Admittedly, patch 1.4.5 did not deploy as smoothly as we had anticipated. In response to player feedback given here in the forums, as well as in the last days of PTS testing, we will be shifting our development schedule a bit.

We are adding a smaller 1.4.5a patch, to be released in a few weeks, which will address some issues brought out with the current release, as well as implement Fortress and Relic elements suggested by players. This would include, but is not limited to, UI elements for Relic Bonuses, Relic control indicators, and additional rewards for GvD Relic control.

Original plans for 1.4.6 are being pushed out to 1.4.7, and we’re making 1.4.6 now exclusively a BugFix Patch. There have been numerous suggestions from the community that we take time to focus exclusively on some long running bugs, and now’s the time to do it.

I am very happy to see they will expose the new relic system to the UI.  As it stands now, if you didn’t know about the system, only some limited zone announcement messages would tell you it existed. Proper UI elements will make it much more engaging.

Currently, the Relic Bonus for holding both from the Dwarf and Greenskin pairing is 200% gold.  While it is somewhat useful, it could be more interesting.  I’m looking forward to hearing what he has in mind, lots of potential.

The announcement of 1.4.6 being a bug fixing patch is also welcome news.  Sure, I wish I knew what they had plans for prior to the change, but bugs do need fixing.    In fact, Keaven has already started that by fixing a much hated LoTD Absorb talisman bug.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

Upcoming WAR Changes

• 1.4.5 Launches Today
• Happy Winter Holidays
• Things to do in the Holiday Break
• Relic Raid Tests on Warpstone
• More Relic Info
• Claiming a Fortress
• WAR 1.4.5 Q&A
• 1.4.5 hits the PTS
• Producer’s Interview on MMORPG.com
• Weekend Warfront – Twisted Tactics

Q and A’s

Fortress Q&A with BioWare Mythic
WAR 1.4.5 Q&A

Forts

Claming a Fortress
Relic Bonuses

Generals

Dwarf and Greenskin Generals
Empire and Chaos Generals
Elf Generals

Grovod Caverns

Sadly, I was unable to make the PTS for the revamped scenario.  Someone else did make a video though!  The voice you hear is that of WAR developer Keaven.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

1.4.5 Launches Today

• Dwarf and Greenskin Generals
• Empire and Chaos Generals
• Elf Generals
• Upcoming WAR Changes
• WAR 1.4.5 Q&A
• Relic Bonuses
• Things to do in the Holiday Break
• More Tests Sessions on Warpstone
• Claiming a Fortress
• WAR Producer update

Victoria II:  A House Divided.  This is the first expansion pack for Paradox’s Victoria II.  Besides a US Civil War scenario, it includes some major economic and political changes which should make the game more enjoyable.  Check out this AAR (After Action Report) for a preview.  This should be released on February 2nd.

Crusader Kings 2.  Another Paradox game, which is shaping up to be very cool.  Taking place from the year 1066, the game focuses Medieval Europe. What makes CK special is that it takes into account all of the family connections and religious influences of the time.  There is a long Let’s Play series on youtube.  This game is set to release on February 14th.

StarDrive.  The alpha test for the upcoming 4x game, StarDrive is improving constantly.  Just last night I got in my first fight, and it was a lot of fun.  I posted a video last week showing off the scale of the game and how firing your flagships weapons works.

Star Trek Online.  This week also marks the 2nd anniversary of Star Trek Online (Feb 2nd to the 6th).  As a part of the celebration, players can obtain a new vessel, the Odyssey class. It will only be available for a limited time, so i’m going to have to go get it.  Then later in the month, a new Featured Episode series starts!  These are the best part of STO, so I’m pretty excited.

Warhammer Online.  WAR’s 1.4.5 patch should be going live very soon, and it is looking good.  A ton of work has went into the Fortress revamp and I can’t wait to see how it plays out on the live servers.

Star Wars: the Old Republic.  I’ve started up my first alt, Tirew the Jedi Knight.  He’s still only level 12, but a lot of fun to play.  I’m taking my sweet time in the game, as it’s all for the story with me.

Mass Effect 3.  Technically, this is in March (6th I think), but close enough.  Can’t wait to fight some Reavers!

I didn’t even get to mention the backlog of console games and Wrath of Heroes which I want to play.  It’s really pretty crazy, the amount of choices we have these days.  Oh, and I need to finish Skyrim.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

Too Many Games

• Stardrive
• StarDrive Alpha Video
• Overload!
• Stardrive Q&A
• STO is now F2P
• Playing on launch day
• A Look at WAR
• SWTOR Temptation
• The 5 most Bootaefull games of 2011
• Keen and Graev’s Most Anticipated Games of 2012

• They have a ton of health.  Healer archetypes have ~240,000 hp and the rest have ~160,000hp.
• Each has 5 abilities for the player to use.  
• They do not do a lot of damage/healing, less than most players.  However, some have some nice utility.
• The Fortress Generals are only available when a Fort is claimed.
• If you take a General too far away from the Fort, you will revert to your original form.  Dying is the only other way to drop the General.

General Telissys, Archmage

General Lanfenthi, Swordmaster

General Aeloyll, White Lion

General Noresiteal, Shadow Warrior

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

Elf Generals

• Dwarf and Greenskin Generals
• Empire and Chaos Generals
• Tier 7 Armor Sets – Round 6
• 1.4.5 Launches Today
• WAR 1.4.5 Q&A
• Claiming a Fortress
• Q and A with James Casey
• A Dwarf and an Elf walk into a bar
• 1.4.5 hits the PTS
• Skyrim So far

• They have a ton of health.  Healer archetypes have ~240,000 hp and the rest have ~160,000hp.
• Each has 5 abilities for the player to use.  
• They do not do a lot of damage/healing, less than most players.  However, some have some nice utility.
• The Fortress Generals are only available when a Fort is claimed.
• If you take a General too far away from the Fort, you will revert to your original form.  Dying is the only other way to drop the General.

General Abagar, Warrior Priest

General Gelonas, Knight of the Blazing Sun

General Kabaspar, Witch Hunter

General Ralottolf, Bright Wizzard

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

Empire and Chaos Generals

• Dwarf and Greenskin Generals
• Elf Generals
• 1.4.5 Launches Today
• Claiming a Fortress
• WAR 1.4.5 Q&A
• Tier 7 Armor Sets – Round 6
• 1.4.5 hits the PTS
• PTS Events
• Q and A with James Casey
• Skyrim So far

• They have a ton of health.  Healer archetypes have ~240,000 hp and the rest have ~160,000hp.
• Each has 5 abilities for the player to use.  
• They do not do a lot of damage/healing, less than most players.  However, some have some nice utility.
• The Fortress Generals are only available when a Fort is claimed.
• If you take a General too far away from the Fort, you will revert to your original form.  Dying is the only other way to drop the General.

General Ragalitz, Choppa

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

Dwarf and Greenskin Generals

• Empire and Chaos Generals
• Elf Generals
• 1.4.5 Launches Today
• A Dwarf and an Elf walk into a bar
• Tier 7 Armor Sets – Round 6
• Claiming a Fortress
• WAR 1.4.5 Q&A
• Relic Bonuses
• Upcoming WAR Changes
• 1.4.5 hits the PTS

• Wednesday, January 18th  8-10 pm EST (1-3 am GMT) - Dwarfs vs Greenskins – Thunder Mountain
• Friday, January 20th  4–6 pm EST (9-11 pm GMT) - Empire vs Chaos – Praag
• Monday, January 23rd  8-10 pm EST (1-3 am GMT) High Elves vs Darkelves – Dragonwake

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

PTS Events

• Relic Raid Tests on Warpstone
• More Tests Sessions on Warpstone
• Keg’s End 12/14/2011 – 1/4/2012
• Empire and Chaos Generals
• Elf Generals
• Happy Winter Holidays
• Version 1.4.5 Comes to PTS
• Relic Bonuses
• WAR Producer update
• Dwarf and Greenskin Generals

The first thing I did at 50 was go and check out Ilum, which as mentioned before is just point swapping crap at the moment, but that’s a real shame because the design of the zone itself is brilliant. It’s got lots of routes for travel, loads of ambush points and a mixture of wide open and more funneled areas. The basic concept of the campaign system is good, it’s basically like a RvR lake from WAR with keep at each end and the objectives between, but it has been completely let down by the lack of any incentive to kill the enemy players. Once (or if…) Bioware get that sorted out, then in theory it should make for an excellent RvR/PvP zone and I can see it being exactly the sort of thing that would keep me subbed.

In fact if Bioware were to sort out the incentives so that all the materialistic purple pixel obsessed lame arsed humans playing the game actually started fighting and combined this with adding further RvR themed planets,  then SWTOR could actually be both a WoW and WAR replacement. That is a very big IF though… We shall see.

In other news, I’ve rolled my first proper alt. Gone for an Agent with the Sniper advanced class. Interesting so far, but more on that another time.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

SWTOR – Level 50 done and done

Incoming search terms:

• swtor level 50 dailies
• HOW IS SWTOR DOING
• lvl 50 dailies swtor
• should i pvp first at 50 in swtor?
• swtor 50 warzones or ilum
• Swtor level 50 dalies
• swtor lvl 50 daylies
• swtor sort
• swttor 50 dailies

• SWTOR Patch 1.1 Rumors Dispelled
• RvR in SWTOR?
• SWTOR 1.1 patch is not the PvP disaster people think it is
• SWTOR 1-40 Commentary
• TOR Datacron: And We’re Off!
• Level 50 approaches
• Ilum? Lolum more like.
• Promising PvP news for SWTOR in January
• Taking my foot off the SWTOR pedal a bit
• My SWTOR PvP experience so far

Getting to the Fort

In every tier 4 warcamp, there is a new flag which will teleport you to that pairings fortress.  It is only active if your fort still has a relic.  If it has been taken, the flag will not work and also look very drab.

Claiming the Fort

Once you are at the Fortress, head to the 3rd (I think forts have 4) floor.  There you will find an Alliance Altar. Click on it, and a few OK’s later you are now the owner of the fortress.  Your guild news window will mention the fort was claimed.

Money in the bank

Owning a fortress is not free.  It costs 24 gold per hour.  The gold is taken from your guild bank, so make sure you have some money in there.  The Relic guardian, located on the top floor by the relic, also acts as a Guild Banker for members of the controlling alliance.

Banners

Once you claim a fortress, your Guild Banner will be used to decorate it in certain places.  this is a nice touch from keep claiming which has returned.

That’s all there is to claiming a fortress.

The main problem with the system on the PTS is there really is no feedback.  Looking at the banners seems to be the only way to tell if the fortress is claimed and by who.  The map does not provide any tooltips like keeps used to give.

The other problem is that bonuses received by being the owner of a fortress do not show up anywhere.  Hopefully Mythic can put in some kind of indicator (buff icon) that lets you know that you are receiving the bonus.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

Claiming a Fortress

• 1.4.5 hits the PTS
• WAR 1.4.5 Q&A
• Q and A with James Casey
• Elf Generals
• Dwarf and Greenskin Generals
• Empire and Chaos Generals
• More Relic Info
• 1.4.5 Launches Today
• Relic Bonuses
• Upcoming WAR Changes

WoW was evolving constantly back then, and surprisingly continues to evolve regularly even today.  There were itemization issues, stat issues, and content issues.  End-game wasn’t clearly defined.  PvP was anything but defined.  It was clear that Blizzard was learning like the rest of us how their future would unfold. I was there for all of it.

I remember playing and having discussions in general chat with the other players about raids.  All we knew at the time was that there was a raid.  Looking back at the 40-man raids of WoW’s launch and all they entailed, then looking at the raid finder experience of today, it’s truly mind blowing how WoW has evolved.  If you played the entire time, you’re even more aware of how many changes the raiding system has gone through and different systems/mechanics/features/implementations the content has seen over the years.

Then there’s the PvP system, which started out … actually it didn’t.  There wasn’t a “PvP system”.   There weren’t battlegrounds, rewards, titles, or gear.  It was just the ability to kill other players in zones like Hillsbrad.  Evolving just like raids, PvP has gone through countless changes over the years.

What am I getting at by giving you this history lesson?

MMO Players have allowed WoW to grow over the years, through the good and the bad — and the horrible.  Why then do we (myself included) have absolutely zero tolerance for new games?  If a game does not release in pristine condition with every subtle nuance figured out, it’s unpolished and not worth our time.  Ironically, most then return to WoW which continues to evolve and implement new ways of fixing something players may even currently hate when they return.

Is it Blizzard’s reputation that we trust?  Do we think “eventually they’ll figure it out” and not worry about the present?

Do we give WoW a free pass since it was the first?  Perhaps nostalgia has allowed WoW the right to be held to different standards.

Maybe we’re just tired of the same old thing.  Every game releases the same, and with each new release the flaws of previous generations agitate us.

I catch myself being unforgiving of young games all the time, and I try to take a step back and think with a relative mind.  The reality is, whether or not I might forgive a few shortcomings in a game, new MMO releases have only one chance to make an impression.   I’m generalizing when I say this, but no one gives second chances.  That’s why I coined the MMO 3-monther phrase.  It’s a real phenomenon, but I think it’s just as much the players fault as it is the developers — and it’s here to stay.

Perhaps the only way to avoid this demand for excellence is change.  The more a new game resembles its predecessors, the less forgiving players become.  If a MMO released which drastically altered how players perceive the act of playing, then maybe the player’s mind will be drawn to other areas, thus giving developers time to actually patch.

Speaking once again in a general sense, both sides of the developer/player relationship have lost sight of the “ever-evolving and changing world” mentality.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

MMOs are not given room to grow anymore. Launch perfect or die!

• Raid Lockouts Should Be Removed
• Battle.net Balance and Diablo 3 will earn me money
• My 2012 online gaming schedule
• Seeking info: No Loot Containers in SWTOR?
• The Sandbox Ecosystem
• SWTOR PvP falls short, my suggestions
• SWTOR vs WoW: Battle of the Bears?
• Countdown to Skyrim
• Keen’s Predictions for 2012
• SWTOR or Skyrim?

Let’s take a peek at some of the interesting parts.

Fortresses are all  about Player-Initiated Defense. An Alliance willing to put their neck on the  line is able to claim the Fortress and several all new ‘defense’ points. 

Here they are trying something new and giving players a sandbox element.  Fort raids can happen at any time no matter what the state of the campaign.  It’ll be interesting to see how players react.

Claiming a defensive point or the Fortress will  also spawn banners that show the Guild banner for the Guild that claimed the area.  Fly your flag proud!

Nice to see this feature back.  

A Fortress Foreman spawns inside the Gatehouse, allowing any allied player to purchase Heavy Wood to repair damaged doors  (which works the same as with Keeps); and a Fortress Door Field Kit, which will allow you to rebuild a destroyed  door, bringing it back to a live and closed state, but with only 35% of its  health.

This is a bit different than how Keep sieges work currently.  Personally, I like it better than what we currently have.

While a relic resides in its home fortress, a  Rally Flag will be available in each of the Warcamps of that pairing.  The flag is located near each Warcamp’s  healer and allows players to teleport directly to the fortress to defend the  relic.   The arrival location for the  Rally Flag changes every few seconds to ensure attacking forces can’t predict  the arrival.  However, please be aware  that if the attackers have breached the inner sanctum, the Rally Flag may be a  dangerous way to enter the battle!

Interesting that it is all pairing based.  Will it make it too easy for defenders to respond, or will it be just right to get some defensive presence there in time?  We will see.

When the campaign has moved to the city siege,  players may now queue and enter the city siege via the Scenario Queue window or  by clicking on the appropriate City in the ‘RvR tracker’ available on the map.

Does this mean you no longer have to travel to the enemies city?  Not sure how I feel about that.  A lot of combat happened as a result of the traveling.  On the other hand, it would be nice to get there quickly.

There is a ton more to read, so go check it out.  

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

1.4.5 hits the PTS

• Claiming a Fortress
• Hot Fix – 02/01
• Elf Generals
• Dwarf and Greenskin Generals
• Empire and Chaos Generals
• 1.4.5 Launches Today
• Upcoming WAR Changes
• City Siege Hot Fix – 02/01
• Additional Fixes – 02/02
• More Relic Info

Now we know:
—–

As noted before, here are some numbers.

Currently, our values for the relic bonuses are as follows:

• Dwarf – Greenskin: Owning both Relics in this pairing will award all members of that Realm a 200% bonus to earned coin.
• Empire – Chaos: Owning both Relics in this pairing will award all members of that Realm a 5% bonus to damage.
• High Elf – Dark Elf: Owning both Relics in this pairing will award all members of that Realm a 5% bonus to healing.
• All Pairings: Owning both Relics of any pairing will award all members of that Realm a 5% bonus to RP. These stack with each other, so owning all three pairings would total a 15% bonus.

The current costs for claiming are as follows:
A periodic upkeep cost of 6 Gold every 15 minutes (for a total of 24 Gold hourly) for Fortress,
A periodic upkeep cost of 3 Gold every 15 minutes (for a total of 12 Gold hourly) for individual defensive points.

Remember, that we want to get feedback on these and see how they work out on PTS, which is planned for next week.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on the figures.

—–

My first impression of the bonuses is one of disappointment.  I feel this way for a couple of reasons.  First, they have told us for the longest time that they didn’t want to directly increase the power of the stronger realm.  Adding to damage and healing is about as direct as you can get.  The coin bonus is fine, but there really isn’t much to buy.

The second reason is that damage and healing bonuses are just plain boring.  Wheee, my 1000 damage hit is now 1050.  That is not compelling at all.  I was really hoping for bonuses that would make things more interesting.

I’m fine with the RP bonuses though, as everyone (who isn’t RR100) likes RP.  Will these bonuses be attractive enough for players to spend the coin on Forts?  I guess we’ll see.

On a positive note, he did mention PTS should be up this week.  

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

Relic Bonuses

• Claiming a Fortress
• More Relic Info
• Upcoming WAR Changes
• WAR 1.4.5 Q&A
• Q and A with James Casey
• PTS Events
• Bonus Weekend 02/03 – 02/06
• Elf Generals
• Dwarf and Greenskin Generals
• 1.4.5 hits the PTS

They were taken on my trips through RvR. No special trips to search for a nice scenery were made. Originally the galleries (well..the series of galleries) were intended to show stuff that a Moba type game like WoH can’t deliver, but the more I played in the last weeks the more I realized that it can also serve as an eye-opener to current WAR players, because some people oversee the nice artwork done by Mythic back when they had money for such fluff-stuff. There is some stuff here people don’t see even though they are passing it nearly every day.. some stuff is a little more hidden.

I hope that you enjoy the gallery as much as I enjoy it when I find such a scene. There are still some pictures left to show you..if you like.

–

Karic (doomdiver.wordpress.com)

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

Just scenery (part 2)

• Last post.. of the year
• I had reasons for the silence
• MWO: Information Warfare
• Changes
• Christmas Recap
• New ping on my radar
• About a dwarf and his oath
• Uncovering a Treasure Trove of Old Games
• Who needs a ship?
• SWTOR PvP falls short, my suggestions

Full copy of the post:

Finally got some time to read through the whole thread again as I gave it a once-over yesterday. Lots of stuff to comment on.

For some of the questions on actual numbers (relic bonuses and maintenance) I need to double-check some values and I’ll give you those later today. One thing to note there is that they will likely need some tweaking based on feedback and PTS testing like any variables.
I made a list of some of the top stuff so I’m just going to run down a list.

We have the bug someone mentioned with Rams in our tracker for code to look at.  

A number of people pointed out the disparity between defense and attack, but as noted by others, the idea is that it is a difficult task. That being said, some of the ideas for attackers are things examine further and consider for inclusion potentially; for example a AAO based PAM system for attackers. 

Some people commented on the alliance buffs for claiming and maintaining areas in the fortress. Those buffs only stay up if they are paid for and maintained, and only affect the fortress area. That being said, the bonuses for owning both relics in a pairing are not alliance based but affect the whole realm based on the pairing owned. 

To answer someone’s question, the guild that claims an area pays the cost, the alliance benefits though. 

We can look at additional items to purchase potentially but not in the initial push.
Likewise there are some good ideas in the thread on ways to tweak AAO. I’d like to get feedback on PTS before we look at those further. 

Attackers still respawn in the previous zone, but something we can consider is making a way to change that based on criteria (perhaps population). Good topic for further expansion. 

As for the single ram, there can actually be two rams out at once and there are 3 doors into the fortress and 1 inside. So the battle will be different than the keeps in that sense. As well, since all fortress are up and not part of the campaign, there are a number of options for both sides, whether dominant or not. 

There are no limits on population in the area currently. As someone pointed out, it should be no worse than when a third pairing is being pushed and the other two are locked. 

The mobs are based on current levels of players and gear in tier 4 and we’d love to get some feedback into how effective they are for ‘defended’ (alliance claimed) and ‘undefended’ fotresses while on PTS. 

Currently there are no plans for Skaven to be carried over into this area. 

I’ll be back later today or in the morning with some numbers and more comments. 

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

More Relic Info

• Q and A with James Casey
• Relic Bonuses
• Claiming a Fortress
• 1.4.5 hits the PTS
• WAR 1.4.5 Q&A
• 1.4.5 Launches Today
• Upcoming WAR Changes
• WAR Producer update
• Holiday Bonus and Scenario Shakeup
• Promising PvP news for SWTOR in January

Warhammer Online’s 1.4.5 patch should be out any time now, and I’m looking forward to it.  SWTOR’s warzones are nice and all, but overall it’s not really a substitute for a PvP game.   With the new patch, I will start to spend a bit more time with the game again.

SWTOR is going nicely.  My Commando, Quentin, is currently level 26 and on Tatooine.  I’ve really been enjoying my story and exploring the game.  I’m pacing myself, as I really have no reason to rush to 50.  I like when games grow around me, instead of behind me.

I’ve also got that productive feeling going on.  The Arsenal of WAR, TOR Nexus and Stellar Fortune are all a consequence of that, so we’ll see what comes of it.  I’ve been thinking of doing some more stuff for Stellar Fortune lately.  I have a lot of pieces there for a nice space sandbox game, just need to fill it out.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

And We’re Back

• Who needs a ship?
• Brainstorming
• After Christmas madness roundup
• First day of SWTOR and plenty more to go
• SWTOR 1-40 Commentary
• SWTOR Fears
• New Map
• Uncovering a Treasure Trove of Old Games
• Skyward Sword Impressions
• Taking my foot off the SWTOR pedal a bit

Now I shall return to sticking lightsabers up Jawa arse.

For those averse to link clicking, I’ve copy pasted the info below:

Greetings all


With the holidays looming, I wanted to give you a quick update on where we stand for our latest patch and what to expect over the next few weeks.


The goal going towards the holidays was to finalize the1.4.5 patch enough to get it on PTS for testing purposes before we left for break. We wanted to have a week or so and then leave it up.


Unfortunately, we had some technical issues on our internal test server that serves as the testing environment between our development servers and the live environment where PTS resides. Given the amount of time that it took to resolve those issues, it pushed back on the testing that is required there before we can push it up to PTS.


With time running out before the holidays are upon us, I’d rather not just cram in that testing and throw it untested to the wolves with no one here over the break we have next week. I’d rather be able to respond and get fixes up in a timely manner to your testing.


That’s the ‘bad news’. The ‘good news’ is that we’re still going to give you something for the break. Actually we’ll be doing three things.


First, we’ll post a dev discussion with the bulk of the Relic/Fortress information from the patch notes in a digest format for you guys to give some feedback over our break so we can respond to it immediately when we get back.


Second, we’ll be pushing up our scenario changes (minus Grovod Caverns) for the next patch early, as in this week! That means you’ll get fresh new scenarios as well as the much anticipated 6v6 Gates of Ekrund and Caledor Woods.


Finally, even though we have Keg End running until the new year, I’m going to throw up some holiday bonuses through the new year as well.


I know it’s not getting to play with the latest and greatest on PTS, but it does mean you can get some great rewards, try out a new rotation of scenarios, and get to chime in on the new changes so that when we get back from break we’ll have tons of feedback and then you can see it in action.


I apologize that it was delayed some, but we want it to be a great PTS and patch.


Thanks for your patience and understanding.


James Casey


The new scenario rotation and bonuses will go up tomorrow! The dev discussion will go up soon as well.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

WAR Producer update

• Things to do in the Holiday Break
• WAR for the Holidays
• Happy Winter Holidays
• Upcoming WAR Changes
• Last post.. of the year
• More Relic Info
• Happy Holidays
• Holiday Bonus and Scenario Shakeup
• WAR 1.4.5 Q&A
• Relic Bonuses

So what are we getting?

Bonus RP.  For as long as Keg’s End runs run there will be a holiday bonus to RP and XP.

Dev Discussion.  They will post some of the details involving relics and forts later this week.

Scenario Update.  The new scenario lineup will be pushed out prior to the holiday break.  This includes two 6 vs 6 scenarios:  Gates of Ekrund and Caledor Woods.

One community member had this idea:

One thing that would be very WELCOMED would be unlocking Eternal Citadel during IC siege and unlocking College of Corruption (6v6) during Altdorf siege.

Sounds good to me, and James also said: “I can look at that for the future as something to do, sure.”

While it is disappointing that 1.4.5 did not make it to the PTS, these things happen.  Luckily there is plenty to keep me busy ( Holidays, SWTOR, Skyrim ) in the mean time.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

WAR for the Holidays

• Things to do in the Holiday Break
• WAR Producer update
• Holiday Bonus and Scenario Shakeup
• Happy Winter Holidays
• Last post.. of the year
• Holiday Buyer’s Guide 2011
• Thanksgiving Bonus Weekend
• Thanksgiving Bonus Weekend
• Happy Holidays
• Relic Bonuses

As I already mentioned I’ve considered to change the guild, because the old guild is dead. So I changed it last week and am now member of Erengrads Nachtwache. I’m not sure if I should translate it, but Nachtwache means something like Night Watch. Erengrad is obviously from Warhammer.

So here are some pics before change (with guild colors brown and grey) and after the change. I slightly shifted the color scheme with black, but imho it’s not that big optical change like it would be with other careers. I still like the black, red, gold theme of the armor.

The change isn’t that dramatic though, because I’ve already played together with some of EN (I’m lazy to write the guild name..sorry for that ). The alliance is active though, so it’s easier now to get a free spot in a group and therefore I’m not always soloing around, but get to fight in a decent group. It’s definitely more fun that way.

All in all it was the right decision (uhh..I should have made a tv conference like LeBron James. *makes a note*), though it’s still an awkward situation when looking back at the remainders of Grimnirs Zorn. I still have a couple of alts in there, but maybe this will change too. Now the guild is officially dead as there is really no one there who’s active. Just a the alt’s of two of us. The third active member changed also to EN .. though this might get interesting..as he likes to grumble and curse.. and there are some guild in the alliance with people he really..well.. let’s say he doesn’t like them that much

So I’m off to make some popcorn and watch this show

–

Karic (doomdiver.wordpress.com)

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

Changes

• About a dwarf and his oath
• Q and A with James Casey
• Claiming a Fortress
• SWTOR 2 days later
• More Relic Info
• WAR for the Holidays
• Dominus jetpacking to the top of my ‘gimme now’ list
• Belsavis and Voss
• Wrath of Heroes Progress
• MMO Names

It will involve four servers:

Gorfang -> Badlands

Karak Azgal -> Karak Norn

This will leave WAR with a total of four servers: 1 US, 1 EU-English, 1 EU-German, and 1 Russian.

I don’t think these come as much of a surprise to anyone, especially considering the launch of SWTOR this week (Early Access).  It’s not all bad news though.   Merges give the remaining servers a new burst of life which is pretty important when it comes to PvP.  It’ll also be nice to play with the folks on Gorfang since I am on Badlands.

This is just in time for the 1.4.5 patch which will bring back Fortresses.  Still no word on when that will be hitting the PTS, but I expect soon.

Being down to four servers is a little depressing, considering where WAR started.  I’ve had fun for over 3 years though, so I really can’t be that down about it.  That’s a long time to be playing a game.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

Server Merges Incoming

Incoming search terms:

• free dota 2 beta key
• warhammer online gorfang badlands server merge

• Retired Server Maintenance
• WAR Producer update
• Here we go!
• Free Character Transfer Now Available
• Playing on launch day
• New Map
• Server Maintenance – 11/30
• No WAR Boots?
• About a dwarf and his oath
• DOTA 2 insight and SWTOR replayability

In short, No, I do not want kill to death ratios or any extensive stat tracking in any MMO that I play.  The following reasons outline exactly why.

(1) Players are already self serving enough.  Statistically tracking how often someone dies compared to how often they obtain a kill only encourages individuality.  Dominus is going to be a team PvP game just like Dark Age of Camelot and other games where you’re fighting to accomplish a greater goal — a goal for the everyone on your side.  When I go to battle with my faction/realm/team, I don’t want the guy next to me thinking about how he can avoid dying to improve or keep his ratios.  I want him thinking about how his actions in battle can give our team the greatest chance of success — Yes, even if that means his death.

(2) History shows this type of system alters games.  When it was added to Dark Age of Camelot, the /stats and ‘I Remain Standing’ changed the game (even though it was added early).  Players eventually turned into stat whores.  It’s the same in every game: World of Warcraft, WAR, and any game with a focus on stats instead of tactics. I remember the day WoW started tracking stats in PvP.  That’s when players stopped wanting to just skirmish for fun and cared about who had the most stats that week to reach High Warlord.  It’s even worse when a game gives more points for spamming heals or ‘playing to the stats instead of playing to the strats’ ©.

(3) Stat tracking breeds competition against your own team.  Who is the better healer or damage dealer is no longer about saving someone or being able to read a battlefield to anticipate what to do, because the healers are too worried about who had the greatest healing output and the DPS measure their epeen by numbers.  Spamming heals or meta gaming the over-healing is counter productive to focusing on the purpose for being out there fighting the enemy.

Let’s not lose sight of the purpose for doing battle — the real purpose.  In a game like Dominus, it should be to take bases, collect materials, and control the galaxy.  In Dark Age of Camelot it was about seizing the relics of the enemy realms to strengthen your people.  It’s not about who has the most healing done, the least amount of deaths, or the greatest personal achievements.

I would sooner die for my team to achieve victory than glory in my own achievements and lose the war.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

KDR Leaderboards in MMO’s

• MMO Names
• PvP Stats: Not Necessary Before, Not Necessary Now
• Keen and Graev’s Most Anticipated Games of 2012
• Keen and Graev’s Most Anticipated Games of 2012
• My SWTOR PvP experience so far
• Modifiable gear (orange named) in SWTOR
• Brainstorming
• Dominus jetpacking to the top of my ‘gimme now’ list
• Promising PvP news for SWTOR in January
• Best and Worst Games of 2011