Comments on: The State of WAR: Patch 1.3.1

By: Social Gaming May Kill Traditional MMORPGs « Taugrim's MMORPG Blog

Social Gaming May Kill Traditional MMORPGs « Taugrim's MMORPG Blog — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:29:33 +0000

[...] had launched in its current state, WAR would have been a success instead of a colossal failure. I shared that viewpoint when I played WAR patch 1.3b over the [...]

By: Asherony

Asherony — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 21:50:48 +0000

The reason that WAR is still holding up despite the stability issues and horrible balance is because (and only because) it occupies a niche that nobody else does (“Western” PvP MMO). Maybe that’s also the reason behind Mythic not hurrying to fix the most glaring problems – if they had some competition things might have turned out differently…

By: taugrim

taugrim — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 21:44:24 +0000

Great post. I agree with your comments, esp about WoW and Mythic having gear acquisition backwards.

I play WAR because it’s currently the best PVP MMORPG on the market. I was very happy with Patch 1.3b, but 1.3.1 has been a disappointment. I don’t like paying for games that crash so frequently. It’s the reason I de-subbed back in April.

By: taugrim

taugrim — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:36:36 +0000

In terms of side-kiting: I jumped around on my Shaman while kiting out of habit. It prevented me from getting snagged on rocks and stuff on the ground, and it looked funny. And, very importantly, it kept opponents in LoS of me, so I could use instant-cast attack abilities on the move.

However, there was some discussion about jumping while kiting, and apparently it induces lag on your opponent:
http://www.warhammeralliance.com/forums/showthread.php?t=305773

I didn’t believe that at first, but while playing my SM, I watched RDPS and healers who were jumping while kiting closely, and I think it does create some sort of lag effect.

That doesn’t seem fair, so I’m trying not to do it anymore on my Shaman. I want to beat opponents because of good movement and timing of skills, not because I’m lagging them LOL. Jumping while moving is ingrained as a habit, even on my SM when I am not Holding the Line. So it’s taking some time to break.

By: Skutrug

Skutrug — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:59:22 +0000

Hi Taugrim,
I agree 100% with your evaluation of patch 1.3b – I actually left WAR as well after patch 1.2, frustrated.
It turns out though that it was a combination of mistakes (hidden design flaws as well as buggy codes) that resulted in the devastating AoE-fest with Bright Wizards and Sorcerers chasing tanks all over the battlefield with their insta-AoEs – It was laughable…
1.3b and its several “updates” fixed a large portion of this. I really like the new keeps with 2 ramps from 1.3.1 – I never bothered to check LoTD much since it was PvE-grind and I have LOTRO for that (pages anyone???) when I have an attack of temporary insanity – but I’ll give it a look if you say that both sides can access it at the same time now.
On the side – We have not heared from your Shammy in a few weeks – Come on, haughty elves are a lot less fun to read about than green obnoxious cackling goblins – your blog inspired me to start a Squig Herder and I am having a blast with it.
One last technical question: On the videos your shammy is jumping a lot – Now for moving backward, jumping is a requirement to match the speed of running – but for side-kiting, does it break LoS or something?
Skut

By: Asherony

Asherony — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:22:10 +0000

Regrettably, I can’t support the thread on the forums (EU player ><), but you are totally, totally right. I'm one of the members of a long-time PvP community guild, and the main reason we left WoW for Warhammer is that instead of being dependent on PvE gear and weapons grinding / gold farming we could just do scens and ORvR.
I understand Mythic's idea that some PvE has to be present in the game, but making PvE gear vastly superior to PvP alternatives? Imagine that Blizzard created a new set of honor / arena gear that was miles better that the existing raid sets and items, and raiders would have to do PvP in order to be able to compete with other guild who also do. Sound pretty stupid? That's what Mythic does, in reverse.
Let's face it – right now most players who chose playing Warhammer over WoW are either die-hard fans of the Warhammer franchise or (the most common category) fed up with constant need to grind PvE gear and gold. If Mythic wants to emphasize PvE in WAR's progression, they just have to remember that there is already much better PvE game out there.