we got bored of all the funnel shite. ;)
Oh forgot to discuss, with RIFT as I've mentioned before we're starting Kill Frenzy over there as well. It's looking like we'll be secure in both games, but if this current trend continues then it may turn out that I'm very thankfull of having RIFT as a back up plan.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is, is the armour is their armour and to nerf it would be unfair to those who have ground their way to RR90.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't expect to many of them to be reasonable about it, when it comes to the issue with their armour. Game players aren't always reasonable.
Just like you, I have been in fights where it's been a BG + WE versus 5/6 others and barely paused for breath. At the moment some of your WE players, like Jazmina, Dirny, have me dead before I've had chance to press a key.
It's both sides of the fence.
I was hoping when I get to RR80 (At RR67atm) that things would get better. I have actually started stock piling blue/green armour in the 80's to provide a ungrade. I do wonder if people are sticking with their sovereign when they should be going green/blue in the low 80's and giving up the suit bonuses.
All other RR armour sets needs scaling up, or the new stuff down. Personally I would redo the lower sets by directly basing them on the new armour set stats, just lowered by a convienient percentage for each set.
ReplyDeleteThat way it should lower the insane gap in numbers and will get rid of the many useless stats on the current low RR sets.
I agree with everything you have said in your Blog over the last few weeks and that has brought me to a decision to quit (just like many others). I have neither the time or the will to remain competetive and as you say the gulf in gear is immense. If Mythic don't pull their finger out soon I fear that the game I loved 2 years ago will have changed so much that it will die. I hope Rift can do things better and I will be giving it a go.
ReplyDeleteBadmagik (we met at games day when all these changes seemed so positive, how wrong we were :( )
Yeah, I saw this coming and unsubbed shortly after 1.4 came out. Balance between armor sets was never good and tossing in rr90 / rr100 sets without any effort to balance them was terrible design.
ReplyDeleteI do still have more fun than rage, but agree some changes need to be made. The problem is that fixing the lower sets, or nerfing the upper sets, doesn't really fix the core problem:
ReplyDeleteThe carrot for higher RR is always better gear. In this situation, the carrot itself unbalances your game, and you have to continue to 'fix' things to deal with your carrot. Instead, make the carrot more choices, not just ‘win button’ gear. I like the expansion of the realm abilities, but bring back the tactics (and not as passive +1 to a tree like they have now), or some more abilities like Last Stand or Hardy Concession that actually have a downside and make the player choose. Let the carrot be about unlocking more choices for play, not just obliterating anyone who doesn’t have 50 days of playtime on their character.
I agree with the statement that the solution shouldn't be at the expense of those who did spend the time to get at a higher RR. But, I also think that a high RR, no matter how you got it, shouldn't mean an automatic win against someone as little as 10 RR below you.
Who knows, maybe making the carrot less about gear and more about giving you more choices on how to play will also mean more players will play to 'have fun' instead of playing to 'grind renown and get decent gear so I don't get slaughtered by the RR90 who uses 1 ability'
Gear disparity was exactly why I quit.
ReplyDeleteI was unable to play when the patch hit but when I got back, it was if I was an RR40 again. I just don't have the patience anymore to grind past the fodder stage again. My sub runs out in a few weeks and I'm not resubscribing. I hope the game can be saved because it has great potential.
I want to know just who the developers were listening to during the stage when this patch was being tested. Obviously more due diligence must be done to avoid having biased beta testers. This patch looks as if they only listened to hardcore, OCD players.
Spot on Bootae...
ReplyDeleteI have been playing for some time and see the increased damage output and reduction in damage done on these rr80+ classes and to be frank it is just insane to someone who has just entered the Tier 4 lake. I use to believe that anyone 40+ renowned had a chance at making a difference (no matter how skilled they are) but now see us lowbies as sidelined.
I recall when getting gear was a hard slog and getting renown was the same - you worked for what you wanted (well those that did not leech / cheat did anyway). I have stuck with War since beta and tried really hard to carry on at times - but even now I am considering an alternative as I just don't see the point any more!
But like you I have fun times and bad times - it is just that the bad times are front of mind and a lot of my good times are in lower tiers.
Will the next game bring the same headaches? Will the developers recognise the issues (but again this may be too late as the people who have had the opportunity to exploit the system have already done the damage - again this has happened many many times).
I just hope there is light.
Yeah, I actually recently re-rolled destro for a change. I had played Order since beta, but with all my character slots in T4, I wanted to experience the journey again. I'm having a ton of fun running around as all the classes that gave me heartburn on Order. T1 is the same as it always has been (which isn't really a bad thing), but T2 and T3 are vastly improved from before the patch. I'm actually trying to stay in T3 on my DoK because I have so much fun roaming. I would have laughed if you told me that would be the case just a few months ago.
ReplyDeleteThat, for me, is the one reason I have hope. Despite all the gear/zerg issues in T4, it still is a really fun and engaging game at it's core. If they can figure out how to reward the 'hardcore' player in a way that doesn't completely obliterate the casual player, I can see a way to keep growing the game.
[shakrah]
ReplyDeleteWell, gear balance was obviously going to be exactly that, a timesink: spot on remark, "how long you play" is ever more rewarded than in the previous versions (80s vs 60s in 1.3 were already rather...unbalanced).
Cancelled 4 hours after 1.4 release, once I saw the armor bonus at vendor. Had a hope that they woudl react fast, but no, so this is actually my last day. My entire guild is out at the same time (that is the last 3 out of 20 in June we are).
I have the impression to have played more than enough cannon fodder or mob for gear grinder, and although I love the IP, loved the communities (Burlok, Norn), but that can not always make up for looking at lvl 39 twinks in T3, and then lvl 90+ superhearoes.
I have to say that I now despise a game that I woudl have loved to love.
Although i agree that they didn't think the gear stats through properly, i believe you are being a bit dramatic about the "grind". Prior to 1.4 any average player in a semi decent guild could do 1-80 in under 20 days of pvp. They have now increased the rate at which renown points accumulate which in my opinion is them leaning toward the carebear/casual types rather than the hardcore gamers as you have stated.
ReplyDeletePlease get it into perspective when approx only 5% of all the gamers on norn server are RR90
ReplyDeleteAnon1 - Way I see it the grindy bit with dodgy carrots is really at 81+. Certainly its quicker beforehand now, though for any of this from 1-100 to be consider quick isn't really casual for anyone with a normal family life. And regardless of the time required, the damage/mitigation difference between RRs is too far spread imho and doesn't lend itself to a fun leveling experience. There's no need for it to be so diverse.
ReplyDeleteAnon2 - Dunno if your percentage is accurate or not, but I do know that we're fighting those guys every night and they are stupidly overpowered. If you're not running into them so often I'm not sure why not..
Oh look some OP Doomflayer equipped people posted to say its all fine. Amaaaaazing.
ReplyDelete