Cicadymn’s Take on the WAR Announcements

July 12, 2008 – 4:57 pm

Cicadymn asked if I would post his take on all these Warhammer announcements, so here you go! Completely unedited!

Alright everybody, we’ve had a rough start to the weekend, but I hope everyone has had a chance to calm down and try to soak up all the details and changes that they can. I think it’s time for my opinion to be heard as well, and I can’t think of a better place to put it then right here. I have a lot to talk about, a hell of a lot, so lets get started shall we. Everyone knows by now about the changes, the reduction in the capitol cities down to two at launch, and the temporary removal of four of the classes from launch, and the oh so controversial addition of Punkbuster to WAR. I’m going to handle each of these in their own separate part and give my final statement to the community in the fourth.

Lets start off easy, Punkbuster. I know many people are really upset about this addition. For good reason. Punkbuster is the anti-cheat software that is often responsible for getting players kicked out of servers or banned from servers in the immensely popular Call of Duty 4. While I have only played CoD4 on the 360, I have experienced Punkbuster once before when I played America’s Army regularly. I have to say, even back then it wasn’t the greatest system in the world, and players would often be booted or banned for little to no reason. A problem which persists still in CoD 4. Luckily over at Warhammer Alliance James cleared it up for us on how we can expect to see it implemented. In WAR it will not instantly ban or kick players from the server, but rather send a small alert to a CSR (Customer Service Representative for those who don’t know) to have them investigate the matter. There will be no instant or conflicted bannings, everyone will get their chance to show that they are simply playing the game regularly. I can very much see if it becomes a problem, or if it sends too much false data or errors to the Mythic crew, that they will not hesitate to remove it from the game. Hopefully Punkbuster will step it up and really get their program in gear for WAR.

Next I want to go into my view on the capitol city changes. One of my biggest worries about getting in the game at launch is that I wouldn’t know which city I wanted to ransack! After hearing that you may eventually rotate the cities in an out so you can make changes and additions after each city siege sounds like a great idea to me. That way even if you got there again next time, it wouldn’t be the same exact experience. My friend and guildmate (go Jog go) correctly said that the downside was that if you were getting your ass kicked at the city you couldn’t switch to another one to try and win that while your own city got taken. I can see that being a small problem. Nothing that myself and my guild Artillery would ever participate in though, since if you switch off the real contest to go play games in the kiddy pool even if you win it’s hollow because you weren’t going up against the best or most powerful. But this is a problem none-the-less and I hope Mythic will take it into consideration or find a solution for it before they decide on rotating capitol cities. I’m with Mythic on this, their cities need to be amazing, not good, not great, but amazing. If I only get to ransack Altdorf for the first month or two that is fine by me. I’m eager as well, since there will only be one pairing of cities open it is surely to lead some massive battles that probably wouldn’t be possible if all three pairings were over. I can only imagine the blood that would be shed over a single keep as numerous guilds and solo players alike fight for it’s control. To the victor go the rewards and notoriety of capturing a keep and protecting it against the full fury of the opposing realm.

Now it’s time for the hard part. The classes being cut. I wasn’t thrilled to see they were gone, but I was happy when they weren’t any of the classes I care the most about. Black Guard was the only Dark Elf class I was excited about, but I’m sure you can pull something together for them eventually. I do want to say I hope we see some different classes instead of those. A few that I like that come to mind are as followed:

KotBS -> Reiksguard or Knights Panther. Honestly the KotBS were one of my least favorite classes, I suppose because I didn’t like the sound of their system and I have this thing against wearing fanciful plumage. I think the Reiksguard could be a tremendously cool class instead.
Hammerer -> Slayer I know damnit! You lore people don’t think they could work and I bet GW is opposed to it as well. I think they would be an immensely popular class as they kick so much ass. We’d have to address a few problems though, like what about armor? Why not implement a sort of “rune” system, since they often decorate themselves in runes simply have the runes give stats like other melee DPS classes, including hardening their skin for extra armor and what not. As for their death wish lifestyle, I understand they want to fight the biggest and baddest monster until they are killed in battle. But what monster could be more challenging then a racial leader such as Tchar’zanek or any of the others for that matter. Yes they don’t like to join armies, but they will often join groups of other slayers so it’s not out of the question, and I think it wouldn’t be that far of a stretch to allow them to join an army if it meant they would be going up against the strongest opponents like chosen or Black Orcs. They’re may be other lore reasons why not, and I hope somebody lets me know because I’m just not up to snuff with them.
Choppa -> Savage Orc. Yea. I want to see them. I think they are excessively cool. They could use a similar system like the slayers have (or would have had). Since they tattoo their body with arrows and everything, these tattoo’s have the power to deflect arrows or blows simply through force of will. Kick Ass. I also think the design team could come up with some kick ass bone and wood based weapons for them to use. Granted, there are probably lore reasons as to why not. I still think they would be an amazingly cool addition.
Black Guard -> Black Guard. I don’t know enough about Dark Elves to say what would be a cool class to replace them with. But They look awesome so I would love to see them somehow redesigned to make it in! As I said, they are the only class for the Dark Elves that I even remotely liked, So I hope they can make it in or get something even cooler.

I know, I know, there are most likely numerous lore reasons as to why some of those classes simply can’t work. But I think if they can talk to Games Workshop and try to work around them in the least intrusive way possible the game will be richer and more exciting for it. My condolences to those of you who where wanting to play those four classes that were cut at launch. I only hope that it resolved in a manner that you will be even more pleased about. The best thing about WAR is that there are so many cool classes to choose from, most everyone has an alternate career choice in mind. I do want to state, as Mark Jacobs said. They will eventually add four more classes into the game. These classes may be the most exciting and balanced classes the game will ever see due to the extra time to work on them. Just hold out a little while and enjoy the trip. Just like in cooking, your patience will be rewarded.

The last thing I want to talk about is the hardest for me. I’m sure there will be many people upset with me after this, and that is simply a risk I have to take. It’s something I need to talk about. It’s you. The community. I want to say I’m happy with the way everyone has taken the news, but it’s hard to go that far. I’m feeling a little indifferent about it. The amount of players willing to disown this game and Mythic over something like this is something I wasn’t expecting to see. I dearly hope my friend Snafzg doesn’t slip and fall down that hill into an inconsolable lump of angst and bitterness. I think it’s my duty as a fan of this game and the community to try and bring everyone back to square one so we can attempt at repairing our broken family lines. The game isn’t doomed. The designers didn’t lie to us. The game is still in beta. And the game will be completed when everything, not most things are fantastic.

To Snafzg: Snap out of it. Maybe I’m just a jaded fanboy, perhaps I don’t know what I’m talking about because I’m not in beta or because I’m brainwashed. Perhaps I was paid off by Mythic. Who knows, but I want you to get a hold of yourself, take a break for a day, and really think about what’s going on. I’m going to answer your questions, the best I can and with answers I think, nay believe, are absolutely true. And perhaps the Greenskin in me will, much like savage orcs, make them true.

Why have they been telling us this game was in “polish” mode if core features weren’t even implemented? Because it is in polish mode. The core features you’re talking about are city sieges right? From what I understand you have the full capability to siege, take, or defend Altdorf and the Inevitable City. They advertised massive city sieges, and that is what they are delivering. For that matter it seems by only releasing one pair of cities in the beginning only increases the size of the battles that can take place. How far do you think we’ll get in the game before they release the next city pairing? Do you think we’ll have finished it five times over? I would assume if we even make it to a capitol once they would be ready to implement the next city. It will take us time not only to level, but time as well to siege a city and capture it. The time we’re talking is most likely months. Months and months, I’d expect to see new cities and or classes released by the time the first king is killed.

Why have they been telling us all along that the release date is set in mud and that they won’t launch until the game is finished, and then cut major features to apparently make launch? I can very much see your concern on this topic. At the same time, I love Mark Jacobs answer that if they delayed the game again for four classes it doesn’t seem fair to the rest of the game. They haven’t cut any features, in essence they really have delayed the game. You can choose whether or not you want to participate in helping your realm against its opposing forces , or you can chose to wait out the “delay” for the other four classes and/or the other capitol cities to be implemented. It’s really like an optional delay. You can delay it for yourself until the game is in your opinion complete. Even though a vast majority of it will be there and functioning, or you can go ahead and take part on release and learn about the game and how it works. People always site that Warhammer needs to strike while the iron is hot and launch before WotLK, stating that if they hold off much more they’ll miss their window of opportunity. I agree they need to get the best of everything done and get it out the door before it’s too late. If the game is good, players will stay. If it’s due to the delay then we will likely see players re-subscribe for the new content, then again if the game is a complete flop we’ll see that they left regardless of the content in it. A point brought up by a good friend and guildmate Sloug is that one of the reasons an MMO will fail after is has launched is because they’ve run out of money. This is a problem WAR can’t and wont run into, simply because they have EA behind them. I for one will be playing on release day and will enjoy the new content even more as it is released.

What is beta for if not to test out something like this? It seems to me that this is exactly what Beta is for, and beta has done its part in alerting them that a good portion of the game is ready to go, however there is a segment that isn’t up to snuff. It appears that the beta test prove that there were problems like this. Just because it might not be in the current closed beta phase doesn’t mean it’s completely ignored and not looked into via their own internal testing systems. I don’t think Mythic would just skip out on content. The content is there, it’s just going to be made into the best it can or else it will be changed into something that will be better.

How are they going to address racial balance with four classes cut, especially in the early game? What does RvR stand for? Say it with me. Realm Versus Realm. Think about it real quick before you keep reading, I want to try to see whats wrong with your entire question. Thought about it? Alright. This game isn’t about Dwarf vs Orc, Empire vs Chaos, or Dark Elf vs High Elf. It’s about Realm Vs Realm. There isn’t a problem with racial balance because racial balance really takes an entire backseat in this game. As a member of destruction if I need a melee DPS, I can take a Marauder if I’m a Orc, and everything will end up alright, because we’re on the same side and apart of the same realm. The only situation I can see the class cuts really affecting anyone is in race only guilds. For example, a guild full of Dwarfs will take a hit from this change. Yea, that sucks, a full race guild would be pretty cool. But this is something for the good of the game, if you want you can go ahead and start playing at launch or wait until the classes are released. Either way, WAR will still be there for you when you want it.

When will these missing pieces be patched in? If you think for a moment Mythic wont be working full steam on getting any bugs or the cities and classes in the game even for a second I think you need to take a step back and look at the company a few more times. Like I said in an earlier post. I would expect something to be put in by the time the first king is killed. I think it’s a reasonable expectation and something that Mythic could deliver upon.

Why is another delay completely off the table for discussion? Like they’ve said before, they have tried to make those things work and if it means that they have to delay fully functional and fantastic parts of the game for a few things that aren’t up to snuff, I think it isn’t unreasonable to either go ahead and jump in at launch, or give yourself the optional delay. Like I said earlier, if you don’t like the amount of content being released, or the way they are going about it, then just put everything on hold. Stop your blog, stop daily checks and romps throughout the community, simply sit back and relax. People that want to play can go ahead and try, and you can be apart of the exclusive hardcore crew that waits until the final game is really all there and ready to play. Whether it takes a couple months or half a year. I’m sure after waiting as long as many members of the community have, they can hold out on a few more until the game is up to their expectations.

I believe it was Keen that made a post about keeping your expectations realistic for WAR. Perhaps that’s not why I’m as distraught as many members of the community. I know I’m going to have fun in WAR. I have a really good group of people to play with (Artillery FTW) and I know that Mythic will be doing everything in their power to make sure the game lives up to it’s full potential. I’m not going to let something like this sour my whole experience and let myself fade into the ages as someone who was broken by another partial delay. As I hope you wont either. Whether or not everything is in at launch, I’m going to take my time leveling, enjoy the time spent with my friends and have a good experience burning Altdorf to the ground. It is something that I looked forward to when I first heard about the game, and it is something that I still do look forward to even after Friday. Was your faith really so small that something like this could break you?

To Mythic: Props guys, I think you’re making the right choice and I’m eager to see what you have in store for us come launch. I know it’s a hard thing for you to do announcing something like that. I’m a fan of your announcing good news and bad news together. I just hope someday you guys will invite us Boom! comic people to come join you! It’s hard for you guys to announce something like that because out of all the gaming companies I’ve seen, Mythic by far has been the most hands on, the most responsive and the most open I have ever personally encountered. I salute you for that, and still eagerly await your game. Even if it means more bad news down the road.

Disclaimer: I just want to say and get this out of the way. No I am not in beta. I don’t know the inner workings or how things are actually looking on the inside. Yes, Mythic is absolutely not infallible and they can and will be wrong on certain things. Is this the wrong thing to do? I don’t think so, but I’m keeping my eyes open and if the game flops for it, I wont be heart broken because it is always a possibility. I also understand that many people will not agree with me and by offended by what I say. I hope Snafzg isn’t one of them. You are a great writer and more so member of the community. I am proud to have worked with and for you. I hope that we can continue and that you realize that none of this was written in anger, but in compassion and rather fear that the community might lose a great member such as yourself. I don’t mean for any of this to be insulting and I want you to know that. I am aware that I can and will be wrong as well. Only time will tell how this plays out and I accept any criticism and judgment Snafzg or any member of the community wants to make about me. We’re all only human, and it’s very much your right to be heard as much as it is mine.

If you made it this far everyone. Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope to see you soon on the battlefield.

-Cicadymn