Why not WAR?

When I tell people that I play an MMO, everybody asks: “Do you have a level 80 yet?“, and I have to tell them that no, I don’t, because in Warhammer Online, you can only be level 40. They look at me like I’m green, and from Mars. “What dude? You don’t play World of Warcraft? Why? Why? WHY!!?“, and then I try to tell them, but they never listen. That’s why I’m writing this post.

If you think World of Warcraft is the only MMO out there that’s worth playing, I hope you’ll read this, and see if I can change your mind.

Let’s look at pvp first.
In WoW, you can run into your capital and join a pvp battleground. You will be placed in a team with others, and you’ll be within a certain bracket. Level 1-11, 12-21, etc (if I’m not mistaken). There, you’ll meet casual players, hardcore players who are tired of levelling their lowbie so they do a battleground, and twinks. A level 11 rogue, with 1300 health (when Average Joe has around 300), with armor so thick and magical nothing will penetrate (unless, of course, you’re a twink too), and weapons with the best enchantment you can get. He will stealth up behind you, and kill you before you even know you’re dying. Real fun this. And, he’ll stay there without gaining xp, so you will meet him on every character you roll. And he’ll kill them, one after the other.

In WAR on the other hand, you can click an icon on your minimap from the moment you spawn after rolling your character. In due time, that is when the parties are full, you will be invited to join a RvR (realm vs realm, as in High Elf vs Dark Elf, or Dwarf vs Greenskin, or Empire vs Chaos) scenario. When you accept, you will automatically be transfered from wherever you are to the scenario -and after the fight, you’ll pop right back where you left! No running around to find your scenario at all. Every character smaller than level 8, 18, 28, or 38 will be bolstered – that means they’ll get the extra health they need. (As in, if you’re a level 1, you’ll gain a temporary increase of 7 levels with health.) People will gain xp from the scenario, so you won’t be facing the same twink over and over again, and people will not have the best equipment there is, because they’ll outlevel it soon, and they will find better soon.

No twinks, no running to find your scenario entrance, no super-gear, no “imba” people – I say WAR wins the first round.

The experience of xp
In WoW, you can do either quests or instances to gain experience. Oh, and you can grind. Repeatedly slaughter the same bunch of monsters, over and over and over and over and over again, until you reach your wanted level. Instances are good, because you might get lucky and grab some boss-loot. Something “uber”, an item that you’ll keep for at least a good twenty levels. You will also work as a group, and share some fun times. And, you’ll get some decent xp. When you quest, you do “kill X mobs”, and “run from X to Y doing Z”, and that’s normal for MMO’s. A bit dull after a while, but still. You’re getting there, right?

In WAR, you can do quests, just like in WoW. But you can also join a public quest. A open quest, where you’ll need a party to complete the main objective, and where you’ll gain xp as you clear the secondary objectives. (Say, first you need to kill 100 evil elfs for stage one, then you’ll have to kill 10 evil elf champions for stage two, and in the end, you’ll have to kill the elf hero, and his entourage, at stage three.) And, there are new chapters everywhere, and more PQ’s to each chapter. The rewards you’ll get will be usable for a level that equals the chapter number, times two. (So, if you do chapter 3, you’ll get rewards for level 6.) Most likely, you’ll find an epic drop on the hero, and you’ll also roll for loot. This loot comes in a chest, with bags of various values. And, as you do PQ’s, you’ll find that you’ve got quite decent gear, without having to pay an arm and a leg at the Auction House.
After a day with PQ’s, you might want to do some RvR, and you join an open RvR warband. Up to 24 players to each warband, there might be a lot of pvp to attend. You might attack, or defend, keeps – depending on what side of the conflict own it, and you’ll gain experience claiming battlefield objectives. Winning objectives, capturing or defending keeps, and killing opponents, will all give you xp. The bigger the group, the faster you can do things, but you’ll get less xp. It is quite possible to do nothing but oRvR, and gain level 40 without doing anything else.

Even if WAR doesn’t have instances, there is so much more to do than grinding and quests. You’ll be working together with other players on a whole different level than in WoW, because most of the content is made for groups. The good thing is that more often than not, you’ll manage to kill your way through the PQ, even if it’s considered a hard one. So, again I’ll have to declare WAR the winner.

Let’s make stuff
WoW has one of the best crafting systems in any MMO. It’s been a while since I played it now, but as I remember you can make potions, you can sew your own robes, leatherwork your new armor, mine, create plate mail, pick flowers, make runes (after Wrath of the Lich King), and a bit more. You can cook, do first aid, and even fish!
In WAR you can scavenge and butcher, two skills that work in a similar way, except one is picking humanoid parts, and the other is picking animal parts. You can cultivate the various seeds you find when you loot monsters, salvage magical components, and you can make talismans or potions. Not so much to choose among, and every guild worth a few copper will have at least one expert talisman maker, and one expert apothecarist.

So, due to the lack of interesting crafts in WAR, I’ll give one point to WoW.

What do you guys think so far? I’ll hopefully be back with part two in a few days.

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No luck today

I have told you about how fun I’ve had with the various warbands I’ve attended, and lead, but today I’ve got a few other experiences.

I logged on, and found a warband in Ostland. So far, so good. We were going to capture the battle objectives, and after just a few minutes I got leadership. “Thank you”, I though. Since I had just logged on, and just gotten leadership, I decided to check how the warband was doing, so I tried to follow the flow for a bit.

There was no flow, because a flow is when everything floats in the same direction. This was a rag-tag band of people running solo, so I tried to take charge. At first, I thought I had succeeded, because all gathered, and we took the Monastery of Morr without loss. Then we ran to the next objective, and people started acting like solo players again.

I tried to pull the warband together, and again I thought I had succeeded. We managed to capture the next objective too, and then we decided to try for the keep. We had five healers, four or five tanks, and the rest was dps, so we should be good. At least if the order didn’t arrive.

They did, and the warband went ballistic! There were suddenly fifteen leaders and ten deaf people, and a group of four or five who listened to me. It went downhill from there.

Well, next time I hope I either don’t have to lead, or end up in a good warband.

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Today, I got what I crave!

After having been running around for a few hours, I finally found a warband that was going places. All over the places actually. I was one of few healers, but we did manage to take keep after keep. Then, all of a sudden, I was the only healer, and I got a lot to do. At level 14, you’re not the best to heal T2, but you are so much better than having no healer around, so people accept you.

Anyway, I got praise for my healing ability, and even more praise for saying “I’m off to the bathroom, don’t die!”, because, as I was told, many healers just go afk without saying anything. Seriously? They do that?

If you’re the life line of a party or a warband, you can’t just run off like that. If you tell the party or warband that you really need to run to the bathroom, they’ll understand. More important, they’ll know you’re not there, and wait with the hardest encounters. If you don’t say anything, you’ll end up without any groups, because other players can’t count on you.

Anyway, after a run through all of T2, we had all the BO’s and all Keeps but the one in Ellyrion. With only six people left in the warband, we gave it a go, but didn’t make it, so we decided it’s night. I ended up with level 14 and rank 14 though, so I’m happy.

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The art of being nice

I might be saying the same things as in other posts now, but I guess it can’t be said to often.

When you’re in a group, what you say and do will stick. So, if you’re an ass, people will remember an ass, and if you’re the “omgmostimbaplayerevr”, people might remember that too. I hope people remember me, and I hope they remember me in a good way.

I tend to be polite with people when I’m in their group. I say thank you when they buff me, or if they give me anything, and I buff people without them having to ask for any buffs. I only need on items that I really need, and only if I need them on the toon I’m currently playing. (So, I’m not Needing on Squig Herder items if I’m playing my Zealot) I do not overrun the leader, even if I know better, but I might suggest other options than the one pointed out. When I’m in charge, I make sure we’re always in the action. Nothing is more boring than standing around waiting, while someone tries to decide what to do next.

I’ll stress this a bit more: If you’re in charge of a warband, keep it moving! Do not stand around arguing about where to attack next. Go to the closest battlefield objective and capture it – or better yet, run straight for the Keep to capture that. There’s where the best prizes are.

What I don’t like at all is people who think they’re entitled to be main something, just because they came first to the party. “ffs, I’m main healer” or “you be off-tank, you came last” is really pissing me off. “I’m main healer, because I’m five levels higher than you and got way better gear!” – yes. “I guess I’m main tank, because I have a sword and a shield.” – yes! “I r mian whatnot cuz u all suxxorz!” = get the hell out of my warband!

Anyway, that’s enough for now – there are keeps waiting.

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Day of the Zealot

Today I had a field day. (Pun intended!) My girlfriend is out of town, and I was done at work early, so around 2pm I sat down to play, and I decided to play my zealot for a while. It’s now almost 12:40am and I’ve just logged out of the game.

Trinina was level 4/0 when I logged in today, and after dinging to level 5 playing solo, I heeded the call for WAR, and went to the warcamp. There I met with a few tanks and dps, who needed a healer to keep them up. Of course, being level 5 I didn’t have a lot to bring, but I did my best. After a while I found myself at level 6/3 and all of a sudden I was the leader of the warband.

I decided to do the most of it!

How to run a successful warband.

First, you need a couple of dedicated players, who are willing to listen to you, and you only. If nobody listens, you might as well just pack your belongings and go somewhere else. I was so lucky as to have five players who decided that if I was in charge, I should lead. So, they said straight out: “I only take orders from Trinina!” – and they did.

Second, you need to be able to think. Not only tactical, but also about who’s in what party, and who goes where. There’s no use having all the tanks in one party, all the dps in another, and all the healers in a third. Your job as a leader is to actively move people around, so you got a little of each in every party. (Of course, the first couple of hours I was the only healer. That made it tough!) Make sure tanks have guard on the healers, and that someone stands ready to intercept any enemy closing in on the guys pouring out their healing love.

Third, you cannot be scared of your warband. Yes, someone might be higher level than you, and someone might be very good at killing the other side, having played the game since release (or even beta), but when you’re in charge, you lead. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t listen to advice, because you should. And you should let a couple of the best players become warband assistants, in order to make things go smooth.

Fourth, you need to know where to find what. There is nothing as corny as a leader running in the wrong direction, or one who doesn’t know the names of the battle objectives you’re about to capture. Check the map often, so you know where to go. And if you see the other side run by, make sure that either all of your warband turns to hunt them down, a dedicated party turns while the rest runs to the objective, or all keeps on running to capture that sweet victory.

Make sure to spread some love through your warband. Tell the people who do good that “this couldn’t be done without people like you!”, because that will boost morale (real life morale, not in-game morale!), and you do want your players to have a good time. Also make sure that you have a backup plan, just in case your warbands efforts aren’t quite enough to win. Defeat makes you stronger, if you chose to learn from it!

After a day of running around healing in rvr I’ve also figured out something that most healers should: Never be the one who rushes into the battle. Never go for the kill if you’re not 110% sure you’ll not pull aggro from anything. Do your job by pumping in HoT’s and larger heals where it’s needed, and do remember to buff everybody you can before the fight starts.

Well, that’s a bit of my mind. Hope you like it…

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Enter the Brumom

Well, due to my guild, Fates Encompassed, I rolled a new character. You see, the guild, or rather the alliance, will host a T1 extravaganza this Thursday, and I want to join in on the fun. Thus, I made a squig herder named Brumom.

Brumom is your run of the mill chicken gobber. He’s ecstatic when people heckle about WAAAGH!, but when it comes to the actual fighting, he’s content when he can have his squig and his bow do the work. He hates pain, but he loves to inflict pain, so he’s got a dilemma. Should he go to WAAAGH! at all, or should he stay home? If he goes, he’ll experience pain, but he’ll also be able to dish it out, while if he stay home, he’ll be all pain free, but all he’s got to hurt will be his fellow gobbers. (He won’t even think of hurting an orc. They’re mean!)

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I’m not sure what path I want to go.

Obviously, I want to go a path that makes me uber, but we can’t all be uber, or imba, or whatever the word for fantastic is these days. I’m not talking about what career I want to follow, because I’ve decided on this build while levelling. No, what I’m uncertain about is how I should balance xp and renown.

The first few levels I had no trouble with keeping them balanced. I’d do a bit of public quests while waiting for the scenario to start, and they would be around the same level. Then it got complicated.

Now I’m at experience level 21, with renown rank 15, and I’m hoping to gain at least renown 18 or 19 before I hit level 22. The benefits from the renown trainer is just too good to pass up I think. So, every time I log in I look for a warband that will do battlefield objectives or keeps, because that’s the best way I’ve found when you need more renown than xp.

Any thoughts on how to make more renown than xp is welcome indeed!

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How do I have a good time in WAR?

When I log into Warhammer: Online I know I’m going to have a fun time. Every time.

I know some gamers complain if things get boring. Some gamers complain that “T2 is a drag” or “There are never any rvr”, but I’m not one of those. Of course, I’m not yet level 40, so it might change, but still – there’s no reason why you should be bored if you’re logged in, and there’s no reason to stay logged in if you’re bored.

First things first: If you are logged in and bored, why not log out, text a friend, and go do something social? This is a game, not a job, and nobody expect you to be online 24/7. Not even the hardocorest of the hardcore guilds. And, let’s face it, most of us aren’t in those guilds anyway. Log out, smell the pizza, and watch a movie with your friends. Or better yet, grab your girlfriend for some of that sheet-tango. 😉

Here’s a scenario for you:
There’s nothing happening. No open RvR, no Public Quest groups, you find nobody to kill, and you’ve had it with quests. Yet you don’t want to log out, and you don’t want to be bored. What to do?
Go to “your Tier” and tell the world that you want to do something. Here’s a sentence that’s been working for me, several times.
/1 I’m creating a warband to capture battlefield objectives and keeps. Join me for some RR and XP!
(Obviously you can’t put it like that on a RP server, but a quick rewrite would do the trick.)
/1 Those pesky order/destruction has stolen our lands! I am going to take it back. Who’s with me?
You’d be suprised how often you’ll get a warband going, and suddenly you’re not bored anymore.

But what if I can’t get a warband together?
Try to be friendly. No, it will pay off in the end, really it will! Click the open group icon, and see if anyone are doing anything. Anyone at all, doing anything at all.
I was level 17, running around in the Shadowlands, when I found that a level 13 Black Orc and a level 12 Zealot was doing the Chapter 6 Public Quest, so I joined them. With my witch elfs dps, the orcs tanking, and the zealots healing, we went trough the pq like a warm knife trough melted butter. We eventually had to create a warband, because word spread that we were doing good. I made a few friends that night.

After a while doing stuff like that, you’ll hopefully experience what I have – tells from level 40’s who ask if you need any help, as you helped their alt. It’s always nice to be able to move trough pq’s with a level 40 doing all the heavy lifting. And unless you know a level 40, it will never happen.

Other things to do.
Sometimes, there are no open groups, nobody want to do rvr, and you feel like you’re the last player on the server. But do not despair, there are still a lot of stuff to do. You could explore the area. Make sure you’ve found all the secrets, the easter eggs, the unlocks, and seen the sights.
Or you could focus on your tradeskills. Riann is an Alchemist and a Butcher. Yes, I know – Scavenging will give you all the waters you need for alchemy, but butchering gives you a lot of various main ingredients, so it’s down to a personal choice. You’ll kill a lot more humanoids than animals though, so if you want this to go as smooth as possible, you should scavenge. Anyway, I’ve got butchering, and I’ve decided to stick with that. Bears drop stuff like Rotting Bear Tooth, that you can use for Strenght potions. Here’s a list of recepies from Allakazham.

What I’m trying to say is what I said at the start – if you’re bored you should log out, or do something. Yes it is a MMO, but people aren’t in it to keep you amused. You’ve got to be active if you want do have fun in a game like this.

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