You also get a $5 coupon for the game with the target deal so you come out ahead if you decide to buy it. I thought it was a pretty cool way to give people a demo of the game.
I don't mind paying a buck to check out a game I'm interested in for a week. I think it's kind of funny they're calling it an open beta though. It's really just going to be a free trial for most people, but I guess calling it the "beta" version will cover there ass on lingering bugs and crashes.
I'm still having a really hard time picking a class to play. Does anyone have any thoughts on a high level Chosen? In terms of how well they group, and how well they perform in RVR? I really want to go Chaos or greenskin. I've played the Black orc a bunch, but I don't know if it's the class for me, as I want to focus a bit more on dps and less on tanking stuff. I know the chosen is also a tank, but I just don't like the marauder, and I feel the Magus (my highest level class) is just too broken in my opinion.
The Chosen is quite powerful at high levels. One things to keep in mind with a new game is that the powerful classes are more likely to get nerfed post-release and the other classes (Magus, Squig, etc) are very likely to get buffed.
I'm still having a really hard time picking a class to play. Does anyone have any thoughts on a high level Chosen? In terms of how well they group, and how well they perform in RVR? I really want to go Chaos or greenskin. I've played the Black orc a bunch, but I don't know if it's the class for me, as I want to focus a bit more on dps and less on tanking stuff. I know the chosen is also a tank, but I just don't like the marauder, and I feel the Magus (my highest level class) is just too broken in my opinion.
You say you would like to play as a Greenskin, when Open Beta starts up try the Shaman, I have decided to play it as one of my mains. I had a blast in RvR with it as well as Scenarios.
It's a fantastic class with plenty of damage, but also great heals to keep yourself or your team going. Plus the more damage you do the better your heals will be so you don't have to worry about being the heal bot. Also as you heal people you can jump in with better damage so it works great.
The first 5 ranks or so can start slow but once I got to 9-11 I was having an awesome time.
I got up to Rank 13 with my squig herder. In one scenario I actually did double the damage of the next closest person. It was AWESOME. I can't wait to get some organized RVR's/PQ's/Scenarios with you guys.
The amazing thing about the game is that all the classes are so fun to play. I can't decide between the bright wizard and the warrior priest on launch. I'm thinking maybe the priest since BW might get nerfed.
Are they going to be releasing patch notes for us at all so we can tell which of our favorite classes got nerfed?
I'm still having a really hard time picking a class to play. Does anyone have any thoughts on a high level Chosen? In terms of how well they group, and how well they perform in RVR? I really want to go Chaos or greenskin. I've played the Black orc a bunch, but I don't know if it's the class for me, as I want to focus a bit more on dps and less on tanking stuff. I know the chosen is also a tank, but I just don't like the marauder, and I feel the Magus (my highest level class) is just too broken in my opinion.
You say you would like to play as a Greenskin, when Open Beta starts up try the Shaman, I have decided to play it as one of my mains. I had a blast in RvR with it as well as Scenarios.
It's a fantastic class with plenty of damage, but also great heals to keep yourself or your team going. Plus the more damage you do the better your heals will be so you don't have to worry about being the heal bot. Also as you heal people you can jump in with better damage so it works great.
The first 5 ranks or so can start slow but once I got to 9-11 I was having an awesome time.
Yeah, I really only played my shaman for a level or two just to check them out, but didn't really get to play them too much. I guess once the servers get back up I'll get a shaman and a chosen up to around level 10 and see how they play. I did like my black orc, I thought his animations were good, the plans system was fun, and he looked cool, but whenever I play a tank class I'm always afraid the devs will changing them and pigeonholing them into a role that I don't want to play, which is why I generally prefer dps classes.
The amazing thing about the game is that all the classes are so fun to play. I can't decide between the bright wizard and the warrior priest on launch. I'm thinking maybe the priest since BW might get nerfed.
Are they going to be releasing patch notes for us at all so we can tell which of our favorite classes got nerfed?
Unknown if they will. I think they only release patch notes when they release the patch. They have given us a heads up on some of the buffs they're planning for the underpowered, but not much else.
I just read on the login news prompt that the servers are down in preparation for the open beta. I hope that doesn't mean that they won't be open until then. That's 2 weeks from now right?
I just read on the login news prompt that the servers are down in preparation for the open beta. I hope that doesn't mean that they won't be open until then. That's 2 weeks from now right?
Are they going to be releasing patch notes for us at all so we can tell which of our favorite classes got nerfed?
Only thing is if they do they'll probably be under NDA (there's still test servers running which are fully covered under NDA) so no word until they get pushed to the live servers.
I could figure out whether or not someone needed a heal, ok, no problem.
I could NOT figure out if that guy was within 50 ft or on the otherside of the goddamn map.
Was there some sort of option or setting I missed?
I'm not sure, but I had a similar issue with pretty much all party functions. Without looking at my minimap for the little square that indicates a party member, it was pretty much impossible to tell who was in my party and who wasn't. I didn't play a healer but just from normal play I felt that the party system required a bit of an overhaul in terms of visibility. However, joining open parties is awesome.
Was there some sort of option or setting I missed?
Nope. One of these days some devs will implement a true healing interface so healers can play the game not play fight-the-ui. (Grid does the best at this but for a standard UI, Vanguard got close too with its compass system and their awesome targeting which WAR attempts awkwardly to copy.)
I'm still having a really hard time picking a class to play. Does anyone have any thoughts on a high level Chosen? In terms of how well they group, and how well they perform in RVR? I really want to go Chaos or greenskin. I've played the Black orc a bunch, but I don't know if it's the class for me, as I want to focus a bit more on dps and less on tanking stuff. I know the chosen is also a tank, but I just don't like the marauder, and I feel the Magus (my highest level class) is just too broken in my opinion.
You say you would like to play as a Greenskin, when Open Beta starts up try the Shaman, I have decided to play it as one of my mains. I had a blast in RvR with it as well as Scenarios.
It's a fantastic class with plenty of damage, but also great heals to keep yourself or your team going. Plus the more damage you do the better your heals will be so you don't have to worry about being the heal bot. Also as you heal people you can jump in with better damage so it works great.
The first 5 ranks or so can start slow but once I got to 9-11 I was having an awesome time.
Yeah, I really only played my shaman for a level or two just to check them out, but didn't really get to play them too much. I guess once the servers get back up I'll get a shaman and a chosen up to around level 10 and see how they play. I did like my black orc, I thought his animations were good, the plans system was fun, and he looked cool, but whenever I play a tank class I'm always afraid the devs will changing them and pigeonholing them into a role that I don't want to play, which is why I generally prefer dps classes.
Yeah once you get around that level they start to get awesome. You have a ton of survivability. Even though your still a soft caster you can pop a morale abillity that heals 2/3 of your health. This gives you basically an extra life in a fight. You can also drain your enemies AP and use it for your own.
Shaman is basically the perfect blend of DPS, Healing, and Survivability. It was the most fun I have had ever doing PvP/RvR type things. You have nice heals that last over a period of time but also have strong ones that can heal you for about half your health.
I found that people woud underestimate me. An Ironbreaker would run up to be at around half or little more health thinking he could take me down, but the Shaman proves to be a lot harder then many other casters I have fought.
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GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
edited August 2008
I'm an elder tester, and I haven't heard anything about us testing over the next two weeks, if that answers your question. No the NDA isn't lifted, so I can't say more than that, but as far as I know, we are locked out for now as well.
I'm still having a really hard time picking a class to play. Does anyone have any thoughts on a high level Chosen? In terms of how well they group, and how well they perform in RVR? I really want to go Chaos or greenskin. I've played the Black orc a bunch, but I don't know if it's the class for me, as I want to focus a bit more on dps and less on tanking stuff. I know the chosen is also a tank, but I just don't like the marauder, and I feel the Magus (my highest level class) is just too broken in my opinion.
You say you would like to play as a Greenskin, when Open Beta starts up try the Shaman, I have decided to play it as one of my mains. I had a blast in RvR with it as well as Scenarios.
It's a fantastic class with plenty of damage, but also great heals to keep yourself or your team going. Plus the more damage you do the better your heals will be so you don't have to worry about being the heal bot. Also as you heal people you can jump in with better damage so it works great.
The first 5 ranks or so can start slow but once I got to 9-11 I was having an awesome time.
Yeah, I really only played my shaman for a level or two just to check them out, but didn't really get to play them too much. I guess once the servers get back up I'll get a shaman and a chosen up to around level 10 and see how they play. I did like my black orc, I thought his animations were good, the plans system was fun, and he looked cool, but whenever I play a tank class I'm always afraid the devs will changing them and pigeonholing them into a role that I don't want to play, which is why I generally prefer dps classes.
Yeah once you get around that level they start to get awesome. You have a ton of survivability. Even though your still a soft caster you can pop a morale abillity that heals 2/3 of your health. This gives you basically an extra life in a fight. You can also drain your enemies AP and use it for your own.
Shaman is basically the perfect blend of DPS, Healing, and Survivability. It was the most fun I have had ever doing PvP/RvR type things. You have nice heals that last over a period of time but also have strong ones that can heal you for about half your health.
I found that people woud underestimate me. An Ironbreaker would run up to be at around half or little more health thinking he could take me down, but the Shaman proves to be a lot harder then many other casters I have fought.
That actually sounds pretty good. Generally I either go for the melee DPSer or the ranged magic dpser if I have the choice. What's better than a ranged magic dpser who can heal in a pinch? haha.
My big issue with the magus was that none of his spells really seemed effective, and he really relies a lot on his daemon summons which are horribly broken.
GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
edited August 2008
That said, I am allowed to give game impressions finally.
The biggest issue I see is the horrible texture resolution. I would imagine this will be fixed with a high-res texture pack at release, but it has driven me nuts all beta.
The gameplay itself is coming together, and I can say, thank your lucky stars you guys are playing this incarnation of the game It's quite a bit more "meaty" than previous iterations, and things like the PQ's are fun and more or less complete. I am still not sold on scenarios, way too much like WoW BG's for me, which end up just becoming farming grounds for RR points. The city siege stuff is going to be where the real free form PvP is at.
I'm still having a really hard time picking a class to play. Does anyone have any thoughts on a high level Chosen? In terms of how well they group, and how well they perform in RVR? I really want to go Chaos or greenskin. I've played the Black orc a bunch, but I don't know if it's the class for me, as I want to focus a bit more on dps and less on tanking stuff. I know the chosen is also a tank, but I just don't like the marauder, and I feel the Magus (my highest level class) is just too broken in my opinion.
You say you would like to play as a Greenskin, when Open Beta starts up try the Shaman, I have decided to play it as one of my mains. I had a blast in RvR with it as well as Scenarios.
It's a fantastic class with plenty of damage, but also great heals to keep yourself or your team going. Plus the more damage you do the better your heals will be so you don't have to worry about being the heal bot. Also as you heal people you can jump in with better damage so it works great.
The first 5 ranks or so can start slow but once I got to 9-11 I was having an awesome time.
Yeah, I really only played my shaman for a level or two just to check them out, but didn't really get to play them too much. I guess once the servers get back up I'll get a shaman and a chosen up to around level 10 and see how they play. I did like my black orc, I thought his animations were good, the plans system was fun, and he looked cool, but whenever I play a tank class I'm always afraid the devs will changing them and pigeonholing them into a role that I don't want to play, which is why I generally prefer dps classes.
Yeah once you get around that level they start to get awesome. You have a ton of survivability. Even though your still a soft caster you can pop a morale abillity that heals 2/3 of your health. This gives you basically an extra life in a fight. You can also drain your enemies AP and use it for your own.
Shaman is basically the perfect blend of DPS, Healing, and Survivability. It was the most fun I have had ever doing PvP/RvR type things. You have nice heals that last over a period of time but also have strong ones that can heal you for about half your health.
I found that people woud underestimate me. An Ironbreaker would run up to be at around half or little more health thinking he could take me down, but the Shaman proves to be a lot harder then many other casters I have fought.
That actually sounds pretty good. Generally I either go for the melee DPSer or the ranged magic dpser if I have the choice. What's better than a ranged magic dpser who can heal in a pinch? haha.
My big issue with the magus was that none of his spells really seemed effective, and he really relies a lot on his daemon summons which are horribly broken.
Yeah, with the Shaman the more you contribute to everyone (Healing) the more effective damage you can do. Your cast times become instant, and your instant abilities become more deadly. I didn't get it but later you get AOE Healing spells that from what I hear are really good.
I played the Magus for a few levels and I can see what you mean, it's spells were a bit weak and I found my health falling pretty fast. I have soloed 3-4 PvE mobs with the Shaman, it was pretty hectic but I managed to do it at around 10 or 11.
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AngryThe glory I had witnessedwas just a sleight of handRegistered Userregular
I could figure out whether or not someone needed a heal, ok, no problem.
I could NOT figure out if that guy was within 50 ft or on the otherside of the goddamn map.
Was there some sort of option or setting I missed?
I'm not sure, but I had a similar issue with pretty much all party functions. Without looking at my minimap for the little square that indicates a party member, it was pretty much impossible to tell who was in my party and who wasn't. I didn't play a healer but just from normal play I felt that the party system required a bit of an overhaul in terms of visibility. However, joining open parties is awesome.
targetting people needs a lot of work. 90% of the time i clicked on a party portrait nothing happened. doing open rvr and trying to mass heal is such a goddamn pain in the ass.
They're less poncy and more "rawr I'll cut your head off and then I'll rape your carcass rawr and enslave your children".
I'm talking dark elves here. "Of all the races to inhabit the Warhammer world, none have a name as synonymous with cruelty and malice as the Dark Elves.". Their whole society is based on raiding, and they live in pretty much a frozen wasteland full of monsters. They're pretty much lanky pirates gone mad.
After a weekend of playtime, I've got some (long) impressions to share:
Scenarios
Scenarios rock, but they need to let you queue for ANY scenario from anywhere in the world. If I'm over in the stunty area, I should be able to queue for the Empire vs Chaos scenario or the High vs Dark Elf one. It seemed like in this preview weekend, everyone just went to the Empire vs Chosen area and queued for that one, leaving the other queue times at 5-10 mins or so compared to near instant queue times in EvC territory.
Maybe make these randomly select the scenarios, sending people to each of the three from anywhere in the world? Would add variety and let people experience all 3 while not leading to population imbalances / long queue times for certain areas.
Tiers
Also, I wanted to play the tier 1 scenarios more, but they don't let you after hitting the level cap for that tier (12 for tier 1). This also means I can never play those scenarios again after leveling out of that tier (unless I'm missing some gameplay mechanic).
Id like to see them cycle these lower level tiers into the higher level brackets alla WoW's battleground lvl brackets. This lets everyone keep playing them and adds more variety to scenarios as you level up.
PQs
PQs are amazing and I recommend doing the opening Empire section just to see their first PQ. I stumbled upon it randomly after the 3rd or 4th quest and it was just ending when a giant ogre comes through the forest, smashing down 10-20 meter high trees as he went, and stomps the hell out of an NPC to start the final battle. Probably the best scripted event I've ever seen in an MMO to date and it was just cool seeing the environment destroyed by the boss as he entered.
However, PQs have a major problem at present - too many people. It's hard to 'experience' a PQ when 20-30 people are there killing everythign in sight. You barely feel like you are doing anything in most of these starter areas and it will be compounded even more with launch level numbers.
Later on, after the game establishes itself, it will be impossible to do these PQs on your own without some scaling mechanism, as some of the champions (elites from WoW) will be too hard to solo at the appropriate level.
I love teh organic nature of these and the rewards are quite nice, if you can win (which is hard with so many people fighting), so it will be a nice alternative to people not looking to level up on scenarios or looking for better gear (yes, better than rvr gear if you can win the purples).
PvP Imbalances
I only played for a weekend, but the goddamn Warrior Priest is ridiculous at low levels. Soon as he gets his 10/6 gear or if he's equal or higher level with any rank 2 or 4 gear, he tears through everything on his own. I've, personally, seen a WP in 10/6 gear solo 5 Destruction players, 2 of which were healers, and most were evenly leveled / geared.
This could be beta / newbie level stuff starting out, but I've seen a WP with Archmage or other healer take on entire groups by themselves, to the poitn of being unkillable, so many tiems this weekend that I'm a bit confused at how it's not talked about more. Maybe it evens out later on when other classes gain more abilities and armour.
Surprisingly, everything else seemed quite fluid and I never felt like any other class overly dominated. Squig Hunters did seem to be gimped though. I've killed higher level ones (4 levels higher at times) with ease on several different characters. Only class I've noticed being surprisingly squishy and underpowered.
RvR
Bread and butter of the game, RvR was amazing. Take everything you hate about WoW's pvp and WAR has fixed it and made it better ten times over. I only managed to do one keep siege, but it was fun as hell and the various RvR areas, when not completely zerged like the Emprie vs Chaos section, were addictive to the point I would just drop my scenario queues to keep the back adn forth objective fighting in these world RvR sections.
However, these areas, with the chicken aspect, will be ghost towns in a month after release if something isn't done about it and earlier with the chicken feature for higher level characters.
Also, about the zerg aspect in EvC zone, it was never as bad as Alterac Valley stalemates, but it seemed like the objectives were pointless and everyone just fought on the beach near the Empire warcamp, which lead to nothign really being accomplished and no fighting for objectives or anythign like that.
Might have to do with the docks and the boat being too far away from the center of this RvR map and leaving only the two midpoint objectives as a stalemate. Hell, the ship objective is behind the Chaos warcamp for some reason and you need to change maps to see it, which is puzzling.
It was always fun playing these sections, even if just waiting between scenario queues, which makes any negatives I have to say about it moot.
Bugs & Other Issues
Stickiness / getting stuck is a huge problem. I never had to /stuck to get out of anything, but just walking down stairs or going up on balconies or just walking into any walls or rocks meant you get stuck and have to shimmy back and forth or jump to get out. It's a major annoyance, but never something that gets you killed. However, you shouldn't have to do this for one of the most basic things in the game.
Crash to desktops were minimal. In fact, I never had a single on until the last couple of hours of play, which might have to do with the Witch Elf I was playing or some combination of abilities or a scenario glitch to account for the sudden occurance of CTDs (I had 3 total in the last 3 or 4 hours, but none for the first 2 days).
Renown Points retraining seems bugged. If you respec, it gives you points back, but leaves the numbers for trained abilities in the training window and wont let you train until you log out or zone to another area.
Sending money through mail to another character is easy, but when you receive it, it tells you it's a COD and you will lose whatever amount of money by accepting. Just accept and it gives you the money though. Not sure what this was about, but I thought I messed up the email the first time I sent it to another character to buy my renown gear.
Lag (or lack thereof)
There was no lag for me, even at peak times with hordes of people zerging. Not even pop up or the random walking and then finding yourself dead as the zerg 'pops' in on top of you. My comp is a e7200 core 2 duo overclocked to 3GHz, 8800GT withs ome minor stock fan oc'ing and 2GB dual channel ram on 32-bit Vista. Not insane specs, but above the minimum.
Those wondering about Vista performance, it ran like butter for me and I dont see any issues with having the "minimum" for ram requirement. I couldnt believe how well it ran for a beta and for 'Ironforge / Ogrimmar' WoW numbers of people on screen.
Class Dynamics
I played several classes this weekend and I couldnt believe how unique each one played. Every class feels like a Rogue in terms of dynamics and ability useage and it boils down to no mana bars and the Action Point system.
Everyone gets AP,w hich all abilities typically cost. Some classes, like Chosen, simply use AP for every move. OThers, like Warrior Preists have a second meter, which fills up from some attacks and is then used to fund their healing spells.
Then tehre's the Shaman, which has everything using AP, but offensive abilities build up Waagh for healing spells and vice versa. Depending on how high the Waagh (up to 5) is, the more potent the opposite ability is. So, you get a nice dynamic of balancing offense and defense and are rewarded for doign so.
Similarly, the Witch Hunter and Witch Elf classes get 'combo points' and finishers similar to Rogues in WoW, making them a lot of fun to build and finish and they keep their points and can switch targets freely to use finishers.
Sorcerers get the crit/dmg/backfire system where they fill a meter and get higher crit and dmg rates, but chance for spells to backfire, adding a nice dynamic of risk vs reward for dmg. I've killed myself spamming AoE without unloading my spell buildup and I've hit great rhythms at other times where I found myself topping the dmg charts with double the next highest person (but about equal to healers heals done or combos of dmg and healing from hybrids, which is a great thing to see if you ask me).
All in all, it made every class I play feel unique and gave them that Rogue-like feeling of accomplishment where it felt like you were actually playing the class instead of just hitting 1,2,3, repeat for the couple of abilities in a monotonous bot-like playstyle of some WoW classes.
Abilities and Animations
Seems like the abilities aren't unique or visible, giving the impression, sometimes, that you arent doing anything other than mashing buttons. You also cant tell what the enemy is doing or casting, whether its healing or offense or if they just queued up an aoe or whatever.
Add in the 'lag' from button pushes (I find I have to click like a madman to get it to 'register' between global cooldowns and ability cooldowns and distance requirements) and it can make combat feel disjointed and jarring when compared to how smooth everythign esle is.
Sometimes, you get in a rhythm that makes this a moot point, but other times it just feels like nothing is working right.
However, the Shaman has a lot of great animations with the waving of his staff, etc based on my short time with the class.
Fun
Finally, whether it was RvR or PvE, I had a lot of fun with this beta and it's reaffirmed my need to own and play this game.
Combat is fast and furious, but never amounts to being one shot / insta gibbed like in WoW. You always feel like you contributed in pvp with the bolstered buff upping your level to compete (you wont dominate as a low level with bolster, but it helps a tonne and I expect WoW to copy it alongw ith the PQ system) and the scenarios are a lot of fun with varied and unique styles. Getting blown up in your first HE vs DE Khaine scenario is a given for newbies and is an awesome mechanic.
PvE is equally rewarding for those that want to do it and the amount of lore in the game will boggle the mind. You could sit and read the Tome of Knoweldge all day long if you wanted. You can also get some great rewards and items for doing PvE, including titles from killing mobs and blue and purple quality items, as well as crafting and money / vendor trash. You could level on PvE alone if you wished, but most will find themselves doing quests with scenario queues randomly breaking up the questing.
In fact, the only thing I was upset with from this weekend is the fact we couldnt keep going (damn 2 week wait for open beta!) and we didnt get to test city seiges or even see them in action.
I tried a couple classes over the weekend for about an hour each and nothing has hooked me I'm not sure I can justify a purchase now Something about it just didn't click. I tried a Witchhunter, Bright, White Lion, and Disciple (I was almost sold on the disciple but my friends are playing order). From what I noticed the Character Creation was sorely lacking. I struggled to make characters that looked even remotely ok to me besides the Bright most of the hair styles are awful to my taste at least on male character models.
I tried a couple classes over the weekend for about an hour each and nothing has hooked me I'm not sure I can justify a purchase now Something about it just didn't click. I tried a Witchhunter, Bright, White Lion, and Disciple (I was almost sold on the disciple but my friends are playing order). From what I noticed the Character Creation was sorely lacking. I struggled to make characters that looked even remotely ok to me besides the Bright most of the hair styles are awful to my taste at least on male character models.
I know I may seem crazy about the Shaman, but try it. Seriously. If you put the time into getting it up to 6-12 you will see why. Also it helps that the 10/6 is awesome, but that's a totally seperate topic.
EDIT: I see you say your friends are playing Order. You don't just have to play one Faction try both. Just because your friends want to play Order dosn't mean you should have to. Do what you enjoy, you can have an alt on Order they can have an alt on Destruction. Play how you want to.
I tried a couple classes over the weekend for about an hour each and nothing has hooked me I'm not sure I can justify a purchase now Something about it just didn't click. I tried a Witchhunter, Bright, White Lion, and Disciple (I was almost sold on the disciple but my friends are playing order).
You might want to give Warrior Priest a shot. You said you were almost sold on the DoK and Warrior Priest is the Order mirror for it.
I tried a couple classes over the weekend for about an hour each and nothing has hooked me I'm not sure I can justify a purchase now Something about it just didn't click. I tried a Witchhunter, Bright, White Lion, and Disciple (I was almost sold on the disciple but my friends are playing order). From what I noticed the Character Creation was sorely lacking. I struggled to make characters that looked even remotely ok to me besides the Bright most of the hair styles are awful to my taste at least on male character models.
I know I may seem crazy about the Shaman, but try it. Seriously. If you put the time into getting it up to 6-12 you will see why. Also it helps that the 10/6 is awesome, but that's a totally seperate topic.
EDIT: I see you say your friends are playing Order. You don't just have to play one Faction try both. Just because your friends want to play Order dosn't mean you should have to. Do what you enjoy, you can have an alt on Order they can have an alt on Destruction. Play how you want to.
I just wanna try and play an mmo with rl friends for my guild for once like in wow I know prob 30 people who play irl but only 2 rl friends are on my server now. I think I could get into the Disciple but I can't stand the male models and really don't know if its worth the time if I am mostly going to be soloing. I do like to lvl solo but when it comes down to it playing with friends is what you should be playing mmo's for.
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I don't mind paying a buck to check out a game I'm interested in for a week. I think it's kind of funny they're calling it an open beta though. It's really just going to be a free trial for most people, but I guess calling it the "beta" version will cover there ass on lingering bugs and crashes.
You say you would like to play as a Greenskin, when Open Beta starts up try the Shaman, I have decided to play it as one of my mains. I had a blast in RvR with it as well as Scenarios.
It's a fantastic class with plenty of damage, but also great heals to keep yourself or your team going. Plus the more damage you do the better your heals will be so you don't have to worry about being the heal bot. Also as you heal people you can jump in with better damage so it works great.
The first 5 ranks or so can start slow but once I got to 9-11 I was having an awesome time.
Who all gets a healing debuff outside of bright wizards?
It will be WAAAAUGH!!
360 : ThePmoney
Battle.net: Pmoney.thereal
Are they going to be releasing patch notes for us at all so we can tell which of our favorite classes got nerfed?
Bijaz - Ironbreaker
Marauder, Tainted Claw.
Squig Herder, Rotten Arrer.
Disciple of Khaine, Curse of Khaine (A tactic which causes a 100% healing debuff when they hit with a critical, Torture spec only).
Um... I think the Chosen has some anti-healing tools. Not sure about Order side.
I believe Squig Herders also get one.
This: http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1853
you are an unstable swirling ball of energy that occasionally explodes a bit
it feels really awesome.
Yeah, I really only played my shaman for a level or two just to check them out, but didn't really get to play them too much. I guess once the servers get back up I'll get a shaman and a chosen up to around level 10 and see how they play. I did like my black orc, I thought his animations were good, the plans system was fun, and he looked cool, but whenever I play a tank class I'm always afraid the devs will changing them and pigeonholing them into a role that I don't want to play, which is why I generally prefer dps classes.
Unknown if they will. I think they only release patch notes when they release the patch. They have given us a heads up on some of the buffs they're planning for the underpowered, but not much else.
Chosen's anti-magic tree gives them an aura which reduces effects of healing on all enemies within 30 ft by 25%.
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
Sounds like they are down until Sept. 7th.
In wow i use clique + grid.
I could figure out whether or not someone needed a heal, ok, no problem.
I could NOT figure out if that guy was within 50 ft or on the otherside of the goddamn map.
Was there some sort of option or setting I missed?
Only thing is if they do they'll probably be under NDA (there's still test servers running which are fully covered under NDA) so no word until they get pushed to the live servers.
I'm not sure, but I had a similar issue with pretty much all party functions. Without looking at my minimap for the little square that indicates a party member, it was pretty much impossible to tell who was in my party and who wasn't. I didn't play a healer but just from normal play I felt that the party system required a bit of an overhaul in terms of visibility. However, joining open parties is awesome.
Nope. One of these days some devs will implement a true healing interface so healers can play the game not play fight-the-ui. (Grid does the best at this but for a standard UI, Vanguard got close too with its compass system and their awesome targeting which WAR attempts awkwardly to copy.)
yeah that's the downside of the class
that and being very squishy
Yeah once you get around that level they start to get awesome. You have a ton of survivability. Even though your still a soft caster you can pop a morale abillity that heals 2/3 of your health. This gives you basically an extra life in a fight. You can also drain your enemies AP and use it for your own.
Shaman is basically the perfect blend of DPS, Healing, and Survivability. It was the most fun I have had ever doing PvP/RvR type things. You have nice heals that last over a period of time but also have strong ones that can heal you for about half your health.
I found that people woud underestimate me. An Ironbreaker would run up to be at around half or little more health thinking he could take me down, but the Shaman proves to be a lot harder then many other casters I have fought.
That actually sounds pretty good. Generally I either go for the melee DPSer or the ranged magic dpser if I have the choice. What's better than a ranged magic dpser who can heal in a pinch? haha.
My big issue with the magus was that none of his spells really seemed effective, and he really relies a lot on his daemon summons which are horribly broken.
The biggest issue I see is the horrible texture resolution. I would imagine this will be fixed with a high-res texture pack at release, but it has driven me nuts all beta.
The gameplay itself is coming together, and I can say, thank your lucky stars you guys are playing this incarnation of the game
I know I'm missing the joke, what does it mean?
whys that? i need to read more lore
Yeah, with the Shaman the more you contribute to everyone (Healing) the more effective damage you can do. Your cast times become instant, and your instant abilities become more deadly. I didn't get it but later you get AOE Healing spells that from what I hear are really good.
I played the Magus for a few levels and I can see what you mean, it's spells were a bit weak and I found my health falling pretty fast. I have soloed 3-4 PvE mobs with the Shaman, it was pretty hectic but I managed to do it at around 10 or 11.
targetting people needs a lot of work. 90% of the time i clicked on a party portrait nothing happened. doing open rvr and trying to mass heal is such a goddamn pain in the ass.
also not having alt-self cast is unexcusable.
They're less poncy and more "rawr I'll cut your head off and then I'll rape your carcass rawr and enslave your children".
I'm talking dark elves here. "Of all the races to inhabit the Warhammer world, none have a name as synonymous with cruelty and malice as the Dark Elves.". Their whole society is based on raiding, and they live in pretty much a frozen wasteland full of monsters. They're pretty much lanky pirates gone mad.
High elves though, are still pretty poncy
I also like Wood Elves in Warhammer
Scenarios
Scenarios rock, but they need to let you queue for ANY scenario from anywhere in the world. If I'm over in the stunty area, I should be able to queue for the Empire vs Chaos scenario or the High vs Dark Elf one. It seemed like in this preview weekend, everyone just went to the Empire vs Chosen area and queued for that one, leaving the other queue times at 5-10 mins or so compared to near instant queue times in EvC territory.
Maybe make these randomly select the scenarios, sending people to each of the three from anywhere in the world? Would add variety and let people experience all 3 while not leading to population imbalances / long queue times for certain areas.
Tiers
Also, I wanted to play the tier 1 scenarios more, but they don't let you after hitting the level cap for that tier (12 for tier 1). This also means I can never play those scenarios again after leveling out of that tier (unless I'm missing some gameplay mechanic).
Id like to see them cycle these lower level tiers into the higher level brackets alla WoW's battleground lvl brackets. This lets everyone keep playing them and adds more variety to scenarios as you level up.
PQs
PQs are amazing and I recommend doing the opening Empire section just to see their first PQ. I stumbled upon it randomly after the 3rd or 4th quest and it was just ending when a giant ogre comes through the forest, smashing down 10-20 meter high trees as he went, and stomps the hell out of an NPC to start the final battle. Probably the best scripted event I've ever seen in an MMO to date and it was just cool seeing the environment destroyed by the boss as he entered.
However, PQs have a major problem at present - too many people. It's hard to 'experience' a PQ when 20-30 people are there killing everythign in sight. You barely feel like you are doing anything in most of these starter areas and it will be compounded even more with launch level numbers.
Later on, after the game establishes itself, it will be impossible to do these PQs on your own without some scaling mechanism, as some of the champions (elites from WoW) will be too hard to solo at the appropriate level.
I love teh organic nature of these and the rewards are quite nice, if you can win (which is hard with so many people fighting), so it will be a nice alternative to people not looking to level up on scenarios or looking for better gear (yes, better than rvr gear if you can win the purples).
PvP Imbalances
I only played for a weekend, but the goddamn Warrior Priest is ridiculous at low levels. Soon as he gets his 10/6 gear or if he's equal or higher level with any rank 2 or 4 gear, he tears through everything on his own. I've, personally, seen a WP in 10/6 gear solo 5 Destruction players, 2 of which were healers, and most were evenly leveled / geared.
This could be beta / newbie level stuff starting out, but I've seen a WP with Archmage or other healer take on entire groups by themselves, to the poitn of being unkillable, so many tiems this weekend that I'm a bit confused at how it's not talked about more. Maybe it evens out later on when other classes gain more abilities and armour.
Surprisingly, everything else seemed quite fluid and I never felt like any other class overly dominated. Squig Hunters did seem to be gimped though. I've killed higher level ones (4 levels higher at times) with ease on several different characters. Only class I've noticed being surprisingly squishy and underpowered.
RvR
Bread and butter of the game, RvR was amazing. Take everything you hate about WoW's pvp and WAR has fixed it and made it better ten times over. I only managed to do one keep siege, but it was fun as hell and the various RvR areas, when not completely zerged like the Emprie vs Chaos section, were addictive to the point I would just drop my scenario queues to keep the back adn forth objective fighting in these world RvR sections.
However, these areas, with the chicken aspect, will be ghost towns in a month after release if something isn't done about it and earlier with the chicken feature for higher level characters.
Also, about the zerg aspect in EvC zone, it was never as bad as Alterac Valley stalemates, but it seemed like the objectives were pointless and everyone just fought on the beach near the Empire warcamp, which lead to nothign really being accomplished and no fighting for objectives or anythign like that.
Might have to do with the docks and the boat being too far away from the center of this RvR map and leaving only the two midpoint objectives as a stalemate. Hell, the ship objective is behind the Chaos warcamp for some reason and you need to change maps to see it, which is puzzling.
It was always fun playing these sections, even if just waiting between scenario queues, which makes any negatives I have to say about it moot.
Bugs & Other Issues
Lag (or lack thereof)
There was no lag for me, even at peak times with hordes of people zerging. Not even pop up or the random walking and then finding yourself dead as the zerg 'pops' in on top of you. My comp is a e7200 core 2 duo overclocked to 3GHz, 8800GT withs ome minor stock fan oc'ing and 2GB dual channel ram on 32-bit Vista. Not insane specs, but above the minimum.
Those wondering about Vista performance, it ran like butter for me and I dont see any issues with having the "minimum" for ram requirement. I couldnt believe how well it ran for a beta and for 'Ironforge / Ogrimmar' WoW numbers of people on screen.
Class Dynamics
I played several classes this weekend and I couldnt believe how unique each one played. Every class feels like a Rogue in terms of dynamics and ability useage and it boils down to no mana bars and the Action Point system.
Everyone gets AP,w hich all abilities typically cost. Some classes, like Chosen, simply use AP for every move. OThers, like Warrior Preists have a second meter, which fills up from some attacks and is then used to fund their healing spells.
Then tehre's the Shaman, which has everything using AP, but offensive abilities build up Waagh for healing spells and vice versa. Depending on how high the Waagh (up to 5) is, the more potent the opposite ability is. So, you get a nice dynamic of balancing offense and defense and are rewarded for doign so.
Similarly, the Witch Hunter and Witch Elf classes get 'combo points' and finishers similar to Rogues in WoW, making them a lot of fun to build and finish and they keep their points and can switch targets freely to use finishers.
Sorcerers get the crit/dmg/backfire system where they fill a meter and get higher crit and dmg rates, but chance for spells to backfire, adding a nice dynamic of risk vs reward for dmg. I've killed myself spamming AoE without unloading my spell buildup and I've hit great rhythms at other times where I found myself topping the dmg charts with double the next highest person (but about equal to healers heals done or combos of dmg and healing from hybrids, which is a great thing to see if you ask me).
All in all, it made every class I play feel unique and gave them that Rogue-like feeling of accomplishment where it felt like you were actually playing the class instead of just hitting 1,2,3, repeat for the couple of abilities in a monotonous bot-like playstyle of some WoW classes.
Abilities and Animations
Seems like the abilities aren't unique or visible, giving the impression, sometimes, that you arent doing anything other than mashing buttons. You also cant tell what the enemy is doing or casting, whether its healing or offense or if they just queued up an aoe or whatever.
Add in the 'lag' from button pushes (I find I have to click like a madman to get it to 'register' between global cooldowns and ability cooldowns and distance requirements) and it can make combat feel disjointed and jarring when compared to how smooth everythign esle is.
Sometimes, you get in a rhythm that makes this a moot point, but other times it just feels like nothing is working right.
However, the Shaman has a lot of great animations with the waving of his staff, etc based on my short time with the class.
Fun
Finally, whether it was RvR or PvE, I had a lot of fun with this beta and it's reaffirmed my need to own and play this game.
Combat is fast and furious, but never amounts to being one shot / insta gibbed like in WoW. You always feel like you contributed in pvp with the bolstered buff upping your level to compete (you wont dominate as a low level with bolster, but it helps a tonne and I expect WoW to copy it alongw ith the PQ system) and the scenarios are a lot of fun with varied and unique styles. Getting blown up in your first HE vs DE Khaine scenario is a given for newbies and is an awesome mechanic.
PvE is equally rewarding for those that want to do it and the amount of lore in the game will boggle the mind. You could sit and read the Tome of Knoweldge all day long if you wanted. You can also get some great rewards and items for doing PvE, including titles from killing mobs and blue and purple quality items, as well as crafting and money / vendor trash. You could level on PvE alone if you wished, but most will find themselves doing quests with scenario queues randomly breaking up the questing.
In fact, the only thing I was upset with from this weekend is the fact we couldnt keep going (damn 2 week wait for open beta!) and we didnt get to test city seiges or even see them in action.
Just buy the game. It's gonna be awesome.
I know I may seem crazy about the Shaman, but try it. Seriously. If you put the time into getting it up to 6-12 you will see why. Also it helps that the 10/6 is awesome, but that's a totally seperate topic.
EDIT: I see you say your friends are playing Order. You don't just have to play one Faction try both. Just because your friends want to play Order dosn't mean you should have to. Do what you enjoy, you can have an alt on Order they can have an alt on Destruction. Play how you want to.
You might want to give Warrior Priest a shot. You said you were almost sold on the DoK and Warrior Priest is the Order mirror for it.
I just wanna try and play an mmo with rl friends for my guild for once like in wow I know prob 30 people who play irl but only 2 rl friends are on my server now. I think I could get into the Disciple but I can't stand the male models and really don't know if its worth the time if I am mostly going to be soloing. I do like to lvl solo but when it comes down to it playing with friends is what you should be playing mmo's for.
The guy is saying that the 10/6 gear is a "left over" testing tool, and has no business still being there and will be removed for Release.
http://vnboards.ign.com/warhammer_online_age_of_reckoning_general_board/b22997/108338185/p1/?45