First rule about VN is there are no rules in VN. (Except swearing and trolling).
Put on your flame retardant and retard retardant suit before entering the VN.
Peruse the general board for a topic that you are emotional about. Read all the posts. Find something that someone said that you disagree with.
Instead of posting something that is logical and concise, tell everything that what you say is fact and that everyone else in the world feels the same way as you. All while completely ridiculing the person who you disagree with and call them stupid or an idiot.
Defend your post and yourself from all of the other people doing the same thing to you.
Once you get bored of this you can create your own post telling Mythic how you think (with all your gaming genius) they should have made their game. Which will draw new posts from the people you were just defending your other posts from and other people who disagree with what you say.
Ensure that your post count gradually increases so that your VN rank can increase so more people will take you more seriously, which won't happen anyways because people will realize you have no life and all you do all day is post on VN boards complaining and defending your complaints about a video game from which you probably don't play that much anyways because VN is more fun to you.
Once your post count is high wait for MarkJacobsEA to make a post so that you may post something on his thread so he might possibly read what you have to say. When in all honesty he probably sits there and laughs about how stupid his playerbase is and how worked up they get about anything inconsequential. Then he makes a random post quoting someone, which creates more stupid assinine posts of people trying to be heard by the man.
VN is a nasty beast, but if you can get through all the crap and can find that little gem that actually helps you in the game then it's all worth it. Plus it keeps you busy at work if you're bored. Just don't get caught up in the RvR of the VN. When you make posts make then logical and concise and ensure that people realize that what you are posting is of your own opinion and that you're not trying to speak for the masses that don't exist.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Take your time!
I know it's tough these days to comprehend that people out there actually like playing Warhammer Online. Especially if you read any of the Warhammer forums like the VN Boards and Warhammer Alliance.
Ok so the game's not perfect and even though this is the first MMO launch that I've suffered through I understand that there are always problems at the start of any MMO. I debated waiting a while before playing to let them work out the bugs but I was too excited to try the game out. I understood that the game wouldn't be nearly as polished as the years I played through in DAoC, but I knew it had the potential to be a great game right off the get go.
There has been a lot of drama and a lot of negativity towards this game in the last couple of months but we're starting to see that take a turn for the better. I understand there are still some issues in t3 and t4 and I don't think I'd like to experience what most people are describing so I've been sticking with t1 and t2 pretty much my whole time in this game. A lot of people show disrespect towards the players who haven't made it to t4 yet and I know I'm not the only one.
Actually I think a lot of the people who aren't at the highest level yet are the smart ones. We're taking our time to learn class mechanics and how each class works in the grand scheme of things. I jumped around servers for a bit to find the right server, jumped around classes to find the right class, then jumped around guilds and haven't found the right one yet. Heck any player who has stayed playing in t1 and t2 because they know that the endgame is still bugged is a smart player, you can just tell because they made the right choice to maintain the fun level of the game. Endgame will be fixed and when the word hits VN then people like myself will make the trek to t4.
Even when t4 is fixed I recommend to anyone playing the game to take their time while leveling. Ensure that you read all of the descriptions of your class abilities and use them accordingly, don't just spam 1, 2, 3 or something like that. If you use all of your abilities as they should be used you will be a great player.
If you've read any of my previous posts you'd be a great player anyways :P
Ok so the game's not perfect and even though this is the first MMO launch that I've suffered through I understand that there are always problems at the start of any MMO. I debated waiting a while before playing to let them work out the bugs but I was too excited to try the game out. I understood that the game wouldn't be nearly as polished as the years I played through in DAoC, but I knew it had the potential to be a great game right off the get go.
There has been a lot of drama and a lot of negativity towards this game in the last couple of months but we're starting to see that take a turn for the better. I understand there are still some issues in t3 and t4 and I don't think I'd like to experience what most people are describing so I've been sticking with t1 and t2 pretty much my whole time in this game. A lot of people show disrespect towards the players who haven't made it to t4 yet and I know I'm not the only one.
Actually I think a lot of the people who aren't at the highest level yet are the smart ones. We're taking our time to learn class mechanics and how each class works in the grand scheme of things. I jumped around servers for a bit to find the right server, jumped around classes to find the right class, then jumped around guilds and haven't found the right one yet. Heck any player who has stayed playing in t1 and t2 because they know that the endgame is still bugged is a smart player, you can just tell because they made the right choice to maintain the fun level of the game. Endgame will be fixed and when the word hits VN then people like myself will make the trek to t4.
Even when t4 is fixed I recommend to anyone playing the game to take their time while leveling. Ensure that you read all of the descriptions of your class abilities and use them accordingly, don't just spam 1, 2, 3 or something like that. If you use all of your abilities as they should be used you will be a great player.
If you've read any of my previous posts you'd be a great player anyways :P
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
RvR with your class archtype.
Alrighty, so now you basically know how to do everything you need to do in t1. Once you've figured out t1 then you'll be set on your way up the rest of the tiers.
I'm going to take you through a little run down of how I believe each archtype of class should generally be played (in t1 of course). This is my opinion but if you follow this then make some tweaks for your class in specific then you should be golden.
In Warhammer Online there are 4 different types of class. Tanks, Healers, Ranged DPS and Melee DPS.
Tanks:
Order: Ironbreaker, Swordmaster, Knight of the Blazing Sun
Destruction: Black Guard, Black Orc, Chosen
There are many disputes over how a tank should be played. Lots of people will tell you that a tank should not DPS and should be there as a meatshield for squishier targets. Thus making a sword and sheild tank the most viable option in their eyes. They say a Two-Handed tank is useless. Honestly spec a tank however you want to play it. If you like surviving everything and couldn't care about doing damage then spec sword/sheild. If you like to weild a gigantic 2h sword then spec for it.
If you go with my theory in the Beginner's Guide (Part 2) and follow the next easiest to kill method that I use you will find that the last person that gets attacked (should get attacked) is a tank. So if you think about it this way then why even bother wearing a sheild, you might as well sacrifice your survivability for a bit more DPS. People may say why don't you just play a DPS class if you want to DPS. They don't understand the survivability of a 2h tank vs. a melee DPS.
Ok enough about how to spec, how do you RvR?
Well it's easy. You are there to take hits for the other classes that can't. You should be on the front line of your group. That way you set up a line that will protect the people behind you. Being the first target people see they will target you and try to kill you. This leaves the squishies behind you to open up on the healers of the other group. This is how I would recommend to fight when holding a choke point such as a keep's stairs or the different points in nordenwatch. It also allows for if any enemies squeak through your mdps and rdps hanging back there can kill them easily. If there aren't any choke points availible follow the next easiest to kill method. You will end up assisting with other players who are thinking the same or they will assist you. Kill the squishies then healers then the rest will be cake. If you head directly for these classes your enemy will notice and they will hit you, if they don't they are dumb. That's how you draw hits to protect your friends. If there are more than 1 healer and a teammate of yours is already attacking one assist them with that one. If you split to 1 healer each then each healer will be able to heal through the damage that you are doing.
During a keep seige get on the ram and establish a line at choke points inside the keep.
When a line is established always keep an eye on the people behind you as they may get jumped by a WE or WH. If you keep an eye on your healers they will notice and will remember to heal you.
Healers:
Order: Runepriest, Archmage, Warrior Priest
Destruction: Shaman, Zealot, Desciple of Khaine
Healers in this game have the option to do damage. Although it's great to do dmg I find that it takes away from the heals your teammates should be recieving from you. Do dmg when you are getting attacked then go back to healing when you're free. But again play how you want to play these are just my opinions.
#1 thing for healers to do to start off is to get the squared AddOn. This add on I say is essential to any healer. It provides a much cleaner easier healing grid to work with rather than trying to target people in game or using the default group window. As your friends lose health their box in squared will loose it's amount of green. All you need to do to heal them is click on their box in squared then use whichever heal you have that will help the most for that player provided they are in range. If your target is not in range to be healed then the squared box will grey out when you click on the box.
Watch the fight and watch squared and choose the healing targets appropriately. You need to watch the fight because if you don't you won't see people coming for you. When you get jumped by someone. Instantly start healing yourself...if you keep healing yourself someone on your team will notice that someone is on you and will kill them. If your health doesn't go down too much when you are attacked then keep an eye on your health and keep healing your group while giving yourself heals when you need them. You can also use your damage spells along with your heal spells.
For hybrid healers such as the Warrior Priest and Deciple of Khaine then you will need to be in the fight fighting. Fight with the tanks and heal when someone needs it. Your main priorities should be healing the people around you because they are the ones that will keep you alive.
As a healer your main priority should be healing. Try to stay safe by finding places to hide out of the way where you're not the first target of your enemy. If you see someone die resurrect them as soon as possible. Play like this and you should be fine and recieve praise from all of the players around you.
Most importantly do your best, don't listen to the people who yell at you for not healing them. Chances are you probably did heal them and they didn't notice OR they ran straight into the mob of oncoming enemies only to be focus fired while out of your heal range which is really stupid.
Ranged DPS:
Order: Bright Wizard, Shadow Warrior, Engineer
Destruction: Sorceress, Squig Herder, Magus
So you want to DPS and not get into the middle of the action. Great! Now what?
First of all you have to hope that your team has some good tanks that play like the tanks that I suggested above. If your team doesn't have tanks you're basically screwed.
If you are being properly protected then you should be fine, if not you are probably 1 of the first targets. It's pretty easy to play RDPS. Coordinate with othe RDPSers and focus fire on their team. Follow the next easiest to kill method and you'll be fine. If you do it that way you are focusing on killing any ranged threats towards you and your team, then killing their healers which should be your specialty then assisting everyone else. Also think about eliminating the most immediate threat to yourself. So if someone breaks the line that your tanks have created kill them because they will come for you. Always hang back with your healers and other DPS. Never be the first person or even the third person that the enemy sees.
For the Engineer and Magus. Set up your Turrets or Pets in an opportune location. I would probably set it up between the tanks and healers or right in with the healers. That way you have the turret or pet protecting them from incoming enemies. Setting up near a flag also helps in flag scenarios. Once you are set-up then focus on assisting the other RDPS in your group or killing anyone who is close to your turret.
Basically as RDPS your job is to do tons of damage without getting killed. So kill the ones that will go down easy.
Melee DPS:
Order: White Lion, Witch Hunter
Destruction: Marauder, Witch Elf
As MDPS you're there to but a beat down on anyone and everyone provided you don't die. You are more effective alive than dead and you die pretty fast. Priority # 1 for any MDPS should be no dying. It's going to happen regardless just keep in mind that you should be trying as hard as you can to not die while putting the hurt on the other team.
Here's a few strategies that I have developed as a WH that I think will be useful for any MDPS. Think stealth tactics. Yes Witch Hunters and Witch Elves have stealth, but even stealth doesn't mean that you're playing with stealth. Marauders and White Lions can stealth as well just in a different way. As MDPS you really can't afford to get hit much or you're going to go down so be consious of when you enter into the fray. I usually wait with the healers for a few seconds before I engage the enemy. What this does is enables me to enter the fight basically unseen. Everyone will be engaged with someone at that point and healers will be busy healing. Run in, take down 1 target and run out. Run back in, take out another target run out. You are essentially a strike force. Doing this allows you to basically come into any fight unseen and exact your punishment on the squishies of the opposing realm all while you come back to your healers to ensure they are ok. When you run away from a fight most of the time people will just change targets because they don't want to bother chasing you or will change to the healer you are running towards which is a stupid move on their part. If that happens you're golden, help the healer out, you're going to win the fight. This is how you can survive and be quite effective in any fight.
Always remember you are a caster, healer, and MDPS killer. Don't bother with tanks unless you have help. Kill their key players and your team will surely be victorious.
Again none of this is class specific. I will work on getting some guides for different classes. This is just a general idea of what your class should probably be doing in RvR. If you have better ideas try them out and let me know what else works.
Happy Hunting :)
I'm going to take you through a little run down of how I believe each archtype of class should generally be played (in t1 of course). This is my opinion but if you follow this then make some tweaks for your class in specific then you should be golden.
In Warhammer Online there are 4 different types of class. Tanks, Healers, Ranged DPS and Melee DPS.
Tanks:
Order: Ironbreaker, Swordmaster, Knight of the Blazing Sun
Destruction: Black Guard, Black Orc, Chosen
There are many disputes over how a tank should be played. Lots of people will tell you that a tank should not DPS and should be there as a meatshield for squishier targets. Thus making a sword and sheild tank the most viable option in their eyes. They say a Two-Handed tank is useless. Honestly spec a tank however you want to play it. If you like surviving everything and couldn't care about doing damage then spec sword/sheild. If you like to weild a gigantic 2h sword then spec for it.
If you go with my theory in the Beginner's Guide (Part 2) and follow the next easiest to kill method that I use you will find that the last person that gets attacked (should get attacked) is a tank. So if you think about it this way then why even bother wearing a sheild, you might as well sacrifice your survivability for a bit more DPS. People may say why don't you just play a DPS class if you want to DPS. They don't understand the survivability of a 2h tank vs. a melee DPS.
Ok enough about how to spec, how do you RvR?
Well it's easy. You are there to take hits for the other classes that can't. You should be on the front line of your group. That way you set up a line that will protect the people behind you. Being the first target people see they will target you and try to kill you. This leaves the squishies behind you to open up on the healers of the other group. This is how I would recommend to fight when holding a choke point such as a keep's stairs or the different points in nordenwatch. It also allows for if any enemies squeak through your mdps and rdps hanging back there can kill them easily. If there aren't any choke points availible follow the next easiest to kill method. You will end up assisting with other players who are thinking the same or they will assist you. Kill the squishies then healers then the rest will be cake. If you head directly for these classes your enemy will notice and they will hit you, if they don't they are dumb. That's how you draw hits to protect your friends. If there are more than 1 healer and a teammate of yours is already attacking one assist them with that one. If you split to 1 healer each then each healer will be able to heal through the damage that you are doing.
During a keep seige get on the ram and establish a line at choke points inside the keep.
When a line is established always keep an eye on the people behind you as they may get jumped by a WE or WH. If you keep an eye on your healers they will notice and will remember to heal you.
Healers:
Order: Runepriest, Archmage, Warrior Priest
Destruction: Shaman, Zealot, Desciple of Khaine
Healers in this game have the option to do damage. Although it's great to do dmg I find that it takes away from the heals your teammates should be recieving from you. Do dmg when you are getting attacked then go back to healing when you're free. But again play how you want to play these are just my opinions.
#1 thing for healers to do to start off is to get the squared AddOn. This add on I say is essential to any healer. It provides a much cleaner easier healing grid to work with rather than trying to target people in game or using the default group window. As your friends lose health their box in squared will loose it's amount of green. All you need to do to heal them is click on their box in squared then use whichever heal you have that will help the most for that player provided they are in range. If your target is not in range to be healed then the squared box will grey out when you click on the box.
Watch the fight and watch squared and choose the healing targets appropriately. You need to watch the fight because if you don't you won't see people coming for you. When you get jumped by someone. Instantly start healing yourself...if you keep healing yourself someone on your team will notice that someone is on you and will kill them. If your health doesn't go down too much when you are attacked then keep an eye on your health and keep healing your group while giving yourself heals when you need them. You can also use your damage spells along with your heal spells.
For hybrid healers such as the Warrior Priest and Deciple of Khaine then you will need to be in the fight fighting. Fight with the tanks and heal when someone needs it. Your main priorities should be healing the people around you because they are the ones that will keep you alive.
As a healer your main priority should be healing. Try to stay safe by finding places to hide out of the way where you're not the first target of your enemy. If you see someone die resurrect them as soon as possible. Play like this and you should be fine and recieve praise from all of the players around you.
Most importantly do your best, don't listen to the people who yell at you for not healing them. Chances are you probably did heal them and they didn't notice OR they ran straight into the mob of oncoming enemies only to be focus fired while out of your heal range which is really stupid.
Ranged DPS:
Order: Bright Wizard, Shadow Warrior, Engineer
Destruction: Sorceress, Squig Herder, Magus
So you want to DPS and not get into the middle of the action. Great! Now what?
First of all you have to hope that your team has some good tanks that play like the tanks that I suggested above. If your team doesn't have tanks you're basically screwed.
If you are being properly protected then you should be fine, if not you are probably 1 of the first targets. It's pretty easy to play RDPS. Coordinate with othe RDPSers and focus fire on their team. Follow the next easiest to kill method and you'll be fine. If you do it that way you are focusing on killing any ranged threats towards you and your team, then killing their healers which should be your specialty then assisting everyone else. Also think about eliminating the most immediate threat to yourself. So if someone breaks the line that your tanks have created kill them because they will come for you. Always hang back with your healers and other DPS. Never be the first person or even the third person that the enemy sees.
For the Engineer and Magus. Set up your Turrets or Pets in an opportune location. I would probably set it up between the tanks and healers or right in with the healers. That way you have the turret or pet protecting them from incoming enemies. Setting up near a flag also helps in flag scenarios. Once you are set-up then focus on assisting the other RDPS in your group or killing anyone who is close to your turret.
Basically as RDPS your job is to do tons of damage without getting killed. So kill the ones that will go down easy.
Melee DPS:
Order: White Lion, Witch Hunter
Destruction: Marauder, Witch Elf
As MDPS you're there to but a beat down on anyone and everyone provided you don't die. You are more effective alive than dead and you die pretty fast. Priority # 1 for any MDPS should be no dying. It's going to happen regardless just keep in mind that you should be trying as hard as you can to not die while putting the hurt on the other team.
Here's a few strategies that I have developed as a WH that I think will be useful for any MDPS. Think stealth tactics. Yes Witch Hunters and Witch Elves have stealth, but even stealth doesn't mean that you're playing with stealth. Marauders and White Lions can stealth as well just in a different way. As MDPS you really can't afford to get hit much or you're going to go down so be consious of when you enter into the fray. I usually wait with the healers for a few seconds before I engage the enemy. What this does is enables me to enter the fight basically unseen. Everyone will be engaged with someone at that point and healers will be busy healing. Run in, take down 1 target and run out. Run back in, take out another target run out. You are essentially a strike force. Doing this allows you to basically come into any fight unseen and exact your punishment on the squishies of the opposing realm all while you come back to your healers to ensure they are ok. When you run away from a fight most of the time people will just change targets because they don't want to bother chasing you or will change to the healer you are running towards which is a stupid move on their part. If that happens you're golden, help the healer out, you're going to win the fight. This is how you can survive and be quite effective in any fight.
Always remember you are a caster, healer, and MDPS killer. Don't bother with tanks unless you have help. Kill their key players and your team will surely be victorious.
Again none of this is class specific. I will work on getting some guides for different classes. This is just a general idea of what your class should probably be doing in RvR. If you have better ideas try them out and let me know what else works.
Happy Hunting :)
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Warhammer Online: A Beginner's Guide (Part 2)
This is a continuation of the previous blog entry. If you're reading this before you've read that I would suggest going back and reading part 1.
Last time I ended off with PQ's. PQ's are a great way to get gear while you're leveling. If you finish the whole PQ with a group then you get to roll on some loot. You also get loot from filling each 1/3 of the influence bar. You can get a Basic reward, then an Advanced reward, then an Elite reward. Depending on the PQ chapter you are completeing the rewards will be different. However they will always be something useful for your class. This gear is better than the renown gear you get from the renown gear merchants. But the merchant gear is good enough if you don't want to PQ.
One of the really cool points of this game is that you can start to RvR or "PvP" right of the get go. If you log into the game and only want to fight against other players then you can. Anytime you enter an RvR zone when you are lower level in your tier you get something called a bolster. The bolster increases the HP of your character as if you were lvl 8, 18, 28, or 38 depending on the tier you are in. This allows for a more "balanced" gameplay ad allows people to xp soley by killing others.
There are two ways to RvR in this game. Scenarios and Open RvR. I touched on open rvr in the previous post. Basically in the middle of the two zones for the tier is a big red area on your map. That's the rvr lake. Simply walk into there, within 10 seconds you will be flagged for RvR then you are ready to fight other people. If you're alone I wouldn't recommend doing this type of rvr until you're over lvl 8. But in a group you should be fine.
The other way to RvR is by playing scenarios. Senarios are basically mini instanced rvr games that are somewhat balanced and have a time limit. If you were going to compare scenarios to anything I would compare it to an online FPS game. The game that it will really remind you of is Team Fortress 2. There are different types of scenarios. I will get into them later until that I'll let you figure out what to do in them.
In order to join a scenario you have to queue for it. If you look at the mini-map on the top right side of the screen you will see a little circle off to the left side. Click on that circle then click on join all. The circle should turn a throbbing orange. That's how you know that you're queued for a scenario. You can go do anything while you're queued for the scenario as long as you stay in your tier. The queue waits for enough people from both realms to queue for a scenario. When it's ready a box will pop up and ask you if you would like to join the scenario, join in a minute, or cancel your queue. If you are currently engaged in combat "Join the scenario" will be blacked out until your fight is finished. If you are fighting I would recommend hitting join in a minute.
You will automatically be teleported to one of 3 scenarios for your tier. Since you're just beginning I'll tell you about the 3 tier 1 scenarios Nordenwatch, Khaines Embrace, and Gates of Ekrund.
Nordenwatch:
This has been the most popular scenario since the game came out a few months ago. There are three capture points in this map. One by Order's spawn camp called The Lighthouse or LH for short. One by Destruction's spawn camp called The Barracks. And one exactly as far away from either spawn camp called The Fortress.
You can hear many different strategies in nordenwatch but the most readily excepted strategy is to take the fortress or fort first then defend it from being capped by the other team. On each side of the fortress there is a choke point. If you can hold that choke point you will win the scenario. Destro's choke point for Order is the bridge that they have to cross to get to fort. Order's choke point is between the wall of the fortress and the rocks to their left.
Once the scenario starts everyone should run straight to the fortress except 1 person who will stay and capture the point by your spawn point. To capture a spawn point you just need to stand in it's vicinity with no enemies in the area and wait until you capture the point.
Your first priority as a group hitting the fortress should be to get to the choke point and hold it. Anyone that slips through the line can be focused down by anyone in the back. Tanks should not let anyone pass to get to the healers, if they take out your healers then your group is toast. Your side should be hitting their healers and casters as quickly as possible. Here's how I always think when selecting targets. Kill the next easiest one to kill. If you think that way then you'll be killing casters, healers, mdps, then anyone left. This is a very effective way to win any fight. If you eliminate their fire power then their ability to heal, while keeping your fire power and healers alive then you are going to win the fight.
Once the initial fight is over hold that choke point until your team hits 500 points and you win. Most of the time when the fortress is taken and held the other team will try to take the point by your spawn camp, DO NOT LEAVE THE FORTRESS to defend the point close to your camp. As people die they will be able to fight for it while most of your team holds the fort.
Khaine's Embrace:
Khaines Embrace has two capture points. One for Order and one for Destro. In order to win the scenario you must capture both points as many times as you can until you either hit 500 pts or the 15 minute time ends. To capture a point in Khaine's Embrace you must right click on the shaft of the flag.
The strategy for this one is simple. Defend your flag while trying to capture theirs. There are a few different routes from each point to the other. This is why it's always necessary to have someone guard your flag. if there's no one too call out when the flag is under attack then you're just letting them win. Once the two flags have been capped by one of the teams it gives the other team 10 seconds to try to capture a flag back. If that doesn't happen then there is an explosion "Khaines Wrath" that destroys everybody within a certain radius of each flag. So if you notice both flags get capped then run to a safe area until after the explosion. After the explosion both flags reset and can be taken almost immediately.
Gates of Ekrund:
This scenario is very similar to Nordenwatch. There are 3 capture points that you cap by standing beside. The scenario map is much smaller however and feels very close quarters.
The strategy for this scenario is to take the Gate Switch point first and hold it. You can cap the flag close to your spawn point after or leave 1 person there just like nordenwatch. The biggest difference with this scenario is the enemies can attack the Gate Switch from two different areas. Upstairs and Downstairs. The best way to cap the gate switch is to hold the other team at the choke points for both up and downstairs. Most of the attackers are usually upstairs especially the healers. As an MDPS I usually stay down until my tanks have had a chance to get up and have aggro on themselves. Then I go up to the top area and kill squishies and healers. Since I came in after the fact most people don't even realize i'm there until their sorc or healer is dead. My tanks get aggro'd because they are all up in the face and everyone's paying attention to them.
This should help you get up to the second tier with no real problems. So get going and have some fun!
Last time I ended off with PQ's. PQ's are a great way to get gear while you're leveling. If you finish the whole PQ with a group then you get to roll on some loot. You also get loot from filling each 1/3 of the influence bar. You can get a Basic reward, then an Advanced reward, then an Elite reward. Depending on the PQ chapter you are completeing the rewards will be different. However they will always be something useful for your class. This gear is better than the renown gear you get from the renown gear merchants. But the merchant gear is good enough if you don't want to PQ.
One of the really cool points of this game is that you can start to RvR or "PvP" right of the get go. If you log into the game and only want to fight against other players then you can. Anytime you enter an RvR zone when you are lower level in your tier you get something called a bolster. The bolster increases the HP of your character as if you were lvl 8, 18, 28, or 38 depending on the tier you are in. This allows for a more "balanced" gameplay ad allows people to xp soley by killing others.
There are two ways to RvR in this game. Scenarios and Open RvR. I touched on open rvr in the previous post. Basically in the middle of the two zones for the tier is a big red area on your map. That's the rvr lake. Simply walk into there, within 10 seconds you will be flagged for RvR then you are ready to fight other people. If you're alone I wouldn't recommend doing this type of rvr until you're over lvl 8. But in a group you should be fine.
The other way to RvR is by playing scenarios. Senarios are basically mini instanced rvr games that are somewhat balanced and have a time limit. If you were going to compare scenarios to anything I would compare it to an online FPS game. The game that it will really remind you of is Team Fortress 2. There are different types of scenarios. I will get into them later until that I'll let you figure out what to do in them.
In order to join a scenario you have to queue for it. If you look at the mini-map on the top right side of the screen you will see a little circle off to the left side. Click on that circle then click on join all. The circle should turn a throbbing orange. That's how you know that you're queued for a scenario. You can go do anything while you're queued for the scenario as long as you stay in your tier. The queue waits for enough people from both realms to queue for a scenario. When it's ready a box will pop up and ask you if you would like to join the scenario, join in a minute, or cancel your queue. If you are currently engaged in combat "Join the scenario" will be blacked out until your fight is finished. If you are fighting I would recommend hitting join in a minute.
You will automatically be teleported to one of 3 scenarios for your tier. Since you're just beginning I'll tell you about the 3 tier 1 scenarios Nordenwatch, Khaines Embrace, and Gates of Ekrund.
Nordenwatch:
This has been the most popular scenario since the game came out a few months ago. There are three capture points in this map. One by Order's spawn camp called The Lighthouse or LH for short. One by Destruction's spawn camp called The Barracks. And one exactly as far away from either spawn camp called The Fortress.
You can hear many different strategies in nordenwatch but the most readily excepted strategy is to take the fortress or fort first then defend it from being capped by the other team. On each side of the fortress there is a choke point. If you can hold that choke point you will win the scenario. Destro's choke point for Order is the bridge that they have to cross to get to fort. Order's choke point is between the wall of the fortress and the rocks to their left.
Once the scenario starts everyone should run straight to the fortress except 1 person who will stay and capture the point by your spawn point. To capture a spawn point you just need to stand in it's vicinity with no enemies in the area and wait until you capture the point.
Your first priority as a group hitting the fortress should be to get to the choke point and hold it. Anyone that slips through the line can be focused down by anyone in the back. Tanks should not let anyone pass to get to the healers, if they take out your healers then your group is toast. Your side should be hitting their healers and casters as quickly as possible. Here's how I always think when selecting targets. Kill the next easiest one to kill. If you think that way then you'll be killing casters, healers, mdps, then anyone left. This is a very effective way to win any fight. If you eliminate their fire power then their ability to heal, while keeping your fire power and healers alive then you are going to win the fight.
Once the initial fight is over hold that choke point until your team hits 500 points and you win. Most of the time when the fortress is taken and held the other team will try to take the point by your spawn camp, DO NOT LEAVE THE FORTRESS to defend the point close to your camp. As people die they will be able to fight for it while most of your team holds the fort.
Khaine's Embrace:
Khaines Embrace has two capture points. One for Order and one for Destro. In order to win the scenario you must capture both points as many times as you can until you either hit 500 pts or the 15 minute time ends. To capture a point in Khaine's Embrace you must right click on the shaft of the flag.
The strategy for this one is simple. Defend your flag while trying to capture theirs. There are a few different routes from each point to the other. This is why it's always necessary to have someone guard your flag. if there's no one too call out when the flag is under attack then you're just letting them win. Once the two flags have been capped by one of the teams it gives the other team 10 seconds to try to capture a flag back. If that doesn't happen then there is an explosion "Khaines Wrath" that destroys everybody within a certain radius of each flag. So if you notice both flags get capped then run to a safe area until after the explosion. After the explosion both flags reset and can be taken almost immediately.
Gates of Ekrund:
This scenario is very similar to Nordenwatch. There are 3 capture points that you cap by standing beside. The scenario map is much smaller however and feels very close quarters.
The strategy for this scenario is to take the Gate Switch point first and hold it. You can cap the flag close to your spawn point after or leave 1 person there just like nordenwatch. The biggest difference with this scenario is the enemies can attack the Gate Switch from two different areas. Upstairs and Downstairs. The best way to cap the gate switch is to hold the other team at the choke points for both up and downstairs. Most of the attackers are usually upstairs especially the healers. As an MDPS I usually stay down until my tanks have had a chance to get up and have aggro on themselves. Then I go up to the top area and kill squishies and healers. Since I came in after the fact most people don't even realize i'm there until their sorc or healer is dead. My tanks get aggro'd because they are all up in the face and everyone's paying attention to them.
This should help you get up to the second tier with no real problems. So get going and have some fun!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Warhammer Online: A Beginner's Guide
Here's the beginning of my beginner's guide to WAR.
When you first log into the game you're going to have a few decisions to make.
What server are you going to play on?
If you have friends playing on a specific server you might as well join them, this game is exponentially more fun with guildies to play with. That being said you by no means need to have friends in-game already to enjoy WAR.
First there are different types of servers to play on. Core, Open RvR, and Roleplay.
Core servers are your basic servers that you would find in any game. The include pve and rvr areas. You can venture to the opposing realms pve areas and can "flag" for rvr fighting if you choose to do so or you can fight people in the rvr "lakes" as they are called.
Open RvR servers are a ruleset similar to a PvP ruleset server you would find in other games. Basically you can go anywhere and find your enemies to fight and kill them.
Roleplay servers are Core ruleset servers with the addition of a roleplay rule set. On these types of servers you are expected to create a character with a name that would fit the game world and you need to roleplay as your character in the world.
Here's a list of servers you may want to play on:
Core: Red Eye Mountain, Skull Throne, Volkmar, Sylvania.
Open RvR: Can't recommend any because I haven't played on them.
Roleplay: Phoenix Throne and Ostermark.
A good way to choose a server that you will be happy with is to log on during prime-time 7:00-10:00 EST and find which servers have a med or high population. Population matters in this game because rvr relies on having other people to fight.
Once you have chosen your server you will need to decide what Realm (or Faction) that you want to play for. Do you want to be the good guys with Humans, Elves and Dwarves? Or the bad guys with Orcs, Goblins, Chaos, and Dark Elves? Take a look at the class descriptions either in game or here http://www.warhammeronline.com/armiesofWAR/index.php. That way you'll have a good idea what you're getting into. Personally I play order and I really enjoy it.
If you've played previous MMO's and know what type of class you most enjoy playing then try the class that seems most like what you like to play. Or the class that interests you the most.
When I started playing I couldn't decide what class I liked so I basically tried them all to get an idea of how they played. Which is also a good way to choose a class.
Once you choose your class of choice, create your character and log in...
You will be presented with a little video with a voice over as you log in to the starting area for your race. Pick up as many quests as you can in the starter area. At this point you are in Tier 1 of 4. As you continue through the game you will get to higher teirs as you level up.
The tiers each have 2 zones, one for the lower level half of the tier and one for the higher level half of the tier. In the middle of both teirs on your map is a red zone which is called the RvR "lake."
The levels for the teirs work as follows.
Tier 1: 1-11
Tier 2: 12-21
Teir 3: 22-31
Teir 4: 32-40
You are able to travel to higher teirs but the mobs in the higher teir may be too high for you to fight. However, if you're close to the last levels of the tier you're in then you will find going to the next tier will give you better xp.
In each teir there are 4 chapters each with their own chapter hub. A chapter hub is where you can go to pick up quests and get influence rewards for the Public Quests that you have completed.
The quest system in the game is great. Once you accept a quest you will have an outline of the quest on the right side of your UI as well as red "lakes" on your map for where the quest area is for each specific quest. On your map if you hover over the red lake it will tell you which quest is there and what needs to be completed in that area. Anyone with green over their head or a green dot on the mini map will give you a quest. Anyone with a yellow circle on the mini-map has given you a quest to complete. Anyone with an orance circle above their head or on the mini-map is someone who you need to speak with to get the xp and reward for a quest that you've completed.
Public quests are a great way to get gear while you are leveling up. While completing your quests you will run across areas that are called public quests. After you have found them they will appear as a treasure chest on your map. Once you reach a public quest you will see in your top rigth corner to the left of the mini-map a bar that measures your Influence as well as something that needs to be completed. If you click on that bar it will open your Tome of Knowledge and show you the rewards availible for that chapter. Usually a public quest starts with kill x amount of x. Once this is complete Stage 2 will begin. Usually stage 2 deals with killing x amount of champions, you will not be able to complete this stage along. Stage 3 is usually kill a Named Hero. You will not have to worry about going to find them as they all spawn in the PQ area.
Everytime you kill something for the public quest or finish a stage you will recieve Influence xp. Your influence bar is divided into thirds. At each third you will be able to recieve a new reward from the rally master of that specific chapter hub.
Give it a go for now. That is definatly enough to get anyone started. Yes it's mostly PVE but we'll get to the RvR in future posts.
When you first log into the game you're going to have a few decisions to make.
What server are you going to play on?
If you have friends playing on a specific server you might as well join them, this game is exponentially more fun with guildies to play with. That being said you by no means need to have friends in-game already to enjoy WAR.
First there are different types of servers to play on. Core, Open RvR, and Roleplay.
Core servers are your basic servers that you would find in any game. The include pve and rvr areas. You can venture to the opposing realms pve areas and can "flag" for rvr fighting if you choose to do so or you can fight people in the rvr "lakes" as they are called.
Open RvR servers are a ruleset similar to a PvP ruleset server you would find in other games. Basically you can go anywhere and find your enemies to fight and kill them.
Roleplay servers are Core ruleset servers with the addition of a roleplay rule set. On these types of servers you are expected to create a character with a name that would fit the game world and you need to roleplay as your character in the world.
Here's a list of servers you may want to play on:
Core: Red Eye Mountain, Skull Throne, Volkmar, Sylvania.
Open RvR: Can't recommend any because I haven't played on them.
Roleplay: Phoenix Throne and Ostermark.
A good way to choose a server that you will be happy with is to log on during prime-time 7:00-10:00 EST and find which servers have a med or high population. Population matters in this game because rvr relies on having other people to fight.
Once you have chosen your server you will need to decide what Realm (or Faction) that you want to play for. Do you want to be the good guys with Humans, Elves and Dwarves? Or the bad guys with Orcs, Goblins, Chaos, and Dark Elves? Take a look at the class descriptions either in game or here http://www.warhammeronline.com/armiesofWAR/index.php. That way you'll have a good idea what you're getting into. Personally I play order and I really enjoy it.
If you've played previous MMO's and know what type of class you most enjoy playing then try the class that seems most like what you like to play. Or the class that interests you the most.
When I started playing I couldn't decide what class I liked so I basically tried them all to get an idea of how they played. Which is also a good way to choose a class.
Once you choose your class of choice, create your character and log in...
You will be presented with a little video with a voice over as you log in to the starting area for your race. Pick up as many quests as you can in the starter area. At this point you are in Tier 1 of 4. As you continue through the game you will get to higher teirs as you level up.
The tiers each have 2 zones, one for the lower level half of the tier and one for the higher level half of the tier. In the middle of both teirs on your map is a red zone which is called the RvR "lake."
The levels for the teirs work as follows.
Tier 1: 1-11
Tier 2: 12-21
Teir 3: 22-31
Teir 4: 32-40
You are able to travel to higher teirs but the mobs in the higher teir may be too high for you to fight. However, if you're close to the last levels of the tier you're in then you will find going to the next tier will give you better xp.
In each teir there are 4 chapters each with their own chapter hub. A chapter hub is where you can go to pick up quests and get influence rewards for the Public Quests that you have completed.
The quest system in the game is great. Once you accept a quest you will have an outline of the quest on the right side of your UI as well as red "lakes" on your map for where the quest area is for each specific quest. On your map if you hover over the red lake it will tell you which quest is there and what needs to be completed in that area. Anyone with green over their head or a green dot on the mini map will give you a quest. Anyone with a yellow circle on the mini-map has given you a quest to complete. Anyone with an orance circle above their head or on the mini-map is someone who you need to speak with to get the xp and reward for a quest that you've completed.
Public quests are a great way to get gear while you are leveling up. While completing your quests you will run across areas that are called public quests. After you have found them they will appear as a treasure chest on your map. Once you reach a public quest you will see in your top rigth corner to the left of the mini-map a bar that measures your Influence as well as something that needs to be completed. If you click on that bar it will open your Tome of Knowledge and show you the rewards availible for that chapter. Usually a public quest starts with kill x amount of x. Once this is complete Stage 2 will begin. Usually stage 2 deals with killing x amount of champions, you will not be able to complete this stage along. Stage 3 is usually kill a Named Hero. You will not have to worry about going to find them as they all spawn in the PQ area.
Everytime you kill something for the public quest or finish a stage you will recieve Influence xp. Your influence bar is divided into thirds. At each third you will be able to recieve a new reward from the rally master of that specific chapter hub.
Give it a go for now. That is definatly enough to get anyone started. Yes it's mostly PVE but we'll get to the RvR in future posts.
To start: A history lesson...
For my first post here I think I should give a little info about myself and how I came to be where I am. My name's Mike Hamilton, I've been an avid video gamer since I got my first nintendo back in 1985. I played lots of games through my years...mostly on my PC. My favs had to be any type of flight sim (including space sims), racing sim, nhl game etc.
The first game I ever played online was Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed (best NFS game ever...besides maybe Hot Pursuit 2). At the time I was a competitive swimmer and had quite the competitive spirit. Online games gave me the outlet to be competitive with people all around the world and I found that awesome. Then I found out about Diablo, my buddy told me to get it because he could get me some hacks and we could run around with the best gear and pk everyone we wanted. Even though I did cheat, I had a great time playing that game and running through dungeons with random people killing mobs for the hell of it. I didn't realize it at that time but I was preparing myself for the type of game that I absolutely fell in love with. MMO's.
Because I could have been considered somewhat of a "jock" in those days I thought games like EQ were pretty damn nerdy. I thought they were pretty dumb, running around pretending to be an elf or whatever. I used to make fun of my friend's bro for playing games like that. I just didn't understand.
Obviously I came around, I'm not sure what sparked the turn around but it happened. I had expressed some interest in maybe trying a MMO with a PvP aspect to it to a dude that I was working with at the time...and asked him if EQ or WoW would give me what I was looking for. He told me yeah possibly but how does this sound to you.
"Imagine you're just one guy, running with 100 other guys on other computers and all of a sudden 150 "enemy players" come over a hill and start attacking you. You run into a tower and start pouring hot oil all over them and trying to defend the tower. The PvP is absolutly epic and 100's vs. 100's is a regular occurance. Does that sound like the game you're looking for?"
It of course was exactly what I was looking for. I started a free trial to DAoC and never looked back. It was the Realm vs. Realm fights that drew me into that game and the RvR fights that held me in that game for 5 years. The chance to have epic battles fighting other players has to be the best videogame design I have seen in my entire life. There were so many aspects to keep RvR fun! You could run around solo looking for other solos to kill, run in a group of 8 and fight other groups, you could run in a zerg and take keeps and towers.
I was so excited when I heard mythic was developing Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, yes DAoC was nice but I was also excited to see what else they could do with RvR. So WAR has been different than I expected but it's still a great game! Great enough for me to blog about.
So here we go....let the Realm vs. Realm begin....
The first game I ever played online was Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed (best NFS game ever...besides maybe Hot Pursuit 2). At the time I was a competitive swimmer and had quite the competitive spirit. Online games gave me the outlet to be competitive with people all around the world and I found that awesome. Then I found out about Diablo, my buddy told me to get it because he could get me some hacks and we could run around with the best gear and pk everyone we wanted. Even though I did cheat, I had a great time playing that game and running through dungeons with random people killing mobs for the hell of it. I didn't realize it at that time but I was preparing myself for the type of game that I absolutely fell in love with. MMO's.
Because I could have been considered somewhat of a "jock" in those days I thought games like EQ were pretty damn nerdy. I thought they were pretty dumb, running around pretending to be an elf or whatever. I used to make fun of my friend's bro for playing games like that. I just didn't understand.
Obviously I came around, I'm not sure what sparked the turn around but it happened. I had expressed some interest in maybe trying a MMO with a PvP aspect to it to a dude that I was working with at the time...and asked him if EQ or WoW would give me what I was looking for. He told me yeah possibly but how does this sound to you.
"Imagine you're just one guy, running with 100 other guys on other computers and all of a sudden 150 "enemy players" come over a hill and start attacking you. You run into a tower and start pouring hot oil all over them and trying to defend the tower. The PvP is absolutly epic and 100's vs. 100's is a regular occurance. Does that sound like the game you're looking for?"
It of course was exactly what I was looking for. I started a free trial to DAoC and never looked back. It was the Realm vs. Realm fights that drew me into that game and the RvR fights that held me in that game for 5 years. The chance to have epic battles fighting other players has to be the best videogame design I have seen in my entire life. There were so many aspects to keep RvR fun! You could run around solo looking for other solos to kill, run in a group of 8 and fight other groups, you could run in a zerg and take keeps and towers.
I was so excited when I heard mythic was developing Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, yes DAoC was nice but I was also excited to see what else they could do with RvR. So WAR has been different than I expected but it's still a great game! Great enough for me to blog about.
So here we go....let the Realm vs. Realm begin....
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