I’ve been flitting between my alts like a mad thing on WAR lately, so I figured I would turn it into a little experiment. Thanks to the raised renown caps in the lower tiers, new players starting WAR can get such high renown rank in Tier 3 that they can enter Tier 4 pretty well geared out. However for any returning players from WAR’s past where renown gain was much slower, there’s a good chance they will be returning with level 40 characters with a mere RR30-50. For them Tier 4 could be pretty damn harsh, you’d think anyway. As I have a load of alts that are level 40 with renown ranks in that aforementioned bracket, I’m going to continue dabbling and see which careers struggle or shine with such low renown rank in today’s more gear dominated Tier 4.
I have my Chosen as folks probably know in the 80s and my Choppa is now in Worn Sovereign/Warlord, so for both of them life isn’t too bad in WAR. But I also have this collection of L40 alts on Norn:
- Shaman
- Witch Elf
- Black Orc
- Squig Herder
- Magus
- Zealot
- Disciple of Khaine
I am and will continue to experiment with all of them and write up my findings. Those of you that follow my ramblings on twitter may already know about some frustration with one of those careers, but I shall give it more time and we’ll see how things progress. Already there have been a few positive surprises with some of them, as well as some utter poo.
I’ll keep you posted…
From the little I got the play with my rr70 White Lion in Warlord and Dark Promise, slowly upgrading to 3 piece Worn Sovereign. The gap wasn't too bad, except for against Sorcs, who just hurt :(
ReplyDeleteI have an engineer at 40 rr40. I pretty much gave up on him, I literally get 1 shotted most of the time, I dont even bother applying flack jacket anymore. I also have a squig herder at 40 rr 38, a little better only due to the squig being mobile.
ReplyDeleteWhen I came back a couple of weeks ago I was so pleased when my level 32 White Lion didn't have to be in T4, but again my rr is terrible. Its almost better to start over from scratch.
Yeah, you pretty much need to be in at least Worn Sovereign to get much joy from oRvR in T4 atm.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the many side-effects of the armour/rr requirement changes they made in 1.4.1.
For the ppl who stuck with WAR when there was a Rift exodus this has been fine. But for ppl coming back to the game it's proving really tough.
[shakrah]
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, starting over means that you will grind T3 to max RR, against guys who are as well over-geared compared to your fresh T3 char. Is it any better/more fun than grinding the zerg in T4? I am not sure at all. I just play the game knowing that I can only have the impact I used to have by anyway grinding T4 till 90+.
Well, I don't know exactly what this impact is that you're talking about Shak, but you can have an impact - even a positive one - well before 90. You can even have fun.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it might be different for a DPS that can have their damage seriously dampened by excellently geared opposition, every other class can do their job and come out feeling satisfied from at least 50. It's just a matter of skill and support.
Lord knows I'd stop playing if that wasn't true. Which I did, for a while.
[shakrah]
ReplyDeleteAs a healer, prior to 1.4, the healing output +/- balanced the dmg output once the bomb trains were nerfed. With 1.4, healing output is outweighed by the average 90+ dmg output, hence my contribution is reduced, is what I meant.
I would not play if it was dreadry indeed, but much of what I do seems more gear catch-up than raw fun, and T3 is as bad as T4 in my eyes, thats all :)
As a healer I rarely get hit. Call that incompetence on their part or skill on mine but I seem to manage to stay out of the DPS's way/range most of the time. When I do get hit (more often than what the previous sentence might make you think) is usually when the frontline is dead and the damage is so severe that it keeps rolling on screen after I respawn.
ReplyDeleteSince rr60ish my healing output has remained much the same. A bit more healing crit and power, maybe, but it's plateaued. As a Zealot, specifically, my main healing comes in burst that are far apart, the farthest of all the healing classes (seeing as Shamans can reduce their cast times by class mechanic). This means that, if the dmg output on the other side is too much and too sudden, there's really nothing I can do so my contribution on that level might be hindered.
What I'm saying is: I do care about the renown gap but not as it pertains to me specifically, I'm dead either way if I'm focused by a train; I care in how much damage falls on those I'm trying to keep alive. If they aren't mitigating enough there's not much on my part that can be done and, therefore, my contribution has been reduced because you can't heal what's already dead.
Did that make sense?
If you ask me Shakra, T3 is even worse.
ReplyDeleteif you go into T4, you already expect to get your ass raped. No matter if it's actually harder than what you expected, you had the obligation of knowing you'd get served, because you're gonna be playing against end-game people.
But in T3, it's just wrong. I mean, there you are, first time on the T3 lakes. Sure, it's gonna be rough cuz you're fresh out of T2, but it won't be mental... right? Wrong. Out of no where a RR 70 WL pounces you and you are turned into pink mist...
While it's tough to get punched in the face in T4 by someone who is 30 RR above you, it's kinda tougher to get dismembered in T3 by someone who has close to 50 RR more than you do... The gap is considerably bigger in T3 these days than it is in T4 (except if you powerleveled your way to T4 and get to R 40 with RR 10 or something, but in that case, you're just asking to get your teeth punched in by a Slayer)
cheers
I disagree, when 1.4.2 hit I resubbed started playing my rr16 r17 slayer, when I hit lvl 40 I was rr72. Do I pwn everything on my slayer? No, but I can get 10-20 DBs and 200000 ST dmg in a good sc, if I get a guard and a pocket healer. Yes the slayer is OP, but those stats are with a conq+sandstorm weapon and def worn sov.
ReplyDeleteTier 4 is really really brutal if you aint in full worn sov, you might be able to be a guard bot sub rr70 but as a healer and especially Mdps you need to be around rr70 or you will get killed in 2 GCDs. On the other hand get to rr70 put on worn def sov, odjira and Quick escape and you will be able to kite/tank 2 pug groups with a Mdps in medium armour and still kill some in the process.
Saying that the gear gap in tier 3 is wider then tier 4 is ludicrous, the real gear difference is between devastator and conq. Renown ranks does matter, but the class you play and who you play with matters even more. I ran with a vent’ed guild group in tier 3 and we could take on and kill a wb of destro pugs, because we got 2 healers and 1 tank that was good at staggers+switching guard.
One time we held the gatehouse in empire tier 3 against 1 1/2 destro wb with 1 healer(AM), 3 Mdps and 2 tanks. Me and the AM was in the high 60ies but the rest was around 30-40 in rr.
Other times we wiped against 2 groups.
Konfuzfanten.