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!