Dungeon delving in Warhammer Online
Gamesradar.com have provided a fascinating glimpse into three of the dungeons coming with Warhammer Online: Mount Gunbad, Bastion Stair and Lost Vale. WAR is generating lots of interest for its PvP content, but it hasn't omitted the classic dungeon-dive, albeit with some differences. For instance, while some dungeons are open-world and some instanced, they are all divided into three 'wings', each 'wing' taking roughly one and a half hours to run, and able to be completed on different occasions. This means that a group can break up the venture into separate excursions, much like a City of Heroes Task Force being broken up over multiple nights of play. You can even change party members between runs.
You will also not need to bring more than 6 people to do any dungeon in the game, making this content deliciously accessible: 'Even if the dungeon crawl itself isn't several hours, the process of getting 40 people together can be a multi-hour experience, and we just didn't feel our game needed that.' Another time-saver is the default respawn in the dungeon itself if you die. The article also gives several examples of boss fights, and how they are balanced.
One comment caught our attention. The Lost Vale dungeon, which is the final one in the game, is an enormous and lovingly crafted piece, demonstrating the developers' desire to flesh out the endgame as much as the early game: 'Often, in other MMOs, the company will spend a lot of time making sure the beginning of the game is wonderful, but the rest of it can sort of peter off. But we haven't done that with Warhammer.' We found this especially reminiscent of Age of Conan, which has come in for criticism because the Tortage levels are felt by some to be the best content, while the later game doesn't meet the standards set by the early stages.
[via keenandgraev.com]
