What’s going to happen to our love?

So it is about that time again to post another video. This is one about the love between a herder and his squig. I imagine it’s a little more pure than that between an elf and his lion. I can picture the lion and elf sitting in front of a fire on a forest retreat talking about football to try and reinforce their masculinity. I am only saying that after the fun I had recording the footage and running into some white lions.

By the way don’t try and ask me ‘what is the point of this video’, as the only response you will get from me is a blank expression. If you don’t like ‘The Ocean’ I have a Billy free version here.

Juice Night

So I moved guilds. The move was a dilemma for me as I left some nice people, but as I only have limited time I needed a guild who did more oRvR in those limited play sessions. I know this means my quest for better weapons will take longer, but I prefer the hustle and bustle of a war band.

Anyway my first night with the new guild happened to be on Friday night which they call Juice night. It seems a time when the guild just kick back and do something wacky and fun. My first night was no exception. So I create a squig herder called Mattdamon (they all had to have hollywood names) and joined a war band of squigs. It was a good night and I had lots of fun and even frap's some of it.

Memory Lane - Wood Elves

A post by Blurring Shock about speculation of how they would like Wood Elves in War brought back a flood of memories. Warm Sunday’s playing Warhammer fantasy battle on a massive table in my friend’s back yard. We weren’t in the same class of an all boys secondary school, but I guess geeks somehow gravitate to each other.

I had a box set of Skarloc’s Wood Elf archers, who each week would exasperate my friends dwarfs till all was left was the elves against my third friends undead army of skeletons. His army was not made up of one of the Regiments of Renown but a box of plastic skeletons which only cost something like £4.

Jason’s (the boy whose yard we played in) mum and dad owned a seamstress shop and didn’t mind us hanging out while we painted the miniatures. His dad was a big Queen fan and constantly played the Highlander soundtrack. Classic (at least in my eye’s) Queen tracks like Don’t Loose your head and Gimme the Prize still to this day are synonymous with Warhammer for me.

So I have dug out my miniatures and posted some pictures. The painting is not very good, but it was my first set.

Red Plague

If you look over at PODCAST he has come up with some excellent speculation based on the latest patch notes with regards to the Red Plague here is the snippet below:

The rumors started first. Sickness. Deaths. Before long the rumors weren't just whispers but screams echoing into darkness - The red plague had come.

In response to the virulent outbreak, merchants have abandoned their routes, preferring instead to remain in the perceived safety of larger cities. The Crafting and Training Guilds have issued a decree recalling all guild members to their respective capitals rather than risk the loss of their master crafters and trainers. For the first time since the war began, experienced Order and Destruction forces must now head to Altdorf and the Inevitable City in order to consult with career trainers, craft masters, and merchant kings - for until a cure is found no sane man will travel the battlefields of the land alone.

Yitu (the link is wrapped in the google translator)an excellent german blog has been following these rumours for some time.

I would love to see the Skaven make an appearance as a playable race in War. After reading Skavenslayer (A Gotrek & Felix novel) which I would fully recommend. I came to like the race which almost seem have to even more character than those lovable green skins. Not to spoil the book but the Skaven use plague to weaken their foes before they surface. Wouldn't it be cool for Mythic to use the same tactics.

Need on Use

I did have a long post on patch 1.3.5, but it got binned as most has already been said. I am looking forward to the changes. It looks like queuing will be the same as scenarios, so you can get in as groups which is not totally in the realm of pug status but still gives to an inkling of control. It may be a happy medium between PUG vs War band premade. But then again it still means I may have to leave that war band which I just spent to last few hours locking zones with.

Blaze from wargorfang.blogspot.com made an interesting post on Entitlement. Basically he thinks casual gamers should not be able to get end game gear. To an extent and as a casual player (around 6 hours a week) I sort of agree with him. Renown rank 80 should not necessarily be a given, and access to Sov gear should only be accessible by the right renown ranked people.

In our guild we have roll rules. Depending on your rank you may only roll need on crests when you are around the right renown rank. This allows the people who actually need the crests get them a little quicker.

With the new city changes it looks like I might be able to see the end game with my main who is only renown rank 48. I would like to see end game content, but I would not want to deprive others who actually need the crests and gear. Maybe the usable mechanic could be extended to renown range instead of just class.

Maybe the real problem is the amount of content available once you reach level 40. If you look at the amount of content in tiers 1 to 3, it seems disproportionate with how long you spend in tier 4. I am not saying we need more tiers, but the 2 other cities could be handy. Today I’d settle for more varied keep mechanics in tier 4 to make each keep take different. Could those mechanics in city sieges be used in keeps?

Positivity YES... Have U had your plus sign 2 day?

If you have read my blog for any length of time you may have noticed my posts don’t always follow the current stream of news and also tend to be positive (points to those who get the song reference). We all know what has gone on over the past week, so I don’t think I need to visit the subject as the internet is already filled with maggot ridden finger pointing. I do wonder though how many of those neutral MMO blogs who posted about the billing issue and if they also posted topics on what War has done right of the past few months. But I guess that’s just the nature of the stone throwing MMO community.

Anyway I am straying away from what I wanted to cover. As of late, it has been good to be a War player for the following reasons:

Endless trail

This has been a good move by Mythic to let you play the game in tier 1 for as long as you want. If you want more positivity head over to the following threads on the US and European forums and check out the people converting to subscriptions.

War went free!

Yes, you no longer have to buy the retail box to play the game, just convert your existing trial account to a full account and start paying the subscription.

New War bloggers

The amount of new arrivals to the War blogging community is excellent. I don’t think I have seen this many new faces since the WCPI started back in February of 2009. Have I missed any? Please comment if you have more.

http://supereffectiveteam.blogspot.com/

http://infamousballz.wordpress.com/

http://blurringshock.blogspot.com/

http://kruelhand.blogspot.com/

http://kitelikehell.blogspot.com/

http://erbsegoesmmo.wordpress.com/

http://doktordre.blogspot.com/

http://rudepox.posterous.com/

http://talknerdytomeilllisten.blogspot.com/

http://keagen.wordpress.com/

Bloggers visit to Mythic

The guys at Mythic yet again reached out to their community and invited them to ask questions about up and coming content. I really appreciate it, when they make the effort to interact with the community. We have seen it on a number of occasions from the 12 days of Mythic to the Land of the Dead blogger initiative, were they posted bones to players.

Additions to the game

Since around patch 1.3.2, we have seen a lot of positive steps in War’s game play and features.

Improvements in responsiveness, and reduction of lag in large scale 100+ encounters.

Apprenticeship system to allow you to play with your friends.

Graphical enhancements

War report which takes you to the action quicker.

New user experience

Balance fixers for crowd control and fixers to the AP(Action Point) system to make War more tactical.

Coming Soon

Also we have lots of great stuff on the horizon, the city siege improvements for 1.3.5 look very exciting indeed. I thought they were just going to tweak and change the odd thing. But they look to be far reaching.

If you have not already seen it, Mythic are also looking to bring back fortresses and will be looking for feedback from the players.

Imagine a world with RvR driven city sieges and new fortress mechanics together with the improvements we have seen of the past few months.

Returning to War: The video podcasts

Now I don’t know if your family is like ours. In the midst of the cucumber butties, scones and barrels of real ale in our back room we have an effigy of Paul Barnett placed on a purple velvet rug surrounded with candles and a cassette tape continuously playing the sound recording of Paul’s speech on the complete hobby experience. But if you are new to War and have only recently tried it through the medium of the endless trial you may be unaware of the video podcasts made by him. So below I have linked a selection of my favourite.

Here are some links to Paul's best bits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-15TzSoU1Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9CrovsAvcg

White LioooOOOoooN dum de dum

Over the past weekend I have been trying to put together a War video based around the squig herder and their love for the squig. A not so epic tale of origin and conflict, therefore I have been spending a lot of time in tier 3 scenarios with my HUD hidden.

I have enjoyed the herder as he plays differently my other classes. I don’t really play him for the big damage numbers but to make a nuisance of myself by snares and hitting people when their health is low.

A new enemy has arisen though, one I have pretty much ignored with my choppa or chosen. The new enemy has been the white lion (every time I say ‘white lion’ the Ultravox record White China plays in my head and I replace the chorus with white lion).

One white lion in particular was the bane of my existence throughout the scenarios I played. I think I became almost a speed bump made out of plasticine as they used what I think is Pounce and immediately spring bordered next to me and carved me up like an iceberg lettuce. It was fun and even now I am frantically searching for white lion killing tactics.