To put things into context for the previous poster - Darkness Falls was never really about the loot. You got tokens for killing bosses throughout the dungeon, and could turn those tokens in for loot if you so chose. You could also sell them or trade them to others, which made them pretty handy all-around. Many crafters also used the dungeon because the tokens could be exchanged for loot that was salvageable, and in turn helped the economy. And WAR's economy is pretty stagnant right now; it could use a good kick in the pants. 

Darkness Falls had 3 different wings (a separate entrance for each of DAOC's realms) that met up in a central area, then led down to the final boss, Legion, who took a whole lot of players to beat (imagine a couple of warbands full.) There was always an air of danger about, which really kept you on your toes if you were leveling inside. Many players would logout inside the dungeon, it'd change hands in the meantime, and when they logged back in, they'd make a run for the opposing wing and see who they could find PvEing inside to gank. Good times.

It appealed to nearly all levels, as the entrance areas housed lower-level mobs, and the deeper you got, the tougher things got around you. It was an awesome grouping experience in terms of excitement and pure XP earned (something severely lacking in terms of leveling-up in WAR), and all-around a lot of fun, even without the RvR/PvP aspect.

The other bit of fun was the constant switching of hands of the dungeon because people wanted access to level their alts, RvR on their mains, etc. It appealed to pretty much everyone (across all Tiers, in WAR-speak) and included everyone equally. The vibe inside was great and when the dungeon switched hands with you inside... watch out! Especially if you were in the middle of a raid; now that was a good time.

I don't deny that this is 2009 and we need some improvements, but if Mythic was going to pick something to use as a blueprint from DAOC, Darkness Falls was it.

-nick / reroller

 

Great points; I totally agree with you on this, Syp. You watch that Youtube video Mythic put out during development and you totally expect to see some badass trophies around. Skulls, whatever. Instead, the best trophy I have so far is the Bottomless Stein from the Keg End event -- which was added in the last month! I do like that trophy, mind you. As well as the Battle Brew Backpack that I looted from one of those blasted snotlings this afternoon.

Part of Mythic's sales pitch with WAR was that your toon would LOOK like they've been through a war. Their "uberness" should be visually distinguishable via armor and trophies. It think they're about 1/3 of the way there... but there's plenty of room for improvement.

To be fair to Mythic, though, on your list of points -- there are already pouch items like my Moldy Coin Purse that create effects/graphic emotes (bottom-left two slots in your paperdoll). They are somewhat unimpressive, though (to put it mildly)...

The system has a lot of potential, though. I'd love to see some awesome trophies from killing massive numbers of a certain race or whatnot in PvP/oRvR, or maybe from killing opposing faction leaders (Karl Franz's head on your shoulders? check!)... there are a ton of possibilities.

-nick / reroller

 

You'll realize that Divine Assault really kicks ass in T1/T2 but is kind of lackluster later on soon enough. It's always nice on clothies, though. Truly, where the WP shines later is in AoE and group heals, depending on your spec (Salv/Grace). If you happen to want to DPS, Wrath does pretty solid single-target damage... but it's still quite vulnerable defensively and brings a lot less to groups. Your best fighting chance against a solo Witch Elf is probably Grace spec, which I'd be if  I didn't need to be Salvation to farm warded gear at 40 right now. :/

Still, it's a killer class, and uber-versatile. The chance to switch completely between playstyles depending on your mood/spec is really nice, and each one is quite viable (though I'd say that Wrath could use a little love right now.) If I didn't have to be Salv right now, I'd definitely go back to Grace and kick some arse.

-nick / reroller

 

Hey Syp -- good stuff as usual. I've posted some follow-up thoughts over at reroller if you're intererested.

http://blog.reroller.com/2009/01/26/locking-into-a-tier/

-nick / reroller

 

Well said, Syp.

Fortunately the VN boards trolls do not make up the majority of humanity, or we'd be a sorry lot indeed. Having thick skin comes with the blogging territory, but personal attacks and general asinine behaviour are a waste of everyone's time.

Mind you, bloggers are just as likely to delete comments they find offensive, so it's not as though they're totally powerless. Of course, if the WAR community is represented by a bunch of jerks, why bother blogging in the first place? Your readership obviously doesn't appreciate you if that's the kind of feedback you're getting. I feel for bloggers who have to deal with that kind of crap because it just harms the game overall; losing prominent and even-handed voices to trolls is insidious and harmful to the community as a whole.

-nick / reroller