Gone In 30 Seconds

Been a bit quiet from me lately. I've had a busy weekend and some workrelated business to attend, but the main bother has been the 30 second cap on my freeware Fraps program. Getting good RvR footage when you've only got short 30-seconds bursts is a bitch. Either the first part of what I'm trying to show off misses or the movie ends just as I'm about to deliver (or be delivered) the coup d'grace. Dang! And doubledang!

So, apart from my moviemaking misery, what have I've been up to the last week. Well, Obersten turned 26 yesterday evening after a good deal of scenarios. Mostly Tor Anroc, but my punting/tanking skills/luck are placing me in the top renown bracket which is nice as I'm trying to catch up to my level. Being rank 26 and almost-I-can-taste-it-with-my-left-nipple renown rank 20 is a mismatch. The devastator set i lurking a level or two ahead and I want it. I wants, I wants, I wants! So, I've gotten my renown grinding mittens on and equipped the happy dorf-punter undies.
The bad news is that somehow the scenarios aren't really popping all that quick, so I've been grinding influence and doing quests as well. Which is all very nice, but it just don't give any renown. Dang it. Double dang it! And with most of the guild doing tier four stuff and capturing castles untill their eyes bleed, I'm stuck in tier three, grinding influence, watching glue dry and my rank rise and still not getting closer to equipping a Devastator piece. /shake fist

Still, it hasn't been all bad. Yesterday I got into a pug and claimed a keep. Managed to get a first place in contributions and a gold bag for my efforts (which, just to mock me I'm sure, contained a piece of devastator equipment...). Afterwards we head to Avelorn as rumor had it the Order was doing their thang there. And sure enough, we catch a good dozen of the scumbags trying to break into our house. We open a can of whopass and serve it to them cold. Excellent. Xp, check. Renown, check. Fun, double check! Keep, lost. Even better. Let's get it back!

So, we scramble to put a decent warband together and assault the castle. The npc's get a well deserved spanking and we're battering at the inner castledoor when a throng of Order pours into the courtyard. Closequarter fighting erupts and people are dying and killing left and right. After the dust settles I find myself and a small group of survivors outside the gates facing the remnants of Order charging towards us. We won't have none of that, of course, so we charge them as well and an epic battle begins outside the gates of the castle. Momentum changes sides as Order and Destruction press for the advantage. Three or four times we get them pushed back into caste, and three or four we find ourselves defending at the outskirts of our warcamp. Tanks are tanking, healers are frantically trying to keep up and the dps does their thing. It's great!

Then what happens. Our warband leader declares that we break up and head for the Chaos Wastes instead. The keep can't be taken and the other places are apparantly not defended. Ehhh, come again. We got a grand battle going on here. We get to batter stunties and elves and humies and what nots, and you want to go somewhere quiet? If this is the attitude of most players it's no wonder that Open RvR is a bit missing. If you leave whenever you're getting pressed and losing you'll never get a really good fight going. Of course, getting hammered while outnumbered 4-1 is not very fun, but that was not the case here. 2-1 at times, but still they took losses as well (which just makes it even better IMO). Alot of players stayed for the fight, as well, so the situation may not be looking so grim either.

But, the "let's go somewhere else" tactic is fairly destructive for the Open RvR. It's understandable if you're mostly interested in the loot and the not the fighting, but couldn't something be done about it? Two things springs to mind:

1. Improve the loot you get from player corpses in Open RvR. Not scenarios, just when you kill them in the open. It could be at a keepsiege or just when you've flagged for RvR and duel it out.

2. Instance the keeps. Make it an instance with a population cap (20, 30, 40, depending upon tier and number of attackers etc.) and you got a reasonable chance that the two sides will be equal. Perhaps allow for a majority of attackers as the Keep lords can be hard enough to deal with without Order interefering.

But the fight was good and Obersten got alot of scalps for his banner. Good times :)

Another Public Service Announcement

The Mo' Heelz Forum Troll Trawling Team got a decent healing guide in their nets. The bit about Shamans adding in a bit of dps seems a bit off to me. I'd rather that the healer (me) saved his AP for healing instead of doing lousy dps/AP spells. Still each to his own, and sometimes I bet they actually do make a difference. I just think that extra heals do more good.

EDIT: A bit on healing priorities. There's both shit and cinnamon (as we say in Denmark) so proceed with caution.

Gief Epix!!11!

The Open RvR Post.

It seems that every other blog has posted the authors view on the Open RvR or the lack of it. Never being too good not copy a good subject I’ll take my own spin on it.

What’s wrong:
1. Momentum is needed to gain momentum. You’ll need a big band a warriors to get the ball rolling. Untill this happens people rather just carry on with their quests – a pure cost/benefit calculation due to:

2. Logistics. It takes time to get from your questing/PQ’ing area to the keep and you cannot be sure that there’s actually defenders there to ensure renown (you don’t get points for doing a WW1 trench charge) or that the keep hasn’t fallen already.

3. Rewards. As it stands now most of my RvR experiences have been like doing the PQ: Kill the King and hope to get a lootbag. Twice I've managed to get to a keep before it fell with actual defenders inside and a zerg of attackers swarming the walls - this is within two months of gaming. Still these two episodes have been the highlights of my WAR experience telling me that IF players could get out to fight regularly the game could improve immensely (from good to godlike, that is). More lootbacks rewards taking empty Keeps, more renown/xp rewards fighting the enemy - both is needed I think, but rather more of the latter than of the former.

What do I propose then? What are the golden hotfix? Look no further:

Solutions:
1. Teleport to keep defense/offense. If Mythic implemented a teleport mechanism like they have in scenarios the travelling bit could be avoided. Perhaps do it like the Summoning Stones in WoW, so you only could go one way (and not teleport back once you're done with the keep taking - which would ensure more people staying perhaps?). Trouble is that the element of surprise is easily lost and that is one of the biggest strength the offense posseses. Perhaps put a timer on the teleport? Only after the wall is breached? Only after 5 minutes of fighting? 10 minutes? After the King has been attacked for the first time?

2. Provide a steady stream of renown/xp for fighting in a keep. This way there would be an incentive to go even if it's you against the world. As it is you need to gather a group and organize the defence - rewarding individuals to ride to battle to gather these groups incrementally. You can't defend the castle on your own, but you can dent the offense a bit. As it is now it just don't award you any noticeable renown/xp.
Perhaps make it scale with group size, but getting expenentially smaller thus rewarding small groups for defense, but letting the bigger groups fight it out for themselves? The bigger groups should stand a chance of farming/defending properly and getting their rewards that way.
This solution could also deal with troublespot number one: Momemtum. If individuals get a piece of the action on their own they'll show up. If they show up they'd most likely group up (just dont award going solo with the steady-stream) and then eventually fight it out like a real posse of defenders. Perhaps even coordinating and talking nicely to each other. Ok perhaps not the last bit, though...

3. My last idea is not related to Keeps, but more to getting people into the lakes. I was thinking about how cool I found it when I entered Barak Varr for the first time. Orcs and Dwarfs constantly battling it out and it gave me a feeling of actually participating in a big battle. A great experience! So, how about having bands of warriors (10, 20, 30 or even more) travel to the Lakes with the event being heralded as when a Keep is under attack. Then you could travel along and fight along side of your comrades (although they'd be AI controlled drones). Put in a few Champion/Hero/Lord mobs depending on the size of the army and have them drop lootbacks and you should have a good deal of RvR going on. Even if there ain't many players actually showing up (low pop, non-peak hours etc) it would still instill a feeling of an epic battle going on. And if there's one thing I've learned from MMO's it's: GIEF EPIX!!1!!!

Any thoughts on this?

I just found this excellent idea to reintroduce Darkness Falls. Seems like a really good idea as well.

A Public Service Announcement

Senta of the Warhammer Alliance forum has compiled a list of all the Squig Herder PQ rewards with a nifty mouse-over effect. Very easy to use and really nice when your trying to plan your "gear shopping". There's similar list for all the other classes as well, but as far as I know none with mouse-over effect (which I'd pay my left buttcheek to learn the secret behind!).

EDIT: Same shit, just for Black Orcs and for Shamans.

Talking In Scenarios - Or How To Be An Ass

It's funny. It really is. Last night I was in the Nordenwatch scenario fighting the Order off the beaches as is only fit for a git. Once the two parties are almost full I have a macro I like to use and I got a fiery flaming for doing so*. Actually it's two, but they're about the same, so... ehh, nevermind. I'll try to redo them from memory.

Macro numero uno:
/sc Hi guys. I just have a few tips - use them or ignore them.
/sc OFFENSE: Check the scoreboard regularly for their top healers and dps - and kill 'em! This way we can focus fire without having to call the targets all the time. Also, don't attack the tanks - just try to root and snare them.

Macro numero dos:
/sc Dammit, there's more from that moron!
/sc DEFENSE: Remember Collision Detection. If you get a tank/melee dps on your ass run towards a mob of friendlies. He can't run through them and chances are they'll help you root/snare/kill him. And if he changes targets it'll take him even longer to get a kill. If you run you can't be healed and we can't help you. Detaunt, root, snare, knockback and head to the rest of us. And help each other! :)

The above apparently was newbie stuff according to a swearing teamplayer. I guess it is, but the funny thing is that no-one in that pug knew how to focus fire, to use knockbacks to save teammates or not to run away when the tank tries to help you. So, I guess my question is: Would this really pester your game experience or do you think it'll actually help foster some teamwork? And is there anything about them that you would add or remove? Any easy to use tips?

*) I only use the macro once. No spamming.

A Threesome It Is Then

I've been following Ysharros' altoholic article series on Hammerofwar for a while now. And they're great! This week his publication date coincided with the fact that I'd been busy with both my tank (Obersten) and my little dps git (Preben). The Black Orc and the Squig Herder plays quite differently - as could be imagined with them being 300 punds and six inches of steel apart. I really enjoy the AoE grinding and battering that the Black Orc offers as I've adressed in a former blogpost.

What I really find hilarious about the Squig Herder is more the pvp aspect. So far I've levelled him almost to rank 11 by doing scenarios and it carries some remarkable benefits. The most obvious is that my renown rank follows my actual rank and thus nets me some of the really nifty renown vendor gear as well as the good loot from enemy players. Apart from my less than stellar bow I'm top of the line geared and the bow will be replaced in half a level (doubling the dps of the weapon). By doing PQ and scenarios at the same time I can stick around for PQ should I get a good group and just join the scenario if I'm grinding phase one trash mobs. This way I'll get influence, renown and xp up the gazoo - and I'm quite fond of that tickling feeling.

Another benefit is that the skills are used somewhat differently in PvE and PvP. PvP can include a quite steep learning curve, but by constantly be involved in it I've found that the knowledge of when to root, when to knock and when to run comes fairly fast. Not overnight - but fast enough for me :)

The final goodie I'll highlight is the social aspect. When levelling up at alt-speed the world can be somewhat desolate even on a med-high population server as Karak Hirn. By entering the scenarios you're automatically paired with other people playing and after a few rounds you'll get to see some friendly faces. I normally try to kickstart the /sc-talkings as it seem to help inspire teamwork and also increases the fun factor. You'll eventually run into people that'll swear at you for chatting in the scenario channel, but as long as its about the game and focused on teamwork (as in "There's Order inc at Fort", "I'm taking Lighthouse", "Need healer at Barracks") I can't be arsed to care about their splutterings.

What this has lead to is that I'm fairly certain that I'll be levelling three characters at the same time. My Shaman Chefen is resting at rank 20 at the moment and the Black Orc Obersten is at 23. Preben is only level 10 so far, so has some road ahead, but I expect to move on with Chefen once he hits 20 - depending on the fun I'm having with the Squiglet. So, in relation to the blog I expect it to turn into a threesome. Taking turns I'll report my experiences, succeses and downfalls with all three toons and see how it works out on the way to rank 40. As for my gameplay I hope to get a better understanding of each of the aspects of the game - though I'll most likely just suck harder at all three instead :)

Turning Whine Into Wine And Piss Into Beer

I'm hearing and reading a lot of complaining about the state of WAR. Underpopulated servers and stagnant levelling progressing is apparently a source of grief for quite a few people. Which is understandable. I too like to level up and get new skills and equip awesome new gear. I too like to actually see other people in a social game instead of just the same ol' npc's pushing quests. I do, really. But I too really like the game nonetheless, and I don't think it's going down the drain as some of the more pessimistic voices has heralded. Server merges are needed, yes. The levelling curve is too steep or the experience gains are too shallow, yes, but that is being fixed. Mythic is taking action, but it takes time. In the meantime do take a number and be kind to wait in line. I think the record got stuck.

Thanks to the Greenskin for the picture and Ysharros for inspiration to the headline.

It's Time to Kick Ass and Chew Bubblegum - And I'm All Out of Gum!

New York was a blast and I encourage everyone to go there. That city is really something of it’s own and being there during the election just made everything even better. But this is not a travelling blog – it’s about WAR, so back to the bloodshed.

When I left for the states Obersten was on the verge of turning rank 20 and about half an hour after I got back to playing he had himself another tactic slot and a nifty new morale called Raze. If Big Slash opened the door to AoE grinding Raze pushes you through it. I’d been using the Barak Varr PQ two-hander for the last few levels and it had served me well, but in order to prepare for some serious grinding I equipped me trusty ol’ blocker and a big axe. The solo-mob dps takes a dive, but nothing too serious and at the same time the survivability skyrockets – it’s a really nice feeling being able to take a hideous amount of punishment. Tanking at it’s finest.

Over at Da Toughest there’s an excellent guide to AoE grinding that you should take a look at first. This will be my own version of the art and be less of a guide than me blabbering about how much fun it is. And it really is!

So, a basic rundown of the technique used to AoE grind is short and brutish. Don your armor and a mix of toughness and strength gear, pick up a buckler and a good choppa and proceed by running a around gathering mobs. The last bit can be done by hurling choppas at them instead if you’re a bit tired in the leggings – it happens for the best of us. Start with three or four to see if your gear and rank is up for it. The exact number of mobs you tank often needs a slight calibration if your encountering a new kind of mob or it’s a different level. At the moment I can manage four, but feels most comfortable with three mobs about four or five levels above my own. Any more and I get hammered before I get to fire off my Raze and kill them – any less and I feel I’m playing on easymode.

You need to be a bit watchful for adds and respawns. Often I end in the lower quarter of my healthpool and one or two adds could prove lethal (and often does…). Also, it does take a bit longer to finish them off than it would if you soloed just a single mob, but then again, that’s not the case – you’re battering away on three or four bastards at a time here!

I normally open with a Follow My Lead (tactic’ed up by ‘Ave Another One) and Tuffer Than Nails ending with Savin Me Hide. This establish my defensive buffs and opens for a round of battering. Taunt the mob and let loose with either Follow My Lead or Wot Armor, carry on with Right in Tha Jibblies or Big Slash and finish with Skull Thumper. Repeat this last bit but switch Jibblies with Slash (or Slash with Jibblies depending on your first choice). I’m normally ready for a rebuffing by now and then another Taunt followed by the battering procedure. If you got a healer your should be doing things a little different (refer to Da Toughest for instructions), but other wise Raze should be about to pop – so gather the mobs up right in front of you and fire away. I’ve found that Raze has a fairly narrow AoE, so they need to stand right in front of you to make sure you make the most of it. Still, it’s a blast to see the numbers fly and the mobs die once you unleash upon them.

Add to this that I just discovered a lot of Skaven (my favorite race after the greenskins) and I’ve really has had a boost to my gaming enjoyment. If you happen to be on Karak Hirn around Talabheim expect to see a red armored Black Orc sprinting around the Skaven camps giggling with pleasure. And if you do – feel free to join the fun :)

Back from the Apple

Just a quick notice. I'm back from New York and have had a few hours of gaming in. Obersten just turned rank 20, so I'm experimenting with AoE grinding using Big Slash and Raze.

Next post will be about that (and New York!).