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Hasselhoff with laser eye beams
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Sat Jul 05, 2008 9:15 pm :: silex
Posts: 990 • Guild: Pirate Ghost Cows • Class: Zealot • Joined: 17 Feb 2006
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Let me start off by saying that the people of Ohio are fantastic. I know this because I stopped at a Taco Bell on the way down and the staff couldn't have been more courteous. But there is one huge glaring flaw in this state: 65 MPH speed limits on the freeway. That's just downright un-American. Fuel conservation ... safety ... psssh, not in my America! But Ohio did host the 2008 Origins gaming convention to pull EA Mythic and Warhammer Online in yet again - so I will forgive them this one time (yes, Ohio, you can still be a state).
Anyways, onto stuff people actually want to read.
Public Quests, Or: How I Learned To Stop Playing Solo and Join the WAAAGH!
Public Quests are zone wide quests that everyone can take place in. Upon entering a public quest area, a player is notified of the current public quest and the progress on it. Public quests are often multiple step endeavors and can take quite awhile. The first step is often solo oriented. Whether the participants are grouped up together or not, everyone works towards a common goal. For example, one public quest for the Dark Elves involves them assaulting a High Elf sun temple. The first step is to kill off 30 of the High Elf guards protecting the temple. Any player can kill the guards - and their kill count will benefit everyone else on the public quest.
As the quest progresses, you will most likely need to group up with your fellow players - or at least work in a coordinated effort. The second step of the above quest involves slaying 15 High Elf Sun Mages, each protected by a small band of guards. Most public quests culminate in a final boss battle. For example, after mowing down the High Elf Sun Mages, a Sun Drake falls from the sky in a weakened state. The forces of Destruction at the Public Quest are tasked with finishing the beast off.
Throughout the public quest, each player is awarded Contribution which measures their participation in the public quest. When the boss baddy finally hits the dirt and the public quest ends, all contributors randomly roll 1 to 1000. Contribution scores are added onto each player's roll. So, for example, if Gozbag the Black Orc scored a +300 in contribution and rolled a 900, his final roll would be 1200. The top few rolls earn special loot bags from the boss's treasure hoard.
Each lootbag winner can reach inside the loot bag and pull out his choice of weapon, armor, crafting materials, and even cash. All equipment is tailored to that player's class. In this example, there were 3 tiers of loot bags: purple, blue, and green. Below is a picture of the loot contents of one of the green bags. The contents of the blue bag contained a strong blue item in addition to the standard green bag picks. I unfortunately did not get to see what was in the purple bag.
In addition to the lootbags, each player is awarded Influence whenever they do anything to further the public quest's progress. If Gozbag killed one of those High Elf guards in the first stage of the Public Quest, it would immediately grant him Influence. Influence is assigned to each group member equally. An NPC commander back at the base camp or chapter hub observes your progress in the area and hands out Influence rewards in three tiers. The player may choose one reward for each tier of Influence they have completed. In this example, the first tier consisted of potions. The second tier consisted of uncommon green weapons and armor. The third and final tier consists of rarer blue weapons and armor.
Areas of Warhammer Online are seemingly divided into "chapters", as displayed in the Tome of Knowledge. There may be several different Public Quests that make up a chapter area, so you do not need to grind the same Public Quest over and over to maximize your influence score. I noticed that as I traversed between Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of the Dark Elf area, my Influence did not carry over from one chapter to the next. Chapter 2 was a new area with new locals to impress.
Mastery Training - You Can Be a Unique Snowflake Too!
Each character class in Warhammer Online has access to 3 mastery paths. Each mastery path provides access to unique AP abilities, tactics, and morale abilities, allowing players to further customize their character to the playstyle they want. As a character progresses through the ranks of Warhammer Online, they will receive mastery points which can be spent in the mastery path of the player's choice.
Every mastery path seems to follow the same structure:
3 - Tactic
5 - Ability
7 - Tactic
9 - Ability
11 - Tactic
13 - Ability
15 - Rank 4 Morale
According to the mastery training window, mastery points are used to both increase your mastery level and to train mastery abilities. Reaching a certain level in a mastery path does not immediately grant access to that ability or tactic - a further point must be spent. Robert Mull mentioned that the system is always being tweaked.
As a side benefit of working towards the unique mastery abilities, many core abilities are enhanced by your mastery path specialization. These skills can be identified by either their tooltip or the training window.
According to a footnote in the mastery window, characters first start earning mastery points at level 11. Characters will have access to 25 mastery points by rank 40, which would seemingly allow a player that strongly specializes in one mastery path to have a couple points left over to dabble with in a second mastery path. Again, the exact amount of mastery points available at rank 40 and how they are distributed are being tweaked.
Renown Training - You Can Be an Even Uniquer Snowflake!
Long time DAOC players will be immediately familiar with the basis of the Renown Training system. In addition to gaining normal XP from Player vs. Player combat, players also earn Renown Points (RP). As the player accumulates RP, it will eventually advance that player's Renown Rank. Somehow, this RvR advancement will allow a player to purchase Stat Packages and Renown Tactics to further enhance their character (NOTE: Activated Renown Abilities have been discussed on many a fansite in the past as a possibility - Stat Packages and Tactics are simply what I noticed as being trainable at Origins. Gear rewards for Renown Rank advancement are supposedly somewhere out there too.).
The Stat Packages and Tactics are separated into 3 tiers currently. To advance to tier 2, 20 Renown Training Points must be spent on the tier 1 level. To advance again to tier 3, a total of 40 Renown Training Points must be spent between tier 1 and tier 2. Many abilities appear to have multiple levels as well, as they are ominously ended with a number (ex: Fortitude 1), so if you wish to be the grand master of Corporeal Resistance, you can be.
Renown Stat Packages and Tactics:
Type - Name - Cost - Tactic Slots - Description
Tier 1
Stat Package - Reinforcement 1 - 5 Renown Points - N/A - Increases Armor by 3%.
Stat Package - Resilient 1 - 5 Renown Points - N/A - Increases Corporeal Resistance by 3%.
Stat Package - Fortitude 1 - 1 Renown Point - N/A - Increases Toughness by 3.
Tactic - Combat Awareness - 2 Renown Point - 1 Renown Tactic Slot - 5% increased EXP in Realm vs. Realm combat.
Tier 2
Tactic - King of the Hill - 2 Renown Points - 1 Renown Tactic Slot - 5% increased Renown in Skirmish.
Tactic - Invigorating Victory - Dwarf - 2 Renown Points - 1 Renown Tactic Slot - Killing Dwarfs will double your AP regen rate 10% of the time.
Tactic - Invigorating Victory - High Elves - 2 Renown Points - 1 Renown Tactic Slot - Killing High Elves will double your AP regen rate 10% of the time.
Tactic - Invigorating Victory - Empire - 2 Renown Points - 1 Renown Tactic Slot - Killing Empire will double your AP regen rate 10% of the time.
Tier 3
Tactic - Dwarf Bane - 2 Renown Points - 1 Renown Tactic Slot - You inflict 2% more damage against Dwarfs in PvP.
Tactic - High Elf Bane - 2 Renown Points - 1 Renown Tactic Slot - You inflict 2% more damage against High Elves in PvP.
Tactic - Empire Bane - 2 Renown Points - 1 Renown Tactic Slot - You inflict 2% more damage against Empire in PvP.
Stat Package - Spiritual Refinement 1 - 5 Renown Points - N/A - Increases Healing critical chance by 2%
Ye Olde Class Previews
Zealot
Well, let's not mess around. Straight to the coolest of the cool, the best of the best, the Zealot.
The mastery trees for the Zealot are pretty interesting. The Path of Alchemy seems to focus on single target immediate healing and single target immediate damage. Meanwhile, the Path of Witchcraft has a focus on sustained effects, such as healing over time, damage over time, and shielding spells. Finally, the Path of Dark Rites specializes in group healing, area effect healing, and area effect damage.
Dark Rituals seem to have received a modification since I last saw them. First, they have apparently shed their debuff components in favor of group buffing effects. The beneficial effects range from HP regeneration, to AP replenishment, to small pulsing damage absorb shields. There are still Tactics options to turn your Rituals offensive (for example, Waves of Chaos which causes your Rituals to pulse damage). Second, the Dark Rituals are now all located in the mastery trees.
The Harbinger of Doom is still a major part of the class and is immediately available on new characters from level 1. The victim of the Zealot's Harbinger deals 25% less damage to the Zealot for the duration of the spell. In addition, many abilities chain off of the Harbinger, such as Storm of Ravens.
Ability Lists: [Updated Zealot Abilities, Tactics, and Morale Abilities]
Black Orc
Da' meanest, da' greenest, and da' biggest.
Many of the Black Orc's abilities follow a 3 step chain mechanic, similar to that of the Swordmaster. Black Orcs start with No Plan. At this point, characters can use starter abilities that advance them to Da Gud Plan! More varied and powerful abilities are available for use at this stage and using them advances the Black Orc to Da Best Plan!! which holds the Black Orc's big finishing moves.
In addition, Black Orcs have several War Bellows, of which only one can be active at a time. The extreme resilience of WAR's tanks continues to amaze me. They were juggernauts in the PvP I watched.
Ability Lists: [Updated Black Orc Abilities, Tactics, and Morale Abilities]
Shadow Warrior
The Shadow Warrior is a versatile class, with mastery paths focusing on long range calculated sniping (Path of the Scout), mid-range quick bow shots usable while on the run (Path of the Skirmisher), and finally melee attacks with their finely crafted High Elven longswords (Path of Assault).
Several abilities are enhanced by the Shadow Warrior's Vengeance of Nagarythe ability. For example, the skill Takedown inflicts a snare on its target normally, but when Vengeance of Nagarythe is in effect, it knocks the target down for 3 seconds in addition to the snare effect. In addition to the Vengeance mechanic, several of the Shadow Warrior's abilities will Ail their victim, allowing them to use potent attacks to finish off their opponent or hinder them further.
Unlike casted spells, bow shots have a minimum range of 5 ft (essentially melee range). At this point, the Shadow Warrior will have to flee (of which they have many abilities to aid in such an escape) or pull out their longsword and engage in melee combat. I was pleasantly surprised to see that their melee capability is actually quite good.
Ability Lists: [Updated Shadow Warrior Abilities, Tactics, and Morale Abilities]
Bright Wizard
The major Bright Wizard mechanic is Combustion. Several spells build up Combustion through normal use - the higher a Bright Wizard's Combustion, the higher their critical rate. However, the Combustion mechanic is not without risk. Continual use of skills that further raise Combustion could cause an Explosion, detonating potent fire magic right in the Bright Wizard's face. These explosions did not outright kill my low level Bright Wizard, but the HP hit was noticable.
In addition, Bright Wizards make use of Hexes to curse their enemies. Several abilities chain off of Hexes and are only usable on Hexed targets.
Ability Lists: [Updated Bright Wizard Abilities, Tactics, and Morale Abilities]
Sorceress
Bright Wizards aren't the only ones that get to blow themselves to bits in Warhammer Online. The Sorceress' mechanic is known as Dark Magic and follows the same rules as the Bright Wizard's combustion. Several spells build up Dark Magic upon being cast, which results in higher critical rates for future spells. However, Dark Magic spells can also Backlash, dealing damage to the Sorceress.
Dark Magic
Increases your chance to critical hit with all abilities. Be careful, though - whenever you cast a Dark Magic spell, there is a chance it will cause a Backlash, dealing damage to you and emptying out your Dark Magic pool! Your Dark Magic pool will begin to fade away after 10 seconds.
1-10 Dark Magic: +5% Critical chance. 10% Backlash chance.
11-30 Dark Magic: +10% Critical chance. 20% Backlash chance.
31-70 Dark Magic: +15% Critical chance. 40% Backlash chance.
71-90 Dark Magic: +30% Critical chance. 80% Backlash chance.
91-100 Dark Magic: +60% Critical chance. 100% Backlash chance.
Ability Lists: [Updated Sorceress Abilities, Tactics, and Morale Abilities]
Warrior Priest
Playing the Warrior Priest requires a delicate balance between managing your AP bar and your Righteous Fury (RF) meter. Nearly every offensive skill in the Warrior Priest's arsenal consumes AP, but builds RF. Nearly every healing skill consumes that valuable RF instead of AP like other healers. Righteous Fury starts at a full 250 and regenerates on its own in between fights. During combat, however, Righteous Fury does not automatically regenerate - you must layeth the smacketh in order to keep the healing juices flowing (with the exception of Supplicate).
In addition to this, Warrior Priests can keep up one Battle Chant at a time to bolster their group in some way.
Ability Lists: [Updated Warrior Priest Abilities, Tactics, and Morale Abilities]
Disciple of Khaine
Like the Warrior Priest, the Disciple dances between keeping their AP up and their Soul Essence (SE) high. AP fuels their melee attacks which in turn fuels their SE. SE is then used to distribute healing to groupmates and allies. Or to themselves, of course. That would be the Druchii way to do things.
I asked Rob Mull of EA Mythic if the Disciple of Khaine was purposely named as such so that its acronym worked out to DoK. "No - The Disciple dual wields two swords and takes pleasure in inflicting pain. Not exactly a follower of the Hippocratic Oath."
Disciples have access to a variety of Covenants to enhance their group in some way, of which they can keep up one at a time.
Ability Lists: [Updated Disciple Abilities, Tactics, and Morale Abilities]
Archmage
With every spell the Archmage casts, he or she conserves some arcane energy for use down the road. This mechanic is known as High Magic, and it rewards the Archmage for switching to and from offense and defense. Nearly every Archmage offensive spell builds one point of Damage High Magic per cast, with a potential maximum of five points built up at any one time. Whenever a point of Damage High Magic is built up, all of the Archmage's healing skills start to burn on the ability bar (see below). When the Archmage finally uses one of those healing skills, they receive some kind of added effect to that skill, however it consumes all of their Damage High Magic.
For example, long cast time heals would have their cast time reduced based off of how many Damage High Magic points were built up. 1 point would make the heal cast slightly faster - 5 points made the heal instantly cast. Instant heals had their effectiveness increased based upon how many Damage High Magic points were consumed.
The High Magic mechanic also worked in reverse - any time a healing spell was cast, a point of Healing High Magic was built up. Damage spells would begin to burn on the ability hotbar and again their cast times would be sped up or their damage made more potent based off of how many Healing High Magic Points were consumed.
High Magic points seemed to evaporate over time if they went unused, however not too quickly. An effective strategy I noticed was to cast instant Lambent Aura on myself and/or my groupmates prior to a fight in order to build up Healing High Magic. By doing so, I started the next fight off with a lingering HOT effect and an instant nuke, which was a very nice advantage.
Ability Lists: [Updated Archmage Abilities, Tactics, and Morale Abilities]
Shaman
The Shaman's WAAAGH! mechanic works much like the Archmage's High Magic - I suppose they are mirrors after all. Gork's WAAAGH! fuels Mork's spells, and Mork's WAAAGH! fuels Gork's spells (if you skipped ahead to read the Shaman blurb, for shame - go back and read the Archmage).
The little guy is just adorable though. The shaman scurries around everywhere and the combat sounds he (it?) makes are hard to describe - I think the best comparison is 'an ewok crossed with a gremlin'.
Ability Lists: [Updated Shaman Abilities, Tactics, and Morale Abilities]
Other Updated Ability Lists
[Updated Chosen Abilities, Tactics, and Morale Abilities]
[Updated Marauder Abilities, Tactics, and Morale Abilities]
[Updated Rune Priest Abilities, Tactics, and Morale Abilities]
[Updated Squig Herder Abilities, Tactics, and Morale Abilities]
A Journeyman's Field Guide to the Warhammer Online User Interface
1 - The experience bar spans across the entire top of the screen. Rested XP is indicated by the bright gray area.
2 - Renown points are measured on a small secondary bar just beneath the XP bar.
3 - Mugshots of your groupmembers are displayed on the left side of the screen, along with their current health and AP amounts. When a groupmember is at full health and AP, their status bars fade out for the time being.
4 - Warhammer Online uses a dual targetting system, allowing the player to have an offensive target and a defensive target. Both targets are located next to your status bar. Some abilities directly make use of the dual targeting system, for example the Disciple's Consume Strength that strips Strength from your offensive target and gives it to your defensive target. When no defensive target is selected, beneficial effects and spells activated by a player are defaulted to themselves.
5 - A group of icons that pop up a number of interfaces. From left to right: Abilities; Backpack; Character Sheet; Tome of Knowledge; Main Menu; Customize UI; Guild; Help.
6 - The small button with the WAR icon dangling off the side of the minimap allows you to join scenarios on the fly.
7 - The small button with the globe icon opens up the map of the current area. The locations of active quests are indicated by red rings on the map. By zooming further out, one can observe realm control of the tiers on the current battlefront. Zooming out again shows the entire world.
8 - The victory point tug-of-war meter is displayed in the top right for the current zone.
9 - Group members, points of interest, quest location red rings, and most importantly yourself are displayed on the top right mini-map.
10 - The objectives of your active quests are displayed on the right side of the screen.
11 - Morale has been removed from its old location and is now located in the bottom right of the UI.
12 - The light blue ring around the character's feet has arrows pointing towards groupmembers, the character's offensive target, and any nearby monsters that are attacking the character.
13 - Any unique class mechanic information, such as a Warrior Priest's Righteous Fury or a Bright Wizard's Combustion, rests on top of the ability bars in the central bottom of the UI.
14 - Currently the ability hotbars come in one of these four configurations: (1) a single hotbar; (2) two hotbars stacked; (3) two hotbars side-by-side; (4) four hotbars in box formation. The Customize UI button said it was a "coming soon" feature when I clicked on it - probably a good assumption that this will allow people to tear up their ability bars however they want once it's working.
15 - The text box is split into Chat and Combat tabs. Players can freely transform them to the size of their liking and even break them apart.
On Action Points and Global Cooldowns...
For those not familiar with global cooldowns, upon using a skill, a short timer (the global cooldown or 'GCD') is activated - no abilities can be used during this timer's duration. The global cooldown timer in Warhammer Online appears to be about 1 second in length. Note that the GCD starts ticking from the time a spell is first activated. For example, if you are using a 3 second cast time Fireball, you will never even notice the GCD as the GCD timer is applied when you first started casting the Fireball. By the time the Fireball spell completes casting, the GCD has already resolved. You can immediately start casting another Fireball or something else at that point.
So what's the purpose of the GCD? Unlike many MMOs of ages past, WAR seems to have an ample amount of instant abilities available to all classes and it is with instant abilities that the GCD becomes noticeable. As far as I can tell, the GCD prevents people from just mashing their heads into their keyboards and dumping all their instant abilities onto a foe at once.
Action Points (AP) are the standard fuel for most abilities in Warhammer Online. Unlike WOW's mana pools or DAOC's power bars, AP regenerates quickly - very quickly. I unfortunately did not have a stopwatch handy at Origins, but it took maybe 8 or 9 seconds to go from E to F.
So what's the catch? How does anyone ever run out of AP? When a player is casting a spell or the GCD is in effect, AP does not regenerate. If a player is continually spamming abilities, he/she will soon run out of AP.
Miscellaneous Tidbits
- Rob Mull mentioned that one potential feature would allow guilds to create a standard uniform that members could easily adopt, instead of each member having to find that perfect shade of banana yellow to match everyone else.
- The graphics have undergone very noticeable improvements since last year, but every EA Mythic employee commented, "This is nothing - just wait until you see the current internal build. It looks like a completely different game."
- Using any morale ability consumes all of your current morale and activates a 60 second cooldown on all morale abilities.
- Morale builds up faster when engaged in large scale combat.
- Tactics come in three different flavors - Career Tactics, Renown Tactics, and Tome Tactics. Additional tactic slots are obtained as a character levels up.
- Multiple guild standards are unlocked as guild's rise in rank.
- Abilities scale with your character's rank. There is never a need to 'upgrade' them - there is no 'Fireball 2'.
- Reviving allies during combat is possible with AP abilities, however they nearly always have long cast times.
- Upon joining a scenario, players are immediately greeted with a Scenario party screen where they can freely join any group that is not yet full. Players can choose to join scenarios "Solo" or "As a Group".
- Quests can be shared with groupmembers via the Tome of Knowledge.
- Just by simply walking around exploring, one can earn Tome of Knowledge experience and unlocks. Just by right clicking this book near the High Elf starting location, I earned an unlock and a decent amount of XP.
- Broken equipment is occasionally found on the corpses of fallen monsters. Broken equipment can be repaired by NPC vendors into usable items unique to your class.
- According to the guild interface window, a full group of six players must be present in order to create a guild. The interface window also talks about a fee.
- Framerate was smooth as glass all day long. I did not notice even the slightest hiccup.
- Load screens were few and far between - the only load screens I noticed throughout the day occurred when entering/leaving scenarios and when initially logging in. Load times also seemed very quick, around 10 seconds.
- Just from Core Training alone, characters earn either a new AP Ability, a Morale Ability, or a Tactic seemingly every level. More than one ability, morale, or tactic is even earned at some levels.
- A wide variety of things are constantly going on inside of the NPC encampments. One example: Two Dark Elven soldiers laughing as they torture a wounded White Lion.
- Not sure if this was an Easter Egg or a bug, but this invading Dark Elven soldier was in such a rush this morning, he forgot something important:
Many thanks to Skozat of Legion of Steel and the entire War-Mongers crew for letting me take pictures over their shoulders and often times right in front of them, completely obscuring their screen with my camera. Many thanks to Rob Mull and the rest of the EA Mythic staff for not kicking me out even after badgering them with question after question for hours on end.
NOTE: All ability lists are nowhere near complete and are always subject to change. If you are trying to use these for anything, especially trying to figure out class balance, you are completely insane. |
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Last edited by silex on Mon Jul 07, 2008 7:20 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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Warlord of the News
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Sat Jul 05, 2008 9:33 pm :: dabigbom
Posts: 389 • Guild: I don't need a guild! I am the guild! • Class: Black Orc and that's final. • Joined: 12 Jul 2007
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Great stuff! A worth to read and a 10+ for all the juicy details.
Loved the part with Area Influence and Influence multiple rewards choice! |
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Junior Hasselhoff Fanclub Member
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Mon Jul 07, 2008 9:07 am :: Skozat
Posts: 3 • • • Joined: 29 Jun 2008
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| Very cool writeup, probably the best source of meaty WAR info I've seen yet. Seeing exactly what abilities the careers had was very cool (hey, I didn't get to try all of them at Origins). Glad I could help. |
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Hasselhoff with laser eye beams
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Mon Jul 07, 2008 9:10 am :: phantom
Posts: 633 • Guild: Dominion • Class: Marauder • Joined: 12 Jul 2007
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| Great article Silex! Keep up the good work! |
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Hasselhoff with laser eye beams
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Mon Jul 07, 2008 12:50 pm :: silex
Posts: 990 • Guild: Pirate Ghost Cows • Class: Zealot • Joined: 17 Feb 2006
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| Skozat wrote: | | Very cool writeup, probably the best source of meaty WAR info I've seen yet. Seeing exactly what abilities the careers had was very cool (hey, I didn't get to try all of them at Origins). Glad I could help. |
The half-nude Dark Elf really wraps it all up nicely, hah. |
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Junior Hasselhoff Fanclub Member
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Mon Jul 07, 2008 3:07 pm :: beowulf
Posts: 1 • • • Joined: 07 Jul 2008
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insanely awesome writeup
We didn't get to PvE much at gamesday baltimore but the pictures are awesome.
Thanks! |
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Junior Hasselhoff Fanclub Member
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Mon Jul 07, 2008 6:35 pm :: Andrakias
Posts: 2 • Guild: South Star Legion • Class: Magus • Joined: 07 Jul 2008
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| nice post |
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Junior Hasselhoff Fanclub Member
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Mon Jul 07, 2008 6:35 pm :: Andrakias
Posts: 2 • Guild: South Star Legion • Class: Magus • Joined: 07 Jul 2008
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| nice post |
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Hasselhoff with laser eye beams
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Mon Jul 07, 2008 7:14 pm :: silex
Posts: 990 • Guild: Pirate Ghost Cows • Class: Zealot • Joined: 17 Feb 2006
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Thanks guys.
And welcome to the official Junior Hasselhoffs of America fansite. You now have your official badges and Hoff decoder rings. Put them to good use, else evil shall triumph! |
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Junior Hasselhoff Fanclub Member
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Mon Jul 07, 2008 9:01 pm :: osyshnir
Posts: 1 • Guild: The WarMongers • • Joined: 07 Jul 2008
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Excellent write up Silex. Loads of good info.
Glad me and the WarMongers could help. I totally missed LoS being there, always game for meeting new folks...be they allies or competition.
Anyways, I got some video up from the show too.
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
and an interview with Bob Mull
Part 1
Part 2 |
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Junior Hasselhoff Fanclub Member
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Mon Jul 07, 2008 11:37 pm :: Ten_Eighty
Posts: 1 • Guild: Blood Eagle • Class: Archmage? • Joined: 07 Jul 2008
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AWESOME read. I had to register just to say thanks i enjoyed the new (to me) information so much.
Wish i could have gone to Origins. |
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Hasselhoff with laser eye beams
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Tue Jul 08, 2008 11:00 am :: silex
Posts: 990 • Guild: Pirate Ghost Cows • Class: Zealot • Joined: 17 Feb 2006
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Glad to be of service.
I felt my post needed more substance, so I added a flower emoticon. |
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OD'd Hasselhoff
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Tue Jul 08, 2008 7:10 pm :: GoatEng
Posts: 91 • Guild: Scorn • Class: Zealot • Joined: 20 Nov 2007
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I can't imagine how much time/effort/energy went into such a comprehensive write up. I am surprised at you silex. Usually you just let dabigbom keep us in the loop! 
Oh, and the only thing this site needs is MORE FLOWERS!!!
WAAAGH!!! |
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Hasselhoff with laser eye beams
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Tue Jul 08, 2008 10:34 pm :: silex
Posts: 990 • Guild: Pirate Ghost Cows • Class: Zealot • Joined: 17 Feb 2006
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Had to do something to earn my keep.
Couple bonus tidbits:
- The reset timer on the first Dark Elf Public Quest was 2 minutes.
- Hats and Cloaks can be "hidden" via a checkbox on the character screen.
- The booth:
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Wed Jul 09, 2008 7:30 pm :: Gebriel1
Posts: 2 • • • Joined: 06 Jul 2008
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| Nice writeup. Might want to check the little typo in the Shaman description. |
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Hasselhoff with laser eye beams
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Thu Jul 10, 2008 9:10 am :: silex
Posts: 990 • Guild: Pirate Ghost Cows • Class: Zealot • Joined: 17 Feb 2006
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| Gebriel1 wrote: | | Nice writeup. Might want to check the little typo in the Shaman description. |
Ahhh, sup Gebriel.
I spellcheked gud. Nothing popped up though? |
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Junior Hasselhoff Fanclub Member
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Thu Jul 10, 2008 7:45 pm :: minotauro
Posts: 1 • • • Joined: 10 Jul 2008
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| excellent write up sir silex. I have one question for you though. You mention once you use a morale ability it wipes you of all morale and starts a 60sec timer. Is this still the case if you have built morale to level 3 and only use the level 1 spell? |
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Hasselhoff with laser eye beams
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Thu Jul 10, 2008 8:01 pm :: silex
Posts: 990 • Guild: Pirate Ghost Cows • Class: Zealot • Joined: 17 Feb 2006
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Yes, that seemed to be the case. The characters being played in RvR were only high enough level to have Morale Rank 1's and 2's. Most of the players were understandably new to the game and didn't even notice that they were sitting on a completely full bar of Morale until Mythic personnel pointed it out. Even if they used the Morale 1, it wiped out all of the built up Morale.
And welcome! |
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Mad Genius Hasselhoff
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Sat Jul 12, 2008 11:34 am :: wabbit05
Posts: 31 • • Class: Black Ork • Joined: 31 Mar 2008
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I would also like to thank you for the write-up (although I had to scrub my eyeballs to get rid of the daisy images). I had a question on tactics though:
I understand you can only have 4 (I think) slotted at a time, but after you've slotted them they look to me like they're primarily passive abilities, right? Things like increasing resists, shield skills, reducing cooldowns, etc. I haven't looked over everything but it seemed like that was the case. |
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Firebreathing Hasselhoff
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Sat Jul 12, 2008 11:52 am :: Roh
Posts: 130 • Guild: Rakken • Class: Zealot • Joined: 04 Jun 2008
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Welcome back from lurking, Wabbit!
Tactics are like equipment slots - exact to the passive translation you mentioned. This is the same for the guild standard tactics. |
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Junior Hasselhoff Fanclub Member
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Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:48 pm :: Gebriel1
Posts: 2 • • • Joined: 06 Jul 2008
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| Quote: |
Ahhh, sup Gebriel.
I spellcheked gud. Nothing popped up though? |
IThe Waaagh! mechanic also worked in reverse - any time a healing spell was cast, a point of Healing High Magic was built up. Damage spells would begin to burn on the ability hotbar and again their cast times would be sped up or their damage made more potent based off of how many Healing High Magic Points were consumed.
but i wont tell anyone |
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Hasselhoff with laser eye beams
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Wed Jul 16, 2008 1:33 pm :: silex
Posts: 990 • Guild: Pirate Ghost Cows • Class: Zealot • Joined: 17 Feb 2006
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| Hmm. Yes. Good call. |
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OD'd Hasselhoff
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Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:09 pm :: Deathdonut
Posts: 95 • • • Joined: 17 Jul 2008
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Great coverage and writeup!
I've been lurking since I discovered Orbs, and felt I needed to register to express my appreciation for the great work you guys are doing.
I realize they are undergoing a re-design, but did you get any hints/indication on what route they are going with the Magus?
Keep up the good work! |
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Hasselhoff with laser eye beams
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Fri Jul 18, 2008 10:38 am :: silex
Posts: 990 • Guild: Pirate Ghost Cows • Class: Zealot • Joined: 17 Feb 2006
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I didn't get anything on the Magus from the convention, but looks like they are going to play a bit like an Engineer. Summoning demons and the like onto the battlefield.
The grab bag in this month's newsletter is all about the Magus, so should be interesting. |
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