If there’s one thing that has made Mythic’s Warhammer Online a bit more difficult to bear for customers over the past year or so, it’s stability and performance. In a game that is dependent on both population and massive group combat in order to increase fun factor, it’s critical that the game run as smoothly as possible. Of the reasons that folks have cited for deciding to (temporarily or permanently) leave WAR, one of the largest reasons is the fact that the game has struggled to perform well in situations where it needs to be.
Well, it’s possible that relief might be on the way. During 1.3.2 PTS testing, Mythic seemed to find something in their engine that needed a bit of tinkering, and as a result, overall performance response is theoretically better. Last night on the PTS, this was put to the test as hundreds of players logged in to stress test keep sieging and open RvR. Performance for me was significantly increased and I didn’t crash once, something I’d experienced on and off during the time when I was playing WAR more frequently.
If the patch goes live, those that are playing WAR currently should see a similar bump up in terms of the performance with a reduction in hitching, lag, and crashing. Live is going to be a test in and of itself to see if the engine fix is working properly, but things should hopefully improve.
Not surprisingly, I have positive things to say about this revelation and change. While stability changes are far from “sexy”, the fact that such a core change can be made to the engine to improve it means that things could be heading in a correct direction. There’s a bit of a balancing act Mythic is playing with these stability tinkerings – tweak a bit too much and you could create new problems, but don’t do enough and players will think you aren’t able to fix fundamental problems with your engine.
Still, as I’ve written many times, the incremental and cautious approach is a good one, and with changes to core problems the priority, the way could be paved for the “marketing sexy” that Mythic can use to trampoline WAR back into the MMO radar – expansion perhaps? We’ll have to see.
I think to really get WAR on the map, yes they need an expansion, but I think they need a kick ass 3rd Faction.
You´re quite correct! I always said that War need a third faction.
Indeed, a third faction would really help even out uneven populations, with two smaller factions beeing able to both focus on a large one, or two large factions more likely attacking eachother than the 3rd small one. Would also add a dimension of politics into the game, with pacts and such between factions. If done correctly that is.
Or it could turn out 1 weak faction gets its but kicked time and time again by 2 powerful factions
In the warhammer IP (remember they are restricte) im not sure what faction they could create. Lizardmen maybe, skaven possible, but they would side with chaos.