Resource Carriers and AAO Hotfix

Today saw a couple minor hotfixes. I am quite sure the response on the forums to having only 2 things fixed today, one of them being purely cosmetic, is not going to be good. No fix for the broken Keep PQs, buggy ram, or likely most important of all the trouble with Pounce (Although it seems to be working a lot better lately).

The RvR fix is a good one however. Resource carriers now heal the keep door when effected with AAO. This is a huge boost for the underdog. Currently when one keep hits four stars everyone heads to the keep-- attackers and defenders. Now an attacking zerg will be forced to keep an eye on their BOs unless they want to be beating on the door endlessly. This should disperse the attacking zerg to give the defenders a fighting chance. It also gives people something to do other than stand around the keep waiting for the door to go down.

I took part in a successful defense under AAO in Praag the other night. It was great fun leaving the keep to cap the BOs while the defenders repeatedly took down the ram. With the majority of both sides focused on the keep the lakes were filled with skirmishes. It was constant action the entire time and in the end with got our keep to four stars and won our offensive. It ranks up there with the best experiences I have ever had in this game.

DING!!

Finally after what can be totaled as almost a year and a quarter I have a rank 40 toon. I got close with my KotBS, hitting 39, but then 1.2 happened and playing Order got real stupid, real fast. I've had other toons in their 30s - 35 Magus and 31 Shaman. Lots in their 20s - 26 Choppa, 23 SH, 26 AM, and 21 WH. And too many to remember below that. But I never got past the foreplay and went all the way.

Until my dearest White Lion.

Every other class lost my interest half-way through. I like to win and when I hit the point where I stop I tend to get bored and re-roll. Not that that did not happen with the WL, its just that the playstyle feels like it was tailored to me. My launch class was a Magus and I still love the class because you never stop moving. Same goes for the Shaman. But the Magus and Shaman were scrapped when Destro became the Zerg. My Knight was fun but when I returned I wanted a fresh start to see the game from the start to finish. The WL has that constant movement and some nice DPS to boot. I think what kept me going was killing a rank 40 Sorc when I was a meager rank 31. I may not have been able to compete with the RR80s but at least I wasn't useless.

Now the game really begins. There is still a long to-do list of things to finish now that leveling is checked off like more leveling. I need to find accessories. I need a good weapon. There are those pocket items I've heard so much about. Then there is the matter of RA specs and career specs. I've reached the summit only to find an even higher summit to conquer. Which is fine because I love the climb.

Protip: I never knew about this but there is a free WAR Tract to be had in Chapter 4 Empire. Very nice little secret that I would have never knew about were it not for my super guild. You just need to get the Chapter 4 influence up two bubbles, select your reward, and then take the Dispatches quest. Head to Altdorf and claim your free level! Below is where you can find it.

Impressions Day One 1.4 Gear and Guild

One of the highlights of last night was finally getting into my Annihilator set. Its super cheap now and I could feel the upgrade from my Devastator. Right now I'm sitting at 37/39 and I'm sure by the time I ding 40 I'll be stepping right into a full Conqueror set. Seems the medallions should accumulate at just the right pace.

I also liked the new green renown gear. Having more options is very nice when your waiting to get some descent gear. Looks like Mythic is going in the direction of making every last piece of gear you need acquirable from RvR. For instance this cloak now has strength on it instead of the old ones with only initiative.

When I was in the IC I was lucky enough to snag a purple bag with this bad boy in it. I won't be using it for a very very long time but my god. How I would love to play with it right now!









It was also kind of neat to see the new guild banners hanging for everyone to see. Guess I got into a good one?

Impressions Day One 1.4 oRvR

After what seemed like forever 1.4 has finally arrived! It was a very interesting and very confusing night last night as Gorfang struggled to figure out this new system. I only got about 4 hours play in but there was quite a few WTFs coming from my warband.

When I first logged in Altdorf was under siege. My guildmates told me it was the third time that day so far. After the zone reset I jumped in our guild warband and headed to Caledor. After we had capped that in what seemed like record time we headed to Chaos Wastes and capped that in no time at all. Then we were back in a city. I have to say I was a little disappointed as I was looking forward to more time with the oRvR changes but I snagged a RR98 weapon. Only 60 more RR before I can use it!

Couple things I noticed:

No one had much of an idea of what to do. Being the guild blogger and in the know I tried to explain it but I can only answer so many questions. A few guildmates logged after getting frustrated but the majority just tried to figure out the new rules. I also couldn't explain to Destro what to do and they seemed to be having as much of a problem.

Old habits die hard. Everyone seemed to stick to the zerg mentality. When we were taking CW destro stuck in the north in one big zerg. Then they headed into the keep to defend. Left on their own our resources runners did a fine job of collecting more than theirs and we ended up with a nicely upgraded keep. It felt like there was zero resistance because they all just stuck in their keep waiting.

Skaven. Very neat. Being only RR37 means I can't do too much without exploding. I got a chance to run around as a packmaster and it was nice. I followed a Rat Ogre around, buffed him, healed him, and summoned the odd rat horde. Had a chance to apply that 95% snare a couple times and watch the poor desto crawl helplessly while getting FF'd into a paste. Very good way to get the lowbies into the action and make a difference. Plus I loved seeing the deluge of red dots pouring into the keep when we started the siege.

Tier 3 was more fun. After my IC run I headed to Highpass with a r/l friend to get a better idea of the system. There was maybe 8 Order to 6 Destro. It was nice that we actually took the zone with so few people. Lots of small little battles around the BOs and out front of the keeps. While it was almost deserted it was lots of fun getting into little 3v3s at various times. I had not consider that the new system would allow for oRvR in lower Tiers without the need of having a WB just to take the Keep Lord.

People QQ too much. Advice channel was filled with complaints about just about everything. To be expected but come on, its day one.

Overall it was a lot of fun. The next few days will be interesting as everyone gets accustomed to the new system and figure out ways to play in it and exploit it. Already I've heard some people are just sticking to killing carriers for the RP. While it seems the reward would be less it would be the same as choosing RvE over actual PvP in a high AAO zone.

I don't need to unsub! xPac Release

Yesterday while grinding and getting ground by some better geared Destro I finally lost it. I just can't put up with being in crappy gear and I can't buy any gear until the expansion so I vowed: no expansion by next Friday and Imma QQ and unsub after a big forum whine. Luckily it'll be here Thursday!

So excited!!!

Afternoon ePeen Flaunt

ePeen. Its something we all have but would never admit. We all love that moment when you just totally kick-ass. I had one of those moments today and couldn't help but share it with everyone. It was right after I dinged 35 and got my neat new pet based 4 second silence. I was pumped to add it to my arsenal and tear out a little Shammy's throat. And tear them I did! Being a lowbie, the scenario felt kind of like this:

That's the Zealot I tried making friends with.

Now my success arose from three factors:
1) Half-pug/Half-Premade on Order
2) Really good healers
3) Destro had their heads in their bums

Still I did really well and put a big stupid grin on my face. Later I'll tell my wife all about it and she'll be nice and feign interest. I may even tell someone on my way to work. At Starbucks or something. Anyways here's the SS of me doing pretty damn well for a lowbie rank 35 playing with the big boys.

Even had time to heal a little.

Back To WAR: Guild Membership Required

A big change in player behavior I have noticed since coming back is most people avoid PUGs like the plague. This has become very apparent in T4 where finding a PUG is almost impossible. I tried getting one together in LotD lastnight and it took the better part of an hour before a single Slayer finally joined me. We finally got together another five people but all of them were from the Slayer's guild.

What an A-Hole father

Now on the one hand I like seeing guilds working together: more organization means more wins for Order. On the other hand having no PUG groups mean some players get left out in the cold if their guild isn't running a group or there isn't enough people on to make an effective group. In oRvR this isn't a problem for me personally as my guild is almost always running a warband. But now that I'm spending time in LotD it is getting frustrating trying to grind effective sans healer or tank. Nothing worse then finishing two stages of a PQ only to have to start over because you can't solo the boss.

Would have preferred this
hat to the new helm.

I feel like a kid in grade school excluded from the soccer game when I walk by a group grinding a PQ after I've been spamming LFG in region. I would jump in and finish the PQ with them but then I almost feel like I would potentially stealing a sweet bag if I won above green in the end. My only solution is to start an open group and hope there is another loser like me wandering the desert alone.