A whole lot of WAR news

I actually had another post planned for today but those troublemakers at Mythic had to go and be all communicative.  There was just too much going on yesterday for me to push it off until my News from the Front post.  I also managed to take a peek at Order's newest weapon.

First up we have a new hotfix.  These are generally small bug fixes, but Wednesday's was a bit more interesting.

Heal Debuff's. These will now be multiplicative rather than additive.  What this means is if a healer has been hit with an incoming heal debuff and an outgoing, the effects will not add anymore.  This issue was significantly reducing their ability to heal themselves.

Keep Doors. The doors will no longer respawn and must be repaired with wood.  Previously, the doors would respawn in 15 minutes or so.  Now players must use wood which is obtained from a keep vendor or from a warcamp quartermaster.  At the moment they cost 30s (Tier 4) and do not stack in you inventory.

Nate Levy stopped by the Tank forums to mention an upcoming Ironbreaker change.

Gromril Plating.  This is a rank 3 moral which absorbs 7200 damage from all group-mates within 100 feet for 20 seconds.  It is currently the most powerful absorb in the game and often a target of Destruction complaints.  In 1.3.5 it will now only affect the Ironbreaker.  I was surprised they didn't just bring the absorption amount in line instead of making it a solo ability.

Not too long ago, Mythic announced that they were taking applications from guilds to test the upcoming changes to the city siege in 1.3.5.  Yesterday they announced the lucky guilds who were selected.  It sounds as if the respective guild leaders will have a number of spots which they can use to bring in people from their alliance.  It sounds like the testing might be just around the corner.

As if all that wasn't enough, the March newsletter arrived in my inbox last night. It is a bit different than previous newsletters but contains the eagerly awaited Producer's letter. Carrie gave us some more info on what we can expect in the near future.

Bug Fixes.  Looks like we will see the buff's being dropped when zoning issue fixed as well as Tomb of the Vulture Lord boss bugs. 

AFK.  AFK'ing in scenarios has been one of the downsides with the new scenario reward system.  Mythic has been listening and hope to do something about it. 

Dye.  The art team had made improvements to how armor is dyed.  The in-game pictures provided in the letter do show a noticeable improvement. I am looking forward to see how my characters look with these changes.

Marauders.  As previously reported, Marauders getting to wield a 2nd weapon is now confirmed.  This will allow them to benefit from the stats of a 2nd weapon, but also be disarmed fully.

Behold, Order's secret weapon, the XXXXL Knight of the Blazing Sun.  

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Returning to WAR: Careers

With a lot of players returning to Warhammer Online, I often see questions about how class X is doing or should they re-roll class Y.  It's a fair question to ask, so in this series I will go over some of the important changes WAR has seen. 

Class balance is a tricky area since so much of it is influenced by the players perception and it is constantly changing.  In this post, I hope to give a general feel of how each class is doing.  In my opinion, you should play what class you find fun rather than which ever happens to performing well due to balance changes.

If you're interested in trying out WAR check out the Endless trial and free client.  Returning players can reactivate their character for 10 free days as well!  The dates are a bit off, but the deal should still be going on. 

Bright Wizard and Sorcerer.  They are still the best classes when it comes to ranged DPS.  Even with nerfs they still put out the big numbers.

Slayer and Choppa.  Introduced in Bitter Rivals, these classes are currently the best melee DPS.  It doesn't come without a cost, the more angry they get, the higher the damage they take.  You will die a lot, but you will also put a hurtin' on your enemies.

Knight of the Blazing Sun and Chosen.  The KotBS and Chosen are considered the top tanks, especially in RvR.  Their powerful AoE auras make them valuable to any team.  They are also quite good in PvE too.  You will see many a Chosen or Knight solo farming in the Land of the Dead.

Ironbreaker and Blackguard.  The IB is considered to be an excellent tank, both in RvR and PvE.  You  can do good damage when wielding a 2 hand weapon or a shield.   With your Oathfriend mechanic and morales, you are a good addition to groups as well.

The Blackguard is not a very popular class.  The lack some of the utility of their mirror but are still an effective PvE and RvR tank.  In fact, I have played against some seemingly invincible BG's so it is possible to do well.

Swordmaster and Black Orc.  You don't hear too much about these classes when players complain about balance.  Part of their lack of popularity is due to the class mechanic.  The staged abilities end up giving the player less options than a Chosen or Knight.  They are still good tanks, but when compared to their peers there is a feeling of inferiority.

Engineer and Magus.  I'm biased as I really like my Engineer and find him a blast to play.  Both classes do have some issues though.  When compared to a BW or Sorc our damage is considerably less and our utility is not much greater.  We do have some fun tools and there are several ways to play.

While the Magus and Engineer are similar, the former has a few disadvantages.  First, their auto-attack is melee.  Second, they lack some of the nice Engineer morale abilities like Unshakable Focus and Cannon Smash.

Rune Priest and Zealot.  Both healers generally considered to be under-performing when compared to its peers.  In 1.3.5 they will be receiving some buffs, so that may change.  The RP and Zealot are very good mobile healers.  As you probably know, mobility is a very important part of staying alive in PvP.

Shadow Warrior and Marauder.  One common complaint with the SW/Mara is their stance career mechanic.  Certain abilities are only available when in a certain stance/mutation.  This has the effect of limiting their toolset.  The Shadow Warrior is rather unpopular right now due to low utility.  They can do some very nice spike damage (upwards of 4k) but it requires a bunch of cooldowns.

Marauders are doing pretty well since the 1.3.2 patch which fixed Action Point issues.  They have several tools that let them drain/deny their enemy of AP.  They also have a nice pull, Terrible Embrace, which can be very useful for RvR.  

Warrior Priest and Disciple of Khaine.  Both of these classes are very popular due to their hybrid nature.  They can heal very well and do decent damage.  You will find them in a lot of groups for PvP and PvP. They have very high survivability as well.

Archmage and Shaman.  A few patches ago, these classes received some attention.  While they may not have the survivability as a WP and DoK, they can be spec'd as excellent healers or DPS. 

White Lion and Squiq Herder.  The White Lion has waned in popularity recently.  This is partly due to Action Point issues and lack of survivability.  They are generally considered to be on the lower tier of melee dps in RvR.  They do excel in PvE as pet classes usually do.  They did receive some improvements in 1.3.4 that have helped WL's compete.

The Squig Herder is a potent ranged DPS class.  They may not do as much damage as BW's and Sorcs, but they cannot be ignored.  They have nice tools like Unshakable Focus and a ranged healing debuff.  Their pets are mobile and can harass casters quite a bit.  The SH is also a master kiter.

Witch Hunter and Witch Elf.  The WH is considered to be in good shape as a melee DPS.  They can put out a lot of damage with their finishers like Burn Away Lies (some consider this to be too high at this time).  the fact they have some ranged abilities makes them even more dangerous.

The Witch Elf has had a rough time lately.  For much of the games beginning, they were extremely powerful.  In recent patches, they have been brought down quite a bit.  They can still put out quite a bit of damage, but it seems to be less than the WH.  Lack of survivability is also a common concern of WE players.

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Warhammer Online is free

Not long ago, Mythic introduced the Endless Trial and a streaming client, allowing players to quickly get into WAR and check out Tier 1.  Now Mythic has taken it one step further by allowing trial players to subscribe and continue to use the trial client. 

This means there is no need to buy a boxed version as the client is free. Of course, a subscription is still required.  Trial players just have to register in the account center and their trial client will update to a full one. Boxed versions do still provide 30 days of free game time and give you a hard copy of the software.

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Take the Initiative

As readers of this site may know, I am not the biggest fan when it comes to PvE.  I don't mind it once in a while, but eventually I just get bored.  Over the weekend, I actually had some fun doing some PvE.  The difference was that I did it my way.

Often times it seems players are guilty of expecting a game to change to fit their needs, I know I am.  I've written about wanting WAR to make everything from PvE available through PvP.  While this is still something I'd love to see, sitting back and waiting for it won't do me any good.  It's time I took the initiative and make the best out of the situation.

The Land of the Dead is full of nice equipment, but nearly all of it is obtained through PvE.  The Tomb of the Vulture Lord has some of the best gear in the game but I happen to not be a big fan of dungeons.  At this point of my life, sitting at the computer for 3+ hours during my free time is just not likely to happen.

On my shopping list for the Land of the Dead are Silver Ankhs, Gold Scarabs and Gold coins.  I wouldn't mind some random drops either, so ToVL looked like a good place to start.  As I mentioned above, I don't really want to do a full run of the place.  Luckily, I belong to a nice and active guild.

I figure all I really need to do is the first 2 bosses.  At the very least it will score me 2 Silver Ankhs.  If I'm lucky I can get a Golden Cartouche (worth 5 Silver Ankhs) and maybe even a Tyrant drop.  I put out the word of the mini-ToVL run and actually got a bunch of interest.  It seems I am not alone in wanting PvE in bite sizes.

The four of us from the guild were joined by two alliance members.  The run took an hour and went very smooth.   By the end of it, I was still having fun and it wasn't 2am.  A few people in the group actually received some upgrades too.  I got a rock...

I did get the 2 ankhs, so that means I am only 4 away from getting my 2-piece jewelery set.  The 2nd boss is where the money is.  You gather as much treasure as you can before the boss comes alive, then after the fight it turns into items you can sell for gold or a piece of Primeval gear.  While I didn't get a drop, I did make ~20g and received a helmet.  I hope to get another 15g from its sale.

It was a fun night, especially since it only took a hour.  I am hoping to make this a weekly event and add in the 3rd boss (rather than the 2nd) once in a while and maybe Lost Vale sometimes.  Doing it this way means I won't see the later bosses, but that's fine with me.  This way is fun, and that's what games are for.

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News from the Front 3/26

Another Friday is upon us. Last weekends Black Fire Basin scenario was a lot of fun.  I managed to complete the tasks and got some extra emblems as a result.  Also, I'm closing in on my Conqueror weapon for my Engineer, which will be an upgrade.  What is everyone else up to?

New Blogs

• Welcome KruelWAR (one of my Badlands foes) and Super Effective.

Articles

• Keagen has a Magus guide to ranged dueling. 
• Some thoughts on a new WAR pricing model by Bootae. 
• WARgames wants Mythic to provide open RvR incentives.
• MMORPG did an insightful and accurate re-review of WAR. Just kidding, it is none of those things and Shadow WAR breaks it down.
• Slurms, yea the slug, is making a return to WAR.
• Is the Bright Wizard College properly accredited? i heart Gorefang knows.
• WAR's own Carrie receives a reward and possibly a cupcake.
• Blurring Shock has an excellent article breaking down the types of damage he receives.  I would love an automated way to do this with the combat log.
• Help One Shard celebrate his 101st post with a look back at some of his favorite posts.  
• Openedge is sold on WAR and is bringing the family with him. 

Videos

• Grimnir posted 2 more videos about WAR addons.
• OpenRhyze gives us a look at Tor Anroc from the Destro perspective.
• Tier 4 Warrior Priest dueling from upsent (WAR Russia).
• Valis77 brings us a Vlog of his friend playing Warhammer Online.
• Very nice quality video of a Shadow Warrior in Isha.
• A look at Vulture Lords 8th boss from WAR Asia.
• Video of an Ironbreaker solo capturing Tier 4 Battlefield Objectives. 
• Mykiel, of the video podcast, made a fan trailer for WAR.

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Mounts of WAR: Greenskins

In this new series of articles I will be taking a look at the mounts in Warhammer Online.  I was inspirered by the guide-master himself, Gaarawarr.  There are actually quite a few mounts for each race.  First up is the Greenskins, who wouldn't want to ride a boar around?

To start, I made a video of the Greenskin mounts in action.



Now, on to some pictures!

Light Brown Ridin' Boar

Striped Mousse Ridin' Boar

Cream Ridin' Boar

Brindle Ridin' Boar (Guild Rank 25)

Straw Ridin' Boar (Guild Rank 25)

White Ridin' Boar (Guild Rank 25)

Brindle Huntin' Boar (Guild Rank 37)

White Huntin' Boar (Guild Rank 37)

Straw Huntin' Boar (Guild Rank 37)

The format is from Gaarawarr, so credit goes to him.  Next week we will take a look at the Empire mounts.

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While we wait

It seems that the launch of Distant Worlds has been delayed, but it should still be out this week.  I was hoping to post impressions today, but that will likely be next week.  Fear not my friends, the  folks over at Codeforce have something to tide us over.

First up, a look at how ship design works.  This is some great stuff.  There is a lot of room to be creative when making a ship design.  Trying out new strategies was always one of my favorite aspects of Master of Orion. 

They also released a video about ship combat.  The fights are certainly not up to GSB standards, but keep in mind the scale.  This is all happening on a big open map where you can zoom in and out. 

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Weekend Warfronts

With the 1.3.4 patch, Mythic moved a bunch of scenarios out of the campaign and placed them in the Weekend Warfront rotation.  I think we've done 4 or 5 of them so far... wow, has it been that long already?  How have they been and were they a good idea?

For the most part, I think they have been an excellent addition to WAR.  The core scenarios are still a lot of fun for me, since they were some of the best to begin with.  A 'new' one every weekend is actually quite refreshing.  Based on the activity, it seems a lot of players feel the same.

One of the Weekend Warfront benefits is it gives a 10% renown and xp bonus.  I like to take advantage of this and get some time in on my alts.  Another nice things about these scenarios is that they are still active during a city siege.  It gives an alternative if you don't feel like defending your capital.

Of course, there is always room for improvement:

Ironclad.  This 6 vs 6 scenario was the first in the rotation, but we have not seen it again yet.  Since it is unique in what it offers, I hope we will tend to see it more often in the rotation.

Rewards.  It turns out I was way off with my reward prediction.  So far the rewards have been static, with the elite granting more emblems and the rest being potions.  More reward variety would be a welcome addition. 

Tasks.  The tasks required to complete the Warfront have been hit or miss.  Most of the time, they are just too difficult for a casual player like myself to finish.  Last week's list was much better as it had us killing 50 members of each race. 

Mythic has hinted that they may use the Warfront scenario as a way to experiment with rulesets.  I'm looking forward to when they do mix things up a bit.

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Din's Curse Demo

Recently, Soldak Entertainment released a demo (Windows and Mac) of their upcoming action rpg, Din's Curse.  I have been following and posting about this game for a while, so it was a no-brainer to downloaded.  So far, it is pretty fun and I have a video about the game in the works.  If you want to try the game out, you can find the demo here.

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1.3.5 Class Changes Part 2

Last week I posted about some of the upcoming class changes in store for 1.3.5.  Bright Wizards and Sorcerers drew the short straw and had some abilities altered and damage reduced.  Rune Priests and Zealots will be seeing some of their abilities buffed.

Flash of Chaos and Grungni's Gift.  These healing abilities are an important part of both classes.  They are an instant cast heal, which allows RP's and Zealots to cast on the move.  Mobility is one of my favorite aspects of the Rune Priest. In 1.3.5 the AP cost may be reduced by half, which will be very helpful.  The base healing amount is also getting a bump to make it even more useful.

Leaping Alteration and Rune of Serenity. These abilities are sort of like AoE HoT's (heal over time).  When cast on an ally, it will jump to nearby friendly players.  Even in its current sub-par state I tend to use it quite a bit.  It allows me to get some heals on players not in my group, with little effort.  In 1.3.5 it's base healing will get a nice boost making it more effective. 

The Rune Priest and Zealot are considered by many to be at the bottom of the healing ladder.  Warrior Priests/DoK's and Shaman/AM's can all heal very well and bring more damage and utility to a fight.  These changes are a step in the right direction, as the RP/Zealot is supposed to be one of the better pure healers. 

As you can tell, Mythic is not going overboard with their buffs or nerfs.  The changes to the BW/Sorcs should not cause anyone to quit/re-roll just as the RP/Zealot ones should not cause the Flavor of the Month effect.  We may find that these changes do not go far enough, but it is a step in the right direction.

NOTE:  These changes are subject to change, as Mythic has shown they take player feedback seriously.

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Expansion News

Last week at the game Developers Conference, UGO interviewed EA/Bioware manager Ray Muzyka.  Among the topics discussed was Warhammer Online.  He said several interesting things about the game and its future, including expansions.  That would be pretty big news, but does it mean what we want it to mean?

First, what does Bioware have to do with Mythic?  Both are studios owned by EA.  Some time ago, EA made Muzyka the head of their MMO efforts, while still remaining at Bioware.  This means (in my opinion) that Mythic is a separate entity, but still under Ray's umbrella.

Here is the full quote:

It's a really high quality MMO, and it's one of the highest-rated MMOs of all time. We are really proud of the team that did it. They did an amazing job delivering a really high-quality experience. It's been very successful; a lot of people have played it. Right now it's really profitable business unit within my group. I think the team is really focusing on continuing to make sure it's a stable, high-quality service for the fans who enjoy the universe. It's neat because,we've actually seen more people come into the universe which is fun. We've tried some free-to-play models for some of the earlier levels, and I think that's actually drawing people back in. We have new content planned and all kinds of cool expansions for it.

There is a lot to process in this paragraph.  Two things really jump out at me.  First, WAR is profitable.   That is great news.  So long as a MMO is profitable it should have a future.   Since WAR has shrunk over the past year, hopefully we have reached the point where it is growing again.

The second piece is, of course, the mention of new content and expansions.  I hate to do it, but someone has to be the wet blanket.  Usually, an expansion means new races, classes, areas and so on. When I read this, I don't get the impression he means expansions in the traditional sense.  

My guess is he meant new additions to things like the currency vendors, auction house and other game systems.  Content is a tricky word when it comes to MMO's.  You ask several people what they consider content and you'll probably get different answers.  Until Mythic uses the word expansion, I won't get my hopes up.

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News from the Front 3/19

It was a good week in WAR for me.  Tirew reached RR62, my Rune Priest made it to to Rank 33 and I even got a level on my Iron Breaker.  I really should be spending more time on my Slayer though as he is going to be my Butchering character.  I would love to be making some armor and toughness potions.  As usual, the WAR community has been active, lots to read.

Mythic

• Nate dropped by the forums to tell us the planned weapon DPS changes will not be going in for 1.3.5.
• Another Weekend Warfront starts up today!

New Blogs

• Welcome Blurring Shock and Kite Like Hell, two new WAR blogs!

Articles

• Bootae takes a look at the aftermath of 1.3.4
• Keagen has a dueling guide for melee characters
• The Back Seat Dev has a post about the freenowning phenomenon.
• Zizlak takes a look back at his RP builds a year ago and compares them to now. 
• Good times, One Shard style. 
• Approaching the 1 million heals mark by Fight on the Flag.
• Meet Erbse, The Sovereign. 
• Blaze catches a glimpse of the rare melee Bright Wizard. 
• Syrner takes out some Shadow Warrior frustrations on Tier 1 Destruction. 
• Portraits of WAR announces the winner of their contest.
• Is Skirmish the way to go when playing a Shadow Warrior?
• Mykiel gives us some info on his WAR movie that is in production.

Videos

• Grimnir, the add-on hoarder, shows off some of his collection.  
• A look at some 6 vs 6 pvp on Karak Norn,  By way of Bootae.
• Video of Marauder pvp, from what looks like a Tier 2 Nordenwatch.  Music warning. 
• XZidan shows off some Warrior Priest (2h) mostly-solo fights.  Another good one from WAR Russia.
• A video of some fights in the Lost Vale.
• Salgurdar has a video of a big dragon at the end of a PQ.    
• Chooo Chooo, all aboard the melee train!

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Distant Worlds

Civilization and Master of Orion are probably my favorite game series of all time.  Civ lives on, but the Master of Orion type games (4x) are not as common anymore.  That's why I am very excited for a new game called Distant Worlds.  It comes out Tuesday, I can't wait!

The key features, for me, are:

• 1,400 solar systems with 50,000 planets, moons etc.  That is epic, not in the MMO way.
• Micro-manage or automate as much as you want
• It is real-time, but you can pause it to give orders.
• Detailed ship design
• Mod friendly

Why read, when you can watch?



Distant Worlds will be released on March 23rd by Matrix Games.  I'll be sure to post about it :)

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1.3.5 Class Changes

Along with city changes, Mythic is also planning to introduce some class changes in 1.3.5.  They are taking an incremental approach, so the changes are not sweeping.  Rune Priests and Zealot's will see some positive changes while the Bright Wizard and Sorcerer will have some abilities toned down.  In this article, I'll go over the latter.

Sorcerer

Word of Pain.  This ability is getting its base damage reduced by nearly 50%.  I am generally a roll with the punches kind of player and you won't hear me calling for nerfs or whining all that much.  WoP is the exception, so I am glad to see this change.

It is an instant cast, fire and forget willpower debuff which can do over 3k worth of burst damage. Sure it can be cleansed, if you have a healer paying attention and if you get lucky and it is the one chosen to be removed.  The damage was just too high.  It should still be useful even with the damage decrease, as it is an instant cast.

Bright Wizard

Boiling Blood.  This was an ability players often complained about due to the high damage and that it allowed a BW to debuff it's own damage type (Something which a Sorc cannot do).  In 1.3.5 it will be mirrored to the Sorc's Word of Pain. 

Slow Boil. This ability will now drain action points (not steal) and it's damage is being reduced by more than 50%.

Of course the discussion thread has been met with the usual forum antics.  Changing a few abilities at a time should prevent accidental over nerfing which is common in the MMO world.

A number of players don't think they went far enough.  The balanced skills are all single target, while AoE abilities are often cited as overpowered.  Personally, I would have like to see their pbaoe put on a 1 sec cooldown or have had their damage reduced.  A reduction to their Combustion/Dark Magic mechanic is also something I'd like to see someday.  This is a nice start though.

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From the forums...

Two pieces of news today, both coming from the forums.  First, the changes I mentioned in Striking the Balance will not be going in for 1.3.5.  If they are not certain then more time is the right way to go.  I was looking forward to this, so I am a little disappointed.

Secondly, the forums themselves are getting a bit of an adjustment:

Throughout the day we will be updating the forums with some exciting changes including the addition of a General Discussion Forum!

With this forum we will be consolidating several areas of the forums including crafting, PvE, and others. Additionally to better listen to career feedback we will be consolidating career discussions into archetype discussions making it easier to gather and engage you in your discussions. We'll have more information about this and the moderation program on the Herald after the changes are complete, thank you!

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Vanity Pets

Did you know Warhammer Online has some non-combat vanity pets?  Of course, these aren't your cutesy critters from that other game.  As WAR is all about the fighting, there isn't a huge selection.  There are also some mystery pets, continue on for the list.

Here are the WAR pets I know of:

Warlord's Fell Hound - PTS reward and Recruit-a-Friend (Destro)
Imperial Hunting Hound - PTS reward and Recruit-a-Friend (Order)
Dwarf Keg-Handler - Rare drop during Keg End (Order)
Goblin Broo-Lugga - Rare drop during Keg End (Destro)
Hallow-Wolf - PQ reward from the Wild Hunt event (Thanks Ayleen!)
Tomb King Carrion - ???
Tomb King Scorpion - ???
Tomb King Scarab - ???

The Tomb King (Land of the Dead) pets are a mystery.  I saw them mentioned in the files just like the PTS reward pets.  They may not even be in the game, as I have never seen or heard of them.  Then again, they could be at the end of some of the LotD Tome unlocks. 

I never was able to obtain a Dwarf Keg-Handler, which could be the coolest pet ever.  Hopefully they will make a return during the next Keg End event or in some other way.  I'm not usually a big non-combat pet fan, but the Warhammer world has so many possibilities.  I'd like to see more which are given out as trophies for accomplishments.

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Mo' Money

One area that Mythic wants to focus on in the 1.3.6 patch is the economy.  As we saw last week, making more items Bind on Equip, is one idea they are kicking around.  While this will certainly give players something to buy and sell, it doesn't help the PvPer all that much as they need a good source of gold.  What can be done?

First, lets take a look at the ways a PvP heavy player makes gold.

Money Drops.  When you kill a player, you get a few silver coins.  However, guild taxes will take a cut in order to pay for keeps and other expenses.

Loot. Players have a limited loot table.  Green/Blue (Tier 4) drops usually go for ~25 silver.  RvR armor pieces (boots, gloves) cannot be sold to a vendor and the AH is usually flooded with them.

Quests.  Each warcamp offers a kill quest for their zone and the associated scenarios. As a reward you get 1.5 gold coins.  The problem is you spend 45 silver to fly to the warcamp, and another 45 silver to fly from the warcamp.  Travel expenses eat a large part of your profits.

Crafting.  This really isn't a PvP specific item, but crafting and selling on the AH can make some nice gold too.

As you can see, PvP is not a very lucrative practice.  Here are some of my ideas to get some money into their hands.

Loot.  The player loot table should be expanded to contain rare world drop items like the Sandstorm items.  I'd like to see whatever is made BoE in 1.3.6 be added to the player loot tables.  Some items which can be sold to a vendor for a decent amount of gold would be good too. 

Daily Quests.  I'm not a big fan of daily quests, unless they reward you for what you enjoy doing.  Add global daily quest givers to every warcamp replacing the current kill quests.  Some quests ideas are:  Kill 50 players, kill 20 Bright Wizards, take a keep and so on.

These can also borrow some Live Event tasks.  For example, go retrieve supplies from Praag in the RvR Lake.  There is a lot of potential for fun ways to make some gold.

Crests.  Quite a few players have no use for Invader crests and below.  Allow players to turn them in for gold.  Another option is to allow players to buy BoE items with crests.

These ideas sound pretty reasonable to me, but what do I know? :)  If economy changes do come in 1.3.6, I hope they keep their PvPing player base in mind.

Mo' Money, Mo' Money, Mo' Money

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Striking the balance

The upcoming changes to the city siege system may be the most exciting part of 1.3.5, but it is not the most important.  Mythic will be changing the way classes benefit from the weapons they use.  In the process, they will be taking a look at damage across the board.  So, what does this mean for you?

Under the current system, all careers benefit from the stats (+20 wounds for example) given by the weapon.  The problem is that only a few careers benefit from the weapon's DPS value.  Melee classes get the benefit of both, while healers only use the stats.  As more powerful weapons get introduced, the melee careers benefit more than others.

In 1.3.5, Mythic has proposed applying the weapons DPS value to all careers.  In the case of a healer, the DPS value would increase the power of their healing spells.  This also applies to the damage abilities of other careers.

As a part of the process, abilities may have their abilities base damage reduced.  The Bright Wizard and Sorcerer would become even more powerful with this change otherwise.  Due to their class mechanic, they get a large damage bonus.  Hopefully this will be taken into account when adjusting their abilities.  If there is one thing Order and Destruction agree on, it is that they put out enough damage. 

One lingering question is what will this do to Damage over Time abilities?  Increasing the base damage will result in a small increase per tick.  DoT heavy classes may fall behind even more when compared to BW's and Sorcs.

Here is an example from the thread:

Rune of Restoration, with 750 Willpower

• Current (1.3.4 Live) - 1575 healing
• 1.3.5 with a 68 DPS staff - 1767 healing
• 1.3.5 with a 101 DPS staff - 1906 healing

As with any change, some players are a bit apprehensive.  Melee characters may not gain much in the way of damage, while healing and other damage dealers will.  I don't really agree with this as a nerf for them, since they were profiting greatly from the new weapons.  For the future health of the game, this seems like a necessity.

Overall, it is a change that had to be made.  All classes should benefit from their gear.  How much of a difference will this actually make?  We'll have to wait for it to go up on the PTS to find out.  Balance is pretty good right now, so I'm hoping they go conservative.

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News from the Front 3/12

As we head deeper into March, Mythic has started to talk about 1.3.5 and 1.3.6 a bit more. We still don't know when 1.3.5 will land on the PTS, but it probably isn't too far off.  The greater WAR community has been especially active the last couple of weeks, did it continue?

Mythic

• A Community Spotlight, focused on bloggers!  A lot of great sites on there, so check it out. 
• Three new feedback threads concerning 1.3.5 and 1.3.6.  
• Mythic wants some guilds to help test the 1.3.5 city siege changes

Articles

• Bootae talks about the importance of playing smoooooooth.
• Zizlak gives us his take on some of 1.3.5's changes. 
• WARgames tells us why we should be using YakUI.
• Yitu does some detective work on the recent Video Grab Bag for expansion details. 
• Grimnir posted his thoughts on WAR's economy.
• Blog the Witch finished part 1 of his Bloodkiss novel. 
• Syrner, a new blogger, talks about his Knight of the Blazing Sun. 
• i heart gorfang posts some truly scary pictures.

Videos

• Footage of a Witch Elf soloing folks in Tier 1.  
• Gamelinx made a video about Tier 1 RvR as a Bright Wizard.
• A video from WAR Russia.  There are cats with machine guns, zombies, a lot of blood and WAR RvR. 
• It was only a matter of time, WAR meets the Loveboat. 
• Tier 2 Squig Herder action.  Another one from WAR Russia, the are certainly keeping busy over there. 
• AoS has some 6-man vs pug video... with the expected results. 
• RvR from Volkmar.  Keeps, Land of the Dead and more!  Great video with an epic feeling. 

So many articles and not enough time.  Apologies to anyone I could not include this week :)

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WAR's Economy

As I mentioned yesterday, Mythic is looking for feedback on some of their upcoming patch ideas.  Only the one about improving the WAR economy is causing me some concern.   There is a lot to say about this topic, but I am going to make it concise as possible. There is a TLDR version at the bottom too.

What Mythic is proposing:  Players do not have enough to spend gold on which may be helped by more BoE (Bind on Equip) items from PQ's, drops and other avenues.

That sounds all well and good, so why am I concerned (based on the info we have)?

PvE.  Nearly every PQ in the game is PvE, including dungeons.  Mythic is finally getting rid of the PvE in the city siege, so why add a new economic emphasis based on PvE?

World Drops.  The most popular world drop is probably the Sandstorm class of weapons.  From dungeons it may be the Odjira fragment.  Both of which are BoE and sell for a nice price.  However, these are obtained through PvE. The only valuable drop from PvP is a piece of Sovereign jewelery which a small segment of the population can use. 

All of the armor set (glove, boots) drops cannot even be sold to a vendor.  The market is usually flooded with them, so selling on the AH is not productive either.  This leads me into my next concern, how will PvPers get gold?

Gold.  It seems to me that gold is a PvE currency, for PvP it is tokens.  This is partly due to there being no reliable way to earn gold by PvP.  There are kill quests, but you have to travel to each warcamp to pick it up and turn it in.  You'll spend a large chunk of your reward just traveling. 

Unless a new way to make gold by PvP is implemented, many will forced to PvE to get items that actually sell.  If that happens, I will be quite discouraged. 

Gold Sellers.  There are a small amount of gold sellers in WAR now.  Putting more emphasis on gold will just increase their presence.

Alright, that went longer than I hoped.  Here is the TLDR version:

Please do not make me PvE in order to get gold.  I get tokens from doing what I like already, why can't they be used?

It is possible Mythic may have addressed these concerns, but all we have to go on is what they posted.  WAR is about fighting other players, at least it is to me.  The economy should support that, not encourage people to PvE.  Next week I will offer up my half-baked ideas :)

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Mythic wants your feedback

Mythic has created new threads over on the official forums asking for feedback.  Three future patch topics are covered:

• Economy Improvements, 
• Weapon DPS applied to all damage and healing.
• Upcoming class balance changes for 1.3.5.  

I'm still digesting the info, so I'll refrain from posting opinions until tomorrow. I will now quote the great sage, Meat Loaf.  "Two out of three ain't bad"

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Tools of WAR: Loyal Pet

In this video series, I plan to show some of the interesting add-ons which are available for WAR.  I'm not a big add-on user, but I think that a lot of them can be helpful and make the game even more enjoyable.  Continue on for the first Tools of WAR.

Last week I posted about getting more out of your pet (Turret, Lion, Squig and Demon).  To do that, I used the Loyal Pet add-on.  That seemed like a great one to use for the first video. 



You can find Loyal Pet at Curse.  To install, just download it and unpack it into your Interface/AddOns directory.  Once in game, you can access it using: /lpet gui

NOTE: Loyal Pet also needs LibSlash to run.  

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Werit takes on The Order

I've talked about Gratuitous Space Battles a few times in the past.  It's a fun and original space combat strategy/simulator game from Positech Games.  Recently, they offered me a review copy of GSB's latest expansion pack, The Order.  As I enjoy the game, I happily accepted.  For my impressions and a video, continue after the jump.

The expansion pack adds a new race to the game, called The Order.  They are on a crusade to convert everyone else to their religion (similar to the Ori in SG1).  They bring with them a bunch of new toys for you to cause mayhem.

Let's start with the ships.  The pack comes with 11 brand new ships ranging from fighters up to the big cruisers.  The art and design for these ships is amazing.  They are pretty original as video game space ships go.  I really like how they use a beam to hold themselves together rather than some solid material.



There are several new weapons, some of which can only be used on Order ships.  A common theme for The Order is radiation.  Two of the new weapons deliver this nasty payload.  In MMO terms, it'd be a DoT.  If you can get it through the shields, you will cause some nice damage over time.

The expansion pack also has two new maps in which you can fight.  The first is a survival scenario.  Survival maps are like arcade games.  You will face an endless wave of enemies in your quest for the top score.  Of course, what good is a high score without a high score list?  The second is a regular battle map, but with asteroids. 

The pack itself doesn't change much about the game itself.  Gameplay will remain largely the same, except for more toys to play with.  If you are a fan of GSB, it is likely worth the money.  If not, it probably won't change your mind. 

Overall, I liked the expansion pack.  The new ships are great and add some more replay value to the game.  The pack will set you back $6, so it is cheaper than a movie. It is a digital download, so go here for more information.  As of this writing, it is not yet available on Steam but would be found here.

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Does the Underdog System work?

One problem WAR has been fighting with since launch is one realm dominating the other.  Often this was due to population imbalances, organizational issues or just a loss of morale.  In 1.3.3 we were introduced to the Underdog system which was supposed to help.  Has it worked?

You will probably get a different answer depending on the server.  On Badlands, I think the system has worked great.  Prior to the patch, Destruction would routinely push to Altdorf while Order only rarely made it to the Inevitable City.

If you look at Badlands now, both sides are getting to their enemies city.  I'm not sure I've ever seen a -3 Underdog rating, usually at -2 the opposing realm is able to start a city siege.  All this without really punishing the winners for winning.  I was skeptical, but in the case of Badlands I am pleased with the results.

Of course, not all servers fared as well as Badlands did with 1.3.3. Where there was a wide population imbalance the same issues still remain.  Population is a tough problem to solve.  A bonus to exp and renown does not seem like it is enough to have people switching servers. Even though 1.3.3 helped, there is still some work to be done.

How are things on your server?  Has the Underdog system helped at all?

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News from the Front 3/5

Is WAR's population on the rise?  It sure feels like it.  Over the past week I have seen an influx of new players and players returning to the game.  The same applies to the blog community, as three new blogs have joined the scene. For a complete rundown, read on.

Mythic

• Nate fills us in on the future of scenario weapon pricing. 
• Two new videos about the 1.3.4 patch and the new scenario weapons.
• High Pass Cemetery looks to be the feature of this weekends Warfront.

New Blogs

• Welcome to Keagen, the Back Seat Dev and WARgames. 

Articles

• One Shard enjoyed The Ironclad quite a bit.  I have to agree, it was a fun scenario. 
• WARgames came back for the Endless Trial and stayed. 
• Shadow War senses a WAR revitalization. 
• Keagen talks a bit about gear for those squishy DPS types. 
• Mykiel, usually known for his video podcasts, drops some science on us in a written post!
• Grimnir has some suggestions for Tier 2 and 3. 
• Blaze reaches Renown Rank 80, congrats!
• Bootae asks the question, "If you could change one career..."
• Zizlak has some decisions to make.  I often find myself pondering my career mastery setup too.
• Mr. Meh has a WAR joke for you.    
• NOTE:  There were actually a few more sites to cover, but I have to end it somewhere.  I'll try to get to those next week :)

Videos

• Tier 1 Shaman action from WAR Russia.
• An Auction House video from Germany.  It's short, but how many AH videos have you seen?
• Footage from a keep defense in Troll Country. 
• A look at Gunbad's Pit Boss.  Don't think I have ever actually been in Gunbad, so it was new to me.
• A Talisman making tutorial, in German.
• Some Chosen PvP action.  Nice solo video mostly in Praag.  A 2h Chosen can put out some good damage. RAVAGE. 
• Tier 2 RvR fights.  Music is Metallica, so that makes it awesome in any case. 
• NOTE:  This is only a small sampling of the videos this week.  As with the articles, there were just too many :)

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Getting Involved

The Warhammer Vault over at IGN is looking for some help.  They are in need of news hounds, columnists and artists. While they may not be paid positions, they do offer a great opportunity.  It gets you involved with the WAR community, including players and developers.  It's a great way to get your name out there and make some contacts too. 

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Getting more out of your pet

I've been playing WAR for more than 18 months and am still learning new things all the time.  My Engineer is a great example.  I never really used his turret (pet) much due to the low damage and inability to really control it.  A few days ago, I found out it can be controlled.

Turrets and other pets can be set to aggressive, defend and passive.  They also have several special abilities which are usually set to auto.  That was pretty much all the control I thought I had over it.  While browsing the WAR forums, I saw a fellow Engineer mention wanting to put his turrets special abilities on the hotbar.  It got me thinking and I remembered a pet addon.

LoyalPet is an add-on which allows you to have more control over your pet whether it be a lion, squig, daemon or turret.  I never realized it could keep you and your pet on the same target.  So when I switch targets to a healer, my turret will also start firing on them.  This has made my turret feel much more useful.

This is especially true for my gun turret.  Its special abilities are an armor debuff and machine gun.  The armor debuff is very helpful as a lot of players are sporting armor potions.  Since rifle skills are mostly physical damage, getting the debuff on your target is very helpful.

The machine gun ability is also very important despite its low damage.  Due to its rapid fire, it can setback/interrupt a caster or healer.  With LoyalPet, all this happens with no micromanagement.

Alright, back to the original question.  Can you control your pets abilities from the hotbar?  Yes you can, with a macro.  Type this in your chat box, with a flame turret out:

/script CommandPetDoAbility(425)

That's all there is to it.  You can put the above into a macro and place it on your hotbar.  Here are the other numbers, taken from LoyalPet.

White Lion

Lions Roar: 429
Leg Tear: 431
Shred: 430
Gut Ripper: 434
Maul: 433
Fang and Claw: 432
Terrifying Roar: 428
Bite: 426
Claw Sweep: 427

Engineer

Penetrating Round: 420
Flamethrower: 424
Shock Grenade: 422
High-Explosive Grenade: 423
Machine Gun: 421
Steam Vent: 425

Magus

Daemonic Fire: 443
Warping Energy: 445
Flame of Tzeentch: 447
Flames of Change: 448
Coruscating Energy: 446
Daemonic Consumption: 444

Squig Herder

Squig Squeal: 442
Gore: 438
Goop Shootin: 440
Poisoned Spine: 437
Spine Fling: 436
Spore Cloud: 441
Head Butt: 439
Death From Above: 435

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Weekend Warfront Rewards

Weekend Warfront's are like other live events, you get a task list and three levels of rewards.  The elite level reward was nice, as it gave you extra scenario Emblems for winning.  The lower tiered rewards were not as desirable.  How can they be improved and what can we expect from future Weekend Warfronts?

As we saw in the last It Came from the Files, more than just the Vanquisher's Boon was added.  There were also the: Coinkeeper's Boon, Instructor's Boon and the Herald's Boon.  If I had to guess, I'd say these give more money, more XP and more renown.  They would put us at 4 boons, enough for a months rotation.

All of that is just a guess though and those new boons may have nothing to do with future Warfront rewards.  It is also a bit strange to offer rank 40 players an experience buff.  We should see Friday if I am on to something or not.

The lower tiered rewards for Scurvy Dogs were single low level potions.  I'm not even sure why they bothered if those were going to be the rewards.   Here are some of my ideas for future rewards:

Gold.  You can't go wrong with an item that you can sell for a few gold pieces. 

Renown.  I believe it was the first Night of Murder which offered consumable items that gave the player renown.

Influence.  Just like the one above, an item that grants the player influence when used.

Ordinance.  How about 25 or 50 pieces of ordinance?  I'd be more likely to spend what I have if there was another source of these.

Axe Hewer's and Trolls.  Remember those neat siege engines from Bitter Rivals?  Bring those back as a reward.

Potions.  5 or 10 potions would be a more worthwhile reward. 

Currency.  I wouldn't mind getting medallions, crests or even Land of the Dead currency as a reward.

Crafting.  How about a bag which has a choice of crafting materials?

I think there is a lot of options for those lower tiered rewards.  As we have a new Warfront every week, they don't need to be very large rewards, but they should be a bit more interesting.

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Ironclad Improvements

WAR's first Weekend Warfront has come and gone.  Overall, it was an enjoyable experience.  One of the nice things about scenarios, like The Ironclad, only making an appearance every so often is that it can be improved more easily.  While fun, I think there are some things that can be done to make The Ironclad even better.

Bugs.  The scenario itself was a bit buggy, at least for my Engineer.  On the Central Gangway, there were numerous spots where my turrets and land mines would end up falling through the floor.  At least that's my guess, they just disappeared.  I disappeared through the floor on one occasion too.  Maybe the Ironclad was in the Bermuda Triangle?

Spawns.  While it was fun (for me) knocking Destruction back into the water as they left their spawn,  it probably wasn't very fair.  It brought back some fond Tor Anroc memories :)

Guards.  This seems to be a 1.3.4 issue rather than just The Ironclad.  If you aggro the spawn guards, be prepared for them to rampage through the scenario killing everyone in their path.  The lesson, be very careful if you camp a spawn.  Or it could just be a bug.

Healing.  I played this scenario a bit on my Rune Priest.  It was extremely boring.  Here is how nearly every scenario went:  Pick a spot, spam group heal skill.  Due to the corridors, it was the only way to be protected from melee.  It was also the most effective way to heal as group heals do not respect line of sight.

There really doesn't seem to be much Mythic can do about it though.  Maybe a debuff which reduces the range of group heals?  The downside would be it favors melee even more.

Ranged.  This isn't really a bug, but more of an observation.  Most of this scenario is not friendly to ranged classes who don't have overpowered pbaoe's.  That's all well and good as it is a temporary scenario.  I would love to see a scenario in the future which favors ranged, to balance things out.

Tasks.   Most of the tasks for the Scurvy Dogs live event were fine. I do think that completing 25 scenarios was a bit on the high side.  Let's say each scenario averages 10 minutes, that's over 4 hours just in the scenario.  It used up nearly all of my weekend game time.  In my opinion, 15 would be a better amount to require.

Hopefully the scenario will be even more solid the next time it rolls around.  It was fun to do for a weekend and I am already looking forward to the next Warfront.

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Neglect

The past few months have been an amazing time to be a gamer.  There have been so many good games released that I've had a hard time keeping up.  In fact, I have even been neglecting games that I enjoy.  It turns out that I am a two game kinda guy.  Even so, I feel a little bad about the games I just don't have time for.

As I mentioned, I only have time to play two major games at a time.  The primary one is Warhammer Online (I know, big surprise).  The current number two game is Mass Effect 2, which I hope to complete in the next couple weeks.  When I do, a new game will move into its place.  It could be any one of the following:

Fallen Earth.  I've been a big fan of FE since before they launched.  Even though I have not played it lately, I am still subscribed.  Icarus has made a lot of great improvements and I expect them to continue to do so. One challenge FE will face getting back to the #2 spot is its theme.  Science Fiction is my favorite genre and there is another game which fits the bill.

Star Trek Online.  STO will likely be the next game I play when I finish ME2.  It's no secret that Cryptic rushed its release, but I am pretty patient these days.  When I do return to it, it will be primarily for PvE.  I just don't expect Cryptic to be able to balance PvP well.

Global Agenda.  I own the game and don't need a subscription, so I'll just play this whenever I feel like it.  being able to jump in and play whenever will get it played more often than a game I have to re-subscribe to.  It's a shame I suck at First Person Shooters though.  That's why I let the turrets do the shooting for me. 

Everquest 2.  My time with you is not finished EQ2. I expect to come back for a month now and then, as there is too much content to ignore and some great people to play with. 

Dawntide.  I am still watching how this game develops.  There is a lot of potential and the dev team makes some big strides every patch.  It's just that lately I have had less free time, so I want to spend it playing rather than testing.

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