We're raising the bar around here. We've noticed that a lot of alleged MMO news sources and Warhammer info sites have been spawning lots of generic, non-informative and highly "graphical" previews and sneak peaks at some of the features of Warhammer Online. That's all good for some, but what about our readers, many who are still using AOL or Compuserve dial-up on a 56k line? Trust me, they are out there. Hell, I even got an email from a reader who still uses Prodigy.
We've had enough of these flashy "Character Generation Previews" - yeah, thanks for the 10 minute video watching you stumble around trying to make your Dark Elf's tits look bigger. Also, quite frankly, all of these videos of PVE battles are pretty damn boring. Rather than add to this problem, we've decided to bring you a real, original and informative look at RVR in Warhammer Online.
So, I logged on my Bright Wizard last night and headed for the frontiers for some good ol' PVP action. I missed an important piece of information as I logged in; either due to consumption of alcohol or my one handed navigation thanks to my new duel monitor setup.
The piece of information I missed was this:
Order population: 372 Destruction population: 561
Knowledge of this might have made me enter the RvR lands a bit more carefully. I entered the frontier land, past the "small group" of Order I saw (why are they standing near our RvR entrance, I thought to myself) and then promptly got knocked 30 feet the wrong way by some level 40 guy and then chewed in half by 7 Squigs.
Using the Warhammer in game editor, lovingly called "WARPaint", I drew this up as a summary of my night of RvR:
All kidding aside, I think that Warhammer Online does have a bit of a population balance problem. I've done a strict scientific analysis on this, involving me logging into each EU server at least once, and I've decided that Destruction has roughly 20-30% more players at any given time. Keep in mind that this strict scientific study was, in fact, done in one night. Word from the US has roughly the same estimate.
So, what's the reason behind this? Are Destruction classes just more interesting? Do the girls look better? Is there free beer? Is the inner emo of many players finally being reached, and you find that playing a Destruction character is a way to tell the world you are a beautiful and unique snowflake in a tasty goth flavor?
What do I think? I think that it's a combination of a couple things: Destruction classes are more interesting, Orcs and Goblins are cool, and the chicks definately do look better on the evvvulll side. Truth is, they're just showing more skin. Order Elves, in my opinion, are pretty "meh" in regards to aesthetics and class fun factor. Dwarves and Humans have the most interesting class choices of Order, yet both only have 3 to choose from, sadly.
So, how will Mythic handle this? Will Destruction be the new Albion/Alliance zergfest of Warhammer Online? Lastly, how will this effect your decision on what faction to play? I know after a couple nights on both sides of the fence, there is no way in hell I'm going to play Destruction on release.
Original postage: http://www.r1ft.com/war/war-one-night-of-rvr-via-mspaint/
User Comments
Order! Underdogs only way to go
Well I am still 100% going for order....well unless that "free beer" part is true :)
hmm this almost makes me reconsidder playing engeneer instead of squig herder...
as siduris said: underdogs ftw
btw is there any restriction on playing both sides (other then time to lvl a toon )
@craynlon: I think you can't have two characters of different factions on the same server. That's how it's worked in most other MMO's.
LOL If this is the way it will be after launch.. Order all the way.
LMFAO! I cracked up about the zerging 1 guy deal. That was hilarious.
So alliance is the new horde in World of Warcrammer
I am most definitely not a beautiful snowflake in a tasty goth flavor! Guess I'm stuck with order then...
I'm probably going to be going destruction, merely because of the classes. If I list of the classes I want to play/try, it goes something like this:
Chosen, Marauder, Disciple, Black Orc, Sorceror, Witch Hunter, Magus.
Yup, only one Order class that interests me in the least. The flavor is just missing behind all the Order classes. A Chosen is some unholy, aura spinning knight, a Marauder is a mutated melee machine, and an Ironbreaker is...
What? An armored dwarf?
Well....orcs rock! Not gonna be disctruction though.....I am gonna be a medic and being with the underdog gives me a lot to do as a medic....or I would simply die a lot more duo to be targeted first :O
OMG I laughed at that "cartoon" you made SO HARD....I almost threw up!!! ROFL!!! When I got to the part "this guy is about to die"....I lost all control. My roommate came running from the computer in the adjacent room, thinking I had finally slipped over the edge of insanity, until she TOO looked at that and busted out in hysteria.
What a PERFECT illustration of one night of RvR in Warhammer during preview weekend! (I was also, in part, laughing because I play Destruction....hehehe....and after 4 years of Alliance ALWAYS outnumbering us in WoW....I feel like it's about damn time.):P
However, to be fair to Mythic....I hear they have something up their sleeves in the way of balancing the numbers of each faction on servers coming up. So fear not, lowly Order players....your deliverance cometh! LMAO (Just teasin' ya. :D)
im undecided on my side im leaning towards detruction because the classes seem cooler though
I've seen Order RvR scenarios scores, and it's sad.
DAOC had the same problems and these guys cannot learn. Muthic is a failed development company. They had the world in their hands and cannot learn from their mistakes.
And yet I will spend a couple months here till WOTLK comes out.
Great post Daedren informative and humorus at the same time. Keep up the great work. I'm on the fence, about which side I'll join. But the evil sides always seem more appealing in most mmo's.
How would YOU do it ravenshroud? We're all dying to hear your great plans.
And no, "I just wouldn't have RvR in my game" doesn't count.
Funny pic..."Order is here to save the mofo day". Lmfao!
@girlgeek: call me? you and your roomate. ;)
@all: Next installment of this "series" coming soon. Stay tuned!
Initial polls across a variety of websites before the Preview weekend were saying population would be 60% destro vs 40% order. I think after the weekend order has gained some ground after having a chance to play some of the classes. I hope order does remain the underdog, it is one of the reasons my guild is playing them.
the biggest problem in beta is that you play for nothing.
keeps are open quests, give massive XP and great rewards. but a lot of order guys simply don't want to raid.
plus, some people don't get it that you get a lot less renown for chainkilling one guy than you get for killing someone who hasn't died recently in PvP.
e.g.: I got 150 for some witch elf I blasted with my BW and only 2 to 10 for people who died all the time.
the zergs are based on a lack of understanding how the game works.
if people would listen or get the game, they would simply leave, run outside of RvR, and bumrush an undefended keep with 50 people. but in beta, you just fool around more or less.
things will change in release when it really matters
Login or Register to post a comment