I have been quiet for some time around here. My free time has been limited and I've chosen to spend it playing WAR. I have the basis for several blog posts regarding WAR's launch laid out in my head. I just haven't gotten to them. However, a situation on my server, Averheim, has prompted this post.
Altdorf, Order's capital city, fell into Contested at the hands of a 3 AM Sunday morning Destruction raid. In a matter of hours, Order went from sitting pretty, to completely annihilated. A feat yet to be accomplished anywhere in WAR. Sure, some other servers exploited there ways to Altdorf earlier in the week, but none had pushed to the King.
Now, Emperor Karl Franz did not fall to the Destruction zerg, but that isn't the point. The fact is, Mark Jacobs had just gotten done stating it was far too early for Altdorf to get thrown into a contested state. Mark Jacobs, as all MMO developers, underestimated the player base and was horribly wrong. There isn't an MMO out there that has proven the MMO player base wrong. Hardcore players ALWAYS finish first and ALWAYS push the end game months ahead of schedule.
I could talk about conspiracy theories as to how Destruction exploited their way through Tier 4. I could argue population imbalances until the cows come home. I could pretend I don't care, because I'm still Rank 22 on my Ironbreaker, which is a long way from being able to participate in the defense of Altdorf.
The fact is, Destruction on Averheim is down-right organized and efficient. The Alliance of guilds that took part in the attempt should be commended. It was well planned and well executed, and from all accounts, it was a damn bit easier than even they had thought. Kudos to them.
My brain hurts thinking about how easily this occurred. The majority of the attackers were not Rank 40, were definitely not geared up, and are still learning the game. Mythic should be flat out embarrassed that a group like this was able to zerg roll an entire server at 3 AM on a Sunday morning.
Saddest part, the free month isn't even up. What was originally planned to have taken a year, has occurred in weeks. Mythic is racing against the clock now. Good luck Mythic.
Fortunately, Mythic saved this from being an Epic fail. WAR's end game at least worked. Sorry Age of Conan, the Epic Fail crown is still yours to behold.
The 3am thing was just getting thrown around. They actually only hit Stonewatch sometime around 7 or 8am, I was online when I got the message that it was under attack. This wasn't the first time Stonewatch was hit, so I didn't see it as a big deal and took off for a few hours. I came back around noon and Altdorf was contested territory and everyone was all confused and no one was terribly sure what was going on.
ReplyDeleteIt goes to make the point that if most of our guild and the t3 zone I was talking to had no clue that Altdorf was even under attack(by this time it was already taken). That something bigger and more distracting should happen when our capital is being taken from us.
I don't think Mythic intended for city seiges to not occur within a year, my guess is they knew people would give it a shot once they got close to 40. The King encounter, in part, is there to prevent the final 'end game' from happening too quickly.
ReplyDeleteI look at it like a PQ. Destro was able to accomplish stage 1 (RvR) due to an underleveled (and asleep) Order side. They finished stage 2 (events to open up the king) due to a zerg and again lack of defenders. Stage 3 (the hero part) they failed, PQ resets, and they don't get the loot bags.
The major difference in this and other PQs, is that as time goes on, the defenders will catch up, and so stage 1 and 2 will become harder and harder, while stage 3 will be easier as the attackers gear up.
Working as intended imo.
On Sylvania I am finding that as the night wears on Order players seem to log off and Destruction logs on.
ReplyDelete6pm Order does a good job of keeping up with Destruction in scenarios.
8pm you can feel a slight shift as Order starts losing more.
10pm Destruction has a tight rein on scenarios. Order rarely wins.
Judging by that Destruction on Sylvania simply has to wait till 11pm or so and then run rampant.
Now imagine how quickly Destruction is going to capture Altdorf once they are properly geared. /sigh
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ReplyDeleteBill is correct about Scenarios on Averheim as well. When I can log on early, I can play them from 6 PM to 9PM and win 7 out of 10 in PUGS. If I can get in groups with guild-mates then we dominate. We cheer, joke around and are happy.
ReplyDeleteAs the evening wears on we start losing repeatedly. Around 9PM ET when the majority of our guild is actually starting to log on in numbers we can't beg a win unless it's completely guilded. And even then it proves to be a toss up that declines into straight losses.
I stop scenarios by around 10PM from the pain and frustration of successive losses and go do something more fun. :-) The things I notice late in the evening even if we have most guild members are:
1. Destruction opponents within our bracket are often higher level. Even though we might get bumped up that barely compensates in spells and gear.
2. They have more tanks and healers. Often the healer ratio is 2:1 or 3:1 in Destruction's favor. This is hard to overcome no matter how hard we play.
3. It "appears" like they have more of their trick-pony spells sooner - or it's the result of the fact that they are actually higher in level. Like knockback, sometimes I can't move for 2 minutes w/o being knocked backward.