Wednesday 20 January 2010

WAR 1.3.4 patch preview

Original post can be found here.


At this point the plan is to have 1.3.4 on PTS by the first week of February or (at the latest) early the second week of February. Patch notes, of course, will accompany the opening of Warpstone.
Not long to wait and with the following changes... I'm looking forward to it :)

We will be introducing an entire new line of weapons earned via RvR (this is the "feature players have been asking for"). These weapons will be purchasable via a vendor and will not be bought using medallions or crests, instead utilizing an entirely new currency system earned via Scenario gameplay from tiers 1-4. More information about these new items and how they're earned will be forthcoming in a Dev Diary with Developer Sean Bosshardt.
And from later in the thread:
The weapons will vary in quality, some being "much" better than LV weapons.
This sounds most excellent. New targets for people to aim for and something to further promote scenario play.

Speaking of Scenarios...
We are completely reworking the current structure of Scenarios by removing some of the less popular and streamlining the tiering of Scenarios. There will be more details upcoming in a Dev Diary from Content/RvR Lead Mike Wyatt next month.
OI! Thunder Valley! You heard the man, now bugger off.
Streamlining the tiering...? Presume this means level 40 only scenarios, but who knows.

Also reading further there was this confirmation on no PuG vs Premade changes:
To address premades vs PUGs:
We are not planning to make separate brackets for premades vs PUG's right now. We understand the concerns, however we have never denied that organized groups have an advantage over more disorganized, or PUG, groups.

And then we get onto the Campaign.
The last tidbit is a change to the way that the campaign functions. Starting with 1.3.4, once a Contested City flips into the Captured state (otherwise called "Stage 2") the Open RvR Campaign will now restart, leaving the realm sieging their enemies city with a tough decision: Stay in the city, possibly defeating your opponent's King, or retreat back to the open field to defend your realm?
Ooooh... I like this one. Will it slow down the constant city sieging? Maybe, but regardless it will mean that those of us bored of cities can do something else. It could actually make it worse with RvE madness exploding, but it's well worth a try out on live servers tbh, you just cant test this on PTS.

Bare in mind this is a 1.3.X patch. It's not a 1.4, or other such major patch. It's one of the little ones and not a serious content patch, but in theory it could be a really good one.

9 comments:

  1. I am not impressed with any of the notes. I really don't want to be a WAR hater, but every patch makes the worst of me come out.

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  2. What are your concerns with this patch Brian?

    For me the only thing that possibly looks dodgy are the campaign changes, but that I suspect that could go either way. It will most likely depend more on if players decide to RvE, rather than RvR.

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  3. Hum.. those notes doesn't sound too good to me..

    I really hate scenarios and rarely play them (for a lot of reasons). Why are these new weapons restricted to scenarios?

    Scenarios are the easiest way for premades to make a lot of renown at a fast pace.. now why do scenarios need further promotion? I don't get it.

    The opening of the campaign just means that the losing side may now chose between flag-capturing in their own city and RvE while the enemy kills their king. If you have just a little bit of realm pride, you do stage1 repeatedly, so that the enemy hasn't so much time for finishing the king instance.. Capturing empty keeps and BO's is not much more entertaining than capturing the flags in the cities..

    Looks like we have to wait for the next major patch for some decent changes to the whole T4 campaign and city stuff.

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  4. Always good to hear your views Bootae,

    While the changes to the way city sieges wont have a drastic effect on the freqency of sieges themselves you're correct that this now gives players a better option on what they will do during this time.

    Indeed, a change like this can only be fully tested in a Live enviroment, if they work then /toast all round.

    If we dont see a good result from this change you can be sure it will be adjusted!

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  5. Zizlak - well I guess if you're not a fan of scenarios, there's no way this could be a popular move. Certainly it's a change that cmes down to personal preference. Myself, in the early days of WAR I really wasn't fussed with scenarios, but now I really like them. They make a nice escape from the Zerg. So for me, anything that makes them pop faster is all good.

    Kaxzane - heyas, nice to see you posting here ;) I'm all for changes like this being tested on live, but it will be absolutely key that you guys keep a regular dialogue going with the player base and react quickly should something work out badly. We need to be confident that any dodgy situations will be very temporary. Don't let any wounds fester...

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  6. @Bootae

    Well I posted my rant on my blog, but as a summary is RvR weapons really what players have been waiting for? How does adding RvR to all aspects of city sieging happen when now you will be able to go RvDoor which will also make it hard for the other faction to flip to the next stage if no one shows up in the city. Lastly WAR is everywhere, but coming soon to scenarios only. Will anyone be doing Orvr after this patch hits?

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  7. If you guys would have read the thread further you would have noted that scenarios aren't the only method to get the weapons. Also you would have noted that campaign change was in preperation of the next patch.

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  8. I approve this patch.
    Yes Im fanboi of small scale and scenarios.
    All points look promising and change is always good. Get rid of thunder valley hehe
    Hope some new scenarios might come in future

    Marquiz, blackguard
    Karak Norn

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