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Waging WAR: And a pinch of warpstone, yes yes...
After being slightly disappointed by the lack of response to last week's challenge, Greg was worried that he wouldn't have a topic for Waging WAR this week, and suffered a short-term bout of writer's block. But Serendipity and Providence once again shook hands, and two new announcements were made on the Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning developer forums on Thursday and Friday earlier this week that would supply him with plenty of fodder for discussion in this week's column. Now, armed with the facts and a tall glass of creative juice, we can set things up properly, in all their italic glory. The upcoming patch (1.3.6) for Warhammer Online promises a hefty amount of content, balancing, and changes. Highlights include the new armor vanity slots, the sovereign set revamps, the addition of the Against All Odds mechanic, and several class changes that have been needed for some time. In fact, it seems this latest career balancing pass has affected nearly every career available, and full mastery point refunds have been handed out to a whopping eight careers. The list doesn't stop there. Players will enjoy a new sticky targeting system, auction house interface, and loads of other new features including another batch of new art for the scenario weapons, and a revamp to the victory point system in the RvR campaign. There's even more still. You can read the full patch notes for patch 1.3.6, test the patch yourself (it went live on the PTS yesterday), or even take part in the developer lead focus tests on July 30th at 4 p.m. EDT and August 6th at 8 p.m. EDT. But, of all the changes promised in the patch notes, one specific set of related changes has sparked my imagination for the future of WAR more than the rest. Find out what I'm talking about after the break.
Mythic responds to negative Land of the Dead community poll
Special thanks to Mythic Community Coordinator, Jess Folsom, for pulling together these responses for us.Q. What do you make of community poll results?We work very closely with our fan sites, especially Warhammer Alliance, and view the polls as a valuable source of player feedback. We take all poll results seriously, and carefully evaluate the subject of the poll, the wording of the questions, who is allowed to vote, and other factors, especially if there is an overwhelming majority vote. It's important to note that polls alone will never force a change, but we do take them into consideration, along with all other feedback we receive. Q. What were you able to glean from the recent Land of the Dead poll on Warhammer Alliance in regards to its impact on open RvR? Did the poll results fuel any in-game changes?The poll helped to confirm what we were seeing on our end -- the initial release of Rise of the Tomb Kings on June 24th did have an impact on open RvR activity at the time the poll was taken, particularly in Tier 4. We saw a large surge of players flocking to the new areas, and enjoying all of the exciting and innovative new content and RvR battles that the Land of the Dead offered. We see this kind of initial surge of interest any time we release new content such as weekend Scenario events or Live Events. "Tier 4 open RvR is back in full force" Now that the Land of the Dead has been out for a little over a month, and more players are equipped with the powerful talismans and vessel weapons available, players are often making the choice to continue to stay in Tier 4 RvR and fight in the campaign, even when their Realm controls access to the new area. As a result, Tier 4 open RvR is back in full force, with warband-on-warband skirmishes, epic Keep battles, and lots of Scenario action going on. Players enjoy the added purpose to zone captures that ownership of the Land of the Dead provides, and appreciate that they have a choice to stay in the Tier 4 open RvR Lakes, or venture into the Land of the Dead, and feel that the choices complement each other. One change we made recently (7/23) to Expedition Resources was based on player feedback, and has had great results. The number of Expedition Resources necessary to win control of the Land of the Dead has been reduced to 500, and the number of resources awarded from zone control is now 250. This will make the Expedition Resources earned from defeating enemy players in open RvR have a greater impact on securing the Land of the Dead. The number of Expedition Resources that drop from players and NPCs in Tier 4 RvR lakes and invaded capital cities will remain the same, which greatly increases their relative worth toward gaining control of the Land of the Dead.What this change did, was encourage open RvR even more and allow for faster control of the Land of the Dead, and made player kills more valuable toward gaining that control. This is the kind of adjustment we can (and do) make as a result of player feedback from our official forums, in-game feedback forms, and fan sites.Since the initial release of the Land of the Dead, and the Warhammer Alliance poll, we are now seeing very active Tier 4 RvR lakes, where the Land of the Dead is a reward for open RvR victories. If players still feel that the Land of the Dead is impacting open RvR, we absolutely encourage you to let us know and offer your suggestions on our official WAR forums. Our number one goal for the Land of the Dead is that is a fun, challenging, and rewarding place to control, and add a tangible incentive to participate in Tier 4 open RvR, not to take away from it.We are continuing to evaluate Tier 4 open RvR activity versus the Land of the Dead, and encourage our players to continue to offer feedback. < < Poll results
Mythic to show off WAR's Land of the Dead at Games Day Chicago
The third and final Games Day for 2009 is right around the corner, taking place on July 25th in Chicago. We had a hands-on look at Warhammer Online's Land of the Dead zone at a Games Day in Baltimore earlier in the year, before it was released -- but just because the zone is out now doesn't mean that it's no longer on show. Mythic will still be displaying the completed area to attendees of Chicago's Games Day, with developers on hand to discuss the "making-of" side of things.Stopping by Mythic's showcase will also net attendees some swag, including the exclusive "Empire Cherub" shirts pictured above (if they're quick enough -- those are going to be in limited supply). In-game giveaways include: A White Dwarf Beard character customization item Chompin Teef, a steel jaw customization for Orc Choppas Snorri's Spikes, a customization item for Dwarf Slayers that makes the character have a "mohawk" of nails sticking out of their skull (ow) Shroud of Imrathepis, used to "regenerate minor wounds and injuries" [via IGN]
The Daily Grind: Are you enjoying The Land of the Dead?
The Call to Arms live expansion for Warhammer Online was over six months in the making. It gave WAR players the Choppa and Slayer classes, RvR tokens, keep upgrades, and culminated last week in the arrival of The Land of the Dead mega-zone. Massively wants to know if you're enjoying it.We've been keeping tabs on various WAR bloggers who have shared their thoughts. Keen feels that the zone flips a bit too easily but is happy with the new content overall. LotD isn't the mecca of RvR that Bootae had hoped for, but he's still quite pleased with the quality of it (over the quantity). As for Thulf, well he was actually drawn back to WAR after a couple months' absence to give it a shot. It's too early for him to tell whether or not he'll keep his subscription open for it.This writer is still waiting for the dust to settle. I don't know if there are any major issues with the zone or its effect on RvR, but I'm hesitant to jump in head first and have my experience spoiled by anything. The ancient undead can wait a little longer for this explorer.
The Land of the Dead is open for business
Hot sun. Sandy beaches. Exotic creatures. It almost sounds like a great vacation spot until you realize the heat is unbearable, the beaches run alongside a poisonous river, and the creatures are determined to kill you and then mutilate your corpse. The Land of the Dead may not be for your average snowbird but courageous adventurers will find treasures and excitement in great abundance - and it all starts today.Game Update 1.3 launched exactly one week ago and introduced a special Live Event called Rise of the Tomb Kings. The event pitted the realms of Order and Destruction against each other in a massive resource-race to determine who would gain first access to the Nehekharan desert via airship. That race ended this morning and Mythic just released a patch that grants the winners 24-hours of uninterrupted dungeon access.The Land of the Dead was a massive undertaking by Mythic that began shortly after launch in September 2008 and it will change the way Warhammer Online fans play the game from now on. How will it affect open field RvR, city siege, scenarios and other raid instances? Only time will tell (and we'll keep our eyes on it for you).
Mythic wages WAR in the East
While NCsoft prepares to invade the West with Aion this September, Mythic has their own preemptive RvR strike planned for the East. Both Mythic and Gigamedia are bringing Warhammer Online to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau on June 25th. This means people can now play WAR in North America, Europe, Oceania, and Asia. That's quite a global presence.It will be interesting to see what impact this has on WAR's subscriber count in the next quarter. When WAR originally launched in September 2008, they sold over 750,000 copies. That number dropped to 300,000 by December 2008. After a couple big marketing campaigns (recruit a friend and re-enlistment) and a launch in Russia, WAR's numbers held steady at 300,000 in March 2009.Could this Eastern launch propel them beyond the 300,000 mark again? Based on all the Land of the Dead coverage and impressions we've seen, the new live expansion should have some sort of positive effect on the game as well. I guess we'll have to wait until the next EA earnings call to find out, which should take place in August.
The dead rise as Warhammer Online patch 1.3 goes live
Today is patch day for Warhammer Online players -- huzzah! Bug and balance fixes are of course in full swing, but the big news is the Land of the Dead live event launch. Of course, before getting to any of those juicy new content areas, players will have to participate in the brand new live event: Rise of the Tomb Kings.This event is the final chapter for Mythic's Call to Arms content expansion and functions as a good intermediary between those initial massive updates and these new ones. So while plenty of content is indeed being added today, there's a lot more on the way in the coming months, too.We'll be giving you plenty of coverage on the ins and outs of patch 1.3, so keep your eyes peeled for more.
Warhammer Online's 'Rise of the Tomb Kings' event goes live today
If you're still frequenting the Order vs. Destruction battlegrounds in EA Mythic's tabletop-to-internet adaptation Warhammer Online, brace yourself -- the game's getting a sizable booster shot. The Rise of the Tomb Kings live event is going ... live at some point today, bringing with it a brand new instanced dungeon, and a new zone known as the Land of the Dead. Will John Leguizamo be there to help you destroy the undead legions? Man, we hope so.The event will have the warring factions building "giant airships" to reach the deathly desert, racing to reach the "unimaginable wealth" within. Players can earn new aeronautical titles as well, such as "Sky Captain" and "Master of the Air." Sounds pretty neat! If only we could pull ourselves away from Habbo Hotel long enough to check it out.
Pre-download now available for WAR's Game Update 1.3
Warhammer Online's Game Update 1.3 (also known as the much anticipated Land of the Dead patch) has been locked in for release on the 16th of June, but if you plan on experiencing the new content the moment that it's available then you might want to consider pre-downloading the patch ahead of time. The pre-patcher file is 867MB's and is said to contain "the bulk of the update", meaning there will probably be a small amount leftover to download on the proper patch day. After opening the executable and installing, the game can be run as normal and the update will automatically activate itself when it's required. The pre-patcher that we've been given so far will only work for North American and Oceanic game clients, but GOA will be bringing out their own version for European clients early next week. The NA and Oceanic file can be obtained directly from Mythic through this link.
It's coming for you: Land of the Dead dated for June 16th
We finally have a date on the release of Warhammer Online's brand new RvR zone, the Land of the Dead. Everyone make sure you have your swords sharpened and your armor ready for June 16th, because that's the day when the Tomb Kings rise from the south.Land of the Dead will include a brand new zone filled with public quests, traps, and some intense RvR combat as the sides of Order and Destruction fight over control of the entire zone. To mix things up, many of the new quests will feature elements that have more in common with action RPGs than with MMO mechanics -- emphasizing movement, positioning, and cooperation over straight number crunching exercises.We got some great interviews and a first hand look at Land of the Dead during Games Day '09, plus we also are hosting a Tomb King Cartouche puzzle contest where you can win an exclusive in-game item for WAR! So get your wagggghhh on, because the Tomb Kings are coming, and they're coming for you! The sands of the Tomb Kings are coming as the final release in the Call to Arms live expansion, the Land of the Dead approaches! Massively has your back with coverage from Mythic Entertainment at Games Day '09, so get your WAAGGGHHH ready for RvR mayhem as Massively re-arms for WAR!
Massively's piece of the WAR Tomb King mystery has arrived
As mentioned in a post yesterday, Warhammer Online and Mythic are hosting an expansive community event like none they've done before. Today, we received our piece of this contest in the form of a human skull wrapped in mummy rags and hay. Yes, the hay is real, but the skull is not. Darn.This contest was created to celebrate the release of WAR's Land of the Dead, later this month. Those who are able to decipher the hieroglyphs from a variety of MMO websites will be rewarded with exclusive in-game items. Follow along after the jump to find out more information on this contest, and to see the photos of our unique Tomb King Cartouche.
Big gear changes coming to Warhammer Online in patch 1.3
After looking at the big gear changes coming to Warhammer Online in patch 1.3, Dorothy-type gamers might loudly exclaim "Sigils and vessels and scarabs. Oh my!" The first two features will be completely new to WAR, while the last one is an expansion of the current RvR token system.Let's first take a look at how players currently earn and use gear in WAR and then discuss how it's going to change once The Land of the Dead introduces sigils, vessels, and scarab tokens. For simplicity's sake we're going to only talk about the endgame, which is rank 31-40.
Big gear changes coming to WAR in patch 1.3 (part two)
The New System (post-1.3)The greatest thing about the concept of wards is that they allow you to progress through more difficult PvE content without granting insanely large stat bonuses that negatively impact RvR. Wards are simply a flag that determines whether or not an NPC hits you for 50% damage or 500% damage (not the exact numbers but they do well to illustrate the point). The various sets (and set bonuses) do grant players an advantage in RvR, but the difference from set to set is fairly miniscule (i.e., roughly a 5-8% stat/attribute increase per set).To bring more diversity and flavour to WAR's gear, Mythic will introduce a combination of three new features in 1.3. Disclaimer: These changes are currently on the Public Test Server and are subject to change.SigilsIn simplest terms, sigils are like wards but don't require that you actually wear the ward gear. You will now get a Tome of Knowledge unlock when obtaining a piece of ward gear and from that point forward you will receive the benefit of that ward even when you wear a completely different piece of gear.One of the biggest complaints about the various PvE dungeons is that the drop rate for ward gear is too low due to the small group size and variety of classes in each realm (exactly a 1/12 chance). The new sigil system will partially address this issue as well. After killing the boss X times (number unknown atm), you will be guaranteed to unlock the ward/sigil. Those seeking the actual piece of set gear will still have to grind for it, but at least you'll get the ward.The sigil system means that it is now viable for you to equip your influence, PQ, or other rare drop gear in place of set gear and not have to worry about a lack of wards when raiding fortresses, cities, or a high rank instance (as long as you have the Tome unlock).VesselsVessels are weapons that allow for much greater customization through the application of talismans and/or soul essences. The vessels we have seen so far on the Public Test Server work like this: Blue weapon has a competitive DPS rating, a single stat value, and two empty talisman slots (two-handers have three empty slots). Vessels are awarded as PQ loot, drops, and can be purchased with special tokens. There may be rarer purple vessels as well.No longer are you forced to abide by WAR's strange and inconsistent itemization. You can tailor your weapons to suit your playstyle, augmenting the various strengths and weaknesses you want for your character. Currently, it seems like vessels are only available as weapons. I think most casual gamers and min-maxers alike would agree: let's see vessels reach out to armor and accessories and truly take advantage of the new sigil system.TokensLand of the Dead tokens come in several forms; silver scarabs, golden scarabs, silver anhks, golden cartouches, and sacred masks. Tokens are gained from player kills, mob/boss kills, and PQ loot. The tokens are soulbound, which means you can't trade them. Personally, I dislike this feature, but it seems the route MMOs are taking these days. "More grind for the grind god!"Scarabs are used to buy more common items like blue vessel weapons, souls, and special crafting items. Anhks and cartouches will get you powerful accessories like rings, necklaces, cloaks, and belts. The masks can be traded for some pieces of Tyrant gear, which is on par stat-wise with Warlord gear found in cities. Word is that Tyrant gear does not grant wards or sigils though, so it won't make Darkpromise, Invader, or Warlord gear obsolete. Conclusion As you can see, sigils will give players the benefits of a ward system, while increasing the diversity of gear in the game and not imbalancing RvR. Vessels and soul essences will offer even more weapon variety, giving players more customization options. The new tokens mean that even if you are extremely unlucky with drops in this PvE/RvR mega-zone, you'll still be able to work toward something. These are great improvements to WAR's gear system. The next improvement I'd like Mythic to make would be some kind of token system or shift in the random loot mechanic in "old world dungeons" (e.g., city dungeons, Lost Vale, etc.). Sigils allow you to get the wards from these dungeons eventually, but players going after the physical set pieces will still be subject to low and random drop rates. Would it be too difficult for them to add a token system to these dungeons? What about a mechanic where bosses only drop loot usable by classes that form the instance group? Nothing is worse than finally downing a boss and having him drop two pieces of gear that no-one in your group can use. Oh wait, I forgot... "More grind for the... ugh whatever." Prove me wrong! Please? < < The old gear system?
Crafty WAR marketing reveals the "Rosetta Bones," hints at upcoming contest
First it was a movie and a box of hair dye that announced the coming of the Choppa and Slayer in Warhammer Online. Then it was the infamous "violent valentine" cards that announced the Night of Murder event coming to WAR. Now... now we have blogs receiving bones with glyphs and letters on them. You have to hand it to Mythic's marketing department. They have some pretty inventive ways to do announcements, one has to admit.This announcement however, is pretty big. In conjunction with the release of the Land of the Dead, blogs all about the blogosphere will be getting "Rosetta Bones." These bones will feature different symbols on their faces, each linked with a letter of the alphabet. The bones will also be accompanied with a map that points out special tomb unlocks, a flag to show which version the bones belong to (Europe or North American audiences will be getting different bones) and a parchment page containing storyline clues for what will be occuring in the future.
Jeff Hickman, FAQ, and Grab Bag are all about Land of the Dead
The Land of the Dead must be coming soon because Mythic has gone into marketing overdrive these past few days. Jeff Hickman just addressed the WAR community in an open Executive Producer's letter and we've seen the new RvR mega-zone featured in both an official FAQ and community Grab Bag.It's a bit strange seeing Jeff Hickman in print since he's usually on the front-lines doing live interviews. Also, WAR fans have gotten used to seeing Mythic GM, Mark Jacobs, deliver these kinds of letters in the past. Actually, Mark has been remarkably silent since March when he delivered his 6-month State of the Game and 1.21 patch highlight announcements.At any rate, you can find out pretty much everything there is to know about The Land of the Dead in these three recent articles. Want to know the ward requirements for the PQs, lairs, and dungeons? Curious about lockout timers? Wondering what the heck a "Vessel" is? Head on over and check these resources out!
Combat and careers update stripped from WAR 1.3 patch
Yesterday, we mentioned Warhammer Online entered phase three of patch 1.3 testing and is finally letting players experience the Land of the Dead mega-zone. Today, we are getting word that a big part of patch 1.3, an extensive combat and careers update, is being stripped out to ensure Mythic stay on schedule and deliver a polished product.In a bit of an "Oops" move, GOA delivered the unfortunate news before Mythic this morning. The original combat and careers updates proved to be a bit too ambitious with everything else going into this patch, so they decided to pull the changes out for now and introduce them in the next patch for fear of hurting the game.Player opinion seems split. Some testers were extremely vocal about their dislike for the sweeping career changes on the public test server and applaud the delay for more polish. Others are questioning why Mythic is trying to cram so many changes into monster patches and wish they would release smaller patches more frequently like they did in the past.
WAR's Call to Arms live expansion wraps up with Land of the Dead
We first learned about Warhammer Online's Call to Arms live expansion back in late January 2009. After nearly six months of tests, live events, content updates, monster patches, and an ongoing story arc, the expansion will come to an end some time this month. They have saved the best for last of course and Call to Arms will be sent off in style with the release of the highly anticipated Land of the Dead mega-zone.This week may be your last chance to test patch 1.3 before it goes live. This (last?) phase will focus on the Tomb Kings zone itself. That's right; testers will finally be unleashed upon the desert of Nehekhara! As a special reward, random testers will be awarded special manticore and griffon mounts akin to those gained from Mythic's recruit-a-friend program.Many players agree the game has improved by leaps and bounds in the last six months and population has been holding steady quarter to quarter. This new mega-zone may prove to be the extra push that encourages new and past players to hop aboard the WAAAGH! train and give WAR a(nother) try. Interesting times are ahead.
Paul Barnett interviewed at length on Land of the Dead
If you've got time on your hands and are interested in reading the ramblings of Mythic Entertainment's Paul Barnett, then we'd like to direct your attention towards an interview at MMOGamer. Topics range from PR offices to all sorts of details on how Warhammer Online is doing and it's upcoming Land of the Dead update. We'll warn you now, a good amount of the meaty information is dispersed among lots and lots of strange Barnettisms and stories. We hope you like stories.Granted, there's a lot more off-topic discussion, but it's all strange and left field type stuff so at the very least we found it endearing and strangely entertaining -- especially the story of Paul's son and his epic rise to being is father's ultimate griefer.On a final, but definitely the most interesting note, it turns out that an in-game model of Paul Barnett was once used to test all the death animations. We kind of wish that such a thing could be seen by the public, and are considering writing a formal letter of request, asking Mythic to think of our dear readers.
Games Day '09: Managing realm vs. realm combat with Jeff Skalski
RvR is a carefully titrated, expansive system, and no one knows that better than Mythic Entertainment's Jeff Skalski. Jeff is the RvR team lead on Warhammer Online, and we recently had the chance to sit down with him at Games Day and pick his brain about many different aspects of WAR's RvR combat.So what can we expect from city sieges in the future? What's the current priority for the RvR team? What's their plans for open RvR and keep sieges? What's it like designing a zone that includes a heavy emphasis on RvR and RvE working in tandem? These questions and more are answered inside this Games Day interview.
Games Day '09: Lands of the Dead design discussion with Gabe Amatangelo and Jeff Skalski
After saying goodbye to Paul and Josh, I soon found myself sitting down with Gabe Amatangelo, the senior designer on Land of the Dead, and Jeff Skalski, the RvR team lead, with the task of getting inside the Land of the Dead development process.What I got were some great insights into how testing and development works at Mythic Entertainment, as well as some inside facts on Land of the Dead and some great reasons for why players should come back and try out some WAR. Interested in what sparked the movement to an action RPG dynamic? Wondering what features may not have made the final Land of the Dead cut? All of that and more is inside this Games Day interview.
