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Warhammer Online: Three years later
To this day, I don't know what quite came over me when I decided to throw my chips into the blogging scene to cover Warhammer Online, eight months before the game launched. Like many of you, I had been a long-time reader of MMO blogs, but I was intimidated at trying my hand at joining in, perhaps elevating these writers to the status of legendary wordsmiths who penned unequaled prose in our lifetimes. Or I just didn't want to be one of a thousand World of Warcraft bloggers who dominated the scene. Just a thought. In any case, it was a terrific decision to do so on my part. I found that I had a passion not only for MMOs but for talking about them, and I loved connecting with other writers and readers and players, which happens with blogging. I've been asked from time to time if I regret picking Warhammer Online as the game that I latched onto for a couple of years, and I always say no -- no regrets. The game was fun, but the coverage was an unparalleled rollercoaster of anticipation, hype, fun, speculation, promise, disappointment, and above all, ideas. Wonderful, flawed, captivating ideas. I haven't touched WAR since 2010, so perhaps I'm not the best source for the latest and greatest in the game. But what I do have to offer is a humble blogger's perspective on what went right, what went wrong, and why I'm ultimately happy that WAR came into being and is chugging along on today, its third anniversary.
Waging WAR: The Nagaryth Chronicles, part one
This week, Waging WAR starts the first in-depth career review with a three to four column exposè on Warhammer Online's shadow warrior. We'll take a look at the career as it progresses through each of the tiers, as well as consider key tactics, abilities and masteries that are learned along the way. As we go, we'll try to understand and break down what makes the shadow warrior tick, why so many players claim the career is broken, and whether or not Waging WAR agrees. So, let's get our tabi boots on, pull our face masks up, and get started. For a long time now, I've stood on the sidelines and listened to horror stories regarding the shadow warrior. It has been clear that many players are (or have been) dissatisfied with the career, but I've never fully understood why. It isn't so difficult for me to peruse the SW forums or read one of the many blogs out there that explain things quite clearly, and understand the theory of it, but as far as first-hand experience goes, I've been lacking a direct understanding of the career and how it works. With that in mind, I've decided to educate myself; over the next few weeks, I'll be leveling a shadow warrior so I can analyze the career from the inside.
Snafzg returns to WAR (week three): Tearing up tier four
"Tearing" as in "ripping", not "crying." Not yet, anyway! Welcome back to this little journal series documenting my one month return trip to Warhammer Online. Part one laid the ground rules for what I hoped to accomplish and part two shed a little light on the tier two experience on Iron Rock. Part three (this part) will recap the last week I spent on Phoenix Throne as my rank 40, renown rank 45 Squig Herder named Snafzg.Here are my goals for re-evaluating tier four on Phoenix Throne. I say it in the present tense because I was unable to check off every item from this list. Some of these items will carry over into next week. My primary goal is to get a general feeling for what's changed since I originally stopped playing. I also want to experience a city siege and the new Land of the Dead zone. I also want to find an fun active guild, top up my RvR influence bar(s), and gain a fourth piece for my Sentinel set. Finally, I just want to have fun playing and slaying.
Snafzg returns to WAR (week three): Tearing up tier four (p2)
Order gained control while I was inside once and I was happy to quit the PQ in search of some RvR in the desert. As for the top issues I've been experiencing, topping my list are terrain stickiness and fall damage.
Get squig caked on August 27th with the Ace of Cakes
You! What are you doing next Thursday? Playing games? Well stop doing that and go watch some TV! It will be a rewarding experience, I promise.If you were in tune with our coverage of Games Workshop's Games Day 2009, then you probably remember us going nuts over a certain cake of a certain large red squig. The cake was produced by the illustrious Charm City Cakes, the company better known as the "Ace of Cakes" on Food Network.Well it's time for the story behind the squig to come out as the Ace of Cakes episode, "Big Red Squig" will be airing next week on Thursday at 10 PM. You'll get to see just how they made that awesome cake and you'll get to travel with Chef Duff to Games Day and meet Paul Barnett. Warhammer Online, meet cake. Mmmmm... cake....
One Shots: Shoulders above the rest
With Mythic being combined under the same leadership as Bioware via EA's decision, all eyes are watching to see what comes out of the strange partnership these two companies find themselves in. Meanwhile, it's life as usual in Warhammer Online, with lots of strange things happening every day. Take for example this brave player, Raxour. Apparently not having a head is no real impairment for him as he continues to battle on for the side of Destruction. He writes in: Here's my new Squig Herder Raxour in Warhammer Online. Proof that Goblins can function for days without their heads.... I can't speak for anyone but myself, but I think if I were fighting a headless enemy who kept coming, that'd be right about the time I was hanging up my sword. That never ends well in the movies. Do you have a screenshot that has a strange and funny glitch - or just a weird occurance/pileup/etc? If so, you should send those to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com! Remember to include your name and the game it's from; send along a quick note too. We'll post it out here for everyone to check out, and tell them you sent the silly screen to us.%Gallery-9798%
One Shots: Squigstacking
Don't worry, today's Warhammer Online screenshot isn't a prank - Mythic isn't letting Squig Herders run around on doubled-up mounts. It is, however, a rather strange graphical glitch that was caught by Tru and sent in for us to all giggle at. He writes in: This image is of a graphical glitch with squig herders. When you get killed while trying to get into squig armor, when you re-spawn you look like you're in squig armor, but you're not. So that means you can use all of your ranged attacks and even get on your mount, which is what I'm doing here.If you've caught a strange screen in your favorite game, send it in to us.! We love to see wild, weird, and otherwise interesting goings-on in all the different MMOs out there. Just email it to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the game it's from, and a quick description. We'll post it here and let everyone gawk at it too. %Gallery-9798%
Warhammer Online 1.0.6 patch adds new classes, tidal wave of updates
All those Warhammer Online players who where playing along with the Heavy Metal event in November will be happy to know that today the fruits of their labor has arrived. That's right: Today, Mythic brings us Black Guards and Knights of the Blazing Sun! For those who didn't finish the full Heavy Metal event, don't worry, the classes will become available to everyone next week. Servers are going down at 3:30AM PST / 6:30AM EST for North American players with Oceanic servers following at 9:00AM EST. No specific time-frame was given for the updating process, so we'll just have to sit tight and wait it out.New classes aren't the only thing found in this patch, however. There's a ton of general game updates, performance updates, bug fixes and class tweaks coming with the 1.0.6 patch, too. In fact, there are so many class tweaks that Bright Wizards, Chosen, Engineers, Ironbreakers, Maguses (Magi?), Shadow Warriors, Sorcerers, Squig Herders and Swordmasters are all getting their mastery points refunded. Combat also seems to be a big focus, with a ton of improvements to auto-attack animations, ability responsiveness, morale responsiveness and root responsiveness.All in all, we're pretty impressed with Mythic on this patch, as it delivers some substantial changes that many players have been waiting to see. Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out our Warhammer guides: Massively's Character Creation Guide and our WoW Player's Guide to Warhammer. Plus, don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!
Massively goes to WAR: An overview of Ranged DPS careers for Destruction
Let's face it: DPS classes just have more fun. Tanks have to always worry about being between the squishies and the pointy things. Healers have to make sure their fellows are standing upright. All DPS classes have to do is be pointed in the right direction and relatively sober. That fun factor is even more true than the norm in Warhammer Online, as the Destruction races offer up some gloriously sadistic ways to squick the other side. There are three ranged DPS classes on the Destruction side, and with only their two melee counterparts to rely on they'll be taking up a lot of the damage-dealing slack once the game goes live. Players who choose these classes are going to have a heck of a lot of fun variously shooting, exploding, and damning the souls of their opponents. That's just how DPS players like it, too. Join us for a walk on the dark side with the Squig Herder, the Dark Elf Sorceress, and the Chaos Magus. Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out all of our previous Warhammer Online features, and don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!
Peer into WAR's career system guts
If you just can't get yourself enough Warhammer Online information, then let us point your by-now strained-from-lack-of-sleep eyes towards this MMORPG.com preview of the game's career system. EA Mythic has obviously spent a lot of time thinking about their classes and with very good reason. In a game that's centered around the developer's patented Realm vs Realm combat system it matters very much that there is a close-as-possible balance between the two factions of Order and Chaos.This is of course a subject that's been touched on by us and other people all around the MMO blogosphere, which is probably making the guys responsible for realm balance over at EA Mythic feel a little stressed -- that is if they weren't to begin with. If that preview still doesn't sate your now-obviously insatiable desire to know more about Squig Herders and Chaos Magi or essentially any other class featured in the game, we've got you covered.
From Tabletop to Desktop: WAR's Destruction careers
With the announcement of the White Lion as the final career in Warhammer Online, we finally have a good idea of what the class dynamics will be in the long-anticipated MMO from Mythic. Obviously, the specifics of each aren't set in stone, as some classes don't even have their masteries announced yet, but one finally gets the sense that it's all starting to come together. With this is mind, we've put together an overview of the game's classes, including a comparison to their tabletop equivalents, to give you a better idea of what you've got to look forward to with the upcoming open beta. In the first part of this feature, we take a look at the careers on the side of Destruction.And if you like what you what you see here, make sure to check out our on-going Massively goes to WAR features! From Tabletop to Desktop: WAR's Destruction careers >>>>>%Gallery-24169%
Turning numbers into creativity with a new WAR dev diary
We usually don't think about the fact that our favorite MMOs have mountains of numbers and formulas behind all the eye candy, making everything work smoothly. If you've ever wondered just how EA Mythic (or any other developer for that matter) makes all the inherent numbers/formulas in their games into unique creativeness, then this new developer diary is just for you. Steve Marvin, Lead System Designer on Warhammer Online gives a few examples of how such concepts as the Squig Herder's ability to jump down the throat of his pet gets translated into actual gameplay mechanics -- but that's actually the easiest example.It's one of those jobs where the easiest sounding concepts become the biggest headaches. It's always interesting when a developer peels back the surface of their games to reveal how everything in the proverbial engine clinks together. We have to admit that the whole numerical process tends to go way over our mathematically-challenged heads, but it's an incredibly interesting read nonetheless.
