
- Image by yum9me via Flickr
As I talked about before on this blog, the new hotness of MMOs this past September has predictably pushed other titles that have been out a while out of the spotlight in order to deal with issues in-house. Warhammer Online is one of these, and the upcoming 1.3.2 patch is set to, more than ever, deal with some of the fundamental issues that players have provided feedback on for the past few months or so.
The highlights include the removal of fortresses as a requirement to initiate a city siege, a new user package that better prepares players with tutorials, an all-newbie guild, and the concentration of all starting players in one pairing, chat channel additions, and the ability to sidekick a newer player so that they can play with someone of higher rank. This is also combined with a variety of combat and careers changes, the biggest of which is the removal of stun and further reduction of CC skills for certain classes, as well as surgical changes for several key Destruction careers.
The changes, while not necessarily “marketing sexy”, are internally focused and speak to a “do-over” philosophy to some of the core mechanics that needed addressing. Shifting the Tier 4 campaign and removing a key part of the original design was one of these, as is the DAoC-like inclusion of channels and guilds specifically designed to bolster new players. I can’t really complain about these kinds of “reset button” changes, even though some people might point to it as a sign of flawed core design. The reason is that traditionally, MMO developers don’t like changing fundamentals, as it is A)an inherent admission of failure or B)the changes are so major they require too much testing to properly release them. Mythic, however, has proven in the past year that they are anything but traditional, and this latest batch of changes that touch the center of their WAR game experience prove it.
Combine this “reset” philosophy, this idea that almost nothing is sacred in terms of creating a better player experience, with the more plain-spoken interviews/language, and you have, in a quiet and subtle way, Mythic’s apparent strategy for the next few months. That would be the following: to fix the fundamental issues as a high priority, tinker with the existing game mechanics, and let actions, not words, dictate whether or not the game will have a chance at re-upping its subscriber count anytime soon. I find this to be a far better long-term strategy for WAR than desperately trying to attract attention through big, game-changing announcements or making knee-jerk changes to stop further subscriber loss. Because for as many people who have declared “too little, too late”, there are just as many if not more people looking to check in on the game in a couple months, when new shiny has given way to typical MMO, and old products will get another try. With changes like the 1.3.2 patch notes in the works, Mythic plans to be ready for those.
I fully plan on re-rolling from scratch and blogging a bit about my experiences once the patch hits live, and, like WAR itself, dropping a reset on my character advancement. It sounds intriguing and interesting, and I look forward to how Mythic will deal with the increasingly competitive and close-to-saturated MMO market.


![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=58fd4dd4-3721-46fd-b5b9-ead64c5d819d)

![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=7f357605-8ed7-4cbb-bb87-d926e9ed06ec)

![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=98cfaf08-67d8-4377-a037-3d80e7292b39)

![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=ec1b5ea4-7f4f-42c5-9161-f47fc5b3e62a)

![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=103b9b3d-868f-4f7f-8a21-b17a6a81142c)

![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=593d97d0-d19a-4c04-a23b-57983aa74b6b)

![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=a8675a1e-3197-408b-98fe-04daba8ba265)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=d78c7760-71da-48a8-abca-f5665aca9d97)

![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=e0ed5c0f-8e69-458f-8390-eb4e66f8024b)