bioware-ea
Latest
Waging WAR: Hands-on with Thanquol's Incursion
This week, Waging WAR brings you Greg's hands-on impressions of the new RvR 24v24 instanced dungeon coming soon to Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. With true grit, determination, a staff, sequined robe and his trusty wizard hat, Greg brushes the dust off of his Archmage skills and reviews Thanquol's Incursion. I was able to put together everything needed on Wednesday evening, so setting up for Friday afternoon's scheduled test of Thanquol's Incursion didn't take long at all. I didn't want to get tied up in learning a new career along with testing completely new content, so I decided to stick with what I know best and roll my Archmage on the PTS. Luckily, I tend to go light in the add-on department, so after getting my keybindings ready and scattering my UI all over the screen in my own (olympically) special way, I flew to Praag and found a warband in no time flat. Friday's event started up right on time, and the testing was under way. The warband headed out to one of the various instance gates and we zoned in. Follow along after the break as I discuss my first-time hands-on experience with the new RvR gated 24v24 instanced dungeon: Thanquol's Incursion.
Waging WAR: Chaotic zeal, part two
In this week's installment of Waging WAR, Greg returns to the Chaotic Zeal series and peels back another layer or two of the Zealot career in Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. He tells us about his experience through tiers 2 and 3 and talks about what makes the zealot stand out in the chaos crowd. If only we could get him to eat his onions with the same fanaticism... At the end of the first issue of the Chaotic Zeal series, I left off by saying that I was happily looking forward to playing through tiers 2 and 3 and the promise the Zealot would bring. I'll kick off this second article in the series by saying that I wasn't disappointed in the least. The Zealot is an absolute pleasure to play as a PvP healer, despite the settings and circumstances I was presented with. The career's growth is robust and meaningful with a variety of attractive tactics and morale abilities, while the playstyle becomes more and more refined over time. I could fill an entire column with anecdotes and memories of my time with the career through the middle tiers, as the Zealot is a career experience that tends to be quite engaging and memorable. Instead, I'll focus on my impressions of leveling through them. Thus, with my Zealot poised on the precipice of tier 4 at level 30, I'll look back and recall the issues I faced getting there. Follow along after the cut as I discuss the middle tiers with the Zealot career.
Waging WAR: The new RvR... Are we there yet?
This past week was an exciting week for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning as the new RvR systems were released for testing on the public test realm of Warpstone. Greg took part in both the Wednesday night and Friday afternoon sessions, and writes about his experiences and impressions in this week's Waging WAR. When Mythic said that testing would begin in October, I don't think anyone expected to get his hands on the new changes to the RvR system so soon. Wednesday night was the first focused test, and I made it a point to take part. I also took part in the European-friendly session scheduled for Friday afternoon. Both events took place in the Tier 3 (Chaos vs. Empire) pairing across the zones of High Pass and Talabecland. There are certain issues that I feel are important enough to discuss regarding the way the new battlefield dynamics will bring about a golden age for melee careers, but this week, I want to focus on the RvR itself. Things have well and truly been shaken up, and this fresh experience is going to take some serious adjustment for veteran players as well as newcomers to the game. Continue along after the break for more discussion on the topic.
Waging WAR: Coming soon, to a theatre of WAR near you
We interrupt this week's scheduled career spotlight on Waging WAR to bring you Greg's impressions of the latest and greatest news from the floors of GamesDay: UK regarding Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning and the new RvR content coming soon to a theatre of WAR near you. OK. So. Take everything you know about the Tier 4 RvR Campaign in WAR and press the "Delete" button right now. In fact, press it a few times. Actually, keep going. Keep pressing it until all you're left with is three pairings with three zones each, each zone containing four battlefield objectives and two keeps, and two cities as the capstone for each realm. OK. Now access that part of your brain that stores silly words and euphemisms regarding "the problem with WAR." See that entry for "Waithammer?" Delete it. "PvDoor?" Press the button. Actually, just go wild. Take every criticism you've ever had for WAR's endgame and just throw it out. We're talking total tabula rasa here (and not the ill-fated game). OK, stop. That should do. With an open mind and absolutely no knowledge of in-game mechanics, you're now primed to understand what I'm about to describe regarding the changes that are on their way, and more importantly, why I believe those changes are so critical to the glorious future of WAR. If your curiosity is even remotely piqued, click the "Read more" button.
Waging WAR: Chaotic zeal, part one
Continuing in the tradition of the Nagarythe Chronicles, Waging WAR moves forward this week with the first issue of another multipart career spotlight for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. This time, however, Greg has defected to the velvet darkness of Chaos. Brandishing a skull in one hand and a twisted dagger in the other, Greg rolls a zealot and starts down a road of uncertainty, where the only constant is Change by the will of Tzeentch. It has been a long time since I've played the game on the side of Destruction. Actually, truth be told, I've never really been serious about any Destruction character I've ever rolled at all, with my highest level being somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 or so on a blackguard when the class was first released. It has also been quite a while since I've done any career spotlights for the column. With those facts in mind, I've decided to do a multipart series for the zealot and to take a look at how they play and what makes them tick through the various tiers of growth up into Tier 4. The reasons I chose the zealot for the series are simple and few. First of all, the last time I had my hands on the zealot career was long before the new Harbinger mechanic was released, and I want to try it out for myself. Second, I have a considerable amount of experience healing (and DPSing) with my archmage, so I have a baseline for comparison. Finally, I thought a defection would be fun as I level and discover new areas, quests and storylines that I never gave myself a chance to become familiar with. Follow along after the break as I take a look at the zealot through levels 1-11 in Tier 1.
Waging WAR: The blame game
In this installment of Waging WAR, Greg flips the world all upside-down-like and examines the soft, warm underbelly of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. The PvE side. He holds a mirror to some of the questions he's found himself asking in bad situations involving mean, unforgiving bosses, and he shows us all how not to play The Blame Game. Oh, and HAPPY SECOND ANNIVERSARY, Warhammer Online!!! Ahem, we now return you to our regularly scheduled Waging WAR content. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is primarily about the RvR. As such, we don't often discuss some of the things in the PvE instances throughout WAR that we've all experienced at least once (or at least most of us, anyway). Whether you're heading into Hunter's Vale in Tier 1, setting up for a boss in the Tomb of the Vulture Lord, or preparing for any number of instances in-between (I can name five major ones off the top of my head), we've all been there and done that. Things have inevitably gone south for all of us at least once. For some of us, things have gone south repeatedly, on the same boss, with the same group, in the same instance. Frustration and enmity start to set in, and people start wondering, "What is going on here?" What follows then is usually a series of questions tracing a certain pattern that we ask ourselves as we try to figure out what the problem is. I guess it is only human nature to enter into this type of internal dialogue when faced with problem solving in social situations. Follow after the break to see what I'm talking about.
Waging WAR: Taking the stand
In this installment of Waging WAR, Greg makes it personal and sticks up for himself and Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. He draws his sword and board, holds the line, and explains in no uncertain terms why he still enjoys the game. Recently, a few readers have suggested that my columns have essentially been slanderous. And while I'll admit that my writing about WAR hasn't exactly been all kittens and rainbows, imagine if it were. Would you be able to take me seriously if every week I came across as though I were a starry-eyed, adoring fan wearing rose-tinted glasses and playing the game through an internet connection made out of candy? Although I recognize my responsibility for the game as a relatively well-exposed writer, I also recognize the ability of my readers to think critically about the things I say and to avoid knee-jerk reactions to the first sentence that doesn't exactly fit with their particular jigsaw puzzles of expectations. The simple truth is that, like many of you, I am simply a long-term player who cares very much about the future of WAR. I am affected by the same things that you are when you get frustrated by the games you care for. Sometimes, that care becomes concern or frustration. Sometimes, the truth hurts. Either way, all I ask is that if you choose to read this week's column, stick around to the bitter end, and save your comments until then. So, in my defense, I'll take the stand and try to explain why I still enjoy the game, regardless of my recent frustrations.
Waging WAR: Finding the sandbox
In this installment of Waging WAR, Greg takes a look at Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning from a few different angles and goes in search of the proverbial "sandbox" in a game that contains neither sand nor boxes. Somewhere along the line during my childhood, I developed a habit for playing games with nearly every game I've ever played. I can even remember a time in my early teens when I sat down with a few friends and collaborated on making our own version of battlechess. Pages of chicken-scratched rules and several dice results-tables later, and we were off and running for a solid week of the most entertaining chess matches I've ever played. Or there was that time with The Sims when I started creating experimental families and then leaving my computer on overnight and not interacting with them, just to see how successful they could be without my help. I could bore you for hours on end with examples of how I twisted the rules and made my own games from the games I've played. I suppose I can blame my penchant for metagaming on my early introduction to pen-and-paper roleplaying (i.e., D&D 1st Ed., to be specific). All I had was a sheet of paper, a handful of dice, a description of the world around me, and my imagination. By its very nature, PnP gaming is sandbox gaming. The reason I'm bringing this up now is that, until WAR, I had pretty much been able to "find the sandbox" in any MMO I was able to get my hands on. Whether it was building hardcore Dungeons & Dragons Online characters, roleplaying in City of Heroes, or achievement-chasing in World of Warcraft, I've never really been troubled with finding something to do when the grind started to wear me down. But now, with WAR, I'm finding most of my old tricks for MMO metagaming just aren't working. To read about what I've tried, and why it didn't work in WAR, follow along after the break.
Waging WAR: RvR packs, the "wait and see" edition
This week Waging WAR rides the double rainbow of gameplay customization via downloadable content and takes a cursory glance at the RvR packs being teased by the folks behind the development of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. Let's follow along and see what Greg can unleash this time. It is difficult to talk about the future of WAR right now. Not because it doesn't have a future, but because the availability of information regarding it is not exactly easy to find. Actually, information on the future of WAR is all but non-existent, surrounded by controversy on all sides, and steeped in rumor, speculation, assumption and misinformation. The best I can put together is that we, as players, can look forward to some sort of set of three different "RvR Packs" allowing us to "customize" our gameplay experience moving forward. The packs have been called "Power," "Progression," and "Personality." What exactly each contains is a mystery, although the few talking points I was able to find regarding these RvR packs are speculatively disappointing at best. Although Carrie, Andy, and anyone else involved with the Mythic development team have said time and time again that they are not discussing moving toward the free-to-play business model, what they're proposing with these customization packs looks suspiciously like the item shop established by Turbine, implemented in Dungeons & Dragons Online and soon in Lord of the Rings Online as well. V.I.P. membership, anyone? Although concrete information is scarce and difficult to find, let's take a look at the most commonly referenced points of interest after the break.
BioWare teases TOR space combat video
Not to be outdone by all the hemming and hawing over the perceived merits of its space combat implementation in The Old Republic, BioWare has released a short video clip showing brief bits of the gameplay in action. Underscored by John Williams' seminal TIE Fighter Attack music track from A New Hope, the video features some stunningly rendered spacecraft as they fly and fight their way through asteroid belts and in high planetary orbits. The trailer also features the high-quality voice acting that everyone has come to expect from BioWare's Star Wars title, and you can check it out after the cut or at the official website.
