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Tag: WAR

August 17, 2009

A Better Letter From The WAR Front

by Frank — Categories: Gaming, Warhammer Online — Tags: , , , — 1 Comment
Cannon at Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park
Image by J. Stephen Conn via Flickr

These days, you get the sense that Mythic’s just plugging away at WAR. Seemingly unconcerned at past transgressions and not particularly worried about the upcoming MMO releases on the horizon, the folks who develop WAR are starting to hammer away at the existing problems of the game.

Typifying this is the 1.3.1 And Beyond Producer’s Letter, written by Jeff Skalski. Let me first say that even though I’m a bit biased because I’ve met Jeff and he’s a standup guy (and dangerous in certain situations), that it is nice to see some other voices pipe up at Mythic these past couple of letters. WAR players have been so used to Mark Jacobs being the de facto “voice” of Mythic that when he left it was uncertain if one person could fill his very sizeable shoes. What has appeared, however, is a collective voice from a variety of sources from senior management on down that has frankly been refreshing to hear. If Mythic has any one strength, it is the humanization of their team, and putting Jeff, Gabe Amatangelo, Andy Belford, Jess Folsom, Martin Smith, and more in front of the keyboard or camera can only help that.

But aside from appearances comes a refining of the style that letters such as Skalski’s latest Producer’s Letter seem to exude – the same sort of changing voice of WAR that I referred to before. There are a couple of things that I’m referring to that point to this style shift. One of these is the reveal of specific details and mechanics. Gone are the more hype-worthy, marketing-style tomes of the past, replaced with instead, hard facts about what is happening, how things are working, and when they are taking place. There’s a detailing of the revamped city siege mechanic from beginning to end. There’s talk about the ORvR revision to Keeps with second ramps and other improvements. There’s talk about the other secondary improvements such as friends lists and summoning stones. More meat, and less fluff, seems to be the tone of the letters, and that is a welcome change.

Another is the subtle and indirect addressing of player concerns in these letters, by citing the problem, stating the analysis, and talking about the solution. Several times you can even see Jeff play devil’s advocate when he does this, addressing concerns about changes and fixes, recognizing the fact that they’ve been given, and then briefly addressing them. He doesn’t do this necessarily with the kind of blustery confidence you expect in these letters, but with a matter-of-factness that says “this is why we did these things, and we hope you understand where we’re coming from – but we know not all of you are happy”. That, to be honest, is as close as you’re going to get from a developer saying in a letter like this that mistakes have been made and they need to be rectified. As much as some people want the rush of hearing from a developer’s mouth that they suck, it is A)sadly a short term feeling of satisfaction that doesn’t address the core issues and B)not good business sense, especially from a watchful investor’s point of view.

The last comes with with a certain sense of cautiousness with revealing details and teases. 1.3.2, the next patch in the cycle, had a few interesting bulletpoints, all served with the usual “not 100%” disclaimer. Significant points include detaching fortresses from being required for city siege and an apprentice/hireling system to make it easier for people to play with each other. These only appear in short detail, but only with the level that Mythic appears to be comfortable with. We’ve seen this page out of an MMO PR playbook before – from Bioware – so perhaps some of that may actually be rubbing off on Mythic’s communication.

Really, no one patch is going to be the panacea to WAR’s multitude of problems. The key is to crawl before walking, and that once knocked down, knowing to take baby steps to get to a point where there’s confidence. This is the place that WAR is currently, and probably will be for the next few months, so letters like Jeff’s will be a welcome change in reports about WAR. Like the old saying goes – there’s no where to go but up.

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April 24, 2009

The Bright Side of WAR

by Frank — Categories: Gaming, Warhammer Online — Tags: , — 1 Comment
You are in my Heart till the sun will never sh...
I love the smell of cheesy images in the morning.
Image by Thai Jasmine via Flickr

 Lately there’s been a bit of a spat of the negative around the WAR community. You’ve got 3 different bloggers all putting down the pen or looking to other endeavors, a slew of articles met with constant skepticism, and a lot of pain and frustration from a patch that seemed to cause more problems than it fixed.

Over at Bootae’s Bloody Blog, an attempt to look at the brighter spots of WAR has been made. Of course, this is something that is right up this blog’s alley, because sure, the game has its problems, but there is plenty that works, despite its current issues.

So without further ado, here are 5 things that are right about WAR:

  • Casually Playable - of all the MMOs currently on the market, WAR is the one which provides the best mix of an overall goal to strive for and the lack of pressure to get there. There are MMO titles out there that compel you to login and sometimes spend more time than you have. WAR is no such title. It is, truly, a title where you can login, play for an hour, and log out, and still feel like you were able to get in some progress. People who have trouble managing their time will love WAR for its “come play for however long you want” attitude.
  • Mid-range PvP Concepts - Making a PvP title always brings with it an issue of having mechanics that are too intimidating to new players or put off people who can’t keep up with the hardcore. With experience as part of the RvR system in WAR, a gear-to-skill ratio that doesn’t make the best geared player the immediate victor, and a way for players across all levels to contribute in PvP situations, WAR has good, basic PvP concepts that make PvP natural to even the most anti-PvP player.
  • Developer Distance - The developers for WAR are among some of the most personable and social people. They have a passion for their product and work hard, but know that jokes, humor, and other such casual behaviors are all a part of the process. WAR’s developers have been knee-deep in the community, supporting blogs, fansites, and interacting with the community on a level no other developer can match. So while they have their work cut out for them, you’ll never feel like the developers are aloof or hostile towards player feedback – and you might even catch them on places like Twitter and Facebook, promoting their game.
  • Overall Popularity – Despite perceptions to the contrary, of all the recently released MMOs, WAR is in a really good place. Initial shrinkage of servers aside, WAR has healthy populations across most servers, and compared to other titles such as Age of Conan and Darkfall, WAR is doing quite well. While no one knows subscription numbers, look for WAR to either have a slight decrease or increase, and stabalize itself in the next couple months as new content arrives. Outside of the WAR community, WAR is considered second or third in terms of perceived subscriptions, so one can only hope it gets better. And with deep-pocketed EA in its corner (WAR having made up a lion’s share of EA revenue last quarter), you can count it having the support to continue.
  • Meaningful Progress - For a game that was perhaps released a bit too early for its britches, WAR has made immense progress. Re-introducing classes that were to be in at release, creating major tweaks to the RvR system, generating new content, and fixing bugs – all of these areas, WAR is at least doing decently in. The small minutiae of WAR may have many frustrating, and no doubt important, flaws, but the overall big picture shows WAR running the MMO marathon at a good pace. If the upcoming Land of the Dead does even decently well, WAR will have a foundation upon which to build on and can then divert resources into fixing existing gameplay issues into the next cycle.

So that’s that – 5 things that are good about WAR. Are there problems? Absolutely, and anyone who has put down the subscription has their own reasons and they are certainly legitimate on some level. But, in the overall scheme of things, WAR is doing as well as it can be in the current climate, and while we can’t really predict its future, I can say that it isn’t all doom and gloom out in WAR-land.

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April 2, 2009

Hybrid Head-Scratcher

by Frank — Categories: Gaming, Warhammer Online — Tags: , , — Leave a comment
Hybrid Re_mixed EP 1 album cover
Remixed, indeed…
Image via Wikipedia

 One of the breaking news things that came out of some recent news regarding WAR was a change to the Archmage and Shaman on a variety of levels – career, mastery, and most of all, something that will make their core mechanic different. Instead of damage feeding better healing and vice versa, damage will cause better damage and healing will cause better healing.

Just like with any hybrid change, there’s a bunch of people who are gnashing and wailing regarding the change, although some of them seem to think that the mechanic will make more sense.

You have to feel sorry for hybrid classes, because they don’t fit into any particular role. Hybrids are the middle children in the family of any MMO’s class makeup. They can’t do any one thing particularly well and they are sometimes ignored for the more outstanding and overachieving older siblings or the extremely cute younger ones. Hybrids are often pigeonholed into one role or another, despite being able to do multiple things. And this isn’t even counting when hybrid middle children become petulant and demand that they can do one thing particularly well when in truth they can’t do it better than someone else who’s focused on it.

But hybrids like the Archmage and Shaman should be looking forward to this change. After all, it focuses their role so there’s no ambiguity. Now, if you see an Archmage and they are shooting pew pew laser beams, you know they’re out to kill something. If you see a Shaman with a green beam shooting out like the Ghostbusters, then you know you shouldn’t be waiting around for a heal.

I think what people tend to forget is that hybrids provide utility, not necessarily effectiveness at one role. If in the course of a battle you have a swiss army knife that can cut with one blade and bandage with another, consider yourself lucky that the battle might just turn out in your favor because of it. Sure, the cynics might say the swiss army knife is broken and only contains one tool that is bent and the other that is twisted, but the utility and potential is nevertheless there.

Hybrids should feel happy that they can provide a dual role. Sure, that role is probably not as exciting as a button-spamming melee dps’er or a dedicated healer saving the day for their group, but the little things are important. Like any middle children out there, Hybrids can be meaningful and unique in their own way, and heck – if they end up being the butt of jokes or taking a dirt nap, they at least provide some kind of interesting entertainment trying to be viable. Doesn’t every child in a family?

 

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