Greenskins in Beta - My Impressions | The Greenskin - Warhammer Online Blog, Videos, Guides, Webcomic & Podcast

Greenskins in Beta - My Impressions

August 19, 2008 – 3:01 pm

Over the course of my Warhammer Online beta journey, I managed to play each of the greenskin careers in several different tiers. I’ve played them in Tier 1 and during specific focus tests at rank 21, 31, and 40, all with varying renown ranks. That being said, I haven’t tested every single nook and cranny of the careers extensively because 1) I didn’t have enough time and 2) I didn’t want to burn myself out on the game before it even launched.

However, I do think I played them enough to get a good feeling about each class’ strengths, weaknesses, and overall feel. This is what I’ll share with you today.

Early rank impressions

I played each class through chapter 1 (up to level 6) to create this three-part highlight video. Watching it will help you to better understand what you’ll read below. The first ranks in an MMORPG are vitally important to hook gamers, but hard to get right because you’re trying to give someone a feel for the class with only a few basic abilities.

Black Orc - As soon as your character loads into the game, you’re immediately aware of your primary role as a tank. You start off with a choppa, shield, basic skivvies, and hulking muscles made for smashing stunty skulls. Combat doesn’t really seem overly dynamic in the early levels of this class because you only have a few attack styles you end up smashing over and over in the same sequence, but this becomes less of an issue as you gain more skills. Your first real challenge comes during the first public quest where it’s your job to tank the boss. It’s hard to maintain aggro until you get your first taunt ability, but once you do, it’s a cakewalk. Teaming up with a Shaman (or any healer) is a very good strategy because even though you’re very sturdy, you’ll become even more so when being healed. This works especially well in early PvP. With a Shaman at your side, just run in, do some smashing, and get smashed. You can take it.

Squig Herder - Surprisingly, I found the Squig Herder able to handle the most NPCs simultaneously. You’ll notice in the video that I’m fighting four dwarf mobs at the same time and they’ll all equal con. The reason you can do this, is obviously, your pet. I found this class to be the most dynamic of the three in the early levels, even though your primary focus is on DPS. With the spear, bow, and pet, you have many ways to take on opponents without it feeling overly repititious. You’re really supposed to mix up your attacking methods in the early levels because you don’t have enough abilities or sufficient mastery to focus on one mode of combat. Early PvP is quite fun too because you can pick off enemies from a distance and immediately swap to your spear as necessary. Opposite of the Black Orc, I would suggest fighting from the edges of larger melee skirmishes because you’re nowhere near as sturdy. You have ranged abilities… use them to their full advantage. Your pet is for melee (at the early stages).

Shaman -Of the three classes, the Shaman is most balanced. You may not be able to take out your enemies as quickly your counterparts, however, this is offset by the ability to keep yourself and your group healed. That said, solo combat can feel a bit sluggish and repetitive at times. I mostly focused on damage 100% until the end of the fight when I would burn my Waaagh! on a defensive spell. Unless I was fighting multiple or higher con mobs, I never really felt at risk, but I guess the same can be said for all careers in all stages of the game. While you can do fairly decent damage as a Shaman, your true strength lies in the utility you bring to groups. For example, you would earn far more PQ influence grouped than if you were solo because healing and damage adds count toward your contribution as well. You’re one of the most vital classes in the game because you bring groups the ability to live longer. This is very important in RvR because a well-played Shaman can keep his group mates healthy, which means they can fight even longer. I would much rather be in a group with one Shaman and five Black Orcs than one with six Black Orcs.

Later rank impressions

Your career will become much more powerful, versatile, and customizable as you achieve new ranks. Each new ability gained is another tool for your toolbox that can assist you in different situations. See below for some key examples. Also, watch the scenario videos to gain a better understanding of what I’m talking about.

Black Orc - Once you can snare, knock down, knock back and disarm your opponents it becomes much easier to dictate the course and pace of the fight. In the video, you’ll actually see me being able to kill a mounted dwarf who is continually trying to escape with a 50% speed boost (it was actually a bug that he didn’t dismount when engaged). As soon as you’re able to taunt, guard, and protect allies, you become a much more effective team player. There were several 2v2 fights with myself and a Shaman, where I was able to mitigate enough damage away from him, as he was being focus-fired upon, that enabled us to win the fight. You can also choose a 2-handed weapon for increased damage or sword n’ board combo for maximum tankability. Over time, you’ll find that you’ll use different combinations for different situations. The mechanic of Gud Plan, Betta Plan, and Da Best Plan is fairly simple to master, but knowing what to use and when to use it will separate the spammers from the masters.

Squig Herder - As you gain ranks, not only do you gain new abilities; you gain new pets too. Each of these pets augments a certain play style and is enhanced by a specific mastery path. If you want to get into the mix of things, you’d do best to summon a horned squig, take out your spear, and do some impaling. The gassy squig is more advantageous if you’d prefer to stay far away from melee situations, choosing instead to pepper your opponents with arrers from long range. Finally, the spiked squig enhances your skirmishing line, allowing you to shoot your bow while on the run. You still have access to your regular squig, but chances are, you’ll focus on these three. Alternatively, you could enter your battle squig, which allows you to participate more heavily in melee, but I didn’t really find it advantageous. I found that the Path of Quick Shootin’ mastery line suited my playstyle best because I dislike playing in sniper mode without mobility (Big Shootin’) or committing too much to the melee only wind up squashed (Stabbin’). Quick Shootin’ is definitely more twitchy, but I found it very exciting.

Shaman - I think you can be very effective no matter which mastery path you choose on the Shaman, as long as you remember that you are a team player. You will rely on your allies’ protection as much as they’ll rely on yours at various times. Even at the later levels, it still takes some time to wear down your enemies, but you’re given a lot more cool tools to work with. I was especially fond of the two main knockback abilities. The first is called Eeek! (core ability) which punts yourself, along with all enemies around you, quite a ways away. The second is Gedoff! (Gork ability) which does damage and punts away all enemies within your firing cone. The greatest part is that these abilities can be used offensively and defensively. A friend of mine parked himself in the middle of a huge bridge, suspended over a massive valley in the Dragonwake RvR zone. A group of Order rushed him and he popped the Eeek! ability, which sent everyone, including himself, flying off the bridge to their deaths. I personally used Gedoff! many times to knock enemies flying into the lava in the Thunder Valley scenario. This would cut their HP by half, which made it much easier for me to take them out. Though I never played one, a Mork Shaman who focuses on mending is supposedly very tough to kill because they can keep themselves and their allies alive for a long time.

The verdict

Before testing out all the classes, I was leaning toward the Shaman, but I quickly came to realize that each of the greenskin careers was extremely fun in its own way. I was most pleastantly surprised by the Squig Herder, which I initially thought would be too complex for my tastes. I actually found it to be the most fun out of all three in the most twitchy mastery patch option (Quick Shootin)! Go figure.

I still think I’d be more valuable to my guild as a Shaman because I have so many defensive options, but I’ve decided to roll a Squig Herder as my main instead. I almost always play support classes in MMORPGs and I’d like to mix it up this time around. I doubt managing ranged and melee combat and a pet will grow very dull in fast paced RvR. Good DPS is also an important factor to a successful RvR group, so I don’t think I’ll be letting anyone down by this choice.

I may also pick up a craft just for fun. I haven’t really done that in an MMORPG before either. Scavenging and… Talisman Making perhaps. Just to be different!