Time To Rank Debate

It's been a strange few weeks for me with Warhammer.  I've been having a great time on my SH, Hobgobblin.  I'm managed to already take him to rank 54 in just a few weeks.  I find myself near unkillable in a 1v1 (granted I can't beat a good tank, but at least I get away).  I've been running in small groups with some guild mates and we have fared quite well against double our numbers.  I still need a new weapon, but that will come with time.

I have been noticing the past few weeks though what appears to be a steep decline in the overall population on Iron Rock, and it's making me nervous.  My guilds onliners has recently seemed to plummet.  People seem to be checking out other games as we await the release of the new RvR dungeon and 1.4.  I can't say that I blame them.  There are some really nice looking and fun games out there right now.  Not to mention, if you already have a couple rank 80's, Warhammer can get stale fast. 

My question is, will these players come back?  The answer with most will more than likely be yes, but I do fear that the games overall population will struggle a bit further.  Is it to late for the game?  Doubtful.  The next few months seem very promising for Warhammer, and I am more than exciting to try it all out.  Past that though, what do we have?  At some point people will again cap out at rank 100.  What will entice them this time that we don't currently have?  Personally I think think the time to rank (TTR) from 80 to 100 should be crazy hard.  Something that an average player probably will never attain.  If TTR was actually difficult, people may not be getting so bored so quickly.  The right balance of Renown vs. Time has to be achieved, and I don't think it is something we currently have. 

Some suggestions might be as follows:

• Removal of damage / healing renown (only based on player kills)
• Removal of renown for BO's and Keeps
• Slightly increased renown for successful city siege
• Removal of renown for zone flips
• Slightly bit of renown for a lock in a zone pairing
• No more renown bonus items

I guess those are just a few ideas.  I understand why TTR is so low right now, with the new dungeon right around the corner and the rank 65 requirement.  Perhaps have some of the above instituted past rank 80?  Anyone else agree with me, and have any ideas on how to improve it? 

Highway To The Skaven Zone! Mass Playtest !

 Woooooo, read below and check out the Herald!  New Skaven Dungeon Mass Playtest announced!

It's time for another Developer Hosted Public Test server event!

Everyone is invited to come out to the Warpstone Public Test server this week to help put the all new RvR Skaven Themed dungeon, "Thanquol's Incursion", through it's testing paces. We're going to be kicking things off tomorrow, 10/20/2010, at 8:00 PM EDT/02.00 CET with your first ever look at this RvR Dungeon. We'll be hosting a second, more EU friendly test this coming Friday, 10/22/2010, at 3:00 PM EDT/21.00 CET. 

Be sure to read up on the dungeon before joining in the fun, as we're planning a night of furious (and fun) testing!

Not Rank 40? Not to worry as templates will be provided for all players! 

For more information on how to access the Warpstone Public Test Server, please read here!

Thank you for your continued support and we'll see you on Warpstone!

WAAAGH!

Hobgobblin Update

Haven't had a lot of time to post....reason being is that I'm on vacation.  Doesn't make much sense eh?  Well with my vacation time, comes house work and baby responsibility time. Therefore, no blogging. 

Hobgobblin, my wee lil Squig Herder, has hit rank 40 after a long 18 hour grind session in LoTD.  I also hit renown rank 43 today with the insane amount of renown being given due to AAO.  No complaints from me. 

I may or may not be around the remainder of the week.  I recommend hitting up my blogroll for all your updates, as there are plenty to be had right now. 

The Week That Was

All-In-All, a pretty crazy week for Warhammer if you ask me.  The news grabbing the headlines though would have to be that of EA Louse.  Honestly I don't even want to link the write up, but here is a brief rundown.  A soon to be former employee of EA Mythic lets loose on the many over the years failures of the company.  Names are dropped, and the industry reaction is quite staggering.  Just do a simple Google search and you'll find it.  I personnaly want to obstain from any reaction.  I understand the writers frustrations, but there is a better place to expose ones frustrations than an anonymous online article. 

We have also seen the closure of Wardb.com.  A site that was created well before Warhammer Online was ever released.  It was a very useful tool in it's time, but over the past year really fell off the map.  With tools like Werits Arsenal of War, and the new WARDrobe, we may not even miss it all that much.  All we really need now is an updated Mastery Path Calculator, and we're good to go.  Here are a few other links for your viewing pleasure from the past week:

• Hadrune's Ammo Dump.  A great read, with great information. 
• As always, check out Bootae

Quite honestly, this is all I can conjur up this morning.  I just came across even more comments regarding the EA Louse thing.  It's frustrating to say the least.  Warhammer has so much upcoming over the next few months, and all this fool is doing is garnering negative attention to the company.  It's been said that any publicity is good publicity, but I don't think this will help anyone. 

Squiggy Update

There is so much taking place in Warhammer right now, and unfortunately it couldn't be happening at a worse time for me.  With so much taking place in the real world for me, I hardly have time to be checking out the PTS at the moment.  I am seeing good things though.  I am really excited to see how it all finally plays out in the coming months.  I highly recommend checking out my blog roll to the right for all the updates. 

One thing I have been focusing on when I have time to play is my wee little Squig Herder, Hobgobblin.  I just took him out of T3 and into the big boy world of T4.  Kind of unfortunate if you ask me.  I really like T3.  I almost feel like there was more balance there than in T4.  As it stands now I run around T4 getting near one shotted by high ranking Bright Wizards and Witch Hunters.  I am only level 32 though.  I would imagine that I will have him to 40 by weeks end.  Honestly I really don't have that much more to go.  I have two Golden Writs I can use to purchase War Tracts from, and the free level quest.  So really only 5 more levels, which I can grind out in either LoTD or PvP.  I have no desire for the free mount from the writ either, if you're asking why I'd use both on a free level.  It was cool when my Marauder was the only one on the server with one, before the free ones were issued.  Now they are completely fotm, and everyone has one.  So I'll pass, and just ride in style on my white wolf of doom. 

The Week That Was

We've seen a lot this past week with Warhammer.  The PTS events are taking place, new mounts, changes to the guard mechanic and so much more.  It's been a busy week for me and unfortunately I haven't been able to check out all the amazing things.  Check out Werits video for more on the PTS server. 

• Lokax brings us Gorbad Ironclaw
• Kruelhand breaks down the guard changes
• WWGD this week?
• More guard discussion with Bruglir.
• Hypothetical breaks down ToVL

There is a lot more going on right now with Warhammer, and I strongly encourage everyone to check it out.  At the moment, I'm short on time and I have to keep the post as such.  Don't worry, all is well, and I hope to be back in my normal form next week. 

T3 is Bumpin Bumpin, Order go Boom Boom

Like any veteran of a game, sometimes we forget just where and when we once had come from in terms of level. If someone sticks around in end game content for a while, often things can become a bit stale at times and a refresher is needed. All too often do I find myself camping a mailbox or sitting around waiting for a queue. So to those of you who are in need of a change of scenery I recommend T3 on Iron Rock.

Over the past week or so the battles in T3 have been tremendous. Much better from what I remember 2 years ago. There is constant action.  It also helps being on the winning side for once. Whether it is skirmishes, keep takes, fighting over champion mobs or a gutter runner assault, there is never a dull moment in T3. I actually found myself not wanting to level out of it last night. While at the champion rat mobs, which you can find over at WAR Aura, I got 2.5 levels in approximately 30 minutes. So now I sit at level 29/24. I could have continued leveling and at that pace would have certainly been in T4 in no time. Why would I want to do that now though? The action is so good, and I have enough T4 characters right now.

I'm also not sure what it is, but everything seems a bit bigger to me. I think it may have to do with the map layout and the keeps in different zones. It also could be that not everyone has a mount; therefore groups don't cover as much ground as quickly. The environment is so much more crisp and clean too. I touched on it a bit yesterday, but I can't believe how much better and more detailed things look in T3. In Saphery yesterday, I could actually count the individual leaves on the trees. That's not something I ever noticed in a T4 zone. The keeps seem a lot more detailed too, and more in depth. After experiencing T3 again and taking notice to all the subtleties, I really wish the game was held off a bit longer before release. T4 could really use a lot of the detail that is clearly prevalent in the earlier stages of the game.

So thank you to Mythic for changing the restrictions on LoTD.  T3 is alive and well, and there are still spots to grind should you choose to.  Go check it out, and revisit some things you may have missed the first time (or few at this point) around.

Highway To The Skaven Zone and Hobgobblin!

Although I completely missed it, Tentonhammer had an exclusive interview with Carrie Gouskos this weekend and some pretty good information was released regarding the new Skaven Zone.  I recommend checking out Bootae as he has all the details.  It appears as if the new zone will be a 24 vs. 24 instance based dungeon.  Much like the current city siege, it will include some Skaven bosses which both sides must fight while dealing with the opposing faction.  Oh, by the way, you'll need to be renown rank 65 to access it.

Zealot vs. Zealot

I wanted to do something a little different today, so I decided I'd pit characters from different games against each other.  This may be a reoccurring theme here, or it may not be.  I guess we'll see how much fun I have doing it.  Clearly this is nothing scientific, just something fun.  I'll do the judging based on four categories.  Looks, Gameplay, Lore and a Community Poll.  I'll give 1 point for Looks, Gameplay, and Lore, with 2 points given to the community.  We will start with a Zealot from Warhammer Online, versus the Zealot from Starcraft. 

The Week That Was

Again, everyone is ripe with anticipation for the upcoming RvR Pack and 1.4.  Yesterday the new Producers Letter was released, and in it not a whole lot if any new information.  We have to keep in mind that the letter is really intended for those of us who don't live Warhammer 24/7, and is really for your more casual player to keep them a breast of what is on the horizon.

• WWGD?  I guess we'll find out soon enough eh?   
• Bootae had a lot going on this week, and a nice Q&A with Andy.  I suggest everyone head on over and check it out. 
• There are definitely a bunch of tactics that are rarely used in Warhammer.  Lokax started to throw out some good ideas when it comes to Tanktics
• KruelWAR put out a new Marauder Video here. 
• Tirew also destroys some Destro with his Engi video.  Rifle spec?  Really? 
• Squibblebut still holds out for a 3rd realm
• Portraits of WAR released some new sketches. 

For me personally it's been a slow week when it comes to gaming.  I've been meaning to check out Civ V, but just don't have time at the moment.  Pretty busy with things personally.  I did start a new Zealot last night, Sosiq.  Ran around T1 with Dr. Sparkles and Mimmi on their Marauder and Choppa.  I didn't realize I guess all the new stuff in T1 that there is, scenario weapons specifically.  I can only imagine how insanely OP certain classes can become now in T1.  I'll probably find out this weekend I guess.