Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning : warhammer forums

Warhammer Alliance Commentary on the 1.3.0b Patch!

DoranM — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 16:20:06 GMT

Warhammer Alliance has posted an update about balacing the Archetypes and how the 1.3.0b patch will affect gameplay. The author of the article discusses how certain classes might be detrimental to game play and suggests possible changes for fixing these classes. Don't forget to weigh in with your thoughts about balancing Warhammer Archetypes!

Here's a look at a portion of the original post:

This week marks the release of Mythic's latest patch to balance combat in WAR, patch 1.3.0b. The patch has been heralded as a major rebalancing of WAR in two primary areas most complained about: AoE and CC. Mythic has also emphasized time and again that this patch is merely the first step in a new journey to address the issues and concerns many players have with WAR. The big question on a lot of player's minds though is: "Will this patch actually balance Bright Wizards and Sorceresses?"

Some of you may initially dismiss this claim, but I think there is more truth there than most of us are comfortable or happy with. While AoE and CC are often cited as the main problem areas in the game, chances are when you noticed how much they were disrupting your sense of enjoyment with the game, there was a Bright Wizard or Sorceresses gleefully nuking you and your warband into oblivion.

The patch we have been given attempts to solve the issues with AoE and CC in broad strokes. Many concerns have been raised about the specifics of the most recent patch, but I don't think we're going to see the real impact of the patch until we've had it on the live servers for a week or two. We're not going to see if the patch has brought the Bright Wizards and Sorceresses back down to earth with the rest of us, or if they continue to make the most dominant impression upon every conflict they enter.

To read more and voice your opinion visit the Warhammer Alliance website!

The Latest WAAAGH!!! News and Updates From WarhammerAlliance.com

DoranM — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:18:21 GMT

WarhammerAlliance.com has posted a recent update detailing recent hot fixes, a Land of the Dead update, Friday's Faithful Advice, and some in depth discussion about RvR from PhoenixRed! Warhammer is undergoing several changes this month with the release of massive new content with the Land of the Dead expansion, all kinds of hot fixes, and the viral marketing campaign where bones were sent to several top sites. Follow WarhammerAlliance.com for the latest information on these and future developments for Warhammer.

Here's a look at the most recent WAAAGH!!! news update:

Warhammer Alliance News
We report, you bash hide.

Follow the White Rabbit
In this episode of the WAH, PhoenixRed bites into that juicy vegetable product: the carrot of content. With his friend Binky the Rabbit, he goes on a quest to dig up the roots of this tasty root.

Friday's Faithful Advice No.2 !
Here we are again with Warhammer's two Oliphants of Opinion: Saleeya and Rev. Barrows! This week, they deal with a gender confused goblin and lunchbreak trips to the afterlife. Will the victim live past the endless yo-yo of death and ressurections? Will the goblin find true identity? The Answers Await!

News From The Herald

Hot Fixes
These fixes are hot off the presses! Included are some career changes and bug fixes. These updates go hot today, 6/22/09.

Game Update: Land of the Dead - Tue. 6/23/09
The Land of the Dead will be opening to the winning realms on Tuesday! Make sure you bring your sunscreen and a bag lunch, because it'll be a long haul across the desert.

Warhammer Daily News Update From WarhammerAlliance.com

DoranM — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:11:36 GMT

WarhammerAlliance.com has once again taken the time to update us with their daily WAAAGH!!! update! Hot topics include a recent joint WAR Community Poll with the WAR Vault, discussion and coverage of Hotfixes from the 16th and 17th, and a Hotplate Response from Andy Belford who defends the PTS. “To say that this round of PTS testing was ineffective is doing a grave injustice to the players who were actively participating in this round of testing.”

Here's the official Warhammer news update:

Warhammer Alliance News
The latest happenings from your favorite WAR fansite!

WAR Community Poll: Once again another joint poll with WAR Vault. Tell us why you login to the PTS! Share your thoughts about the testing system!

News From The Herald
News from the Herald compiles Herald posts from the day.

Immediate Server Downtime: The gremlins of server stability are at it again. Mythic apologized for the short notice, but needed to make some tweaks to servers due to the new 1.3 patch. North American and Oceanic servers were taken down at 2:35 PM EDT and brought back online at 3:23 PM EDT.

Hotfixes from the 16th and 17th: Earlier today, Mythic fixed the “Hammer and Chain” Live event quest. Players will now earn event credit when they complete this quest. Players that have already completed this quest and did not earn event credit should speak to the Event Herald. Players no longer select objects (doors and the like) when they hit “taget nearest enemy" key binding. On the Combat and Careers front, a few items were noted. It seems DoKs and Warrior Priests had regeneration rates reduced on AoE heals. The Archmage High Magic mechanic was fixed. Git To Da Choppa now will only affect one enemy per pulse.

Daily Devs
Daily Devs compiles all the important Dev Tracker posts from the day.

Lost Vale Sigil: It seems bosses aren’t dropping the correct (if any) sigils and wards. The team is aware of the issue and is working on a fix.

Hotplate Response: Andy Belford replies to the hotplate and defends the PTS. “To say that this round of PTS testing was ineffective is doing a grave injustice to the players who were actively participating in this round of testing.” Further, Andy lays out future plans:

“We are going to continue to offer strong in game incentives for PTS participation moving forward. We believe that if you are willing to invest your time into helping us make this game better, you should have something to show for it. You've already seen some rewards with the Shroud and keep looking out as we're going to be rewarding the Imperial Griffon and Enslaved Manticore mounts for PTS testing soon.”

Thank you, Andy!

Warhammer Alliance WAAAGH! Morning News Update!

DoranM — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:39:19 GMT

WarhammerAlliance.com has come through on a much needed fix of daily Warhammer News! In this update big topics include the recent WAP Episode 11 podcast, important news from developers regarding Phoenix Throne, and a recent interview of Technical Director Chad Robertson by Best Job Ever!

Here's your morning Warhammer News update:

Warhammer Alliance News
The latest happenings from your favorite WAR fansite!

WAP Episode 11: For your aural pleasure, Warhammer Alliance Podcast #11 is up! Greg Moran from Tome of Knowledge joins our trusty hosts Frank, Martin and Kristen in this great episode.

Upcoming highlights from 1.3 are discussed. Our hosts are quite excited about changes to the UI, new inventory upgrades and a handy auto roll feature. Some of the controversial fixes talked about include critical hits, single target damage, healing nerfs, and many other class specific changes. Should some classes be fixed in 1.3, while others are left for 1.4? What do you think of the Ward system?

In the Foresight-Hindsight segment of the podcast our hosts begin by discussing the Disciple of Khaine, but things quickly turn to the “hybrid theory.” Do hybrids have a place in WAR? Melee healers are a brand new creation by the folks at Mythic, and our hosts posit that while the jury is still out, melee healers don’t seem to be working as advertised.

The Community Sound Off segment featured excellent discussions on taking and crowd control in RvR. What changes to tanking in RvR need to be made? Land of the Dead stability was discussed, as many folks have expressed concern that server stability will have a negative impact on timing/twitch gameplay mechanics featured in the new content. And finally, cheating and exploits were addressed. Do you still trust WAR?

Don’t just listen to the podcast. Share your opinions! We want your feedback. Check out the show notes and thread. I’ve posed a few questions. Take a listen for yourself and let us know what you think. Also, be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the next Pre-Show thread. We value your input and we’ll do our best to answer your questions!

Daily Devs
Daily Devs compiles all the important Dev Tracker posts from the day.

ToK Unlocks and Load Times: Several users with a large number of Tome unlocks are experiencing long load times. Carrie Gouskos addressed these concerns by saying that her team has “tracked down a fix and are attempting to expedite it.”

Phoenix Throne and Donuts: Players on Phoenix Throne experienced a little bit of a hiccup this morning. A dev was looking to test some of the new fixes on the test servers, but hit Phoenix Throne instead. Andy Belford was quick to apologize for the error and promised that Mythic “will be withholding said developer’s donuts for this week.” D’OH!

Game Disconnecting: James Nichols confirmed that the programming team is trying to track down a problem which is causing a small number of users to be disconnected unwillingly.

Around the 'Net
WAR News and Interviews from the intertubes.

Best Job Ever: Best Job Ever interviews Chad Robertson, Technical Director at Mythic. Chad tells us just what a Technical Director does, and what his typical day is like. The video has some great “behind the scenes” shots of devs at work, and the Mythic offices in general. Take four minutes out of your day to check this video out, you won’t be sorry.

Warhammer Alliance WAAAGH! Daily News Updates!

DoranM — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:52:32 GMT

WarhammerAlliance.com has posted a daily news update with the latest noteworthy news from Warhammer Online! The biggest piece of news coming out of this daily update are the new Land of the Dead Screenshots, which come from the Tomb Kings trailer, and are pretty stunning!

Here's a look at a few of the new screenshots!

Here's the official Daily Warhammer News Update from WarhammerAlliance.come:

Once again, Warhammer Alliance offers you complete coverage of the newest Warhammer Online events :

Warhammer Alliance News
The latest happenings from your favorite WAR fansite!

Land of the Dead Screenshots
More media from the Land of the Dead was given out today, these screenshots come from the Tomb Kings trailer itself. Don't forget to check these out and possibly give ideas for future forum avatars !

News From The Herald
News from the Herald compiles Herald posts from the day.

European Herald - Maintenance
Every European server will be brought down on Tuesday 26th for maintenance. The realms will go down at 8:00 CEST, and GOA is planning to make them available again at 12:00 CEST.

Daily Devs
Daily Devs compiles all the important Dev Tracker posts from the day.

Account Activation Problems : Resolved
Were you having trouble renewing your subscription ? Because this issue should now be fixed, and your account can now be fully re-activated without any inconveniences.

Warhammer Alliance WAAAGH! News Re-cap!

DoranM — Wed, 20 May 2009 15:57:41 GMT

WarhammerAlliance has posted a news re-cap for some recent topics in the world of WAAAGH! Topics include the Interview Transcripts, and Server Maintenance news from Warhammer Online!

Here's the official Warhammer News re-cap:

Warhammer Alliance News
The latest happenings from your favorite WAR fansite!

More Interview Transcripts: A huge thank you to Avien for Part 2 of the Warhammer Alliance Games Day Baltimore interviews. This post is full of links to all the transcripts.

News From The Herald
News from the Herald compiles Herald posts from the day.

Server Maintenance: North American servers were brought down rather suddenly at 7:05am EDT today. Several servers were brought up by 8:30 while the reminder were brought up 10 minutes later. Oceanic servers were then brought down at 9:05am EDT, and came up at 10:10am EDT. No other maintenance has been reported for today.

Daily Devs
Daily Devs compiles all the important Dev Tracker posts from the day.

Combat & Careers 1.3 Forums: New Combat & Careers discussions are open for feedback. Currently, only Healer, Tank and MDPS Archetypes are open for feedback. Team Mythic needs your feedback! Please jump on the PTS and leave your valuable input.

Around the 'Net
WAR News and Interviews from the intertubes.

WAR takes over The MMO Report: Mythic's own Paul Barnett grills Executive Producer Jeff Hickman in this no holds barred interview on G4.com. Don't miss Paul's rant on the Warhammer IP. Are soccer hooligans really the inspiration behind Greenskins?

Warhammer Alliance Goes to Game Days To Meet Mythic In Baltimore!

DoranM — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:26:07 GMT

WarhammerAlliance.com reveals that they will be attending a workshop with Warhammer Online at Game Days in Baltimore! This should get us tons of juicy new tidbits about Tomb Kings and other developments in the world of WAAAGH!!! We'll be covering the event here at Curse through our correspondents at Warhammer Alliance! Stay tuned for lots of good information as this event comes to pass.

Here's the official Warhammer Alliance Goes to Games Day in Baltimore update:

Greetings WAR Community,

We're happy to announce that we have been granted a special opportunity to bring you the latest and greatest in all the happenings surrounding the Warhammer Online universe!

As you may know, the Games Day Baltimore event is upcoming, and WAR is going to be there. The Games Days are Games Workshop's series of events highlighting the best of the Warhammer Universe, including Warhammer Online. Attendees will get to experience the upcoming Tomb Kings content, have a chance at some really neat prizes, and hopefully meet some of the dedicated and hard-working developers for the game.

In support of the community, and in recognition of the fansite element of WAR that has been such a huge and significant part of the game's development, EA and Mythic Entertainment have graciously invited Warhammer Alliance out to Baltimore to bring you the inside track on all things WAR. We'll be joining other great and amazing sites such as Massively, MMORPG.com, and Ten Ton Hammer to get you all access and coverage on Tomb Kings, the current state of the game, and tons of impressions and thoughts from Mythic on the ever-changing WAR. For this journey, I plan on being your guide, mouthpiece, and doorway into all of the juicy info Mythic will be spilling!

We're still finalizing things for all our nefarious plans to bring you coverage of WAR at Games Day Baltimore, but here are some possible teasers to whet your appetites:

Behind-the-scenes coverage/previews of Tomb Kings, including never-before-seen details and new information
Live blogging of Games Day Baltimore over Twitter (follow PhoenixRed)
Interviews with Mythic's finest, with many of the questions coming from you, the community!
Detailed impressions, praise, and criticism of all of the latest WAR info at Baltimore
Tons of photos and visuals from the event

We would like to offer our thanks to Mythic, GOA, and EA for this great opportunity to gain access to some of the best WAR has to offer, and hope that support will continue for all the great fansites in the WAR community. That being said, our thanks also has to go out to all of the WAR community, without which we would never have been where we are today. You've been a huge part of us getting this chance to be in Baltimore, and we plan on paying you back in spades!

Specific threads will be posted on Warhammer Alliance to solicit thoughts and questions for our coverage - so keep an eye out!

Warhammer Alliance Daily News Update: The Herald, Straight From The Source, and More!

DoranM — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:35:52 GMT

WarhammerAlliance.com has posted a daily news update regarding everything WAAGH!!! Topics include their recent analysis of the community poll for Tomb Kings, a top-secret WarhammerAlliance special project, news and updates from the Herald, and of course the straight from the source piece about population caps on Fortresses.

Here's the official Warhammer News update from WarhammerAlliance.com:

One more week in April, and the news rolls on!

Warhammer Alliance News
The latest pieces found on WA!

Community Poll Analysis on Tomb Kings Anticipation

The latest community poll analysis takes a look at what last week's Tomb Kings question turned up from the community. If you posted something, you might even be mentioned! Be sure to take a look!

Nefarious Plans Afoot!

Warhammer Alliance is plotting something, according to a vague tweet by PhoenixRed. Stay tuned for more details this week!

News from the Herald
Today's news from Warhammer Online's Herald

Beyond the Sands Ends

The Beyond the Sands event is over, but the race to the Land of the Dead has just begun. Be sure to keep and eye on the Herald for all the future details!
Winds of Change on Dark Crag

In a test to improve stability for the RvR system, the Winds of Change system is currently in testing on the Dark Crag server, one of WAR's most populous communities. The mechanic will trigger only in the most severe of server situations and teleport out small numbers of players dead or severely wounded to the nearest warcamp or chapter hub. If you're on Dark Crag, be sure to leave feedback in the forums!

Straight From The Source
highlighted dev posts, interviews and features

PBAoE concerns

Several players have expressed concerns on the official forums over PBAoE not receiving the same treatment as AoE spells such as Rain of Fire and Pit of Shades. Andy Belford from Mythic has posted a thought from the developer standpoint of the risk vs. reward with PBAoE spells.
Population cap on Fortresses

On the official forums, Andy continues to address player questions, this time on a perceived population cap drop in keep sieging since 1.2.1. Andy informed the community that since keeps appeared to be harder to defend since the patch, that adjustments were made. The number of defenders able to be present was raised while the number of attackers was lowered.

WarhammerAlliance.com: New Community Poll For Tomb Kings

DoranM — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:49:16 GMT

WarhammerAlliance.com in their weekly quest to bring you the most controversial polls regarding the hottest Warhammer Topics deliveries a knockout this week with a recent poll about the Upcoming Tomb Kings live expansion. The question asked was "What Is The Best Part Of The Upcoming Tomb Kings?" The possible answers were "New dungeon/content", "Live event", "rewards" and "nothing" as well as "everything". Please bear in mind that the poll was started before this week's details on the expansion were released.

Here's a look at the Tomb of Kings poll and the community discussion following it:

Today's poll analysis takes a closer look at April 17th's poll about the Upcoming Tomb Kings live expansion and the buildup to it. To be precise, the question we asked you was: "What Is The Best Part Of The Upcoming Tomb Kings?" The possible answers were "New dungeon/content", "Live event", "rewards" and "nothing" as well as "everything". Please bear in mind that the poll was started before this week's details on the expansion were released.

With the turnout slightly lower than on the last poll, participation clocked in with 539 votes on Warhammer Alliance (WA) and 83 on the Warhammer Vault (Vault).

The results on this poll were crystal clear: Here on WA, "New dungeon/content" was the most popular choice with 275 users, followed by "nothing" with 124 and "everything" with 95. Trailing behind were "Rewards" (27 votes) and the "Live event" (18 votes).

Vault's voting showed similar results, with "New Content" leading the poll with 27 votes before "Everything" and "Nothing", which were tied at 24. Just like on WA, "Rewards" and the "Live Event" were the least popular choices, with 5 and 3 votes respectively.

With the new dungeon being such a prominent feature of Tomb Kings, it comes as no surprise that this is the part most players are looking forward to. After all, unlike the Live Events and the rewards, the content and dungeon are the parts that they will spend the most time seeing and experiencing.

Judging from the comments in the poll thread, it seems that quite a few players are placing their hopes on the RvR aspect of the new dungeon. Hacienda of the Team Conclave on Karak Eight Peaks, for instance, had this to say:

Quote:

Voted new content I'm hoping the PvP gated dungeon will be more entertaining than the dog nest that is T4 RvR

Devourer of Pancakes from Burlok commented:

Quote:

I'm quite looking forward to the new content. Fighting bosses in an RvR enabled dungeon? That's like a keep siege, without the part where you spend 10 minutes pressing the same button while targeting a door with a big bucket of oil over it. Lots of RvR fights - where melee gets to participate due to lack of fortifications - and boss fights without the dreaded stairs bottleneck. Basically all the awesomeness, without the meh.

Just like the result of the poll in general, these expectations for the RvR part come as no surprise when one looks at Dark Age of Camelot's Darkness Falls, which is being handled as the spiritual precursor to the new dungeon. After all, it not only supplied players with PvE content, but also PvP dogfights that have left an impression in many DAoC veterans.
Many former DaoC players and those who have heard of DF through them probably share similar hopes with Slurms on the Circle of Trust on Phoenix Throne:

Quote:

I do have a hope that the LotD will supply us with a little of both worlds like Darkness Falls did in DAoC.

As we could see from the poll results, however, there is also a significant number of players who feel discouraged and are looking forward to "nothing", as they voted. Most of the time, this seemed to tie in closely with the opinion that rather than focus on introducing new content, Mythic should focus on improving and fixing what is already in the game. Let's look at a few comments. This is what Leoman of Red Eye Mountain, shawnee, and Fusko of Iron Rock had to say, respectively:

Quote:

Who cares seams to be the way most people are thinking. Why are they doing all this new content when the old stuff is still broken? So there is more broken in the game?

Quote:

get things fixed whats in game already before adding more stuff tbh

Quote:

I think Mythic needs to get its priorities straight. A new zone is good and all, but theres already so much to be fixed or tweaked. I mean, I would prefer having all the cities implemented before this.

This argument - introducing new content versus improving the old - is something we have seen a lot since Tomb Kings was announced. It is clear that parts of the community seem divided on the topic. Personally, I believe that a good mixture is what would help the game. But since we aren't here to discuss my opinion, let's take a look at the other popular choice in the poll to bring things to a close: those who have voted to let it be known they are looking forward to "everything".

Bugmans Best thinks so, for example:

Quote:

Everything: A lot of excitement for the live event - these injections of stimulus really gets the action going - as well as always immensely enjoying taking on a whole new bestiary from the world of warhammer and seeing what they're made of.

And so does Ymrar of Karak Norn:

Quote:

Looking forward to all aspects of LotD. It's looks like from the podcast that it will boost activity in t4 RvR, as that will open the zone. Also you fight in the zone also, so it gives more places to fight in. They have finally figured a way to link Lairs more interestingly and I'm hoping the new PQs are all scripted as good as the best in the current content. Ofc I'm also waiting to see the new dungeon as the TK theme with traps and all is very cool.

All in all, the majority of voters seem to be looking forward to the live expansion. However, there is also a significant part that doubts that it is the right way to go. In the end, I think, we will have to wait and see how the expansion plays out. What do you think about the poll? If you forgot to vote or your opinion has changed by now, be sure to let us know in this thread!

Don't forget to vote in this week's poll either! It asks what priorities you would set for the next patch, which is 1.2.2!

WarhammerAlliance.com: Latest News from the WAAAGH! Front!

DoranM — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:34:50 GMT

WarhammerAlliance.com

News from the WAR front has been a bit quiet as of a late. Most of the attention seems to be being put on the testing on the Public Test Server and the 1.2.1 patch. Today we've got a spotlight on new screenshots again from Ashelyn, they rock pretty hard btw, news from the Herald, and some development posts form the War Dev Tracker!

Here are the latest WAAAGH! news headlines from WarhammerAlliance.com:

Spotlight on: Screenshots!

The Spotlights are now in an open forum, so be sure leave your feedback. The Spotlight today is on Screenshots. Community member Ashelyn had some very nice ones to share.

News From the Herald
News from the US and EU Warhammer Online Heralds

Squig Herder Feature

Both the EU and US Heralds featured a write up on Squig Herders. A career that gets passed by sometimes and not rightly so. Overall a good write up.

Straight From the Source
"Straight from the Source" details important Developer Posts from that day's Tracker

Apparently there has been an issue with guilds either claiming or releasing their claim on keeps. James Nichols tells us that CSR's cannot assist with Standard Bearer issues so in game petitions will not help. He anticipates that these issues should be resolved by the time 1.2.1 goes live, which is soon.

Source

James Nichols also addressed cleave and other undefendable attacks. He says they have a fix and should be out by the time 1.3 is on the servers. Not quite sure what that is at this time.

Source

Adam Gershowitz acknowledged that the AoE radius and such is still bugged on test as well as on live.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdamG_EAMythic

We're aware of this item, in actually AoE now has the same "grace" range for checking for hits that Direct damage and Melee abilities have. This can add up to an additional 10 feet in radius to the ability. If you want to get an idea of how much extra range this really is you can easily grab any character turn on auto attack and then back up (from a stationary monster / character) until you cannot auto attack anymore. This is essentially 0 feet range, b/c auto attack has no range on it.
We're continuing to watch how this effects RvR and the player response to the issue and will likely make an adjustment to AoE radius in the patch after 1.2.1 as part of our ongoing steps to work AoE into a useful but managable role.

Source

Around the Net

Although not WAR related, I wanted to say farewell to Dave Areneson. The co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons lost his battle to cancer yesterday at the age of 61. Both him and Gary Gygax who predeceased him last year in March have made much of what a RPG is today, in both pencil and paper as well as video games. He will be missed.

WarhammerAlliance.com New Weekly Poll Analysis Section!

DoranM — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:24:28 GMT

WarhammerAlliance.com has posted a new Weekly Poll Analysis section that will compare and contrast opinions from the War community. Polls have been posted in conjunction with WAR Vault which will provide a broader scope of user opinions. The analysis of the two sites will be done separately and then together when comparing the results. The first poll being analyzed is Last week’s poll, posted March 20th, asked you “How Much Has the Introduction of the Slayer/Choppa Affected RvR?” Options included: “It has greatly affected RvR,” “It has somewhat affected RvR,” “I’m unsure of how it has affected RvR/Waiting and seeing,” “It has only affected RvR a little,” and “It has not affected RvR at all.” The total number of votes between Warhammer Alliance and WAR Vault was 526.

Here's the results and the official WarhammerAlliance.com Weekly Poll Analysis announcement:

Welcome to the Weekly Poll Analysis! This is a new feature implemented by Warhammer Alliance, and looks at the previous week’s poll and at the results it had. Recently, Warhammer Alliance has been posting polls in conjunction with WAR Vault, providing us with a broader scope of user opinions. This analysis will look at both polls as separate entities, and then together as a general playerbase. Since this is the first of a series, please feel free to make suggestions for future posts!

Last week’s poll, posted March 20th, asked you “How Much Has the Introduction of the Slayer/Choppa Affected RvR?” Options included: “It has greatly affected RvR,” “It has somewhat affected RvR,” “I’m unsure of how it has affected RvR/Waiting and seeing,” “It has only affected RvR a little,” and “It has not affected RvR at all.” The total number of votes between Warhammer Alliance and WAR Vault was 526.

Unfortunately we at Warhammer Alliance (WA) had only 220 votes (come on people, we need more votes!), but they yielded some interesting results. Overwhelmingly, you voted that you were waiting to see how these two new classes would affect RvR. This option held 78 of your votes, totaling 35.45% of the total votes. The “second place” options were very close—51 of you, or 23.18%, voted that the Choppa/Slayer somewhat affected RvR, and 50 of you, or 22.73%, voted that they have greatly affected RvR. It’s interesting to see how close those two are, given the substantial difference between “greatly affected” and “somewhat affected.” Following behind in fourth is affecting RvR “a little” with 23 votes (10.45%), and in fifth with 18 votes (8.18%) is that the classes have not affected RvR “at all.”

Comments on Warhammer Alliance seemed to cover a little bit of each topic. Some responders commented on faster scenarios, to new utilization of other classes. Others remarked that although it seems like there may be large changes now, later on things will probably balance out. It's important to note what class the person is while reading the comments as well. Tozen, who has a Magus, but is also playing a Choppa remarked:

Quote:

Exactly. As soon as the Choppa hits T3 it becomes food for both ranged classes and tanks while AoE healing WPs negate its damage. I'll probably stick things out to T4 just to see if Git to the Choppa' makes a big difference, but I can safely predict that the Choppa is not going to make a significant change in RvR (which is probably a good thing to be honest).

Chuck Bronsun, an Ironbreaker, mentioned that the classes are greatly effecting RvR because its deterring players from other classes:

Quote:

It has greatly effected RvR mainly because there is now one more class people would rather play than a healer. Not sure about the rest of you, but both of the servers I currently play on are desperately lacking healers on the Order side of things in every tier.
With the game not doing so great these days with subscriptions, people don't need another reason to bail.

Although not many people commented on WA, those who did gave great insight to the result of WA's polling.

Warhammer Vault’s (Vault) poll was similar in some regards, yet strikingly different in other regards. Vault had 306 total votes, with the leading response (91 votes) being that the classes “somewhat affected” RvR. In a relatively close second was “wait and see,” with 84 votes, followed by “greatly affected” with 76 votes. Interestingly, in fourth place was “not affected at all” with 41 votes, followed by “somewhat not affected” in fifth place with 14 votes.

Bearing in mind that Vault’s poll had 86 more votes than WA’s at the time of this article, there is some interesting data here between WA and Vault. WA voters believe that they need more time to decide how these classes will affect RvR, most probably because at the time of posting, as Siberwulf points out:

Quote:

Um, the class has been open to the general public (not live event completers) for all of...3 days.

However, more Vault users seemed to notice immediate effects from the classes, since they predominantly voted that it had somewhat affected RvR. Perhaps one of the reasons voted that way is because, as Nnucifera put it on WA:

Quote:

The only affect I've seen of the new classes in RvR is there are so many of them (Tier 3) that there's not enough of the other classes to go around. Like, half the warband will be choppas then we'll be lucky if we get a healer or two. Not to mention a majority of the players don't know what they're doing. Was hoping the retards would be weeded out before Tier 3.

I know I have seen my fair share of Choppas and Slayers in scenarios, and it seems like I’m not the only one!

The most interesting factor of this week’s poll is the discrepancy between WA and Vault on the “not at all” option. It seems that most voters on WA believe the new classes will have an effect over time, and in some way—whereas a significant amount of Vault voters saw otherwise. According to my calculations, 8% of WA users claimed the classes wouldn’t change RvR while 13% percent of Vault users claimed the same. This 5% margin shows a distinct difference between the thinking of WA’s userbase and Vault’s userbase.

When the results of the votes are combined, we can see the large impact that WA’s number one and Vault’s number four has. The combined percentages (based on the number of votes) are 31% for “Waiting,” 27% for “Somewhat,” 24% for “Greatly,” 11% for “Not at all” and 7% for “a little.” Simply put, it seems that this poll was too early for a concerned playerbase to adequately respond and surmise how these classes will make an impact.

Next week’s analysis will cover a poll about AoE, which came out merely hours before the 1.2.1 Preview! It’ll be interesting to see how the upcoming changes affect the results of the poll. Please make sure to go vote and comment—perhaps your comment will show up in the next analysis.

Warhammer Weekly Round Up From WarhammerAlliance!

DoranM — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:35:58 GMT

WarhammerAlliance.com has posted its Weekly Round-Up which includes updates from its own contests, The Herald, WARDB, and more! A few things to note from the round up are the announcement that a few of the servers will close shortly and characters will be moved in the Source Server Character Transfers story, Mark Jacobs' State of the Game Post, and the WAR Community Poll - What's the Best Part of Bitter Rivals?

Here's the Weekly Round-Up:

With the end of this week comes the end of the Bitter Rivals event. Starting next week the head start begins for those lucky enough to have gotten the elite reward in the event; so there will be Slayers and Choppas galore.

With all of the new and returning players it will bring you may need to update your WAR machine. Our partners at Curse.com may be able to help. They are having a contest giving away a new Reactor computer by Hardcore Computer. Be sure to check it out.

3/3 The event Call to Arms: Bitter Rivals and Patch 1.2 goes live. Last minute changes were done even afterward making it a fun release, frustrating for some, and a blessing to others.
3/3 Crafting Changes - Scavenging With the major changes to both Butchering and Scavenging in relations to Apothecary skill, players were given the ability to exchange their current level of Scavenging for an equal level of Butchering.
3/3 Spotlight on: UI Mods by Anglakhel reviewed the UI mod State of the Realm.
3/4 WARDB Updates - Build A Slayer/Choppa Today! The new careers now have a career build to to help you decide what your Orc or Dwarf should do with all of those new power and path choices.
3/4 WAR Community Promotion Initiative #6 - 1.2 Sound-off Wednesday's WCPI focused on the many WAR blogs take on the new live event and 1.2.
3/4 [EU] Cross-Rule transfers
3/4 Zone Control and You! Mythic details the new system and gives some numbers to help us make some informed decisions on how to flip zones.
3/4 Source Server Character Transfers Today announced the final days of some source servers, after which today all characters remaining will be transfered to the Magnus server.
3/5 State of the Game From our Dev Tracker we get information on the current state of the game from Mark Jacobs.
3/5 Spotlight on: Screenshots by Ariwyn on Thursday focused on some of Nateum's Photoshop Magic.
3/5 WAR Free Trials 10 day free trials were opened up to everyone.
3/5 Witch Hunter Feature from Mythic and the GOA, players give their insight on the class.
3/6 WAR Community Poll - What's the Best Part of Bitter Rivals?
3/8 WAR Community Promotion Initiative #7 - 3/8/09 Todays WCPI talks about talisman making, 1.2, and more on the WAR blogs.

GOA announced it's way to improve the overall game experience, cross-rule server transfers.
A lot for one week, and much more in the next two with arrival of the new classes. Get to da choppa!

Warhammmer News, State of the Game Address, and Screenshots!

DoranM — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 15:56:53 GMT

WarhammerAlliance.com has posted several new updates from The Herald, a State of the Game Address, and some new screen shots from Natheum! Exciting news from The Herald includes Mythic checking in with players about the Witch Hunter class and its role in RvR, a full set of hot fixes, and new Warhammer Online 10-day free trials for your friends!

Here's the original post from WarhammerAlliance.com:

Two (in the US)/One (in the EU) day after the release of 1.2, it seems that the Herald had quite a busy day:

News from the Herald
News from the Herald is designed to bring you the latest updates from the official Warhammer Herald.

WAR Free Trials
Mythic announces a 10-day free trial for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning that works for both the US and EU servers.

Witch Hunter Feature
In a new instance of the ongoing class features, Mythic and GOA ask players of the Witch Hunter class to express their opinion about the class and its role in RvR.

Hot Fixes 03/05/09
Another day, another round of fixes. Check out the details at the link above!

Server Transfers
A new round of server transfers has begun in both the US and the EU. You can check out which servers are allowed free character transfers at the link above for the US, and over here for the EU.

Straight from the Source
Straight from the Source gives you a heads up about developer posts across the net.

State of the Game
For those of you wondering when the next State of the Game Announcement will arrive, Mark posted at Vault that he wants to wait until 1.2 sinks in.

Spotlight on: Screenshots - Natheum's Photoshop Magic

Ariwyn brings us today's Spotlight on: Screenshots. She casts a light on what a little photoshop can do to completely change the feeling of a screenshot. Definitely worth checking out!
If you want to get your or your friend's or guildmate's screenshots spotlighted and your name on the frontpage, all you have to do is nominate them in this thread!

Warhammer Online Expansion: Call To Arms Live Today!

DoranM — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:52:13 GMT

WarhammerAlliance.com has posted an update about the Call to Arms Expansion. The Call to Arms Expansion is supposed to go live on servers today! Right now its a few hours overdue but it should be up very soon. The Bitter Rivals Live Event is also going up today with lots of new prizes and the exclusive Scenario "The Twisting Tower".

Here's the original post from WarhammerAlliance.com:

On the Horizon
On the Horizon is designed to bring you notices and reminders of the upcoming happenings in Warhammer Online.

Reminder: Call to Arms to go Live tomorrow!
Lock your door and send the wife (or husband) out, because tomorrow Call to Arms goes live! Bathroom breaks? Who needs them! Mythic has lined up a massive array of bug fixes, character fixes, and content all for you to enjoy.

Reminder: Bitter Rivals Live Event tomorrow!
While the wife (or husband) is out, don't forget about the Live Event! Not only is there brand new quests and challenges for you to try out, but there's also an exclusive Scenario (The Twisting Tower), and a variety of prizes for your liking!

Warhammer Alliance Weekly Round Up - All Things WAAAAGH! March 1st!

DoranM — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 02:51:24 GMT

WarhammerAlliance.com has posted their weekly round up for the week ending March 1st. The weekly round up is a re-cap of everything that has happened in the past week in the world of WAAAGH! We've had all kinds of things happen with the Choppa and Slayer classes going live on the PTS. There's also some news from our WAR podcast, The Herald, and of course WarhammerOnline.com about free transfers for characters lower than Rank 11.

Here's the original post:

The start of a new month and in a couple of days will be the start of choppin' with the Choppas and slayin' with the Slayers. Leading up to the 1.2 patch live update there has been quite a bit of testing and tweaking; and a good deal of other events. The test server was busy with players testing out the changes to RvR, the new builds, and the new classes. Here is most of what happened this last week summarized.

2/22: WCPI - Warrior Priests, An Old Journal, and Weapons of Sieging The first intallment of this weeks WAR Community Promotion Initiative highlighted some editorials from some of WAR blogs. The 1.2 changes to the Warrior Priests, portraits of WAR featuring various artwork and wallpapers, and the improvements to siege weaponry were discussed.
2/23: PTS Update - 2/23/2009 The devs plan a major test on the PTS of the new ORvR. Zone domination amongst other things were tested, and some lucky people were invited to PTS dev guilds for the duration.
2/23: Warhammer Alliance Podcast 5: Ah Crap, I Got Trompled The 23rd also was the date of our 5th podcast Frank, Martin, Kristen, and Kelly aka Ariwyn. They discussed various topics from the Positives and negatives in WAR, including Adam Gershowitz's post to Archmages and Shamans and PTS first impressions, to name a couple. It was a good piece that I would recommend listening too if you missed it.
The Warhammer Online Offical Forums went live, or a test run rather in conjunction with 1.2. They will be viewable by everyone on March 3rd when 1.2 goes live.
2/24: Spotlight on: Guides - Building a WAR PC Anglakhel Spotlight focused on building a WAR PC. The reason we all had to upgrade our computers if we hadn't already is addressed here, especially if you still need to do so to play WAR.
2/24: 10-Day Free WAR Trial on Fileplanet The Herald announced the 10-day free trial to Fileplanet subscribers. For more details about WAR trial accounts, please see the Free Trial Account FAQ at the offical site. On the 27th, they announced that a limited number would be made to non-subscribers as well due to popular demand.
2/25: WCPI - The List So Far WCPI Membership List as of 2/25/09 lists the 30 or so sites that signed up for the WCPI to promote each other's blogs.
2/25: Free Transfers for Characters Rank 11 and Lower Among other fixes and tweaks in the Hot Fixes for today, free transfers to servers with the same rulesets for all characters under Rank 12; unlimited but only once per day.
2/26: February Newsletter - Bitter Rivals/1.2 to come March 3rd Announced today in the February Newsletter, Bitter Rivals and the 1.2 update to be released on March 3rd.
2/26: [http://herald.warhammeronline.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war?id=645]
WAR Fiction - Grimnir's Paradox: Chapter 1[/url] With the announcement of Bitter Rivals, we were given some fiction reading material on the upcoming Slayers.
2/26:
WAR Fiction - A Fistful of Choppas: Chapter 1 But who cares about the Slayers, us greenskins wanted Choppa fiction, so this is what we have for our faction.
2/26: Official Warhammer Online Forums and You! The much anticipated opening of the Official Forums were dampened by the outcry of European players wanting there forums established as well. Only to be silenced the same day.
2/26: Official EU Forums are coming Not missing a beat, GOA announced on the EU Herald that their official forums are coming as well.
2/27: Bitter Rivals Battle Royale! - Sunday 3/1/09
With 1.2 coming this tuesday the devs ramped up the testing on the PTS to get those last numbers crunched before hand. They're looking for number here, so the more the merrier.
Quote:

We'll be rewarding the top contenders for all careers with the limited edition Choppa & Slayer heads in addition to those who already stood out of the crowd and participated in providing awesome feedback. Tier 4 Templates will be available for the Choppa & Slayer.

More information on the Herald on how to do this.

2/27: Spotlight on: Fan Art! Fan Art gets the spotlight for this installement. A lot of talented people waging WAR out there.
2/28: WAR Community Promotion Initiative #4 - 2/28/09 A few more good sites to check out from the WCPI.
2/28: The Casual Community WAR Experiment - Week 2 Report PhoenixRed details his 2nd week.
3/1: The WAH, 3/1/09 - The Treehouse of WAR Customer Service PhonexRed shows us the differences between GOA and Mythic. A good article that helps explain the apples and oranges comparisons that people try to make with them.

Is there more news? Most assuredly. Stick around all this week when 1.2 and Bitter Rivals hit the servers.