The patch notes for WAR's 1.3.4 release are up! We pretty much knew what to expect but now we have the details to obsess over until it hits the live servers. 1.3.4 will also be up on the PTS later today so be sure to check it out. Read on for what caught my eye.
"You will now earn Recruit, Scout, Soldier, and Officer Emblems for completing any Scenario match. All players who participated in the scenario, on both the winning and losing sides, will receive Emblems based on their realm's final score. Emblems convert upwards at a rate of 5:1 and can be broken down from Officer to Recruit." ... "Additionally, Rank 40 players will also collect Insignias which are needed for the most powerful of these new items."
The new currency will be very similar to the current medallions except you can actually trade up or break it down. Insignias are the new crests and can be obtained in scenarios and world RvR.
Both the winners and losers will get a form of the new currency. That makes me nervous since I really don't want to see players focusing on getting the scenario finished as quickly as possible, win or lose. It all depends on the amounts players are given.
"Open RvR and Scenario bolsters have been modified. Within Tier 1 you'll now be bolstered to rank 11, in Tier 2 you'll be bolstered to rank 21, in Tier 3 you'll be bolstered to rank 31, and in Tier 4 you'll be bolstered to rank 40."
This move was not expected, but I think it is a very good idea. It will make lower ranked players a bit more competitive. My only concern is the bolstering of the free trial players. Some of them will be quite powerful as twinks at Rank 11. However, this should benefit non-twinked players which is a good thing.
"* Tier 1
- Nordenwatch
- Gates of Ekrund
* Tier 2
- Nordenwatch
- Gates of Ekrund
- Mourkain Temple
* Tier 3
- Nordenwatch
- Gates of Ekrund
- Mourkain Temple
- Phoenix Gate
- Highpass Cemetery
* Tier 4
- Nordenwatch
- Gates of Ekrund
- Mourkain Temple
- Phoenix Gate
- Highpass Cemetery
- Battle for Praag"
Above is the new scenario structure. As you can see, they removed a lot and really concentrated on the more popular ones. The scenarios which were removed will be back as weekend events.
I'm not sure how I feel about this change. On one hand, trimming some of the less fun scenarios is a welcome change. On the other, they trimmed much more than I expected. I like to play alts and the variety of scenarios between tiers was one of the nice aspects of leveling in WAR.
It won't be so bad if the weekend events happen regularly. I like Nordenwatch, but I'm not sure I want to play it all the time on every one of my characters.
Those are just some of the changes coming in the 1.3.4 patch. There is a bunch more in the notes, so go check them out. Also, on 2/3 at 8pm EST there will be a PTS test event. I'll be there, so come say hi!
