August Producer’s Letter

When the last day of the month rolls around, we know we’ll be getting Carrie’s letter. This one might have been more highly anticipated than some in the past.

I’m finding the letters to be more a general summary of information we’re getting from various other sources around the web, game mag interviews, and dev Q&A’s. I agree with Bootae that a large percentage of WAR players don’t read the blogs or other online gaming resources. Their main source of news is the WAR site and especially the Herald. Maybe us bloggers need to do a bit more advertising!

For those of us keeping track, there really isn’t a lot there for us that’s new. Even so, here are some of my thoughts on what Carrie discusses.

Free-to-Play … NOT
Many people perceive the RvR Packs to be a precursor to F2P. Mythic has been pretty clear they aren’t interested in that model. I like having choices and I’m sure many players agree. If you just want to play and have fun, not caring about how your toon looks, then not having to buy the Personality Pack is a good thing. If the RvR Packs have the right amount of substance, are priced accordingly, and do add nice value to our gaming experience, I look forward to future packs. F2P can be implemented well … LOTRO … or it can be done not so well … Allods Online. I hope WAR doesn’t ever go this route.

Skaven … Again
I’ve written so much about rats since I started blogging I should just change my blog name to “Krosuss says rats”. Carrie stresses that the new Skaven RvR zone is not meant to detract from the overall Tier 4 campaign — it will be a part of it. When Land of the Dead went live, there was a noticeable dip in RvR action to where the campaign came to a halt. I have no inside knowledge, but I keep getting a feeling that this won’t be a zone like we’re accustomed. Could the “zone” really be under all existing Tier 4 zones? That would be impressive.

As far as the rats being playable, I’m still perplexed at how this will work. With no firm details other than what we’ve been given, they still sound like ‘Monster Play’. That both Order and Destruction players will have access makes them sound akin to a Third Realm of sorts. One assumes to help turn the tide during the overall campaign. I’m forced to hold judgment until we know more but I get the feeling those crying for Skaven will be left disappointed. I hope I’m wrong.

RR100!
All I can say is ugh. The renown rank bus slows to a crawl around RR 72 or so. I know because I’m working on RR76. I can barely imagine what it will be like trying to go from RR90 to RR100. Can you? All I can say is at the end of that rainbow it better be worth it. What should give players some hope is a lessening of the grind to reach RR80. It at least gives me some solace to know I can get ALTs up there without the same life drain. I agree in Carrie’s statement that to reach RR100 it should be a challenge. What good would it be if players could attain that rank in a month or two? I never played Dark Age of Camelot so I can’t comment on this RA system referenced but it sounds like it will add some flexibility, more options, and hopefully more incentives to rank up.

Closing
So overall a nice summary of things we already knew. It sounds like we’ll be getting more info the next few weeks and I’m looking forward to see what is leaked at Games Day UK. Nice to hear some of our European bloggers plan on attending.

Dreams Dashed or A Clearer Picture?

This post over at Bootae’s says it all … so take your Third Realm ideas and cram them down the toilet. If not for Bootae, this would’ve missed my radar having been unplugged from much of what Games Workshop is doing these days.

This is an interesting move. For as long as I can remember, the armies of GW’s amazing fantasy world were always at odds with one another. Sure, you’d have the random alliance where Elves would forget what pompous snoots they are and help out the lowly men of the Empire. Or some obtuse Black Orc Warlord would accept a bribe from a Chaos Lord to help rape and pillage some northern province. For the most part … the races of this world were all on their own.

When WAR launched having two factions it was a point of contention for many Warhammer purists. Mythic “bent the lore” to do this … especially with the side of Destruction. I can easily write up a rationale for any race to align with another so I’m more forgiving. It appears the WAR we play with the alignments as such was merely a precursor to GW making this change, and a big one at that.

For those playing the tabletop game … I don’t see this as a problem. At my local comic shop on any given weekend, I’d see Elves fighting Chaos … Dwarfs fighting Bretonnians … Orcs fighting Dark Elves … Empire fighting Empire. It didn’t matter to them. They just wanted to showcase the cool new paint jobs on their army, and to play the game hoping for some luck of the dice. The lore itself made for excellent reading in the various army books and novels. Did it really matter to the gamers themselves when they showed up to play each week? I’m saying no.

For those of us playing WAR … other than the realization that we are now destined to have two competing realms, does it really matter? Honestly? I want to login and play … fight … kill and be killed. To me, fighting Destro is fighting evil … and all their races look evil. Fighting alongside an Elf and a Dwarf is second nature to me … Tolkein’s lore helped shape this and whereas the races have had their falling outs from time to time … they need each other to survive.

Bottom line, leading up to the release of WAR, GW released a book about this monumental event — the Age of Reckoning — and how it would forever change that world. The book and subsequently the game we play have done that. This isn’t new territory for GW, they’ve done it before … letting worldwide events shape the lore of 40k. A huge 40k event was launched on the notorious planet of Armageddon. Games were played by players all around the world and the wins/losses would decide the planet’s fate. For the life of me, I can’t recall if the Imperium triumphed or if they were overcome by the various Xeno forces. In the end … GW left their lore in the hands of the most important people of all … those who played their game.

I’ve enjoyed all the Third Realm theories and have enjoyed writing my own on the subject. But I’m willing to look forward and it seems our course is set with two, competing realms.