Open Beta is a GO! So where are we playing?

Open Beta is UP!

Fleabowitz, Zantosa and I will be playing on the following servers:

Abhorash – Order realm
Charce – Destruction realm

Altdorf and Flight Paths

I took Fatleia (my pudgy dwarf rune priest) on walkabout in search of the first flight path. By default, it looks like you can fly to any friendly zone within your level. I flew over to the Empire starting zone to meetup with Oneputt and Zantosa who are also trying out Empire characters. I noticed that Altdorf was open as well, so decided to take a look. The Empire main city is quite impressive. The Flight path dumps you out in the main market and the first roaming quest giver sends you off to explore the city. It’s massive. It seemed like every 50 feet a new discovery would appear along with content for the Tome and an Exp tick! I was able to explore the entire city but was unable to figure out how to talk with an auctioneer merchant. After completing the discovery quest I headed back to the Empire starting zone and trekked back to the noob era. I leveled Fatleia up to almost 6 and I think the next login I’ll take my Archmage FawnLeabowitz for a spin.

I’m definitely enjoying the Rune Priest class. At level five the class learns a shield spell (which wipes aggro/threat) and an instant cast ranged DPS spell. Also handy are the level 4 DoT and HoT spells that you can cast while running. I like how Mythic, in a common theme, wants their support class players to engage in battle. All support classes I’ve played to date have nice (not all TOO powerful but nice) DPS options so the player isn’t relegated to the corner as the sole healing monkey. It’s nice to contribute to the battle

On Zone Flight:

The travel is instant and requires very little loading time. Nice. A few minor issues: 1. I don’t like the Baron Munchausen flying contraption that the dwarfs use. I’m not sure if the other races have to use the gimpy prop pack…it’s just not cool at all. 2. The graphic sequence is also bumpy and feels a bit out of place. In all I’m happy with in game transit, it’s quick and intuitive. No more bathroom breaks while waiting for your character to fly across a continent…

Tier zone paths and Zealot, Marauder and Chosen first impressions

I like Syp over at Waaagh! He does a good job on his blog and analysis of WAR.

For Flea, he has a nice first impression of the Zealot.
For Zantosa (hai Zan!), check out his first impression of the Marauder and Chosen.

But Syp answered a question that Flea and I had about the world map and the blue and red lines or paths between each tier. We didn’t understand it. Syp explains it well in his Zealot impressions write-up. Look towards the bottom of the article.

Via First Impressions – Zealot:

…for each tier, there are two zones (three in tier four). Order starts out in one of the tier one zones, Destruction in the other. The zones are designed in a semi-linear fashion (although not entirely) to have a path you can follow that takes you through the different areas to PQs, warcamps and so on.

If you stick with the path and quest along the way, you’ll generally level up high enough for the challenge of the area.The thing is, this path will take you right into the OTHER tier one zone, and here’s where the world PvP comes into play. At the point where the two paths either collide or get near enough together, there’s a PvP area and objective – so players of both factions, as they travel along, are enticed to join the fight before moving on. Then you continue through the other side’s tier one on a unique path that they generally can’t access easily … that’s somewhat higher in level than all of the content you’ve just done.

These paths continue to intertwine between the two zones per tier all the way up through tier 4. If you take a look at the world map, there are blue and red lines that show you the progression you’ll be taking through that area. It’s quite ingenious…

Realm War is working

Just for fun. Here is Oneputt currently. I can’t play much until Sunday afternoon. See you guys soon! Can’t wait to get more WAR!

Oneputt | Warhammer Realm War>>

Preorder and open beta download instructions

I just realized that some people may have missed preorder instructions for whatever reason. Amazon for example didn’t provide clear instructions unlike the preorder boxes. Well I’m here to help! After the jump, get all your preorder instructions and download links! You will need your keys. Where those are located, is up to you!

Preorder and Open Beta client download instructions>> [Official Site]

Chickening Poll – What’s your take?

Preview Weekend – Part 2

As Oneputt said below we are going to be diving into preview weekend 2 this weekend.  Lets hope Hanna doesn’t take out my power!!

I played for a while last night and really enjoyed the Empire starting area.  It felt reminiscent to the northern area of South Shore (WoW).  I played the Warrior priest up to level 4 and started to lose a interest in the class.  I’m not a HUGE fan of the action points system over traditional mana and I’m more inclined to play a casting/support vs. mele/support class.

The second character I created on the Abhorash Server – Fatleia- Rune Priest.  The Dwarf starting area is what you’d expect from Dwarf land….underground, cannons, forges….I felt like I was in Iron Forge.  (after playing WoW for 31 in game days the comparisons are inevitable).  The Rune priest is much of more of a ranged caster/healer and I found the game play was much more enjoyable.  I only played this character to level 3 however I think I’ll spend my preview time with my Fatleia because I think this will be a nice fit for me if we decided to play Order.  I think I’ll take a stab at traveling this character over to the Empire zone.

Lastly I created a Elf charcter – FawnLeebowitz – Archmage.  I ran around for about 5 minutes and honestly, I just don’t like the Elf zone.  I think the elves are a bit overplayed at this point from a personal point of view. (my days in WoW was at the controls of a night elf).  I’m ready for a change.

Overall thoughts so far on the enhancement made for this second preview:

Graphics and Animation are much more refined.  They’ve also introduced advanced interface options accessable from the main menu.  I took a quick look but was maxed out on everything and the game was running flawlessly.  Chacacter animations for casting and striking are also better but stil could use some work.  I wish the clipping wasn’t so obvious.  I was fighting squibs and each strike by the squib would go through my character and half of it’s body would also clip through the floor.  It just didn’t look good at all and was a bit distracting.

Map:  World map finally makes sense!  I can see where I am in relation to the other races.

Open Quests:  support/healing seems like it’s more balanced from a point perspetive.  I joined in half way through on encounter, threw up about 10 heals and rolled 6th when the scenario was complete!  My 6th place also won me a bag, nice.  I like that rewards are no longer distributed to only the top three.

Targeting:  two weeks ago it was almost impossible to quickly target and throw up heals with my zealot.  Last night i was able to quickly target through my fellow players and throw up numerous heals, making the support job more fun than frustrating!!

I’ll report more later this weekend after I have more time behind the screen.

Where are we?

Wanted to let eveyrone know where Flea and I will be playing during the PW+ and Open Beta. Flea is reporting all Destruction races are full! Crazy and expected. I bet Mythic is forcing people to play Order to help draw some players away on launch. Anyways, this is where we are starting. See you in-game!

Server Abhorash – Order
Fleabowitz – Warrior Priest
Oneputt – Bright Wizard

Patch 4.1 out and Open RvR thoughts

With the opening of Preview Weekend+ today and Open Beta launching this Sunday, path 4.1 was released today! Reading the highlights over at Waaagh! there is very exciting improvements from the last PW Flea and I played in: auction house is launched, class overhauls like the Magus (YES!), AI and pathing issues, and updates to the Open RvR ruleset!

Flea and I have been discussing which server type to play. We are big fans of all out, full PvP. We think it provides the best gameplay and the real way to play a MMO. Sure, it can be fucking frustrating but it also has it’s fun rewards. Makes things exciting. However, I have some concerns over the Open RvR ruleset. It all relates to “chickening” or the process you turn in to a 1 hit point chicken if you are a high level player entering low level tiers. For example, if I am Tier 3 equivalent level, I will turn in to a chicken when I enter Tier 1.

Pros

• No griefing of low level players by very high players
• Keeps the low level RvR in these zones on the same level: itemization, player abilities and stats and to a degree player skill will be more even (yes there is a diff b/w a lvl 10 and lvl 1 but nothing like lvl 40 to lvl 1)
• Helps in terms of leveling and learning your class: always having a high level player around, you don’t have to do anything in quests except /follow; this ensures those players are learning how to play their toon and in a group

Cons

• Unable to help level your low level friends or guild mates
• Hard to help out friends or players when they are being griefed by higher non-chickened players
• Tome! The tome is an amazing feature in this game. Let’s say I get to lvl 40 but want to go back to the tier 1 zones to unlock a bunch of Tome exploration, quests or other items to unlock
• What happens when a realm wins RvR? As I understand, the servers “reset.” What does that really mean for my high level player?

All of, at least at this time, applies to the Open RvR ruleset. Is this really open RvR then?

On the other hand, in the Core RvR ruleset (PvE with some Open RvR “lakes” in zones) you are free to go back to low level tiers to de exactly what I point out in the con section.

In terms of overall enjoyment and gameplay, I’m conflicted. I don’t want to feel “locked” if I’m a high level player and not be able to explore those low level areas again; especially after a lengthy time investment on my toon. Yet on a Core server, I’ll be able to do this but only get the enjoyment in the RvR lakes.

I understand the design reasons behind these rulesets but in terms of choosing a server to play on… But I have read Open RvR will not be active at launch but that isn’t rinal.

Regardless, it will be interesting to see how this all unfolds.

Patch 4.1 Thoughts>>
Full 4.1 Patch Notes>>

Free WAR title – The Validated – Woohoo!

Ha ha! Nice! I just discovered you can get a free title by validating your email address in the EAMythic account center. Login and you should see a large orange bar that asks you to validate your email for the free title “The Validated”. Simple enough!

The Validated>>