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Waging WAR: An in-depth look at the Producer's Letter
This week, Waging WAR is going to take a deeper look at the Producer's Letter for this month of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. There are lots of new promises coming down the pipeline, and plenty of speculation to follow. Let's sift through some of the hubbub and get into the nitty-gritty of it all. First of all, there's a serious cliffhanger in the notes suggesting that we'll be given a reason to wear all the sovereign gear that's being won in the new city sieges. Currently, there is good reason to wear (or at least acquire) warlord gear if for nothing other than the wards they provide -- and thus the significant advantage they give in the new city sieges. However, there is nothing in the game that requires the wards that the sovereign gear provides. If we insert tab-A into slot-B, the only real conclusion we can come to, speculatively, is that a new expansion is just beyond the horizon, and close to being revealed. Such an expansion could very well add a new tier (and new wards and warded content), in addition to buckets of other new content, such as a new pairing (as has been speculated many times in the past -- Skaven vs. Lizardmen, anyone?) On this point, I suppose we'll have to apply the "wait-and-see" motif, and just wait and see. Also, E3 is also coming up very soon (June 14-17). Could the EA/Mythic booth have some big news secretly tucked up their collective sleeves? As a disclaimer, this is only wild speculation by this particular columnist and nothing above should be taken as official suggestion of anything mentioned at all. But we can hope, can't we?
The siege begins with Warhammer Online's patch 1.3.5
If there's been a recurring theme in recent news about Warhammer Online, it's been the promise that 1.3.5 will be a glorious patch to behold. At the heart are the revamped RvR-focused City Siege events, letting players assault the center of the enemy's power. Last week was the public testing of both redesigned cities, and it must have gone quite well, because the patch has hit the live servers. Now, instead of fighting against the city's ruler in a PvE format, players will fight alongside the heavy hitters in a 24 vs. 24 battle. The changes to the cities aren't the only improvements to the game, however. Mythic has also added several quality-of-life improvements such as changes to inventory spaces and mini-map highlights to help point players to regions of interest. City sieges are the lynchpin, however, and as was discussed during our recent chat with executive producer Carrie Gouskos they're part of the game's major push to celebrate RvR in all its forms. Warhammer Online players can take a look at the full patch notes here -- or just get in the game and into the action as fast as possible.
Public testing for Warhammer Online's city sieges
The major gameplay push for Warhammer Online of late has been the imminent patch 1.3.5, bringing with it the fully RvR-focused city sieges. Developer diaries have explained its creation at length, and it's been getting closed testing for some time, but now it's time for it to face up to the watchful eye of the public. Starting on Tuesday, May 11th, both Altdorf and the Inevitable City will be getting tested in their new incarnations, and as always players are invited to take part in the mayhem. Altdorf will be the first up for assault on Tuesday at 8:00 PM EST (5 PM PST), with the Inevitable City beginning its siege on Thursday the 13th at the same hour. After the testing has taken place, the development team will be available for an informal question and answer session on the official Mythic Ventrilo server, as if players needed an extra incentive. The official announcement includes information about copying one's character to the test server, so all Warhammer Online players are encouraged to participate.
Warhammer Online talks more about the design of RvR Sieges
If there's a part of Warhammer Online's upcoming patch 1.3.5 that should excite veteran players -- and there is -- it's the shift of city sieges to an RvR-designed focus. One of the central selling points of the game has always been the strength of its PvP, and as the game works to shore up its weaknesses one of the major foci has been enhancing the PvP experience. Content developer Keaven Freeman has penned a developer diary explaining the issues, pitfalls, and ultimate results of the design process and the shift in ethos. As Freeman puts it, the sieges haven't moved completely to PvP only, simply because it doesn't feel quite right to have the capture experience feel equally inviting in an enemy city or an allied one. But the PvE elements exist, from the sound of it, simply to focus attacks on things other than players at times, rather than to give hordes of NPCs to fight. In addition, the diary talks about the cascading control point system, which builds a network of control allowing players to spearhead an assault into the heart of the city. For Warhammer Online players looking forward to answering the call of their respective faction, the diary should be both enlightening and interesting.
Warhammer Online brings 1.3.5 to be tested
With all of the billing nightmares apparently resolved, complete with the peacemaking gifts, Warhammer Online is ready to move back to its core focus. The development team has been talking about the improvements set to come with patch 1.3.5, continuing the game's process of strengthening the Realm vs. Realm gameplay by adding fully PvP-focused city sieges. On top of the improvements to Scenarios and the addition of PvP-bought weaponry, the game is playing to its greatest assets. How successful it's been will soon be in the hands of the players, as 1.3.5 is going to the public test server. The obvious large-scale changes can take some of the flash away from smaller changes, such as allowing Marauders the option to properly dual-wield and improved AFK flagging in scenarios. Numerous bugfixes, changes to NPC locations, and revisions to the Open RvR currency are also present in the patch. And that's not even talking about inventory space... all in all, it promises much for players to be happy about, and little to be disappointed with. Warhammer Online's players can take a hop to the test server Warpstone to take a look at all the changes, and those who'd prefer to abstain can take heart that the changes will likely be going live soon.
Bounty Bay Online increases the scale of city wars
What good is a proper game in the age of the high seas without the option to take over cities? Fortunately for everyone who thinks along those lines, Bounty Bay Online not only has the option to take on cities, but an expanded list and more frequent times available for those who wish to take part in the conflicts. Merchant alliance cities Alexandria, Venice, Lisbon, Bordeaux and Amsterdam are all now in the lineup to be taken by fleets with strong enough ships and military might. But the addition of the cities isn't the only change that's being made. Previously, only two cities per day were available for guilds to attempt to conquer. The adjustment and merging of times will now force players into different tactical decisions, as there will be more ports to assault or defend and less opportunity for a single fleet to move from port to port. A detailed breakdown of the changes is available here, and the full system of attacking and taking cities can be found here. For players in Bounty Bay Online, things most likely have gotten a fair bit more interesting on the ocean.
Another blogger flees Age of Conan...
...and this time it's Peter Smith of the Dragonchasers blog.Citing a waning ability to have fun with the game, item statistics that really don't help with anything, and a lack of variance in armor and items, Smith is calling it quits with Age of Conan. His comments seem to mirror the comments of many others, but one particular subject stands out in his blog from the others: the much touted and praised player vs. player endgame.Smith brings up the point that he feels like "another cog in the wheel" of his large guild. In order to see the content of the endgame cities and city sieges, he joined a very large guild and is expected to provide materials to help with the construction of the guild city. But, without player housing, any type of city mini-games, and lack of bonuses offered by the city itself, he just feels like another faceless voice instead of a heroic city builder.His article touches on the ability to stand out inside of a game where a person may not be able to stand out in the world itself and how it links back to his decision to cancel the game. If you're interested, be sure to drop over by to the Dragonchasers blog and check it out for yourself.
