Well, I did it - had to go and sign up for a Gameriot account so I could post.
Didn't want to do it initially, but it wasn't a big hassle so whatever...

Just wanted to say to people complaining about there not being enough things to spend their money on in WAR due to a weak economy - give some of that gold away, you hoarders!

I know I've often harped about this in other posts (on your old blog, Syp), but I really it helps foster a better online community if you're charitable to other players, especially when they're newbies to the game or just a lowbie toon in the earlier chapters.

And it's not always about giving out money - in fact, a better approach is to stop selling / salvaging all those great / nifty items you pick up that aren't for your class.  If my Witch Hunter comes across a really great pistol with mutliple buffs but is still weaker than his current pistol, I'll hold onto it until my next trip to the lowbie areas and hand it out like Santa Claus (fitting, considering the holiday season).  Even if that pistol is a higher level than the toon I gave it to, it gives them something to look forward to when they level up.

I've taken this approach with my Witch Hunter and Chosen, who are both around level 20, and in both cases I've been very liberal with my spending on seige machines, had enough for a mount, and still gave away a lot of choice items I can only hope helped someone just entering the Warhammer world.  Sometimes the people just say "thanks" and run off and you never see them again, but I can't count the number of times that people have been really floored by the showing of generosity - they'd tell me so.

A lot of these people ended up adding me to their friends list, and I always found it hilarious that I'd bump into them later in the game once they'd caught up to me in levels (I'm an altaholic with 5 toons on the go right now, plus a BG and KotBS on the way!  So I level pretty slowly).  Questing with them later on usually proves to be fun too.

I don't know if this is good advice if you're a hardcore gamer who already has friends running a guild (perhaps you all played DAoC together or came over from WoW together - who knows).  But if you're like me, a (to steal a line from Syp) "casual-hardcore" gamer who doesn't have a bunch of guild-mates waiting for you at upper levels, it's a great way to interact with and encourage new people to the game, and make it a better gaming experience for everyone.

And if you're really that loaded with gold, then why the heck not?
Passing up on selling / salvaging a few items, or giving away some of the potions / talismans you make certainly will not bankrupt you.   And a trip to the lowbie areas (where people are level 1 - 10 or so.. any higher than that and I think they should have a pretty good grasp of the game) to hand out all that stuff really shouldn't take up too much of your time either - you're probably rich enough to afford all the mounts and flight masters you want anyway!

Merry Christmas!

 

You're not a real man unless you have 15 toons, excitedly wait for the Slayer AND Choppa release to add to your army of Alts, don't even know who your "main" is anymore, and dream of the day that you *might* have a toon who's over level 30!

*sigh*
I want my life back - WAR has stolen it from me.

 

I agree - not having a strong guild in has probably been what's kept me from really getting into WAR as much as I could.  If only Mythic would allow character transfers from normal servers to RP servers... I think I'd transfer over to Phoenix Throne since I've heard there's a usually a stronger sense of community on RP servers.

I also think I need to seriously consider deleting some of my alts so I don't feel like I have to play them.  I can't imagine deleting a single one of my Order toons, save for perhaps my Archmage who's a bit of a bore to play... but with Destro, my Zealot, Marauder and DoK all may have to liquidate their assets, transfer the cash over to my main, and make a trip to the garbage bin...

 

Blargh.
I don't know if it's my work computer, but the layout for Waaagh! has been messed up the past few days.  Makes posting a confusing exercise to say the least!

Not having played WAR all week, I decided to dedicate a good 5 hours to it last night.  Once again I spent most of my time trying to level up my Warrior Priest and my KoBS in the T2 lakes.  My WP hit renown 18, which allowed me to equip all my lovely purple items I had worked so hard to get.  At first I was pretty elated, but that quickly died off.

Switch to my KoBS.  Same old, same old of grinding the RvR lakes and arguing with people in warbands on whether or not to hit the keeps when we were only at 70% strength.  A somewhat evenly matched encounter with Destro occurred in the Shadowlands and Ellyrion proved to be fun (since I find it rare to find "fair fights" in the RvR lakes), but the Destro zergball showed up a few minutes later and rolled us all the way back to the warcamp, spoiling the fun.  Boo-urns.

We did end up defending the keep in Barak Varr for a good 20 minutes before Destro got the picture, turned tail and ran.  That was actually quite a bit of fun.  And when they came back for a second spanking, I thought it to be still pretty fun though it started to lose it's allure - as a tank, I'd just jump out the front door, hit a few things, and then jump back inside to be healed.  Everything else I did though last night felt pretty lackluster.

I don't know - maybe I'm missing something?  Maybe I shouldn't be dodging the scenarios?  Maybe I shouldn't be a gear s-l-u-t and grind so much for purple items that really don't change my stats all that much?  Maybe I shouldn't be ignoring the backstory around the quests I accept?  Maybe I shouldn't be so worried about the doom & gloom I read on Warhammer Online forums about T4 and city sieges?  Maybe I shouldn't get upset about gold-bag crazy players who constantly insist on keep raids as opposed to defending keeps or taking BO's?

The problem is, if I didn't do all those things I'm not sure what I'd do when I played Warhammer Online.  After last night, I felt like I got to the end of my rope... it's not that I hate the game (though there are a lot of things I'd change if I was in charge), it's just that I think I'm having a hard time finding other like-minded players out there, as well as burning out and losing interest.  Most of the toons I have leveled up to the mid-teen / early 20's levels are starting to bore me, and I've barely touched the low-level toons I started up the other week (Choppa, Slayer, Archmage, Marauder) because it's so daunting to think of all the effort it's going to take to level them up, even to level 20.

Perhaps I'll give'er hell tonight and maybe on Sunday, but after that I'm not sure if I can keep it up until my originally planed sub-cancellation date of early May.  Again, not try to point any fingers or place any blame... just sad to feel like, when it comes to Warhammer Online, I've been washed over by a wave of apathy

Whoops, sorry - this turned into another ridiculously long comment... once I start writing, it just seems to flow!  Anyways, hope too many people aren't feeling the same way I am, as I hope if I do make a return to WAR in the future there will still be a good community to come back to.

 

Syp,

Quit the game for a few months - that's what I'm planning on doing.
Not because Mythic has dropped the ball or screwed the pooch on WAR, but just for your own sanity and personal well being.

I know that when I play a game like WAR I play pretty hardcore - come home from work, have dinner and then log onto WAR around 6:30... next thing I know it's 11:00 at night!  But where I live in the magical Kingdom of Canada, we have pretty lousy weather from October - April.  But between May to September it gets pretty gorgeous here and lakefront cottages become all the rage.  I don't know how I (or anyone else who has to deal with crappy/cold weather 7 months of the year) could justify sacrificing a summer day in the name of any video game, especially if I had a brand new BVD Jr. who just entered the world.  And while Mythic has promised a lot of great stuff over the summer for WAR, it's not like it won't be there waiting for me when I return in September / October.

You'd certainly be missed if you took a sabbatical from the WAR community, and I'd hate to see this blog stagnate for 3 - 4 months, but I don't think anyone could blame you for doing what is best for your family.  Having a few months to get a good routine in place with Syp Jr. might even prove to be beneficial down the road for when you get back into WAR, as I suspect it's the first few months of your newborn's life when Chaos will rule supreme over your household!