All Posts by Flute

Ketrine has it in one.  If you really want to play in the "open beta", go pre-order.

It really does not matter what the gcd is, as long as it really is global (yes, I think WoW got that wrong).

Obviously if it's really long then combat can feel too slow, too short and the fastest connection wins (or the best unauthorised add-on programme wins).  It is exactly the sort of thing that is undoubtedly being tested in beta, and may change up or down.

The funny thing is that I like the idea that WAR white lion is similar to WoW tamer.  After all, WoW ripped off UO's animal tamer skill and did a fairly good job of it, so if WAR has echos of WoW tamer it's no bad thing.

Of course that said ... UO did animal tamer best, no game other than pre-CU SW:G has come close to that level of freedom to chose, tame, and train pets.  But the good thing is that at least in WAR I can hope they add more choice in pet selection when they add wood elves, and/or clan moulder skaven

In-game + broken + not fun = cut until it's ready.  I like that.

Honest, timely communication from someone who knows - a very refreshing change. 

Just for comparison ... would I buy anything from SoE?

Will I buy this game still?  Absolutely.   

Shangon - Orcs are too iconic in the Warhammer world to leave it at just one class, I expect to see more in time, the chopper being back sooner rather than later.

If we never had it actually we'll never miss it if they don't add it later.  That said I expect the classes at least to be added in fairly quickly post-launch. 

Besides, who in the modern over-hype MMORPG market actually believes all the pre-launch hype?

What this says about the game is they are not prepared to ship unfinished content, which of course more than a few companies are more than happy to do.

What I want to see is Mythic's time estimate of how long it will be until the cut-from-release features are intended to be added back in, and a commitment that they will be patched in, not sold to players as expansions.

It doesn't matter - people who play WoW will either continue, maybe with WothLK, or not.  Personally I play WoW and EVE atm; the WothLK expansion simply does not appeal to me at all at this point.  I like WoW, but it's wearing pretty thin and I can't say I am looking forward to grinding up another class or 10 more levels and re-gearing just to do the same-old-same-old. 

So it will be WAR and EVE for me, almost for sure, once WAR is out.  The more interesting one for me will be whether "ambulation" makes it out for EVE before WAR

Explore.  Why rush to level?  Just because it's a level based game it does not mean you have to rush out and start powerleveling - if you don't enjoy the journey up to the max char level you will miss the opportunity to make friends and actually appreciate the lower level world.

Don't forget with EVE there certainly is 1 v 1 PvP, but usually it's group v group and the really good stuff is fleet v fleet.  1 v 1 it's all about your gear and their gear, with a little skill tossed in, same concept as dueling in WoW.  But for group and fleet, it's about how you work together, and a swarm of frigates can make a real impact, even if they are cheap mass-produced ships not the specialized versions (stealth bombers, interceptors, etc).

The key in EVE is that multiple little ships can do damage to big ships which, combined, can be fatal to the big ship.  In contrast in WoW, you can have as many level 10 players as you want flailing away on a level 70, and they simply will never win.  The basic game mechanics are such that they cannot win.

That has a huge impact on PvP in both games - in EVE you are never really safe; in WoW, depending on the match you are certain to win or certain to lose.  The power level in WoW is also very steep, so a level 60 will almost always defeat a level 50, based simply on level mechanics.  Adding further levels in WoW simply increases the level disparity and makes ganking easier - multiple level 63 chars in the outlands, for example, can sometimes take down a level 70 ganker; they will simply not be able to take down a level 80. 

I like a lot of what I see in the PvP design of WAR; what I am curious about is how the do the power curve in the level system.  One of the things I really liked in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay was that regardless of your own level and skills, you needed to fear numbers.  This is the same dichotomy as between levels in EVE (and UO) / WoW as in WFRP / pnp DnD - is a high level character immune to numbers, or always vulnerable?

As someone who also liked defeating my enemies with swarms of giant rats and oceans of skaven slaves, or Brettonian peasants (fear the pitchforks!), I rather hope to see top level characters in WAR still being cautious of massed numbers.  Sadly, I expect that WAR will tend to follow WoW and pnp DnD on this score, rather than stay true to its heritage.  Nothing is sweeter than seeing a High Elf mage go down under a mass of clan Moulder's rats, their pack master gleefully eyeing up the mage's pockets

But sadly, I suspect at its heart PvP in WAR will actually follow WoW's basic level-grants-immunity model more than the much harsher model used in EVE, UO, WFRP, and the older Warhammer Fantasy tabletop games.

The PvP design in EVE has been reworked so you can get into PvP far more easily - check out the latest Empyrian Age expansion (but think it through before you leap into PvP in a shiny little frigate! :)

I'm curious to see how WoW tries to push this kind of content back down the levels; as things stand the best they seem to have come up with so far is to make it easier to level to 60 (not a good solution). 

Bottom line, I completely agree that WoW's basic design is a real problem for PvP - it's obviously ground-up designed for PvE, and that shows in so many ways which cannot really be fixed without destroying something.  WAR should be much better in that regard!

Very good news. 

"Blood for the blood god!". 

The only army where having your entire army slaughtered is still a victory

HB if they add content they will want to make it available to all.  People often forget that the original design of Jedi in SWG was that you got a second character slot for your jedi, who if killed too often would permanently die.  It was the softening on that design (from hard-core gamer to fluffy bunny rules) and the Christmas Holocron giveaway (which was horribly implemented) that undid Jedi in that game.

There would be nothing wrong with WAR having flying mounts that were very hard to get, and killable.  That would keep them rare, and mean that players would need to decide for themselves whether they were worth the effort.  Given what I understand of WAR's approach, I also do not expect that to happen - if you are allowed these things, they will take a lot of effort, but you will be allowed to keep them.  That also fits with flying mounts only being available in an expansion in the future, which for me would sensibly "fit" with adding wood elves. 

It is useful to recall that earlier iterations of Warhammer Fantasy Battle had far more flying mounts, including flying mounts for Skaven, Undead etc.   Also never forget that flying mounts does not mean "you get the gold dragon mount"; humans for example might well get pegasai and grifons, undead getting undead pegasai and hippogriphs, wood elves giant eagles etc.  Not all flying mounts are created equal, a 50 point pegasus was just an invitation to get shot down (the kind of thing they should add), a skeletal dragon was an entirely different proposition.

Also for flying mounts, I would like to see (very long term) the top PvP ranked player getting a "General" tag in front of his or her name, and getting a dragon mount for a month.  And it should breathe fire and be every bit as nasty as dragons in Warhammer should be, but it's kills should not count to the next month's PvP totals

Flying mounts add huge possibilities in the Warhammer world.  I do not expect to see players on them any time soon, but eventually, yes.

She's right.  Admit it, bright wizards are .... human.  Where's the fun in that?  Just admit defeat and it will be much simpler.    

If you're a half decent PvPer you will be able to use any class well anyway, and fighting alongside her (assuming you have 2 PC's rather than share 1) just means you can have real-time co-ordination in PvP.  That means you should not be thinking "best solo PvP class", but "best combination PvP pair" which will be far more lethal. 

Mounts fight?  Are you kidding me?  

The mount in most Warhammer armies is scarier than the rider, especially the ones that caused terror checks.  That said, I like pegasai, they are pretty.

If you haven't played UO PvP when the world was one with pets and mounts that cast their own spells independently, then well... go back to WoW and marvel at how novel and innovative it is.  Seriously, the lore in Warhammer gives WAR a massive resource, and I for one will be bitterly disappointed if they do bring in flying mounts some day but they are just a pretty graphic for a movement bonus.  A mount should have a personality of its own, and fight on its own too.  UO did it nine years ago, it's not as if there is any excuse not to.

I suppose for flying mounts / mounts everyone needs to stop thinking WoW and Vanguard, where they are nothing more than movement modifiers.  Go back to UO... mounts had their own identities, and yes, they could tip the balance in PvP.  I loved that nightmares properly trained started to cast their own spells independently ... that was cool.  By comparison, most of the new games have thin and linear designs.  I would like to be amazed by WAR, but ... we'll see.

And just because ... "the BC zones lack that because of flying mounts."  No, they lack that [world PvP] because of falling player numbers to area of play-space ratio.   The BC zones are huge for the number of people in there at one time, it's not really surprising world PvP is less than in the more confined "T" shape of Winterspring.  The reason BC needed such huge zones was that the xp level requirements between 60 and 70 are radically higher than before 60, so they needed content to make the journey from 60 to 70 more interesting, but to place that content they effectively spread players thinly.  The base of all of that was the xp design, and the content to meet it.  Vanguard is the same but in reverse in many ways, as they changed the xp design which now no longer "fits" the playspace and flow through for the content in it.

The shape of playspace impacts PvP (and PvE) much more than people might realize, although I seriously doubt that WAR's designers have missed such an obvious aspect. 

Flying mounts just reduce the time between point A and point B, they don't really change much else (other than being FUN!) unless the area design was that to get to point B you were meant to defeat encounter C, but with a flying mount could just pass it by.  That is the case in WoW currently because Blizzard didn't choose to make "encounter C" look up.  As I mentioned, ballistae, archers, magic

Flying mounts work fine in WoW; having someone "drop in" on you on a PvP server is actually kind of cool, especially as your own side can return the favour.  (If people don't return the favour for you then you're probably not on a good server, and yes there are good and bad servers, as in any MMO that isn't EVE).

I think a real key to never forget in WAR is the chaos chicken rule.  Flying mounts in WAR would work well, provided of course that they are at a level that has content for them, and you can only get them after passing through the content designed to be completed without a flying mount.  That strongly infers flying mounts for an expansion, and assuming horse-mounted combat isn't in at launch, then likely #1 mounted combat with new areas and races, #2 or #3 flying mounted combat with new areas and maybe new races.  Warhammer has such a rich lore that they should not quickly run out of good options for expansions, particularly as they could add professions to each of the existing armies for an expansion too.

Besides, this is still the Warhammer world.  Flying mounts to me mean ... ballistae, archers, and High Magic to keep them in the sky.   The mount should have its own hit points too, so if you fly to the wrong place well ... got a parachute?

The only mechanic where counted arrows work properly is where players can make lots of them with skills, rather than having to buy them from an NPC as a money sink. 

I'm pleased they haven't gone with forcing arrow users to effectively pay a fee to an NPC to play, it's something that annoyed me in WoW - you can craft bullets, but not arrows.