Transfers Round 7

These have opened transfers to my home server: Dark Crag

See you soon, perhaps. Assuming I dont reroll to play with CoW

Names: Convert 40 Runepriest, or Helik 21 Swordmaster.

Perhaps, After All.

Yes, perhaps. Perhaps WAR will live up to everything everyone had initially imagined, after all.

Quotes like these give me hope:

*”It’s really as simple as this, oRvR should be a major focus for leveling, item gain, etc. in WAR”

*”Keep Quests, “Daily Event Quests”, Chained RvR Missions, improve the initial Tome Unlocks and other oRvR-oriented Events”
add the ability for people to have a second bind point to make it even easier for players to move around the maps.

*”We will also make it easily for players to see where players from their Realm are engaging in oRvR, a Campaign HUD for all tiers and other improvements We will also improve Tier-wide messaging about what is going on in Battlefield Objectives and Keeps.”

*”we have created an RvR Influence system.”

*”a global oRvR “Fame” system that will be tied directly to the Tome of Knowledge which will provide more rewards, titles, experience, etc. for participating and being successful in oRvR.“

*”It is supposed to be riskier, more challenging but ultimately, more rewarding than any other place within WAR. ”

And last but not least…

“We won’t let you down.”

Acknowledging the fact that the playerbase is generally currently unhappy with the state of th game. We’ll see, Mark.  Give what you promise and you may simultaneously develop WAR into one of the greatest games of the decade.

My girlfriend should be home soon, so that’ll have to wrap it up. I’m impressed. Follow through, and you may perhaps deliver, after all…

See you all on Sunday.

I’m Leeeeeeeavin’…

On a jet plane

I don’t know when I’ll be back again (November 30th)

Oh, babe(readers), I hate to go

 

And I’m leeeaving…

Hiatus & Analysis

I must say, I have noticed that the trend those of you reading what I write here leans far more towards adventure. I have done a few posts recently on numerical breakdowns… but the stories of decapitated sorceresses and crude hole-in-the-head comments are far more popular.

Anyway, I will (unfortunately?) be headed to Denver for thanksgiving to see my girlfriend who moved away to school. As this blog is new, I dont really have posts lined up. I will try to sneak some posts in between while she is finishing her finals, but it is unlikely. My apoligies!

The bad news, I’m leaving tomorrow. But fret not, I’ll be back on Sunday the 30th!

A Tale of Two Gankers

While I dont find entertainment in mercilessly slaughtering dramatically lower level players (Going to the T2 starting area at 31, anyone?), I do enjoy getting my revenge. If not on the specific player, then someone with similar drive and purpose.

Just the other day I was roaming Barak Varr as Helik the Swordmaster, for which I am only slightly too high level (20). There is a particular portion of this zone that I wish would appear in every zone. It goes something like this:

Order Chapter Camp
Shared PQ with a large wall separating order/destruction NPCs
Destruction Chapter Camp

This is my favorite location in all of WAR. Two chapter hubs, with a shared pq and a central objective worthy of capture as a strategic point? Can-do! And on Dark Crag, it is one of the few places which I can rely on having people worthy of killing (not 10 levels lower).

I roll up last night, purdy sword cradled in my right arm. Up the stairs, onto the wall, I peer over. AHA! A Sorceress level 20, blowing away anything in sight – just order NPCs for the pq - at the gap in the wall…

Considering Reroll – CoW’s Recruiting

Yep. Casualties of WAR is recruiting.

I believe I have made it known at least once that I am very unsatisfied with the Dark Crag community. While I thoroughly enjoy ORVR servers, in reality community is everything to me. Dark Crag was HUGELY popular among mildly popular WoW guilds.

The WoW mentality however, has no place in WAR. And it shows. Nearly every major guild on Dark Crag has the mentality of “I dont want to be associated with THEM!!”, hence: No guild alliances! No Order coordination or communication!

This is not to even tap the issue that large guilds are constantly running instances. When asked to come in the defense of Altdorf or a fortress, or anything other than instant-gratification through gear, the response is “We’re trying to gear up for tanking kings. So, no.”

Sadly, this is a WoW mentality. They aren’t ACTUALLY trying to tank kings. Hell, order has yet to lock a zone on Dark Crag. Or even come close. I would believe them if say, I had EVER seen an attempt to make any sort of push in RVR.

I have tried to unite guilds or encourage alliances. I have, on more than one occasion received the reply “We dont see a point in guild alliances”. I dont have time for it anymore, and I dont have the time to play

 

Yet for the last month or longer I have heard nothing but great things about the CoW Community and their server. My application will be coming tonight, and I’m crossing my fingers. I’ll probably run both a Swordmaster and Rune Priest, if accepted. This is not to mention that I need a casual guild as my time will be cut deeply when my girlfriend returns to town.

CoW’s, if you’re reading… Put in a good word, and I look forward to the opportunity to play alongside you all!

Rune Priest, Part 2: Master Runes

Hardcore Theories and Math

You Have Been Warned

Short and sweet. I’m writing from work and I shouldn’t be, but thoughts and ideas have been nagging at me all day.

I am not delving much into Master Rune of Adamant, because the effect is clear-cut and more of a PvE idea in my opinion. But, here goes.

Master Rune of Adamant: Unbelievable for morale-gains. However, it is low and dependable, passive and quite… boring. I do not believe this will be critical or game breaking in any way in RvR

Master Rune of Fury: Chance to restore 30 AP on activation. it is bugged, it does NOT restore the 50 listed as of the last time I used it.
Advantages: Applies to melee classes and benefits instant abilities. More overall beneficial to a group. Helps with AP conservation for your healers*

Master Rune of Speed: -.25 cast time. This is ACTUALLY -25% build-up time. Thats right. So right now, a 3 second cast becomes 2.25. A 2.5 second cast (after 1.06) becomes 1.875 (assume 1.9).
Advantages: AP conservation gained from Master Rune of Fury becomes somewhat moot when you crunch the actual numbers. Master Rune of Speed is HIGHLY underrated, HIGHLY underused.

Allow me to explain.

Master Rune of Fury & AP: 25% chance to restore 30 AP. Let us say, -8 AP from every ability.
Master Rune of Speed & AP: Let us say that you’re looking purely into AP conservation. Let us assume for the sake of argument that you gain AP every 1 second of no globals. At 2.25, this could be said to give 25 AP (one tick) 75%  of the time. That is ~19 AP on every spellcast, assuming you wait the (nearly) extra second to get your tick(s) in.

The cast time? What of it? as of 1.04 you can cast nearly 14 large heals in the span of the duration of the rune. TWO heals will compensate for the time spent (1.5 master rune cast with global with .75 saved per cast)

Not to mention, that is FOUR large heals MORE than you would otherwise deliver in the same span.

Let us break it down:

 

Fury: Eventual AP proc gains while you mash your keyboard into oblivion.

Speed: The obvious capability to deliver heals substantially faster (.75sec in current version, .61 sec version 1.06).
*AP regeneration naturally through improved cast times.
*Reduces odds of pushback by ending spellcast sooner than otherwise.
*Allows you to be moving to more advantageous positions more often.

This does not even touch on the fact that it affects non-healers, or HOW it affects non healers. (obviously the above reasons for healers)

Give it an honest chance is all I ask. If you are honest with yourself and give it a worthy test-drive, I guarantee you will be pleased with the results.

Try it. And that time you just barely save your friend…
Chalk one more up to Master Rune of Speed!

Fork In The Road (Warpath?)

I believe Mythic has reached it. There is a solid product with a solid concept. They have brought things to a relatively-functioning level. Now is the fork in the road. Does WAR Become DAoC 2.0, or a failure of SWG-Scale? I will not Doom Say. Just allow me to explain.

DAoC had great ideas, and I to this day have yet to hear someone say “I tried DAoC for a week and did not like it”. In fact, I don’t believe I have heard anything not along the lines of “That was the best time I have ever had in any game in my life”. It didn’t draw in the masses, but it had a solid concept that attracted a fair base. Among their short list of failures, was class balance. Perhaps listening too much to the playerbase and analyzing data too little? Perhaps not.

Then, there is the opposite. SWG. Completely ignoring the playerbase. Posts on assumptions such as “Nobody wants to be the moisture farmer” were met with swarms of “That is exactly what we want”. Ignored, the community was condensed into a small set of ‘superclasses’. We all know that SWG failed. And many of us also know that the lead developer recently smoked himself.

Posts like this are discouraging and remind me much of SWG. In fact, it seems to almost mirror the posts, reactions and general failures of SWG:

“I loved DF as well. One of my favorite ideas. I can’t imagine though we would want to do it again, would we?”
-Mark Jacobs

DF is what people are begging for! Screaming for! Demanding! And you reply with “You dont REALLY want that, now do you?”
Well… YES!!! This is shaming the playerbase for their feedback, basically belittling the players for even suggesting repeating an idea. Honestly… ideas get recycled, that is how MMOs improved. They re-use and improve the good ideas. EVERY MMO. That does not exclude DAoC, WoW, or WAR. They all do it!

I’m not sure if I feel more belittled by Mark Jacobs for our requests for another DF, or by “Vince From Shamwow” for not spending $20 on a pair of rags.

Mark, you need to belittle the community about as much as the SWG lead producer needed a hole in the head (pun intended)

 

On a side-note, congrats to JoBildo on his World Domination Post on the Herald!! I’m impressed, Bildo.

What can I say?

Other than, I like purple. I dont know what it is. If I had to guess, I would say it developed in WoW. You know, that Alliance PvP gear? (Almost typed order)

Anyway, here goes. I think it looks pretty badass. What do you think?

Mythic Critically E-Slaps Community Across The Face

For 8,312.

RvR Dies.

 

I just wanted to take a moment out of my less-than-busy day to comment on some things that Spinks at Book of Grudges has pointed out for us. RvR gear progression is poor. People are trading keeps to maximize loot, and I can personally GUARANTEE that most of them will claim it is so they can tank/kill city bosses. And I can likewise GUARANTEE and would bet my character (okay, maybe an alt) that most of them could give a crap about real RvR. I mean honestly, theyre AVOIDING IT to get gear. its about the item. Its the WoW mentality. Sorry, I’m being very negative and probably even rude, but I’ll get to the more critical and well-backed point now.

PvE gear is a joke. At LEAST one guild on Dark Crag has been clearing Lost Vale for weeks now. I got jumped by a certain Chosen who’s name I will not mention, who is known for wall-walking keeps to 3-man keep lords (yes its possible. I’ve seen it). This Chosen now has a FULL set of Lost Vale gear. Weapon included.

And you’re telling me, a player who actually plays this game to compete against other players in Open RvR, that I have to siege cities to get even a remote PRAYER for gear like this? Yeah, no. That is a slap in the face.

I will tell you why it is a SLAP in the face. Do none of you recall Mythic stating that “RvR Gear will win the day”? Sure it will, if you can ever acquire a city-sieging set bonus, let alone a single piece to combat the increasing amount of Lost Vale items. I’m sure I’ll get at least one “Go to lost vale then NEWB”. Well, no, I wont. I play this game for the RvR. If i wanted to farm dungeons to loot up my character, i would return to WoW. And lets face it, PvE in this game is even more of a joke than WoW. Pretty pathetic, pretty easy. Pretty simplistic. Let us pretend it isn’t. It STILL is in comparison to any type of city siege. Sure, rank to rank, RvR gear MAY OCCASIONALLY be better, but not often. Usually, its right about the same. However, when it leans in one direction, that direction tends to be PvE. i was browsing Ironbreaker gear, and the same-tier set for PvE granted 3 mastery points while PvP granted only 2.

The only way to fix it? The damage from Lost Vale has been done. Guilds are farming it, some even having full sets. So, you would have to add another dungeon that was actually a challenge (lol?), and then beef up the RVR gear. But really, this is unrealistic and there are dozens of other issues that tie in. Not to mention, it breaks their other promise that this would not be a heavily gear-centric game.

GG Mythic. If my level of disgust rises much more, I may end up spreading the word on how Wallwalking and Individual-Pulling keep lords works, so that while it may run rampant for a few days… it will FINALLY be fixed.

Maybe they’ll fix the Witch Elf Kiss Proc bug while they’re at it. Probably not.

Okay I lied, I will probably never disclose something like that. I hate cheaters.

Thats the end of my bitter-old-man rant. Thank you for reading. Or not.