Blog Posts from "WAAAGH!"

So Long And Thanks For All The WAAAGH!

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 23:14:37 -0400

Because this promises to be a lengthy post, here's the short, short version:

This is my last post on WAAAGH!, as I'm moving my blogger flag to Bio Break full-time. There, I will continue to discuss WAR (as I am, of this writing, still playing the game) and other MMO topics that strike my fancy. I have several reasons for this move, as detailed below, but none of them is that I hate WAR or blogging about it. WAAAGH!'s archives will remain hosted here as long as GameRiot likes. Please update your feeds/bookmarks/links to me over at Bio Break -- I'll see you there!

And now, the longer version:

It's Monday, and around WAAAGH!, that usually means a new fresh week of discussion and meandering articles. I'm sorry to disappoint the routine! But hey, part of the fun of being a blogger means that I get to keep you on your toes. Although no one likes change, and seemingly sudden decisions like this can throw people into a tizzy, hear me out, and I think you'll realize that all is not doomed.

A little over a week ago, I made the decision to shutter WAAAGH!, and to give myself seven days to think it over and make sure that was what I truly wanted. It was, and here we are. Actually, I knew this day was long coming, a fact that prompted me a few months back to start up Bio Break, my little blog protégé, as a way to transition from a very specific one-game blog to a multi-game discussion.

My reasons? There are a few, to be sure. The first is that I simply have more to say about MMORPGs and gaming than what is strictly limited to Warhammer Online, and I'd like to say it. The second is that I want to regain full control of a blog again -- I appreciate the opportunity that GameRiot gave me for extra exposure and a bit of financial compensation, but I miss the full range of features that Wordpress offers, and I like feeling completely free. The third -- and this is probably the oddest one to try to put into words -- is that WAAAGH!'s always been tempting in the sense of getting a big head while doing it. I'm pleased and honored beyond belief that this weird little blog has grown tremendously over the past year, and that so many people have been kind enough to mention it and link to it. But sometimes I felt my ego get a little too attached to it, and I needed to know that my priorities in life put God and my family before anything else. Very soon, I'm going to have a kid, my schedule will change, and I have no idea how that will impact my gaming and writing time. So in a way, this is a test I'm admitting to myself: to see if I can simply walk away from a successful blog and be okay with it. To be okay with letting go.

And, in a way, this is how I want to end the blog. On my own terms, not ending with a whimper, not with an angry "WAR SUCKS!", not feeling obligated to continue it without any passion. I'd rather end it on a high note than a low. Perhaps I even avoided jumping the shark. Perhaps not.

Now, I think you're going to see a lot of WAR talk over on Bio Break, and I even started a new feature this past week called AFK, a sort-of successor to Da Bloody Twenty. But I know in my heart that this will be different, for while going to a multi-MMO blog format is remarkably freeing in so many ways, it's also a lot more difficult to build up a large readership because it's not as mono-focused. I know I'm throwing away a very high Google rank (WAAAGH! comes up as the #1 search return for "waaagh"), and it's possible many folks will see this move as a betrayal of sorts, or that I'm no longer throwing my full weight of fanboyish love behind WAR. Yet I hope that won't be the case, I hope that many of you will visit me at my new(ish) home, and that we can once again have huge unimpeded discussions over Greenskins and foolish Engineers there.

Man, I never thought I'd miss open commenting so much, y'know?

I have a lot of people I want to thank for all that's behind WAAAGH!, so if you've read this far, just bear with me a little bit more, and then return to your regularly scheduled programming:

To Mythic -- You guys created one heck of a game, and although I have picked on it, been overly emotional about silly things, and even threw a few heated words your way, I hope you know that it's always been out of affection for what I found to be a great product and a terrific experience. I look forward to exploring your world for many years to come.
To Mark, Carrie, Josh, Mark, Andy, Jess and the rest of the devs that gave me the time of day, and occasionally more -- Thank you. Very few MMOs treat bloggers with the sort of respect that you all do, and it made my day. More than once.
To Snafzg -- I know that WAR's been a huge up and down for you, and perhaps a final down. But I'll never regret that you got into it, because I gained a great friend in the process. The Greenskin, in addition to being a smartly written blog, gave me my first big leg up in the blogosphere. I'll never forget it -- see you in the next game, buddy!
To Keen -- While we might not be the same type of player, it was a blast to do ChaosCast with you, especially as you put in so much hard work over it.
To Arbitrary and Spinks -- I still remember first seeing Book of Grudges pop onto the scene, with tiny one-paragraph posts. You guys became a legend, and I'm very happy to be connected with you guys. Rock on!
To Regis -- You've been just as much of a great support for the WAR community as me or anyone else, and Blog Warhammer was a stroke of genius.
To the awesome folks at Warhammer Alliance -- It's my last post on here, so I'm allowed to say that this was always my forum of choice. You guys created one of the best MMO forums I've ever seen, and have been a pillar of support and information to WAR players and the writing community. May WCPI live on for a long time yet!
To my friends across many, many WAR blogs -- I hope you won't feel offended that I don't mention you by name here, because there's simply so MANY of you (Werit, Pete, Jennifer, Ardua, Rog, Thulf... it just goes on and on). But know that you have a solid place in my Google Reader, and I will be visiting, commenting and linking to you as always. Keep up the good fight in WAR, and write like your game depends on it!
To Chrono Chaos -- Don't go back and kill my grandfather as a baby to prevent this, eh?
To God -- Who is my All, and gave me whatever gifts I have for writing, humor and insight. I hope that a hobby even as silly as this has pleased You in some way.
And to everyone else -- THANK YOU for reading, for commenting, for supporting and for giving me the encouragement to keep on writing! Don't let, for a second, WAAAGH!'s closure stop you from playing the game -- enjoy it, and keep in touch!

Deep breath...

WAAAGH!

~ Syp

/publish

Props to the WCPI

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 12:38:20 -0400

The WCPI -- which we still assume is a secret police organization dedicated to bringing down subversive WAR players -- got its day in the sun with a glowing mention in the April newsletter. So, congrats Warhammer Alliance and Warhammer Community Promotion Initiative members!

Paul Barnett: Anti-Hero of the People

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:50:25 -0400

At the recent GDC, Paul Barnett was tapped to give a presentation/lecture on Warhammer, of which he was pretty vocally opposed to doing in the first place. You might recall from last year that it isn't his favorite place in the world. He then spent his time railing on flawed game design and designers in question. It was, to put a fine point on it, bizarre. Paul even had a PR handler because, and I quote him, "EA can get quite jumpy when I am out and about giving talks. They find my … candor... a little hard to take." He followed that up with a YouTube video trying to explain where things went... askew at the conference.

That handler may be looking for a new job this week after hearing Paul's lecture -- and considering how many folks EA has been letting go, I wouldn't call that a flippant joke, not exactly.

This kind of falls into a realm of "things I don't really care much about" -- it more has to do with a Warhammer dev/PR personality than the game itself, but Paul stirred up enough attention through this that it's almost newsworthy. Former Mythic alum Lum shot back a few pointed words at Paul (bitter much?), and Josh Drescher noted on his Twitter feed, "Dear lord... I think Barnett actually managed to annoy all of (and only) the right people."

Don't get me wrong -- I think it's awesome to have people given the freedom to say what they actually think, even if they're tied to a studio, and while some people hate Paul for this reason, the vivacious personalities is one of the aspects I've always loved about Mythic. But man... are you trying to get canned? Cause that's not a half-bad way of going about doing it.

Blog Tech Issues

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:42:05 -0400

As a few of you have noted, there's been some technical issues with posting and commenting and whatnot. All I know is that they're doing some major work/testing on the blog platform this week.

Endure!

An Award Is Me!

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:26:10 -0400

In a "turnabout is fair play" meme/award/mutual linkfest, Spinks of Welcome to Spinksville and Book of Grudges has nominated me for a reward that (a) doesn't exist, and (b) she received as well. It's a sort of Pay It Forward kind of thing, only without the extremely sappy runtime. Obviously, I'm thrilled as a Texas peach in summertime to be recognized by a woman who single-handedly manages the British Empire, and gratefully accept this reward as I have run out of coasters and need somewhere to put my drink.

According to her, these are THE RULES of this award:

When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to the said person so everyone knows she/he is real.
Choose a minimum of seven (7) blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have seven friends. Show the seven random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with Honest Weblog. Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.
List at least ten (10) honest things about yourself. Then pass it on!

Well then. Have I bragged yet? Backlinked? Good. Here are seven blogs that I read pretty regularly and find to be Spifferific(tm):

Hardcore Casual - Syncaine was a blog writer that I read for well over a year before I started blogging myself, so it's all sorts of surreal whenever he mentions me. He's one of the very good "general MMO" bloggers, covering a wide range of games, but more importantly, concepts. And he takes Tobold to task, which amuses me to no end.
Girl IRL - When we ran the Age of Blogging initiative, we had hoped for some good blogs to be an end result, but never expected several excellent ones that would suddenly give us a run for our writing. Girl IRL made a quick and well-deserved name for herself through detailed and always-interesting articles, and is one of the first blogs I check each day.
The Greenskin - Back in the spring of 2008, Snafzg was pretty much the only steady, regular WAR blogger on the block, and I've since grown to appreciate him as a great writer and a friend. Even though he's often disillusioned with WAR, it's usually in a funny and spot-on way, and he's done so much to build and strengthen the WAR community that he should be a textbook example of what future games' communities should include.
West Karana - I've gone through mixed feelings on this blog. Usually Tipa covers games that I haven't played and am not interested in, and coupled with her savage tweaking of WAR when it first released made for a sad panda. But I've come to appreciate her passion for MMOs, imagination for blog posts and the many, many screenshots she includes. Now, it's one of my favorite reads, and I hope she keeps on going for years to come.
Werit - Despite his on-again, off-again relationship with WAR, I'd follow his blog to the end of the universe and perhaps three feet beyond. He's been a big inspiration for my shaping of Bio Break as a general MMO blog as well.
Wizards & Wenches - I have to say, I still liked his first blog layout the best, but Regis keeps trying to top himself with an endless series of revisions. Great style, great writing and a huge heart to fellow bloggers makes him a stellar guy. He's hosted many WAR blogs personally, and bound us all together through Blog Warhammer.
Book of Grudges - It may be a shadow of its former self in the WAR blogging community, but BoG will always have a huge priority in my reading schedule due to its fierce passion of gaming and acute observations about WAR in particular. So, in a roundabout way, I've thrown this award right back at Spinks, along with Arbitrary and Hawley.

And finally (geez, accepting this award is a lot of work!), ten stupid facts about me:

I'm blind in my left eye due to complications from birth.
I make up and sing songs all the time, partially because I see my life as an ongoing musical. And no, I'm not a great singer.
I have a miniature wiener dog named Gracie who will piddle on you in a heartbeat if you get her excited.
My first gaming system was the Atari 2600.
I used to design and program games back in high school with BASIC and C++. Mostly RPGs, adventures and even one ambitious action RPG.
I went to college to get a computer degree, tacked on an English major as well, and then ended up in the ministry as a youth pastor.
I count backwards from 10 every morning after I turn off my shower and before I step out of it.
My current favorite drink is Arizona Diet Green Tea.
My wife and I play spontaneous hide-and-go-seek in our house without announcing that the game's begun.
I have and play on a pink Nintendo DS.

Despite Reports, Sky Not Falling

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 08:27:38 -0400

In reflection, I may have given some folks the wrong impression with my article the other day, and I wanted to clarify. I'm not quitting the game, going on sabbatical or anything like that. My sub is active and most likely will remain so for the indefinite future. I'm not going to stop blogging about WAR, either. If I truly thought the game was a lost cause or not fun at all, I'd be out of here in a jiffy -- but that's not the case. I was merely explaining why I am pulling back in both gaming and blogging for the time being, to be as up front and honest as possible.

Warhammer is what it is, no matter what we may have wanted it to be, envisioned it to be in the hype leading up to release or in the months that followed. Yes, future additions will alter the game in some form, but the core is in place and you get what you see. For some players, it wasn't enough, and that's fair. For others, they're loving it, WAR is their home, and they're boggled that others complained -- also fair. There's the wait-and-see crowd, the frothy ranters and the lovestruck fanboys. You get all of these with every MMO in varying quantities.

Snafzg and I talked the other day about our pre-launch expectations, and in a sense, how neither one of us were satisfied by the game in fact once we experienced it. I think that's true for anyone who's greatly anticipating something, especially when you're spoon-fed information and then your imagination and desires takes over from there. I wish I could easily bottle what I thought WAR was going to be and lay it out for you, but that'd be near-impossible and probably not interesting at all to read. Suffice to say, it's one of the casualties of hype, and you learn to live with it.

I'm quite content to watch this game grow and develop, and there's more than a glimmer of hope here -- there's a kicking, awesome community, gameplay elements that are stellar, and a flavor that you can't quite find anywhere else. It's a bit disheartening that the rise and fall and rise and fall of hope and despair hasn't leveled off to something a bit more stable at this point so we can, y'know, just enjoy the game without all the surrounding drama, but perhaps that's soon to come as well.

And while I really do appreciate the comments, by no means tie your interest to WAR on what I say or do. I write for fun, to share a passion and to persuade, but not to boss or lead. If you're having a great time in WAR but read negative words here or elsewhere that make you doubt your enjoyment, then shrug that off (or just don't read it!) and play what makes you happy. If you're leaving or have left WAR for whatever reason, give a moment's consideration to how you always felt when you were liking a game and a sour grape started spilling venom in a forum or to you directly -- gaming shouldn't be "misery loves company", just peacefully go your own way, and be considerate of those who don't see things your way.

Okay, That Made Me Laugh

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:54:24 -0400

So I'm running Nordenwatch and we're just getting pwned with a P by a mixed team of DPS and healers. I try to hold my own, but everyone else keeps flinching back, so I take more deaths than usual. Right before the scenario ends, I fall in battle and watch the rez countdown timer -- and just then, a Shaman comes up and does an emote where he plants his staff right down in the middle of my chest, like he's planting a flag or something. No spell, just an emote, and then he runs off.

Heh.

Da Bloody Twenty - March 26

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 08:45:00 -0400

The orc looked up at the hanging meat, swinging from a tree limb. It smelled good. Why not? He batted it, and a giant net swooshed up from the forest floor to capture him and his party. "Great, just great," his friend bemoaned. "Always thinking with your stomach..."

Hey! It's time for Da Bloody Twenty, 20 of the most interesting, funny or informative articles I've read this past week:

Welcome to the Community: Grimnir's Grudge, The Truth Shall Set You Free, WAAR! Stories, Corwynn-Maelstrom
Podcast Roundup: NPNM 27, WARP 28
"Dungeon Delight & Disillusion" @ Blame the Healer - All of life should be explained via stick figure comics.
"WPs are OP!!!" @ WAR 'n Pieces - I agree. Kill them all. Except mine.
Breakfast At War decides to go ahead and write a doctoral thesis on hybrids and class mirrors in WAR -- read at your own risk!
"Toeing The Line" @ Obsessive Focus - Care bear hug!
"Quick Reflection on Open RvR" @ Grumble and Mutter - "Quick" is a relative term.
"Get Your Free Skeleton Warrior Pet" @ Stunty Stomper - Now, with 100% more calcium!
"Chirp Chirp (And Thoughts On WAR Post 1.2" @ WAR 'n Pieces - Is it just a spring fling?
"WTB Server Transfers" @ The Greenskin - It does my heart good to get my Snafzg rant of the day.
"The Boy Who Cried Nerf!" @ Knights of the Feathered Hats - He was a soft and foamy boy, for sure.
"The Second M In MMO" @ The Homunculus - It stands for "mustard"!
"Dev Chat Highlights" @ Wizards & Wenches - Highlights For Children! And Orcs.
"And With My Bajillion Gold Pieces, I Can Buy Altdorf" @ Mmmmm Gud - Great ideas how to spend that extra cash you've been saving up.
"Tomb Kings Part One" @ Tome of Knowledge - Greg, I take my hat off to you.
"Kiss My Axe (While I Drink My Beer)" @ The Herald - I guess they're a hair metal band now?
"I Should Probably Get Some Sleep" @ Cry Me a RvR - 1.2 is the DEVIL! Well, not that bad, but still.
"EA's Attempt To Make WAR The Next Big Thing" @ Confessions of a RvR Player - Marketing gone beserk!
"Farmer Jane" @ Girl IRL - She's just a small-town girl living in a lonely world.
"T1 Scenario Tips" @ MMORPG - Tip #42: Don't Die

The Center Crumbles

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:00:04 -0400

If you couldn't tell, I haven't been logging on to WAR much in the past week or two. There's a few reasons for it, some pertaining to real life -- Syp Jr. is almost here and we are undergoing a flurry of preparations and baby showers, my semester is just a couple weeks until finals and projects are due -- and some pertaining to the game itself. Like most folks, I was pretty jazzed about the new classes, and I still enjoy Wotworks, the suicidal dwarf. He's refreshingly simple to play, and the other night when I hopped past a Chosen to take out no less than two Shamans before I got whacked made me chuckle. But Wotworks is still in T1, trying to get the final half bar of influence for the rewards before being shoved into T2, and I'm having a hard time logging in just to wait at the warcamp until the BOs open up.

Syp's hit the wall at 40, and I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with her now. I'm just not into T4 oRvR, no matter what the incentives, and her quest to get all of the Bestiary unlocks has driven me to near insanity with how vague or frustrating some of the unlocks are to get. In short, I'm feeling a lack of purpose with her, and she may very well be in drydock until Land of the Dead comes out (aka "The NEW new End Game").

It doesn't help that after the general excitement leading up to 1.2 and all that, it seems as though the community has fallen into a malaise of sorts. Posts like this are starting to crop up more and more, and I don't fully blame them. I generally try to be positive, even in critical evaluations, about Warhammer, because I believe that once you start going down the road of naked hostility toward a game, there's really no coming back. But I'm not blind or so much of a fanboy to completely ignore that WAR's got some major issues right now, from enthusiasm to a few semi-game breaking bugs to performance issues that plague the game worse than the actual plague in the Empire lands. I think that merging servers was the right thing to do, that there was no shame in it, but it wasn't exactly a pick-me-upper for the image of Warhammer either.

All of this doesn't change the fact that Warhammer is still quite fun to play, offers a lot that the competition does not, and I'll be swinging my axe and firing my rifle for some time yet to come. But this may signal a period where I'll be slowing down a bit, logging on less frequently to reduce frustrations, perhaps even blogging less so that I don't feel pressured to have to get something up every day even if I have nothing great to say.

I hold on to hope that there are many good days ahead for WAR, and history tends to bear that out for most MMORPGs -- unless they tank outright, the games do get better, more polished, more enjoyable. I sense that a lot of people WANT to like Warhammer, want to come back, but there are still severe obstacles for Mythic to deal with before they do. We shall see.

Warhammer: The Movie!

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 08:18:33 -0400

No, it hasn't been announced yet (although give Paul Barnett some time with those YouTube videos and he might cobble something together) -- I just thought it'd be fun to think of who I'd cast in a potential fantasy epic:

Orc - Vinnie Jones
Goblin - Warwick Davis still needs work, I'd throw some his way
Dark Elf - Angeline Jolie
Chaos - Russell Crowe, because he's big enough and unhinged enough
Dwarf - Danny DeVito (he should be old and grizzled enough)
Empire - Let's give Hugh Jackman another chance as a Witch Hunter
High Elf - Gweneth Paltrow
Nurgling - Frank Oz

How Many Times Can We Say "No Way Jose"?

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:24:55 -0400

From Grab Bag #12:

"We have discussed... however there are no details set in stone at this point."
"There are no current plans..."
"No"
"We do not have any plans currently..."
"We're always looking at, and may make improvements to at some point, but there are not any plans to increase it in the near future"
"At this time we have now plans for this in the near future. That doesn't mean it'll never happen. You should ask again in a few months!"
"Not at this moment"
"No, not at this time."

So... what are they trying to say here?

Leaders and Followers

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 08:24:34 -0400

I don't know if I've talked about this before (senility, you understand), but when it comes to online gaming, I tend to be much more of a follower than a leader in groups. That partially comes from real life, where I'm a leader in several areas, and I just want to have one thing in my life where I don't have to take charge to get things done. Even so, I've usually ended up becoming a GM or officer in MMOs, mostly out of frustration of a current lack of leadership.

WAR is a game where leaders are a precious commodity, and good leaders even more so -- perhaps right up there with healers. It takes more effort and work to start up and lead a warband or party than it does to sign on for the tour. You have to be the one making decisions, keeping everyone focused, laying out a battle plan, listening and sorting through ideas, and leading by example. It's not easy. In fact, the term "herding schizophrenic cats" has popped into the mouth of more than one warband leader from time to time. WAR makes it easy for people to join up and leave without so much as a "how'd'ya'do", so a leader's additional responsibility is in constant recruitment efforts, keeping the warband full. In PvE dungeon runs, it gets even tougher.

So I don't envy folks who step up to be leaders, and as a follower, I abide by a few simple rules:

Listen to what the leader is saying, and if at all possible, do it.
Support the team. The team comes first. No lone maverick stuff.
If I disagree with the leader, I do it through private /tells, not in warband chat.

Most warbands I've been in work well because people know the score -- since they're not ponying up the effort to lead, then they owe a bit of respect and obedience to the one who does.

However, this is not carte blanche for leaders to be insecure jerkwads, spewing invective and abuse at the followers under their command. The above screenshot was from a T2 keep take I participated in a couple months ago, where the warband leader absolutely unhinged over a few people who didn't instantly obey his commands. Once a guy is screaming in ALL CAPS, calling people names and demonstrating a severe lack of patience, it's pretty much over. I just stuck around for the show.

Leading is a quality and skill that is part innate and part learned, and it never, ever comes instantly if one is handed a dose of authority and given free reign. There are some who subscribe to the "leadership through brute force" model, who seek to cow all those under them through sheer force of will and words alone. There are some who aspire to be "leadership by buddy-buddy", refusing to make a decision unless all their "friends" in the warband agree, as not to risk any hurt feelings.

Good leadership leads through service -- you serve those under your command by trying to meet their needs and fulfill their goals. It also requires you to realize that you are the one who makes the final decision, and sometimes that decision is unpopular because it serves the needs of the group at large, not just one individual. Leadership is often lonely and not fully appreciated by those under your care. It has its rewards, and it has its trials. One of the best ways to learn about leadership is to carefully observe successful leaders in your life and in game, and take note as to what they do and how they do it.

So leaders? Lead responsibly. Followers? Be a blessing for your leaders, not a painful boil on the skin of the warband.

Elsewhere in the Syppyverse...

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:31:33 -0400

Just in case you need another reason to procrastinate at work or school... more of my useless words!

At Bio Break:

At Mutant Reviewers:

Living La Guilda Loca

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 09:08:55 -0400

A while back on an earlier recording of ChaosCast, we were talking about Warhammer's "living guild" system, how guilds had to level up to access unique guild features and content, such as custom heraldry, recall scrolls, keep claiming and the like. In theory, this was a very cool aspect of the game -- a guild that progressed much like a player's character did, by leveling up and gaining more skills. But I quickly spotted a potential major issue, one that's been vindicated over the past six or so months.

The problem, I said, was if guilds took a long time to level up, then it would have the adverse effect of causing people to hesitate in starting new guilds in the future. Day one after launch, everyone's on the same level, and guilds were popping up all over the place. Now? I feel bad for any guild that wants to start up, because they will be trying to entice players to join a rank 1 guild that lacks the amenities of a rank 20, or 30, or 40 guild. The newly minted rank 1 guild won't be able to overtake these other guilds in terms of game-connected benefits, just eventually catch up to them. I predicted that new guild creation would slow down within a half year, as established guilds held tightly on to their precious ranking and grew into mega-guilds/alliances. It also doesn't help that around the upper teens and lower 20s, guild leveling slows down to an absolute crawl.

For some people, guild leveling isn't much of an issue, beyond getting the guild recall scroll (nice to have that quick travel option to your capital city). Some ears perked up at the 1.2 patch's new guild mounts (now with more varieties and slightly faster speeds!), but the good mounts require an incredibly high level guild to access, and that just won't happen for most folks anytime soon. For people who do care about features that a guild rank can provide, then there might be the temptation to hop guilds to a higher-ranked one (question: can you temporarily join a higher rank guild to get the cool mount, then rejoin your lower ranked guild and keep the mount?).

Snafzg filled me in on a potential exploit some guilds were using to speed rank their guilds -- a process that I won't go into here, but it uses Mythic's system against themselves, namely how "active" guilds level far faster than ones with lots of inactive alts or players. Speaking of which, if inactivity hurts a guild's leveling speed, then won't that be incentive for guild leaders to kick any alts and keep only mains?

What I'm trying to say that while guild leveling was great in theory, it's messy and potentially inhibiting in practice. I've heard players clamoring for guilds to have access to all of the special content right out of the gate -- that it's silly to make us wait for a half year or more just to get a teleport scroll to Gunbad. I hate the thought of someone getting a great idea for a guild, but finding absolutely no support for it because other players wouldn't want to "go back" to a rank 1 guild, no matter what the premise. High ranked guilds might become one of the game's more precious commodities in the future, and we could even see them selling the intact guild off to a high bidder, just as how players in other games eBay off their characters to folks who don't want to go through the work of doing it themselves.

Just food for thought on this early Monday morning.

Beyond the Sands Teasers!

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 16:55:57 -0400

I held off posting on this under the assumption that we would see a lot more of these pop up... but I guess not! Or they got lost in the mail (in one of Paul Barnett's YouTube videos, it looked like they had a slew of them). In any case, Mythic sent a few bloggers flash drives that included a teaser of the upcoming Land of the Dead/Beyond the Sands content, which you can view at the following blogs:

Getting To Know You (And Your Guild)

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 09:28:36 -0400

Since well before Warhammer launched, Mythic made it clear that they would be placing a strong emphasis on guilds (living guilds, guild tools, etc.) and doing everything short of luring innocent gamers with candy into joining up with one. While I'm sure there are quite a few solo players today who have eschewed the use of guilds, they've become the de facto way to game in WAR. I won't go so far as to say they're necessary or mandatory, but they are incredibly helpful, especially if you're trying to extend your interest in the game and minimize frustration.

People tend to join up with guilds for one of two reasons (or both): for personal gain and for socialization. Personal gain includes having a group of folks to readily team up with, to help you gain items in higher level combat, a mutual support system for crafting, mentoring, protection, the use of the guild hall, guild recall scrolls and so on. Socialization is pretty much how it sounds -- the identity of belonging to a group that provides constant companionship and relationships throughout your adventures.

As even the most anti-social player should see the advantages of joining a guild, the question remains: just how do you get to know your guild once you join up with one? Some folks are natural chatterboxes and friend-makers; some are painfully shy, socially awkward or unsure of how to handle this new environment. Over the past ten years or so, I've been a part of several guilds spanning many games, and while I'm not exactly Mr. Social, I've long since gotten over being the guy in the guild who never, ever says anything in guild chat or does anything other than log in and be a guild statistic. As part of your duties to your guild, you should be expected (at a bare minimum) to participate in guild chat. Here's a few suggestions:

1. Get A Feel For The Guild Before You Make An Idiot Out Of Yourself

While I think some guilds are way too anal in their recruitment policies, far more guilds don't do anything past just accepting the random "LF guild plz!" goober in general chat. If your guild accepts you without at least an informal interview or a request to check out their code of conduct or what have you, then that should be a big warning sign of the guild's quality.

That said, most guilds have an external website and/or forum where they post their rules, guidelines and policies. Read 'em before you say word one in chat. Maybe your guild doesn't allow foul language in chat -- that'd be good to know, right? Maybe most of your guild uses Vent or TeamSpeak, and you could look silly without that information. Maybe, as in the case of my current guild, there is one guild channel for in-character RP talk, and one for OOC. Spend a bit of time reading posts and getting a feel for personalities, the sense of humor in the guild, and perhaps any in-jokes. There's always a social pecking order in the guild as well -- leaders, officers, "mothers", the "jokester", etc. If it requires you to jot a quick flowchart down on a post-it note, so be it. It'll help.

2. Start Quiet (But Not Silent), Start Humble

As with everything, first impressions count. I've lost track of how many new guildies I've seen burst into guild chat with completely inappropriate humor, or requests for immediate gold/powerleveling, or talking far, far too much for their first day.

There's really a balance that has to be struck in your first few days and week -- you want people to getto know you and vice versa, but you don't want to come off as trying too hard, or being an obnoxious intrusion on an already established social structure. Remember, the guild didn't start the day you showed up (well, unless you're helping to start one) -- it has a history, it has a past, and up to this point, you haven't been a part of it. Just signing up doesn't mean that you suddenly have a right to intrude with a cult of personality. Be congenial in chat, let people get a feel for you, and if you tend to be a crazy, weird, or otherwise strong personality -- reign it in, at least at the start, and let it out only a little bit at a time.

Never forget that you have to earn your place in a guild before true acceptance can take place. That takes time, experience and trust.

3. The Guild Is Not Your Personal Dating Arena

Yes, this is a social environment, and hormones being what they are, some measure of flirting and/or romantic talk is going to transpire. But! This should never be why you joined the guild -- for it to be your own meet (meat) market. In my experience, romantic/sexual relationships that start through guild connections tend to be highly disruptive and sometimes extremely offputting to others, especially if you carry out your business in general chat. We all know stories of bad feelings that grow into Major Situations through the mix of inappropriate flirting (dude, if they're married, that's not a challenge -- that's a hands-off situation), special exceptions and general weirdness.

4. Don't Be A Drama Llama

For some reason, people just flock to drama, even though they often claim to be repelled by the occurance of it. Like any long-term social organization, guilds generate drama over time, usually more than is necessary due to certain members seeing their job as putting a fan to the flame and getting the gossip train going. Drama destroys guilds, wrecks friendships, and can turn people off of the game forever. And scary as it is to think, you have the power to bring it to your guild -- or to deny its temptation. Sometimes new guildies, desperate to fit in even more, will eagerly latch on to the latest string of rumor or drama and use that for conversation starters. Don't. Show the guild that you're a stabilizing force, not a destabilizing one, and you'll be more appreciated in the long run.

5. Respect The Leadership

We chafe under authority -- it's the human condition -- and some folks have a hard time submitting to an authority figure or figures during their "fun" gaming time. Yeah, you're an independent soul and all that, but when you're in a guild, you're in someone else's house, and you better wipe your feet and follow the house rules. Guild leaders and officers can be friends and buddies, but they know that it's sometimes their role to put on the big hat of authority and make decisions. When they do so, you should be able to offer your opinion respectfully (through /tells if need be), but be supportive and compliant with whatever decision is made. If you're chastised for breaking a rule or doing something dumb, don't make an issue out of it -- say "sorry" and do what they say. Being a leader of a guild is hard, hard work (I've been both a GM and an officer in several games), and they know they have to make unpopular choices at times for the good of the guild entire. Respect that.

6. Give More Than You Get

In other words, don't be a black hole of neediness -- be open to requests for assistance, advice and even items or money to those you trust. MMORPGs train us through the gameplay to be very selfish and self-centered, to want everything for our character and his/her advancement. Guilds are the exact opposite (or at least, should be), in that members want what's best for each other and the guild as a whole. If somebody needs a helping hand, then hey -- drop what you're doing and be okay with not advancing your own character that night. Good deeds in guilds get deposited into an unseen bank that builds over time, until that day when you need a major hand in return, and are overwhelmed to see how many guildies come to your aid.

A Song of Forums and Ice

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:39:18 -0400

I know that the European forums (beta) are off to a rocky start, from what reports I've heard, but the NA forums have been around long enough for us to get a feel -- and I want to ask, what are your impressions?

I'm a little hesitant to leap into them with both feet. I'm not really a forum kind of guy (oddly enough, when you have a blog, anything you might want to say in a forum you can post there instead), and I'm a little weirded out by the setup of the Official Forums (OF). First of all, it does look slick, and the recent addition to using your main as a character profile is a great addition. But I'm still unsure of what's going on inside.

The first thing I look for -- and many others, I'd assume -- is a "general" discussion board, the catch-all chat board that the majority tends to read first and comment on the most. Yet, unless I'm missing something, there isn't one for the OF. I'm pretty sure this is deliberate, to get posters to focus on a particular topic (and thus, a subforum) instead of just mouthing off in a general area, expecting to be heard and responded to by every dev in the building. Instead, the busiest forum board is -- by far -- their Future Features Suggestion Box. Thousands upon thousands of comments, ideas and changes have been dumped into here, which goes to show that one of the biggest reasons people are using these forums right now are to gain a voice to Mythic and hopefully get more attention for their suggestion.

Some of the subforums can't be fully viewed from the front forum page, for some reason, and require an additional click to check out. I don't like that. There's also odd boards, like a "Crafting Tradeskills" under the Dungeons and Quests board, which is completely unnecessary considering there's a Crafting subforum of its own. I also searched in vain for a dev post aggregator.

It's a bit restrictive on purpose, and I think it's going to go a long ways to keeping people on track and tactful in communicating. And any forum that makes a point to have players post guides and tips is welcome in my book. Whatcha think?

Da Bloody Twenty - March 19

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 07:51:37 -0400

Beware the ides of March... and the fury of a Dwarf mama who sees you blocking her beer. Here's this week's 20 most interesting, well-written or quirky articles about WAR... at least to me:

Welcome to the Community: War Underground, Level 1 Human, Tank Wall, Sareini Does Gaming!, Karak-norn's Finest
Podcast Roundup: WARP 27, Stonetroll Certified 22, NPNM 26
"Jeff Hickman Interview" @ MMORPG - A candid, sometimes antagonistic interview... I liked it!
"WARbander's Handbook v1.0" @ Level 1 Human - More info and guidance than you might ever need know about leading or being part of a warband.
"Release The Hounds!" @ Tome of Knowledge - Aww, the poor squirrelies...
"Revenge: Get It While It's Still Cold" @ Wizards & Wenches - C'mon, this is pretty darn funny stuff!
"Introducing Character Profiles" @ The Herald - Now be yourself on the Realm War and official forums!
"Tulane's State of the Game" @ Incoming Pull - A good breakdown of WAR's progress
"Order Guide: Welcome Back Quests" @ Gaarawarr Guides - Is Kotter around?
"Dude, Where's My Deity?" @ Echoes of Nonsense - Dude, look up!
"The End of PvP" @ Reroller - I've long since stopped listening to Tobold, but feel free, man.
"Black Orcs Shorter Than Choppas?" @ Mmmmm Gud - This is a TRAVESTY!
"Chinese WAR is Doing Fine" @ Blame the Healer - Just in case you were worried.
"State of the Zzz" @ Girl IRL - Nappy time!
"Return of the WAR" @ Book of Grudges - Oh yeaaaah... this game is actually kinda good!
"Hate of the Game's Address" @ WHA - A good idea, but it'll never happen.
"Are You That Troublemaker?" @ Spinksville - How to make friends and influence people in your guild. Or not.
"Call to Arms Interview" @ TTH - Jeff Hickman takes up the mohawk and talks about WAR's recent changes.
"Too Much Of A Good Thing" @ The Homunculus - Stop giving us so many goodies, Mythic!
"Zone Domination, Ostermark and Phoenix Throne" @ Nazgum's - If you like charts -- I mean, LIKE charts -- this might send you into a swoon.

Interview: Mark Davis & The Prisoner of Live Events

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 09:58:20 -0400

(My goal is to get one Mythic interview for every Harry Potter book, just because.)

Recently, Mythic's Mark Davis returned from an overseas trip (was he hoarding treasure in the Bahamas? Rescuing a double-agent from certain doom in North Korea? Now that would be telling.), and groggily agreed to submit to a pleasant chat about Live Events -- the team he manages in WAR. Live Events has been a source of intense interest for me ever since they started, and I was dying to get a few dire questions off my chest.

WAAAGH!: We're sitting here in a shadowy bunker with Mark Davis, who's been leading the Live Events team. You might recall Mark from his stint on America's Most Wanted (mistaken identity, alas) and also his Dev Blog from last fall. Let's start with the foundations -- when were you brought on board as the Live Events lead, and when did Mythic decide that they were going to do Live Events in the game? What was the thinking behind it all? Madness? Sparta?

MARK DAVIS: This is… MYTHIC!! I love that movie. Up until just after launch, we didn’t really have a concept of Live Events. We’d talked about them prior to launch, sure, but really.. where does a Christmas holiday fit into the Warhammer world? We’re much too busy burning things to the ground to worry about something silly like hanging up decorations and dancing! Pfft. After launch, we had time to take a quick breath and realized that live events DO have a place in Warhammer. Live events would be like anything else we’ve done – just add WAR! We knew we had some new classes we wanted to add post launch, and what better way to get people excited about it then a live event that allowed players to unlock them early, to actively take part in the process. Badass said we, and so we set about it. That was the starting point and everything has grown from there.

WAAAGH!: The first event, Witching Night, was a pretty ambitious event so soon after launch. What were your goals going into it, and what did you take away from it?

MARK DAVIS: Ambitious? Hell yeah. It was also Awesome! Halloween happens to be my favorite holiday, but the trick is how to do it in the Warhammer IP. The Witching Night was the perfect choice since it already exists in the Warhammer IP and meshed nicely with the spooky sort of feeling we were going for. We knew that we wanted to craft an experience that everyone could do, regardless of level, provide something for everyone to do no matter what type of gaming experience they enjoyed, and we wanted to offer fun, cool rewards. After the event we realized that RvR Public Quests were made of gold and we should continue to plan more of those. We also learned that players love bragging rights. So rare drop items like the Monster Masks are for the win! Did you get a gaping skull mask? I did. It’s awesome.

WAAAGH!: Which Live Event has fostered the most positive feedback from your perspective? Which has been the most problematic?

MARK DAVIS: The most positive was hands down the Night of Murder. What’s not to love? We had assassin quests to kill marked enemy targets, we had Witchelves and Witch Hunter NPC’s lurking in the shadowy corners of the cities, and you could even mail your enemies head back to them for a special title.

The most problematic would probably have to be Keg’s End. This event was particularly hard to develop since we knew it was going to have to be a very long duration in order to accommodate everyone’s holiday schedule. The event ran for almost 3 weeks. We learned a lot about pacing and cadence for how an event should run, how difficult tasks should be, and how much time players expect to put into an event. It was a lot of fun, though. Seeing the Dwarf fireworks fire off over a recently captured keep, toasting and boasting in scenarios was hilarious, and of course the hunt for the elusive Battlebrew backpack was epic.

WAAAGH!: A common observation concerning the Live Events has been their pendulum swing between Too Easy and Too Grindy, often going from one extreme to the other between successive events. Why do you think this is so, and how has your team been working on finding that sweet spot -- the balance that might make everyone happiest with the work-to-reward ratio?

MARK DAVIS: I think this observation stems largely from the experience of Keg End. It was completely different from the past two events, the most obvious difference was that there was much more emphasis on killing monsters rather than killing players. Because of this, players felt there was too much grinding. And you know what? They were spot on! Since then, we’ve ran two more events starting with The Night of Murder and Bitter Rivals where we’ve seen those complaints vanish. We’ve learned lots of lessons and have incorporated those into our events. Planning the cadence of the event comes down to careful planning, detailed testing, and a bit of tea leaf reading to accurately predict how players will react to the event in a real world environment.

WAAAGH!: How very much do you hate me and everything I stand for to make me grind for DAYS to get that Battlebrew Backpack? I was *this* close to going insane...

MARK DAVIS: I should put you in touch with a support group chaired by our QA lead for Warhammer. It took him a staggering 1300 kills to get his, it took Live Producer Destin Bales around 700, I came in at an easy 257 kills, and our Associate Producer Howard Marans grabbed his after 4 kills. Sorry Syp! We want to add really awesome items to the game with decent stats, and we want folks to brag about their gear. It’s gotta be tough to get if we want to achieve all that. =) But hey, you got your backpack! Look how cool you are!

WAAAGH!: Rewards are a big part of Live Events, both the influence and drops. Do you guys get to dream up all of the unique rewards on your own, or are you given a list of parameters? How do you balance between pure fluff rewards (titles, masks) and highly functional rewards (stat-laden cloaks and trinkets)?

MARK DAVIS: We do a lot of dreaming around here. We come up with ideas, work them over with the Items guys, and finish with a compromise that hopefully leaves everyone only slightly angry. Generally speaking, we’ve been trending toward more fluffy, fun items and less stat driven items. We anticipate everyone being able to complete an event if they give it half a try, so that doesn’t jive with handing out rewards that compete with some of the more difficult to acquire gear in the game. That just wouldn’t be fair! This is by far the hardest part of the job, really.

WAAAGH!: Bitter Rivals and Heavy Metal are probably one-shot events (or are they?), but many folks are wondering if we're going to see these same events return next year (Witching Night, Keg End, Night of Murder, etc.). Are these being set up for an annual rotation?

MARK DAVIS: Yep – Bitter Rivals and Heavy Metal were one time affairs. Certainly, some aspects of those events may make a comeback tour, however. We do plan on having reoccurring holiday events, but that’s only if something else doesn’t take its place. For example in a totally hypothetical situation, if we were to introduce a awesome, totally badass RvR dungeon based on.. oh let’s say the Tomb Kings, we might have not one but TWO live events to introduce it. Where there may have been a scheduled seasonal, reoccurring holiday, there will now be a Tomb Kings live event. So yes, we would like to see the Night of Murder and Keg End return but cooler, better, and more awesome then last time. Time will tell if this is true, so stay tuned for details.

WAAAGH!: Live Events and the Tome go hand-in-hand -- how has the Tome enhanced the events, and what do you plan to do with it in the future?

MARK DAVIS: The Tome is an amazing core element of Warhammer and it was the perfect home for the Live Events. We’ve got some tricks up our sleeves for the coming months including evolving events that unfold through the course of the event, Order vs. Destruction races, and plenty more stuff that would get me fired if I mentioned any of them!

WAAAGH!: Another question that seems to pop up is why we've yet to see Live Events that alter the look of the world, namely in the capital cities (a la holidays in other MMOs)?

MARK DAVIS: We’ve been working hard to make our Live Events stay true to the Warhammer IP. Can you image a holiday where the good folks of Destruction would decorate the Inevitable City? I mean, really? The Order city of Altdorf isn’t much nicer. Sure, they might put up some wards against evil, maybe a pig’s head on a stick, but they’re not really the sort to do all of the decorations you’ve seen in those other MMO’s. That being said, we do have some world changing events planned in the next few months where players will see something built and then remain in the world after the event is over. Wish I could tell ya more about that.. but you know.. keeping my job and all that.

WAAAGH!: So far, we've been seeing Live Events on a more-or-less monthly schedule. Is that the plan for this next year? How many Live Events do you guys have mapped out for the future? Any hints?

MARK DAVIS: We’ve got events planned out for the rest of the year. You can expect to see them every month or two. Possibly some that are shorter in duration and smaller in scope while others will challenge the best events we’ve done yet in terms of coolness. We’re committed to making Live Events in WAR rock!

WAAAGH!: We learn by doing -- if you could go back to mid-2008 and share a few important lessons learned to yourself and your team back then, what would they be?

MARK DAVIS: I could fill a whole article on the lessons we’ve learned. Some of the highlights include:

Players are generally looking for an event that can be completed in roughly 2-3 sessions of casual game play.
Players go mad over secret, easter egg rewards. Be them hidden titles or items, they’re awesome. We try to add these to every event now.
Players love when we craft events that compliment what they’re already doing. That means making events that target Open RvR, scenarios, Public Quests, and Tome unlocks.. oh and by extension.. killing enemy players!

WAAAGH!: Finally, it seems to me that you guys are using Live Events to test new systems and features out before incorporating them into the larger (permanent) game, like the icons over the heads for Night of Murder. Does this have any merit, or am I just crazy?

MARK DAVIS: The idea has merit, but probably not in the way you might think. It’s not like we sit down in a secret bunker meeting room and discuss ideas on how we might improve the game and then test bed them in an event. No, it’s more like we have ideas that didn’t make it into the game at launch (like Open RvR PQ’s) or are ideas for the future that involve complicated development hurdles before we can implement them and they make a small, targeted appearance into the game. But mostly it is just me and my team sitting in our secret bunker meeting rooms saying “… you know what would be cool…” and then making it happen.

WAAAGH!: We appreciate you chatting with us, Mark.

MARK DAVIS: Thanks for the opportunity to talk about my favorite thing in the game right now!

Quest Better(tm)

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:08:14 -0400

As a follow-up to my earlier post on quests and lore, both Blame the Healer and Wizards & Wenches have scintillating additions to the discussion. Check 'em out!

Potatoes and Anti-Potatoes

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:57:22 -0400

I've got to say, I really paused before writing this post. You know that phrase your mom always said, that if you're not going to say something nice, don't say anything at all? When it comes to the WAR community (and larger MMO community), I try to stick to that as much as possible. And the WAR community's certainly made it easy -- we're not all the same, and there's a wild variety of bloggers and forum owners and site runners with vastly different opinions and tones, but I've experienced a huge sense of mutual support and respect within this circle. It's a great thing.

So great, in fact, that in over a year of blogging at WAAAGH!, I can count on two fingers the number of times that I've taken a link off my blogroll due to reasons other than a blog/site going dead or changing the topic to discuss another game entirely. And one of those fingers had to do with a site that wanted absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the WAR community. That's their choice, of course, but when they told another WAR news site/forum that they should just pack up and shut down their site because they weren't advertising properly and would never "make it", that's when I withdrew any support from my end.

Thus, I kind of found it amusing that Only-WAR.com wrote a fairly petulant post today about how they were being ignored and how the official forums had devastated their own, to the point where they were going to shut down their own forums. (Check out the little snarky "watching random blogs that have popped up overnight" mention too.) It amused me because (a) other WAR forum sites, such as Warhammer Conflict, VN Boards, Warhammer Alliance and more are doing just fine post-official forums, and (b) how can they complain they didn't get any attention when they made zero effort to give attention to others?

The idea behind Age of Blogging, WCPI and individual efforts to cross-link and -promote is that the larger WAR community shouldn't exist of exclusive cliques that are suspicious and territorial around others. What makes us a strong community is that we can take the focus off ourselves from time to time to uplift others and praise their efforts. Yeah, we love it when you read our blogs, write on our forums or visit our sites, but we know that the greater good (that oh-so-ominous phrase) is served when we happily introduce you around and let you get to know the whole crew. I know that if you're only reading WAAAGH!, you are missing out, my friend, on some incredibly talented, funny and smart folks that have a lot more to say about this game than anything you might find here -- and you should check them out too.

I don't mean to attack Only-WAR, but just to use their post and history as an example of what not to do when you want to belong to a gaming community and not to ostracize or limit your own potential growth. Even though we might play on opposite sides in game, out of game we're all on the same team, and it's great to act that way.

Making Up The Lore

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 10:42:40 -0400

A while back on WAAAGH!, I talked about quest text and how it's trivially easy to skip over it. I mean, we all have great intentions of reading it, right? And then what happens? You start to realize that it's one of about eight template quests that's just getting a new literary paintjob -- yet another reason to go kill ten foozles or collect five whatsits or escort Suicidal D. Lemming from point A to B. We become conditioned to skipping right over that lightly-colored "flavor" quest to the rewards, click accept, and look for the red splotchies. Congrats! Now we're more efficient with our time, and it only cost us the soul of the game!

As I argued before, I don't think the blame should be put on the shoulders of the players for this, the loss of the game's story and lore. People have good intentions, but we're given no great reason to read the quest story because (a) it usually contains no instructions how to complete the quest that the objectives and red splotchy info doesn't show, (b) we're always accepting multiple quests and usually have a hard time keeping track of what we're doing and why, and (c) MMOs everywhere have fallen into a fallacy that by providing a chunk of exposition up front, an odd job in the middle, and a rushed conclusion at the end qualifies as a "story". In my opinion, the story should be what's happening as you're doing the quest, something that unfolds as your actions push it forward. Once in a while we bump into quests like this, multi-stage things (and some PQs) that have scripted events (visual or verbal) that keep the story fresh. And those are the ones that tend to pull us into the lore of the game.

I've always felt bad talking about this, because I know there are quest writers out there who work incredibly hard in not only coming up with the 1,000,000th reason why you should go out and commit limited genocide against Beastmen, but also have to pour through loads of source lore books to keep the story in line with the Warhammer world. It's as if someone spent painstaking hours drawing and painting a sheet of paper to wrap a gift, only to see you tear through it without a pause for artistic consideration.

Anyway, pushing past all this, the next stage of this line of thought is -- if we're not getting the lore of the game through the quest text, for the most part, where does it come from? We have this huge blank gap between our characters and the world in terms of where they fit in -- what's the motivation behind their questing, why should they be killing everything in sight, what's the meaning behind this faction, etc.? For some folks, they just don't care about this; they kill because it's a game, and they don't need a motivation to go beat something up. They just do. But I operate under the theory that there's a third subset of players, ones that don't immerse themselves in the proper lore as given to us through the Tome and quest text, and not ones that ignore it completely to view this as another beat-em-up brawl with no greater meaning.

I think the third subset, of which I belong, are folks who make up the lore as they go along. We used to be very good at that as children, if you can cast your mind back to those halcyon days of apple juice and nap time. Kids' imaginations may not be the deepest in the world, but they are the least inhibited -- and kids love to engage the world around them by making up stories. Just watch a child at play with toys, like cars or dolls or action figures. Their fun comes more from the imaginary situations that they create using those toys than what the toys can physically do. They're presented with objects and a large gap of lore, and they just shrug and dive right in, filling in the blank space with their own tale.

Do we do this? I know I do. I am by far not the leading expert on Warhammer lore, and while I might be able to hold my own by now in very limited trivia contests, most of the time I wander around just filling in the world with my own story. When Order takes the dwarf cannon BO in T1, I stand up there and repeatedly click on the cannons to get them to fire, imagining that I'm scaring off a horde that might otherwise sweep up over this place. When I dive into a crypt, I'm sure it has some significant Warhammer lore attached to it, but I am ignorant, so I let my mind fill in the blanks and transform the place into my own personal haunted house. I think of Nurglings as Gremlins (never feed them after midnight) and unicorns as the most hated species in the land, and if Professor Green Circle wants me to go kill a bunch of guys, I just assume it's because he heard I was a one-man killing machine and it was either going to be them or him that I wiped from this planet.

Of course, maybe I'm just me and this is a sign of onsetting insanity.

Rating Exclusive In-Game Items

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:05:25 -0400

Fun question: How come when MMORPG interviews a dev, it gets mentioned on WAR's home page, but when I interview two devs, nada? Carrie and Josh might be conspiring against me. Must remember to check up on that later.

Anywoodiddle, since I'm such a sucker for those semi-meaningless in-game exclusive items that you get one way or another, I thought I'd do a quick rundown of all the ones I have unlocked for my account so far along with my ratings for them. Starting a new character in Warhammer means that I have to endure a five-minute stopover at the mailbox to retrieve item after item, which is kind of like Christmas for a rank 1.

Skaven Skin Cloak - My friend Risca gathered up about six or seven codes for these while shopping on the EA store prior to launch, and handed them out like candy. By far, it's my favorite rank one item -- an awesome-looking cloak (that includes a big horned Skaven skull) with a special function. Click on it, and once an hour it turns you into a Skaven, who is shown carrying your weapons and even has some emotes (like /cheer) that are functional. Emotes and movement aside, the second you hit any skill key or go into combat, you drop the disguise and have to wait an hour. That kind of stinks, but I understand why. 'Twould be a little overpowered when it comes to RvR.

Adventurer's Handbook/Libram of Insight - One of these I got through the CE, and the other through the poorly-thought-out purchase of the Warhammer Guide/Atlas. Both, however, do approximately the same thing -- they give you an XP boost for a set amount of time, that you can use three times apiece. It's nice for that "over the hump" push when you need it, which is why I save mine until the late 20's or late 30's.

Kossar's Helm - AKA "The Bear Hat". Obtainable by buying Red Alert 3 (or pre-ordering it or something), my friends Stacy and Mike gave me their code when they got RA3. Like the Skaven Cloak, it can be worn for decoration -- although its Russian appearance is completely out of place in WAR, so I usually choose not to -- and can be clicked on to transform you into a giant polar bear. Although big bear is cool, the animations associated with it are stiff as a board, and the fact that it wears off when you click on anything or go into combat means that you can't experience the joy of bear calvary. Nobody messes with bear, is all I'm saying.

Rivenstaff's Deck of Eight - This came from PC Gamer's Ultimate Warhammer Guide, which about peed itself by pronouncing "EXCLUSIVE IN GAME ITEM!" Perhaps it could've saved its urine if it realized that this item was a complete piece of crap. It's simply a once-an-hour clickable that gives you a simultaneous buff and debuff, boosting one of your stats at the expense of another for five minutes. Oh, and it does this randomly. How this might be remotely useful, I have no idea. I don't like the idea of playing roulette with my stats, and yet the buff/debuff is so minor as to make it not worth doing at all.

Sentinel Amber's Band - Another Collector's Edition item, this is a nice rank one purple ring that boosts stats by +2, and gives you three charges that throw up a pain shield, hurting people who attack you. It's nice to have a ring right off the bat, but by the time you're rank 7 or 8, you'll have upgraded all four of your jewelry spots, meaning that this goes by the wayside.

Exclusive Titles - Being a beta tester gave me "The World Shaper", doing the e-mail verification gave me "The Validated", and one of the two CE quest items eventually grants me a title based on the race of the character I'm playing (I think the Dwarf one is "Brewmaster"). Titles, always welcome, even if they aren't super spiffy.

Quest Reward Item - The CE includes a quest for each character that eventually nets them an item -- again, different according to race. My dwarf got this absolutely hideous ring thing that clipped through everything, my goblin got a dwarf head to lug around (neat!), and my humie netted a damage shield that could be used on a timer. I'd be interested in finding out what the other races get.

Rittenbach's Portable Camp - This came from the CE pre-order, and man did I have visions of tents, bonfires and suckling pigs a-roasting before I saw what it does: plop down a tiny fire that pulses "heal rays" (as fires are wont to do) to you and your party. I don't use this a lot, but it has saved my bacon a few times, and is especially welcome to groups defending an objective.

Custom Character Heads - Also from the CE, and my approval of them dips and rises depending on the race. Long story short, Dwarfs, Orcs and Goblins got the good ones, and everyone else's needs to be trashed ASAP.

Big Apple and Slayer/Choppa heads - I know this is a sore point with some of our European friends, so I won't rub anything in anyone's face by saying I GOT THE APPLE AND SPIKES AND YOU CAN'T NANANA because that would just be rude. Y'know what I'm saying here? Anyway, it's great to have a trophy right off the bat, and since this comes from the era of Mythic's new philosophy on trophies (Let's Make Them Visible era), I don't have a problem hanging this on my belt. As for the spikes and chompin' teef... yeah, they're pretty sweet. I cannot lie.

One Year of WAAAGH!

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 09:42:14 -0400

A year ago I had a crazy idea of starting up some blog to cover a game that hadn't even come out yet -- Warhammer Online. To this day, I'm not exactly sure what possessed me -- maybe I was envious of the fun that World of Warcraft bloggers got to have, maybe I wanted to get in on the ground floor, maybe I have a worm in my brain that made me do irresponsible things. I think above anything else, I just love to write, and to cover what I'm passionate about. Gaming is one of my favorite hobbies, and it's just a relaxing, enjoyable way to relish that.

One year! I can't believe it. And what a year it's been... sort of a dual rollercoaster, with one track being the ups and downs of Mythic and Warhammer, and the other track being the ups and downs of blogging.

When I first started writing WAAAGH!, I honestly believed that the game was going to launch soon -- as in, two-months soon. Very quickly we hit the good news of the Collector's Edition and the bad news of another delay. Oh, the pathos! Suddenly, a blog started in March had to face the very real possibility that it'd have to go through the entire summer and beyond without an actual playable game. Fortunately, Mythic geared up the info/hype machine over the summer, and we got news on the White Lion (ooh, everyone said), interviews galore, and the infamous day that spawned a thousand blog posts -- the day when the four capital cities and four classes were announced to be cut from release.

From then on, the ride kept going faster -- the NDA drop, open beta, the GOA fiasco, head start, launch, mailbox woes, gold spammers, frequent patches, oRvR influence rewards, live events, population imbalance, too few servers, too many servers, yearly awards, WAR vs. WoW, patch 1.1, patch 1.2, Mythic loses employees, bloody Valentine cards to bloggers, new classes... and whatever else might happen tomorrow. What's one of the greatest boons of blogging about WAR is that there's nearly always something to talk about, and I credit Mythic's hard and frequent work and communication as part of that.

As for the second rollercoaster, blogging, it didn't exactly go as planned. WAAAGH! was going to be only a twice-a-week thing, at least until launch, and you see how that fared. Once I got going, I just couldn't shut up. I've been mocked, perhaps appropriately, for my multiple-posts-a-day (sometimes reaching 5 or 6 when I've had my coffee). But it was a slow start at the beginning. In spring 2008, the WAR community wasn't nearly as strong or as communicative as it is today, although it definitely was present. Heck, Snafzg waited a full month to see if I was going to drop out of blogging before he'd give me a mention!

One of my not-so-subtle tricks to get plugged into the WAR community was my efforts to interview every WAR blogger, forum administrator and site owner out there. It helped with traffic, to be sure, but it had the greater effect of making friends and acquaintances with several of the nicest folks I've known in gaming. I'm somewhat picky and and an introvert when it comes to friendships, but it felt like I got invited to a party online that not only made me feel completely comfortable, but hasn't quite ended yet. WAR has one of the absolute best gaming communities I've ever seen, and I am incredibly proud of the level of mutual support and encouragement that I see between the sites and blogs. The Age of Blogging initiative was a small seed of an idea to get more bloggers onto the scene, and everyone took it and ran with it far beyond my wildest expectations. Now, we have the WCPI, and tremendous writers who frequently make me envious with their skill, dedication or devotion to number-crunching.

I've been proud of doing this blog and seeing ways that it's grown -- not proud as in a boastful way, but just proud as in satisfied with the results of hard work. I won't lie and say it's not cool to be recognized by others online or in game, or to get a nod by Mythic from time to time. But I'm happier to be able to help others start their blogs and give them the initial boost that others gave me. It's great to be part of a group of writers who equally inspire and challenge each other to write. Some day, I'll retire WAAAGH!, and when that day comes, I won't have regretted the time I spent writing here. I'm glad to provide you with something to read every day, even though I'm sure my insights are no more keen than your own -- it's just fun to gab about a mutual passion.

Thanks for reading, everybody!

You can read WAAAGH!'s very first post here.

Slayer, Comma, The

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:16:55 -0400

Although roughly a half-billion people have given their impressions of the Slayer class by now, I have a gaggle of thoughts jumbling in my noggin, and instead of writing a coherent, progressive post full of paragraphs and proper punctuation, I thought I'd take the lazy man's way out and do a bulleted list. Lists! Stupendous!

By using Snorri's Spikes, the CE "keg beard", an eye patch and my Skaven cloak, Wotworks doesn't blend as much with others, a fact that can be both enjoyable and a bit embarrassing. Am I making too much a spectacle of this character, a "lookit all the shiny toys I got" thing? Perhaps. For a cherry on top I gave him "The Peculiar" title, which suits him to a tee.
By rank 10, Slayers aren't any more complicated to play than rank 1 -- it's a lot of button-mashing, usually between a very small set of skills. Looking ahead, I realize that most all of these skills are pure damage, so it's not like you're going to use them all in a fight or have to rearrange them for some special combo. You pick the type of damage you want to do according to your mastery path, you use the damage skills related to that, and you let most of the others fall by the wayside. It just doesn't make sense to use a lot of Trollslayer skills when you're Skavenslayer (my personal preference). Since I'm more used to playing complex characters -- hybrids, utility characters, etc. -- the single-minded focus of the Slayer goes against my playstyle. Yet it's still fun, in a simplistic way.
I've quickly developed a suicidal mindset with this class. It could be due in part to the Slayer lore, but there's really no option for this class to hang back and play it safe. You HAVE to run into combat, swinging away, and you WILL get killed. Repeatedly. Scores of times. That starts to make you even less afraid of death than before, so you don't mind leading the charge toward a host of enemy players around the flag. At least you can show them you aren't scared of their numbers.
I've gotten Wot's cultivating and apothecary up into the 120's, and have retired that for now, since the potions I'm making I won't be able to use for many levels. It's quite nice to have a selection of pots for battle, and I make liberal use of them. Healing pots in particular have saved my butt on more than one occasion.
T1 has been dominated by Slayer vs. Choppa action, to be sure, but there is a surprising chunk of folks who have used this opportunity of revitalized T1 action to roll up other careers.
Because most of the fights are Slayer vs. Choppa right now, there's going to be a lot of speculation concerning which class is better (at least at the early stages). From my experience, it's been more difficult for me to take down a Choppa than the other way around. I've heard complaints that Slayers are more overpowered and whatnot, and I'm not making a final judgment here, but... it just seems like the Choppa has a bit more survivability AND dps.
As for the RvR-Only Challenge, well, it is a challenge. I haven't hit the dreaded T2 yet, where people have told me it gets even worse, and I feel the drag of slow progression holding me back. When you're doing nothing but RvR, renown bars fill up waaaaay faster than XP bars, so I've seen a nearly full renown bar waiting on a 35% full XP bar to catch up more than once. I've developed a strategy for progression, which includes going between all three warcamps and getting every single RvR quest (and repeatable quest) I can get my hands on -- this is really cool when you're killing the enemy and your quest tracker is updating three or four quests simultaneously. My primary focus is on the RvR lakes for influence gear, and by rank 9 I had two lakes maxed out, with only Dwarflands to go. After that, it'll be non-top scenarios until T2 -- scenarios still giving far better XP than oRvR, and far more enjoyable to boot.

WAAAGH!'s State of the State of the Game

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 08:50:47 -0400

Although it's probably old news by now, I decided to hold off for a day or so to properly digest Mark Jacobs' latest State of the Game article and bring you some insightful commentary and probably nonsensical babbling from the voices in my brain. THEY TELLS ME THINGS! You can read the whole thing here, so I'm just going to pick and choose a few quotes to comment on:

Not that I'm doing a lot of sieges these days, but this is a HUGE complaint by folks who do, and that's a good sign that they're listening.

Overall, if you take a healthy dose of skepticism to counter the spin and hype, there's still a lot of great things to look forward to -- if RvR is your main focus. It is a bit disappointing that we're still not hearing a lot, if any, noise about major PvE improvements to the game, which is still important to many folks.

A Call For Subscriptions

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:31:53 -0400

A clever and enticing e-mail has been unleashed on Warhammer relapsers -- AKA "unsubscribers" -- that my friend Stacey sent along to me. It's an interesting read as a whole (I've only posted a small portion of it here), and proves that Mythic has some sort of marketing genius in their dungeon. I guess it's just one of those things that's hard to put into words, but I like Mythic's attitude that shines through in all sorts of places, even in these shamelessly begging "please come back" e-mails.

A few things I noted from this letter:

They try hard to make it sound personal -- referencing not only your character's name, but names of either your guildies or friends.
They entice you with 10 free days of play, full rested XP since the last time you subscribed, and a special quest chain for returners (more on that later) with a unique reward at the end.
They also make the pitch that the game's severely improved in the past few months, something I'll attest to as well. It's just far more of a fun game than it used to be, and better polished, and who can blame them for wanting to point out their accomplishments?

As for that "special quest chain", many players were noticing that we also could pick up the quest(s) in warcamps, but were having a hard time finishing them due to either an inactivated clickie, or because they're not toggled "on" yet. This could be a bug that current players might exploit, so proceed at your own risk.

I don't blame anyone if there's nothing that could entice them back into WAR -- that this just wasn't the game for them. And I don't think we can blame Mythic for trying either. I've seen people surge away and toward the game in the past couple weeks, but I've remained pretty constant toward it -- it's a great way to pass a few hours of gaming, I love the changes they've made, and I can't wait to see what's next. I hope more people will want to give this title a second (or third) chance to see that too.

The Green-Thumb Slayer

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:52:39 -0400

This morning was a really weird morning for me in WAR... I logged onto my Slayer just to get the rest of my mail out of the inbox and to maybe do one or two rounds of cultivating/apothecary, just to clear out my bags a bit.

The next thing I know, it's an hour and a half later, and I'm late for work. Ahh!

So apparently, I've found a little bit of crack in WAR in the form of crafting. 1.2 was pretty kind to cultivating and apothecary, and I found the whole thing to be quite intuitive. Without looking up any guides, I figured it all out within ten minutes and got a factory production line of seeds and potions and dyes going. The first nine minutes were confusing, as you have to figure out that to get higher seeds, you have to keep growing lower level ones until you get the "You have a special moment" proc -- a phrase that conjures in my mind a "very special episode of Blossom".

Once that started to click, I organized my seeds into tiers -- level 1 seeds, level 25, level 50, etc. -- and then alternated between growing them, using them in potions, and harvesting them to get more seeds. Since you get about 2 or more seeds per harvest, and typically 2 plants from a growth, this is pretty easy to keep up. Right now I'm concentrating on four types of seeds: the HoT seeds, the straight-up healing seeds, strength seeds and "has a chance to make your potion better seeds".

I've also ended up with about 24 yellow dyes, which I guess will have to be my new favorite color or something.

I guess I'm kind of addicted to this now, because I really want to get back home tonight and see how fast and high I can get my seeds, cultivating and apothecary. Death can wait for another day.

Da Bloody Twenty - March 12

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:00:37 -0400

On the week of WAAAGH!'s one year anniversary, what lies in store for our infamous top 20 countdown? Let us see:

Welcome to the Community: Mommy Can I Play Warhammer?, Mmmmm Gud, Nazgum's Blog
Podcast Roundup: Stonetroll Certified 21, GAFcast 15, WARP 26, WHA 6, CoTCast 23
"Fight Club" @ Blame the Healer - I want you to gank me as hard as you can.
"1.2 Patch Impressions" @ Confessions of a RvR Player - Acting! Now with voice!
"WAR Zone Control and You" @ The Herald - Show us on the zone where he dominated you.
"Kiss My Axe!" @ Portraits of WAR - Dwarf slayer... so dang CUTE!
"Should There Be A Tier 5?" @ All Things Rob Wild - Simmer down, it's not what you think... and it might be a good idea.
"Witch Hunter Feature" @ The Herald - The heretic must burn... with athlete's foot!
"Starting Over... Again" @ Obsessive Focus - Wow, do I ever feel for these guildies. Good luck!
"Bitter Rivals in the Rear View Mirror" @ Wizards & Wenches - When the lights go down, the RvR heats up
"Depth in WAR" @ Mmmmm Gud - Diving into the kiddy pool of MMOs.
"Definitive Guide To Armor Sets in WAR" @ Gaarawarr Gabs - Holy crud, this is the MOTHERLODE!
"Dark Elf Quest Giver Flowchart" @ Wide Eyed Newb - Dark Elves. So selfless.
"More Thoughts On Zone Domination In WAR" @ Hardcore Casual - What works, what doesn't, what I want for breakfast.
"Seriously Bitter... Rivals?" @ Breakfast at War - Not everyone had such a good time with this patch/event...
"State of the Game" @ The Herald - What lies in store for 1.3?
"Rating the T4 RvR Lakes" @ Nazgum's Blog - How many kittens were killed in the making of this?
"The State of the Latest 'State of the Game'" @ Dark Crag Dispatch - Break down!
"The Darker Side of Zone Domination" @ Knights of the Feathered Hats - Force choke FTW!
And just in case you missed them: WAAAGH!'s interview with Carrie Gouskos and Josh Drescher.

Interview: Josh Drescher & The Half-Blood Patch

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 10:03:23 -0400

When he's not dressing in spandex and saving civilization with his awesome superpower of meticulous note-taking, Josh Drescher is pestered by the likes of me for a few spare moments of his time, and perhaps a hankey that has touched his furrowed brow. What? Too creepy? In any case, he was kind enough to answer ten questions for me before notifying my next of kin.

WAAAGH!: Bitter Rivals is based around, well, one of the most notorious rivalries in Warhammer -- Dwarfs vs. Greenskins. How is this echoed in the Mythic offices -- are there any hardcore rivalries you can share?

JOSH: Barnett’s been Choppa-mad for a long time, but I’d say the Slayers are the clear favorite for most of us. Paul and Hickman’s long-standing rivalry is probably the most visible. Jeff (who’s long stood up in favor of Order) is clearly enjoying being the front-man for the Slayers in the office at the moment. He keeps demanding Mohawks from people.

WAAAGH!: Patch 1.2 quickly became famous for its novel-length patch notes. What's the thinking behind saving up so many changes and additions for one mega-patch versus, say, bi-weekly patches? Is it just for something substantial to wave a PR stick at?

JOSH: There isn’t a real philosophy behind it – it’s just a matter of the team having a ton of stuff that needed time to work through, polish and test. We’ll definitely do smaller patches in the future, as well as patches that rival this one in terms of note-length and features. It’s never a good idea to commit to delivering patches at a set interval, because that forces you to rush important things, which can be worse than not patching at all. It’s better to have it done right than done fast.

WAAAGH!: We know that the combat and careers team has been doing a lot of investigation into career balancing, asking the players for feedback, etc. A lot of people have been asking: why were certain careers first up for major tweakage in this patch versus others? What gave these careers priority?

JOSH: There is Method to the Madness, I assure you. Generally speaking, we address issues we uncover first, then we look to the community for feedback and additional concerns. The Combat and Careers team collects potential issues from the fans, then runs tests and tracks metrics to see if the concerns are valid or not. If they’re valid, they go straight into the “must fix” column and are addressed ASAP. Now, some issues take longer than others to track down and prove and, once proven, some take longer than others to fix. The order in which things get patched isn’t necessarily indicative of the order in which we started working on them. Confusing, I know, but such is life.

WAAAGH!: As a follow-up to that, does it ever strike you as insane to try to balance a whopping 24 careers for a PvP title? Wouldn't it have been a lot easier with far fewer classes?

JOSH: Easier, perhaps, but also less rewarding to the players. Variety has always been important to us – both because we want to give players lots of options AND because (as Warhammer fans) we wanted to cram as much of the IP into WAR as possible!

WAAAGH!: What is your personal favorite new feature in 1.2 and why?

JOSH: The easy answer would be the addition of Slayers, but if I can’t use that, I’d probably have to go with the Zone Control Domination system. I’m a BIG open RvR fan and so it’s been frustrating to not see that system working out to its full potential up to this point. As a result, I’ve been really looking forward to the improvements to that side of the game that came in 1.2.

WAAAGH!: Between launch and today, how far has Warhammer's performance and client stability come, according to what you guys can monitor?

JOSH: We’ve come a long way, but we’re still not satisfied. While we’ve made some serious progress, but we’re certainly not done addressing all of the very reasonable concerns that the players (and we) have about performance. That being said, no sane developer is EVER “done” working on performance improvements. We’ve tackled a LOT of serious issues and the game plays better today than it did at launch. This will continue to be a MAJOR focus for the team for the duration of the product’s lifespan.

WAAAGH!: A lot of people -- including myself -- sat up straight when we saw that non-combat pets were coming to WAR via the Recruit-a-Friend program. The big question is: is this just the beginning? Will these so-called "vanity pets" grow in number, assortment and ways to obtain them?

JOSH: That would be telling. *evil grin*

WAAAGH!: We got a lot of impressions reports from people who attended the NY Comic Con -- what were YOUR impressions following the event?

JOSH: Sadly, I wasn’t at NYCC this year. I was in Europe on an EA Producers Tour. I hear the Saturday night party was a lot of fun.

WAAAGH!: With the new official forums open for business, how are you guys going to keep this from degrading into a dank pit of trolling, sarcasm, and personal insults? What are your greatest aspirations for this feature?

JOSH: The answer is simple: We never, ever let Andy, James and Jess go home. Honestly, it’s a HUGE challenge, to be sure. Firm, but fair moderation is key. Because people can’t join the forums anonymously, we can avoid a great deal of the more egregious misbehavior that plagues other forums. Posters who break the rules will be dealt with sternly and there won’t be an easy way for them to return to the forums once that’s happened. That level of accountability tends to curtail a lot of the more serious “Internet Toughguy” nonsense that might otherwise pop up. As for our hopes for the forums, it’s pretty simple – we want a place where we can hear the players’ voices clearly and easily on important issues AND where players can go to hear what we’re saying, thinking and planning to do without needing to get “lucky” and find the right third party forum that we happen to post in. We absolutely do NOT intend to try and replace the excellent fan-run community sites out there. Those guys have wonderful, vibrant and energetic communities that will continue to see interaction from Devs and support from Mythic.

WAAAGH!: Total fluff question! What are you playing in WAR these days, and what have you witnessed that's surprised you from the players?

JOSH: I’m still playing my trusty Iron Breaker, but I have to be honest – his days as my main are numbered now that the Slayer is coming on line. As for surprises, that’s a tough one to answer. I’m usually more impressed than surprised by our fans, to be honest. For example, I’ve been really impressed by the dedication and commitment of our fans over the past few months. We know it’s tough out there at the moment for everyone, so it really means a lot every time a person decides to take their hard-earned money and spend it on WAR. We don’t take that vote of confidence lightly and it’s one of the reasons we decided to commit so heavily to large, free expansions to the game over the next few months. My hope is that things like 1.2 help to – in some small way – illustrate the fact that we are listening, we do appreciate every, single person who chooses to play WAR and that we’re working SUPER-hard to constantly build upon and improve the experience our players are enjoying.

WAAAGH!: Thanks for talking with us!