Mystic Worlds

Sleep with One Eye Open - Altdorf Captured on Averheim

I was all set to post that I didn’t have much to tell about my playing time in Warhammer Online this week.  My two week reprieve from working really long hours had come to an end, so my adventures were curtailed.  No pictorial journals to report since I’d spent most of my time when I was playing in Scenarios or farming up some seeds for crafting.

I like to spend Sunday afternoon soloing.  The quiet before the Monday storm.  I find a nice spot that will get me seeds and coin, and then just grind my time away.  This Sunday I logged on to the game much earlier than usual.  I had babysat my two year old nephew over night so I wasn’t able to sleep in until noon or so.  By 9:36 we were up and had already finished breakfast.  After putting on Disney’s Tarzan movie – I know the whole dang movie by heart because he insists on watching it every time he’s at my house and he’s here quite a bit.

WAR: My Fallen Brethren – Ostland Sanctified Ground Quest Chain

I was out farming crafting materials and gold in Ostland, when I ran into a quest chain that piqued my interest.  I’d traveled far south to find an unoccupied Public Quest area.  I had a nice spot all to myself for almost two hours.  My backpack was overflowing with seeds, coin and four nice pieces of uncommon armor.  Eventually others came along and started killing the mobs that would trigger Stage II of the PQ.  Since I wasn’t in the mood to play nice with others, I mounted up and moved on.  As I was reviewing the map for my next option I noticed that I had a quest completion showing nearby and headed in that direction.

After fighting my way up a dark winding road, I came to a gated cemetery.  The quest NPC was a ghost.  She was inside the gate, pacing back and forth across the headstones.   Ghost NPCs are typically a bit more interesting than the usual fare.  Their quests can involve why they died, why their spirit is haunting that location or how you can help avenge their death.  I completed the quest and while considering if I wanted to take the next one when it was offered, I noticed a tunnel behind me.  “Hmm,” I thought.  “This could be mildly entertaining or at the very least, it might unlock something new in my Tome.”

Pictorial accounting of my adventure...

WAR - Order Zergs Across T3 on Averheim

It should be obvious from the length and frequency of posts, that I’m really enjoying Warhammer Online.  The game suits my play-style well and its mechanics abate many of the reasons why I usually solo.  As a result, I only solo now when I really want to be alone, which is down from 90% to maybe 30%.  Combine those factors with having fallen in with a great group of people in the Casualties of WAR guild, and you have a recipe for success.  I’ve tried all aspects of the content and things are going well.  However, tonight I experienced what WAR is really all about – open field skirmishes and conquering RVR objectives.  Sure, I’d done this is small groups but it doesn’t come to the zerg force we had rolling tonight.

I wish that I’d been able to participate with the graphics settings on high but that wasn’t an option.  Regardless, these are fun images even at the lower quality, for people that haven’t played or participated yet, in large body-count events.  It was truly an experience of epic proportions.

WAR Tier 3 Scenario - Tor Anroc Unbalanced Map

While I accept that no game is perfect, imbalanced battle maps shouldn't be released in a game focused around PVP/RVR.  It seems like this would be obvious during design.  If it wasn't, surely internal testing and BETA would reveal the problem.  Barring that, the constant QQ-ing over imbalance in the World of Warcraft battle-maps, specifically Alterac Valley, should have taught the gaming world something.  The QQs and boycotts over that one battle field is infamous.

I'm sorry to read over at Kill Ten Rats that one of the T3 Scenarios, Tor Anroc, appears to be imbalanced to Order's detriment.  With so few players up in those levels, having game mechanics discourage participation impacts all T3 players.  Scenarios will queue slower if people are refusing to play certain maps.  And those that participate unwittingly may often find themselves outnumbered which will lead to frustration and a less enjoyable gaming experience. 

If Tor Anroc is an unbalanced map, here's hoping that Mythic addresses it quickly.  I personally enjoy the "get the relic and hold it...if you don't have it, chase down the guy with it and smash his face in to get it" competition, best of all the map objectives. It's fast chaotic madness that usually produces a few laughs along the way.  AND Bright Wizards thrive in chaotic combat.   Getting half-way decent heals we can bring the pain and blow shit up like nobody's business. *Evil Grin*  It will be too bad if I can't do this particular scenario when I start doing T3 RVR/PVP in the next day or so.

WAR Bright Wizard - Level 19 and Fabulous

My main is approaching the half-way point for character rank (levels).  Thanks to kind guild-mates, Grimmjak and Invention, I had two very nice upgrades waiting in the wings.  Without much conscious effort I had 13G toward the 15G mount secured.  All I needed to do now was to level and earn an additional 2G.

Highlights:
•    Half-way through character ranks without effort (Rank 19)
•    I do a mixture of quests, scenarios & RVR
•    Looking forward to purchasing my first mount at Rank 20
•    I have 13 of the 15 gold required without trying
•    Plan to sell stock pile of potions to earn the rest
•    WAR feels like GuildWars where the game really starts at max level
•    Excited about the prospect of creating a healer as an alt
•    Not at all concerned about repeating content – it’s a non-issue in WAR
•    By now I'd be focused on crafting but that's not an option in WAR
•    Mostly ready to stop walking across the large zones!!!

WAR: Someone's Spec ain’t Your Business

The much touted Public Quests (PQs) and Open Grouping (OGs) mechanics in Warhammer Online aren’t perfect.  I’m not sure who expected perfection out of the gate.  There might be too many of them.  It’s harder at the bottom and top tiers to get enough people to complete the three phases.  Some PQs can’t be completed without the standard Holy Trinity – tank, healer & DPS.  While others are tedious in the number of mobs that must be killed (Dwarf zone). 

Eh, I can get over these issues.  If they become huge stumbling blocks for a majority of players, I believe Mythic will address them.  Regardless of these concerns, PQs and OGs achieve one great thing.  These mechanics eliminate class spec discrimination.  That’s it.  It’s over.  It’s gone.  Someone’s spec is no longer your business.

Highlights:

• There’s no spamming a chat channel for an hour looking for a group or trying to form one.
• With Open Grouping people can freely join groups without interrogation.
• Many players are still completing PQs without bothering to form or join an official group.
• I’ve yet to hear anyone be asked about their spec, with the intention of excluding them from a group.
• Order has only two pure healing classes.  If they choose off-specs, having powerful healing can be problematic but not insurmountable.
• Specs impact game play in WAR just like other MMOs.  However, the inconvenience of failure is dramatically lower.
• Open grouping is not ideal in every situation.  Some times you really do need a meat shield-aggro-holding spec’d tank or pure healing spec to get the job done.
• My standard excuses for being anti-social don't exist – too much time, not attuned, not the max DPS spec, I don’t have my potions on me, I’m in my “whatever” gear and don’t feel like going back to the bank and changing, ad nauseum.
• Minus my typical reasons for declining groups, I accept most offers that are extended to me.

WAR: Should I Start my Alt Now??

I’ve specifically restrained myself from starting any of the three alts I have in mind so that I could reach end-game with the guild.  We have a good bit of players that are going straight through the content.  I don't know if they are rushing through it.  I know that I'm not.  When I don’t feel like playing I don’t log on to Warhammer.  When I am online, if I’m only in the mood the chat and wander, I do that too. The big difference in WAR is that my putter is often related to an activity that still provides leveling XP.  Nice idea on their part no?  *Big smile*

I’ve heard from my nephew that Tier 3 content is rather lonely.  He’s level 28 and ends up grinding PQs solo or duo at the most, and can never get to the final boss for the chest loot.  He’s in a hardcore guild where his level is just the middle of the pack.  As a Shadow Warrior (tank), he has that option of taking on the PQs that far solo where as my classes won't.  And I’m not a huge fan of questing so if that’s the only way to level effectively in the upper tiers it would be torture for me.

Zones Reminicent of the Middle Ages are my Favorite

When I think of fantasy, my visualization of that world is Late Middle Ages (MA), in particular, the castles and countryside of England.  And of course that is based on what movies and books relate about how that time looked.  I have a keen interest in the Middle Ages in general down to and including the Regency era.  Then of course there’s Tolkien’s Middle Earth description in The Lord of the Rings book series, combine with Peter Jackson’s rendition of that world in his movie trilogy that I’ve devoured numerous times.  It’s no wonder to me why I have a fondness for game zones that look like any of the above.

More images from WAR

Game Play: I’m not Casual, I’m Free-style

For years I’ve misclassified my gaming style as casual because I don’t do much questing, attunement or reputation grinds.  Playing Warhammer Online has given me a fresh perspective on how I play, as well as the amount of time I spend in a favored game.  I’m here to admit that the amount of time is anything but casual. If you add in the time spent reading related blogs, listening to podcasts and writing for my own blog, it borders on a second fulltime job.  With this realization, I’d like to provide clarity for this self-proclaimed leveling style.

Highlights

• Free-style leveling is more akin to a sandbox style where you make many of your own adventures.
• I don’t like games that are heavily quest-driven.
• The most egregious mechanic in quest-driven games is the Epic quest chain.
• Free-style leveling is where you have varied options for gaining XP.
• In a free-style paradise, quest vs. farm, group vs. solo, PVE vs. PVP are weighted equally for character advancement.
• Asheron’s Call 2 was the first fantasy MMORPG I played that had a large amount of freedom.  There were quests and I could do them – or not without penalty.
• World of Warcraft was darn close to free-style right up until you hit the end game.
• Warhammer Online appeals to me because it supports free-style progression.
• Free-style leveling isn’t for everyone and I won’t lose any sleep over your absence, if it’s not for you.
• Hardcore “static group” players are less likely to be fans of WAR.  It lacks the structure and routine needed to support that model.
• Free-style lessens the opportunities that the same group of players will need or want to do the same exact thing, at the same exact time, for weeks and months.
• For a free-style player like me that’s been living in the quest-lovers world all these years, I’m glad to be unshackled.