A Public WAR Comments by Eurogamer staff

I like it!

/is usually quiet in MP games

There is the opposite side of the coin though when you advance faster than the curve or you, like quite a few of us, are in the headstart and have the jump on alot of players. The last 3 PQ areas I have been to there has been no one but me there. At that point the influence bar just becomes a grind gauge as you plow through the PQ first stage mobs for influence to get the reward before going onto the next hub.

I suspect that after a while, when everyone starts getting to the end game, the starting PQs will be like this as the new players or starting players begin to dry up which will be annoying for new starters.

Interesting!

Not as much as LichKing, thou.

The public quests are all deserted, theres too many and not enough players.

Sweet. So I can just collect as many public quests as I can and auto follow some stranger and voilla!! Level up with no sweats.

Every bot dreams.

@Benno

"The public quests are all deserted, theres too many and not enough players. "

Then put a call out, get a Party or Warband going, and get em done. Even better, get into a Guild. I mean, can the same problem not also be leveled at any number of other normal, old-school, MMORPG quests? Especially which require groups? How many people do you see hanging around outside Blackburrow in EQ2 or outside the Deadmines in WoW, complaining that 'theres no-one around'?


@hula hoops

"Sweet. So I can just collect as many public quests as I can and auto follow some stranger and voilla!! Level up with no sweats"

No because...

A) You don't 'collect' PQs in the regular way. You accrue interactions with PQs, which builds as you do more in the same area (tier) and

B) You'll go AFK and then eventually get kicked to char select.


PQs are the 'next big thing' in MMORPGs. Just the fact that healers get points for healing shows how much thought has gone into them. And also the 'persistence' bonus, so if you fail to win anything the first time around, you get a bonus to the loot roll the next time.

The whole PQ thing is just polished to a fine art, especially the Loot rolling. Marvelous, enjoyable and clever stuff.

"Interesting!

Not as much as LichKing, thou. "

pray tell me what this has to offer more than war ?

@muftak

Bigger battlegrounds? Haircuts? More talents? More Epics?

Its more WoW with little in the way of imagination but why should Blizz bother? Its hugely successful and theres no need to change a formula that works so well, in so many respects.

Hardware requirements, for one thing, is a big reason why people stick with WoW. The other is that up until WAR there hasn't really been a viable, good, alternative.

Its a shame that even people I know are so ingrained with WoW, not because theres a massive depth of options, but simply because its familiar. I have one friend, in particular, who logs his level 70 for no other reason than to toddle about doing daily quests, without any kind of goal. He will often log in around 10pm and by 10:20 say he's bored and he's off to bed.

He does this because its a familiar environment for the evening. A bit like settling into a comfy, old, chair and watching the TV. It's just part of his routine now. He was the same in Everquest, many years ago. Exactly the same.

Hell, even when i'd Raided all I could handle, then PvP'd all I could handle, I found myself logging my main in, just to do the Daily BGs, knowing full well that I had no interest in Arenas, thus the Honor I was accruing was completely worthless (full set of Merciless and surrounding epics). I did it because there was no alternative out there. Bored to my back teeth and paying a tenner a month for it.

I'm so thankful WAR is out and is of the quality it is.

pray

ze grinders and ze pumps!

pray, come!

There's been this problem in other MMOs that a fair old whack of players are, for one reason or another, anti-social.

TEH IRONING!

PQs = Genius
Work really well most of the time, you feel like you're in a team, without having to join one.
Downside is when you do one and no-one else is and you get creamed.
Also like the RvR zones. PvP areas you walk into, from as low as L7.

Hmm I'm getting a little bit tempted...
The one reason I quite WOW 2 years ago was that there was far too much time wasted on waiting around gathering parties and getting a useful group together. Is it really true that WAR is without all that group-assembly-waiting?

@ Dag

Aye - went you form a party it is automatically placed as a 'open party' (you can turn this off) which then everyone within that zone can open up a menu listing ALL groups open to join in the area showing the current numbers, players, what they are doing (PQ/PVE/RVR) and even how long it will take you to reach them..

All you need to do is hit the join button.. and you''ve joined a group :)

NO MORE LFG SPAMMING!

erm .. WoW do have auto join feature in its LFG, but many people don't use it for a simple reason of not wanting 'just anybody' to join. I am sure as the WAR community mature there will be less and less people opting for open group.

One of the greatest strengths is the PQ and open grouping system WoW's instances are becoming more geared towards specific class and group dynamics which excludes players.

PQ's are a fantastic idea and they work really well when there's people around to do them.

Their inclusion amoung other things has made the past couple of days i've spent playing WAR great. I was beginning to tire of WoW and had pretty much given up on it for the time being because of the impending expansion pack, however, WAR has been a more than able substitution that offers more than just the same-old-same-old MMORPG fare like LOTRO did.

"..WoW's instances are becoming more geared towards specific class and group dynamics which excludes BAD players."

@Krelle

""..WoW's instances are becoming more geared towards specific class and group dynamics which excludes BAD players." "

Completely untrue. You could be the best Hunter in the world but, frankly, you're bottom of the list. Just below Rogues.

Fact.

WoW instances are painfully dull in comparison.

Yeah, the number of times you see in WoW "LF Tank" or "LF Priest"

Fury warrior? Piss off.
Rogue? Go away.
Hunter? Lulz.

The joy of WAR is that EVERY class is viable. Yeah, you need a tank and a healer (moreso the healer), but its not geared in a way that says you need 2 Tanks 2 Healers 2 DPS for an encounter, ala wow. That results in the less popular roles being hard to fill, resulting in LF spam.

In WAR its more like 1-3 healers, 1-3 tanks, 1-3 dps. All viable.

Got the game yesterday and haveto admit, first 30 minutes I was thinking, typical MMO type game, then I had a quest to shoot a cannon at some enemies and then a Public quest (which i wasnt even sure what was going on), and a large beast appeared knocking down trees etc, and it was the most fun that Ive had in an MMO since playing WOW for the first time.

Yes there are issues with it, the character creation is a little stark of features, and mouse clicking controls are not as good as they should be, but its looking like a good replacement for wow in terms of something different to play.

It's tons of fun this game and it is the badly needed breath of fresh air this genre needed. Perhaps their previous game, DAoC, already had a lot of bits also present in WAR but I never played DAoC.

I've played healers in several other MMO's (and now I'm working on my Runepriest, Order ftw) and you always end up at the bottom regarding points or reputation or loot or whatever. In this game you actually GET points for healing others. You can salvage items from dead player corpses. You feel you make a difference when you can turn the tide of battle by smart healing.

The public quest system, the way RvR is interleaved into PvE by clever design of zones, fun RvR, the way you just flow into grouping by having open groups and open warbands (no more LFG spams lol) and of course the little things like your side capturing an objective, then you'll hear NPCs cheer, conquests are broadcasted to the world...it's just miles ahead of WoW. WoTLK offers nothing new, apart from the fun Death Knight bit (and it's a fun class to play as well) but for the rest it's a rinse-repeat grinding experience.

I love the PQ system... The quests are well written and they are varied and fun! Plus i hear there are 400 of them -- like wow! (Edit: the exclamation, not the game :P)

I have been caught on the wrong side of the 'lottery' system where i've contributed the most (ie im at the top of the leaderboard) but then a low roll relegates me to the bottom and usually well out of the placing for loot. They have tried to combat that with a thing called "Persistence" buffing, which means the more you do the same PQ the more likely it will be to get a high roll and less likely to get a low one.

It doesn't quite work out that way though (i still get low rolls) :S

Still awesome system, the best ive seen in an MMO for a long time...

It really is superb fun at the moment, my one gripe is that I seem to have leveled a little to quickly, faster than the main group of players in my guild and moved to an area where it's underpopulated, so the PQ's are often completely empty.

I'll leave it for a day (if I can) and come back and hopefully everyone would have caught up.

I really can't stress how good it is though, much better than I expected.

This game is all kinds of gaming goodness.

"There is the opposite side of the coin though when you advance faster than the curve or you, like quite a few of us, are in the headstart and have the jump on alot of players. The last 3 PQ areas I have been to there has been no one but me there. At that point the influence bar just becomes a grind gauge as you plow through the PQ first stage mobs for influence to get the reward before going onto the next hub.

I suspect that after a while, when everyone starts getting to the end game, the starting PQs will be like this as the new players or starting players begin to dry up which will be annoying for new starters."

quoted for the truth

The game is new and I expect some areas to be busy and some areas to be empty...Im still very unsure how the skills system works etc... oh well have to learn as i go on.

Anyone know if you can get more bags/where to buy them etc?

You get an extra bag at level 10. I assume / hope it's the same every 10 levels?