One of the things I wanted to test is if Tier 1 or Tier 2 is more renown/xp. With one kill in Tier 2 at rank 12, I had my answer and it wasn't even close. Tier 2 is miles ahead in renown/time and renown/xp. Rank 12 is the soonest you can enter Tier 2 and be eligible for Bolster, zone captures, and AAO. I was defending the Altar of Khaine in the Blighted Isle. I killed a DoK on the objective and received 3000 experience and 300 renown. Later when defending the Ironclad in Barak Varr, I killed a Chosen for 1500 experience and 700 renown. Sure, it might be fun to totally dominate the lower Tier, but you don't learn anything like that and I find more enjoyment out of a challenge.
I actually ended up staying up until 2AM fighting in Tier 2. It was so much fun with fights actually happening that I lost track of time. My new character is now R12/RR20. I've bought a few talismans, but good lord, potions can be ridiculous to buy (or sell) at lower Tiers. I'm definitely going Apothecary/Cultivating with Butchering on the alt.
I don't feel underpowered in Tier 2 even though I'm the lowest level in the Tier. You can definitely tell the difference between a Rank 1 and Rank 15 in Tier 1, but it's not that bad Rank 12 versus Rank 26. It's likely because at Rank 10 you have all the basic tools you need to function. I would certainly be in favor of just giving players all their Rank 1-10 abilities at Rank 1. I understand the whole not wanting to overwhelm a new player with everything at once, but it's crippling in RvR. If one side has Rank 10+ tanks and the other doesn't, it's usually decided before the fight starts for example.
For those curious, I'm playing a Swordmaster on Badlands, also named Tarelther. Say hi if you see me there. But please, send a tell before inviting me to anything. I swear that people have forgotten common courtesy these days. Doing stuff like that in FFXI when I played it earned you an instant blacklist (/ignore) and I'm going to be adopting the same policy.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
WAR Reboot - Setup and Goals
So I've started up another character in Tier 1. I realized very, very quickly that everything that a low level character does to get money ends up getting experience as well. I want to be able to level up a character and maximize the renown I have when I hit R40. I'd like to be RR70 or better when I hit R40.
So to get money, I rolled an alt with the sole purpose of farming me up gold for my main to use. The character is a butcher since it's a good source of NPC cash. I really don't want to be fooling around with the AH in Tier 1. Maybe I'll get into it a little later, but I figure most players don't go into WAR looking to play the AH for riches any more.
I was able to luck into someone offering some gold for people willing to help form a guild, so that was an easy 16g for me. That should get me through Tier 1 easily. I won't have a lot of potions or the best talismans, but it'll be good enough for now. I also had someone give me some talismans because his inventory was overflowing. (You rock dude if you're reading this.)
I spent a lot of time working the Elf and Dwarf Tier 1 zones. You'd think it'd be dead, but there's a surprising number of people fighting out there. I find the smaller skirmishes a lot more enjoyable (and rewarding) than the ZvZ (zerg vs zerg) in Nordland.
I'm doing ok so far in my goal being R9/RR16. It kills me that I can't really do scenarios, or I'll level out of the Tier way too fast. Hopefully the xp reduction for scenarios in 1.4.4 will allow me to hit T4 with a non-crap weapon and the RR I want. I'll be able to figure that out quickly enough once I do a couple.
This process would be a lot different if I were using a trial account instead of my main account, and I may just try that a little bit. I don't want to end up with too much rested xp though. The xp cap for Tier 1 would actually be helpful if you can get RR20 under the trial. Please leave a comment if I'm wrong about that so I can fix it.
Next time, I'll post the plan I've been using so long as it's still successful. And I'll also include a plan for trial players about how to use the xp cap to their advantage as long as you can actually get RR20 on trial.
So to get money, I rolled an alt with the sole purpose of farming me up gold for my main to use. The character is a butcher since it's a good source of NPC cash. I really don't want to be fooling around with the AH in Tier 1. Maybe I'll get into it a little later, but I figure most players don't go into WAR looking to play the AH for riches any more.
I was able to luck into someone offering some gold for people willing to help form a guild, so that was an easy 16g for me. That should get me through Tier 1 easily. I won't have a lot of potions or the best talismans, but it'll be good enough for now. I also had someone give me some talismans because his inventory was overflowing. (You rock dude if you're reading this.)
I spent a lot of time working the Elf and Dwarf Tier 1 zones. You'd think it'd be dead, but there's a surprising number of people fighting out there. I find the smaller skirmishes a lot more enjoyable (and rewarding) than the ZvZ (zerg vs zerg) in Nordland.
I'm doing ok so far in my goal being R9/RR16. It kills me that I can't really do scenarios, or I'll level out of the Tier way too fast. Hopefully the xp reduction for scenarios in 1.4.4 will allow me to hit T4 with a non-crap weapon and the RR I want. I'll be able to figure that out quickly enough once I do a couple.
This process would be a lot different if I were using a trial account instead of my main account, and I may just try that a little bit. I don't want to end up with too much rested xp though. The xp cap for Tier 1 would actually be helpful if you can get RR20 under the trial. Please leave a comment if I'm wrong about that so I can fix it.
Next time, I'll post the plan I've been using so long as it's still successful. And I'll also include a plan for trial players about how to use the xp cap to their advantage as long as you can actually get RR20 on trial.
Monday, September 12, 2011
A Reboot
I came upon a disturbing trend when playing some scenarios in WAR yesterday.
Half the scenario gave up after half a skirmish in Black Fire Basin. So I asked why.
They said they were outgeared and outleveled badly which is why they can't win. Well, of course you can't win if you give up and refuse to try to adapt to the situation. Sitting in the spawn also doesn't fix the renown gap.
When confronted with sitting in the spawn doesn't fix the renown gap, I was told that it's Mythic's job to fix the problem. Last I checked, it's not the developer's job to level your character.
So I decided I would do something about it. I wanted to see for myself if it was true.
So I created a brand new character on another server with no connections, no leveled toons, no nothing. I wanted to experience the game from the experience of a brand new player.
I want to see for myself if the gear/renown gap is now just an excuse, or if the gap was not closed enough in 1.4.2. I stop playing because the gap was way out of control and work was picking up. Well, I'm back now and ready to go at it again.
Half the scenario gave up after half a skirmish in Black Fire Basin. So I asked why.
They said they were outgeared and outleveled badly which is why they can't win. Well, of course you can't win if you give up and refuse to try to adapt to the situation. Sitting in the spawn also doesn't fix the renown gap.
When confronted with sitting in the spawn doesn't fix the renown gap, I was told that it's Mythic's job to fix the problem. Last I checked, it's not the developer's job to level your character.
So I decided I would do something about it. I wanted to see for myself if it was true.
So I created a brand new character on another server with no connections, no leveled toons, no nothing. I wanted to experience the game from the experience of a brand new player.
I want to see for myself if the gear/renown gap is now just an excuse, or if the gap was not closed enough in 1.4.2. I stop playing because the gap was way out of control and work was picking up. Well, I'm back now and ready to go at it again.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Wrath of Heroes: Beta
Everyone loves a three way.
Now that I have your attention, I'd like to talk to you about life insurance.
Just kidding.
This is about Wrath of Heroes, the new 6v6v6 pure PvP F2P game from Bioware/Mythic.
I can't say too much about it other than what already has been publicly released due to NDA. (Sorry all.)
I do want to talk about the concept of 3 teams being in the battle instead of 2 and how it introduces many more variables to the game.
For example, you are always outnumbered 2 to 1. Sure you might get some temporary help from an enemy team, but in the end, you have to beat everyone else.
Another thing is that since one team wins and two lose, you can't expect to win most of the time. A good team might end up winning about 35-40% of the time. It might take the sting out of losing or it might discourage players. Only time will tell I guess.
If this goes to the e-sports scene, we'll have to get used to weird things like having a round of 81. Winning a best of 7 means you can win with 3 games won, not 4. That would likely end up being scored first to 3 instead of best of 7 though. You could end up having a team in the tournament with no real chance to win, but can end up playing kingmaker by helping a team they like more to win overall. For example, in game 5 of a first to 3 with 2 teams 2-2 and one team 0-4, it's highly likely the 0-4 team will end up determining the winner by deciding who to double team.
Everyone loves a three way. Except maybe the guy who has to draw up new tournament brackets to support 3 competitors at a time in a match.
Now that I have your attention, I'd like to talk to you about life insurance.
Just kidding.
This is about Wrath of Heroes, the new 6v6v6 pure PvP F2P game from Bioware/Mythic.
I can't say too much about it other than what already has been publicly released due to NDA. (Sorry all.)
I do want to talk about the concept of 3 teams being in the battle instead of 2 and how it introduces many more variables to the game.
For example, you are always outnumbered 2 to 1. Sure you might get some temporary help from an enemy team, but in the end, you have to beat everyone else.
Another thing is that since one team wins and two lose, you can't expect to win most of the time. A good team might end up winning about 35-40% of the time. It might take the sting out of losing or it might discourage players. Only time will tell I guess.
If this goes to the e-sports scene, we'll have to get used to weird things like having a round of 81. Winning a best of 7 means you can win with 3 games won, not 4. That would likely end up being scored first to 3 instead of best of 7 though. You could end up having a team in the tournament with no real chance to win, but can end up playing kingmaker by helping a team they like more to win overall. For example, in game 5 of a first to 3 with 2 teams 2-2 and one team 0-4, it's highly likely the 0-4 team will end up determining the winner by deciding who to double team.
Everyone loves a three way. Except maybe the guy who has to draw up new tournament brackets to support 3 competitors at a time in a match.
Friday, March 4, 2011
An Evening in the Black Garden
I played Rift during it's Head Start. No I didn't make 50. I'm no power gamer. I never will be. I did do a number of warfronts. Sadly, that's not really a viable way to level quickly at all. Solo questing combined with rifts and zone events as they come up is the winning combination for that. While leveling, PvP is source of some blue gear every 6-10 levels.
The PvP is quite fun though. I'm playing my Warrior as DPS using Champion, Paragon and Vindicator as my souls. If you've played an Arms Warrior in WoW, it will feel somewhat familiar. I got video of it. Enjoy! The music is from the soundtrack to Braveheart. It's shot in 1080p, so it's best if you head over to YouTube to see it.
It's well done, but it lacks WAR's depth imo until players start reaching higher prestige ranks. I like it though and it's fun. In the end, that's all that really matters.
The PvP is quite fun though. I'm playing my Warrior as DPS using Champion, Paragon and Vindicator as my souls. If you've played an Arms Warrior in WoW, it will feel somewhat familiar. I got video of it. Enjoy! The music is from the soundtrack to Braveheart. It's shot in 1080p, so it's best if you head over to YouTube to see it.
It's well done, but it lacks WAR's depth imo until players start reaching higher prestige ranks. I like it though and it's fun. In the end, that's all that really matters.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
2h Tanks and Guard - Another Possible Solution
I had this crazy idea come to me reading one of the recent threads on removing Guard from 2h tanks, playing RIFT beta for a little bit, and thinking about how awesome it is to actually have weekends off from work.
RIFT has Guard in it's game, but it functions differently from WAR. It's a 15s buff with a 30s cool down that redirects 25% of damage taken by an ally to the Warrior. This can be increased to 50% by spending 10 soul points in the Vindicator PvP soul. This prevents you from buying the better DPS abilities in the soul since that soul has a 21 point cap on it. One of the 15 point abilities caught my eye, the Art of Defense. This allows a player to block without a shield.
In real life, I work for an insurance company. In a lot of insurance policies, there are several restrictions placed on coverage. Oftentimes, these restrictions can removed from the policy for an additional premium payment.
So I propose a similar solution. Guard requires a shield to use. A tank may purchase the ability to use Guard without a shield with renown points. I would place this ability on ranks 4 and/or 5 of Hardy Concession. The 10% or 15% damage cut and the cost of 20 or 34 renown points would make it unlikely that the 2h tank would be able to put out anything remotely close to DPS classes, so it should be fine to let the tank use Guard. The main complaint was 2h tanks being able to output too much DPS while having the most powerful damage mitigation ability in the game. This handles the complaint while not degrading the psychological game the tank plays to get players to attack him instead of him teammates.
Thoughts?
RIFT has Guard in it's game, but it functions differently from WAR. It's a 15s buff with a 30s cool down that redirects 25% of damage taken by an ally to the Warrior. This can be increased to 50% by spending 10 soul points in the Vindicator PvP soul. This prevents you from buying the better DPS abilities in the soul since that soul has a 21 point cap on it. One of the 15 point abilities caught my eye, the Art of Defense. This allows a player to block without a shield.
In real life, I work for an insurance company. In a lot of insurance policies, there are several restrictions placed on coverage. Oftentimes, these restrictions can removed from the policy for an additional premium payment.
So I propose a similar solution. Guard requires a shield to use. A tank may purchase the ability to use Guard without a shield with renown points. I would place this ability on ranks 4 and/or 5 of Hardy Concession. The 10% or 15% damage cut and the cost of 20 or 34 renown points would make it unlikely that the 2h tank would be able to put out anything remotely close to DPS classes, so it should be fine to let the tank use Guard. The main complaint was 2h tanks being able to output too much DPS while having the most powerful damage mitigation ability in the game. This handles the complaint while not degrading the psychological game the tank plays to get players to attack him instead of him teammates.
Thoughts?
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Back Line Defense
Lately I've been assigned the role of protecting the back line of the party while another tank handles the front line players. I find the SM is quite adept at this role, especially in offensive sovereign gear. The SM is especially capable of frustrating melee trains to no end.
The SM has a few tools to help him keep the enemy melee line from reaching his friendly back line. First, the SM has access to a zero cooldown snare and a zero cooldown single target knockback with a tactic. This will effectively take a single target at a time out of the fight every 2-3 GCDs if you use Sudden Shift to skip normal balance. This is best used after a melee DPS pops some sort of cooldown to make him waste it. I've been against Forceful Shock in the past, but it's quite useful for this purpose. It will see more use in my slots.
Next, the SM can reduce an entire melee train to useless at morale 2. Wings of Heaven into the group and then pop Gusting Wind to send the entire enemy train away from your back line. Wings of Heaven is a morale snare meaning it's unbreakable and at a duration of 10s, it will be awhile before they can reach the back line again. This will usually buy your back line 15s of safety. If Wings of Heaven is on cooldown, you can also pop Leading the Charge! for your back line to let them get more distance. Using both Wings of Heaven and Leading the Charge! at the same time is overkill in my experience and leaves you more at risk of not having a cooldown available to save your group when it's needed.
In the worst case scenario, which is the enemy has Immovable and you don't have Leading the Charge! up, you can reduce a melee train down a third of it's normal damage against a target by using both Guard and Challenge just like any other tank. You also want to use your debuffs against the enemy's best melee DPS to further reduce incoming damage.
I know some of you are thinking that it would be easier to just use a Knight and stagger. You would be right in a sense that it requires fewer button presses. However, the stagger works off Unstoppable and the SM punts work off Immovable. You could almost chain CC a melee train that bunches up with both a Knight and SM working together making it easy for a ranged group to pick them off one by one.
The SM has a few tools to help him keep the enemy melee line from reaching his friendly back line. First, the SM has access to a zero cooldown snare and a zero cooldown single target knockback with a tactic. This will effectively take a single target at a time out of the fight every 2-3 GCDs if you use Sudden Shift to skip normal balance. This is best used after a melee DPS pops some sort of cooldown to make him waste it. I've been against Forceful Shock in the past, but it's quite useful for this purpose. It will see more use in my slots.
Next, the SM can reduce an entire melee train to useless at morale 2. Wings of Heaven into the group and then pop Gusting Wind to send the entire enemy train away from your back line. Wings of Heaven is a morale snare meaning it's unbreakable and at a duration of 10s, it will be awhile before they can reach the back line again. This will usually buy your back line 15s of safety. If Wings of Heaven is on cooldown, you can also pop Leading the Charge! for your back line to let them get more distance. Using both Wings of Heaven and Leading the Charge! at the same time is overkill in my experience and leaves you more at risk of not having a cooldown available to save your group when it's needed.
In the worst case scenario, which is the enemy has Immovable and you don't have Leading the Charge! up, you can reduce a melee train down a third of it's normal damage against a target by using both Guard and Challenge just like any other tank. You also want to use your debuffs against the enemy's best melee DPS to further reduce incoming damage.
I know some of you are thinking that it would be easier to just use a Knight and stagger. You would be right in a sense that it requires fewer button presses. However, the stagger works off Unstoppable and the SM punts work off Immovable. You could almost chain CC a melee train that bunches up with both a Knight and SM working together making it easy for a ranged group to pick them off one by one.
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