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…
Nice. I think that was one of the few things i liked about warhammer.
Posted by: Ogrebears | October 19, 2008 at 10:56 PM
You nailed it. Mythic really seems to understand that you can make a game that's hardcore AND casual - it all depends on what you bring to the table really. I've said it dozens of times already: people are infinitely more challenging than PvE opponents. I wish anyone who was interested in WAR could have been there to see how much fun it is.
Posted by: Ludo | October 20, 2008 at 02:41 AM
The people that do not enjoy WAR are the ones that get caught up in doing scenarios nonstop. All they want to do is rush to Rank 40. It makes no sense... there is so much to do on the way up - much like chronicled here.
Posted by: Sifo | October 20, 2008 at 07:40 AM
When people say they didn't enjoy the game, I'm really not sure what game they were playing. And I know tastes vary but it's like the PVE in other popular fantasy games PLUS PQS + Scenarios + Open RVR + Tome.
But as you've mentioned, if people are trying to race to the top then anyway they go about it is bound to feeling boring. Besides which, there isn't a lot of point in rushing upward ahead of the curve since the end game is about RVR and you need others for massive RVR. *shrug*
I find that if I do one of these activities too long or too many times in a row I feel the burn out of it and move on to something else. When I'm feeling anti-social and don't want to do much of anything at all but log-in those are the evenings when I go in search of the unknown.
Yes, the open RVR is spontaneous, crazy and fun. There were MANY people there after a while that weren't in our guild. COW regularly accepts requests for joining our warband when it isn't full. We actively coordinate with other guilds we run across who are raiding across the zones when we arrive. It's very cooperative even if you're not in our guild.
Posted by: Saylah | October 20, 2008 at 09:44 AM
Regional and RvR Regional chat have gone a LONG way towards making the zones and the realm-wide coordination more spontaneous and fun. I can't wait to see how things get when more Open-RvR incentives are added in the coming weeks/months.
There's a lot of mayhem to be had, and I expect this won't be the last great tale from Saylah, eh? :)
Posted by: JoBildo | October 20, 2008 at 11:56 AM
Sound great and when open RvR is happening, it is some of the most fun I've had in an MMO. Problem is, there seems to be a population curve, the peak of which is in T3 or verging on T4.
T1 and T2 are completely dead. We couldn't buy a fight in open RvR this weekend during prime time. Order had all the T2 keeps and battlefield objectives. Literally, nothing to fight for. Where was T2 destro?
Grinding to where the herd is is not my idea of fun.
Posted by: [email protected]@t | October 20, 2008 at 12:32 PM
Saylah and PotShot: you both mirror my concern as well. As someone who is leveling well behind the curve, I see no Open RvR action going on. It's mainly in the areas I can't get to yet. As we talked about before in your leveling thread, games need a means to draw in people that are well behind the curve of the server. If someone rolls a character in WAR for the first time six months from now, will they even see a Scenario open up let alone Open RvR?
I'm hoping Mythic can add something along the lines of a side kick / examplar system ala CoX. Perhaps they wouldn't even need one: they already have the means to make a level 1 a defacto level 8 in tier one scenarios. Perhaps a way to apply the same thing in reverse? Make a level 40 a level 18 in tier two areas - the level 40 could lose their post-18 skills and they'd have their hitpoints, weapons and armor nerfed accordingly. That way they could fight along-side the newer folks. It could replace the chicken mechanic.
Anyway, great story and accompanying images as well, Saylah!
Posted by: Khan | October 20, 2008 at 12:52 PM
@Potshot - Geez, I wouldn't have thought T2 was that empty. I still see COW-mates doing RVR events and they claimed a keep last week. Clearly most people don't play MMOs to be alone so if that's the case Mythic is going to have to address it in some manner.
@Kahn - I have worried about the fact that because of RVR/PVP they implemented a chicken mechanic that as a by product, prohibits players who've leveled past a zone from going back to help friends. I understand the reasons for it - protect players from being ganked, protect PQs from being farmed and prevent power leveling of other characters. However it doesn't address all the valid reasons for needing access to lower tier content such as grouping with friends and helping out guildmates.
I'd be amenable to having the option of down-ranking to go back and help with lower level content. My nephews having played yet even though I purchased them each a copy of WAR because their PCs wouldn't even install the darn thing. I'm going to pitch in with their parents to upgrade their PCs for Christmas. However, by that time I'll be into T4. I'm used to being able to help them in the beginning to show them the ropes or quest with them when they can't find a party of their own. In WAR, I won't be able to do that unless I'm in the mood to do another Alt or have a character at their level.
In general, I think WAR needs a much larger population in order for you to actually see bodies on the ground. The variety of leveling options thins out the player-base making some areas look empty. I'm not sure what they can do about that anyway. If they increase incentives for RVR the scenarios, PQs and questing areas will thin out. It's like a balloon. Them squeezing one end will only shift the air more to one side and reduce it in another.
WAR has an enormous amount of content spread across many zones and mini areas. Seriously, without A LOT MORE PLAYERS, I don't think there is anything they can do that won't cause another area to be abandoned. That's a dangerous situation because the people who are enjoying that content will be negatively impacted which is a lose-lose situation. WAR actually needs more bodies. More incentives isn't actually the best fix. But I guess it's the best that can be done for now.
Posted by: Saylah | October 20, 2008 at 01:19 PM