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Had some time at work today envisioning one of the tough losses from Warhammer Online: The Blackguard...

“Fools!” the armor clad Druchii general slams his scroll on the table, “I cannot imagine Malekith has decreed this himself! It surely is a forgery!” He points to the discarded scroll and then looks at you. Eyes ablaze with fury and nostrils flaring like a raging bull.

“Retreat and Decommissioned? NOW? When we are so close for victory?”

He slumps down and sits reminiscing his days as a Soldier for the Dark Elves.

I learned how I became who I am. I feed off of the pain. What does not kill makes me stronger. It is said Dwarves bear grudges against those that hurt them or their allies. The difference between us and them is clear.

I have no allies. I hate everyone.

Sure it behooves the Druchii to work with the Chaos fanatics or dumb brutish Greenskins, but only because they serve our ends. They are tools of our campaign. I simply hate them less than I hate the High Elves and their friends.

So how does my Hate really work in detail? Why not give a player the same mechanic a PvE monster gets???

For example the Blackguard does into battle against a tank, and healer. For simplicity purposes the base damage of the Blackguard (BG) attacks are 10. If the tank hits him for 5, his hate meter goes up 5 points. The BG has a 0.5% damage increase against the tank now. Suppose the healer heals the tank the BG is engaged with for 30. The hate meter goes up 30 points and the BG gets a 3% damage increase against that healer. He still has only a 0.5% damage increase against the tank. This might prompt the BG to go after the healer, because he has considerable more benefits to do so.

We also know that as a Tank, if you are ignored by an opponent, that opponent suffers a penalty. Blackguards get an additional benefit from this mechanic. Blackguards hate being ignored. So a Blackguard ignored generates some hate on his meter.

Blackguards are proficient in the polearms weapons. This is great because most MMOs favor the sword and shield combination. Blackguards don’t evade opponents (Swordmasters), don’t have the highest hit points (Greenskins) and don’t have the highest armor mitigation (Chosen/ Ironbreakers do). So how can a Blackguard tank?

Two components – 1^st should be frustration. This means their longer polearm weapons these BG’s use enable them to jab and keeps an opponent at a distance. Melee opponents are unable to get their hot buttons to turn on because they seem to be out of range when fighting a Blackguard. The halberd can damage and push the opponent back. Very frustrating for players. As a defensive strategy, it generates hate for the monster and keeps himself from being harmed often. Knockdowns are also possible of course.

Blackguards also generate tons of hate from dps. Their hatred mechanic ramps up quickly by design and as a result they pour out a lot of damage to keep a monsters attention. So the overall group/raid strategy is to jab and push, then when hate flies up, slash for big damage. This should be tweaked to give Blackguards a good tank role comparable to other tanks.

Another neat ability might be Lockdown. The BG ties up an opponents weapon with his halberd. The opponent can’t attack and if he moves he may lose his weapon for a period of time. Opponents break the lockdown with a loss of Action points.

I picture the massive hatred attacks have animations including a halberd spinning behind his back, a spin overhead and combination crouch spin maneuver whirling his halberd on a low plane of attack. Lots of fun to be had!

Mastery lines

Path of Frustration – designed to boost defenses of the BG and irritate opponents with disruptions and “toggle off” an opponents hot bar.

Path of the Relentless – focuses on PBAOE damage attacks. Also they seem to have a higher magical resistance than other tanks.

Path of the Conqueror – focuses on hatred generation and suffers less from tank ignoring than other players. These are killer tanks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS7Y7T3thD4

Knights of the Blazing Sun

This installment of the lost Warhammer Online profession goes to the Empire’s vaunted Knights of the Blazing Sun. My first worry about this profession is when Paul Barnett announcement them in a podcast at the Mythic Christmas party. He described them as a class for someone to play a tank role for Empire and that was about it. They seemed to be a profession that was a necessary evil for Mythic. They are tanks, but what can we do to make them stand out?

Tanks in other races are pretty bland in the MMO world. They either have high hit points, or have high damage absorption. At least in WAR we could try something else. KOBTS were thought to fill a role as group buffs via shouts. This is fine and dandy but we can elaborate more.

While many MMOs use “stances” for melee characters, few have tried formations as a method of gameplay. What I propose is similar to a City of Villain Mastermind character who can lay down a device which emanates burst heals in a small geometric area of effect.

What could happen is the KOBTS decides which Formation he wants. And then a geometric shape seen only by his party is outlined on the ground. Party members inside this shape gets the benefit. Those who are not, don’t. The shape is located behind the KOBTS in general and moves with him.

Of course there can be variants on this mechanic such as a stationary formation buff that can give residual benefits allowing the Knight to move elsewhere.

So while the KOBTS won’t be able to soak up damage like a Black Orc, or dance through a battlefield like a Swordmaster, He will use his battle formations to keep himself and his party at peak performance and a lean mean fighting machine.

Even more important is raid formations. Knights should be able to access raid formations from Generals as tactical options. Raid buffs!

As an interesting nuance, Knights may be made great by giving them a party evacuation skill. Retreat! This skill would provide everyone behind the Knight a 50% speed increase without any AP loss. The Knight expends all his Morale and AP to fire off the skill A morale and AP minimum must be required. In return 75% movement buff for the Knight and a 50% speed for the rest. There is a penalty is group members leave this formation. This penalty is not only because a solider didn’t follow orders, but to prevent abuse in battle. Its whole design is to get the party out of an area and regroup. How it would work is the Knight might be in a middle of a battle going bad. Use up his morale and execute Retreat. Then the party behind him has a 5 second boost to run. The Knight can maintain the boost by running in front of his party and keeping the Retreat buff behind him. This retreat is not without limits. A knight in retreat that is snared is prime pickings, because his whole party will run out of the area and be debuffed. The knight is also weak because he has no action points or morale..

The last item I propose is a deviation from Everquest 2. It is heroic opportunities. I propose the Knights use a system of Battle Commands that give the party a chance to do some heroics. This could be easily implemented in the morale system. While most players build up morale to unlock their big hit, Knights can have up to 3 Heroic Opportunities. 1/3 morale, 2/3 morale and Max. When morale reaches this point, the Knight can execute a Heroic Opportunity. A Special battle Command perhaps. Each character will have one of his ability bars light up its borders. If the character hits it then a special effect may occur. It may take a combination of abilities to unleash something fantastic, enough to turn a tide of the battle. Mythic can keep those combinations under lock and key for players to decipher. No need to create a HO icon by which everyone takes a turn to hit an ability. If the ability is part of a chain a different animation on the UI can be seen. Maybe a purple fire. When a player sees this it means the battle command is part of a chain and players should wait until it is their turn to fire it off. When the purple fire goes red. Mash the button within a short period to keep the chain going.

We want this to be easy to use, difficult to master, but FUN always.

Masteries

Path of Glory - focuses on heroics. More combinations are available to them allowing magnificent effects. A Knight well versed in Battle Commands could not only save a party from impossible odds, but perhaps turn defeat into victory.

Path of Honor - For those Knights who enjoy party buffs. They are experts in battle foormations. More formations are available to them and the general foramtions are perfected to be even more potent.

Path of the Commander - a hybrid of the two above paths, has access to some of each, but never as competent as a specialist. Commanders really shine with Raid buff enhancements.

Dear Marc Jakobs,

I understands you be puttin’ me out of a job, eh? Given me the ol’ pinkslip, eh? Now why ya be doing me and my brothers that way? I have been dair since you built dis stinkin world, now you say I aint good enuf?

::takes a giant gulp of Ale::

****BUUUUUURP***

Since, now I hafta be sittin’at the unemployment office line fer a long freakin time. I am gonna write me out an application. I heard some folks in Hyboria may be needin someone, dunno yet.

I gots a lots of skills. Just take a look at em! So what are you sore about?

Bah! Humans! Always wanted more. Ok I bet with a lil more work and a lil less time off da good ale, I can show ya a thing or two.

My buddies made some suggestions too. Lookie here!

Roll attacks/ mechanic – Someone says we Hammerer used to have rolls. A forward ground roll like a bowling ball could put a worry on a greenskin as I follow up with my hammer strikes. I can spice it up with Roll left and Roll right too. This gives me a 90 degree side roll burst for a short period that can be used to quickly change targets, save my weaker buds from attacks or move out of da way from a missile. I know it eats up my action points and it won’t generate morale, but a dwarfs gotta do what hes gotta do.

I know it seems my best work is done when my foe is dizzy from blunt hits from my mallets. Momentum is da key. I start off slow, but da longer I’m fightin’, the more hammer hurts ya.

(In the videos I see, I see no animations that reflect this momentum. Swinging a hammer or hammers should simulate some movement in the direction where he or she is swinging. I see this akin to a drunken brawler in battle. Picture a dwarf in battle stumbling slightly to the left or right as he swings. He should not stand still. That is not “great”. The movement gets more pronounced as momentum builds as if the dwarf is building up for an Olympic discus throw. To make this mechanic really shine, each ability should be directional right or left. That would be “great”! Momentum builds faster when attacks are executed from one side. If the dwarf attacks with two hammers, momentum buildup is slower because attacks are coming from both arms.

But isn’t that gonna throw off targeting? I mean, if you max out one side you character could be stumbling off its target. Not necessarily. If the dwarf is smiting a single target for a long period of time, his animations should be whirling in place like an Olympian discus thrower. Each successful ability strike when Momentum is high results in a rapid whirl and inflicts big damage.)

I also realize that a separate button for directional attacks might be disastrous for UI. I would propose culling some other abilities to make way for these innovations. For example, I do not think a Hammerer needs an AOE snare. (Impact Wave).

Do Hammerers have any self buffs? Maybe a wind up which provides a short prep period and a certain amount of time to deliver the payload on an opponent. Failure to deliver payload is a waste of AP.

Mastery lines eh? I likes to think I mastered everything, but I guess I’d be fibbin. So listen up!

Two Handed Mastery – For Hammerers who like to dual wield. They get faster momentum buildup and can stun more, but stun duration is more of an interrupt than a real game stopper, still this style is harrowing to any foe.

One big Hamma – these are for dwarves that like using a Sledge hammer to pummel opponents. Momentum is slower, but damage is higher. Knockbacks are more common and these guys can transfer damage to other opponents. This means if a dwarf hits one guy for 100 damage, 60 of it kills the enemy. The remaining 40 could go into the next nearby opponent without expending any action points. Big Hammers take big swings, so attacks are slower, but they pack a whollop. Many attacks have a chance to stun an opponent.

Mountain Hammerer – a dwarven style which uses his surroundings to his advantage. He likes to bust up objects which spray damage around him. Sometimes weakening his foes in the process. His attunement in his hammer(s) allow him to strike the ground itself to disorient , trip up foes. He also gains bonuses in structural damage abilities to keep or fortress doors.

Thanx for da memories,

Hammerer

http://warhammeronline.wikia.com/wiki/Hammerer

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/warhammer-online-dwarf-hammerer-rune-priest-rvr-gameplay-12/2321826006?icid=acvsv3

Warhammer Design for Fun

In the recent shock of Warhammer Online removing some character classes and delaying city content for all but two races it bucked MMO communities everywhere. This blog is not going to be a rant. I have done enough of that already. Now it is time for constructive suggestions.

What I plan to do is try to salvage what we know about the nixed classes and offer how I think these professions could be great and worthy to be put back in to game. It will be a long post regardless, but I will hyperlink as much as I can.

Orc Choppa – the Warhammer online description is here. The direction I believe they wanted these hooligans was close to a beserker.

Morale Buildup concept: Berserk – big damage output

Weakness: less durable

Analysis: I can understand how as Mythic looked at this class and asked themselves. How does this stand out from other berserkers in MMOs?

Judging from videos the Choppa is slow, has some slow attack and a frenzy bash.

Overall the older videos do show a slow combat mechanic. It seems that the Choppa swings – wait – swings – wait. This is boring. Don’t remove the ability, but improve the animation. Maybe a better wind up. When the orc is done swinging these basic attacks, the cooldown button should be ready for another swing…

Lets spice it up!

Movement buffs – Give the Choppa something to move in close to surprise an opponent. In an old Gamespot interview, orcs were supposed to be about shouts and leaps. Yet in videos observed I never see any combat leaps. Only falling from high places.

What if all dps classes have an ability that drains APs over time and increases combat movement and ability recharges (like the COH/COV Haste Power).

Squish! – the animation could be the Choppa jumping a short distance and sitting on his target. This ability serves two purposes. One to get the Choppa in close, two to toggle off an opponents abilities for a few seconds and three a chance to jump over an obstruction and get in the back lines. This ability could be upgraded or maybe bought from a tactics vendor for even a greater leap, more damage on a single target, less damage more AOE splash damage, less leap longer stun, etc. I would enjoy a woopie cushion sound effect as my Choppa lands on your Order character please!

Slide attack – I hate to say it, but take a page from Age of Conan combat mechanics. Give these fellers a form of strafe attack. A slice animation followed by a slide to right or left which positions the Choppa 90 degrees of his opponent. Slide attack left and right. If you choose one, both buttons cooldown. This gives more opportunity to use a back attack like Go For Da Soft Spot.

Use da Feets! I see A Choppa occasionally getting some interesting maneuvers using their Choppa as an anchor to do a swing kick. Maybe a fast knockback maneuver or toggle effect on the enemy. I would only have this ability available while running. So they run, post a Choppa, blade down into the ground and the Orc swings up an smacks the victim with his legs, then lands on both feet and pries Choppa out of the ground. The Victim is knocked back a foot or so.

Improve the Short range attack – All I am aware of is one Choppa Hurl ability. However, we are trying to make this character great, remember? Being a wild fighting type why not improve this mechanic? The Choppa Hurl should have variety of effects. Direct damage (for fleeing foes), Stun or movement debuff (no damage), DoT (a Choppa stuck on your side aint fun), debuff to armor and slow an opponents ability recharge effect.. The strategy in this gives a player a choice. Do I ignore my dual wield abilities as I RISK to use my Choppa toss? I emphasize risk because if I miss that Choppa is out of my hands and I have to spend time and action points to pick it up again. Not to mention all my dual wield abilities are toggled off. However, with risk comes reward. A Choppa thrown may be a last resort to catch that fleeing foe, stumble that caster, annoy and weaken that PvE Boss.

Mastery Lines

This can really make a Choppa stand out and fun.

TWO Choppas

This mastery line focuses on dual wield combinations and inflicting heavy melee damage. These Choppas want to go through enemy lines like a weedwhacker and care little about much else, including their preservation. It doesn’t matter if they are reckless as long as the enemy is dead before they are.

One Choppa

This mastery line is focused on more versatile than two hander Choppas. While they can’t produce the raw damage to multiple targets, they could focus on one victim by using both hands with one choppa for more power, utilize a shield for increased defense and maybe off tank for a period of time, use throwing weapons to catch runners or disrupt other enemies.

Heli Choppa

These Choppas love the thrill of being airborne landing in the heat of battle and using enemy bodies as shoes. They leap over enemy ranks, are more effective when being launched by engines of war, and hurt less when falling. They revel in causing chaos to battlefields, causing even the best laid battleplans to fall apart in retreat. The life of these Choppas are risky at best, because you can be shot out of the sky, and you are not fighting every second so your moral gain is slower. But when your blood is boiling, heaven help your foes, ‘cause you will be splattin em a lot.

References:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=for1V1y86QI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p_I-H_MTTs&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1IX5jtlKf8&feature=related

What would your suggestion be?

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MMORPG Thoughts and Other things that I can't get out of My Head
As a disciple of the MMORPG system, I offer my humble thoughts in this blog.

Author: fansede

An Angry Blackguard

Knights who say Please!

Hammering out a Hammerer

Forget the Whales, Save the Chopaa!

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