Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

Space Stallions

• What the player really needs
• Black Fire Pass
• Choosing a Class
• Stratics returns to WAR
• Follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and stay current on all things Keen and Graev
• Here we go!
• Since it’s launch day
• I don’t mind how Bioware has handled SWTOR launch so far
• Money, Money, Money
• SWTOR thoughts coming soon

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

In short, I was pretty impressed with the state of the game.  They have made some significant changes, which can be seen in the patch notes.  Here are some things that stood out to me.

Hero Masteries.  Each hero in WoH will have multiple mastery 9or talent if you prefer) trees.  I think the number is two at the moment.  As a player levels their account, they can assign points and gain access to new tactics, alternate abilities and perks.

While they are not the most complex trees I’ve seen, they do add some much needed depth to the game.  You can only equip a hero with a limited amount of tactics, skills and perks.

As you can see in the picture above, I have three of my new options equipped.  The Steam Turret (which is awesome) replaces my standard Bombardment Turret ability.  I also have a 10% Crit Chance tactic equipped and one that adds a short snare to my Gun Blast ability.

Here is where things get more interesting.  L’il Helper here will trigger if I get a Kill Streak of 10.  Sadly, I was unable to get that streak while I had this ability equipped.  I did manage a Kill Streak of 11, without it, grrrr.  I would like to see a separate slot for these perks, since it is hard to justify passing up a sweet alternate ability for something that may rarely happen.

Store.  They have to pay the bills somehow, so the store is now operational (but not using real money yet).  Only Heroes and Skins are for sale, and I didn’t see anything to indicate other types of products yet.  The most important aspect of the store is you can use in-game currency and not just real money.

Hero Synergy.  Another interesting feature they added was Hero Synergies.  In WAR terms, these are like the old Renown tactics, where players would get bonuses based on group composition or target race.  Seems that they are really trying to encourage cooperation, which is always a good thing.

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Wrath of Heroes Beta Update

• Wrath of Heroes Progress
• A Dwarf and an Elf walk into a bar
• Battle.net Balance and Diablo 3 will earn me money
• Tobias and Rockgut
• Wrathgiving
• Choosing my class in SWTOR
• Skyrim Plan
• Hero Academy for iOS
• DOTA 2 is brilliant
• New ping on my radar

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

You are able to zoom out to a galactic view, then zoom in all the way to the individual ship.  The one is the video is your flagship, which you directly control.

At the end of the video I show off the firing arcs.  Each weapon has its own arc and range, making placement very important.  When showing the arcs, you also get a view of the ships design, which I found to be really cool.  I can’t wait to get in there and customize my ships.

For more information about StarDrive, visit their website.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

StarDrive Alpha Video

• Stardrive
• Stardrive Q&A
• Try before you buy
• Too Many Games
• Dominus jetpacking to the top of my ‘gimme now’ list
• Who needs a ship?
• New Map
• Gameplay over Graphics
• SWTOR Pre-ordered but now I have two Origin accounts
• New ping on my radar

• 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

I was very tempted to make a Smuggler.  It looks like a fun class with a lot of character.  However, there were a couple of things working against it.  One, I had already done Ord Mantell with my Trooper.  Two,  I have been using blasters a lot already.  As a result, I rolled a Jedi Knight.

Tirew, my long time WAR character, was reborn in SWTOR.  So far, I am having a lot of fun with the class.  Being able to Force Leap is pretty nice, and he makes very quick work of enemies at this early level.  Once he reaches level 10, I’ll probably pick up Cybertech, Underworld Trading and Slicing.  That way I can keep my group of characters in Armoring mods.

SWTOR is having a bit of a rough week.  I won’t go into details, as I’m sure you know.  Unlike some drama obsessed bloggers, it really doesn’t bother me.  I am into SWTOR for the long term, so short term issues are not much of a concern.  Besides, it’s just a game.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

Reborn

• Crafting Choice
• First day of SWTOR and plenty more to go
• Level 50 approaches
• SWTOR Launch Preparation
• SWTOR Warzones have no level brackets
• SWTOR – Level 50 done and done
• SWTOR thoughts coming soon
• Changes
• SWTOR Fears
• Modifiable gear (orange named) in SWTOR

Kendo UI.  Much of the work that has gone into the web version of SF is Javascript.  Using JQuery worked pretty well, but it soon became clear that it was just getting to be too big and complex.   I took a look at some frameworks and settled on Kendo UI.  It wraps up JQuery into a lot of nice controls, including a DataSource model.

Here is what Stellar Fortune looks like now:

Agents.  Since I don’t want SF to be about combat (there will be some), it occurred to me, why does a player need a ship?  Customizing a freighter is only so much fun.  Flying stuff from point A to Point B is also not very exciting, even though the decision making process can be.

As a result, I made Agents to do all of the actual work and leave the decision making to the players.  In the trade example, a player would choose an Agent from a list, and he/she would move the goods for them.  Then the player would sell the goods.

Agents can also be hired permanently, if the player owns a company.  They can be trained for new skills ( pirating, factory management and so on) and given ships.  Most importantly, they can be hired out.  So beyond some starting Agents, I hope everything is done with player companies.

Now on to my current problem.  Space is hazardous, so Agents can be told to avoid sectors.  This will cause them to take a different route.  A different route means a longer trip, more fuel spent and the destination may be out of range.

The hazard could pop up after the Agent is en route, so what happens then?  If they cannot make it to the destination, does the whole job just get cancelled?  That would kinda suck for the player.  Recalculating paths is also not very cheap resource wise.

I’m sure there is a good compromise somewhere.  Range limits could add a lot of depth to the game.  The map is pretty empty, so it will be up to players to build the infrastructure.

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Who needs a ship?

• Brainstorming
• New Map
• And We’re Back
• Stardrive
• MMO Worlds should be like Skyrim
• Observations about EQ going Free and other F2P ‘stuff’
• What the player really needs
• The Sandbox Ecosystem
• Stardrive Q&A
• My SWTOR PvP experience so far

For my Legacy, I chose ‘The Werit Legacy’.’  Crazy, I know.  I am very interested to see what else they have planned for that system.

Now on to the temptation.  My original plan was to play the Trooper until 50, then roll an alt.  However, now I’m wondering if I should start that alt right now.  The main motivator for this is crew skills.   If I start an alt now, his crew skills can support Quentin here in a relatively short amount of time.  If I wait until 50, they won’t be useful anytime soon.

Then I start wondering if I should roll an Imperial Agent, which looks awesome.  He would be of no help Crew Skill wise to my Commando, but it’d be a different leveling up experience.  On the other hand, a Smuggler looks pretty cool too.  The downside is that I would revisit areas I just got through.

I’m not sure what I should do.  Start Chapter 2, or roll an alt.  Hmmmmm

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

SWTOR Temptation

• Crafting Choice
• Day Two of SWTOR
• SWTOR Crafting Missions
• And We’re Back
• Here we go!
• SWTOR Story Impressions
• Nexus Datacron: First
• SWTOR Crafting: A new take on themepark crafting
• Playing on launch day
• Too Many Games

• 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

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

1)  Can you give us a high level overview of your upcoming game, Stardrive?

StarDrive is, at its core, a hardcore PC 4x with deep ship design and empire building.  I am to provide today’s PC gamers with a beautiful looking, fun to play space strategy game that scratches all of their space strategy itches.  We have research, ship design, diplomacy, exploration, and great RTS/Arcade combat with a lot of depth.

2)  When I was reading about Stardrive, the thing that really got me excited was your inspirations.  Master of Orion 2 and Escape Velocity are two of my favorite games.  How have they influenced Stardrive?

Masters of Orion 2 was and is the gold standard for 4x games.  It remains immensely satisfying to me to this day to build a fleet of specialized ass-kicking ships and to go on a rampage through enemy territory, conquering planets and stealing technology, repercussions be damned.  While there have been many noble efforts at recreating this experience in recent times, these games have not been able to satisfy me in various ways.  To me the most rewarding aspects of MOO2 were designing my ships and then actually commanding them in the battles with all of the many various options to customize my experience.

Escape Velocity was another awesome space experience for me in my youth and what I took from EV was that arcade ship combat is deeply satisfying as well.  I believe that the marriage of the 4x concepts from MOO2 with the arcade action of EV will make for an excellent game that many old school gamers like myself will enjoy.

3)  Will players be able to mod or customize the game?  For example, add new stock ships or races?

Definitely.  I spent countless hours modding EV and I am absolutely supporting modding right out of the box.  Races and ships will be easy to add to the game, as well as new weapons, adventure dialogs, planets and planets types and so on.   Most of the game data is stored in plain-language XML files, so no coding knowledge is necessary to tweak the stats on something or to add some new things entirely.  I will support modding to the fullest extent possible and it is my sincere desire to see a Star Wars mod made as soon as possible:)

4)  Since there is a focus on shipbuilding, will there be a way to simulate battles in order to try new designs out?

Not in the 4x game, but instead inside our challenge mode.  For players who don’t want to do a full 4x experience, we have a simpler challenge mode where you get a certain amount of resources to design and build a fleet and then you take that fleet against ever more challenging combat situations.  If you’re familiar with Gratuitous Space Battles, this system is similar to what was seen in Cliffski’s game.  Challenge mode is just a kind of quick-play mode to let you load up StarDrive and have a nice fleet battle without having any consequences on your carefully planned empire.

5)  What kind of multiplayer options will Stardrive feature?

StarDrive will feature an arena-like team deathmatch mode where, much like challenge mode, you have a set amount of resources with which you can build a small fleet.  As you destroy enemies you earn more resources to call in new ships.  The ultimate objective is to destroy the enemy base.

There also will be full campaign multiplayer support.

6)  How big of a map can players expect to see when Stardrive launches?

This is a variable that can be set when you create your game.  I find that 50 star systems works well and gets conflict going pretty quickly, but we can support maps that are 10 times that size very easily.  We also have a “star cluster” map option where a map consists of several regions of space that are separated by long wormholes, the entrances to which are guarded by what are essentially “creeps”.  When you beat the creeps, you can access more of the galaxy map and potentially be the first race to discovery some unique goodies we have hidden throughout.

7)  When it comes to 4x games, the AI is very important.  First, in providing a challenge.  Second, taking care of micro-managing the player may not want to do themselves.  How has this been going for Stardrive?

I can tell you that AI is a big challenge, but I don’t have to reinvent the wheel here.  I’m using a pretty standard goal-oriented approach to programming the AI for high-level strategic decisions.  The ships themselves have a separate tactical AI that is used to evaluate combat situations, and this provides a pretty nice emergent combat model.  There are a number of different AI strategies as far as their research priorities and fleet strategy (i.e. big and heavy, small and fast, swarms of crappy ships versus lower numbers of quality ships, etc).  My goal in developing the StarDrive AI is to make it not cheat, and to make an AI that can beat me at my own game, literally.  When I’ve done this, I’ll know I’m done.

As far as micro-managing goes, we’ve got a lot of clever systems in place to minimize the burden on the player.  For instance, the player makes a few high level decisions about what type of colony a planet will be by setting production/farming/research ala MOO2.  And like in MOO2, if a planet was say an industrial planet without food production, then you would build a freighter fleet to bring food to your industrial planet.  In StarDrive, you can import and export not only food but production as well, and the player just chooses between import/export/store for these resources.  The player has to build freighters as well, but the freighters aren’t abstractions — they are ships in your empire, and they have cargo limits and so on.  The AI knows what to do with this information and it coordinates your freighters to move goods throughout the empire according to your high-level commands.  Some research technologies reward the player with cash for moving goods this way. All the player has to do is make sure that his freighters are protected.  So the micro-managing is handled by the AI, but the strategic management of what to build, what to protect, where to import or export, those decisions are made by the player.

 It looks like the Kickstarter campaign was a great success.  For people who may have missed it, will there be another way to gain early access to the game?

Yes there will be, for sure.  But with Kickstarter where people are pledging money to help fund development, I know that I don’t need to provide a polished product right away to them.  People understand that this is a game in development.  For me to charge money for early access, I want the game to be relatively complete so that people don’t buy it, see an unfinished product, and write us off.  That said, I am toying with some more alpha funding on Desura so stay tuned for that.

9)  When do you hope to launch Stardrive and for which platforms?

I am aiming for a mid-late summer release on PC only.  We should have a feature-complete beta ready by the end of March for our Kickstarter beta testers, and at that point I will likely open it up for pre-order/early access as well.

——-

Thanks Daniel!

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Stardrive Q&A

• Stardrive
• StarDrive Alpha Video
• Brainstorming
• First day of SWTOR and plenty more to go
• Who needs a ship?
• The Sandbox Ecosystem
• Promising PvP news for SWTOR in January
• Corellia: Closing in on 50
• SWTOR 1-40 Commentary
• SWTOR Atmosphere

It seems I was not alone, as it ended up getting over 200% funding.  With a focus on ship building and influences from MOO2 and Escape Velocity, I’m pretty excited about the game.  Check out the project video:

Edit: Check a Q&A with the Stardrive developer.

Check back next week for a Q&A with Stardrive developer Daniel DiCicco.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

Stardrive

• Stardrive Q&A
• StarDrive Alpha Video
• Too Many Games
• Who needs a ship?
• TOR Datacron: Early Access is when?
• DOTA 2 Stream
• What the player really needs
• Bounty Hunter PvP
• STO – 2nd anniversary rewards are a bit good
• Hello world!

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

I settled on using OpenLayers ( Open Source Google Maps ) which allows for a much more interesting map.  With it, players can now zoom in and out, move the map around and interact with the map itself and markers.

You can check it out here:  http://alpha.stellarfortune.com/maptest

It is not hooked up to the server, so you don’t need to login to play around with it.  I think it is pretty neat and offers a ton of potential over a static image map.  For example, I could easily use this for planetary maps.  I can also highlight individual sectors for things like territorial control and route visualization.

What do you think?  Did it work for you?  If not, please let me know which browser you were using.  Thanks!

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

New Map

• Skyward Sword Impressions
• Who needs a ship?
• Playing on launch day
• Best and Worst Games of 2011
• Modifiable gear (orange named) in SWTOR
• Skyrim, MMOs and dead eyes.
• Skyrim, MMOs and dead eyes.
• Saturday Gaming: War in the North and BF3
• Tribes Ascend Improving
• Here we go!

This is, of course, all very subjective.  SWTOR was made to appeal to a wide audience, which leads to the risk of certain segments being alienated by future development.  That’s just the way it goes for large projects.  My fear is that I will be in one of those segments.

It really boils down to one type of content which I do not enjoy at all:  Repeatable PvE.  That includes Dailies, Flashpoints and Operations.  I don’t like to do the same PvE stuff over and over again.  If SWTOR makes that kind of content their primary development path, I’m not sure how long SWTOR will be for me.

What kind of content do I like?  New story content and PvP.  SWTOR is not a PvP focused MMO so it will probably never really satisfy me on that front.  However, combine that with interesting story content and I am pretty happy.

With their first major patch ( 1.1 ), SWTOR is adding new Operation bosses, a new Flashpoint and Daily missions for them both.  So it really does nothing to assuage my fears.  On the bright side, I still have plenty of content I do like ahead of me, so there is time for BioWare to address my concerns.

Full post: WarhammerFeeds.com

SWTOR Fears

• Nexus Datacron: First
• SWTOR 1-40 Commentary
• SWTOR or Skyrim?
• TOR Datacron: Early Access is when?
• Reborn
• Upcoming WAR Changes
• DOTA 2 insight and SWTOR replayability
• Seeking info: No Loot Containers in SWTOR?
• SWTOR – Level 50 done and done
• SWTOR – A game of two halves

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