WAR NDA officially lifted. Post pics and info!

[Aegorian]

Originally Posted by Araxen

You won't be able to patch till the Preview starts. I'm hoping they'll let us patch tomorrow so their servers aren't totally nuked on Friday.

actually, i would assume nuking the patch server would be exactly what they want

[Ender4212]

I agree, let's hope the nuking of the server starts tomorrow. I'm also hoping they open the preview up relatively early on Friday. It's my day off and I'd love to be able to spend the day in there.

[porkyrogue]

Sucks I have work from 8pm till 1ish Fri, Sat, Sun. I should be good with an early start though!

[Pyksel]

Originally Posted by Lowen

How are Zealots as PvP healers compare to DoK's? Are Dok's like a holy paladin playstyle and Zealot a priest? I assume Zealots are bad in PvE also?

I play my Zealot a bit different than most I would imagine and have since WAR beta started.

I play mine more like a drain lock with the ability to choose between hanging in the midsection of battle and healing your defensive target/group or playing aggressively by assautling the front lines and keeping yourself healed. AP drains, knockdowns, and large morale dumps hurt, but the survivability is remarkable. This build essentially allows every damage spell you have to heal your defensive target (you) which is quite effective. Opening with a Harbinger is essential, followed by Boon, Tzeentch's Cry, Warp Reality, and Demon Spittle. If AP starts to run low or we're in a standoff, pop Ritual of Innervation and go ape shit on casting.

My build consists of the following:
WARDB - Career Builder - Zealot

Under the alchemy tree pick up Changer's Touch, Boon of Tzeentch, and Ritiual of Innervation. I then work up the Witchcraft tree taking Storm of Ravens and Lashing Waves to help my damage output, which in turn help my heals.

Tactics
Changer's Touch
Lashing Waves
Backlash
Warping the Spirit

Morales
Tzeentch's Talon (now AoE with the tactic)
Focused Mind
Suppressing the Fragile Unbelievers
Alter Fate

The synergy with the harbinger, harbinger tactic, changer's touch, the talon aoe debuff, etc. really offer up a unique playstyle unlike that of those that stand in the back and just heal from afar.

[Froofy-D]

Originally Posted by Bobleclair

From my experience in beta numbers make a huge different, order was 2/3 of destruction and literaly any pvp area i went to was owned by destruction, i never saw order winning in any area.
So if you like being the underdog go order, you will have lot of work.

Yeah that does seem to be the one possible game killer here. Considering the main draw of the game is world PVP.

IMHO nothing short of "if Order to Destruction ratio is beyond X to Y, no further characters can be created on the larger faction" will work. If you want to roll with 10 friends do it on the underdog side. Sometimes you have to make compromises to preserve game integrity.

[ajiatus]

My 30 seconds guide to classes in WAR:

With the exception of the Ironbreaker and the Chosen, which do not have an equivalent in the other faction, most classes are mirrors of each other with some differences that are beyond the scope of this guide.

There is a Rock, Paper, and Scissors of sorts, and it's as follows:
Melee DPS kills Ranged DPS that kills Tanks that kill MDPS, etc.
Healers fall loosely in this sequence depending on the nature of their damage output

MDPS:

4 Classes, two types:

2 Light Armor and Stealth (to close gap with RDPS target)
Witch Hunter and Marauder
Highest DPS in game

2 Medium Armor and Charge (to close gap with RDPS)
White Lion and Marauder
trades some DPS for better armor
The White Lion's DPS output comes in part from its mobile pet.

RDPS:

6 Classes, three types:

2 Glass Cannons
Bright Wizard and Sorceress
Highest RDPS
“glass cannons”

2 RDPS with stationary pet
Engineer and Magus
Part of their DPS comes from their stationary pets
Debuffs and PbAoE

2 Flexi-casters
Shadow Warrior and Squig Herder
Can cast while moving at midrange
Has some melee skills
The Squig Herder's DPS output comes in part from its mobile pet.

TANKS:

4 Classes, three types

1, 2, 3 Combo Tanks
Swordmaster and Black Orc
Some abilities can only be cast in sequence, as in 1, 2, 3, 1, etc.

PbAoE debuffs Tanks
Chosen
Carries an aura around itself that debuffs enemies

Rage (grudge) Tanks
Ironbreaker
Abilities can be used or get stronger the more the Ironbreaker is in combat
Ironbreaker needs another team player to help “grudge” grow faster

HEALERS:

6 Classes, three types

Ranged healer/casters
Archmage/Shaman
Must balance ranged damage and ranged heals for maximum effect

Melee healer/warrior
Warrior Priest/Disciple of K
Melee damage needed to power heals

Flexi-healer
Runepriest/Zealot
Wide range of spells and heals, including buffs and stationary area buffs

[Tolanin]

that or allow some limited form of faction switching and then start fucking over the bonuses for winning if the side that won had a big number advantage.

[larseny316]

Never understood why they simply don't give the side with less players above XX level, a bonus to exp based on the ratio of the population. It wouldn't change RvR, but it would encourage new players to play the other side.

If I login and see that I'll be making 2x exp, because my side is outnumbered 2:1, I'll go ahead and roll order. Enough people think the same way, and the ratio balances out (and the exp bonus goes down/vanishes)

[Tolanin]

Originally Posted by larseny316

Never understood why they simply don't give the side with less players above XX level, a bonus to exp based on the ratio of the population. It wouldn't change RvR, but it would encourage new players to play the other side.

If I login and see that I'll be making 2x exp, because my side is outnumbered 2:1, I'll go ahead and roll order. Enough people think the same way, and the ratio balances out (and the exp bonus goes down/vanishes)

not if the other side can sack the order capitol all the time and order cant do the same.. the gear difference that would cause really has the potential to cause a cascade.

[ajiatus]

In this game the RvR metagame matters. The faction that can break into the enemy's city will get access to high level content and special loot. The losing faction may find some of its PvE dungeons off-limit. In short, you have a lot of incentive to win the metagame battle, losing all the time will not be fun.

[Lonin]

Here's my character profile for those interested. You can see the equipment slots, some items, stats, achievements and how PQ's and influence work.

Woad - Characters - WARDB

[WillzZz]

Originally Posted by Jait

But you can logon to War and say "Fuck PvE levelling." Queue up some scenarios and browse the net for a couple minutes until you're in. Very little wait. And that's very appealing to someone like me who may only want to logon for 30 minutes on a busy weekday. You can get in at least 2 Scenarios in that time.

Fuck, don't say that. Lack of time to play is my biggest reason not to play. This thread is going to be bad for job future if I keep reading it ^^ I expected doom and gloom and you all failed me miserably.

[Itzena]

Originally Posted by larseny316

Never understood why they simply don't give the side with less players above XX level, a bonus to exp based on the ratio of the population. It wouldn't change RvR, but it would encourage new players to play the other side.

Because bonus xp is meaningless at the endgame, whereas being part of the zerg isn't.

If I login and see that I'll be making 2x exp, because my side is outnumbered 2:1, I'll go ahead and roll order. Enough people think the same way, and the ratio balances out (and the exp bonus goes down/vanishes)

Except this doesn't happen because most people want to stick with their mains. See also Mal'ganis (et al) immediately after WoW's launch where, despite the game only being a couple of weeks old and the newest servers not being grotesquely overpopulated, most people stuck with their (L20 at best) "mains".

[Aborath]

Originally Posted by Froofy-D

Yeah that does seem to be the one possible game killer here. Considering the main draw of the game is world PVP.

IMHO nothing short of "if Order to Destruction ratio is beyond X to Y, no further characters can be created on the larger faction" will work. If you want to roll with 10 friends do it on the underdog side. Sometimes you have to make compromises to preserve game integrity.

They had better do something like this. Being the underdog is nice and all, but I'd like at least a small shot at winning from time-to-time.

I'm a bit behind on the thread. Can anyone with decent experience with the Shadow Warrior give their opinion on the class in RvR?

[Braen]

How did DAoC handle it? At a certain ratio, locked people from playing the bigger realms? Bonuses to damage for the smaller realms? Something like that..