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A player's perspective on top ten priorities for WAR in 2009 (updated)
The Greenskin blog has put together a top ten list of what they'd like to see for Warhammer Online in '09. Aimed at making sure the game finds continued success in the coming year, the list focuses on giving the game a lot of polish and fine-tuning. Specifically it calls for the death of bugs, CTDs and endgame performance issues. We don't think anyone would really disagree with these sentiments, because nothing is worse than suddenly seeing your Pretty Pretty Princess wallpaper right when you were about to capture The Inevitable City.As for the expansion announcement in 2009, we do think it would be very nice to hear, but only if fixes and such have been plentiful by that point. The best thing to do, in our humble opinion, would be to get all the kinks out, massage some new features in and then make an announcement.Update: Mark Jacobs has responded to the list, here was what he had to say,"Folks,Done. While I don't agree with everything contained within the paragraphs under the priorities themselves, I think that the top ten is just about dead on balls accurate. We have a number of other things I'd add to the list but I'll talk about them down the road.Nice article.Mark" WAR has gone 1.1! Check out our full coverage of the 1.1a patch, along with our interviews exploring upcoming content and the open RvR changes. Plus, don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!
Anti-Aliased: Why leveling content is more important than endgame pt. 2
One of the comments last week complained that I was putting too much emphasis on the journey rather than the destination. Basically, the comment compared endgame to some sort of amazing weekend spa retreat in the Bahamas and leveling to the 30 minute long plane ride. Because, honestly, who cares about the journey, right? It's only one facet of the whole getaway. Let's take a look at that argument. "So why can't we put that type of fun into the entire game, rather than just one section?" Pretend, dear readers, that I've discovered a brand new land. A land filled with large breasted women, rivers of booze, and a zombie shooting range. I'll name this land Awesomesauce Island! Past that, I'll make sure that only one airport is built on the island and only one plane can reach that island. That plane, however, is a remake of the original Wright brother's aircraft except all the screws are loose, the pilot is blind, poisonous snakes are stuffed in your seat cushions, Samuel L. Jackson is banned from flying on the plane, and the in-flight movie is Paris Hilton's sex tape. Who cares about the destination again? Now you can see I'm phasing into the player side of things and beginning my argument as to why we should enjoy a better emphasis on leveling content -- because it's fun! There's something about endgame that people enjoy already. All of you have come to me with complaints the second I even put the word "endgame" in my articles. That means that you're having fun with it, and that's a good thing! So why can't we put that type of fun into the entire game, rather than just one section? It's akin to asking people to stab out their eyes with wooden spoons before they can ride the big roller coaster in the theme park. Painfully pointless. "Games are games because we enjoy the experience they provide." Games are games because we enjoy the experience they provide. The "endgame experience" should not be restricted to just the endgame, but the whole game. I'm not saying kill the lead up, or somehow make the entire game just like the endgame. What I'm saying is that I should be feeling the same levels of excitement and enjoyment as I progress towards the final destination. Every moment that I stay in your world, I should feel like I'm there to have a good time, not just kill 10 rats so you can pat me on the head and give me a sparkling new sword. Colin Brennan is the weekly writer of Anti-Aliased who knows people are going to half read this article and then complain about how he's an endgame hater. When he's not writing here for Massively, he's over running Epic Loot For All! with his insane friends. If you want to message him, send him an e-mail at colin.brennan AT weblogsinc DOT com.
Anti-Aliased: Why leveling content is more important than endgame
Hey there 'Aliased readers! I've got a bunch to cover this week, and it's mostly derived from last week's Anti-Aliased. Point number three on my short list of what MMOs need to learn was that leveling content was more important than endgame content, and that seemed to put people into a state of panic. Now normally I don't like revisiting topics when they create massive anger because revisiting won't do them any good. You'll still be angry, sending rabid squirrels in boxes to my house, and I'll still be wearing my protective suit when I open my mail.This, however, is a special case. I think one of the reasons we have such a divide is because we're not looking at it in the same way. I'm approaching this topic from more of a business angle rather than the angle of a player. So, this week, we're going to look at it from both the angle of the player and of the business-person, as well as take in your points and arguments from last week's comment discussion. It's like a Mythbusters Redux, except we're not going to be blowing anything up, sadly.
Anti-Aliased: Top 5 things MMOs should learn in the new year
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Anti_Aliased_Top_5_things_MMOs_should_learn_in_the_new_year'; Well Happy New Year Massively readers! Hope everything is working out for you all on this second day of the year 2009! Did you get caught up on your favorite MMO yesterday during the holiday?With the new year finally here, we have all sorts of new games in production and slated for a 2009 release. But that doesn't mean we should entirely forget about 2008. All sorts of things have happened in 2008 that the industry and players can learn from, but what should make the classic "end of year" top 5 list?Well, as I am absolutely no more inventive than every other blog in existence, this edition of Anti-Aliased is dedicated to the top 5 things the industry and culture should learn and take into 2009, rather than forgetting. Some of it's funny, some of it's serious, but let's be honest -- it all goes towards perfecting how to have fun in virtual worlds.
WoW Insider's predictions for 2009
Another year has come and gone, and we're on the verge of WoW's fifth year of existence. So it's time once again to look into the crystal ball, and pull out some predictions. Some of these are surefire (we're definitely going to hear more about the content patches for Wrath this year), some are tossups depending on who you ask (will we see another expansion in the works?), and some are just random guesses. But we're guaranteed one thing: 2009 is going to be a wild year, so if you want our very first insight on what might happen, here you go.These are compiled from the WoW Insider staff -- we differed in a few places, and where we did, I've pointed out who thought what. Keep in mind that no one can predict the future, of course, so these are predictions, and that's all. By now we should all know that Blizzard will do all they can to keep us guessing. And feel free to put your own predictions (or just respond to ours in the comments below. Happy New Year -- here's to a great 2009!Update: Also be sure to check out Big Download's PC predictions for 2009 -- they've got something to say about Blizzard's next expansion, too.
Forum post of the day: No really, you are not prepared
Khanagi of Maelstrom sent out a plea in the official forums for players to be prepared when they group up for a heroic instance. His main complains is that as a Warrior Tank, he is often out DPSing the DPS. He feels that everyone in the group has a job to do, and many are falling short of their appointed task. His sentiment was met with considerable agreement from responders, who pointed out that AOE tanks will often have high DPS. This does not excuse the DPS from their responsibilities.Back in the day, when Burning Crusade was launched, one had to be revered to get their heroic instance keys. This meant you had to grind out reputation with a particular faction to get the heroic key, usually through the highest level instance. This changed in Patch 2.3.0, which lowered the requirement to honored. At that time, there was much rejoicing. Honored reputation with a faction can easily be achieved with leveling quests. You no longer have to cross the threshold of a dungeon to meet this requirement.
Ghostcrawler: If you're 80, you're hardcore
We had quite the firey argument yesterday here on the site -- first, Adam postulated that raiding was so easy we didn't even need to track it, and then I responded by saying that anyone who'd already beat the raid content was just going too fast. And now we have a response from Ghostcrawler (even though he beat us to the punch anyway by posting on Wednesday -- that's just how awesome he is). "If you're 80 already," he says on the forums, "you are a relatively hardcore player."That will ruffle a few feathers, and I should know, because I ruffled a few of the same feathers yesterday. But the stats back GC up -- it's true that most of the players in the game haven't gotten to 80 yet, and of course it doesn't mean that you're a no-life loser if you're 80; it just means that you're faster than the average player. Congrats.But in the hopes of actually bringing this whole thing home to a place we can all agree on without flaming each other, let's take a look at the new way of doing the endgame: the regular, show up-and-fight PvE content is now for casual players. Ulduar will be harder than the current endgame, says GC, but it still won't be as hard as AQ40 and the original Naxx were in their day. And for the hardcore players, Blizzard is offering achievements and special runs -- have you finished Sartharion with three drakes yet, he asks? Have you finished all of the achievements yet (and if you have, let us know, because we'd love to post about you)? There are really hardcore, really challenging things to do in the game, still, and Blizzard is working on offering appropriate rewards for them, says GC. But the average endgame is no longer the domain of people who raid three times a week or more, and that's the way Blizzard wants it.
Counterpoint: Yes, we should track raiding progression
There's been a lot of hemming and hawing lately about how Wrath is too easy. And there's no question that it is: Ensidia cut through the endgame like an epic dagger through the Vykrul, and any guild that steps into the endgame these days, even with low numbers or cheap gear, finds success. Adam suggested this morning that raiding is so easy these days that we shouldn't bother to track progression, and while Adam is a great writer and a terrific player, I'm here to disagree with his opinion: progression is exactly what the new endgame is all about.While Karazhan was one of the (if not the) most successful instances ever, it had one big problem: it killed guilds. It murdered progression. It was a roadblock after a roadblock, so much so that it took some guilds months to conquer, if they survived at all. Ten man Naxx obviously doesn't have that problem -- anyone with a little raiding experience who wants to beat bosses in there can do so, and Obsidian Sanctum is just as easy. The problem now, however, is that guilds like Ensidia and guilds who pushed through to Sunwell in the old endgame, are finishing the content already, and wondering what's next? They were 80 two weeks ago, and now, barely a month after the expansion's release, they've toppled every dungeon they can find.And what's wrong with that? Nothing.
Guildwatch: "I'm a #(*$ing fantastic Rogue"
"Oh boy. Look, it's not you, it's us. We'd just rather take PuGs to Obs. Sanctum, ok? When we recruited you, you were a Ret Pally, and that was fine, but we'd really rather have a Holy Pally now, see? And we've got these old friends we're running with, and, well, it just isn't working out. You'll find someone else, you really will."Guild breakups, lots of endgame conquering, and plenty of new guilds to join (just in case you got that speech above) in this week's Guildwatch. Be sure to send your drama, downed, and recruiting news to wowguildwatch@gmail.com (and we need lots of it, so if there's news from your guild worth reporting, send it along!), and click the link below to see this week's news from around the realms.
Warhammer Online's cities more than just a backdrop
Game journalist Alec Meer, well-known for his writing at Rock, Paper, Shotgun, recently contributed a Eurogamer piece on the "social and architectural heart" of Warhammer Online -- its cities. Meer looks beyond the RvR game mechanics, the classes, "man-slapping" and the other trappings that make Warhammer Online what it is, and focuses instead on the setting itself, as seen in The Inevitable City and Altdorf. When Meer looks at The Inevitable City, he points out how it's not just your normal MMO hive of activity and commerce, or a place to line up quests. "These are the reasons to visit it, but they're not its real purpose. What it really does is define what the Destruction races are, and what they're trying to turn the Warhammer world into... You only get an inkling of that in the main world," Meer writes.Contrast this with Altdorf. Meer writes, "Cobbled streets, chunky stone buildings - very European. This is what Order are fighting for. Well, except it's really dirty. Altdorf is not a picture postcard - it's grim and crumbling, full of squalor and fear - as much because of the ongoing war as because of the despotism and aggression of the Empire's rulers," Meer states. Do you agree with Meer that the cities of Warhammer Online are more than just a backdrop for your activities? Do you think the look of WAR's capital cities accurately reflect the conflict between Destruction and Order to reshape the world, each according to their own opposing paradigm? 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!
Players the source of Warhammer's problems?
Hardcore Casual recently put out a very concise view of what is currently holding back a truly enjoyable game experience from Warhammer Online -- the players.The post truly sums up what makes many of the features of Warhammer Online break -- the fact that players aren't playing the game in the way Mythic expected. Instead of enjoying the content and dabbling into all the intricate facets of the game, players are engaged in a grindtastic rush towards the endgame content with the misshapen belief that "the game truly begins at maximum level." As the post itself says, people aren't comfortable with a game that starts at level 1 and not the cap.
Ready Check: Everything's dead, Dave
Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we look at the sort of people who've already killed everything, and ask "Why?"...There's been a lot of discussion over the last week concerning hardcore raiders -- specifically those among the raiding corps who've raced to 80 as fast as possible and cleared every instance in game already. To people outside this group, it's quite easy to get a bit carried away when discussing raiders: these people don't have jobs, they ruin the game for themselves, they can't be actually enjoying a moment of it...None of the above is true, of course. This week's Ready Check looks at the current raiding game from the perspective of one who's cleared it all, and attempts to inject a little myth-busting and reality into the hyperbole.
Bringing WAR to the web
Any massively multiplayer online game built around the twin pillars of PvP and territorial control can't go wrong by providing realtime status updates of the struggle via the web. Warhammer Online has endeavored to do just that with the Realm War site, as addressed in a dev diary by the title's Web Development Lead, Scott Stricklin. The dev blog touches on what Mythic has accomplished thus far with bringing WAR to the web, and what they hope to accomplish in the future -- namely, podcasts, community news, and character and guild profiles. While they have no shortage of ideas about how to expand WAR outside of the client, their first objective has been to bring Realm vs. Realm data to the web. That goal has now been realized, and Stricklin walks the reader through the features of the newly revamped Realm War site.Players now have access to updated information about the overall campaign and the status of each capital city, Stricklin writes. This information is also presented visually, with each capital city's look changing based on its status, ranging from peaceful to besieged. This can all be kept in a pop up box in your browser to provide continual updates for when the tide of battle turns. Further information is provided through selectors which represent a server's racial pairings, giving a snapshot of what's happening with each tier's zone control. An added bonus to this are influence maps for each zone, similar to the in-game maps, which show the status of the various RvR objectives and allow a player to mouse over keeps, seeing when it was last captured and by which guild. Have a look at Scott Stricklin's dev diary for more on the Realm War site, or better yet, just head over there and try it out for yourself. 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!
Obama's FCC transition co-chair is a WoW player
var digg_url = 'http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/11/20/obamas-fcc-transition-co-chair-is-a-wow-player/'; I've had a political dream for a while now that I think all of us WoW players can agree on: someday, I hope, we will have a President in the White House that plays videogames. We're not quite there yet, but we're closer -- apparently, Obama's FCC transition co-chair is a WoW player, and has played in two different endgame guilds, including Joi Ito's famous We Know guild. This is a guy who knows all about the communities that these MMOs create, and just how awesome it is to run through Karazhan, or grind PvP for a Merciless Gladiator weapon... and he's been selected by the incoming President of the United States to run the FCC. That's beautiful.Too many government officials (both Democrat and Republican, this isn't partisan at all) suffer from the "series of tubes" mentality -- they are being asked to regulate and coordinate things that they don't understand at all. But getting guys like Kevin Werbach in there, no matter what your political affiliation, is a great step forward for all of us gamers -- we'll have people behind the regulatory wheel who know how important and wonderful virtual worlds like Azeroth can be.Waltermonkey on Livejournal actually uncovered the guy's Armory profile (and has some great insight), and yes, though I'm sure some of the comments below will be about how you'd never be able to run a transition team AND get to level 80 at the same time, Werbach's been playing recently -- while he's still only level 70, he's actually got the Jenkins title. We've got a Resto Shaman helping run the FCC -- how awesome is that?
Ready Check: Preparing for Wrath raiding
Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. This week, we venture into new (well, sort of) territory...While many people are taking a leisurely stroll towards 80, seeing the sights and exploring all the new content, there's a sizeable contingent of players racing to get to the level cap as soon as possible so the real fun can begin. Many of these are aiming to raid immediately, but there's a lot of catching up to do before our WotLK endgame knowledge matches the depth of its TBC counterpart.So if you are planning to raid early on, and are wondering about gear, preparation and whether you should buy that mammoth or not, we're here to help.
Kael'thas dropped with just 12 people
Personally, I think we've already seen proof of just how easy the endgame is now, but I've never done the Kael fight, so maybe this is even more of a feat. Dissonance on Alleria finished off Kael'thas Sunstrider (the 25-man version, not the 5-man fight in Magisters' Terrace) with just twelve people. Looks like kiting was a big technique, but otherwise, just seems like they were able to overpower everything else in the fight. They actually tried it with 10, they say (they dropped Al'ar, Void Reaver, and Solarian with 10 the week before), but the MCs in Phase 4 were a bit much, so they pulled in two more.This is a Sunwell guild, so they've got pretty much the best gear you can walk around with in the game, and as we've said here before, these instances really got nerfed twice: once when Blizzard nerfed the actual bosses' HP and damage, and a second time when Blizz gave us all the 51-point talents before the expansion.But it's definitely an achievement, toppling a 25-man boss with less than half the required group. Oh, how the mighty have fallen, sure, but don't fret, raiders seeking a real challenge -- we're sure Blizzard will make up the difficulty when we all step into the new endgame in Northrend.
WoW Insider Show Episode 62: Why doesn't Tame Beast work on Druids?
Our podcast was back on the air last Saturday, and we were happy to welcome two very talented bloggers to the mix: both Daniel "BigRedKitty" Howell and John "BigBearButt" Patricelli, authors of our BRK and Shifting Perspectives columns, respectively, were aboard to chat with us about whether the endgame is just too easy lately (or whether it's nice that some people who couldn't before are seeing instances and getting loot), the new boss in Karazhan, and how abruptly the zombie event ended. We also hit on Blizzard's almost-mistake with the class forums, and if we really deserved that three-day credit due to lag and queues lately.We answered emails as well -- BRK gave some great AH tips for when to get rid of your primals and mats before Wrath, and BBB helped a listener out who was wondering if he should play a Druid or a Warlock to 80 first. And I got some good glyph hints and tips out of the guys in terms of what to put in those glyph slots for Hunters and Feral Druids. If you have a comment or question for the show, feel free to send it along to theshow at wowinsider dot com, and you might even hear it on next week's show.Perhaps most exciting, we worked a lot last week to make sure the quality of the show was better, and I think for the most part it worked -- we didn't have a single disconnect during the chat, and you should find that the tinny voices in the recording are gone as well. It's not perfect yet, and there's more we want to add into the mix, but we're working on it. The iTunes feed is still on the fritz, but the RSS feed below works just fine for me and it should for you, too. Be sure to tune in next week at 3:30pm Eastern -- we do this live every Saturday, and it is a darn good time.[Ustream] Listen to the unedited recording in Ustream.[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.
EVE Community Spotlight: SirMolle Part 2
Band of Brothers fields the largest capital ship fleet in the game. Obviously this provides your alliance with an advantage, but how do you respond to what many players feel is a problem of capital ship proliferation? Do you miss the days before capital ships and POS warfare became the norm? EVE is ever-changing. It has evolved since the early alpha and beta days to early release, to today's EVE. It will never stop changing, and the players have to evolve with it. You can always say "remember the good old days", but, that's just nostalgia. Evolve or die, adapt or be overcome. I could say I miss ninja-mining, I could say I miss dura-Mallers, I could say I miss splash damage from torpedoes, I could say I miss the days before POS's were in the game. But all in all, EVE is a larger game, a larger world, a more complex world today than when it started. Changes are a part of your EVE-life. Embrace it. The most important ship in EVE is not a capital ship; it's the battleship.
EVE Community Spotlight: SirMolle
Alliance warfare in EVE Online is a defining aspect of the game. EVE's setting of New Eden is a sprawling galaxy of over 5000 solar systems, where players are free to build empires, establish vast enterprises, and do whatever is necessary to maintain dominance over their competitors -- be it financial, political, or military. All of that freedom to do what you choose eventually leads players, collectively, into one another's sphere of influence, triggering bitter and protracted warfare. That's the nature of EVE -- the setting provides potential, but it's largely the players who drive the game. In what has been aptly described as "the largest virtual conflict ever waged", the Band of Brothers Alliance (BoB) has stood at the forefront of that struggle for dominance in EVE Online for years. As an alliance, their strength is undeniable. But the power they've gained has sparked a fiery resentment from the much larger non-BoB playerbase in EVE, polarizing the community into those who either love or hate them. In many cases, it's been the latter. After all, for some time, Band of Brothers' goal was to control all space in New Eden, beginning in the lawless frontier of 0.0, where most alliance warfare rages, and eventually consolidating control over Empire space and its commerce. Band of Brothers set a goal for territorial control that's simply not possible in the game, however. The times have changed, and now the old paradigm of territorial grabs characteristic of the epic conflict with The RedSwarm Federation has been replaced with the MAX campaign, and a different nemesis -- the Northern Coalition. As vendetta-turned-alliance policy, MAX is intended to be a wave of destruction that cuts through the hulls and holdings of their opposition. The man behind the MAX campaign, and the Band of Brothers alliance, is SirMolle. Massively recently spoke with SirMolle about the pressures of leadership, the impact Band of Brothers has had on the game, and the endgame of control over New Eden.
WAR's first city siege: The king is dead. Long live the king.
It was only the other day when we reported that the first Warhammer Online city siege endgame had begun. Initial reports indicated that a relatively small group of players, in average gear, managed to capture Altdorf on the EU server Karak Eight Peaks, partially due to bugs in the game. However, rumors of the death of Emperor Karl Franz have been exaggerated. More details have come to light since then; Electronic Arts contacted MMO blogger Tobold, and set the record straight. As it turns out, Destruction didn't fully capture Altdorf. Rather, they put it in a contested state, and the would-be conquerors on the Destruction side were ousted by Order before they could complete enough public quests to reach the final battle against Emperor Karl Franz. 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!
