August 7, 2009

Taking a looong break from WAR, Creating new Blog

I wrote a few weeks ago that i switched my subscription method to manually and would check every month if I still had fun. My subscription runs out in a few days and i decided not to renew my subscription for WAR. During the last break i took from WAR my subscription had still been active and i was paying, but i feel it's time to vote with my money now and tell I'm not satisfied, I'm bored of WAR. I'm not the guy that plays a gazillion alts, i want to play my main char. Recently when i logged in there was very little to do. More often then i had fun i was simply bored because there is not much you can do during idle hours or when everyone else is busy. I know I'm not alone, since when i posted my leaving there had been a few other guild members who won't renew either.

The current "endgame" in WAR, once you reached a certain threshold, just holds not enough fun for me currently. I don't want to make this a huge wall of text, but to give you a few quick bullet points:
# No solo content for high levels, nothing to work on during idle hours, crafting system is too simple, only few mats you need to work on your crafting and basicly everyone can craft anything anyway.
# The whole RvR campaign does not make me feel part of a WAR between factions that much. The system is too constructed to immerse me. For all the numbers you need to watch its too simple on the other hand.
# Small scale PvP is what i want most, not the zerg. Due to the guild keeps not really offering anything for the guild to hang around those and the overall RvR lake zone design, very seldom will you have cool small scale fights, or you have to search for a long time.
# The RR system overall just feels like a massive grind to me, only to be able to wear eg. Warlord gear. The renown trainer features only add minor incentive.
# City sieges as "end game" for RvR are a joke. It's boring as hell, still buggy and just not polished enough. Takes place every now and then but ppl just got bored to have to put such a massive effort in something thats so unrewarding.
# No real incentive for high ranking guilds to take part in the world struggle or to really take and defend a keep. The possible upgrades need to make that keep the headquarter for that guild, easy access, etc. After guild rank 37 with the upgraded mounts, nothing else exciting to gain.
# PvE endgame is borked as well. All of us are totally bored from Lost Vale since only few really need the gear from there. The change to the ward/sigil system was good, but there is just too few things left in that dungeon to make you want to go there. Should really have added some crafting components or something. Besides LV there is only LotD content. Problem with this is, you can't really schedule for it as you dont know if you have access. So basicly to run TotVL you have to keep in mind you might need to do RvR before you can do PvE. The LotD lairs are fun, but the glyph requirement is just a giant timesink and doing the same boring PQs over and over again just because one group member is lacking this or that glyph.
# The itemization department still has major annoyances to iron out. The high-end sets and their stats don't feel right (at least for BO) in comparison. Many talismans from LotD still not working, overall timers broken.
# Black Orcs: I love the BO, its fun to play. Tho i don't feel like the defensive tank spec is rewarding enough for PvP. I don't want to respecc every time depending if i go PvE or PvP. I already use a silence, slow down, increase building times build with fitting gear (remove morale, lower resist, etc.) for RvR but still i think the overall design lacks. Mythic really should re-work the CC and give eg. defensive tanks some of it. I was very disappointed when Mythic gave a ton of cool armor models to the Choppa and my BO stuff still looks like shit. Seriously, there are only very few cool looking items for the Black Orc i feel. Due to the simple color scheme Orcs use, you can't really work around it with dyes either.

I don't agree with those that say WAR is doomed to fail. They failed in creating a game that will run with major subscriber number compared to other games (and could have reached much higher targets) and its always harder to win back a disappointed customer then keep a satisfied one. In the topic i name my absence from WAR a break, this is simply because i still think i might get back once things are to my liking. Since i don't think WAR is a bad game, but just the devs did not listen to the right crowd of voices and did not make tough enough decisions to "kill their darlings" when it comes to class balance and RvR. The upcoming months will show if Mythic will be able to make the though choices necessary or not. I had a lot of fun in WAR and don't regret the time i spend ingame. It was a good ride until i got bored.

I'm still a bit bitter about the difference between US and EU support. IMO GOA never managed to live up to their promises and Mythic & GOA together managed to leave a bad aftertaste since they really pissed off many EU customers that felt left out of the development process. GOA never really came around to create much content on their own, deliver similar marketing programs or to breath life into the EU forums. The EU veteran program is a good step in the right direction, but too late and too little to make me feel like getting the same level of support and care then the US customers do. I'd like to thank Nic & Magnus from the GOA Community Team tho, who were always forthcoming with information.

My gaming plan for the moment is to take a small break and start Aion in September with a bunch of guildies who also left WAR. During the upcoming weeks i won't be idle tho and slowly start to work on my new Aion blog, as i decided i don't want to stop blogging. ;) But since Stunty Stomper does not fit the context, i created a new blog from the scratch. It's still a work-in-progress but there will be content before launch already. My experiences from the last beta event will be posted in the new blog as well.

Update your bookmarks, subscribe the new RSS at
Impetusium - Thulf's Aion Blog

So thanks for the WAAAGH! and take care everyone.

29 comments:

WeRT said...

Sad news idd.
I hope you'll rock in AION. And ofc, i will be read. You have a talent man, do not waste it! :)
GL!

Slurms said...

Heya Thulf, I mentioned it over in the Multiplaying forums that you've moved. Seems that we might be making the move to Aion as well. Site looks good, and I'm very glad to hear you'll still be blogging!

Saktoth said...

Let's face it: In Bartle's terms you're more of an explorer and achiever than socialiser and killer. Thus in my opinion WAR (as well as AoC) with its poor challenges in PvE (including boring crafting and clumsy auction houses) and endgame content emphasizing on (repetitive) RvR/PvP never came close to satisfy your deepest desires ... *winks*.

See you there.

Rakanishu said...

Sorry to hear you are leaving. Just came across your blog and I have to say it has been fun reading your posts. I just began WAR and plan on blogging my experiences much like you have. Hope Aion is fun!

zaha said...

Heya!

I've quit WAR some months ago, too, and are now waiting for Aion. Therefore, I'm kinda glad to hear you're blogging about it. As others already said, you've got talent to write and I always enjoyed reading your blog, even after quitting WAR.

So, Kudos to you, and let's hope Aion will entertain us for a long time. :)

Proximo said...

I need to join the ranks of people who are happy to hear you'll be continuing blogging, I find your blog to be of the highest standard among this games blogs. Sad to hear it's about Aion though as that game holds little to no interest to me (yet, things change so who knows).

Good luck with your new game and blog and whatever the future holds for you. =)

Tank said...

I am a RR70 black orc who has also stopped subscribing and is taking a break from WAR and starting Aion in Sept. I could not agree more with your comments. I love the concept of the BO, but the developers at Mythic did not strive for class balance and support a meaningful RvR role for tank-spec'd BO

Anonymous said...

Good luck.

An extended break is always good for the soul. Hopefully see in back in a couple of months.

You made some good points, especially the issue with dungeons in LotD and having to redo a PQ for a new member.

It would be nice to see a small change, which would allow the sharing of the glyphs with up to 2 people out of the 6. Obviously making sure that the party couldn't contain more than 2 people who had a acquired the glyphs this way (I could already see a cheat if not careful).

Zog said...

I have also set my account renewal to manual and preordered Aion. Maybe see you there

Unknown said...

LotD didn't do it for me either. I think the large scale, zerg style pvp is something that sounded alot better conceptually than it turned out to be in WAR. Like you, it convinced me that I prefer smaller scale PVP over the large stuff.

I'll be adding your Aion blog to the blogroll, keep us informed!

River said...

A real loss for WAR, but a gain for Aion. Even though I will not be playing that game I look forward to hearing of your exploits there.

Unknown said...

GOA exists???

Look at the post (only in german language) of "GoodBye StuntyStomper" here http://blog.drakenwald.info/?p=1055

In my opinion AION (based on the old!! german crytek-engine) is a asia-grinder and it's buggy. not worth for a warhammer-pvp-player to play. and yes, i hate this manga-anime-kiddie-style.

We say goodbye, have luck and come back

Anonymous said...

After playing aion for a month , im going to WAR , which i always wanted to play but was waitting for aion for a year or so, which is something i regret i guess, dont know how people leave war to aion bcoz "lack of content" , i dont see aion give something more than get ganged or gang others and grind ..
anyways good time for me to join war after all the updates just sad many people left ,hope u come back.

Mrdem said...

You made some good points, especially the issue with dungeons in LotD and having to redo a PQ for a new member.

Good luck with your new game and blog and whatever the future holds for you.

warhammer tau said...

Time to move on and do another step of journey,I know that your experience with war is one best thing that you made and never forget.Wish you find your new adventure with Aion and read your blog post.

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playmobil knights said...

Reading blogs about games are really great! I'm very fascinated whenever I read and learn more about them. Keep it up!

Plumbing said...

A war game with fun graphics, where everything looks like it's been drawn on a piece of paper. You gotta operate a cannon and shoot the enemies that come too close.

Vronismus said...

Hey whats wrog with you :) AION?! Stay. we need every Player in time. Your reader vron.

warhammer empire said...

I am thinking the same as you. I have not modded my WAR yet either. I am waiting for some of the stuff to get ironed out and standardized before I start messing around. Plus, Mythic themselves are starting to make changes and may start adding some of the mods themselves.

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In warhammer, you must choose the best character for you. You can find it interesting by doing it perfectly noticeable. You should love it first so that others will do.

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