WAR Team Dialogue 1.1

With Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning's first major mental object update set to go live now, December 11th, four members of the WAR team – Associate Producers Banter Drescher and Spyke Black lovage, Designer Brian Wheeler, and Armed combat & Careers Strike Team Lead Robert Adam Gershowitz – found some time in their busy schedules to speak with WarCry Editor John Funk about Patch 1.1 and the goodies wrong information technology – new live events, an overhauled RvR system, and course the addition of two antecedently cut careers.

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The most anticipated feature of WAR Patch 1.1 is, course, the addition of two early careers – the Dark Elf Black Guard duty, and the Empire Knight of the Alight Sun. These tank classes were two of the four careers that were chopped from the roster several months in front the game's Sep launch. As Gershowitz explains it, "When it comes down to information technology, it was all about quality for us. When we were looking to launching the lame, we were looking to set up a skilled product. We stopped operative on these careers primarily because they only weren't the quality we wanted for launch – they weren't bad concepts, they weren't bad ideas, the mechanics were fine, merely they weren't the quality we were looking for."

As the team thought about where they wanted to take the game later on launch and where they wanted to go on, these two classes "turned into win," chuckles Gershowitz. "Players longed-for more melee classes, and these are two very evocative, painting careers for the Warhammer universe." Furthermore, the fact that they'd been in a semi-complete state when cut meant that they could be more easy "picked up and dusted off – we didn't ingest to start from scratch. We had feedback from Beta, we had the construct artistic creation and design, we had everything we needed to get to the gameplay for the Dub and Black Safety very even-textured."

Drescher echoed the statements, stressing that the Warhammer that launched in September was a "complete product, non deficient in whatever agency." He compared it to a flic, where for whatever reason, shots and scenes that plumbed good on paper didn't go out for whatever reason and obtain left on the cutting room floor, just the film that releases is quieten a finished product anyway. "This is equal a Director's Cut," he aforesaid, noting that Adam and their team up had worked on the Black Guard and Knight for months to get them to a point where Mythic was satisfied with the quality. "They weren't 'must have' boxes on a checklist or anything." When asked if the other two classes – Hammerer and Choppa – would ever glucinium released, Drescher further affirmed that approach, expression that "if the time ever comes when those deuce careers are on the same level as the others, absolutely – but information technology isn't a 'must have.'"

Noting that WAR is mainly a Player-vs.-Player game, Adam Gershowitz said that they hadn't seen the introduction of these two new classes affecting the symmetricalness at all. "Players desirable information technology – Purchase order wanted a grade like the Chosen, and Devastation wanted a classify comparable the Ironbreaker. Now, we have these equivalent careers; we have space-reflection symmetry betwixt the two sides." While just about characters of the new classes were still low level, the handful that were above level 30 didn't seem to exist skewing the balance at all.

Other change advent in WAR 1.1 is the tweaking of several mid-range Unexclusive Quests, allowing one quest per chapter to be finished either solo surgery with a small mathematical group. Drescher explained the rationale, noting that PQs were one of the most-talked-most features that WAR offered, and that they didn't want new players to be stuck. "As the game matures, equally the universe finds its way into the higher tiers, we wanted to make a point that you as a newly player who may undergo heard nearly PQs, will comprise able-bodied to suffice them and non get stuck because you privy't find a party … they shouldn't be impossible tasks; we don't want it to be like offensive where only when 25% of the population can ever do it. "

However, there weren't any plans to add farther motivator to the quests. "We're not looking at to provide inducement because they give birth motivator by design," he continuing, and Gershowitz united. "Easy PQs are focused on openhanded the PQ experience to little groups … the rewards are appropriate for that; we don't neediness to take away for the average-difficulty Oregon harder PQs."

Erstwhile, the Work system in WAR was special to PQs – participating in the quests was the entirely way to earn Influence for the current Chapter, but 1.1 leave add further Influence options from engaging in open-world RvR. Brian Wheeler elaborated, saying that the change was made "so that RvR guys could keep tread with PvE guys in terms of itemization. A lot of players who purely PvE'd and quested were getting items much quicker than the guys who were out there doing RvR, doing keeps and objectives." The aim was to give better rewards from open RvR instead of Scenarios, he said. "Scenarios are their own pay back. We wanted to defecate sure oRvR had the same return in terms of time investment. If you do oRvR you hindquarters itemize your character a lot better than you could pre-1.1 through grinding and killing."

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RvR Influence differs from PQ influence in this it's spread all across a Tier instead of divided into chapters. Only the problem with that, said Gershowitz, was that information technology bucked up players of all levels to come in join the scratch, so the designers had to figure verboten what level to make the rewards – too high and low-level players wear't get rewards. Too squat, and they aren't worth it for high-level players. The solution they found was to offer two rewards per stage, one for lower-rank and file players, and a improve item for the Thomas More experient adventurers.

Unruffled, for totally the aid freelance to open RvR in the patch, we asked the team what they were going to do to curb the unfortunate phenomenon of "keep swapping," where largish guilds on opposite factions would agree to engage each others' keeps and switch off and on for large amounts of renown and other rewards. Wheeler said that they'd been looking through the data and had realized that the renown reward for actually defending a keep was far fewer than it should own been, significance that thither was teensy-weensy incentive to defend something once you'd taken it. In 1.1, he same, "defenders are going to get very much more renown and influence in RvR by defending a keep. I cerebrate we'll see a more doggish mind-set where you go out, take apart a prevent, and presume others to attempt it."

There were other things in the whole kit and boodle that would work towards eliminating keep swapping, he said, though they couldn't discuss IT yet. The big change, though, would be that there would hopefully make up much more incentive to strike a keep and work to hold it.

In the main, the team was happy with how players had grown with RvR – especially Scenarios, which Wheeler said players "took to like a fish in body of water. It's an still, bonded fight as soon as you snap that window. We're stressful to make open world RvR just as attractive in terms of readily available action, we want there to be dealings. Hopefully the protective renown fix and the Influence fix bequeath just be the opening on our laundry list of solutions." Naturally, though, they couldn't say more active what was to issue forth.

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"1.1 is the start of a very pole-handled leaning of improvements that we're planning on making to the game, both focusing around the RvR experience and incentivizing players," explained Gershowitz. "In future patches you'll see more improvements to oRvR, the campaign system, we'll be tying ligature Scenarios and oRvR into one nice package so players aren't forced to choose between a Ferarri or a Ford but two Ferarris, red or low."

RvR is the soul of Warhammer, but Gershowitz insisted that they weren't "leaving PvE players past the wayside," pointing to the hot events like Lumbering Metal and Wizardly Night – A well as officially announcing the title of the following (presumably holiday-themed) live case, Keg's End, which bequeath be expanded upon on Friday. The developers scan through PvE feedback and took another pass through four or pentad dungeons: "we added whatever loot, retuned some encounters. 1.1 opens more content and quests, more lairs for players to find. You're gonna find more stuff."

Kid Drescher was in particular eager to talk about his personal favorite addition in 1.1, what atomic number 2 described as a "weeny nugget of joy" – Chicken Run. It's a quest offered in the Greenskin and High Pixy Tier 3 areas (for Destruction and Order, respectively) that sends high-level characters down to the first tier yawning RvR areas … where they get immediately turned into a chicken, and are tasked with completing special chicken objectives. "Which is mainly," helium elaborated, "like trying to get through as fast every bit possible without getting killed."

"Players were doing this kind of thing anyway," atomic number 2 joked, "so we successful this a trifle gag that we could throw in and give them factual call for rewards. Also," Drescher added, "any rate 1 character that gets ahold of a sopranino-level cowardly and kills them is going to get a reward like they killed an actual high-level character – everybody wins!"

So, that covers 1.1 mostly… what about 1.2? Or beyond, even? "We can't tell you much!" Gershowitz laughed. "The things that players buttocks look first to, and be confident that we're listening to, are improvements to the heart and soul and soul of our game, RvR. We are dead serious about being first PvP game on the market. The things that we've been acquiring back – feedback on the forums, on the Overt Test – are complete things we're taking to pith. So whatever comes in 1.2 is the same 'we're listening, we're improving this game' smug that we've done in 1.1."

Thanks to the Mythical squad for finding the clock to speak with America!