MMORPG.com Warhammer online Correspondent Asaf Younsian writes this quick opinion piece throwing in his two cents about the population imbalances in Mythic Entertainment's Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.

After a smooth launch and a lot of buzz, we're starting to see dents in Mythic Entertainment’s Warhammer Online world.

As it's not my intent to go on and list them, I wanted to narrow it down on one specific problem that might cause a series of problems that might very well drop the entire game a notch – Population imbalance between the different factions.

First, let's take a look at what this imbalance means and how it affects the world:

Most (if not all) servers seem to have a population of around 60% Destruction oriented characters and only 40% Order. While those numbers may change slightly, the majority remains on the destruction side.

Read more here.

Eh im so tired of hearing about this stuff with all the stuff finally they're doing to help try balance things out and make the RvR lakes more popular.    My only real gripe about this editorial is the remark about scenarios.  They may help scenario grinders get to T4 faster, may help them learn how to play their characters for Scenarios but it won't help them with the main part of T4.   If players aren't familiar with how to take over keeps, defend them, and handle large scale battles as a team they're effectively worthless.  Scenarios do not prepare you for RvR large scale battles its really in most cases (pugs atleast) just a way for people to level themselves and still act like jerks in the process.

Whats worse is the lame boo hoo missing tank argument.  Do we really need another gripe about that when they announced they're coming into the game soon?  We all know the gripes would be 10 time louder if they were in the game and they sucked ultimate balls.

Really, stop whining.

"balance" comes with abilities, not only with numbers.

And in that regard, Order is overpowered.

I dont know how anyone can call dwarves unassuming and that their armor sucks they look cooler than the humans and cooler than the greenskins in some respects.  Not to mention when you hit T3 and you see an IB or a Engineer coming at you You know to run like hell before they use their over powered knock backs & group magnet pulls.

For being a "warhammer correspondant" he doesn't even know the name of the Empire, calling it Order...

Funny, though, all this alarmism on having altdorf sacked every morning. Where? When? he writes like it happened multiple times already on all servers. Too bad it couldn't be more far from truth. It's quite evident it'll be a quite rare occurrence, despite any kind of population imbalance.

Finally, and this sounds the death knell for this article, his descriptions of the races are completely screwed, and make me wonder if he's actually playing the game or just reading some forums and aggregating some naysaying.

And dont forget in Tr3 even tr 2 if you see an iron breaker you know to groan in pain because of their dang knock downs AND knock backs I have a levle 22 chosen I love this walking tin can!! but man I HATE going against an iron breaker!!! Only two classes i can honeslty say I fear....Iron breakers and the ooo so annoying bright wizard (which i play as well and love that fireball tossing loon!!)

The balance issue i think will fix it self a sepcialy when they put out the other tank for Order.

I normally attempt to stay away from critizing articles, especially ones written by members of our community - but damn. Was this at least edited? Abriael makes some great points...

Population imbalance is an issue, but IT'S NOT the major one.

The major issue is SERVERS POPULATION.

Mythic launch the game with WAY too many servers.   This cause the population to spread all over the place.   Now a few months later you have queued servers and ghost town servers.

That's is what drove me away from the game.   Coming from WOW i don't want to have to wait to play (queues).  When i play i want to be able to do content (PQ, Scenerio) but the problem is there, in most non queues servers there is NO ONE to play PQ, scenario queues are Looooooooooooooooong.

Mythic should have lauch the game with very little servers, 10-12 maybe and as they fill, slowly open more.  

Now it's sitll time to correct the situation, but it involve the major headache of servers merge.  Merge the low pop servers togethers. 

@Aguitha: they already have free server transfers coming.

I have zero problems as far as a long wait on the Destruction side for scenarios.  Longest I've ever waited might be 5 minutes.  I like the fact that you can be questing and still waiting, still have a minute or so to get someplace safe, then enter the scenario.  As far as imbalance goes,  I get my head handed to me as often as we rout the other side.  

I"m gonna post this simply because I cannot believe no one else pointed it out....

The writer says that Order suffers from an imbalance in healing classes.

I'm gonna repeat that because it bears repeating.

The writer says that Order suffers from an imbalance in healing classes.

As a dedicated and smart Destruction player, I've gotta call this one out. Are you serious?! FFS man... try killing a runepriest. Try killing an Iron-breaker with a runepriest healing him. It's simply not gonna happen. The runepriest has insta-cast heals, absorbs, etc. They're easily the best healer in the game as a result. I'm not knocking Destruction healers, but the runepriest is seriously badass.

The citys have never been captured to this day. Never. Please to learn the system.

The article really lost me when it was suggested that more people play Destruction because WoW had more people play Alliance. Is there any evidence to support this other than this being the author's experience?

1. Not all Warhammer players are coming from WoW.

2. Evidence supports that younger players tend to play human type of characters because they aren't quite to the point of playing something that resembles an animal or a monster. Since Warhammer has human style races on both side, I expect this demographic will be spread more evenly. This is speculation only at this point.

3. What about the Warhammer fans who have a predisposition for a side based on how they have played in the Warhammer universe in the past? This wouldn't have any influence would it?

Good journalism would state a perception of an imbalance. Nonetheless, could this perception be isolated to the 1-2 servers the author plays on. Could it be due to the time of day at which he played? Surely this could also be a factor.

I have at times felt some imbalance, numbers wise, in Open RvR but I can't say it is a constant. It just happens to be who is online and what they are motivated to do at that moment. I am just reluctant to throw this label on the game as a whole when it could just be an issue that impacts only part of the total server set.

The point about Order RvR is, at least on my server (also a lot more destro) is actually quite the opposite.

Order is holding nearly always all of T2 & T3, while destro mostly hold T1 and T4 being constantly contested. As for nightly raids: Actually it is the destros who start attacking every day at 4am. (I was staying awake late chatting with a few Guild members, when our keep was besieged).

Is there a way we can vote for a "no confidence" on a correspondent?

Interesting read is my comment on the article. On the PQs though is my friend on the bad side said had as much trouble with trying to play PQs as I did playing the proper side of the battle (lots of sarcasm about sides as I do like being good).

There are issues but at the moment the only one I ever think about is the fact I have my computer gamma up just so I don't give myself a headache in the dark places which makes certain other areas blinding then. I would have been happier hearing something about that than what I read in this article as it offered me nothing to think about where the game is heading.

Most servers appear to be equal as far as balance.

I have very few gripes with the game that revolve more around the grou ui and a few bugs. I simply report those and wait for them to be corrected.

I fought in a siege on Mandred's Hold the other day and we fought them at the door then out to the hills on several occassions. On Brettonia, the numbers are about as even as you can get, I'll be looking forward to getting more players transfer here in december.

Originally posted by banthis

Eh im so tired of hearing about this stuff with all the stuff finally they're doing to help try balance things out and make the RvR lakes more popular.    My only real gripe about this editorial is the remark about scenarios.  They may help scenario grinders get to T4 faster, may help them learn how to play their characters for Scenarios but it won't help them with the main part of T4.   If players aren't familiar with how to take over keeps, defend them, and handle large scale battles as a team they're effectively worthless.  Scenarios do not prepare you for RvR large scale battles its really in most cases (pugs atleast) just a way for people to level themselves and still act like jerks in the process.

Whats worse is the lame boo hoo missing tank argument.  Do we really need another gripe about that when they announced they're coming into the game soon?  We all know the gripes would be 10 time louder if they were in the game and they sucked ultimate balls.

Hmmm  also should have stated  open RVR server or the standard PvE with RvR zones.

Play on Praag youll see many High lvl Order and see that there healers arnt as weak as you think.

and  I guess you havent faced enough Pocket Healed Iron breakers.

Hard core on either side will be on the RVR  and there poulations seem fine  ATM.

Originally posted by TheMaelstrom

I"m gonna post this simply because I cannot believe no one else pointed it out....

 

The writer says that Order suffers from an imbalance in healing classes.

I'm gonna repeat that because it bears repeating.

The writer says that Order suffers from an imbalance in healing classes.

 

As a dedicated and smart Destruction player, I've gotta call this one out. Are you serious?! FFS man... try killing a runepriest. Try killing an Iron-breaker with a runepriest healing him. It's simply not gonna happen. The runepriest has insta-cast heals, absorbs, etc. They're easily the best healer in the game as a result. I'm not knocking Destruction healers, but the runepriest is seriously badass.

 

 

Yea Overly powerd for a little guy they sure are.

but yes my point stated as well. Not sure where his facts  come from @@

Man, I wish I had time to write for MMORPG.com. Unlike this guy I actually understand RvR games and their sociology. This guy knows nothing about Warhammer Online, he's clearly an ex-wow player and someone who's assuming that this game is just WoW2... which it most certainly is not.

The imbalance issue has to do with (in my opinion) how players identify with the classes offered. For example, most people who play destruction will tell you that they see less zealots and shaman on the battlefield than they do their counterparts, the archmage and the runepriest. Many people i've talked to think of the zealot's hunched posture and weak looking demeanor as something hard to imagine looking at for 40 levels, whereas it's counterpart, the runepriest looks healthy and strong.

In the case of the shaman, for the first few levels they look naked and meak... and although there's certainly more shaman than zealots, I've heard several people say they feel weak as a shaman in rvr, not so much in spells, but also in the look and feel. You equip a belt and it's a thin rope, you equip a chest piece and you're chest is still bare... it's hard to feel like your character is progressing. The counterpart for the shaman, the archmage, feels lean and noble.

To me, the shaman is a funny class that is to be respected and feared, and the zealot is a cruicial class on the battlefield. The problem seems to be that everyone is obsessed with being the biggest badass they can be, and zealots (and in some people's opinion, the shaman) just don't "feel badass".

Also, this guy writing this article is talking about the "dark elf counterpart" of the knight of the blazing sun? No such thing. The Knight of the Blazing sun is the counterpart for the Chosen, and the Blackguard is the counterpart for the Ironbreaker. What this means is that destruction will be getting their knockback/grudge-like mechanic tank and order will be getting their dps/aura tank.

As a player in tier4 I can difinitely say that what is needing immediate fixing is the queueing, the team building and a FEW minor tweaks to certain class abilities.

For example, it makes no sense that Mourkain Temple, Tor Anroc, and Serpent's pass are the most common scenarios when most players on both sides press "join all". At first I thought it had to do with the opposite side only queueing for that one, but I've since learned that this is not the case. We should be seeing much more of the other scenarios and we're not.

There's also an issue with team building. When I enter a scenario and there's only witch elves and marauders with the occasional disciple of khaine thrown in... and we're up against 4 ironbreakers, 4 bright wizards, and a plethra of healers from all pairings. A simple fix for this would be class limits in scenarios, though how this would impact wait times for some classes and pre-grouped people could be very damaging, so this is something that they've probably already given some major thought to.

Anyways, bottom line, WAR is in great shape and is only getting better. This guy's article was ill-informed and really only serves to damage the already skewed views about this game. I implore MMORPG.com to avoid publishing articles like this, as it is bad for their repuation, wether it was an opinion-based piece or not.

WAAAGH,

          MAUL0r