11 days and counting.

The blog is here!

In this space I'll just be posting tidbits of news from around the WAR world as well as guild news of interest.

Today, first and foremost, a tribute to hot elven ass.

Oh hot elven ass, how long have we waited?

In EQ you were too blocky

In Lineage you were too slutty

In DAOC you were.. covered by some weird outfit

In WoW you were too bubbly

But now at last, a tasteful elf-next-door ass.

Drink it in gamers!

I'd also like to take a moment to discuss some of the recent announcements from the latest patch notes. Mythic briefly explains the new server ruleset to us thusly:

"Open RvR Server Ruleset

Are you ready for the next challenge in RvR? Do you love the adrenaline rush of always having to look behind your back for the enemy? If so, then we welcome you to Open RvR, where you will either shine or falter in a constant battle for glory! Battle your enemies outside of the RvR lakes and affect the fate of your realm! Your Chapter 1 hub and your capital city are the only locations in the game where you have safe confines, of course that is until your city becomes under attack.

Rules:

• Players are always RvR flagged from the moment they log in
• Chapter 1 hubs and capital cities are safe
• There is no bolster buff in RvR lakes
• Players will be chickened when entering lower tiers of content"

Sounds like it could be fun. But it does beg a few things to question. I for one am not planning to play on this server type for a few reasons.

1. Constant player collision everywhere in the world means lots of opportunity for annoying people to block merchants etc...

2. Public quests will likely be the biggest target for griefers. IE: go in half way through a PQ and gank the people doing it, then finish it and claim the prize, forcing them to start all over.

3. Quest areas are highlighted in red, so all I'd need to do is figure out where the most quests take place and just hang out there griefing people.... no thanks.

They describe some changes in RvR content in the following note:

"RvR Content Updates

• Keep Lords, Fortress Lords and Accompanying Guards: All have had their horizontal tethers increased significantly. The Z tether remains short to keep the Lords on the second floor.
• Sergeants, Keep Lords and Fortress Lords: All have new abilities with which to defend their stations in the RvR Lakes
• Sergeants, Keep Lords and Fortress Lords: All have had their levels and con normalized between Tiers 1 through 4. This has resulted in a substantial level reduction in Tier 3 Keeps to bring the NPCs more in line with the player level ranges of that Tier.
• RvR banners: RvR banners have been added to the entrances and exits of each warcamp in order to denote realm Tier control. Banners will also be located at most RvR lake entrances. Upon entering an RvR lake, Order banners will be on the right and Destruction on the left if a Tier is contested. If a realm controls a tier, both banners will change to represent the controlling realm."

First off, I like that they addressed the keep lord issue. There was a lot of trouble with keep guards/lords becoming un-attackable in the closed beta due to pathing/tethering issues. I also like the idea of RvR banners, even though we can just look at the map or the UI to see how the battle is faring. It's yet another visual representation, and I like that.

There was a ton of other stuff discussed in the latest patch notes, but much of it was improvements and tweaks and balancing changes. Here are a couple of other key points of interest:

• Auction houses are up and located in capital cities
• Guild and personal vaults are up and located in capital cities
• Guild taxation is up and functioning
• NPC pathing and pet AI has been drastically improved
• Advanced graphics options in settings menu

That's all for this post, but stay tuned and WAAAGH!

-MAUL0r