Kill Frenzy had a greenskin night last thursday. Any guildies that only had lowbie greens were apprenticed up and summoned... Summoned to the WAAAGHMAGEDDON!
HD version here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHtL7OP084Y&22&fmt=22
WAAAAAAAAGH!
GJ Durtbocks on the vid ;)
UPDATE! Another of the guys (Lotusblade) made a vid from the night's fun. This one includes some audio from our ventrilo, which includes me getting a bit sweary trying to organise Orcs :P So don't watch it if you're overly sensitive.
Comedy :)
Saturday, 31 October 2009
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
There and back again
City sieges are quite probably WAR’s weakest point. Which in my humble opinion makes it rather strange for Mythic to use the 1.3.2 patch to put such massive focus on them. Yes, city sieges are MUCH improved from their past (almost) pure PvE incarnation, but they’re still not exactly good.
Limited gameplay
The cities limit your gaming options far too much. Unless you’re there at the start of the siege, you’ll find yourself stuck with either PUGing the 48v48 instance (which is almost always a terrible experience), or having to log off for hours, because there’s simply nothing else to do. I’m sure we’ve all experienced the tedium of joining a guild warband that’s already inside a city and then having to sit outside alone for ages, all with the vain hope that a spot in the instance will become available… That’s not fun in anyway or form and I’m simply never doing it again, instead I’ll just log off and go to a lower tier, or play a different game. We need more things to do. Scenarios perhaps, so that if we do get online a bit too late and can’t get in our guild/alliance warbands, we will at least have a chance to do something.
The 3 BO capture, 48vs48 instance
Actually this first large scenario/PQ is quite good. The scenario’s simple objectives provide an entertaining and at times even tactical challenge. So why am I listing this as a problem? Well, continuing from the issue of limited gameplay, the problem is that it’s a bit shallow when it’s the only thing to do. The simplicity is great when you don’t do it often, since it lets you get straight into the action and it is fun, but as a regular event it lacks longevity. Same 2 cities, same 3 flags, every night… Familiarity plays the field a bit, then breeds with contempt, only to end up marrying boredom.
The stage 2 PvE raid content
It’s buggy and there’s a problem with the whole concept. As every MMO veteran knows; PvE raid bosses that require tactics to beat, also require practice and a united warband working together. On a competitive server like mine neither side gets to stage 2 often (plus the victory points are often bugged anyway), so the practice does not happen. Also because of the whole city instancing experience, by the time you get to stage 2 it’s very likely you will no longer have a full guild/alliance warband left online (if they got in with you at all). Sods law now decides that you end up with some random bastards who are determined to ruin everything.
Now Mythic, if by chance you read this, please do not see this as me saying we should get to the advanced stages of city sieges more often. We shouldn’t. It should be rare and be a big deal (more on that shortly). Likewise I don’t think the raid itself should be dumbed down. It should be challenging, but it needs to be fair, it needs to be something realistic for people that don’t farm the instance every night. Is that careful balance too much to ask for? Regardless, whatever happens it should be completely bug free. Getting to stage 2 and then have bugs ruin everything is utterly unacceptable. Plus any bugs in this part of the game are a sure way to generate bad feeling.
And further more, does it have to be PvE? When you look at all the buggy instances, PvE hasn’t exactly proven to be Mythic’s speciality. Maybe some sort of more interesting PvP based Public Quest would be better?
There and back again, and again, and again, and...
However, the biggest problem of all is not the city itself; it’s the path to getting there. WAR’s campaign system as a whole is the worst thing about cities…
A while back zone locks became much easier, which was both good and bad. Then with this latest patch and the removal of forts, the game has taken a huge step towards all sense of drama being removed. City sieges are now the norm, something you’ll get to do multiple times a day, every single day…. Getting to a city used to be an achievement, a moment that actually meant something. Alas this is no longer the case and now the whole feel of the game has changed. A friend of mine summed it up well the other day when he said, “they’ve turned the campaign into a death match”.
He’s completely right. WAR needed changes and the forts were almost universally hated, but they did add a speed bump, something that gave the campaign at least a bit of longevity. Without them and with no change to the campaign’s core system, there are no stumbling blocks. A dominant faction becomes more so and more balanced servers turn into a game of table tennis. It’s kind of like the campaign isn’t really a campaign anymore. If you think about what you expect from the very word “campaign”, it implies something long term, something that requires planning, thought and effort. Unfortunately that doesn’t quite work when we ping pong back and forth through the ENTIRE campaign structure in an afternoon. All of the “epic” has gone.
Now this post may have seemed very negative, but I’m not trying to be, I’m just trying to be realistic. In their attempts to improve the campaign experience, Mythic have actually weakened the whole concept of it. This is most definitely not what I wanted, nor is it wanted by anybody else I’ve spoken to. Perhaps that’s because of the server we’re on, but seriously, who wants to play WARlite?
Having said all of that, perhaps Mythic aren’t a million miles away from something great. With some tinkering they could slow the pace right back down, add/change a few things to provide more variety and give us the “epic” we're missing (and add a third faction! HAH Got it in there!). The game today feels small and for me this is mainly down to the small RvR enabled areas and how we blast through them so damn quickly. As I’ve said before, I really think Mythic need to expand the size of the oRvR zones and stop wasting so much space. That’s probably quite a lot of work to do, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be done and there are easier to implement short-term solutions in the meantime.
The easiest and most obvious is to make it so you have to lock all 3 pairings to access a city. This can still be quickly zerged through, but it would make it a little bit more difficult at least.
A more entertaining way would be to make all zones active at once. Allowing people to attack in different places and apply some more involved strategies and tactics. Each BO and Keep would be worth a certain amount of “control points”, if you want to lock a pairing you’ll need to capture 75% of those control points in that pairing… Now that’s more like it. In fact, I think I’d be happy with this. It could even lead into a system for reintroducing the other cities, hah!
In the end
I’m glad forts are gone, they sucked royally and I have to say that the decision to remove them is not the only factor in the watering down of WAR’s campaign, but it is a big contributing factor. I’m kind of surprised to find myself saying this, but I miss the days where locking a zone took hours and getting to the enemy city would take effort over many days. I don’t miss what we actually had to do to lock them, but I do miss the feeling of zone locking being an achievement. Actually, that’s not correct. I think I’m missing any feeling of achievement in WAR’s campaign. It’s just too damn quick. All too often lately when I log in, if we’re not already in a city, it’s only an hour or so before we are. And then, the moment a city becomes available, people start logging off.
It's a real shame because right now I'm really enjoying the combat in WAR, but the campaign is total meh.
Limited gameplay
The cities limit your gaming options far too much. Unless you’re there at the start of the siege, you’ll find yourself stuck with either PUGing the 48v48 instance (which is almost always a terrible experience), or having to log off for hours, because there’s simply nothing else to do. I’m sure we’ve all experienced the tedium of joining a guild warband that’s already inside a city and then having to sit outside alone for ages, all with the vain hope that a spot in the instance will become available… That’s not fun in anyway or form and I’m simply never doing it again, instead I’ll just log off and go to a lower tier, or play a different game. We need more things to do. Scenarios perhaps, so that if we do get online a bit too late and can’t get in our guild/alliance warbands, we will at least have a chance to do something.
The 3 BO capture, 48vs48 instance
Actually this first large scenario/PQ is quite good. The scenario’s simple objectives provide an entertaining and at times even tactical challenge. So why am I listing this as a problem? Well, continuing from the issue of limited gameplay, the problem is that it’s a bit shallow when it’s the only thing to do. The simplicity is great when you don’t do it often, since it lets you get straight into the action and it is fun, but as a regular event it lacks longevity. Same 2 cities, same 3 flags, every night… Familiarity plays the field a bit, then breeds with contempt, only to end up marrying boredom.
The stage 2 PvE raid content
It’s buggy and there’s a problem with the whole concept. As every MMO veteran knows; PvE raid bosses that require tactics to beat, also require practice and a united warband working together. On a competitive server like mine neither side gets to stage 2 often (plus the victory points are often bugged anyway), so the practice does not happen. Also because of the whole city instancing experience, by the time you get to stage 2 it’s very likely you will no longer have a full guild/alliance warband left online (if they got in with you at all). Sods law now decides that you end up with some random bastards who are determined to ruin everything.
Now Mythic, if by chance you read this, please do not see this as me saying we should get to the advanced stages of city sieges more often. We shouldn’t. It should be rare and be a big deal (more on that shortly). Likewise I don’t think the raid itself should be dumbed down. It should be challenging, but it needs to be fair, it needs to be something realistic for people that don’t farm the instance every night. Is that careful balance too much to ask for? Regardless, whatever happens it should be completely bug free. Getting to stage 2 and then have bugs ruin everything is utterly unacceptable. Plus any bugs in this part of the game are a sure way to generate bad feeling.
And further more, does it have to be PvE? When you look at all the buggy instances, PvE hasn’t exactly proven to be Mythic’s speciality. Maybe some sort of more interesting PvP based Public Quest would be better?
There and back again, and again, and again, and...
However, the biggest problem of all is not the city itself; it’s the path to getting there. WAR’s campaign system as a whole is the worst thing about cities…
A while back zone locks became much easier, which was both good and bad. Then with this latest patch and the removal of forts, the game has taken a huge step towards all sense of drama being removed. City sieges are now the norm, something you’ll get to do multiple times a day, every single day…. Getting to a city used to be an achievement, a moment that actually meant something. Alas this is no longer the case and now the whole feel of the game has changed. A friend of mine summed it up well the other day when he said, “they’ve turned the campaign into a death match”.
He’s completely right. WAR needed changes and the forts were almost universally hated, but they did add a speed bump, something that gave the campaign at least a bit of longevity. Without them and with no change to the campaign’s core system, there are no stumbling blocks. A dominant faction becomes more so and more balanced servers turn into a game of table tennis. It’s kind of like the campaign isn’t really a campaign anymore. If you think about what you expect from the very word “campaign”, it implies something long term, something that requires planning, thought and effort. Unfortunately that doesn’t quite work when we ping pong back and forth through the ENTIRE campaign structure in an afternoon. All of the “epic” has gone.
Now this post may have seemed very negative, but I’m not trying to be, I’m just trying to be realistic. In their attempts to improve the campaign experience, Mythic have actually weakened the whole concept of it. This is most definitely not what I wanted, nor is it wanted by anybody else I’ve spoken to. Perhaps that’s because of the server we’re on, but seriously, who wants to play WARlite?
Having said all of that, perhaps Mythic aren’t a million miles away from something great. With some tinkering they could slow the pace right back down, add/change a few things to provide more variety and give us the “epic” we're missing (and add a third faction! HAH Got it in there!). The game today feels small and for me this is mainly down to the small RvR enabled areas and how we blast through them so damn quickly. As I’ve said before, I really think Mythic need to expand the size of the oRvR zones and stop wasting so much space. That’s probably quite a lot of work to do, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be done and there are easier to implement short-term solutions in the meantime.The easiest and most obvious is to make it so you have to lock all 3 pairings to access a city. This can still be quickly zerged through, but it would make it a little bit more difficult at least.
A more entertaining way would be to make all zones active at once. Allowing people to attack in different places and apply some more involved strategies and tactics. Each BO and Keep would be worth a certain amount of “control points”, if you want to lock a pairing you’ll need to capture 75% of those control points in that pairing… Now that’s more like it. In fact, I think I’d be happy with this. It could even lead into a system for reintroducing the other cities, hah!
In the end
I’m glad forts are gone, they sucked royally and I have to say that the decision to remove them is not the only factor in the watering down of WAR’s campaign, but it is a big contributing factor. I’m kind of surprised to find myself saying this, but I miss the days where locking a zone took hours and getting to the enemy city would take effort over many days. I don’t miss what we actually had to do to lock them, but I do miss the feeling of zone locking being an achievement. Actually, that’s not correct. I think I’m missing any feeling of achievement in WAR’s campaign. It’s just too damn quick. All too often lately when I log in, if we’re not already in a city, it’s only an hour or so before we are. And then, the moment a city becomes available, people start logging off.
It's a real shame because right now I'm really enjoying the combat in WAR, but the campaign is total meh.
Sunday, 25 October 2009
This one goes out to people crying about Mythic fixing the AP regen bug
Enjoy...
It was broken, it got fixed. Gameplay has gone back to people having to actually manage their action points. No more blindly spamming buttons. This is a good thing. There are reasons why people have potions, abilities, tactics and morales that effect action points... That's right, those ones you removed from your action bars ;)
Though it does suck for Black Orcs who just had their abilities costs increased, so I'll let them off :P
Not had any problems on my alt addicted wide range of characters though... Maybe people need to watch their screens instead of rolling their face across the keyboard? ;)
It was broken, it got fixed. Gameplay has gone back to people having to actually manage their action points. No more blindly spamming buttons. This is a good thing. There are reasons why people have potions, abilities, tactics and morales that effect action points... That's right, those ones you removed from your action bars ;)
Though it does suck for Black Orcs who just had their abilities costs increased, so I'll let them off :P
Not had any problems on my alt addicted wide range of characters though... Maybe people need to watch their screens instead of rolling their face across the keyboard? ;)
Saturday, 24 October 2009
A few quick comments on the latest live event
The daemon moon has risen and with it arrives the latest live event. And it's a good one too, unless you are like my missus and scared of masks. In which case you're buggered, unlike my... uhm... yeah... you get the idea. Lots of masks, LOTS!
If you cant get in game right now, take a look over at Werit for screenshots of the task list. It's great to see this is almost entirely PvP based.
The murder ball PQ is very cool when players from both factions are present. It's like a demented game of rugby/capture the flag. Not so good if no enemy are there to fight, but then that's the case for anything PvP wise and makea no sense to complain about.
The masks themselves are an amusing little distraction. Yes it nerfs your DPS/whatever, but who cares, it's just a bit of fun. I'm not so fussed about loot anyway and have to say I've not even bothered checking my event influence rewards properly yet. As for masks, I think I've got about 6 so far, each of which give you a different blessing style ability when you wear them. Rain of Squigs gets points for the best name ;)
Has to be said, I'm liking the character of this event generally. Probably my second favourite after Night of Murder.
A HUGE plus was when IC was under siege earlier we could still do the live event scenario. Aaaaand it was popping every couple of minutes. Take that point on board pls Mythic ;)
Oh and here's me in a mask. Oh so handsome...
If you cant get in game right now, take a look over at Werit for screenshots of the task list. It's great to see this is almost entirely PvP based.
The murder ball PQ is very cool when players from both factions are present. It's like a demented game of rugby/capture the flag. Not so good if no enemy are there to fight, but then that's the case for anything PvP wise and makea no sense to complain about.
The masks themselves are an amusing little distraction. Yes it nerfs your DPS/whatever, but who cares, it's just a bit of fun. I'm not so fussed about loot anyway and have to say I've not even bothered checking my event influence rewards properly yet. As for masks, I think I've got about 6 so far, each of which give you a different blessing style ability when you wear them. Rain of Squigs gets points for the best name ;)
Has to be said, I'm liking the character of this event generally. Probably my second favourite after Night of Murder.
A HUGE plus was when IC was under siege earlier we could still do the live event scenario. Aaaaand it was popping every couple of minutes. Take that point on board pls Mythic ;)
Oh and here's me in a mask. Oh so handsome...
Thursday, 22 October 2009
Mythic comment on players concerns with 1.3.2
There's a good post on the US forums by Andy from Mythic:
http://forums.warhammeronline.com/warhammer/board/message?board.id=dev_discussions&message.id=4428#M
I hope we'll get more of this kind of post, it's always good to hear player's concerns acknowledged, it gives us more faith that those concerns will actually get addressed. Of particular note is the Chosen bug being fixed quickly, this should further add to performance improving.
I've spotted a few people complaining about the AP regen being fixed... uhm... It seems to me just like it used to work, before it was... you know, broken. :P Helping to get rid of face rolling button spam and getting people back into the habit of using items, abilities and potions that effect AP, surely is no bad thing?
For those that cba to click the link, via the power of copy and paste here you go:
I wanted to take some time to let you know what the Community Team is currently conveying as important issues to the Dev Team and what the Dev Team is working on. Please keep in mind, this isn't a complete list, but rather a compiled list of things that we consider "Hot" issues since the launch of 1.3.2.
Our goal is to provide players a steady stream of information regarding these concerns in the coming weeks. This information may come in the form of our future/immediate plans for these concerns or informative posts/articles to help educate the community on what was changed and why we did it.
We're well on our way to making WAR everything it has the potential to be and we couldn't do it without the support of you, the players.
We'll see you on the battlefield.
Please keep conversation civil and polite. We will be heavily moderating this thread.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Andy Belford
Community Coordinator
Mythic Entertainment
http://forums.warhammeronline.com/warhammer/board/message?board.id=dev_discussions&message.id=4428#M
I hope we'll get more of this kind of post, it's always good to hear player's concerns acknowledged, it gives us more faith that those concerns will actually get addressed. Of particular note is the Chosen bug being fixed quickly, this should further add to performance improving.
I've spotted a few people complaining about the AP regen being fixed... uhm... It seems to me just like it used to work, before it was... you know, broken. :P Helping to get rid of face rolling button spam and getting people back into the habit of using items, abilities and potions that effect AP, surely is no bad thing?
For those that cba to click the link, via the power of copy and paste here you go:
I wanted to take some time to let you know what the Community Team is currently conveying as important issues to the Dev Team and what the Dev Team is working on. Please keep in mind, this isn't a complete list, but rather a compiled list of things that we consider "Hot" issues since the launch of 1.3.2.
Our goal is to provide players a steady stream of information regarding these concerns in the coming weeks. This information may come in the form of our future/immediate plans for these concerns or informative posts/articles to help educate the community on what was changed and why we did it.
- Tier 4 Campaign: We understand that the frequency of City Invasion is a primary concern for the community. We're accutely aware that the amount of times that cities are being cracked right now is, to put it bluntly, high. This was not an unexpected result of the removal of Fortresses, and there are positives to this, the least of which is exposing more players to WAR's endgame. That being said, we plan on having more details about the much anticipated Underdog System soon. Also, please be assured that we understand that these concerns go hand in hand with population balance concerns in general.
- State of the City Siege experience: We hear the players concerns about the city siege experience. There's number of concerns about parts of the City Siege ranging from the Stage 1 Lord encounters to players becoming disinterested after the first hour of the City. We're actively investigating solutions to this and want to have more information to you soon. We've also been looking into player concerns about the City Siege VP, and yes, we did find some issues making the transition from Stage 1 to Stage 2 more difficult than it should be. We should have some fixes for these issues very soon.
- AP Regen: We understand that many players right now are having a difficult time adjusting to the recent changes to AP regen. Over the coming days we plan on giving the community greater insight as to why we made this change and how we feel it will effect gameplay moving forward. For the immediate (coming weeks) future, our plan regarding these changes is to observe, report, analyze and react.
We are not making any immediate changes nor will we make knee jerk reactions. As has been our approach with all of our recent Combat and Careers changes, we have a set plan of attack and we are sticking to it. So far, player reaction to this change has been mixed, skewing more towards a positive reception than otherwise.
Again, please watch the forums and the Herald for more information and educational posts regarding this change. - Chosen Aura Bug: Watch the Herald tonight for some Hot Fix notes that include the following:
"Fixed a bug which could occasionally prevent Chosen auras from toggling off." - Client crashes and data corruption amongst Trial Client users: We have identified the cause of this issue and it has been addressed on our internal test servers. This means it should be live soon, if it isn't already .
We're well on our way to making WAR everything it has the potential to be and we couldn't do it without the support of you, the players.
We'll see you on the battlefield.
Please keep conversation civil and polite. We will be heavily moderating this thread.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Andy Belford
Community Coordinator
Mythic Entertainment
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Joy! Glorious joy! (but no expansion news sorry :P)
A wave of positivity is sweeping across the WAR battlefield. And why?
Because today, bless their cotton socks, Mythic fixed the AP regen bug. This festering bug basically meant people had unlimited action points, now that may sound good, but no... It sucked royally, since it allowed people to constantly spam abilities, which only served to emphasise the AoE bombing of doom and was generally dumbing down the game.
That fix alone is not enough to bring such joy, but when combined with WAR running much, MUCH, MUCH better now and, well… we’re finally starting to see the oRvR gameplay many people hoped for.
If Mythic follow this up by quickly fixing the new bug with Chosen (and I believe KotBS) auras, where the graphics for the buff icon don’t fade and you get millions AAAAAAAAND millions (ok up to 16) icons for the same buff over and over, which then causes lag, then I predict yet more eruptions of glee and splendiferous excitement.
Also we’re seeing people returning from Aion. Not everyone returning ofc, but a fair few it seems. Grind filled bubbles bursting at just the right time for WAR. It is a good time to come back and will only get better as more bugs are squished over the next few weeks.
As for my concerns about the campaign, yes they’re still valid. It is lacking the old epic feeling and I’m bored of city sieges already. However, the game is running SO well for me, that for now I’m fairly happily distracted. That said, I’ll be getting back to what needs to change with the campaign later. The game deserves better.
But right now, the thing that was WAR player’s biggest complaint, the poor laggy performance, has actually been fixed! Apart from the chosen bug, but hey, credit where credit is due. GJ Mythic.
Now get cracking chaps, seize the moment! There is still much to do.
Because today, bless their cotton socks, Mythic fixed the AP regen bug. This festering bug basically meant people had unlimited action points, now that may sound good, but no... It sucked royally, since it allowed people to constantly spam abilities, which only served to emphasise the AoE bombing of doom and was generally dumbing down the game.
That fix alone is not enough to bring such joy, but when combined with WAR running much, MUCH, MUCH better now and, well… we’re finally starting to see the oRvR gameplay many people hoped for.
If Mythic follow this up by quickly fixing the new bug with Chosen (and I believe KotBS) auras, where the graphics for the buff icon don’t fade and you get millions AAAAAAAAND millions (ok up to 16) icons for the same buff over and over, which then causes lag, then I predict yet more eruptions of glee and splendiferous excitement.
Also we’re seeing people returning from Aion. Not everyone returning ofc, but a fair few it seems. Grind filled bubbles bursting at just the right time for WAR. It is a good time to come back and will only get better as more bugs are squished over the next few weeks.
As for my concerns about the campaign, yes they’re still valid. It is lacking the old epic feeling and I’m bored of city sieges already. However, the game is running SO well for me, that for now I’m fairly happily distracted. That said, I’ll be getting back to what needs to change with the campaign later. The game deserves better.
But right now, the thing that was WAR player’s biggest complaint, the poor laggy performance, has actually been fixed! Apart from the chosen bug, but hey, credit where credit is due. GJ Mythic.
Now get cracking chaps, seize the moment! There is still much to do.
Fun, a ding and a Magus? Surely not...
Had some entertaining oRvR tonight and no bloody city sieges! YAY! ;) When Praag is good, it's really, really good. It's still my fave pvp zone ever, more so than the legendary Emain, which is high praise indeed.
Also dinged 40 with my 3rd character, a Magus. Yes I am indeed a glutton for punishment :P Now I've just got to get her through the renown ranks and geared up. Magus damage is pony at the best of times, but when poorly geared its very ugh... I like the class though, which is why I've stuck with it. I'm hoping for a proper buff one day ;)
Plus it's a nice challenge playing the official worst class in the game. I just have to avoid getting in any solo situations or it's a brief, hideous and bloody affair. Even so, fun to play and they do look quite cool.
Also dinged 40 with my 3rd character, a Magus. Yes I am indeed a glutton for punishment :P Now I've just got to get her through the renown ranks and geared up. Magus damage is pony at the best of times, but when poorly geared its very ugh... I like the class though, which is why I've stuck with it. I'm hoping for a proper buff one day ;)
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About Me
- Bootae
- Half man half pixel. Music obsessive, likes a drink, occasional bastard.