[WAR] FAQ Thread !NDA dropped!

Accualt

As soon as the NDA drops I'm updating the title to indicate and the flood of new information will go in here. This will essentially be a FAQ thread for people to ask their questions. More general conversation can go in the regular WAR thread. If that doesn't work I'll probably just close the old one.

This thread is FAQ style. Ask a question, get an answer, don't discuss. Discussion goes in the other WAR thread.
I don't want to see any off topicness at all.
If this doesn't work we'll go back to having one thread and good luck swimming through that stream of posts to find what you are looking for.

General rule of thumb for this thread should be if you do not have a question or an answer don't post.

What you should not post about in this thread

Lore
• How awesome X sounds
• How do I get in beta?
• Cool stories
• Where is the client DL?
• What is the best ____?
• Screenshots unless vital to your "review"
• Nifty loot
• Which is better, X or Y?
• Where to meet up in beta
• General Discussion
• Etc and so on and so forth

I will be like a nun, this thread will be my Catholic school, and infractions shall be my wooden ruler.


FAQ a GO GO!

Mork's gamewide review

Morskittar wrote:

Part 1 of 3: The Good

First and foremost; I love this game. Even putting aside my titanic froth for the setting and IP itself, the game is everything I wanted WoW to be, to the point where it’s downright eerie how close Mythic’s mechanics are to conversations I’d had in the past.

That isn’t to say it’s perfect or a game for everyone. WAR is neither, by a long shot. So, before jumping in to the froth and a bit more detail, I’d like to call out;

WAR may not be for you. If you like and demand Blizzard’s level of animation polish or super low-end specs, you may not like it. If you can’t handle quite a bit of PvP-oriented end-game content, you may get bored. If it’s all about the carrot, you may find the game unfulfilling. If you like detailed crafting, a la Star Wars Galaxies or older games, it may not be for you.

That being said, much of the following will contrast WAR against WoW, both because of my personal experience (having played WoW about as long as all other MMOs combined) and the ubiquitous nature of the game.

The Good

RvR and Combat
Above all else (even the IP), these are what make the game for me. Combat, even at lower levels, is long and dynamic. The former, because a 1:1 fight can last minutes. Even running into enemy ranks with a softer character will usually give you enough time to drop a few spells or possibly escape. The latter because of the very high number of effect-based, low cooldown abilities and relatively useless autoattack. In effect, it makes the game feel a bit more arcadey - almost like Age of Conan where you’re constantly micromanaging your autoattack, but unlike that game (which I found boring) you switch up attacks based on desired effect. My shaman, for example, would often lead with a channeled damage spell, go into a Strength reducing spell, drop a few dots, then begin a new cycle depending on the reaction; either back to the channel or a raw damage spell, or a knockback if it was a charging melee class (or someone on ramparts ). You’re constantly using spells/abilities, especially in RvR, so this may rub many WoW players the wrong way. The rhythm of combat usually doesn’t involve only a half dozen abilities and a consistent cycle, but rather conditional and *constant* attacks.

Also, uniquely amongst MMOs I’ve played, positioning and movement are *huge*. Tight circle strafing doesn’t work well, as collision detection allows you to simply step back and “catch” the strafe. This puts you in a perfect position to launch a few attacks, especially if they turn around to try to strafe again. Once players get the hang of it, movement in combat becomes a back and forth sort of thing, with a lot of short sidesteps as people still try to get out of your attack range. This also leads to a phenomenon in large battles where flanking becomes useful. In larger (30, 40+ per side) combats, a small group of three or a half-dozen can cause a full on rout/pushback by running right into the side of the enemy mass; the healers and ranged dps will pull back, and tanks and melee dps try to get back as they don’t want to get pinned on both sides by melee characters. This, along with the survivability of tanks and preponderance of HoTs tends to break the “stand and stare” stalemates pretty quickly.

A complete lack of chain stuns , snares, or stunlocking keeps things fairly dynamic as well. You’ll get locked down for a moment, occasionally, but nothing like seen in previous games.

You can jump into RvR from Rank 1, though the game guides you to it around 3-5, depending on the area. At Tier 4 (Rank 31+) RvR is absolutely insane and often centered around fighting over Keeps or specific world objectives. Though numbers certainly contribute, the nature of collision detection and class synergy (like a Tank + dedicated healers, holy shit…) can see a coordinated group making up for this. Also… defending a keep and goddamn oil can account for quite a bit.

Lore and Atmosphere

The game is very firmly Warhammer Fantasy Battle (rather than the gritty WFRP), and analogous to the Fourth and Seventh edition feel; not bright and high fantasy, but much more epic and contrasted than Third or older editions.

One of the great things is the sense of epic involvement and urgency. Your character begins, not in a tiny backwater as a nobody, but as a soldier on the warfront, often right in the thick of things. The Empire starting town is a frontline base of operations for the Order of the Griffon, under active siege, on the coast of Nordland. Explosions go off occasionally, while frightened peasants run about or man up and contribute to the effort. Your first quests are to help an artillery captain return fire at a Hellcannon battery, or retrieve peasants from burning huts under siege by Marauders. Later, you participate in a beach defense, burning Norse ships that are part of the vanguard of the Raven Host, or help disrupt a ritual of summoning to bring daemonic forces into the world.
The Chaos area is even more awesome. One initial questline involves harvesting undead brought back by the very presence of the Chaotic army and their magic, then delivering those to Hellcannons to fire upon a Bright Wizard in a tower.

There are plenty of “wow” moments, like finding a hidden area off of a river, with scorched burnt out trees and low-hanging mist. Climbing up a stump to a hill revealed a Rank 40 Champion Treekin, enraged at the destruction of his glade.

And then there’s the Inevitable City. You’ll understand when you get there for the first time. And maybe leave.

Part 2 of 3: The Bad

The Bad

Performance
Up until an earlier beta phase the UI lag was atrocious. Think ten year old MMO. You hit a button, the UI feedback was all off, and it was nearly impossible to manage many close combat chains. This was fixed in a spectacular way, and the game now reacts as well as WoW. There are still issues, however, especially due to server stress. A server with 1800 to 2000+ people on will sometimes see casting lag, and RvR with 100+ will drop your framerate (to maybe in the 15-20 range, I haven’t checked - this is on an e8500, HD4850, 4gb RAM). I’ll be curious to see where this goes.

Standard Assignment
The Guild control panel has some issues; my biggest one is that Standard Bearer is a higher rank than Officer, meaning that only a SB or GM can reassign the standard. As you only have three people who can carry a standard and cap keeps, this creates scenarios where those people need to be on for a guild to get a keep. What happens if a crew hits one at 3 AM or other unscheduled times? There’s been a lot of feedback about this, so hopefully it will change.

Empire Map
This is the only thing that bothers the lore nerd in me, and is essential for gameplay, I suppose. It just bugs me that you can walk from Altdorf to Praag, through the Reikland. In theory, you’d have to go through Talabecland, Middenland, Nordland or Ostland, and half of Kislev to get there; these are all zones in game, so there’s kind of an invisible “teleport” to hop from Reikland to Praag. Minor, I know, but it bugs me.

The Ugly

Animations
They’re not horrible; vastly better than just about all MMOs but one. That one is a *lot* better, though. Jumping is stiff, animations don’t always link (some do, which is nice), and by default they ratchet down frames at a distance (like in DAoC). It’s a bit weird to see a dragon flap from a ways away in three frames, while you’re running smoothly along.

There’s also no draw distance (pop, surprise, a mountain!) and a weird bug where only a tiny square around your character has higher res ground textures. Textures also do a lot of pop in large scale RvR.

I’d imagine many of these issues will be fixed out of beta/stress testing (if not already), but ultimately I don’t think they’ll be on par with the “weight” and buttery smoothness of many in WoW. I know this is a game breaker for some, and probably the single weakest piece of the game in my opinion.

Part 3 of 3: The Questions

Q. Can anyone join a siege at any Rank, or only high-end people?

I didn’t get to play, but the way zones are structured, it’s likely anyone can join in the street fighting of a later siege, and probably get the “Bolster” buff (you get in scenarios and world PvP) to bring your base stats in line with an average Rank for the zone.


Q. I'm still a little fuzzy on the solo progression.Is there PvE content in the same sense as WoW, or is it all PvP all the time?

There’s plenty to do, especially at lower Ranks. It does seem to follow the earlier mentioned 80% PvE for the first Tier areas. What’s cool, is the game trains you (through PQs, simple grouping and Open groups, and Scenarios) to group up and coordinate with others to fulfill your class role. By the time you get to keeps (in Tier 2) and the PvE content shrinks, groups work pretty well together inherently, and gather around the stuff you need to do in a group. You could still easily solo or PuG your way through everything, though the endgame content will almost always be alongside groups of other people. Tier 4 is largely PvP content and 6-24 man dungeons.


Q. Any tips for moving through starting zones quickly?

Use your map. It shows general quest areas, so you can run through in order without having to backtrack.


Q. How does the Squig Herder handle?

I liked them on my Warrior Priest. I handled them pretty well there.


Q. How is the class balance? There aren't any 'warlock'-esque untouchables, are there?

Until the last phase, beta swung between Ranged being too strong, or Melee being a bit overpowered. The last phase has a few rough classes (Bright Wizard and Sorceress; damage is a bit high) but is largely balanced. It’s pretty impressive.

I’ve heard Squig Herders don’t have much to contribute, but I don’t know if that’s the case.


Q. How long will it take to reach level cap compared to, say, WoW? And will leveling through PvP be comparable in speed to PvE?

First five Ranks take an evening (for me, I’m slow) and you can hit Tier 2 (12+) in a week easily. I played a Rank 31 for a week (two hours a night, all PvP) and didn’t hit 32. I did get a Renown Rank though. The fastest way to level (or … Rank) seems to be through a mix; grind some quests, hop in a Scenario, do some World RvR. Doing lots of RvR will keep you leveling slightly slower than a mix (or maybe just PvE) though your Renown Rank will be very high.

Q. How "fast" does pvp move? Will I get killed in 1-2 shots in less than 5 seconds because I happened to reach for a drink of water, or will I be able to maneuver, plan and execute a course of action, even if taken off guard?

I hit on this above, but PvP moves slow, with you doing more in that period. It takes probably 8-20 shots to kill someone solo, which can take 30 seconds or *well* more if they’re a tank or healer. Thing is, you’re using an ability, on average, ever 1.5 to 3 seconds the *entire* time. You can pause and find a less-used ability or survey for a target pretty easily.


Q. I don't *need* to know this, but did anyone here get a chance to play with the cut classes? Can you provide any insight into specifically why you think they were cut from release?

No firsthand experience here.


Q. Colision detection. I know players don't act as actual physical barriers but I was hoping for some more information in how what's in there plays and if it makes a different in terms of how players approach PvP.

100% changes the mechanics of PvP and tactics involved. As in, there *are* tactics involved. Players quickly learn that getting flanked or trapped in sucks, and will try to be more nimble than other games. Circle strafing in melee doesn’t work. Stepping back kills the hell out of it. It also allows a small group of defenders to hold one of the many many chokepoints in game.


Q. Regarding standards, are they something that standard bearers are just able to spawn, or are they crafted somehow, and what cost (if any) is there in doing so? Also, are there any penalties for having your standard captured in battle, other than losing the buffs on the field?

You can buy them, and have to do so when one is captured or “used” to cap a keep. The bonuses stack, too .


Q. General question, but graphics and other things aside, is the game fun?

My time is limited to play right now, but if I’m not at work or giving the wife some time, I’m playing. I wanted to take a break this week, but that’s not working out too well.


Q. New approach to crafting: have you tested it, is it fun, does it make a difference?

I haven’t touched the crafting. RvR and PQs are too fun.


Q. We know you can get XP from PvP -- what about gear? Must you PvE for new equipment, or can you get it somehow through PvP?

You get PvP equipment through RvR and vice versa. PQ and quest loot works well enough in RvR, but if you have the Tier’s top Renown gear, it’s vastly different. That’s important to note, though; if you have a Tier’s Renown gear, you will likely be vastly better than others of the same level. This gear is *not* hard to get, though; a bit of cash and some time PvPing and it’s yours. So gear does make a difference, but more on par with the difference between using vendor gear in WoW, instead of quest gear.


Q. Blorks: great melee class, or greatest melee class?

I would have said best until I played a Chosen. Now I’m just confused. They’re all stupid fun.


Q. Does PvP involve jumping around like a maniac like WoW, or will be more about position and less about being hard to hit.

Casters auto face if they’re not cranking on the mouselook. Against melee classes, getting out of their melee arc works, but jumping doesn’t help, nor does circle strafing. A step back and jump forward when you attack method works best, with small sidestep maneuvers to get around the arc if possible. Combat moves a lot, but not in a spastic WoW fashion. Collision detection is more important to avoid than arcs, if that makes sense.


Q. What are the rules for changing gear or weapons while in combat?

I haven’t even tried this. Tanks may have reason to, but that’s about it. A damage specced tank isn’t going to get much benefit from going sword and board in RvR though, and vice versa.

General FAQing up ins

Aegis wrote:

Q. How "fast" does pvp move? Will I get killed in 1-2 shots in less than 5 seconds because I happened to reach for a drink of water, or will I be able to maneuver, plan and execute a course of action, even if taken off guard?

If you charge into the middle of an enemy zerg you'll be dead in less than 5 seconds unless you're a tank with a healer in which case you may survive. They're done a lot of focus testing around Time To Kill (TTK) and it usually is at minumum around 15-30 seconds, lower for DPS classes and higher for tanks, in how long it will take them to kill another class.

And yes you can take plenty of time to gather a group of bodies, go around a few sidestreets and come in from behind the enemy zerg that's slowly retreating; start hacking away and killing healers that don't know any better as the enemy zerg panics and you've just outmaneuvered them. I've done it, it is glorious.

Q. Colision detection. I know players don't act as actual physical barriers but I was hoping for some more information in how what's in there plays and if it makes a different in terms of how players approach PvP.

Yes, they do in fact act as physical barriers. At first. They will stop you dead in your tracks but if you continue to push forward you will eventually move through them after about 3-5 seconds or so. You can seriously slow an enemy down if you run right up to them and make sure you adjust your position so they don't push through you right away, buying enough seconds for the rest of your team to beat your victim silly.

Q. Regarding standards, are they something that standard bearers are just able to spawn, or are they crafted somehow, and what cost (if any) is there in doing so? Also, are there any penalties for having your standard captured in battle, other than losing the buffs on the field?

Standards are purchased from the Guild Merchant and Keep Merchants currently. They're an item in the standard bearers inventory they can equip like any other item and it grants a button on the hotbar so they can summon it out. They cost 2g each currently (which is a hefty sum starting on) and if the standard bearer is killed while holding the standard or the standard captured then you lose that standard and have to purchase a new one.

From a WoWer who likes PvE [strike]and is a girlygirl[/strike]

Louie wrote: »

In my opinion, not a warcraft killer.

Maybe it's because i favour pve over pvp but it lacks something and it's dificult to find words to describe what. I'm not sure if it was due to low pop on the eu beta servers but at times the game world felt very dead. With decent pop I imagine the game will improve as you get much more regular rvr interspersed with the pve.

Granted, the PQ's are awesome and i can see every mmo developer under the sun ripping them off gratuitosly.

I certainly won't write this one off but it isn't a game I can guarantee you will like/dislike.

My advice, certainly try to get in the beta and see if it rings your bell, unfortunately for me it didn't and I was unbelieveably excited about it.

Random Little Side Things

KingMole wrote: »

Titles (spoilered just in case)

Die 10 times - Snuffed
Die 10 times to RvR - The Green
Die 10 times to monsters - Run Away!
Destroy 10 items - The Wasteful
Select coin from PQ loot bags 25 times - Mister Jingles
Collect a total of 1 gold in your career - The Pawner
Collect a total of 1,000,000 gold in your career - Made
Fall to your death 25 times - AHHHHH!
Complete 25 tome unlocks - The Wise
Complete 100 tome unlocks - The Adventurer
Looted 25 items - The Cutpurse
Looted 250 items - The Pirate
Clicked on yourself 100 times - Ow My Eye
Opened the mailbox 50 times - The Box Watcher
Opened the mailbox 500 times - The Stamper
Finished "What Lay Ahead" - The Skeleton Hunter
Finished "Surrounded By Swine" - Huntsman
Finished "Place of the Dead" - The Fearless
Killed by an Archmage - Hexed
Killed by a Bright Wizard - The Singed
Killed by a Witch Hunter - The Judged
Killed by a Warrior Priest - The Banished
Killed by an Engineer - The Punctured
Killed by an Ironbreaker - The Repelled
Scavenged 50 corpses - The Lint Looter
Add 5 players to your friends list - The Friendly
Add 5 players to your ignore list - The Snob
Gain 1000 influence - The Wise
Gain 10,000 influence - The Influential

Oh and

You can get to the moon by platforming in The Inevitable City

Accualt

Destruction

Chaos

Iblis wrote:

The Marauder

Foreword: I’ve played the Marauder quite a bit through the time I’ve been in beta, having decided to roll it at a time when the mouths (and very much the beta itself) were loaded with Tanks and Healers. It is a fun class which I’ve definitely enjoyed playing, though my comments may seem rather negative on some levels because currently I feel Melee DPS occupy a rather awkward position in terms of balance currently, but balancing is part of the beta process so I believe this can and will be cleared up.

General Feel: The Marauders are of course Norsemen whom have yet to prove themselves to the Chaos Gods. In terms of WAR, the playable Marauders appear to be rather special individuals whom Tzeentch has granted a horrifying gift, the ability to control his twisted mutations. The class definitely captures the feel that the Great Mutator has touched them, the corruption of their arms extending up their shoulder, back, and chest. There are also quite a few models for mutations, three for each it appears (though savagery also has each model in an alternate color). I would find myself often times using Wave of Horror just for fun to see the tentacles sprout from my back and with one arm mutated and some of the late game helmets on I truly felt my character looked the part of a child of Chaos.

The Mechanic: The Marauder’s mechanic felt a bit lackluster. There’s really no incentive to switch to other mutations most of the time due to the fact that each spec line corresponds to a particular mutation. The only benefits one gains for switching are in terms of the Marauder’s off hand weapon, which is always filled by the current mutation. This would give a reason to switch if not for the fact that skills are limited by mutation. The only big reason to switch currently is if you really need some AoE, in which case AoE is pretty much all Monstrosity. The lack of mutation switching is further reinforced by the first mastery tactic for each path being a boost to the stats of the particular mutation of that line.

The Mastery Lines: The Mastery lines correspond to the three mutation types; Savagery, Brutality, and Monstrosity. Savagery is made up of beast like claws and is focused on debuffing the enemy. Brutality is made up of bizarre blade like protrusions and is focused on single target damage. Monstrosity is made up of hard blunt objects and is AoE primarily.

While I was playing there was little reason to spec Brutality. Despite apparently being the designated burst damage line it’s burst damage was rather lack luster. It was all but useless against Tanks and Healers, and taking down Ranged DPS still took a decent amount of time if they ran (which they most certainly will do). It’s main damaging ability, “Impale”, deals as much damage as Monstrosity’s main single target attack, but with a positional requirement and no added benefits to give a bit of an idea of one of the major problems with it. Early game however Brutality is your main mutation, as you do not get Monstrosity for awhile and Savagery does not get useful until you spec high into the mastery line.

Once you do get a good amount of points into Savagery though, you get some pretty damn good abilities. A 75% Armor Debuff, a tactic which boosts an attack to make it’s target resist 75% of heals, an attack which debuffs AP regeneration, and some decent DOTs as well. They’re short duration, but can be kept up on the target indefinitely. Though this also means you won’t be able to do much DPS yourself if you completely devote yourself to debuffing, so it becomes a bit of a balancing act. With this spec I could take on Tanks (though one on one it heavily depended on if the Tank used his CC to the best of his ability, but in group situations it allowed others to cut through their tanks), Healers (though if they were focus healed by another healer they survived easy, leading me to believe the tactic was bugged), and Ranged DPS were not much harder to fight than when I was brutality.

Monstrosity’s a bit of an odd spec for RVR. Some seem to swear by its effectiveness, others are very critical of it. Personally I feel that it’s only there to disrupt the enemy ranks. With out several others helping out in AoE it’s unlikely you’ll kill anyone and your effectiveness depends entirely on how long your enemy takes to realize that bunching up together is a bad idea… which with a screaming mutated freak running at them swinging his arms around is not long. Even if they stay bunched up there’s another apparent problem. Melee DPS seem to bleed through AP the faster than other archetypes currently, and Monstrosity is particularly costly in terms of AP. You will bleed yourself dry usually before anyone dies to this. The best part of this line is an AoE knockdown (Concussive Jolt) that comes relatively early. Some spec into it just until that. It’s once again only really for disruption, as you’ll get off maybe one other attack after using it. I can see this spec being useful for well-coordinated gameplay, but whether it beats out Savagery in that regard I do not know.
Playstyle: This depends heavily on spec late game, though early game it’s pretty easy to get a handle for. You switch to brutality and bash the squishies in the face until they stop being a problem. Also: Avoid going one on one with Tanks and Warrior Priests early game. They will outlast you. Also avoid this late game unless you’re savagery specced.

For the different mastery lines though…

Savagery: I have the most experience here. If attacking a Tank or White Lion use Cutting Claw (-75% Armor), Corruption (reduces Tougness), and Touch of Rot (damage every time they attack in melee) before tossing up some Rends (DoT) and then spamming Flail (direct damage) if you have any time before needing to reapply Cutting Claw and Corruption. If they start to run, use Debilitate (snare)… assuming they don’t use CC to disable you first. If they have healer support then do not bother with flail. Open with Rend, Tainted Claw (-25% Healing for ten seconds if the opponents crippled, five seconds otherwise. Also, with a tactic it’s 75%), then follow the formula aside from bothering with flail. Wait for help or charge the healer… the choice is yours! The second strategy also works against Warrior Priests.

Against Witch Hunters use Touch of Rot and the AP draining skill… think it’s “Exhaustive Strike” but I’m not sure. Rend them up and flail. Debilitate if necessary.

Against Arch-mages and Runepriests use Rend, Tainted Claw, Exhaustive Strike, then either Rend them up more or Debilitate them (if they are running… which is most likely). Flail if you have time, if not, start debuffing again. They should be dead soon assuming they are not being healed by another source.

If you can get to them Ranged DPS should not be a problem.

Brutality: If things stay like they are, you can only really do well against Ranged DPS and other Melee DPS. Avoid Tanks and Healers and do your best to neutralize other Melee DPS or take out the Ranged DPS. Things should be fairly self-explanatory when using this line though.

Monstrosity: There are four main skills for this line. Demolition, a spammable cone (I believe) AoE targeted in front of the Marauder for 30 feet. Wrecking Ball, a PBAoE with a radius of twenty feet. Mouth of Tzeentch (I might have the name wrong here, going off memory) an attack which extends for 65 feet straight in front of the Marauder and messes with the opponents spell casting. Finally Concussive Jolt deals some damage and knocks down opponents in a cone (once again, I believe) in front of the Marauder for 30 feet.

The Marauder should also have a skill that boosts toughness and strength a good deal for ten seconds down this line. Personally I suggest using it while charging in to boost survivability a bit and to boost your first few attacks before people begin to scatter.

In terms of attacks I would suggest using Mouth of Tzeentch while closing in (if they know of your presence anyway) before using Demolition once or twice. Follow up with Concussive Jolt to hold them in place a few seconds longer and then hit wrecking ball. They will most likely have scattered after this. If not, then keep spamming Demolition until you run out of AP. If they have, then try to withdraw and hope your team is good enough to capitalize, as you will probably die doing this.

Closing: That’s about it really. I apologize for not getting some of the names of the attacks, but I could not log on when writing this. Overall I would suggest the Marauder as it’s an awesome class despite some of the work it needs. I mean, what other class gets something as awesome as a pointy arm covered in spines and eyes that also happens to have gills on it? Witch Hunters and their muttonchops of authority I suppose, but no one else.

zenpotato wrote:

Zealot

To talk about the zealot, first I think I need to mention how I ended up playing one.

I was pretty dead set on playing a shaman come release. On the Order side, I played an Archmage and really enjoyed it. So much, in fact, that the Shaman turned out to be almost an Archmage, but not close enough for my tastes. Funny how that turned out. I preferred the Archmage's focus on DoTs as opposed to the various nukes the Shaman totes around.

I also decided to check out the Zealot. Lo and behold, I had a lot of fun with it. When the T4 testing started, I tried the Shaman some more, but I had much more fun, almost instantly, with the Zealot. That's not to say that the Zealot is a better healer (debatable) or a DPS (not even close, really). I just like it more.

So, the Zealot.

There was talk that in WAR, no class would hang around and just healbot. Well, that's kind of true. But you could play the Zealot like that if you wanted to. You'd be missing out on some of the cool features of the class if you're not mixing it up with some offense too, but you're best at healing.

Everyone else is better at doing damage than you. Really. Everyone. So keep them alive, because you're better at that than anyone (except maybe the shaman; I expect to see lots of fights about it).

You can spec to do okay damage, but you're never going to come close to the real DPS classes. Luckily, do to the flex healer mastery paths, you're always going to buff your DPS a little bit for solo PVE and RVR no matter which mastery you take. Smart use of your heals and your DPS spells means you stand an even chance against just about everyone.

Let's start with solo PVE, since that's where the game starts you out. Thanks to a tactic you get pretty early, you can do 25% more damage and give up 20% healing. A must when solo, but don't pretend to DPS in RVR with it. You're better off healing.

A note about these screenshots--the tooltips don't reflect the updated values after stats are taken in to account. You can up your healing a lot by adding Willpower and your spell damage by a lot by adding Intelligence. With the rank 31 renown gear, I think a 20-30% increase over these numbers is close. (I maybe off about that, it's just a guess.)

Solo PVE abilities:

http://content.screencast.com/users/MBD/folders/PA%20WAR/media/0d403562-b35f-48cc-911a-bfd83a0922d4/Solo_DPS.jpg

Here's a screenshot of the combat log for a standard fight against an equal rank mob:

http://content.screencast.com/users/MBD/folders/PA%20WAR/media/d92ed42e-140c-4cc1-bdb0-2f56903e9831/Combat%20log.jpg

Before I jump in to healing, here is the low down on the Marks system. You can only cast one Mark per player (no matter how many Zealots cast). You can only cast Marks on groupmates. All Marks can be activated for a damage effect on a 60 second cooldown. Marks are good buffs, and you should always cast them. They make your DPS stronger, your tanks tougher, and your healers healier.

Marks

http://content.screencast.com/users/MBD/folders/PA%20WAR/media/1d84ee66-01b0-4833-94fd-549cb0bc552b/Marks.jpg

Okay, so here's the fun part: healing. You're good at this. Really good. You can compete with anybody. You've got lots of tools. Use them right and your team will love you, and you will win in RVR.

The big Zealot heal isn't that useful. It's too easy to interupt (any hit does it). You've got enough other heals to get the job done.

Healing Spells

http://content.screencast.com/users/MBD/folders/PA%20WAR/media/17128129-86b7-421a-a7b6-00d30f56024a/Healing.jpg

I think I left out the group only healing spell. I never really used it.

My general strategy in RVR is to always support someone else. You turn Marauders in to unstoppable killing machines. That Witch Elf you just healed? A glass cannon with heals is brutal. Another healer getting attacked? Heal them like crazy--they'll return the favor. Meanwhile your buddy the Chosen will eat the attacker alive.

You have several instant and several short (1 second cast time) heals. Take the hint and stay mobile. A zealot standing around healing is asking to get smacked by a Witch Hunter or a Shadow Warrior. That doesn't mean run around like a circle strafing retard--just remember that your mobility keeps you alive in the swirling melee of RVR.

You don't have an AoE detaunt like a lot of classes do, but you do have the Harbinger. Use it. 25% damage reduction is very nice, especially combined with all your heals. You can survive quite a bit of damage.

Keep your AP usage in mind. Your AP is better spent healing sometimes; skip the DoTs and nukes when you need to do a lot of healing.

Here's a sample of a scenario scoreboard at the end of a match in Praag. This was a very narrow loss, and it was even until the very last point capture which put Order over the edge.

http://content.screencast.com/users/MBD/folders/PA%20WAR/media/f8c12c89-b4fc-4d06-a48f-7a9b55ede61f/Scenario_Score.jpg

Let's see... what did I miss?

Rituals. These kind of suck; they're just AoE buffs. Not horrible, but not worth spending mastery points on at rank 31 when you can get some high level stuff instead. I didn't use them at all, so I can't really comment. People don't seem impressed though. I wouldn't be surprised to see these change before launch. Mythic has been good about fine tuning abilities and making them fun.

Masteries. The beef against the Zealot in favor of the Shaman is that the Shaman's heals are all in one tree; they can buff all their healing with a single mastery path. Zealot masteries are designed by effect type: direct (Alchemy), over time (Witchcraft), and AoE (Dark Rituals). You get to buff part of your healing and part of your DPS and utility. I think I like the Zealot way better. You're never going to be a DPS powerhouse, but you're never going to be neutered either.

Here are the two mastery abilities I took from the Path of Alchemy:

http://content.screencast.com/users/MBD/folders/PA%20WAR/media/c97358be-b720-4bb7-8ecc-26af7d8b7308/Path_of_Alchemy.jpg

In addition, every spell in the Path of Alchemy (path is noted in the tooltip) gets an additional buff from mastery points spent there. These extra utility abilities are awesome. They give me some tools to make my DPS more healy as well as add some CC to help me heal longer.


So... any questions?

-zenpotato

Accualt

Dark Elves

Iblis wrote:

Disciple of Khaine

Foreword: The Disciple of Khaine is one of my personal favorite classes and one I’ve spent a decent amount playing through the beta. They are very close to their mirror the Warrior Priest, and if you have played one you will have the general idea about how to play the other. Not too much else to say, though they have a flaw here or there I feel could be worked out (such as Rend Soul being interruptible… when it’s melee range only) I generally think they do very well.

General Feel: I was not too into Dark Elves when I first started to hear about their classes, I only knew enough to be disappointed that they had neither the Assassin or Beast Master (I would later come to lament the lack of Executioners or Corsairs), but I was rather intrigued by the Disciple of Khaine. Some were put off by their introduction to the lore, but as I knew little of Dark Elves previously I did not care. After learning a lot more, I definitely feel they fit the overall feel of Dark Elves. They look elegant but sinister and this is reflected in their animations. Hard stabs and quick accurate slices make up their attack chain with a red aura pouring forth from most of their heals and support skills. This gives them a fittingly vicious but somewhat reserved feel.

The Mechanic: There’s really two parts to this mechanic. One is simply gaining Soul Essence by using your offensive skills (each skill use converts it’s action points to soul essence), and the other is using melee skills to heal others. Essentially you get three main skills that heal others as you deal damage. Rend Soul is your main healing skill, a channeled series of slashes which heals your defensive target by a few times the damage done (used to be 300%, but I think it’s lower now). Aside from that they get Consume Essence and Transfer Essence, which are basic attacks that also heal with each use. Consume Essence heals your defensive target and all those around said target for as much damage as you deal (though it’s a relatively weak skill). Transfer Essence is almost the same but heals for half the damage dealt and will not heal the Disciple themselves if I recall correctly, but deals more damage than Consume Essence. The Disciple also gets a group heal, a heal overtime, and a single target casted heal, but it’s hard to focus on these and the melee heals as the melee heals are based off damage done.

The Mastery Lines: I have not explored these nearly as much as I have with the Marauder so this part will be noticeably less in depth. The three lines are Dark Rites (Healing Based), Sacrifice (A bit of a balanced spec), and Torture (Damage based).

Torture boosts the effectiveness of your pure damage skills but not your melee heals, so a Disciple going this line will not be nearly as valuable in terms of healing. The good news is that, among other abilities, high up in the line you get a rather nifty tactic that makes all critical hits you deal cancel out all healing on your target for five seconds. Another cool thing is the group buff that is boosted by this path, “Covenant of Celerity” gives everyone a chance to proc some added damage and a snare. Other healers shall fear you. And as a quick note: Take Divine Fury. It boosts your damage but lowers your healing… but only for your casted heals. The melee heals get nothing but boosts.

Dark Rites I have not played with really, but from what I hear the Disciple’s casted heals get a boost as well as Rend Soul, though if you maximize for healing like this path encourages then Rend Soul will be a bit lackluster due to lower damage. The reason I have not ran this path is because many seem to say it is better used standing back and healing… which is not exactly the reason I play a Disciple, but that’s me. This line does boost “Covenant of Tenacity” a group buff to armor.

Sacrifice is my personal favorite, though it could use a bit of love in terms of progression. The tactic which makes it all worth it boosts Consume Essence to heal 150% and Transfer Essence to heal 100%, which combined with their boosted damage from speccing this line in the first place allows the Disciple to do some pretty decent AoE healing as they hack away at opponents. Unfortunately this awesome tactic is very late in the line and as such is only really obtainable at the mid to higher levels. Though another perk of this line is it also boosts “Covenant of Vitality”, a buff that gives all group members the ability to proc extra damage that also heals them with each attack. Also: Ditto the bit on Divine Fury.

General Playstyle: Depends on your spec late game, but early game you pretty much should get in there and hack up others, mending yourself and allies as you feel necessary. The main things are to watch your own health, watch your soul essence, and watch your AP. Once you get the hang of things you should rarely run out of AP or SE except in more dire situations. Also make sure to switch targets to yourself (or drop targets) before you use Consume Strength, unless you really want to toss it on someone else for whatever reason. Personally I would suggest on yourself due to what I’ve already said about the melee heals. Oh, and one final point on the melee heals… attack the squishiest target near by so you deal more damage and thus heal more.

Until you hit level eight and receive Rend Soul and your first morale skill you will suck as a healer. Once you get them however, you become a very dangerous force early game. A Disciple after level eight can dish out some pretty decent damage while being extremely survivable, and can toss out pretty effective heals to boot. This does start to change late game though, particularly in the larger scale battles where, as a healer in melee range, you essentially have a large “KILL ME!” sign on your back. Plus other classes really start coming into their own so the Disciple is no longer nearly as survivable.

Oh, and never ever equip a Chalice. Ever. Seriously. Chalices currently are just weapons with out DPS attached. Or in other words, they give you pure stat boosts with out a significant raise in damage. The stat boosts are never even that fantastic from what I have seen.

zenpotato wrote:

The Witch Elf

This one is shorter than my zealot post, since I didn't spend nearly as much time on the Witch Elf.

Witch elves are probably the closest thing WAR has to a WoW class analog: the rogue. This was my reference point at least. There are several changes that make witch elves cooler than rogues though, so don't despair.

In PVE, you kill equal rank mobs fast. So fast, you won't even use a Frenzy (more or less a WoW rogue finisher); because your combo points are on you and not your mob, they carry over. This means you can start a fight by using a frenzy (a finisher). This is cool.

Stealth is a 60 second cooldown tool. It's not that powerful, and it drains your AP. It's very much an ambush kind of thing. You won't be using it that often.

There are three stealth openers. One is good against magic users, another against melee, and the third... I think it does a snare? Or maybe it gives you an AP regen boost. I don't really remember. Honestly, you're not likely to be stealthing all that much. It's worthless in PVE (cooldown is too long, stuff dies too quick) and RVR is very fluid, not leaving much chance for ambushes. You'll mostly use it once a minute to wade in to a zerg and try to take out a healer or other caster.

Your basic attacks include a strike , a positional strike that ignores target armor if you're behind the target, and a small strike with a DoT component that can stack up to 3 times. Each one of these is useful in specific situations. All of them (in fact, most of your abilities that strike an enemy) build combo points called blood lust.

You also get other utility moves, like a silencing strike (that deals damage if used from behind). There are a few others too.

Frenzies are the name for the finishing moves. They get stronger with blood lust (up to 5). They also are 20% cheaper with each point, so at 5 they cost no AP. This is good, since you'll often be blowing your entire AP load trying to take someone down.

This is where the witch elf starts to become cooler than the WoW rogue. You don't just spec in to one type of frenzy. Most of them have situational uses. Many also have cooldowns or timed effects, so you don't want to just spam one over and over.

Some examples of frenzies:

Two strikes that do decent damage.

Six strikes that do even more damage, but take longer (think like a channeled spell).

The others seem to be escaping me at the moment. There are 4 or 5 basic ones, and others you can get from mastery paths (like the one that does an AoE knockdown, which is pretty awesome).

Needless to say, a big part of the charm of playing the Witch Elf is picking which Frenzies to use against a particular opponent.

Kisses are strikes that give you a two minute buff. The buff is usually a 25% chance to do something. The one I used most often was a chance to proc a 40% snare. There's another that does a 25% chance for a DoT. These are good, and should always be up.

Masteries usually have some cool tactics, a cauldron spell, and some frenzies. The cauldron spell is a 60 second cooldown buff that makes you go crazy and do some cool stuff. Each path has it's own for it's own specialty (AoE/strikes, DoTs/cripple, and positional attacks). These are pretty cool. and every Witch Elf will take one.

There are some other utility skills as well. Something that removes snares, a detaunt, etc. Most of the melee DPS classes have these.

So, my overall impression. You're good at solo PVE. You do good DPS in group PVE. You're a glass cannon in RVR--you can kill something pretty quick, but you go down fairly easy. Basically, you're a melee DPS class.

I enjoyed the Witch Elf, but I enjoyed the flavor of the Witch Hunter more. The Witch Hunter is almost exactly the same (they even share the same basic core abilities), but somehow the executions are more fun to me. Some of them are ranged (you use your pistol), others have cool animations. I just kind of liked him better. They are almost exact mirrors though.

I expect a lot of people to like the Witch Elf. Design-wise though, they aren't that far off the WoW rogue class. I expect this is a benefit to some and a detriment to others. They are different and unique enough that I plan on playing a Witch Hunter on the Order side though (I think... so many good choices). I may even have a Witch Elf alt as my first alt class.

Once people really get to know the class, I expect being jumped by a Witch Elf will mean death to most healers and ranged DPS. Tanks might even be in trouble. They have a lot of damage potential.

Cool class, but not cool enough to make me want to not heal (something I enjoy in RVR a lot) with the Zealot.

Accualt

Greenskins

Hillean wrote:

Let's talk about--the Black Orc.

For starters, I played my Black Orc from levels 1 to 21, and Renown levels 1 to 13. This is purely my experiences with the character, and could thus change post-20s, or post-30s. I haven't tried any of the other classes yet, so if some of this discussion repeats with other classes, forgive my ignorance.

To sum the class up, the Black Orc is a tank/DPS "warrior" hybrid with "some CC". With oddly-named skills (anywhere from "Protect Da Runtz"" to "Right in the Jibblies"), you need to start learning the language, or at least what each icon stands for Starting out, you only get one general ability (Clobber) along with your Flee! (run twice as fast, lose all stamina).

Now, the way I understand the BO's setup, it uses a very interchangeable "combo" system. And when I say combos, please don't think of AoC's ill-presented combo system. To understand this better, there are 3 levels of combos: beginning, middle and 'finisher-type'. Different abilities require you to be at a certain 'level' to use. The 3 levels are named, and you are given a large icon over your skills so you can tell what level you're on. You always start at level 1, and all of your beginner combos are useable, if you have enough action points (Stamina) to use. If this beginner combo is successful (not dodged/parried/missed), you will proceed to level 2, and so on with level 3. If you are dodged/parried/miss, you go back to level 1 combos. Starting out, you'll earn at least 1 of each combo fairly early on--and you'll get used to the system. As you level, you gain more and more skills that require different levels--at level 21, I have 3 Beginner Combos, 4 Middle combos, and 3 Finisher-type combos, all with different abilities--some are defensive (raise your armor/toughness), some are offensive (more damage, AoE moves), some are debuffs (Hamstring anyone?), and some are buffs for others (raise weapon level, etc.). I've found the options given after you start leveling are great--I can go from doing straight-out damage to a target, to if the target turns on me, start throwing out defensive combos beefing up my defense and toughness so I don't get my ass handed to me right-off.

Now talents are kind of odd. They aren't as random as WoW or Diablo, and you don't have 30 branches and odd skills to select from, where mistakes are easily made. Each tree is more like a straight line--you start spending points in it, and it goes up, increasing your skills that are of that mastery. You get 3 'mastery tabs': One for DPS, one for tanking, and one for party buffs. As you hit lv 11, you gain your first Mastery point, which can be spent in any tree you'd like. If you start adding points into 'Da Toughest' (tanking), your defensive skills you've obtained get better. If you go into 'Da Brawler' (dps), your offensive skills increase. You can see these buffable skills to the right of the mastery line. Every 3 mastery levels, you have the OPTION to unlock a skill. This confused me at first, but after I figured it out I like the options. After spending my first 3 points in 'Da Brawler', a new Tactic was available--increase my Big Slash damage to 258 (originally 95!) and reduce its action points from 45 to 30. I hafta spend another Mastery point to obtain this skill, so I can honestly have it once I get my 4th mastery point. I enjoy the choice here--if I don't like the skill I have reached, I can continue to put points straight into the tree and bypass the skill, getting a higher-up skill earlier. It gives you a little freedom in where you do and don't spend skills, and leaves little room for error or confusion.

Tanking with the BO is a little odd at first, but once you get in the habit of playing him, becomes second nature. Your 3-point combo system rules your entire life, you need to realize this early. There is a Taunt (ranged too, thank god), and by utilizing your defensive combo abilities and the good ol' choppa and blocka, you're a fairly defensive tank. I had no problem tanking several PQ bosses, and in some areas Keep heroes and Champions were easy enough with a good healer behind you. You have enough high-damage skills and +hate skills, along with Taunt, to continually keep a boss in your control.

Oddly enough, DPS works the same way--you just utilize different combos, and you can put out some really good numbers. I went Brawler myself, and despite being a few levels below others or coming in the middle of a PQ, I've gotten a good percentage of top-3 rewards, even unlocking some ToK items--'Completed 10 PQ's with a rating of B' and 'Completed 10 PQ's with a rating of A'. You can't dual-wield, just two-handers or sword & board, but either set you go by is a win.

PvP I really, really enjoy with the BO. If you spec with the right Tactics and stats (I stacked strength and weapon skill pretty heavily), you can drop someone before their healer realizes they are in trouble. Nothing quite like finding a Bright Wizard, buff your weapon skill, slow him down, and drop him with a full 3-hit finisher combo to make your day. Big Slash does RIDICULOUS damage if you use the Tactic and buff it up, when it crits, followed by a big Finisher, most classes can't stand up to it. It's on my suspected 'gonna get nerfed' list, but I'm going to enjoy it while I can

I really enjoy the class, and plan to continue muckin' it up BO-style when launch hits.

Aegis wrote:

Shaman
Glorb's Guide to Gork, Mork, an' Da Green

I played a shaman (since they looked cute) from the recent closed beta test when we had access to Tier 4, from rank 31 to 36 and I went full Path of Gork. While I focused on damage I did spec to Path of Mork to help healing every so often and have some notes below. I go into specifics on each ability and morale as well with comments on their effectiveness.

One main note is that strategies and spell rotations will differ heavily depending on what tactics you have slotted, as there are a number of tactics that affect one ability only and give them uses you wouldn't expect. So you may slot that tactic and then use that spell as your main spell when without it you'd never cast the spell.

--Healing--
The shaman is really an extremely versatile healer. You don't need to build up damage Waaagh! to help you heal but if your targets are living for a good while it can help to plink the enemies with damage to be able to get a quick heal off later on anyway (plus it helps your HoTs). The Path of Mork line's tactics though really shine as they make you think about using your shield not to heal, but to increase your DPS' damage often, allowing you to not just sit there and spam one heal, as well as how often you want to keep your group attack buff up. Combined with Breath of Mork every minute I've found I can do so much healing I can just plink away at damage and contribute to killing things faster. And the delayed AoE group heal is amazing, allowing you to plan ahead so you know when you want it to go off and having a backup heal that will trigger later on while you concentrate on other things. That said, if you're in a safe situation or a situation where you need healing NOW, then you may end up just spamming your big heal (or your AoE if your entire group's dying).

Levelling you will start off with Gork'll Fix It and get used to healing with that spell for a while, though it will at first feel like you can't keep anyone alive (this changes once you have access to your big heal). It does pitiful healing and will NOT keep anyone alive as it's direct heal is about 25% of it's HoT (which won't tick since you keep refreshing it) so your best bet is to not spam it. The only real use for Gork'll Fix It later on is if you need to replenish AP to your party quickly, which a tactic in the Mork tree will let you accomplish, or just want another HoT running.

--Damage--
Surprisingly I've found this aspect of a Shaman to be the most fun yet I've had, that I find I'm missing on my Chosen. You can do quite respectable damage if you spec full Gork (which you'll notice the difference in if you go Mork for a while) and we utterly shine at knockbacks. After weeks of playing, I still never get bored seeing a bunch of enemies sniping from a keep seige ballista go flying as I plink them off from Geddoff!. If you are tactical with it when you use it you can remove people from a battle for a good 30s to 1m by using the terrain to your advantage when you knock people around.

Our spike damage is respectable (not as much as Bright Wizard or Sorceress of course) though we get a bit more use out of debuffing (even with Gork) our enemies. With our Brian Bursta tactic (which stacks) you can just about destroy an opponent's toughness which is perfect to cast on the guy that your melee are chasing. And if you spec a bit into Da Green you'll gain another AoE from the first tactic which doubles as an AoE debuff, for even more damage. You will have to watch where you are and mostly fight at your max 100 ft range, because enemies will generally see you and think 'Healer' and since your defenses are crappy you will drop fast from focus-fired ranged attacks if you're not careful. This tends to result in a lot of running around and repositioning.

With being able to switch tactic sets around, your healing will not suffer very much. You won't get the use out of the delayed AoE or another HoT, which will probably force you to spam your AoE and Direct Heal a bit more often, but you can very well keep people up in PvE. And even if you don't have your tactics switched to heal I can still keep people alive enough in a PQ or quest.

--Survivability--
Find a tank. No really, you're probably going to die if a melee so much as sneezes on you so try and get a tank to guard you. Shamans have no way (aside from 1 morale) to remove CC on them (snares, knockdowns) and we have no way to incapacitate the other enemy other than by pushing them back so once you find yourself in a compromising situation you will probably be dead. Contrary to what you may think, Eeeek! and Geddoff! are best used to control the flow of battle from safe avenues. As escape mechanisms Geddoff! won't get off until you're dead due to spell pushback, and Eeeek! doesn't remove snares meaning that if you don't use it early you're going to just delay your death by a few seconds.

Your best defensive measure is to HoT yourself, detaunt, Gork Sez Stop your attacker and pray. This is usually enough to keep you alive if you keep healing yourself afterwards and your attacker is an idiot, but just keep in mind to always be aware of your surroundings and position yourself away from immediate danger.

Now that said, if you find yourself in a position where your attacker has put his back to a high cliff, by all means toss him off it. You will find a great many opportunities for cliff tossing.

ABILITIES

Healing
[Path of Mork]
* Gork'll Fix It - You start with this and it is your main healing spell for quite awhile, as it consists of a small direct heal with a modest HoT applied afterwards for 9 seconds. It has a nice 1 second cast time but tends to be high on AP usage so as you progress you will eventually move away from using this all the time, to using it just for an extra HoT (ie- Do NOT spam this spell when you have access post rank 20 to better heals).

* 'Ey, Quit Bleedin' - Your main HoT, it gives quite an amazing amount of health to your target over 15 seconds, is instant cast, and cheap on the AP usage. Used when your target isn't going to die in the next few seconds and to build up WAAAGH!

* Bigger, Better, An' Greener - Your main direct heal. Modest AP usage, with a long 3s cast time, and a huge direct heal. You will have to make sure you aren't taking damage though, because any hit will set back the casting time by around 80%, doubling or trippling the casting time if you take even a few hits. Still, it's your main heal when you know you're safe.

* Gather Round - Your AoE Heal. High AP usage for a modest direct heal and a 3s casting time, this is still the best option when your entire party is taking damage as a crit later on can heal for 1k each party member. Plus it looks cool.

* Don' Feel Nuthin - A damage absorption shield that can be cast upon you or your group mates (and only your group mates, not just a random person nearby). It has an average AP usage and is instant cast, lasting 9 seconds in duration, but absorbs a comparatively small amount of damage. With a 20 second cooldown you will have to prioritize who gets this. This is mostly used for saving a person by quickly charging up a main heal afterwards, but there are some tactics which make tossing this every CD much more appealing.

* Bleed Fer' Me - A DoT/HoT with an instant cast and 10 second cooldown. It's 24 second duration makes for easy tossing and forgetting about it as it deals a modest amount of damage per tick, healing your defensive target for the same amount.

* Gedup! - Your standard resurrection spell. 6s cast that raises your target with 20% health.

* Greener 'n Cleaner - Almost forgot this one, it removes 1 Hex from your target. So what this means is that you can remove 1 Boiling Blood or Ignite of the 10 that are on you from the army of Bright Wizards you see. Yeah.

* [M] I'll Take That! - Low AP usage, with a 2s cast, this 1st ability in the Mork Mastery Line is a direct damage attack (for rather low damage) that also heals your defensive target for the same damage done. Whenever I spec'd Mork I skipped this one for the later talents but you could see some offensive use out of this.

* [M] Do Sumfin Useful - 2nd master ability which is at first another HoT (though less powerful than your first one). However, it will spend WAAAGH! you have to increase the toughness of your target for the duration (9 seconds) making this nice for a tank.

* [M] Shrug it off - The final ability in the mastery line and a beauty. High AP usage with a 2 second cast, 10 second cooldown and 9 second duration. If you've played WoW, think of this as an AoE Lifebloom but without the ticks before the final bloom. This spell creates a shield on the target: On initial use and each time that person suffers damage within the duration a set value of healing is added to a 'pool' (up to 10 times). When the duration runs out (or your target dies) this heal will trigger healing everyone in your party (not just the guy you cast the spell on) for the full amount of the healing in the 'pool'. This spell is great if you can time it before a period that you know high damage is coming, or when you know you'll need all the AoE heals you can get.

Damage
[Path of Gork]
* Brain Bursta - Your basic direct damage spell. Hits for a goodly amount of damage to 1 target, with a low AP usage and 2s cast. With the toughness reducing talent this spell is perfect to just spam on tanks and watch as their mitigation plummets.

* Life Leaka - Your DoT. 15 seconds with modest ticks and low AP usage. Generally keep this up when you can as it's free damage.

* Bunch o' Waaagh - A channelled ability, so long as you are in range and have line of sight this will hit the target up to 4 times in a 6 second period for rather high damage. It uses a high amount of AP, however, if it runs for the full 6 seconds and can frequently be interrupted if your target runs behind something. That said, there is a tick almost immediately after casting and thus this is a quick way to get a final killing blow on a player almost dead.

* Scuse Me! - The last actually non-mastery ability you get as a Shaman (at rank 40), this is another AoE damage spell but this time a cone-shaped one. It hits everyone in front of you (65 ft range) for just a bit less than your other AoEs, but will also reduce their elemental resistance by a good amount for 9 seconds. Meaning your other spells will hit them harder. if you apply this first.

* [M] Big Waaagh! - Our 1st mastery ability, it has a quick 1s cast with moderate AP usage and is our highest direct damage spell. Unfortunately it has a 20s cooldown making this one skippable. That said, another damage spell is always nice to have.

* [M] Da Waaagh! Is Coming - We get this beauty of a chain lightning for our 2nd mastery abilitiy. Moderate AP usage with a 3s cast, but no cooldown. This spell strikes your target for as much damage as Brain Bursta; It then hits 2 nearby targets for 75% of the initial damage; and then it hits 2 targets near each of the secondary targets for 50% of the initial damage. This means it can hit as many as 7 people in one cast (though one person can't take multiple damage from this spell.

* [M] Geddoff! - Our final mastery ability is what makes Damage Shamans so fun. Low AP usage and a 2s cast with a 20s cooldown, this spell is an AoE ranged knockback. It will hit anyone near (20 ft) your target for as much damage again as Brain Bursta and then follow that up by punting them all back a fair distance. The main use is that you can safely stand at the back and plink people off cliffs/keep walls/houses/etc.

Debuff
[Path of Da Green]
* Look Over There! - Your main detaunt. 50% less damage your target causes you for 15 seconds provided you don't attack them.

* Stop hittin' me! - Says it's in the Path of Gork but balls if I know why. This is a variation on an AoE detaunt, lasting only 10 seconds and detaunting everyone near you. One nice thing is that it also increases your disrupt chance by 5%. 30s cooldown means use it basically to just get the hell out of a sticky situation.

* Yer A Weaklin' - Another nice direct damage spell, it deals about 60% of the damage of Brain Bursta but it also lowers your target's strength by a good amount for 10 seconds. Costs the same and has same cast time as Brain Bursta so it's mostly a matter of choice for which you want to use.

* Eeeek! - This one is hilarious. You can use this once a minute (unless you use the fun tactic) and it has a relatively high AP usage, but it will knock you (yes, you) and everyone around you in a random direction (it will instead knock PvE monsters down) for a good distance. Amusing applications of the no-fall-damage-from-knockbacks means you can use this to get from a high place to a low place without dying since it can punt you off cliffs. This spell can be either your 'Oh Shit!' button if it tosses you in the right direction, or ensure your death as it tosses you right into the middle of the enemy zerg.

* Yer Not So Bad - Another DoT but this time it does no damage, instead, it drains a high amount of AP from your target over the duration (9s). This one is used very well in draining healers of their AP or preventing pesky Witch Hunters from being able to kill you in 3 seconds like they tend to like to do.

* Get'n Smarter - This one's odd, but nice to annoy casters with. It will lower a person' intelligence (ie- it lowers the magic damage they do) by a modest amount for 15 seconds. Namely used for tossing on Bright Wizards because really, fuck Bright Wizards.

* You Got Nuthin! - The anti-bright wizard/healer spell, this 1s cast deals a small amount of damage to your target and silences them for 5s. Unfortunately it has a 30s cooldown, but if you silence the healer just when the Ironbreaker's about to bite the dust well...he's dead Jim.

* Mork's Buffer - A buff. It gives your entire group a modest amount of increased resistances across the board for an hour. Nothing to write home about but something you can cast every time you respawn.

* 'Ere We Go! - Odd for a healing class to have this but anyway, this is a groupwide buff you cast that lasts 5s. It causes each person's next attack to deal a small amount of additional elemental damage. With some of the tactics though, you can get quite nasty with this buff.

* [M] Gork's Barbs' - Who doesn't want to annoy Witch Hunters, I mean really. Our 1st mastery ability in this line, it does tiny damage to your target but for 10s causes all melee actions your target takes to hurt them for more damage each time. With a 10s cooldown you can keep this up fairly regularly. It's like the entire shaman class was made around causing other players to hurt themselves. We're like a reverse Disciple of Khaine or something.

* [M] You'z Squishy - No cooldown, instant cast, and low AP this is a fun 2nd mastery ability as it reduces all enemies near your target (30 ft)'s toughness by good amount for 10s, meaning they take more damage for the entire duration.

* [M] Sticky Feetz - And for our last mastery ability, this one has a 3s cast time and 30s cooldown but is one of the more powerful snares in the game (right now anyway). For 10 seconds, everyone in a target you designate (30 ft radius) will have a good amount of their elemental resistance reduced and become snared reducing their run speed by 60%. By comparison, most other snares are 40% and are single target so...yea, fun spell.

MORALE

Gork Sez Stop - This is your Rank 1, 2, 3, & 4 morale ability. No really, I'm serious. This baby is insane. You see a guy running toward you or circle strafing you? Gork Sez Stop. You see a guy running after your murder ball/flag carrier? Gork Sez Stop. You see a bright wizard that you want to spook so he kills himself? Gork Sez Stop. This Rank 1 morale ability does (at rank 30-40) about 270 damage every 0.5 seconds for 2 seconds. That's only about 1200 damage eh, not that bad? It's duration refreshes if the target moves. Now, you might ask yourself: Well how many people are going to be stupid enough to keep moving. Answer: 90% of people. No really, if you as a shaman have this morale ability off cooldown you can solo a party of 2 since one guy will inevitably try and chase you and die from it. Ironbreakers (I think), Chosen, and Witch Hunters get a similar mechanic to this spell but theirs are considerably less awesome, so yay us! (This spell is going to get nerfed at some point, honestly).

Okay that's it, that's all our morale abilites as a Shaman.

...

No really. Oh fine, here are the rest of them.

Rank 1
* Divine Favor - Your usual morale direct heal. It heals for about 3x as much as your main direct heal and is good to get a guy right back into the fight, or refreshing your heal from 1% to full.

* Steal Life - I suppose if you hate life and don't use Gork Sez Stop as a damage shaman, or don't like healing and don't use Divine Favor as a healing shaman then you'd use this. This is basically a big DoT on the target that then heals you for half of the damage dealt. The damage it does though is about half of what Divine Favor heals, so you're going to get healed maybe for 25% of what you could have been from Divine Favor. Oh and Divine Favor you can use on other people whereas Steal Life you can't.

Rank 2
* Focused Mind - If you're more defensively minded you could use this. For 10s you will remove and ignore any silences, disarms (you're a caster you don't need to worry about this anyway), roots, snares and all your abilities will build 50% faster and cannot be set back. It's not the best in comparison to the other Rank 2s but it has its perks.

* Breath of Mork - This one is a beauty. This is a HoT applied to one person that ticks 4 times in 9 seconds (up to 1k health at rank 30-40). The fun part about this is that every time it ticks, it heals everyone around him (30 ft) for the same amount, so it's basically a nice AoE HoT. Casting it on a guy that's partially damaged in the middle of your zerg that is damaged will results in perfect spread out healing.

* Rampaging Siphon - You get this one earlier than Breath of Mork, and it will suffice until then. It deals a good amount of damage to everyone within 30 feet of you and then heals your entire group for the same amount of damage. Until you get actual AoEs this one works really well if you charge in and let it rip.

Rank 3
* Divine Protection - An AoE damage absorption shield, that states it will ignore a large amount of damage from melee abilities. There's some use to be had from this in PvE though you'll probably be using other morale abilities in RvR.

* You Weren't Using Dat - Like this one. This Morale removes 100 AP from each enemy within 30 feet and gives 50% of the stolen AP to you. This is probably the only morale ability that hurts enemies that can compete with Gork Sez Stop that isn't a crazy Rank 4 one, as you may very well delay the enemies' zerg since they can't act very well without AP for too long.

Rank 4
* Alter Fate - All healers get this one as every other Rank 4 requires you to take the last point in your respective mastery line. This is an AoE ressurection spell that will raise your entire group. While this sounds awesome, it heals them for maybe 0.1% of their health at rank 40 (when you get the ability in the first place) over 5 seconds meaning without immediate healing they're going to just die again.

* [Mork] Feelz No Pain - Heals your group for a small HoT over 10 seconds and decreases the damage against them by 25% for 10 seconds. For a Rank 4 the healing is incredibly crappy, but the damage absorption could be something to write home about. It's better than the AoE raise in any event.

* [Gork] Fists of Gork - Deals !Texas damage to one target and knocks back all enemy targets within 30 feet. Yes I'll take another AoE knockback please, but in reality this spell is best used to 1 shot people already low on health. It deals about 1700 damage at rank 30-40 which is nearly 40% of a healer's health. Plus the animation is kickass.

* [Da Green] Steal Yer Thunder - This one is weird to be honest. It reduces all enemies with 30 feet of your target's stats by a tiny amount (except wounds) and increase your group's stats by a tiny amount (except wounds) for 15 seconds. And by tiny, I mean really tiny so it seems...lackluster.

Judge-Z wrote:

The Squig Herder

So, yez sez yez wants to herd squigz, eh? Well, say goodbye to all yer fingers. Squigz are a fickle bunch o’ critters, but once yer learns ta finesse ‘em, you can really mess wif da stunties and der squishie frienz!

Overview:

These impressions are based on the early parts of the game, and may change as I gain more experience with this class. The Squig Herder is a hybrid Ranged DPS/pet class. This class does not seem to have the sheer damage output or utility of other classes, but it has some truly unique abilities that can help turn the tide of battle. Also, while it does not feel that Herders do much damage, I frequently find myself finishing near the top of PQs and scenarios, so go figure.

Whereas hunters were the ultimate loners in WoW, Squig Hunters may very well function best in groups. The squig hunter is very squishy. However, the squig hunter is also often totally underestimated or ignored by enemies in RvR, so it can be deadly in the right hands.

Mechanics:

The skills of the squig hunter are pretty simple, and can be divided in to two main categories; Squigs and Puncturing.

Squigs:

As they level, squig herders gain access to a fairly diverse set of squigs. They are divided evenly between melee squigs and ranged. Each type of squig has its unique strengths. While on the surface the Herder may seem similar to a WoW Hunter, the different pet abilities play more like the Warlock and his minions. You have low DPS taunters, good for PvE, high damage melee squigs good in PQs and against champion mobs when in a party, and ranged squigs who truly excel in RvR (more on that below). Squigs are enhanced by skills that cause them to do extra melee damage, spew mucous that roots enemies, or my favorite, “Farty Squig” which causes your squig to explode doing AoE damage, and automatically (though this seems broken) summons the next squig in your herd. Your squigs also buff your abilities. A gas squig, for example, adds 10% range to your abilities.

Unfortunately, control of the squigs right now is less than precise. They don’t always respond to commands to stop what they are doing and fall back, and as a result can get themselves – and you – in trouble. Luckily you can just blow them up and summon a different type fairly quickly.

Puncturing:

Squig Herders have access to three types of combat skills (each of which you can gain talent in): Spear melee – the path of stabbity, which if you use, you’re doing it wrong. They do have some use as an emergency backup. The path of big shootin’, which focuses on high damage, but slow attacks, including a very nice unblockable ability, and the path of quick shooting ,which is much quicker, but lower ranged and less damaging. However, quick shootin’ also tends to carry a variety of status effects such as bleeds or slows and a very, very useful skill for RvR which allows you to shoot while moving. Herders also gain some very useful morale abilities, the first of which is an AoE damaging knockback that is powerful enough to throw enemies off of high walls to much hilarity and profit. And of course there is a vital de-taunt ability that not only reduces agro, but also cuts damage to you in half as long as you don’t damage the detaunted enemy (mob or player).

PvE

Herders, like most pet classes, are pretty untouchable in PvE. As long as you are smart about when and where you choose to fight, you’ll plow through mobs very quickly. While your melee squigs, with your support, can handle two or three mobs at once, you cannot. You’re very, very squishy, and should not be afraid to use that flee button if more than one enemy decides to start whomping on you.

RvR

Squig Herders are a neat class to play in RvR. And by neat, I mean one that requires quite a bit of situational awareness and paranoia. You can dish out the damage, but you can’t take it, so your best bet is to hang back, behind even the healers, and plug away at the enemy with your highest damage abilities, while siccing a ranged squig on the same or different targets as needed. Squigs are expendable, so don’t be afraid to blow one up if he’s about to die. Lure in melee classes and blow them back with your morale ability. Use terrain to your advantage – be above the enemy when possible, and near cliffs or on walls so your knockback can be its most devastating. If the enemy starts to pay attention to you, don’t be afraid to run and come back from a different angle, while leaving your squig attacking your assailant.

Herders are at their most effective when disrupting enemy healers and casters, or aiding the front line troops in taking down their enemies. One of your most useful RvR abilities is one which allows you to slow an enemy’s movements – good for helping your boyz chase them down.

Outside of scenarios, you have a very, very good ability that on the surface seems sort of meh. It does fairly low damage – but allows you to shoot while you run. Now, running away, this will get you killed, as you run slower backwards. But where this skill really shines is when you see a nearby enemy break and run. The skill allows you to run at full speed and pepper the coward. You will take down a great number of Order cowards with this skill. It works really well on healers, who tend to be even squishier than you.

Accualt

Order

Empire

Darkewolfe wrote:

Bright Wizard

I believe that this guy is THE dps machine of WAR. He's squishy as hell, can blow himself up, dies if you tickle him with a feather, but can hurl fireball after fireball from a decent range into a fight, and if he has a tank line between him and the action, he's just a beast.

The most unique mechanic to the Bright Wizard is combustion points. As you cast fire spells, you build "combustion" (as separate from health and action, which is essentially mana). Every ten points bumps you up another tier of "combustion" which increases your damage, increases your chance to have your spells crit, and coincidentally increases the chance that one of your spells will backfire, damaging you. A couple backfired spells aren't a big deal if you're not taking hits, but if you're in the thick of the fighting and some enemy caster is taking pot-shots at you, backfiring a few times could give that guy the edge he needs to kill you. Your counter to backfiring is a spell that basically vents all of your combustion, doing a quick burst of light damage to a target and reducing you to 0 combustion points again. I found that it was usually worthwhile to build up to 80ish percent combustion, then vent, rather than sitting at the top of the combustion level. This meant I was doing slightly less damage and critting less, but I was dying less too. It's a big risk vs. reward mechanic, and if I happened to have a healer nearby and wasn't getting beat on at all, I'd stay at 100% combustion just for those extra crits.

As with classic mages, alot of your spells are "magic missile" style. They always hit (there's some resistance mechanics in there, but it honestly doesn't factor in much till you get to number crunching your stats), have one of the best ranges of attacks in the game, and usually hit just one target. Early on you get a "blast" fireball as well, which hits everyone near your target, and overall does slightly less damage than a normal fireball per target. You also get some AOE "nova" type spells. An early one just does damage (and builds alot of combustion- if you want to be maxed out on combustion cast it a few times while running towards the battle, so that your first few attacks have a 50% better chance to crit the target!), another earlyish one roots everyone in its range for five seconds. Lastly, you get lots of DoT's. These are my babies, I loved them. Since everyone is always moving out of your range once they realize the FIREBALL THROWING MANIAC has them targeted, just DoT them up a bit too, and they'll remember you're over there. When I can't find a good target to help with the tanks with, I'll just DoT every target I can while firing off fireballs and make sure the healers stay occupied.

In terms of PvE, I think my Bright Wizard was a great soloer. The DPS output made for the ability to just freaking roll through mobs, and while I'm not certain, I think my Bright Wizard levelled a bit faster than my Priest of Sigmar. You don't have the survivability of other classes, so if you get over your head there's a decent chance you'll be running back from town, but you can just kill things SO DAMN FAST.

Oh, one last thing. By my judgment, Bright Wizard is the single most played class in beta. They are freaking EVERYWHERE. I don't think that's such a big deal, since in a PvP game like this, you're not as concerned about not being able to get a group for the next epic dungeon crawl lawlawl, but if you don't want to be one of twenty of the same class on your side, you might want to bear that in mind.

Iblis wrote:

The Witch Hunter

Foreword: It has been a little while since I’ve actually played a Witch Hunter, though when the Mouths were doing Order I finally settled on it as my main. I played from 1-20 so my experience in the end game is a bit lacking and there was a patch part of the way through beta which had some pretty big changes for everyone. However, this review is better than nothing. Another thing to note is that I’m leaving out several details that will likely not apply by the time the game is out.

General Feel: This is perhaps one of the most stylish classes in the game. Not just in terms of general design but also in terms of their animation and stances you get the general feel of an apprehensive no-nonsense bad ass.

The Mechanic: The mechanic of the Witch Hunter is in general terms similar to their mirror the Witch Elf, and as Zen wrote in his review, similar to the WoW Rogue. You build up “accusation” points in order to execute the enemy, but what makes this part of the class fun and rather addicting is the style in which they execute the opponent. They don’t just build up to a stronger stab; they build up to putting a bullet in the opponent’s brain, or whipping out a torch and setting the opponent on fire, or just simply unloading on them with a gun. What makes this rather different from the Witch Elf though is that several of your executions have a respectable range. Makes it quite a bit more difficult for heretics to escape the torch. Another thing of note is that they get a choice between hour-long buffs called “Blessed Bullets” that add spiritual damage to your executions as well as a special effect. Another thing of note is that it is actually your gun that determines your executions strength and I believe they rely on the “ballistics” skill for damage.

The Masteries: Their three paths are Inquisition, Confession, and Judgment. Most people at the time were going either Confession or Judgment at the time, so I decided to be a unique snowflake and went Inquisition. Inquisition is based around DoTs that certainly seems less spectacular than direct damage. I did not even really spend any points on mastery skills, so I cannot talk about them much. I just know that your first skill is a “Holy Relic” in each spec line that is essentially a short duration buff and the next to last skill is another execution.

Returning to Inquisition though, its main damaging skill is “Fervor”, a slash which causes a DoT and can stack three times. The execution of the line is “Burn, Heretic!” which essentially deals heavy damage over ten seconds, pulling out a torch and setting the opponent on fire. Worked well enough overall.

Did not really try Confession, but it’s execution is Trial by Pain, a channeled series of shots from your pistol which dealt pretty insane damage over it’s duration. It was later toned down to near uselessness. Not sure where it really sits now. The main damaging attack was “Razor Strike” which is your first real damaging attack. I think this spec was supposed to be good for burst damage and taking down lightly armored opponents, but I’m not completely sure.

Also did not really try Judgment. The execution is “Absolution” which is essentially a single powerful shot to the opponent. The main damaging attack is “Torment” which when used from behind ignores armor (and with the ability “feinted positioning”, a buff on a minute cooldown, it can be used from any position). I think this was geared a bit more towards taking down other melee classes as torment and feinted positioning could be pretty nasty to tanks and Marauders. I think this also got the mastery execution “Burn Away Lies” (which I remember by it’s name!) which was a powerful DoT similar to “Burn, Heretic!”

General Playstyle: At the lower levels just pick on ranged characters unless you can find a vulnerable tank who’s too busy attacking someone else to notice you, in which case spam torment at his back. For executions use “Burn, Heretic” if you think that the enemy will last long enough for the tics to go off, otherwise just use Absolution. Once you get “Incognito”, your stealth skill, you get access to a barb that deals damage anytime the opponent melees. Not really that useful for ranged DPS and healers obviously (aside from the DoK) so I would personally just drop stealth when closing in and attack. For sneaking around remember to never run directly at an opponent, try to remain out of sight despite the buff and come up behind them.

Incognito is on a cooldown, so don’t consider it an essential part of your strategy. Just think of it as a nice occasional perk to make getting at wayward casters easier.

Eventually you’ll get a silence, but it only lasts for three seconds… so don’t expect it to completely disable healers or something. Just use it if your target seems to be building something up. Also remember to keep an eye on “Confess!” which can only be used after you have parried an attack. It will disarm opponents for five seconds, basically giving you a brief reprieve from a tank or melee DPS.

As you level up things will begin to depend more on your spec, though one thing to look forward to is "Sudden Accusation", a movement barb from stealth.

Closing: Always remember to respect the muttonchops of authority. Thank you.

Accualt

Dwarf

Accualt

High Elves

MoosehatIV wrote:

Shadow Warrior

“We have lost our families, our lands, and our innocence. Even our kin look upon us with suspicious eyes, for all they remember are the atrocities of Malekith and his ilk, not the nobility of those who remained. It is for these reasons we fight this Shadow War, for redemption can only come from tears and blood. Only when Malekith breathes his last, his heart pierced by Nagarythe steel, shall we ask Lileath for forgiveness. Until that day nothing will stand in the path of our vengeance...”
- Filamar the Swift, Shadow Warrior of Nagarythe


Have you ever wanted to be the epitome of elf badassness? Have you wanted to climb the rocky outcroppings of high elf lands and wonder "What do my elf eyes see?". Have you ever wanted to rain arrowy death down from above and watch as your enemies wonder why they are suddenly pincushions? Then the Shadow Warrior is for you. Stylistically they are absolutely badass. Within the first couple levels you really feel like a elven death dealer cloaked in the shadows. But enough about how cool they feel, you have been hearing about that for months, lets get down to the brass tacks.

Shadow Warriors can be summed up the easiest in one word.

STANCES. You get three amazing stances that boost and alter your abilities giving you radically different playstyles.

Stance of the Scout: This stance is your archer stance. It not only boosts the damage you do with your bow, but it also boosts the range. Right here let me tell you that the Shadow Warriors already have amazing range. Combine it with this and you really feel like an elven sniper. This is a great stance if you can get up above your enemies in PVP and rain death while they cannot reach you. It is also a pretty good PVE stance as you can generally kill enemies before they get to you. Abilities such as long range shots, DoT arrows, detaunt arrows, and debuff arrows all fall into this category.

Stance of Assault: Here is where the Shadow Warrior can surprise those who don't understand them. Unlike all of the other long range DPSers Shadow Warriors have both light armor and a sword. Thats right, you heard me. These guys are not only death at long range, but they can MELEE too. Switching into Assault Stance boosts your armor and your toughness, letting you survive in close combat. More than once I have had an angry Witch elf charge through my volley of arrows thinking she could tear me apart if she could get in close range. Sadly, she was wrong. Abilities in this stance focus around your elven longsword letting you do damage, dots, reduce aggro, and more. It is very nice to be able to switch a quick melee stance when things suddenly go wrong and that orc is a lot closer than he used to be. Now, keep in mind this does not make the Shadow Warrior a contender in all close fights, but it is great for taking down the enemies that have been softened up by your arrows.

Stance of the Skirmisher: This stance allows the Shadow Warrior access to the unique ability to move and shoot. Many of the powers in this stance do not require you to be standing still for their bar to charge. This is a great PvP stance not only because it
allows you to do hit and run tactics, but it also gives a damage bonus with the bow and some extra toughness to keep you alive. This path focuses on your hit and run tactics, giving you access to powers that slow, knockdown, and do damage on the run. Essentially, I would say that this is the PvP spec since it alllows you to flee like a madman and shoot at the knife wielding dark elves that are intent on drinking your blood.

Masteries: The masteries are very easy to explain for this class. Pick a stance and drop mastery points into it. Simple right? All the abilities that stance focuses on are improved when you put mastery points into it, plus you get some fancy new abilities down the line.


So, do you think you are man enough to be the the shadow cloaked high elf? Are you man enough to rain down arrowy death on the dark elves? Are you ready to reclaim your homeland? Give the Shadow Warrior a try and never look back.

wavecutter wrote:

White Lion

To clarify my experience with the class. I played the White Lion class until lvl 12 during the CE beta. I tried the White Lion class after playing a Shadow Warrior to level 10. I found that I preferred The White Lion over Shadow warrior for a couple of reasons.

1: Survivability. In PVE and RVR the White Lion stands up well to the rigors of combat. White Lions have good armor and the ability to use one and two handed axes in combat. While not as heavily armored as an Oathbreaker, the White Lion can hold his own. I found that with a healer to back me up I could take on five enemy players and survive and win the engagement.

2: Pet. Seriously useful. In PvE the pet can serve as your off tank. I switch my pet to an aggro grabbing mode if I start to take too much damage, allowing me to regen some health or take a potion before recovering the aggro. In RvR I found That I could hang back to guard the flags while sending my pet out to disrupt enemy healers and casters. I also found that my pet could kill lower level casters and healers in the right situations.

On the negative side.

1: As of this writing, pathing for pets is still an issue. Knowing that it is an issue certainly helps. To work around the issue I would only summon my pet if I felt combat was near.

2: If you die, your pet will disappear. I think it would be cooler if your pet persisted untill it died or you respawned.

When it was all said and done, I had a great time with this strong, survivable, tactically diverse class. Out of the four classes I tried the White Lion stood out to me and captured my attention when I had originally intended to play on the Chaos side. I hope you found this short essay informative.

Accualt

Just in case. WORK IN PROGRESS. Sorry about the formating, will fix.

Dissociater

Yay, thanks Accualt.

SpongeCake

So like, does this game suck or what?

Hillean

SpongeCake wrote: »

So like, does this game suck or what?

Too broad of a question to honestly answer, and given the personal opinions of ANYONE who answers this question, there is no one 'definite' answer.

Aegis

this might get lost, but i have a question.

which classes have a knockback? i was under the impression that each has at least one interrupt. that tactic is crazy good for the battle on the hill fight as well as just punting someone out of an engagement.

Off the top of my head almost everyone gets a knockback, though when in their career they get it can differ from low levels to high levels. And melee tend to get one person knockbacks while ranged are able to get AoE knockbacks.

Dissociater

First impressions of the Empire's own Witch hunter:

I haven't gotten him to the very end game yet, but so far he's a lot of fun, comparable to a WoW rogue, the Witch hunter builds up inquisition points, and then unleashes them against an enemy with their executions. The big difference between them and WoW rogues though, is the fact that their energy doesn't run out in 2-3 moves. They can build up their inquisition very fast, and unleash many executions in a fight. In addition to that, you're not forced to use your inquisition points on the same enemy you built them on. You can switch to another creature and use them all on them.

One of my favorite things to do is finish a fight with 5 inquisition points, and then start the next fight by blasting my pistol in the mob's face with a 5point execution.

Another cool thing they can do is load different ammunition types in the form of a 30 minute self buff which does stuff like slow the enemy and put a DoT on them when they use an execution on them.

I'll write up more on this class in a few days if no one else has yet.

SpongeCake

So all the talk of characters changing as they got tougher - Orcs getting bigger, Dwarves with bigger beards and shit. Did that stay in? And if so, what do the races all do?

Hillean

SpongeCake wrote: »

So all the talk of characters changing as they got tougher - Orcs getting bigger, Dwarves with bigger beards and shit. Did that stay in? And if so, what do the races all do?

That part was removed early-on, before beta had started.

Dissociater

Oh, another thing people might be curious to know and isn't apparently obvious by game play videos is collision detection.

You can run through members of your own class at well as long as you're NOT FLAGGED for RVR. Once you become flagged for RVR, all PCs (allied and opposed) have very generous hit boxes which detect collision. You cannot run through the enemy tanks to get to the squishies, and almost as importantly, you can't be an idiot and run ahead of your support to attack the other side, lest you get stuck between a wall of enemies and a wall of your own allies!

Aegis

SpongeCake wrote: »

So all the talk of characters changing as they got tougher - Orcs getting bigger, Dwarves with bigger beards and shit. Did that stay in? And if so, what do the races all do?

I don't believe this is implemented right now. That said, at least with most classes from low to high level gear you can notice a drastic change from 'new person' to 'kickass guy' in terms of look. Chosen start piecing together bits of sturdier and sturdier plate as they get higher level.

NativityInBlack

Had the chance to play it as a Black Orc and my only words will be:

The WoW killer is finally born.

Best PVP ever, great graphics, fun PVE, mix match of best features from LOTRO, DAOC, EQ and WoW and the couple decent ones from AoC.

Watch out Blizzard, and good luck you will need it now.

Finally there will be competition.

Dracil

Some more things that may be useful for the FAQ.

Since you weren't sure, you can't change weapons in combat, heck you can't even move stuff in your backpack around during combat. You also can't change tactics in combat and 10 secs after combat. Speaking of tatics, you will get 4 regular tactic slots at level 40 and 1 RVR tactic (generally does stuff vs. specific races) and 1 Tome Tactic (PVE bonuses)

Also some more useful info: Death penalties are very light, esp. when you're high level and money isn't a real issue. You get -10% health each time you die and you can remove them with healers or you can wait 10 minutes/death (I think, it seems to have changed a bit and after a while I just removed them whenever I respawned). You don't get death penalties from RVR though. But basically suiciding is sometimes a quick way to get back to places fast. No durability crap, so no worrying about repair bills.

Dracil

SpongeCake wrote: »

So all the talk of characters changing as they got tougher - Orcs getting bigger, Dwarves with bigger beards and shit. Did that stay in? And if so, what do the races all do?

Nope, that's out, and was never implemented from what I understand (cut before added).

SpongeCake

Aegis wrote: »

SpongeCake wrote: »

So all the talk of characters changing as they got tougher - Orcs getting bigger, Dwarves with bigger beards and shit. Did that stay in? And if so, what do the races all do?

I don't believe this is implemented right now. That said, at least with most classes from low to high level gear you can notice a drastic change from 'new person' to 'kickass guy' in terms of look. Chosen start piecing together bits of sturdier and sturdier plate as they get higher level.

So I'm assuming "gear" appearance is based around the class? Witch Hunters will always look like Witch Hunters?

Hillean

SpongeCake wrote: »

Aegis wrote: »

SpongeCake wrote: »

So all the talk of characters changing as they got tougher - Orcs getting bigger, Dwarves with bigger beards and shit. Did that stay in? And if so, what do the races all do?

I don't believe this is implemented right now. That said, at least with most classes from low to high level gear you can notice a drastic change from 'new person' to 'kickass guy' in terms of look. Chosen start piecing together bits of sturdier and sturdier plate as they get higher level.

So I'm assuming "gear" appearance is based around the class? Witch Hunters will always look like Witch Hunters?

You look moreso what a decked-out character of that class looks like. Orcs start with little bits of chainmail, and end with huge chained helms with choppa jaws, big shoulderpads, all that shit. And yes it is all different depending on your class.

Aegis

SpongeCake wrote: »

Aegis wrote: »

SpongeCake wrote: »

So all the talk of characters changing as they got tougher - Orcs getting bigger, Dwarves with bigger beards and shit. Did that stay in? And if so, what do the races all do?

I don't believe this is implemented right now. That said, at least with most classes from low to high level gear you can notice a drastic change from 'new person' to 'kickass guy' in terms of look. Chosen start piecing together bits of sturdier and sturdier plate as they get higher level.

So I'm assuming "gear" appearance is based around the class? Witch Hunters will always look like Witch Hunters?

Yea, you'll never end up looking like a Chosen as a Sorceror for instance. All the item appearances are tailored for each class and you can see a change as you level up from a low-level decked out class to high-level one.

Scosglen

SpongeCake wrote: »

Aegis wrote: »

SpongeCake wrote: »

So all the talk of characters changing as they got tougher - Orcs getting bigger, Dwarves with bigger beards and shit. Did that stay in? And if so, what do the races all do?

I don't believe this is implemented right now. That said, at least with most classes from low to high level gear you can notice a drastic change from 'new person' to 'kickass guy' in terms of look. Chosen start piecing together bits of sturdier and sturdier plate as they get higher level.

So I'm assuming "gear" appearance is based around the class? Witch Hunters will always look like Witch Hunters?

Think like Diablo II where every class has its own unique class aesthetic. This means that each class is easily recognizable but it also unfortunately means since they need to make armor for 20 individual classes that there is very little gear model variety for a given tier. There are "general" armors that only are requisite on a medium or light armor skill or somesuch rather than class, but these generally look like shit. Almost all gear is class specific.

Scosglen

MuddBudd wrote: »

I always end up picking weird hybrid classes with strange mechanics. JE in ENB, Druid in WOW, etc...

This time I want to play whatever class is the most devastating in PVP.

I want to ruin lives.

Which class is this?

Frankly I think PvP is very biased towards ranged DPS classes, so if you want to play the most brokenest character you can probably a Bright Wizard.

This is also a good place to mention that class mirrors are not created equal.

Fairchild

Thanks, guys, good stuff in here. I don't suppose a brother can get a preview of the Squig Hunter and Witch Herder classes ?

s3rial one

Scosglen wrote: »

MuddBudd wrote: »

I always end up picking weird hybrid classes with strange mechanics. JE in ENB, Druid in WOW, etc...

This time I want to play whatever class is the most devastating in PVP.

I want to ruin lives.

Which class is this?

Frankly I think PvP is very biased towards ranged DPS classes, so if you want to play the most brokenest character you can probably a Bright Wizard.

Particularly the Bright Wizard, and Sorceress. Shadow Warrior, not quite so much. Squig Herder? Hell no. They might be the shittiest class in the game, at the moment.

My Zealot's HoTs tick for more than most of the attacks in the Quick Shootin' line do after a cast time.

Edit: I also forgot to mention Engineers above, because I forgot they even exist. They're that cool.

Dissociater

I posted a little preview of the witch hunter on the first page, it's only a paragraph or two long. Just a bit of a preview on how it plays.

I only got a few levels in squig herder. Squigs are hilarious, but I find the pet control bar, and the squig's pathing to be somewhat of an issue.

Edit: This was in response to Fairchild's question

Dracil

s3rial one wrote: »

Scosglen wrote: »

MuddBudd wrote: »

I always end up picking weird hybrid classes with strange mechanics. JE in ENB, Druid in WOW, etc...

This time I want to play whatever class is the most devastating in PVP.

I want to ruin lives.

Which class is this?

Frankly I think PvP is very biased towards ranged DPS classes, so if you want to play the most brokenest character you can probably a Bright Wizard.

Particularly the Bright Wizard, and Sorceress. Shadow Warrior, not quite so much. Squig Herder? Hell no. They might be the shittiest class in the game, at the moment.

My Zealot's HoTs tick for more than most of the attacks in the Quick Shootin' line do after a cast time.

I will say this though, back in Tier 2 as order, multiple squigs sent over No Man's Land to attack the other warband were ANNOYING.

Morskittar

SpongeCake wrote: »

Aegis wrote: »

SpongeCake wrote: »

So all the talk of characters changing as they got tougher - Orcs getting bigger, Dwarves with bigger beards and shit. Did that stay in? And if so, what do the races all do?

I don't believe this is implemented right now. That said, at least with most classes from low to high level gear you can notice a drastic change from 'new person' to 'kickass guy' in terms of look. Chosen start piecing together bits of sturdier and sturdier plate as they get higher level.

So I'm assuming "gear" appearance is based around the class? Witch Hunters will always look like Witch Hunters?

Yes. Even bad dye jobs don't create *really* horrible clown suits.

Accualt

MuddBudd wrote: »

I always end up picking weird hybrid classes with strange mechanics. JE in ENB, Druid in WOW, etc...

This time I want to play whatever class is the most devastating in PVP.

I want to ruin lives.

Which class is this?

This kind of question is GENERAL DISCUSSION and not fit for this thread. Now...you must pay.

Louie

In my opinion, not a warcraft killer.

Maybe it's because i favour pve over pvp but it lacks something and it's dificult to find words to describe what. I'm not sure if it was due to low pop on the eu beta servers but at times the game world felt very dead. With decent pop I imagine the game will improve as you get much more regular rvr interspersed with the pve.

Granted, the PQ's are awesome and i can see every mmo developer under the sun ripping them off gratuitosly.

I certainly won't write this one off but it isn't a game I can guarantee you will like/dislike.

My advice, certainly try to get in the beta and see if it rings your bell, unfortunately for me it didn't and I was unbelieveably excited about it.

Fairchild

Dissociater wrote: »

I posted a little preview of the witch hunter on the first page, it's only a paragraph or two long. Just a bit of a preview on how it plays.

I only got a few levels in squig herder. Squigs are hilarious, but I find the pet control bar, and the squig's pathing to be somewhat of an issue.

Edit: This was in response to Fairchild's question

You sure did, thanks. Sorry to hear about the Squig Hunter being so lame, but I did play a Druid in the early days of WOW when they still sucked, so never say die.

MoosehatIV

I just finished up my review of the Shadow Warrior. Should I just toss it up here under a spoiler? Or should I PM it to someone?

Kiith

MoosehatIV wrote: »

I just finished up my review of the Shadow Warrior. Should I just toss it up here under a spoiler? Or should I PM it to someone?

PM it to Accualt.

Morskittar

Louie wrote: »

In my opinion, not a warcraft killer.

Maybe it's because i favour pve over pvp but it lacks something and it's dificult to find words to describe what. I'm not sure if it was due to low pop on the eu beta servers but at times the game world felt very dead. With decent pop I imagine the game will improve as you get much more regular rvr interspersed with the pve.

Granted, the PQ's are awesome and i can see every mmo developer under the sun ripping them off gratuitosly.

I certainly won't write this one off but it isn't a game I can guarantee you will like/dislike.

My advice, certainly try to get in the beta and see if it rings your bell, unfortunately for me it didn't and I was unbelieveably excited about it.

This should go in the OP; I think it's an important big of feedback for a lot of people, especially those who *loved* (or love) WoW.

The game, at high Tiers, absolutely relies on lots of RvR or PQs, thus a lot of participation. It's also very light on the solo PvE content at Rank 31+.

Babble

In the other thread someone mentioned different server types.

What are these? I assume it can't be anything like WoW with PvE etc.

Hillean

Babble wrote: »

In the other thread someone mentioned different server types.

What are these? I assume it can't be anything like WoW with PvE etc.

Open RvR - You are flagged for RvR everywhere

Core - Typical play as-is

Core RP - duh

Scosglen

Babble wrote: »

In the other thread someone mentioned different server types.

What are these? I assume it can't be anything like WoW with PvE etc.

There is a Core ruleset, in which case PvP only occurs in designated RvR lake areas on maps, unless you have been otherwise flagged in which case another flagged player can engage you anywhere

Then there is the Open RvR rules where you can engage any player you can catch and everyone is fair game.

There are RP variants for both types.

Morskittar

Last I saw, RP is only Core. Which is fine, because Open and the Chicken do not play nice.

Morskittar

the IC.

There are no words.

But I should put some to contribute. The Inevitable City (and Altdorf) are pretty much as promised. There is a ridiculous amount of content in them. Things like;

- Getting jumped by thugs in the Altdorf slums.
- A PQ bar brawl that's triggered by touching a guy's beer.
- Random skaven gankings.
- Goblins in the IC trying to break into a door. Until you come along and they pretend to be just hanging out.