Patch 1.0.6 - Highlights and more

[fuser]

Maybe it's about time for f13 to put together an easy-to-read manual: "So you work for a game developer? Want to post on forums? Here's how!"

Make it happen! 

Warhammer gets better every patch and I haven't paid past the first 30 days. Talk about value for money!

[Soulflame]

Aw man, I missed the forum drama, probably by minutes.

re:  1.06 - probably the one change that would have impacted me the most was the limitations on stacking of snares, as Tor Anroc (lava  ) was ultimately the last bit of straw that pushed me to hit the cancel button.

[Mrbloodworth]

[Riggswolfe]

I  missed that...whatever it was with Grim. Can someone tell me why a person would edit all their own posts to nothing like that? Is it the internet version of a temper tantrum? I've literally never seen that. 

Dang, I could have told him that I've been here for years (COH launch I think) and still feel a bit like an "outsider" at times, just get used to it. Though I think Schild and I have bonded over our weird love for JRPGs.

Ok, so, on topic. I played a knight a little last night. It was ok I guess. The main thing I liked is that I wasn't made of tissue paper like my WH.

But, I got bored very quickly. I played to level 5 and found myself wanting to log out and go back to LOTRO. I can't figure out what this game is missing other than immersion to make my tire of it so quickly lately. (I can overlook bugs and stuff if the game is fun but somehow the fun just isn't there.)

[gamerjock]

The bar has not been raised, this game is just missing fun and needs to get it back.  Open RvR is key, not quests or anything else that most would point to as 'raising the bar'.  They have the art, they have a decent IP, but they are missing the game.  If you think WoW raised the bar then go play WoW and enjoy the incredible amount of work Blizzard put into that game, I would rather play an interesting half done game that implemented RvR in a way that made the game fun.

edit: missing letters, I blame my kybrd

I see the rewards in the PQs and think "God I don't want to grind that PQ to get that"  and I spam the join scenario button.  I walk to the open rvr (on a populated server none the less) and either dont find anyone at all or stand there in a Mexican showdown, get bored and then pop the scenario que.  I think I've become a lazy gamer.  Nothing in this game is remotely fun enough to want to do it for hours like PQ grinds (has there ever been a more blatant looking grind in a game outside of WoW and the faction?).  I can't even find the energy to try and find dungeons to quest in.  

Sadly the Scenarios are about the most fun this game has...

Perhaps I am just not MMO gamer material any longer.  I see through the grinds too easily and think "f- you Mythic I'm not doing that".  

[schild]

I  missed that...whatever it was with Grim. Can someone tell me why a person would edit all their own posts to nothing like that? Is it the internet version of a temper tantrum? I've literally never seen that.

This happens whenever a developer gets all internet tough-guy and forgets rule #1. After I reminded him of that, he changed, fast.

[gamerjock]

I  missed that...whatever it was with Grim. Can someone tell me why a person would edit all their own posts to nothing like that? Is it the internet version of a temper tantrum? I've literally never seen that.

This happens whenever a developer gets all internet tough-guy and forgets rule #1. After I reminded him of that, he changed, fast.

Did you know he was a developer based on his IP or the mention of similar jobs? 

[schild]

I  missed that...whatever it was with Grim. Can someone tell me why a person would edit all their own posts to nothing like that? Is it the internet version of a temper tantrum? I've literally never seen that.

This happens whenever a developer gets all internet tough-guy and forgets rule #1. After I reminded him of that, he changed, fast.

Did you know he was a developer based on his IP or the mention of similar jobs? 

I don't see how that's relevant?

[Lantyssa]

For all the changes they're flailing about to stop the hemorrhaging, if they'd just make it so PQs and Tier 3 and 4 leveling wasn't a grind, they'd get at least another few months out of me.

[Morfiend]

For all the changes they're flailing about to stop the hemorrhaging, if they'd just make it so PQs and Tier 3 and 4 leveling wasn't a grind, they'd get at least another few months out of me.

If they had cut the exp leveling grind down and let me get to the "fun" part. I would still be subbed.

[Bismallah]

Is that a list of the servers that crash their Forts multiple times per nite? I already got that... thanks.

[Warskull]

For all the changes they're flailing about to stop the hemorrhaging, if they'd just make it so PQs and Tier 3 and 4 leveling wasn't a grind, they'd get at least another few months out of me.

I would have said that a up until the patch, but this patch is so god awful the game just isn't worth playing.  I completely agree with the notion that I really wanted something other than WoW.  Going in my expectations were a mediocre PvP MMO and Mythic completely failed to meet them.  Faster leveling would have kept me around longer until this patch has proven that they very clearly don't give a shit and are about as good at balancing a game as Uwe Boll is at making movies.  I could even deal with their pathetic balancing if PvP was easily available (which it is not on most servers), the game actually functioned right (1.06 broke this part), and the grind wasn't so retarded in T3/T4.

While it is a bit early to call this game a Tabula Rasa, I think you can safely say it is following in Age of Conan's footsteps.

[Lakov_Sanite]

I have a group of friends all playing on phoenix throne dest (cabal of the red hand) but the problem is that while I think playing a dark elf tank would be fun, the thought of the t3-4 grind to get back in is simply too much, not with so many options that are fun immediately and not after a month of grinding.

[Soulflame]

For all the changes they're flailing about to stop the hemorrhaging, if they'd just make it so PQs and Tier 3 and 4 leveling wasn't a grind, they'd get at least another few months out of me.

Amen to this.  Doing the first PQ, and pretty much capping influence on completion of all three phases was nice.  Then I moved to chapter 2, and... it took multiple runs through to cap influence.  Add to that the insanity of the ever increasing numbers of mobs you needed to whack in order to move out of phase 1, and it's little wonder people simply do not do PQs or grind influence.  Particularly since (or so I'm told) influence rewards fall behind somewhere around Tier 2, and completing a PQ even two weeks after launch was more a matter of luck than anything else, even on populated servers.

I can't comment on Tier 4, as I never even saw it, but the grind in Tier 3 was sufficient to kill what little remaining interest I had in the game.  Part of that was the misery of Tor Anroc:  lava + being rooted + way too many knockbacks + LOS issues while trying to heal, what fun!  I calculated I needed a minimum of 36 more hours in TA to advance to level 32 from level 24.  That was simply not going to happen.

That Mythic refuses to budge on many of these issues is really not terribly surprising.  My observation while playing DAoC was that Mythic would often refuse to acknowledge an issue for months, and even then, Mythic would apply a fix that often bewildered their most ardent defenders.  Hell, they haven't even merged the two remaining ToA servers in DAoC, something that should have been done months ago, and which would give the players one almost-healthy server to play on.

I'm just waiting for the "left-axe" style nerf to be applied to a class.  Probably Bright Wizards.

[tolakram]

From a post on VN

MJ:

In terms of our numbers dipping, all I can say is yesterday we had the highest peak concurrent users we've had on a weekday for a number of weeks so that made me smile. As always, we're in this for the long-term and patches 1.1 -> ? will certainly show that committment.

http://vnboards.ign.com/warhammer_online_age_of_reckoning_general_board/b22997/109611216/p1/?28

I think we're in the detractor phase, probably similar to when Mythic boosted Midgard, accidentally, and the nerf whining continued for a week or so until the biggest detractors finally figured it out.  Most important, though, is the first round of 1.1 patch notes is near.

Please don't take that as glowing praise or anything, Mythic is blundering toward something, not sure what.

[Bismallah]

Remember the following from DAOC? (Any former TLs out there?? I helped tabulate data for the SB TLs for years)

"Tabled - need more specifics"

<shudder>

Tolakram, well they did just release two new classes so I am sure he is capitalizing on that fact and publishing it to give his fanbois warm fuzzies. So much could be said about that quote...

[tolakram]

Tolakram, well they did just release two new classes so I am sure he is capitalizing on that fact and publishing it to give his fanbois warm fuzzies. So much could be said about that quote...

If he speaks the truth then something was done to increase the numbers, that's all it means.  The new classes are not open to anyone who did not complete all the quests, so perhaps the event itself brought some in or back?  The point I am trying to make is that a real turnaround won't be acknowledged here or anywhere else until after it's underway.  Already I see threads have turned into nothing more than mostly incoherent bashing about the numerous typical things that mmo players bash about.

I believe that increased orvr activity will bring people back to the game while other improvements, including class balance, will do little.  The live event increased orvr activity and numbers seemed to go up, how about them apples.  Will Mythic realize this and focus on what's important, or will they continue to focus on things that are more important to a WoW type of player?  Win or lose?


edit: grammar

[Montague]

In terms of our numbers dipping, all I can say is yesterday we had the highest peak concurrent users we've had on a weekday for a number of weeks so that made me smile. As always, we're in this for the long-term and patches 1.1 -> ? will certainly show that committment.

Folks,

"Six weeks out, if we're not getting close to the number of peak concurrent users we've ever had on a weekday after releasing previously cut content, we're in trouble"

[Jherad]

In terms of our numbers dipping, all I can say is yesterday we had the highest peak concurrent users we've had on a weekday for a number of weeks so that made me smile. As always, we're in this for the long-term and patches 1.1 -> ? will certainly show that committment.

Heh. Weekday. Directly after a massive patch.

Problem solved.

[Ingmar]

Mythic has a long history of sucking at documenting changes and writing good patch notes, so all the random stealth nerfs/buffs shouldn't be too much of a surprise.

[Demonix]

The bar has not been raised, this game is just missing fun and needs to get it back.  Open RvR is key, not quests or anything else that most would point to as 'raising the bar'.  They have the art, they have a decent IP, but they are missing the game.  If you think WoW raised the bar then go play WoW and enjoy the incredible amount of work Blizzard put into that game, I would rather play an interesting half done game that implemented RvR in a way that made the game fun.

edit: missing letters, I blame my kybrd

I'm sorry, I thought that putting the fun into a game was one of many factors that can be used to predict how long a MMOG will be around i.e. the mythical bar.
of course, this consists of system testing, mechanics testing, player profile analysis, and beta feedback/criticism.  Thinking that WoW didn't raise the bar for future MMOs is an example of selectively viewing the MMO landscape for the past couple of years.

DISCLAIMER:  I am certainly not saying that wow is perfect or did not have problems (insert your example here), nor am I saying that the diku model is king.  Additionally, I will only admit to baking to crush when I have had a few beers.

[Arthur_Parker]

Please don't take that as glowing praise or anything, Mythic is blundering toward something, not sure what.

Standing on plastic sheeting in an EA office somewhere is my guess.

[d4rkj3di]

Did the channeled attack graphics bug get fixed? The one where Pit of Shades would surround you like a halo of "holy shit, I think there's a sorcerer over there". Or the Archmage's direct line of "hey guyz, there's the poor bastard I just killed, he'll be here in 5 mins".

[Feverdream]

Did the channeled attack graphics bug get fixed? The one where Pit of Shades would surround you like a halo of "holy shit, I think there's a sorcerer over there". Or the Archmage's direct line of "hey guyz, there's the poor bastard I just killed, he'll be here in 5 mins".

The Sorcerer version of the graphics enhancement has been so popular that my lucky Zealot now has her own version.

Whenever I cast a group heal, the huge glowy purple circle indicating this appears around my feet and does not go away.  This is great, because it's important that nobody on the opposing side be given any chance to miss the fact that there is a healer nearby.

[Arthur_Parker]

Linky

Folks,

  Patch 1.1 is going up on the PTS later today and after some more internal testing, we hope to open it up to the public tomorrow morning.  So, as usual, here are the highlights.  Please keep two things in mind before commenting on the highlights:

1) This patch was in development before 1.0.6 went LIVE so don't expect to see a lot of changes to 1.0.6 in there yet.  We'll continue to hotfix whenever possible and possibly patch 1.1 with changes that have arisen because of the 1.0.6 patch.  Again, let me say again that 1.1 has been on our internal servers for a quite a while because of the delay in getting 1.0.6 out the door and as such, doesn't have all the latest additions/changes we are working on.   

2) As of now the complete patch notes are at 14 pages so the highlights do not even come close to representing all the fixes/changes in the game.  This patch touches on more aspects of the game even than 1.0.6.

So, without further ado, here are the highlights from 1.1.

Open RvR Influence System – As part of our ongoing effort to encourage people to take part in oRvR, we are pleased to announce the release of an influence system geared solely to oRvR.  Players who participate in this part of WAR will now have additional incentives for fighting for their realm.  As part of this patch we have also made quite a number of changes and fixes to oRvR settings and NPCs as well.  And as always, we have a lot more going in for oRvR over the next couple of months as well.

New Careers For Everyone - With this version the Empire’s Knight of the Blazing Sun, and the Dark Elf’s Blackguard are available for all players!

Easy Public Quests – PQs are great but sometimes it’s hard to get enough people together to complete them, especially in the lower tiers.  So, we are redesigning one PQ per chapter so that it can be completed by 1-3 people.

Chat Hyperlinking – One of the most requested features by the community has been adding the ability to hyperlink items, abilities and quests in the chat window and now it has been added.

Armor Set Rebalance – After scrubbing through our armor sets we’ve made a lot of changes to ensure to various armor sets in the game to make them more useful and prized by the players.

Main Assist – RvR is exciting, chaotic and always challenging but this feature will make it just a little bit easier to help your group fight the good fight.

Player Statue System – Nothing says “you’ve made it” more than having a statue with your name on it in the capitol city of your realm.

New Content – Whether it is new lairs, new quests, new drops in dungeons, new PQ rewards and changes to items (such as cloaks), this patch is full of lots of fun new content additions to the game.

User Interface – Lots and lots of fixes, changes and new additions to our user interface and API functionality, new additions to the chat system and graphic options incorporating community requested features a channel flashing on activity, the ability to turn the chat bubbles on/off, a gamma slider and so much more.

Lots and lots of Bug Fixes - 'Nuff said.

The full notes will of course cover all of these highlights in greater detail. :)

Mark

Nothing says “catass” more than having a statue with your name on it in the capitol city of your realm.

[Mrbloodworth]

But it is a carrot none the less, and does partly satisfy the "Why cant i change the world" thing.

[Riggswolfe]

oRVR influence system, new content, and smaller PQs are about the only things I have to look forward to in that patch.

[Kail]

Did the channeled attack graphics bug get fixed? The one where Pit of Shades would surround you like a halo of "holy shit, I think there's a sorcerer over there". Or the Archmage's direct line of "hey guyz, there's the poor bastard I just killed, he'll be here in 5 mins".

Nope, still there.  Haven't seen those particular bugs yet, but there's a whole bunch like them (mostly from spell effects I cast right when I die) that I ran in to yesterday.  Also haven't fixed that glitch where zoning in/out of a scenario doesn't update your grudge/accusations/whatever.

Though it looks like they did fix the helm visibility bug, which is nice.

Edit: accurations -> accusations

[Lakov_Sanite]

Folks,

  Patch 1.1 is going up on the PTS later today and after some more internal testing, we hope to open it up to the public tomorrow morning.  So, as usual, here are the highlights.  Please keep two things in mind before commenting on the highlights:

1) We're still working on all the things 1.0.6 broke, don't worry.

2) We're really working on lots of stuff, promise.

So, without further ado, here are the highlights from 1.1.

Open RvR Influence System – Now you can grind for gear in pvp by killing hundreds of players instead of mobs. The rewards will be items that aren't quite as good as keep bags.

New Careers For Everyone - After the catasses are done beta testing our new classes we'll let everyone play...but your guild won't want them because your catass friends already levelled theirs to 40 and geared them up. Enjoy your barely played alt.

Easy Public Quests – One PQ per chapter will be able to be done with half a group, no you still can't solo and no, the loot won't be as good as the other two pq's.....which will still be empty since you can't find a group.

Chat Hyperlinking – We can't think of a good reason why we didn't put item linking earlier except we wanted to be stubborn.

Armor Set Rebalance – No more ballistics skill on runepriest gear...mike thought they could use guns, sorry.

Main Assist – We're getting around to giving you useful tools to play our game, tools that we ourselves had in previous games but forgot where we left them.

Player Statue System – Expect to see about a dozen statues in your capitol city of the most arrogant and annoying catasses on your server that play in your resident uber guild. You will never be on these statues. All hail the noble Pkurmom

New Content – Oh hey, we're finally going to fix cloaks!

User Interface –Lots of polish being added to our final product before WAR goes gold.

Lots and lots of Bug Fixes - We're going to fix things, promise.

The full notes will of course cover all of these highlights in greater detail. :)

Mark

[tolakram]

Thinking that WoW didn't raise the bar for future MMOs is an example of selectively viewing the MMO landscape for the past couple of years.

It IS selective.  I do not like WoW because it doesn't have anything that represents fun for me.  I was drawn to WAR because it was supposed to have things that sounded like fun, for me.  To say the bar is raised for WAR because of WoW is just not true.  If someone wants to make a game just like WoW then the bar has been raised by both WoW and LotRO, if someone wants to make an RvR game the bar is still DAoC.  

Mythic is the RvR expert.  You can't claim to be an expert at something and then not excel at it.  

[schild]

You can't claim to be an expert at something and then not excel at it. 

Sure you can, it just becomes a shitty claim and makes you look like a big jerk after you fail to deliver.

Which is what happened here.

They invented RvR (uhhh OK, they invented _the_word), but they aren't going to be the ones to perfect it.

[Tarami]

Nothing says “catass” more than having a statue with your name on it in the capitol city of your realm.

But it is a carrot none the less, and does partly satisfy the "Why cant i change the world" thing.

I'd like to see something like it in LotRO. Of course, there are boss trophies for your guild yard already... but something central would be nice and it wouldn't have to be catass awards in LotRO. More like fluff.

[rk47]

hrm. nah. nothing worth staying past december for. I don't know why they keep fixing all these things but ignore the massive fortress lags. I had a warband that lost half of its members to crashes in dragonwake in a regular keep taking with no defenders since the 1.6 patch. Somewhat less stable, cast time bug and generally more annoying glitch. Class balance is what the patch is about anyway, but why develop 1.1 then turn around and do 1.6 ? Realized that your subs are bleeding finally huh?

[Desparity]

http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/1005/xrvf099aq9.jpg

lol this patch made Hybrid healers \ tanks on par with dps classes but with higher defences.

[ghost]

I'm gonna need a mod to keep up with all my new experience bars.  I'm so stoked.......