Now that you understand my perspective for Warhammer Online, by reading part one, I can delve into more complex issues involving this title. Though, let me preface this article with a few statements. I understand that people can get very touchy when games, or more accurately, MMORPG's get compared with World of Warcraft. Don't believe me ask the guys at Rock, Paper, Shotgun. While, I can sympathize with some of the more even tempered reactionaries, that is where my support ends. The Fact is there are obvious similarities in the interface and basic structure of these games that can not be ignored. I'm not implying that Relic was being lazy by not creating a drastically different structure. This decision was intentional and grants many advantages, chief among them a preexistent knowledge of the basic interface. By giving the player this familiar base, it allows Relic to make, more important, design choices without forcing the player to relearn strange and new basic mechanics. While I will be referencing WOW in this article, the purpose of such will be to show differences in design and how these choices affect the end product.
If WOW is, in most core design, a game of player versus environment; WAR is a game of player versus player. This core difference of design principles shows itself in almost every aspect of these games. In WAR the enemy is the opposing faction, not some dragon enjoying a nap while waiting for some group of adventurers to try and steal her phat lootz. Yes, both titles have PVP but unlike WOW, it is the main focus of the experience in WAR. This difference of focus spiderwebs to permeate the entirety of the experiences enjoyed. This is most apparent in career abilities and gear optimization. By choosing a PVP focus, WAR must make a sacrifice on the PVE front.
WAR does not have PVE instances instead it ops to have “public quests.” These act as scripted events that require players to work together, much like in an instance environment, without the necessity to recruit a viable and competent group. If you want to participate in such a quest all you have to do is go to the part of the zone where it is located and start helping out. The game calculates how much you have done throughout the three phases of the event and upon completion tallies these points which get added onto a roll that decides who gets loot. Also, this loot is handled in a much less frustrating manner. When you win such a loot roll, you are awarded a bag which contains a choice of about four to five pieces of loot which are all viable for your career. This circumvents the Mage running around with a purple bow yelling “Look guys, I'm a Hunter...Pew Pew.” And even if you don't find an upgrade through this means, you gain influence by just participating, which can be used in town for three more loot choices.
What I'm trying to provide by bringing up Public Quests is to reinforce this difference of ideals. In WOW, for most people, the war between the Alliance and Horde isn't much of a war at all. Most of the time this “war” is an annoyance when questing or a way to blow off steam between “more important” raids. For WAR this conflict is what is important, it is the end game. I don't mean to sound redundant, but all of the design choices focus on this fact, case and point: sometimes when you slay a member of the opposing faction you can get gear loot drops. I'm just waiting for someone to ask where I got my new helmet, “I shot some dude in the face for it.”
So, should you play this game? Have you ever tried to infiltrate and murder people in Ironforge? Have you tried to burn South shore to the ground? Have you ever felt disdain if your guild asks you to switch to a raiding build? Have you ever yelled at a friend when a noob went un-pwned? You get the idea. But, I think Conan the barbarian said it best when asked, “what is the best in life.”
PS: I realize that this post could have gone on a lot further but I really didn't want to have a giant four page, or more spread. So, If you have any questions feel free to E-mail me or comment. If I have some demand for more on this I will add another post on those subjects.
Oh, and stay tuned for the final installment.
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2 comments:
Ok I understand war is built around being pvp focused and not pve based as wow is. This has been stated on warhammer online podcasts and new snipits since they announced it. Now do you think war has accomplished its goals as a pvp mmo?
As a former wow player and heavy pvper I think its pretty clear that the major goal of a pvp based game is to find a system of balance to keep from the ol' rock paper siccor trappings, which wow fell into.
Don't get me wrong, wow pvp is fun but as they [blizzard] admited pvp was a secondary thought that took off after launch with a lot more enthusiasum then expected. They know and have admited it is not balanced, which happens when your game is based around of pve, but again, I digress.
I'm asking about something very broad so let me narrow it. Do you feel that you are finding "set lists" on how one class deals with another that cause the rock paper scissor problem?
Example:
Lets say a warrior, NoOne specific just another undead warrior mining a vein by the Mill, is spotted by a human mage. Now this mage sees the warrior (who has undoughtedly waved a friendly greeting by this point) decides "well heck, I'm a prick" Now this racist prick who can't tell the difference between scourge or forsaken, pops said warrior with a DD spell. The warrior slowly makes his way closer taking blast after blast, mage blinks and keeps firering, worrior continues to plod away till hes once again in attack range, mage frost novas and moves back fireing away some more, the warrior cursing the mages childrens children in a fit of rage...dies. Mage /dances.
This is the type of one-on-one "move lists" that pop up constantly and toss the pvp balance out the window. Not saying a worrior can never take a mage but it is an example of how some classes have an uphill battle to fight against others.
Do you think WAR has shown less of this and is more balanced while keeping the clases/characters personality of game play distinct and unique?
No, I don't really think there are "set lists" per say. Given that, as I have eluded in the article, the entire system is based around PVP balance you will not find such uphill battles.
Though, there are strategies that are more effective for some careers to use against others.
Example:
My Witch Hunter has abilities that ignore armor. So these moves would be preferable to use against an enemy that has a lot of armor, ie a Chosen.
An unfortunate side effect of this PVP balance is that, when compared to WOW PVP, can be seen, at face value, a little more watered down. I think this is mostly due to the fact that there are much less unique status effects.
At the end of the day I would rather have a balanced PVP mechanic then one so horribly flawed.
So, to answer your question straight out: No I do not see any signs of a rock, paper, scissor gameplay in WAR.
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