[Warhammer Online] Da big swords are fer hittin stunties!

[Violet]

It looks like WoW. =(

[Belle Hibiki]

Why do people expect competing developers to say "NO, FUCK WOW'S EXTREMELY USER FRIENDLY AND INDUSTRY STANDARD SETTING INTERFACE, LET'S COME UP WITH SOMETHING COMPLETELY UNTESTED AND/OR HAS BEEN PROVEN TO SUCK"?

Yes, the interface looks like WoW. That's because WoW had a very nice interface. I would kindly direct people who think that's all there is to the game to examine how Warhammer is based around RvR, and WoW is focused around gaining access to easy purples to pimp your ride.

[Violet]

o.o ok/....

[Reijin]

I don't think WAR will replace WoW, but it will be an enjoyable game. WAR isn't LOOKING to replace WoW either. Its like playing a WoW-esque version of City of Heroes, which I enjoy. Its something you can play for barebones entertainment that does not require loads of time a week to keep competitive, whereas if you HAVE that time I enjoy playing WoW for its ends as well.

I like both games a lot, but haven't had time to play WAR since that night due to getting more gear on my Shaman, as mentioned above (trying to do arenas with friends so I have to get geared, though my fucking arena partner quit the game. I AM SENSING A TREND HERE. STOP HAVING EMO FRIENDS. THAT STEAL OTHER GUY'S CHICKS AND THEN RUN OFF ALL OVER AGAIN TO START A BAD CYCLE AGAIN.)

[Druu]

You wouldn't say it looked like WoW if you'd played it.

[Belle Hibiki]

So I don't think I'm going to get to participate in the open beta, nor in the headstart, because this file is so stupidly huge and because my DSL sucks so much.

Kind of pissed.

[Reijin]

You are downloading the entire game. What do you think is going to happen with file size? I tried once when reinstalling WoW to be lazy and just download install it from my online account. Ten minutes into it and seeing how much longer it would be, I climbed up into the attic and found my damn cds.

[Super Buu]

Now that they're implementing this new level sync thing in FFXI (like CoH's sidekick/examplar system, which EVERY MMO SHOULD STEAL) I'm probably going to wait a while to try out WAR whilst I try this out. Let me know how it goes and whether I should buy it, fags.

[Reijin]

Every MMO should steal that system, I agree.

That said, I highly doubt that FFXI using it will solve its large number of problems, which is a shame because I love the world they created, but its based on the 90s model of MMO that is more focused on purposely stretching out the grind (yes, WoW and the newer mmos are a grind, however, if you look at the death penalties of EQ, FFXI, and similar games and compare it to CoH, WoW, WAR, or any newer games, you'll see what I mean. MMOs have broken out to a lot more casual crowd through the lowering of forced grind.)

[Belle Hibiki]

You don't fucking know the horror of MMOs. Kids these days.

In EQ I had to grind 18 hours STRAIGHT to get through level 45, back when 35, 40, and 45 were bugged to require more experience than normal to get through. And this wasn't lazy grinding. This was strapped-to-my-keyboard, eyes watering, mind swimming from a Pepsi-induced haze grinding.

[Druu]

You can level up to rank 40 in PvP, in War online. They increased item and money rewards on player corpses so you could go through the entire game without doing a single PvE quest, if you wanted to.

Goodbye, grind. Its been a blast.

And despite the lack of a lackey system, everyone in a RvR scenario is scaled to the same level so that all the fights are fair.

Public quests are a blast. Kill collectors are great. Quest items AUTOMATICALLY drop from mobs, and don't take up inventory space. The trophy system is awesome, amour dye is wicked. There are 'open' groups so you can jump in and be grouped with people without having to spam for an invite. Every class, even the ones that are essentially the same, feel different.

Its fun. I've totally fallen in love with this game.

[Reijin]

Yeah, I love it.

And fuck EQ and their Hell Levels, I remember that shit, and fuck those. It took you as long sitting at the computer hardcore grinding for a single level in EQ as it does to go from 60-70 in WoW. Its just a different mindset as to how to keep people playing your game.

[Belle Hibiki]

Recent nerfs to Black Orcs make me cry, but I'll probably be trying them anyway.

If I don't like them, I might forego rolling DoK (I've heard that that job is very, VERY 'busy' and hard to do properly) and instead try Squig Herder. I'm not much for Shooty-Shooty, though. I'd probably go Stabby-Stabby.

[Druu]

Nerf or not, I'm being a blork.

[Belle Hibiki]

Curses.

Downloaded the client for the beta week that just ended, but now I can't login to patch it. Guess I'll have to wait till the 16th.

Anyone know how much there is to patch?

[Druu]

Not much. I downloaded the client in three days, and patching takes from 5 to 10 minutes per patch, for me.

I'm actually amazed at how good their patching system is compared to other MMO's.

[Super Buu]

Does WAR have less of a grind than WoW? I thought WoW was great for the quests and so on, but I simply quit at 60 (pre-expansion) and 70 respectively because at that point, the need to grind meant that the fun I put into the game would never be worth the time I put into it.

I've heard about the grind in FFXI, and it's one of the major reasons I'd want to 'try before I buy'.

Edit: Just found out that servers on WAR will be region-restricted, like WoW, so I'm sorry to say that there's no way I'll be picking this up. I imported the US WoW so I could play with my friends, but that was back when I cared enough about MMOs to spend the time importing game cards and all that bullshit.

[Druu]

Does WAR have less of a grind than WoW? I thought WoW was great for the quests and so on, but I simply quit at 60 (pre-expansion) and 70 respectively because at that point, the need to grind meant that the fun I put into the game would never be worth the time I put into it.

I've heard about the grind in FFXI, and it's one of the major reasons I'd want to 'try before I buy'.

Edit: Just found out that servers on WAR will be region-restricted, like WoW, so I'm sorry to say that there's no way I'll be picking this up. I imported the US WoW so I could play with my friends, but that was back when I cared enough about MMOs to spend the time importing game cards and all that bullshit.

I can't say WAR has /less/ of a grind than WoW, essentially all MMO's are a grind-fest up to the higher levels, however its MUCH faster, and MUCH more rewarding. Its the first game I have EVER played where I grind, without realizing it.

For example, a lot of the time you will find you have wandered aimlessly into a public quest zone, and are not only killing mobs there to complete the public quest, but also to complete a solo quest you have been given, so from that, you get rep points, exp points, a quest complete, and contribution points to the public quest. By the time you actually finish your quest, and public quest, I guarantee you'll be more worried about the fact you haven't eaten for the past eight hours, than how much EXP you have gained.

Now, when WoW was launched, Blizzard said they eliminated the need to grind - they were wrong. War has done that.

For each race has its own zone, within that zone there will be more than enough things to do to reach the level cap, however, if you get bored, you can fly to any of the other two zones of your faction. Questing in these other zones is just as rewarding in, as most items that drop are specific to you. For example...

Ruined weapons. I love the idea of this, a ruined weapon drops, and for everyone in the party, they mouse over it, and it has the potential to be repaired by a merchant into a different item, for every party member. So no more class specific drops, its simply that it will be a class specific weapon to whoever wins it. Magic!

Oops. Got carried away. n-n'

[Reijin]

Well, Blizzard DID eliminate the grind, as far as the definition of the 90s grind. Compare their grind to EQ and older mmos and you'll see that their grind is a largely different definition. Their questing system is much smoother of a gameplay than older games, which focused on nothing more than straight out farming mobs the entire time from 1-XX.

However, this new system has inevitably been incorporated into the updated definition of grind, as its still A grind. I have no doubt that WAR will be considered a form of grind in the years to come as well, because the bottom line is that if people want to compete with each other and try different things, they are less worried about "enjoying themselves leveling" and more worried about having the character at the point they want it in order to do the thing they want to do with it. That doesn't mean they won't enjoy leveling, but anything beyond starting the character max level with any and all equipment, abilities, tactics, morale, etc, is going to be considered a form of grind.

As far as public quests, I was a bit disappointed that after the first one my Dark Elf ran into, the next two were quite boring. They were both "kill x mobs. Now kill x mobs. Now kill the main boss, btw, this guy is hard as fuck and you die multiple times till quest resets" quests. Even though the other could be that too, this was just horrible. I don't mean the druid thing either, more the magus type tower and the one place, Nasdragon or something, some little fortress town.

Also, as you mentioned race specific weapons, I got pissed that a number of times on my Dark Elf I would not only encounter weapons for Witch Elves and other classes, since I could just trade those ( so it wasn't a big deal ), but I got more than too many Chaos faction drops, and honestly I don't see why I was getting other faction weapons in that low level of an area. The other faction wasn't there at all, and no one could use these things. So it felt wasted and pissed me off when I wanted gear.

Anyways, beta is over now, so waiting on release. In the meantime, I'm still getting my gear for my shaman and lamenting over the PTR on how terrible locks are right now.

[Belle Hibiki]

Anyways, beta is over now, so waiting on release. In the meantime, I'm still getting my gear for my shaman and lamenting over the PTR on how terrible locks are right now.

Meh.

As soon as I saw that they were taking away Spectral Transformation I just rolled my eyes and canceled my account. I know it's unlikely, but the changes almost feel malicious in intent. Shamans were in dire need of polish on the WotLK beta server, but instead they got a broad sweep of nerfs.

What fries me most, however, is the justification for taking away Spectral Transformation. They "weren't cool with the Shaman's Ghost Wolf being too close to a core Druid iconic ability." What a bunch of disingenuous pieces of shit. So, it's okay to bastardize Windfury Totem, Unleashed Rage, and our new and improved SoE totem to other classes, but it's suddenly "not cool" for Enh Shamans to get ONE aspect of a competing class VERY DEEP into one tree?

Fuck it. Just... Just fuck it.