I’ve been struck by some of my viewers for giving WAR too much of a bad light on MMO Fallout. Apparently I am focusing too much on the negatives (Which is half of what this website was set up to do), but not enough on the positives. Low retention rate, massive server mergers, and the continuing issue of desolate areas, where doing certain RvR tiers or public quests is impossible due to the lack of other players present.
With the latest patch to hit the Warhammer Online public testing server, Mythic is looking to make the game easier not only for new players, but long time veterans as well. With this new patch, players will no longer start in the old starting areas. Instead, players will be thrown into a singular starting area, one for Chaos and one for Empire, allowing them to meet and greet, and to allow for easier group formation. New players will also notice that they have been automatically enrolled in a starting guild for each server, to allow them to meet other new players/alts, and form their own guilds off the bat. In addition, there is now a voice-over tutorial, and an improved in-game help manual.
But wait, there’s more! The new apprenticeship system allows you to scale yourself to another player’s level, whether they are higher or lower level than you. In order to aid in the Realm Vs Realm aspect of the game, fortresses will be removed, allowing much easier access to the enemy’s city. In correlation with this move, the rewards are also being scaled, offering higher rewards for the attackers and defenders when more players are present.
I have not read all of the patch notes, but this patch will also bring major changes to several careers, several so drastic that the Black Guard, Black Orc, Disciple of Khaine, Knight of the Blazing Sun, Magus, Marauder, Shadow Warrior, Slayer, Warrior Priest, and Witch Elf classes will find that their renown and mastery points are being refunded when the patch finally goes live.
One issue I don’t believe I’ve ever brought up about Warhammer Online is the game’s stun system. I certainly noticed this during my time playing WAR, but a major complaint among players is that there are too many attacks that bind, stun, knockback, and disable. In the patch, Mythic is reducing the number of disabling abilities, with many stun effects being removed, and the rest being altered into a “stagger” effect, that is similar to stun, but is removed when that player takes damage.
I’ll be the first to say that reading this update almost had me reaching for my credit card to resubscribe to Warhammer Online. The key word being “almost.” Despite when I use Warhammer Online as a point of notice for factors such as retention rate, server shutdowns, and examples of what not to do when launching an MMO, I have a great deal of interest in Mythic, and the title. No matter how much of a pounding Mythic takes, they have plugged away endlessly over the past year, and today’s WAR and last year’s WAR are different as night and day.
What WAR needs at this point is a good marketing campaign to get the word out.
MMO Fallout 