Is it just me or did 2012 fly by? I guess that's what happens as you get older. New Years night will likely consist of going to bed around the same time as normal in the Werit household. Staying up until 12 is quite the challenge for me these days.
Looking back at this past year, not much has changed when it comes to MMO's. I'm still playing WAR and SWTOR, just like I was this time last year. I don't really expect that to change in 2013 either. Sure new MMO's will come and go, but when I write this post one year from now, I think I'll be saying the same thing.
I did introduce a new project this year: Dev Spy. I use it everyday to keep up with the plethora of MMO's and their news.
Last year I mentioned that I wanted to release a game, sadly I failed at that goal. Between work, play and other small projects it just didn't happen. I wish I could say that this year will be different, but it probably won't. It's still a goal of mine though.
One of the gifts I received for Christmas was Far Cry 3. I had never played either of the first two, but it doesn't seem to be any kind of essential story aspects I am missing. Basically, it seems like far Cry 3 is a GTA type game, but in the jungle.
First, let me get some hate out of the way. I don't know whose idea it was to have the start menu connect to the Internet, but arrgggghhhh! Nothing like a minute delay while it tries to connect to some servers and fails, just by hitting the start button. It's a terrible idea which will hopefully never be repeated.
The game received some pretty high praise (nominations, awards) from the media leading up to release, so I had high expectations for the title. I'm about 5 hours in and I just don't see it. It's a decent game, but so far nothing stands out as excellent to me.
It kind of reminds me of the Mercenaries games, by the now defunct Pandemic Studios. I run around killing the bad guys and a lot of animals while unlocking new parts of the island. It all gets you experience which you use to unlock skills. It even has 3 skill trees, like MMO's are so fond of doing.
Then there is crafting. I actually find it kind of annoying. For example, I had to find special animal skin so I could craft a bigger wallet. Otherwise I could not collect any more cash. I also have to get certain animal skins to craft a larger bag. The same goes for ammo and the syringes/potions. The limitations are frustrating.
I'll continue to play some more and hope it gets more entertaining.
I am happy to announce a new addition to the Werit family, a new gaming system! My old system, which I had since before WAR and my first daughter was starting to show its age. It was a good machine, but it was time to make a move. It just so happen to by around the time of Cyber Monday, so I was able to get some decent deals.
In the past, I have often gone to Dell for my computer needs. I never had a problem with them and their systems were decent. This time I switched things up a bit and went with CyberPowerPC instead. They had some good reviews and some nice deals.
The details:
Intel i7 6 core @ 3.6ghz
16 gig of RAM
2TB hard Drive
GTX680
I figure this bad boy should last me at least another 5 years. It's got a big power supply (900 watt I think) so upgrading the graphics card in a few years should be a non-issue.
So far, it has been handling everything great. WAR and SWTOR have performed great on their high settings, as have other games I've tried. Hearts of Iron 3 loads very quickly compared to my old system, which was a nice surprise.
I'm really looking forward to see how it does rendering videos. I'll be able to try it out soon, as I have the next WeritCast ready to go.
I'd like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the staff (me) at Werit's Blog! I hope Santa was good to you all, as he was to me. I guess it is actually a White Christmas here, as it snowed last night. But it stopped before midnight, so maybe not really. Anyway, have a fun and safe holiday.
Age of Wushu, a new Martial Arts based MMO is currently conducting an open beta test. Anyone can participate (with some limitations), just head over to their site and download the client. The great things is it leverages Yahoo, Facebook and Google so you don't need a special account.
I also happen to have a key to giveaway which grants you the Deluxe Edition of the game (a $20 value)!
For a chance a the prize, all you have to do is create and submit a video of the game then use the resulting points to buy raffle tickets. You can also earn points by sharing the videos other players have submitted. There will also be some other missions you can do for points.
To get started, click on the Sites with Benefits tab on the right hand side of the screen.
Good luck and let me know if you have any questions!
NOTE: Videos are approved manually, so there will be some delay before points are rewarded. Once they are approved, buy as many tickets as you can :)
Age of Wushu is a different sort of game. This post will serve as a living lists of tips and tricks as I soprt out what I am doing in this world. Feel free to add more tips in the comments.
1) Confusing controls? Escape -> Interface Options -> Traditional 3D Mode tab. This made me much more comfortable moving around the world.
2) Autopathing. You can click on names in your quest tracker and it will autopath you there. Nice if you are lazy like myself, but you don't get to use your cool movement methods. NOTE: This may take you by dangerous mobs and draw aggro.
3) Logins. You can login with a yahoo, Facebook, or Google Account! No need to create yet another one.
4) Mount. You get one to start off with, it looks like a whistle. You can autopath on it too.
5) Gift Treasure Box. I found a big gold trasure box laying around Yanjing. It gave me some pants that let me jump farther, a hard accessory that lets me get stunned less and some close that increase parry.
6) Mining. Nodes are similar to most other MMO's, except that you will get largley useless materials when you are on the low side of the skill. For example, mining Gold Ore got me Stone... no Gold :(
Has it been a year already? Star Wars: The Old Republic turned one yesterday. It feels like it just launched to me. It has been a year of highs and lows for the game. You can check out a neat infographic of the years events over at TORWars.
I am still a big fan of SWTOR, as it holds the second of my two subscription slots, even though it is free to play. That doesn't mean it has lived up to all of my expectations though. There are definitely some weak spots.
The biggest one for me is the side quests. You can slap a voice over on them, but that doesn't have them fun. I had hoped for more quality quest chains instead of numerous one step quests that just served to get you XP and move you to the next hub.
The game really shines when it comes to the Class Stories and World Quest Arcs. Those are where BioWare comes through and keep me hooked on the world they created. So far, I have only really seen 7 Chapters out of 32 ( 8 classes x 4 chapters including prologue ), so there is plenty of game left for me.
The upcoming year is shaping up to be a good one too with the release of their first expansion: Makeb. I was disappointed to hear that our individual class stories will not be continuing. Instead we'll get Faction specific world arcs. Those can be very interesting too, so I'm not that disappointed really. As long as it is quality storytelling, I'll be happy.
One of the problems of the Sites with Benefits was that it took up a good amount of valuable page real estate. The widget isn't the smallest thing in the world, so solving this problem was a priority. I'm happy to say SwB now supports the option to exist as a slide out tab.
You can see it in action on this site, just click on the Sites with Benefits tab on the right side on the screen. To make it go away, click it again. The tab option should make the widget much less obtrusive.
Enabling the tab mode is simple, at siteswithbenefits.com click on Add Site (or Edit Site if you already have one) and choose it in the Type dropdown box. You can have the tab on the left or right side of the screen. Save the changes and you are all set!
Yesterday, the WAR team changed up the scenario lineup, as they do every so often. This time they made a special change. The Play as Monster scenario, Grovod Caverns, was added to all three tiers. This alone isn't something special, but this time it is tier independent.
Since you play a Skaven character in Grovod Caverns, your level and gear make no difference. So when they added it to the lineup they basically allowed everyone to queue together. That means players from Tier one can play with the folks in the other tiers.
A game-wide scenario should defiantly increase scenario pops. If you do not enjoy Grovod Caverns, you can always opt out of it. I happen to enjoy the scenario as it is basically Team Deathmatch. I'm not sure I've ever actually seen someone deliver the thing to the place.
The rest of the scenarios in the lineup are Tier locked since they use the players actual character. Having one that is not is pretty fun so far. Part of me wishes they would bolster everyone to 45 and let everyone play in the same tier for scenarios. Gear levels would certainly become an issue though.
Today, BioWare officially announced their first expansion pack: Rise of the Hutt Cartel! It will include a brand new planet, Makeb, full of cinematic story content and five more levels for players to gain. And what are new levels without new abilities, so we're getting those too.
The launch date is this Spring, but pre-ordering end January 7th. You get a 5 day head start by pre-ordering. It's probably a good idea, as it will spread out the load. I, of course, pre-ordered. Since I subscribe, it only cost $9.99. For F2P players it will cost $19.99.
I am perfectly ok with spending money on quality content even as a subscriber. The more money BioWare gets, the more likely it is we'll get more of the same as time goes on! I'd much rather give them money for expansion content rather than stuff in the store.
I must say I was very pleased and surprised when Funcom announced that the Secret World was going to be dropping it's subscription. It has always bothered me that they had both a subscription and a a full fledged cash shop. Usually games pick one and go with it.
Now that they have dropped the subscription, TSW is going back on my To-Play list. I have not checked out any of the new Issues that have been released since launch, so there is plenty for me to do. I definitely want to check out that rocket launcher, think it would look great on my guy in a suit.
Free2Play, or Buy2Play as people have been calling this, is just the way of the world now. I still hold 2 subscriptions though: Warhammer Online and SWTOR. Sometimes I'll have a 3rd tacked on, like I do for Rift at the moment. It'll be interesting to see if they can withstand the F2P shift.
Sadly, I could not find a picture from the original Scarface
Over the weekend I decided to try something new. I play a lot of different games, which I don't really get a chance to talk about on the blog. So, I figured I'd take some video than add some commentary. The result is WeritCast, a short video with me talking over it.
This week I discuss and show a bit of Warhammer Online. This is still in the experimental stages, so feedback is appreciated, thanks!
With SWTOR's latest patch came a new Cartel Store Pack, the Blockade Runner. In it, among other things, were new custom weapon models. While I didn't get any in the packs I bought, one immediately caught my eye: the Tac-HUD Heavy Sniper Rifle.
Luckily, everything bought in the Cartel Store can be put up on the GTN (AH) and sold. Yesterday, I went on and checked to see if it was there. The cheapest one to be found ran 150,000 credits. A hefty price tag for sure, but I bought it anyway.
Since it is a custom weapon, it arrived without any modules. I hopped on my Trooper (Armstech) and my Jedi Knight (Cybertech) and crafted some blue quality components for the new weapon. I spent some old Coruscant commendations on an Enhancement and shipped it all over to my Imperial Agent.
I think it is a very nice looking weapon and well worth the credit cost. The Tactical HUD is pretty neat, especially as it has some depth to it. I'm tempted to pickup the Covert Flight Suit for my Agent as well, but that would eat up the rest of my Cartel Coins.
As I mentioned yesterday, I am working on my Stellar Fortune project is some of my spare time. It's a space based trading game for browsers which uses both Unity and HTML. Unity is used to show off ship and planet models while HTML is used to display information and do commands.
You can pan around the ship and zoom in and out. Cool ships would be a core part of the game, so I figured there should be a neat way to see them, even if you don't control them directly. In this case, you would give it to an Agent, who will use it to carry out your orders.
WAR developer Kevin, not to be confused with Keaven, has taken to the forum looking for some feedback about the scenario rotation and weekend warfronts. He asked the community the following three questions.
1. Currently Weekend Warfronts run only on weekends during which there are no Live Events.
A. Keep it as it is.
B. Run Weekend Warfronts on ALL THE WEEKENDS.
C. Run Weekend Warfronts on all weekends except when a running Live Event has a Scenario with it. IE Keg's End.
D. Make them WeekLONG Warfronts. The Weekend Warfronts would just be extended in time, no new ones made. (sorry)
2. Current Brackets are:
Bracket 1: Career Rank 1-15
Bracket 2: Career Rank > 15 and Renown Rank 0-69
Bracket 3: Renown Rank 70-100
A. Keep it as it is.
B. Change it to:
Bracket 1: Career Rank 1-39
Bracket 2: Career Rank 40
C. Change it to:
Bracket 1: Renown Rank 0-69
Bracket 2: Renown Rank 70-100
D. Change it to (approximately):
Bracket 1: Renown Rank 0-30
Bracket 2: Renown Rank 31-69
Bracket 3: Renown Rank 70-100
3. Imma let you finish but list your 3 favorite Scenarios -- OF ALL TIME
--------------------------
My answers were:
1) C - like the short windows that we get a 'new' scenario, it makes them feel special.
2) C - The less brackets, the more scenario pops. Sure there might be some gear disparity, but I don't mind. I wouldn't mind bolstering everyone to max level and just having a single bracket. That might be a bit much for the Tier 1 folks though... but think of the pops :)
3) Serpents Passage, Battle for Praag, Doomfist Crater
Some of you may read my posts about Stellar Fortune before. For those that haven't, it is basically my ever evolving game project where I try new ideas. I've been working on it a bit over the past few weeks. In its simplest form it is a web-based space trading game.
I'm not super interested in making a violent game at this point, so I've been focused on making it more economic. There are plenty of games where you just kill stuff, so I wanted to do something a little different. That's not to say there won't be combat, it would just be abstracted.
Anyway, back to the subject. Kickstarter and other similar sites have really taken the gaming world by storm. So I thought it might work out as an actual part of my game.
In Stellar Fortune, the galaxy is a blank slate, except for the beginning worlds. It would be up to the players to build the infrastructure to exploit the rest of the galaxy. These are pretty big endeavors, so I want players to cooperate (and compete) to get the job done.
That's where Crowd Funding comes in, or in this case, Public Projects. They are issued by the 'Game Master' (me).Here's an example...
Project: Mining Operations. A search of the CoreDB revealed plans for an automated mineral extractor. This would be a major improvement over our current surface collection methods. In order produce the first prototype, we need resources.
Iron: 5,000 units
Copper: 100 units
Unlocks: Small Mineral Extractor Schematic
There would be market Buy Orders setup for the Iron and Copper, which when filled will complete the Project. The new schematic would be available for everyone to buy and free to those who contributed. There could be different levels of contribution and rewards too.
Other examples would be to construct a Jump Gate, or Space Port although I have not really figured out how to properly reward players for those.
New projects would become available, introducing new aspects to the game. The players, game and game world would all grow together.
Yesterday, SWTOR introduced their latest warzone (scenario): the Ancient Hypergate. It draws inspiration from Warhammer Online's Khaine's Embrace, but it a bit different. There are two capture points and big explosions, but Hypergate adds some twists to the formula. It is still very satisfying to trap your enemy in the path of the explosion.
The scenario itself looks very cool, and the effects are also well done. At the end, the winning sides forces come barreling through and bomb you, which was a nice touch. Overall, I enjoyed the new warzone. Here is a video I made from my time in it yesterday.
There is an interesting thread over on the WAR forums called 'Rare and Unique.' The basic idea behind this thread is to have weapons, which only one player can have at a time. On death (or a certain amount of deaths) they lose their prized weapon. Sure, this would make them stronger, but it would also put a big target on their back.
The developers seem quite fond of the idea and have been thinking about it themselves for a while too.
Keaven really wants to do something like this and we've been discussing this idea for almost a year now. However, we have several limitations that make it very difficult to implement correctly without becoming bugged, lost, or stuck.
One of the biggest hurdles is how to handle a person trying to horde the weapon rather than getting out and using it in a fight. Luckily, WAR does have a decay system which may be able to help handle this problem.
1. Die X times - it goes away and respawns back at Y place
2. Wait X hours/minutes/whatever - it goes away and respawns back at Y place
Interesting that Kevin says it will respawn at Y place. Wonder where these bad boys could be found? He also mentions the fact that there may be negative aspects to wielding one of these powerful items.
I imagine these weapons like the Sword in the Stone. It could add an interesting aspect to fights when you see a player with one on the battlefield. The fact that Kevin is discussing the possibility with players gives me hope that we might see these in-game sometime in the future.
So what do you think? I'm not sure another game has tried implementing these type of weapons before.
A couple of my guildies on Badlands put together a RvR video of them duoing. You can hardly go wrong with some of the Mortal Kombat soundtrack. I did find the video lacking in the Dwarf Engineer department. I'll have to get that rectified.
Ever have something that you wanted to giveaway using your webpage? Sites with Benefits offers a quick, easy, and free way to host giveaways/contests/raffles on your website. With 14 missions, there are plenty of ways you can interact and engage with your users.
I made a quick video about how to setup a simple giveaway.
Yesterday, I officially started on the quest to get my very own HK-51 Assassin Droid in SWTOR. Don't worry, there won't be any spoilers here. The HK-51 quest chain starts in the newly released Section X area, which can be found on Belsavis. I believe free to play players can purchase access to this area.
The quests are labeled Heroic 2+, but so far I've been able to complete them solo with the help of my personal tank, M1-4X. I'm a Medic specced Commando as well, which helps. I died a few times during the first part of the quest, but eventually finished it. I love the 60 second stun :)
The second quest in the chain is where things got really interesting. Investigating the spooky ship was a lot of fun. I really liked how they took the BioShock approach and had recordings from the crew about what happened.
The boss at the end of this fight was not really challenging, it just ended up taking a while as he had a ton of hitpoints. What I didn't know at the time was that there is a way to weaken him. I won't tell you how, but if you are having trouble just know that there is.
That's as far as I got yesterday. Next up is the scavenger hunt portion of the chain. Luckily, I have my Imperial Agent all ready on Dromund Kaas to help me complete the search.
Overall, I enjoyed the experience. If this is an indication of future content releases I'll be pretty happy. On the other hand, this may have been in the works prior to the layoffs and just not doable in their 6 week cycle. I guess we will see.
A couple of weeks ago, I saw some chatter and a Massively live stream about an upcoming game called Age of Wushu. A number of things about this MMO interested me: the Ming Dynasty setting, the attention to realism (not anime) and the focus on PvP.
Tyler, the content lead for Snail Games, was kind enough to answer some questions about this upcoming title. I was most interested in the PvP aspects, so the Q&A revolves around that. Enjoy!
1)Age of Wushu, what separates this new MMO from the current crop?
A lot! First off, we don’t have Classes or Levels in the traditional sense. Players start the game and will go through a tutorial of sorts There are 8 schools of Kung Fu in the game. They have basic skills that are unique to them and their martial arts style. So in a sense, this is like a class, but you are not confined to those skills. While you cannot leave a school after joining, you can learn the skills of other schools through events and rewards in instances. If I joined Shaolin and really liked one of the blade techniques that a Royal Guard or Tangmen have, I can try and pick up that skill so I can incorporate it with my staff or Shaolin Barehanded techniques. There are a lot of skills that can be interchanged with one another.
Leveling is also different. You don’t level yourself up, but rather the skills you choose to level up. I love this Parry(blocking) skill or my schools internal skill. I can choose to level those skills up, depending on my play style. So, since you don’t level yourself up, the experience you gain is nearly infinite as you can put that into cultivating any skill you choose.
Other big differences are the Combat; a rock-paper-scissor style that relies heavily on players watching and knowing what the other player uses so that they can react in time and counter, The
Economy; Professions and items created are used interchangeably in the betterment of players and even the creation of higher-end equipment. We have created a society and culture in the game that requires players to rely and work with each other. You cannot get a great weapon or armor without having to work with another player to make it.
The world has a life system that rewards players like achievements with new fashion sets or titles. When I become the best blacksmith I will have something to show other players my stature. This same life system occurs within your school and in general player interaction. So I can show my growth within my school with a special robe only the leaders wear, then I can also have a title present from all the murdering of other players that I have done…or prevented kidnappings (if that’s your thing).
2) I recently watched a video about the game and it was mentioned the game has basically an open PvP ruleset, so it can happen anytime and anywhere. Is that the case? If so, will you offer different servers with different rulesets?
All servers will have open PvP. This Wild West world is important to players. It adds to that world where interactions and choices are important. A lot of the late-game interactions rely heavily on player interaction and activity with each other. We wanted this world to be ever living so removing those realistic encounters and the threats they present, take away from that.
3) What mechanics are available to prevent PvP griefing?
You cannot take part of PvP until your Main internal skill or your School’s internal skill has reached a certain level. This is a special trait only your School can learn and can never be learned elsewhere. This means you have to become experienced and knowledgeable before being thrust into the insanity. So you won’t see a fresh character getting kidnapped or slaughtered as soon as they are created.
We have a bounty system for those that are frequently taking lives of others or kidnapping other players. Once a bounty has been placed, the player will have an icon over their head in that region that will recognize them as the criminal. The player will be killed and simply respawn with minor debuffs if they weren’t too infamous. On the other end of the spectrum are beheadings that are publicly held and those players will be punished gameplay wise with significant loses in strength.
Other players can strive to be heroes to others too. They can see evil deeds occurring and prevent them. This adds to the life system I mentioned early, unlocking Titles, Outfits, and New Tasks.
4) Is there any instanced PvP (scenarios, battlegrounds etc) in the game?
There is a Team v Team battlefield option, but it currently is not available. We also don’t have a timetable to announce when it will be unlocked. The jist of that will be allowing the player to select a team and battle type to join, then they will be taken to that “Arena” situation. There will be rewards based on team and individual performance and a debuff placed on “deserters” that leave mid battle.
5) What other types of PvP can occur?
A few types of PvP that are to note are School Spying events. This is where you need to sneak through another schools main location and collect information from offline disciples in the school while evading detection. On the flip side, you can participate in Patrols at your school and try to catch the spies learning information.
School Book Stealing is similar in the sneaking into the other schools grounds, but it’s a lot faster paced. You aren't hiding and relying on stealth, so it’s easier for others to see you and catch you. Plus you know if your school is a target that day which adds for fun when the schools create a defensive perimeter to keep you from stealing their skill books.
School Wars are server events that are declared in advanced. The school’s headmaster has to declare a war on another school. The system can also declare a war if a school has a hatred value over a certain number. Hatred value is calculated by the number of kills or spying you have committed on a specific school. Before the war, the Headmasters of the other schools decide whether they want to support either side. If your headmaster doesn’t support a school your friend belongs too, you cannot enter that war and help them out. Oh, and the Headmaster is a player that has earned that title, but can still lose it. The battle itself is also a complex beast filled with Boss Fights against NPC Bosses from schools as well as the actual players of the schools. Even the supporting schools have their own smaller Bosses enter fights. The rewards here vary on individual score, more points for killing a high-member of the school as opposed to a lower disciple.
Guilds can declare wars on other guilds that own domains or properties in Age of Wushu. Coming out the victor can result in more rewards and even possession of the valuable property as well. There are also other guild-like wars. Guilds can escort cargo or subsequently rob cargo during the day. These acts against the other guilds are some reasons that guild wars could also start. And then there are Surprise attacks on guild properties. You can choose to stand guard at your guild or be a pyro and set fire to other guild’s buildings.
6) Are you rewarded for killing other players?
You do not get loot from killing or kidnapping other players, unless that player has a bounty on them or the killing is part of a battle scenario. In normal situations, killing another player results in a reputation or infamy increase that goes towards the Life accomplishments in the game, unlocking new titles, tasks, or fashion sets.
7) Is there anything for players to fight over at the 'end game'?
The closest thing that I can think of is the School Position battles. Schools will always be vying to be the best. This impacts all the other PvP events and wars I mentioned earlier, creating a catalyst for starting wars or getting revenge on other schools that made you mad in a guild escort or in general. Even the hierarchy within schools can be challenged. It can be quite a political struggle within communities.
8) What's this I hear about you being able to kidnap other players and sell them?
HA! This is funny. I show people the water running and wall running and they will be amazed. Then I briefly mention kidnapping and everything else pales in comparison now.
When you log out of Age of Wushu, your character stays in-game. It takes on the role of an offline NPC. These roles vary from sweeping a store floor, Offline Stall to sell goods, or patrolling your school. It depends on a lot of things. While offline you gain EXP to cultivate and level up specific skills later and you can earn a small amount of silver for the “jobs” you did. Being offline leaves you vulnerable to the fun of kidnapping. I’m online and I walk up to your offline role and use a knockout powder. Depending on how wise and strong you are and the strength of me and my powder, I can fail and paralyze myself for about a minute, looking like a big fool in the middle of a city, OR I can drug you and toss you into a bag and run off with you.
I now have a small window to get you to a store, a quarry, or someplace that will give me money for you. In that time I am fair game for people to stop me and rescue you AND even some players can kill me then take you and sell you themselves.
You sign in and are in a servitude situation where you have a debuff (no gear or money is stolen) you can choose to wait the buff out or spend money to get out of servitude. Kidnapping adds to the infamy and bounty situations I mentioned earlier. You get more money for players that have been offline longer. The max time an Offline NPC is active 24hrs though. This is too prevent a person from quitting and building up a year of exp and currency for being offline.
9) Is there anything else you would like to add about PvP in Age of Wushu?
There is a lot more to talk about this game and some things I am still learning day by day. I am amazed at the depth this game has in it. From dungeons to even more detailed talks about professions, to a rumor I am hearing about Dance Battles. Just get ready for a lot to do in this game. I know we have an early access deal which you can learn about on our site www.ageofwushu.com and I strongly advise this. There is so much to do, you don’t want to be left behind when it goes F2P early next year. Get in while you can.
With the launch of WAR's 1.4.8 patch, players were able to convert their 20+ RvR currencies down to a single one: the War Crest. As you can see below, the money changers (shouldn't they have been in Sigmar's Temple?) are being kept quite busy.
One of SWTOR's big features for the upcoming 1.6 patch is a new warzone called Ancient Hypergate. It's a bit of a departure from the other warzones, as player kills will grant points. The basic idea behind the warzone is as follows:
combination of a 2 point objective map, team death match, and a multi-flag game of capture-the-flag. Each of the two energy pylons is synchronized on a power cycle. At the end of this cycle, each pylon discharges energy into the gate of the faction that controls its objective point. Holding one or both of the pylons directly leads to gaining points at the end of each cycle. The amount of energy discharged is based on the amount of enemies defeated during that specific power cycle.
Sound familiar? It should. It's similar to Khaine's Embrace in Warhammer Online.
The WAR version is a bit simpler in comparison, but also features two capture points and a deadly explosion. Khaine's Embrace is a fun warzone, so I'm glad to see the idea behind it being used in SWTOR. There is something very satisfying about trapping your enemies within the explosion.
I'm looking forward to trying out SWTOR's version soon, from the video above it looks very fun.
Warhammer Online's 1.4.8 patch goes live today! The major feature of this patch is the introduction of a single RvR currency, the War Crest. All vendors have been converted to used this new currency, so all of your old crests and insignia's will need to be converted.
Converting them to War Crests is easy. Just head over to your capital city where the RvR gear is currently sold. There you will find two vendors, one for crests/medallions and the other for insignia's/emblems.
Next, you'll purchase bags using your old currency.
Finally, you'll convert the bags (ctrl-right click) which will result in War Crests!
