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Thursday, August 30, 2007
Gamersinfo WAR preview
Some time ago a site called GamersInfo found out that I was writing about games, without me telling them so, and started sending me regular newsletters. There is no way to unsubscribe, so technically the newsletter is spam. But of course I mind well targeted spam about subjects I'm interested in a lot less than the normal sort. So if I find the occasional interesting article there, I'm willing to link to them. Among a lot of other stuff they have an interesting preview of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.
Now I'm not, as some people believe, in the WAR beta. Yet. Well, I'm banging on their door hoping they let me in one day, to be more exact, having applied for the Euro beta and not received any response. Due to the perverse logic of blogging and NDAs that means that currently I'm free to talk as much as I want about WAR, and only inviting me to the beta will shut me up. Now, there's a good reason to send me a beta invite if there ever was one. :)
So let me quote something from the GamersInfo article: "One of the things that amused Paul to no small end was the fact that back "in the day" – a while ago, at least – some people (I get the impression it was "marketing people" but they didn't specifically say that) were afraid that no one would want to play races like the Greenskins. They were too ugly!
The beta launched two weeks ago – stable and fun (according to them – they haven't let me in yet!). Greenskins initially outnumbered dwarves 2 to 1! (That population, according to Jeff Hickman, has stabilized down to about 1.2 to 1 now.) Of course, the dwarves were owning the greenskins all day at Games Day, but at the Games Day in Atlanta, GA, it had been the opposite."
Of course that "nobody wants to play the bad guys" fear is a direct reference to World of Warcraft. But whether orcs outnumber dwarves or dwarves outnumber orcs doesn't really matter. The problem is the same: PvP (or RvR) balance.
Most WoW PvP balance discussion focuses on whether one class is better than another class. This matters when you do PvP duels, or arenas and battlegrounds where the number of players on each side is the same. In RvR it doesn't matter whether a warlock is stronger than a rogue, because he sure isn't stronger than two rogues, and fights between equal numbers of players are exceedingly rare. RvR raids get organized at 3 am in the morning, and if your guild raid ends up somewhere which is actually defended, there is a chance that the raid group decides to go elsewhere. And with classes being more or less balanced, the winner is always the side bringing more people to the battle. So if one side simply is more popular and has more players in total, they have a significant advantage. I don't know what races will be more or less popular in Warhammer Online, but I'm pretty sure the numbers will never be evenly balanced. That will cause a lot of howling and complaining on the game forums.
- posted by Tobold @ 8:33 PM Permanent Link
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As far I know, the faction balance in WoW is rather good on the PvP servers. It is the normal servers that are the problem. I suppose there is enough demand to beastly looking races in the more bloodthirsty players demographic.
Now, in WAR all servers will be kinda mix of WoW PvP and normal (PvE) servers in that there will be PvP areas and PvE areas. However, the ratio of content in upper levels will be in favor of PvP, and the most meaningful "endgame" will be PvP. So taking the experience from WoW, WAR should have decent faction balance.
ps. Tobold, you do get the WAR news letter? If not, getting it raises your beta chances. ;)
Now, in WAR all servers will be kinda mix of WoW PvP and normal (PvE) servers in that there will be PvP areas and PvE areas. However, the ratio of content in upper levels will be in favor of PvP, and the most meaningful "endgame" will be PvP. So taking the experience from WoW, WAR should have decent faction balance.
ps. Tobold, you do get the WAR news letter? If not, getting it raises your beta chances. ;)
"Due to the perverse logic of blogging and NDAs that means that currently I'm free to talk as much as I want about WAR, and only inviting me to the beta will shut me up. Now, there's a good reason to send me a beta invite if there ever was one. :)"
lol nice idea. I have no idea how WAR will do with balance. I doubt I'll ever play an MMO that truly has balance unless it is somehow controlled like an instance. For instance, if your race has a high populataion in WAR then it would seem Public Quests will be completed more often and you get reward/xp/gear quicker than a race that is low pop without enough to do the hardest stage of the public quests unless they go to another zone that they don't even know the way too.
My first char in WoW was a Tauren on a server about 8 months old. It was so barren in the land I couldn't do any group quests and finally quit him and tried an Orc who happened to be in populated areas a little faster and I ended up sticking with him. but I could have easily went to Alliance which actually happened eventually. (Barrens chat caused me to switch servers 3 times before I realised it was like that on every server lol)
lol nice idea. I have no idea how WAR will do with balance. I doubt I'll ever play an MMO that truly has balance unless it is somehow controlled like an instance. For instance, if your race has a high populataion in WAR then it would seem Public Quests will be completed more often and you get reward/xp/gear quicker than a race that is low pop without enough to do the hardest stage of the public quests unless they go to another zone that they don't even know the way too.
My first char in WoW was a Tauren on a server about 8 months old. It was so barren in the land I couldn't do any group quests and finally quit him and tried an Orc who happened to be in populated areas a little faster and I ended up sticking with him. but I could have easily went to Alliance which actually happened eventually. (Barrens chat caused me to switch servers 3 times before I realised it was like that on every server lol)
# posted by 
: 31/8/07 00:43
: 31/8/07 00:43
Warhammer has a much better idea of paladins than WoW. I honestly cant wait for this game...
The ideas they have for balancing and class roles a very interesting. Here is a pvp clip from Warhammer Reckoning from like 5 days ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYEl4Gu38c0
The ideas they have for balancing and class roles a very interesting. Here is a pvp clip from Warhammer Reckoning from like 5 days ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYEl4Gu38c0
Warhammer Online is offering Goblins as a playable race. I enjoy playing new races and I'm glad to see Goblinss get their due. I might give W.H.O. a chance, even though I despise pvp, for the chance to play a Goblin. Sadly, their class choices don't interest me, but the pet class might be amusing.
# posted by : 31/8/07 02:58
: 31/8/07 02:58
I have planned on playing a shaman for the goblin aspect as well; just something different. I really hope they flesh out what exactly each class can do. I hate when they provide you such little info such as dps tank, or dps healer, etc.. and then it takes to lv 15 to realize it isn't the playstyle you thought it was and the devs say "well that is how we meant it to be", well just tell us. If a shaman will always die to a close dps let me know, if a black orc will fry quickly to a caster, spell it out, don't let me have to die 10 times to understand.
# posted by : 31/8/07 03:25
: 31/8/07 03:25
Well, no mmorpg has been balanced at launch, and I don't expect W.H.O. to be any different. All the talk of race imbalance is completely off base, btw. It's class imbalance that should be more of a concern.
In any case, if Tobold isn't playing W.H.O., then the beta that has him all excited must be either Tabula Rasa, Rome Rising, or Pirates of the Burning Sea. I already predicted that it's PotBS, and now I'm more sure than ever )
In any case, if Tobold isn't playing W.H.O., then the beta that has him all excited must be either Tabula Rasa, Rome Rising, or Pirates of the Burning Sea. I already predicted that it's PotBS, and now I'm more sure than ever )
# posted by : 31/8/07 03:36
: 31/8/07 03:36
Tobold, you do get the WAR news letter? If not, getting it raises your beta chances.
I do get that one. Although "letter" is a misnomer, every edition is as big as a phonebook. :)
I do get that one. Although "letter" is a misnomer, every edition is as big as a phonebook. :)
There are no bad guys in WoW. The Orcs have thrown off their demonic shackles, the Tauren are nature lovers, and the Forsaken are just misunderstood. The Blood Elves were wronged by the Alliance, and only seek to escape persecution etc etc.
No games company wants to portray itself as condoning evil (well, some might, like Rockstar), so no matter how 'evil' a race may appear, they are in fact fighting against evil; in WoW's case it is the Scourge and the Burning Legion who are the real baddies..
No games company wants to portray itself as condoning evil (well, some might, like Rockstar), so no matter how 'evil' a race may appear, they are in fact fighting against evil; in WoW's case it is the Scourge and the Burning Legion who are the real baddies..
# posted by : 31/8/07 11:33
: 31/8/07 11:33
SWG had a RvR combat at one point (not sure if it still does). On the server I was on, the numbers for rebels and empire among the hardcore pvp players was fairly equal. However the overwhelming majority of the PvE players were the 'good guys'. Whenever the empire 'bad guys' were winning the RvR game to the extent that it started to effect the PvE content then the PvE players would get involved and overwhelm the empire fairly quickly. The developers tried to compensate for this by making faction gear/pets cheaper for the empire but that didn't help very much.
As mentioned above PvP players are generally less concerned how pretty or ugly a race is. This is also true of beta testers. I find that Beta testers know the character is temporary and focus less on looks. Some are trying all races to do proper feed back about race balance while others or figuring out which is best for release or at least best for their play style. Socializers are generally more interested in how they look and less interested in beta testing games because the community is much more in a state of flux. So my thoughts are it is wrong in beta to try to develop any conclusion on what races will be played based on looks and beta numbers.
# posted by : 31/8/07 17:23
: 31/8/07 17:23
Ive heard some decent ideas for balance faction vs faction type of games. One of the ideas I liked, that promotes actually playing the game during the early/middle phases was regular server wipes.
This way, say your friends decide to play... except on a different server... there would be a better chance eventually you join up on the same server without having to sacrifice much ingame time/wealth.
Also, instancing which is on games like guildwars and WoW battlegrounds offers a structure that puts people in brackets of organized fight scenarios. This is similair to registering for a karate tournament... Now when this happens you can complain about game mechanics and zerg strategies, but instead participate in a equal footed battle that allows player involvement/interaction to turn the tide of success instead of premade/organized/twinked manipulation of the battle.
This way, say your friends decide to play... except on a different server... there would be a better chance eventually you join up on the same server without having to sacrifice much ingame time/wealth.
Also, instancing which is on games like guildwars and WoW battlegrounds offers a structure that puts people in brackets of organized fight scenarios. This is similair to registering for a karate tournament... Now when this happens you can complain about game mechanics and zerg strategies, but instead participate in a equal footed battle that allows player involvement/interaction to turn the tide of success instead of premade/organized/twinked manipulation of the battle.
Another example would be like playing a game of chess, but instead of choosing the regular peices you all get queens(some look like orcs, dwarfs, elfs, humans, goblins, etc ^^).
I haven't seen anyone mention it in my scan thru comments here (my apologies if I missed it) but -
Mythic have stated in the past that PvP battles will be balanced out with the use of bots or "Dogs of WAR'.
Of course, it remains to be seen just how helpful these computer-controlled teammates will end up being and whether bots are still planned for release -but I remain hopeful.
Mythic have stated in the past that PvP battles will be balanced out with the use of bots or "Dogs of WAR'.
Of course, it remains to be seen just how helpful these computer-controlled teammates will end up being and whether bots are still planned for release -but I remain hopeful.
# posted by : 1/9/07 02:11
: 1/9/07 02:11
Some people have suggested that any 2 faction system is bound to fail since people will slowly move to the side which is seen as having the advantage.
In a 3 or more faction game system it is harder for one side to gain a perceived advantage and influence players to switch.
The grass is always greener on the other side unless there are two other sides, then you have clue which one is better.
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In a 3 or more faction game system it is harder for one side to gain a perceived advantage and influence players to switch.
The grass is always greener on the other side unless there are two other sides, then you have clue which one is better.
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