Since Mark Jacobs left EA Mythic, and the merger of BioWare and Mythic to form a new RPG team…can there be savior in Warhammer Online?
Since these major changes; WAR has been released to the Mac platform and now might they actually fix the game instead of bandaging it and breaking it more? Well this might be the case.
In a recent picture, you clearly can see Bruce from EA Mythic holding up the bug fix list for the next WAR patch. Can this be a major step from Mythic to actually listen to the community and fix their major problems? See for yourself in the picture above.
You can view a higher-res picture here from the original source.
The Adventure Begins
July 30, 2009
So I’ve gotten off my too sat upon ass to brave the elements, mostly the sun, and drove to the nearest game store to buy another MMORPG. It doesn’t matter which one I choose because they will all start of the same. Upon getting back home I can open the shiny box with its grand promises of PvP and raids and a vast fantasy world to find a sad lonely DvD case and a small fat book. Upon inserting the CD into my computer it will ask me multiple times if I wish to install the game, eventually it will giving in to me clicking Yes multiple times in a row and finally start an installer window with a progress bar. While installing it will flash me screenshot of epic fights and faraway lands and a whole load of other bullshit that no player will ever seen done so artistically. At first one might think that installing the game is enough, but HA they fooled you didn’t they because you gotta patch that sucker up before they let you play. At this point its best to hope they made their patcher window pretty because its all you’ll see of the game for several days, and just like a strip teaser it lets you think its ready to finally pull off the patcher and show you the game, but that never happens because it downloads each update as a separate file rather than in one big chunk.
Now when the patcher has finished doing its job tormenting your mind and making you want to strangle the life out of it, the game can be launched. Whenever I launch an MMO for the first time I prepare to see the logos of everyone who ever so much as sneexed in the direction of the game during developement, each logo has to be animated and shiny too just like a 60s diner. After the logos comes a prerendered cutscene that has two jobs: first it must show the game’s graphics to be amazing, second it must show the game’s combat to be viserval and awesome. And while this cutscene is busy humping my head and ejaculating into my eyesockets I can only sit there on the verge of tears knowing that this is the most story I’ll ever get out of the game. After the cutscene is over the gerbil powering the story wheel dies off and starts to spin the wheel on inertia alone until its fury little body becomes too light and it just flops down and stops moving.
Warhammer Online 1.3.0b Producer Letter
July 17, 2009
Warhammer Online fans have been on a rough path since Mark Jacobs had left. Today news about what is coming ahead has arrived. Players got some goods news to be happy about in Jess Skalski’s first-ever producer’s letter for the game.
So with that said, let’s chat about the soon, *cough*this month*cough*, to be released 1.3.0b patch. It’s a letter patch, but don’t let that make you a sad panda. We’ve got quite a few good improvements from our Player Systems team to start addressing your concerns related to crowd control and area-of-effect abilities. Besides that, the long overdue look at the Archmage and Shaman has been completed and, last but not least, the guys managed to squeeze in the stacking enhancements for Runes and Marks.
A large portion of the letter devotes time to the upcoming — as in this month, supposedly — 1.3.0b patch. While it may only be a letter patch and not 1.4, there are a decent amount of changes along with a few big ones. For instance, with 1.3.0b the root, kockback and pull immunities are being rolled into one big “Movement Immunity” effect. This change is aimed at creating more tactical choices in combat and should stop players from being pulled, rooted and hammered on in post-patch battles.
Another large alteration comes in the form of a new renown purchase ability. Specifically, rank 40 players will be able to purchase a “CC Immunity” ability aimed at stopping complaints of people getting cc’d immediately in the beginning of a fight. There are a whole lot more changes than those two, so check out the whole letter for all the beefy details.
Read the rest of the Producer Letter here.
Warhammer Online: Grab Bag #20
July 11, 2009
This latest entry to the grab bag series (#20) touches on some important issues, namely population issues and server merges, timelines for the proposed AoE changed that were pulled out of Update 1.3, as well as the other balance changes, and more.
Q. What is the new timeline to implement the Combat and Career changes that were pulled from Game Update 1.3?
A. You’ll be seeing some AoE changes (including radius adjustments & standardization, and damage balance) coming very soon, along with our first tweaks to several Crowd Control systems. For all of the other changes, we’ll be examining them on a one-by-one basis, and if we determine that they’re still good and necessary, then they’ll roll out in stages in future patches.
The full grab bag is available here.
