MAUL0r WAAAGHs

This week's screenshot of the week

2008-09-28T16:56:00.001-07:00

Sometimes it's nice to just lay back and enjoy the scenery ;)

Screenshot of the week: FATTY!

2008-09-22T12:29:00.000-07:00

This week a screenshot from Troll Country. This is the boss of a public quest that involves killing tons of nurgles, a few pleaguebearers, and finally this massive dude:
This is a fairly easy PQ for around level 14-18. The lower the level, the more people you'll need.

WAAAGH,
MAUL0r

Order CE heads

2008-09-20T02:04:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are curious about the Order heads, here they are in all their glory!

Empire

Dwarf (forgot to look at female.. but now i'm wondering!)

High Elf

Also, as a bonus, a weird video showing a bug I encountered after alt-tabbing too many times.

WAAAGH,

MAUL0r

Bonus heads revealed! (Destruction)

2008-09-18T08:39:00.001-07:00

Well at this point some of us may already have these, but I thought since one of my guildies and a long-time friend of mine BunBun was nice enough to bust out her codes and share these lovely shots of the destruction bonus heads with me, that I would share them with you also!

First, let me just say that the disappointing part is that there's only 1 per race. The male and female versions are virtually the same in all cases. But I do understand that since these faces actually involve changing the model of the face (not just textures) in most cases, which in itself is a big undertaking. While I'd like to have seen more, these are still pretty cool.

Squig Herder/Shaman

Chaos Male and Female

Orc

Dark Elf (yes it's the same for male)

So, as you can see, these range from decent to a little disappointing. I'll probably be sticking with the face I chose on my disciple for now. However the Goblin one is pretty nutty, I might go for that ;).

WAAAGH,
MAUL0r

Check out This Bonus Video! Chaos Lair!

2008-09-16T00:05:00.000-07:00

This video is one I put up on my youtube page, but I thought I'd post it here aswell.

In it, we enter a Lair inside the Chaos tier1 rvr area. It's pretty self-explainitory, so enjoy!

WAAAGH,

MAUL0r

Server Choice Correction: (WAR BEGINS TOMORROW!)

2008-09-13T17:11:00.001-07:00

Well, silly me for announcing my choice for a server not knowing that mythic hadn't planned on allowing all servers to be open at that time... Oh well, so slight correction. You will find me starting tomorrow on: Ulthuan.

I will be making a video that explains what character-names ill most likely be under for the duration!

WAAAGH,

MAUL0r

WAAAGH! (2 days till WAR)

2008-09-12T10:12:00.000-07:00

So I haven't had tons of time to make videos, but I recently added a 2parter about the squig herder and some other technical elements of the game.

And since I want to reward those who read my blog... I've decided to reveal which server I'll be playing on here first! And the choice is..... Heldenhammer. So you heard it here first... Heldenhammer, Destruction.

WAAAGH! (6 days till WAR)

2008-09-08T14:09:00.000-07:00

So over the weekend I posted a few videos that have been showing you all:
-the classes I missed last time
-some lvl 2 scenario wackiness
-chaos & dark elf keeps
-tome of knowledge changes

tune in if you haven't already!

WAAAGH,
MAUL0r

WAAAGH! (8 days till WAR)

2008-09-06T14:59:00.000-07:00

More videos are being uploaded yesterday and today!

Feel free to make requests in youtube comments or here on the blog!

added yesterday:

Chosen creation vid + high level armors

added today:

Chosen Gameplay

Runepriest Gameplay

Archmage creation & Gameplay

Witch Hunter creation & Gameplay

Bonus videos!

Open Beta Start Tomorrow! See you all in-game!

WAAAGH,

MAUL0r

Impressions of WAR part2 (9 days till WAR)

2008-09-05T08:39:00.001-07:00

Well, since preview weekend+ begins today, you can expect some more videos tonight! Until then (since like most of you I have to work for a living), here's the next installment of my Impressions of WAR.

General Gameplay

While WAR offers the possibility to level through pure pvp, I've found that the fastest and most fun way to level is to mix questing with pvp. In fact, several quests involve killing X number of enemy players, and these quests can often be re-done as many times as you like.

There are many ways to go about this, depending on your play style. One great feature of scenarios is that if you're in an RvR group out in the open world, or just with friends questing in a group, and you're the only one interested in doing a scenario, you can join when prompted, and even though the scenario puts you in a group, you do not actually leave your original group. You can still chat with them, and let them know when you'll be returning.

Once the scenario is over, you're put right back where you were. This makes scenarios much easier to do at a moments notice and with little worry that you'll be struggling to get back into your previous group.

Quests are super easy to understand, and often times I was able to do 4-5 quests in a 30minute period. Overall, I love just being part of the world and participating in the game. You really get the feeling that you're in a world that has life and movement to it. There was many a time in DAOC that I wandered too far into the middle of nowhere and there was not a soul to be found.

Realm VS. Realm

Keep sieges, keep defenses, city sieges, city defenses, open world pvp... These my friends, are the elements of a truly fun MMO. It's funny because looking back on my days in DAoC, the most fun to be had was taking keeps, and everything else was either something to do to add variety to your experience, or something that would better prepare you to take keeps etc...

Now, with WAR, we have a game that satisfies the fun requirement that DAoC once met, and also has some revolutionary non-pvp gameplay that begs to be played. The RvR element however, is still king in my book.

Siege Weapons

Siege weapons have been re-designed from their DAoC predecessors to be easily built, easily aimed and devastating when fired. This element of RvR can really make a difference during a keep raid, and it really lends to that feeling of actually attacking/defending a keep. Without siege weapons, we'd all be led to believe that the only way to take a keep is to hack the door down with your swords... which as we all know is kind of silly, even if it's possible.

Now a raiding party can construct a ram to break the doors down, and several people can use the ram to destroy the door even faster. Boiling oil, ballistae, and catapults round out the rest of the weapons, and something tells me they will implement others if they can find a use/balance for them. The only down side is that they MUST be built on the designated platforms.

I understand the reasoning behind this, but still, there was something fun about driving a ram around with 5 people hitching a ride... even if it only traveled 0.001mph.

Keeps

The keeps are very well designed. I can see elements that have crossed over from DAoC, but the art is so unique and interesting. Each race has keeps that reflect their architectural style. A nice added element to the keep system is that whenever a keep (or rvr objective) is taken over by the enemy realm (IE: the realm that did not initially own it), elements from their race begin to appear around the area. For example, when orcs take dwarven keeps, big steel cages and sharpened wood spikes start to appear around it.

Guild Claiming

Guild claiming, while nothing new, is a great feature to be included in open RvR. Now a guild can be informed about their keep being under siege. My only real concern is that years from now, a guild will claim a keep in the lower tiers, and then be unable to defend it properly due to "chicken syndrome". But I’m optimistic, so we'll see how it pans out.

Today's blog is going to be a bit short, because I've got some serious video-making to do!

WAAAGH,

MAUL0r

This just in from the WAR Herald!

2008-09-04T19:02:00.000-07:00

WAAAGH!!!

WAR is Coming and the world is ready. Hundreds of thousands of players will descend upon the Age of Reckoning this Sunday, September 7th.

In order to make this world-wide event the best it can be we're welcoming all Preview Weekend attendees back for two more days to rev things up and get the party started. We invite all Preview Weekend players to join us for Preview Weekend+ this Friday, 9/5 and Saturday, 9/6 starting tomorrow morning.

This epic weekend will be one to remember as you herald in Open Beta and the Age of Reckoning to the entire world!

The tides of WAR are coming...we'll see you on the battlefiled!

See you all this weekend!

WAAAGH,

MAUL0r

Impressions of WAR part1 (10 days till WAR)

2008-09-04T10:08:00.000-07:00

Impressions of WAR

Today I'm going to spend some time giving my impressions of WAR so far. Having played in the CE beta and preview weekend, I may not have as much experience as some of the old school closed beta testers, but I got a chance to really capture a cross-section of the game, and today I'm going to share my impressions.

Well... first things first.

Character Creation

This is, in my opinion one of the most important parts of any MMO. It's that first impression the user gets about their character, and the look and feel of the game. WAR's character creator, like many others offers variations from the neck up. These include general options like:

hair
face
eye color
hair color

However there are also options which are specific to each race. For example, greenskins have tooth color, dwarves have metal color options for their beard accessories, high elves have tiara options, etc... This is satisfactory for me, but not what I would call excellent.

It's a step forward from WoW's customization possibilities, but it's a step backward from their previous game, DAOC. In DAOC you were able to change eye size, eye height, mouth size, character height, nose size/shape, and even your general expression can be changed from slightly happy all the time, all the way to slightly pissed off all the time. So all in all, it's good, but I fully expect that they will improve upon it, at which time they will grant all characters an appearance re-spec.

Loading Screens/Times

WAR's loading screens are simple, and effective. They show the area you're entering with images and text that explains the history of the zone. This allows users to become more immersed in the fiction, and even has a ever-changing tip section that helps new users to learn about the game.

The loading times are (as those of you who've seen my videos will know) not terribly long when the server is not being stressed, however they can be a bit long when the server is being bombarded with people signing in. Luckily for us, they are using the head start as a way to both reward pre-order and collector's edition users, and also stagger the launch over the period of a week to avoid a... well... clusterfuck. Still, you can expect that on the 15th there will be an increase in loading times due to the fact that anyone can, and probably did pre-order if they're into MMOs.

Starting Out

When first entering the World of WAR (excuse the partial blasphemy), users can expect a very intuitive experience. In each race's starting area there is a quest NPC that is located within clicking range of your character. This NPC will give a few quests that are located in the immediate area.

These quests are designed to get you right into the battle, while also help you learn the basics of gameplay. There will be a few "kill this many invading enemies" quests, however the method you use to kill them will vary. In some quests you must slay them the traditional way, with brute force. In other quests you will learn to use siege weaponry to kill them. This will be infinitely useful in RvR, so it's great that they teach you how to use them right away.

One of the elements of WAR that is a first of it's kind, is the ability to join PvP battles at lvl1.

When first entering the game, you can click on the "join scenario" button, and when a slot opens, you will be whisked away to a pvp match. Don't worry though, it will "Bolster" (a buff) your level to match the average level in the scenario. You won't be a badass, but you certainly won't die in one hit either.

You will notice also that public quests are explained early on. There's 1 major public quest that is usually located just a short walk from the starting area. The trend with these public quests is usually several stages of killing NPCs of the enemy race in your racial pairing, followed by a very large monster. In dark elf and high elf areas for example it is a dragon-type mob.

Public Quests

Public quests have their own UI element that will pop up when in a PQ area. This quest indicator explains what stage of the PQ you are on, and what the current objectives need to be completed. If there is a time limit for the current stage, it will also be displayed.

Overall, public quests are simple to understand, but require progressively more teamwork and strategy to complete.

They are perfect for people who love to explore because they're located everywhere in the world, and each one has a new adventure to offer, without all the hassle of normal questing.

Tome of Knowledge

This handy UI element takes all sorts of important information and useful utilities, and combines them all into an easy to navigate compendium of knowledge. Quests, titles, lore, Important NPCs, even a list of all the monsters you've encountered. Everything can be tracked and referrenced in this handy book. This is also where you will manage things like titles, and which quests you're tracking via your map and UI. I really like this design, and it speaks volumes about how much thought has been put into this game.

Stay Tuned for Part2 of my first impressions when I discuss general gameplay, RvR, scenarios, and more!

WAAAGH,

MAUL0r

11 days and counting.

2008-09-03T13:21:00.000-07:00

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