Barely versed in massive multiplayer online role-playing games, a reporter interviews an avid gamer with a love/hate relationship with Blizzard/World of Warcraft, who’s quickly becoming a Warhammer Online fanboi, about recent events on Averheim.
21-Oct-08: To be clear, this is a mock interview. Yikes, some of you drank too much of the cool-aide. *Sheesh*
Reporter: Averheim seems to stay busy in the area of Open RVR.
Alysianah: It sure does.
Reporter: I was contacted by one of my sources claiming that a large force of Destruction players was farmed to the point that Order stopped receiving Renown.
Alysianah: (Laughs with wicked glee)
Reporter: You were there?
Alysianah: Yep, I was there from beginning to end. It was a terrific guild event.
Reporter: Event?
Alysianah: Yes, it was an Open RVR activity planned by our guild leaders.
Reporter: By guild you mean, Casualties of War?
Alysianah: Yes. We were raiding Tier 3 until about 1 AM ET.
Reporter: My goodness, that’s awful late.
Alysianah: Yes, I was pretty exhausted the next morning. It was the second night in a row that I’d stayed up until the wee hours playing WAR.
Reporter: I see. (Taps pen on pad) How long do these events normally last?
Alysianah: (Smiles) That depends. In T3 it can go anywhere from an hour to a few hours depending on how many Destruction players show up to defend or are out doing offensive raids.
Reporter: Really, that's longer than I would have thought.
Alysianah: The other night we were at it for five hours. (Laughs) And man was I exhausted at work the next day.
Reporter: (Scribbles quickly on her notepad) Interesting. You’re saying that you stayed up so late that it impacted you at work the next day?
Alysianah: Eh, nothing horrible or anything, just a bit slower off the blocks.
Reporter: Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t this the job that you’ve complained about no longer enjoying, and that you find it too stressful?
Alysianah: Yes but…
Reporter: Sounds like not getting a proper amount of sleep would add more stress to the situation wouldn’t it?
Alysianah: A little but…
Reporter: Wouldn’t that impact your performance and make things worse?
Alysianah: Not really. (Stops reporter from cutting her off) Trust me, it’s not that big of a deal. They already think I’m a bitch. Being crankier just adds to the legend. (Smiles and winks but reporter is not amused)
Reporter: If you say so. Back to the other night…Did you say it lasted five hours?
Alysianah: Yeah, around that long - give or take.
Reporter: Hmm… Five hours and ended around 1 AM. That sounds like raiding. I thought you were a diehard casual player who didn’t raid?
Alysianah: (Scratches head) You’re right hadn’t thought it like that… I guess that is as long as a typical raid session in other games.
Reporter: (Flips through notes) You recently posted several articles about the free-style casual friendly atmosphere of Warhammer. Five hours of RVR doesn’t sound very casual friendly to me.
Alysianah: Not on the surface no…
Reporter: Sounds pretty hardcore to me. How is it not?
Alysianah: Lots of reasons. You don’t have to stay the whole time. Many people came and went during the course of the evening.
Reporter: Sure but…
Alysianah: People can come without any specific talent specs or gear requirements
Reporter: That might be but…
Alysianah: It’s not scripted and there are no moves to memorize. The way things go down change each time.
Reporter: All well and good but…
Alysianah; There are no buts, it’s a come as you are chaotic adventure, where people can leave as they see fit without endangering or impacting the goals of the overall group. AND there is nothing that a single person can do to wipe the whole team or cause an epic failure. It’s just good ole fashion fun.
Reporter: Have it your way. Why don’t you just tell me what happened…
The evening started out simply enough with the guild forming a Tier 3 Warband to do some Open RVR. We started with objectives and keeps in the Empire zone. When we landed in High Pass we could see that at least one other Order guild was out doing RVR so we joined forces. Meeting very little resistance, we swept across the zone in record time.
I’m not positive, but I think we hit the Dwarven zone next. Some Destruction players came out to play but not enough to stop us from capturing everything in our path. Our numbers swelled as the evening wore on. More of our own guild members joined the ranks while the more hardcore Destruction players began entering the fray. The stakes and resistance began increasing once we flew over to the High Elf zone, Avelorn.
The Order chat channel was buzzing about a contingent of Destruction's players attacking Ghrond’s Sacristy. When we arrived there was a small group attacking. We'd parted company by now with the other guilds that had joined in Empire, so our numbers were equally small.
We skirted around the attacking force by riding along the river, and entering through the side door. Attacking from the battlements above, we made quick work of them. When they didn’t return immediately, we left to take the local RVR objectives. In the meantime, Destruction returned with more friends and this is where things got really interesting…
