The Lighter Side: An Introduction

September 30, 2008 – 7:55 am

By: Geoff

Seeing as how I am the resident “Order” guy and this blog is primarily focused around the Greenskins (obviously) and the Destruction faction in general I thought it might be nice to create a once a week type of post that generally covers issues and thoughts about the lighter side of the game and, to kick things, off we are going to tackle one small issue this week; why the heck is Altdorf so damn large?

Personally, I am a huge fan of captial cities in MMORPGs. I absolutely loved wandering around Thunder Bluff for the first time in WoW and I generally think they provide a much needed service as a central hub for players. That said, however, was it really necessary to make Altdorf as large as it is?

I remember when I first took a step into Stormwind. The city is noticeably larger than any of the Horde cities (even Undercity) and I eventually began to hate the thought of travelling from one side to the other. To put it plain and simple: it was just annoying. Now, with Altdorf, the Order’s capital city I am left flabbergasted and bewildered as I make the almost 5 minute trek across the city (from one end to another). And that was when I actually knew where I had to go! Imagine if I didn’t know exactly where to go in the city, it could very well take over 10 minutes.

Of course, this may very well be an issue for Destruction as well, I really don’t know, but it is definitely an issue for me. It’s fun to explore a city for an hour or so but eventually it gets old and by that time I’m really doing my best to avoid the city altogether which is something I don’t necessarily see as being a good thing for the game. Afterall, aren’t the players supposed to enjoy being in their capital city?

The good news is, of course, is that Mythic has plans to launch the remaining two capital cities in the future. That means that future cities may be smaller and more accessible to gamers who just want to get in and out without any useless fluff. Either that or they’ll make them even bigger… eek.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the first installment of “The Lighter Side”. Check back next Monday for a new, more well-thoughtout article.

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Post tags: Geoff, opinions, Order, Warhammer Online

8 Responses to “The Lighter Side: An Introduction”
I think they made the cities so large because their purpose is to be sieged by enemies. It would be really crowded if you had 48v48 battles in a city that was too small. Also, once you factor in mounts, I don’t think the cities will feel too large at their current size.

The Inevitable City is about the same size as Altdorf and I imagine the remaining capital cities will be about the same size. I think they wanted the cities to be so large because they wanted them to actually feel like they could be home to your king and his realm of thousands.

By Snafzg on Sep 30, 2008
I can’t wait to knock people of the edges of the Inevitable City.

I think the cities will seem alot smaller once the introduce some form of epic mounts.

By MrMatthew on Sep 30, 2008
I always thought it would be nice if it added the important vendors to the main market as the city leveled. So when your a level 4 city, you can just pop in and out. Makes people want to level it even more!

By Photonic on Sep 30, 2008
Yes, this walking or riding for a few minutes is silly. They need a menu, so where ever you are in the city (or the world) you just click a menu choice. Vendor? Click, click, done. Keep under attack? Click, click, fight! Raid boss hidden in a forgetten lost city, buried fathoms beneath the ocean’s floor? Just make it one click, takes too long to click twice.

That whole immersion thing is just soooo 1980s you know?

/sarcasm

Its a city. Its not a village, or a roadstop in the middle of nowhere. Not just any city, but the capital of a sprawling empire. If anything, its small.

By LtWarhound on Sep 30, 2008
i would agree i think its to small once u get a mount its even smaller i cant wait till i have a lvl 40 mount or a rr 70+ mount (that would be cool to have best mounts for top RVRers)

By XBloodBlade on Sep 30, 2008
The bigger the city the better. I love to wander about and explore things and honestly i feel much more immersed in the game when i go to these cities than in any other game due to teh fact cities such as Stormwind are just too small to feel at all lifelike.

By Thac0 on Sep 30, 2008
I concur. Altdorf seems massive. I decided at something like rank 21-2 the other day to do some quests there and generally explore and found myself wasting huge amounts of time just wandering around, and it wasn’t particularly enjoyable. Others may be right in saying that it is large so as to provide for massive raids but it doesn’t prevent it from being a trek to run around.

By Chappo on Oct 1, 2008
Altdorf isn’t open like it is in The Inevitable City, which is why people get lost, but on the bright side it means more bottle necked fights which could really help in the long run. By the way were is your next update?

By Forced to order on Oct 10, 2008