The Digital Continuum: Diet WAR
Filed under: Warhammer Online, Opinion, The Digital Continuum
I'm going to try and take an honest look at what the removal of four capital cities and four classes means for Warhammer Online. I will admit that when the news first hit, a vile and seemingly ancient sort of anger began to boil up inside my lungs. It was the onset of some form of draconian rage at the removal of so much content that I'd been personally invested in as a future player. I never really got into Chaos and planned on playing Dark Elves, but now a large part of that content is gone. At first I felt anger and confusion towards Mythic. It wasn't until after that initial knee-jerk anger passed that I was able to give some real thought to their choice and was able to consider the varied consequences.
Realm vs Realm
In the original plan each race was paired against their mortal enemy -- this much hasn't changed. However, what has changed is the endgame of that racial RvR (Realm vs Realm) setup. Now instead of leveling and fighting through zones towards the ultimate satisfaction of conquering your sworn enemies' capital, you'll be working towards just one city and it very likely isn't your own. If you're playing Destruction then that target city is Altdorf, the Empire capital. In the case that you're playing Order it's the Inevitable City, otherwise known as the Chaos capital.The rationale here is that players who have invested in Greenskin or Dark Elves (or their racial counterparts) will have a reason to want to defend and attack the remaining capitals. Yet I can't help but wonder if players of these races will eventually start to feel left out and want their own cities to defend and attack. Sure, they can participate in the same city defense and offense as other players when the time comes to sack Altdorf, but being unable to do the same against their High Elf or Dwarven counterparts just, well, sucks. At what point do these players begin to feel like a part of the B-list race? Maybe that won't happen but it was never even a question before and now.
Mythic could be doing something to fix the problem. Maybe they'll add some new racial scenarios into the Empire and Chaos lands that feature the "other guys". Incorporating both sides into one zone could be the right answer or it could lead to the other zones (the non-Empire and Chaos ones) being ignored and that's another problem altogether.
Here's a visual breakdown of how the class removals affect each race:
The Full Experience
My other worry when it comes to the capital city cuts is that many players will probably opt to simply play in the pairing that actually have capital cities. "I'd roll a Dwarf character but if I do then I won't have a capital city." says average MMO player John. "Oh, is it really that important?" replies his friend Dave as he plays a newly rolled Bright Wizard. "I guess not." John mutters in a low, muted voice.
I can see this situation playing out a lot during the first several weeks that Warhammer Online is out and it won't be a very big deal at the time. However, over the course of several weeks John starts to feel like something's off every time he goes to Altdorf. Not only that but he probably doesn't really have that much realm pride considering his realm consists of the Empire capital and a bunch of zones that amount to his race's land, which is cool but lacks a shining crown jewel of its own. This tiny little niggling thought starts out small but begins to become tiresome after John has defended Altdorf for the umpteenth time and conversely sacked the Chaos capital as many times. Two or three months tops until John is thinking of moving on to another game.How long will it take Mythic to add in those cut cities? It'll have taken them a lot longer than two or three months to get the Empire and Chaos cities ready by the time the game finally launches. Let's also not forget that Mythic will have to be contending with live maintenence and general fixes and updates during this time. So I'd wager you could safely say around five or six months for the next pair of "fabulous" cities to be added in after launch, which means there's going to be a long stretch of time where players will be stuck with just two cities. Can you say burnout?
This is of course nothing new to MMOs, but Warhammer Online was promising six cities as endgame content. With more than half of that content gone, burnout suddenly becomes a bigger issue. Is the leveling curve going to be longer? Are the post-launch added cities going to be better designed than the older cities, thus making Altdorf and the Inevitable City outmoded and empty? Will these two capital cities be huge lag-fests? All we can really do is wait for the answers to these anxious questons.
The Un-cut Features
Still, I want to remain hopeful that Warhammer Online won't disappoint entirely. Public Quests are already in the game and they're a lot of fun. The Tome of Knowledge is still there ever-expanding the metagame and such. Don't forget that the crafting system is still there too, although we haven't seen that much of it yet since the reveal wasn't very long ago. We still have one Orc class at least, right? While the game may not be shining as brightly as it was before all this terrible news, at the very least we've still got content that we will get to play. I only hope that once Mythic is ready to finally put the other cities and classes in they don't feel the need to charge us for them. If they do, that will be another firestorm entirely.
There are a lot of uncertanties now that so much content has been cut. It's hard to say what I think will be the future of Warhammer Online. If nothing else, I do know one thing for sure at this point: John Riccitiello probably saw this coming.
_thumbnail.jpg "Aion Beta: Asmodian Ascension Quest")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Bouncer said on 3:59PM 7-12-2008
If Mythic delayed the game it would have hurt the game even more. Delaying the game would put WAR straight up against WotLK. They would have to delay it to release at least 6 months after WotLK came out, and more players would quit and cancel their preorders.
The whole "This side has no tanks" is getting old. There is nothing stopping you from going from one race's tier to another, so the tanks will balance out. Besides there are still 20 classes, that's twice as many as most MMOs.
They said they are going to make the cities have even more content and add 'reasons to defend the city" so they will probably work it into the story line.
Better they do this then take a card out of Funcom's book and just not tell anyone till release and have 4 gimpy classes and 4 half baked cities.
Reply
jayedub7423 said on 4:02PM 7-12-2008
I can deal with the loss of content if the finish product is polished and playable. I for one don't want to see WAR release a half finished product and try to rush out as many patches a possible to fix the game *cough*AoC*cough*...
My question is what kind of affect will this have on the races that lost cities, aside from the RvR? Will this affect quests, and what about the stater areas?
Reply
Nadril said on 4:32PM 7-12-2008
wtf? "I can deal with the loss of content.... I just don't wanna see WAR release a half finished game".
jayedub, your fanboy is showing.
Tasogare said on 5:54PM 7-12-2008
Hello pot. Meet kettle. You are both black.
Deadend said on 4:30PM 7-12-2008
I am still thinking they are going to delay again. These guys are just giving me the feeling that they bit off more then they can chew with this IP. If they already ran out of ideas for the classes and cites that they have to cut this much stuff this close to their supposed fall release wth are they going to do for expansions.
Reply
Waiting... said on 4:52PM 7-12-2008
The general feeling isn't that there is a lack of material to draw from, it's that the cut careers just aren't working well and that their plans for the cities are just too big for them to complete them by a Q3 release date.
As for expansions, there are 4 easy ones off the bat:
Lizardmen vs Skaven
Wood Elves vs Beastmen
Bretonians vs Vampire Counts (a little prickly based off IP, but not horrible)
Mordheim
The IP is insanely rich and deep, the problem is bringing it out in a timely fashion.
I'm still going to try it out and hope for the best. If it's a flop I'll drop my sub - it's that easy. Still hoping everything that will be in the game is top notch and that these missing elements won't take too long to get in post-release.
Reply
Blackbow said on 4:59PM 7-12-2008
This just reeks of corporate EA. Ughhh... I would much rather have had a 6 month delay than cuts to this degree.
Reply
pufonthis said on 5:12PM 7-12-2008
Bouncer, most people will be done with WotLK 6 months after it's been out. Quests completed, Death Knights played to death, new instances/raids conquered. Then would be a great time to release a shiney new MMO to grab up all the bored people again just as Conan did.
And sure you can bring tanks over from another race. But why would a tank move over? He's got his own land to play in.
I was really hoping for WAR to be great but things aren't looking good. I can only imagine the lag in the two cities that are left. Iron Forge bank anyone?
And by Mark Jacob's logic the remaining classes are going to be "OMG this is the best freakin class ever" because realistically they could have kept those 4 classes in and had them be good enough to fill a role. I mean so what, as long as your tank can tank he doesn't need to be some new revelation dropped down from the heavens of a class, he just needs to do a job.
Reply
Tasogare said on 5:52PM 7-12-2008
That's kind of a laughable idea...did you play Burning Crusade, or watch its progress? How long has it been out? Better yet, does Blizzard have a long history of knowing what the hell they're doing? Think before you speak, it's paramount to looking intelligent.
I think it'll be fine. Capital cities are supposed to be epic caliber hard to take, which means that it's entirely possible that they could have in another pair before people even take an existing one. It's also far better that they scrap classes now than to release broken ones at launch. How much more pissed would you be if launch day came and your Choppa or Hammerer were absolute broken monstrosities? You'd raise far more hell then you are now.
The whole idea is that this game will all around be new and intriguing from all angles, what's the use of classes that feel "same ole' same ole'," as if no one took the time to give them character? That's why they're working harder to get things that are done polished, so that what they DO have is THAT much better. Everything else can be worked in, it's not like it'll be the first time in MMO history that a game or expansion has patched in content.
Talisker said on 5:21PM 7-12-2008
Really pathetic...extremely poor planning on Mythic's part. I hope the launch of this game isn't as haphazard and uncoordinated as the development seems to be.
Reply
Skooch said on 5:33PM 7-12-2008
I do not think that your "John's burnout" theory makes sense. If in the period of only 3 months after launch John is tired of defending and attacking the same city then the game would need 5 pairs of capital cities to keep players happy. I've never played an MMO at launch, but I doubt people in WAR will be able to level to 40 and tire of playing through the entire capital city sieges in only 3 months. If that's a possibility to many players then the game does not have a shot.
And like you said, John can roll new characters, try the PVE content, or even switch factions to sack the other capital city.
I also trust Mythic to keep the cities balanced; they've got a lot of experience and I doubt someone of their stature would miss such an obvious problem.
I actually do not think the loss of the cities is bad; it definitely isn't good, but not bad. I think it will bring the guilds together on an early basis to form alliances, something that Mythic has hinted being very important. It will also make sure that all of the battles will be a huge, collective assault; something I can't wait to see. Why, it almost sounds like a real war...
Reply
Dan said on 6:22PM 7-12-2008
I don't see the loss of the classes as something that will present a terrible imbalance. The reason for this is because the racial parings are not really all that important, but "Side" parings are. As you stated in the article, you can easily substitute a Chosen for a Black Orc as a tank in any Destruction group. Same goes for the Order. At the end of the day, players take advantage of the wide open nature of MMO's, and often go on different paths that the linear version of the game did not intend. But MMO's are not meant to be linear, they merely include a linear element to help people along in the beginning.
I am a little more disappointed about the loss of the Capital Cities. I can understand that they are such a huge endeavor, and Mythic themselves said that they are not really sure how the design will work out for the player experience. Also, another delay in the game's release would have been bad for reasons that others have stated.
On the bright side of the Capital Cities issue, when Mythic does include the new cities, those players who have been waiting for their race to have their own city will be very excited. They will be implemented well, and hopefully worth the wait.
Reply
TwistedBishop said on 7:25PM 7-12-2008
Why does this always come as a shock? Developers do not have an endless amount of money, time and resources. Cuts need to happen so that what IS released will be good.
Whenever WAR comes out, I'm sure what's there will be enjoyable. Just like AoC has been. And just like AoC, there will be people who complain all day long about the great injustices they have suffered at the hands of Mythic. Better they're confined to the troll prison that are internet forums and stay out of the game itself.
Reply
Obbi said on 9:05PM 7-12-2008
No! Damn!
I was really looking forward to the Knight!
This is terrible news, just terrible. Mostly because now it's indeterminable if they'll ever get those careers and cities back in before people lose interest.
Reply
Jake said on 9:55PM 7-12-2008
It seems like this is still the "lesser of two evils" solution. I really would have liked to see the finished product TOTALLY finished with all 6 cities and 24 classes. On the other hand, the release really shouldn't be in contention with the WotLK release.
The way I see it, if they push it out early and cut some content, they'll be more likely to pickup a lot of subscribers from AoC, at least until AoC gets patched and polished. Even some bored WoW players may move over to try the content that is there until the new WoW expansion comes out.
Mythic has always done a really good job of announcing content via email to old subscribers, and offering "come back for free" type of promotions. Just getting some players from other MMOs to get their feet in the door and try the limited release content will probably be better for the game and the company as those players will be more likely to re-subscribe when the promised content does get release.
Coming out publicly with this news essentially gives Mythic more than one shot at wooing potential subscribers.
Reply
Wyrd One said on 10:43PM 7-12-2008
I don't think "burnout" of raiding the same 2 cities will be an issue. Mythic has stated over and over that they believe it will be a month or more before the first city is even breached.
And once the first city is breached the first time no one will have high enough renown ranks or good enough gear to be able to complete all the PQs or even make it to the king encounter, let alone beat him.
So the idea that 3 months after release people will have captured and defended the 2 cities to the point of burnout just doesn't sound realistic.
Reply
Waiting... said on 11:49PM 7-12-2008
Not to mention the "1 King kill per siege" mechanic.
(Yes, that's right, if you missed it you only get to kill a faction's king once per siege - once you have you have to wait until the zones reset and you push to the enemy again)
Hopefully there's enough to do to prolong burnout until this content goes in, which prolongs burnout until the first expansion, which prevents... well, you get the idea.
Sucks that it will put everything back development-wise, but them's the breaks.
Reply
Trimmey said on 7:55AM 7-13-2008
I admit that I am a little dissapointed by this news but I really don't regard it as game breaking and I don't believe that the majority do either. Yes this sucks for those planning to play the 4 cut classes, but it's still not the end of the world as ther are still another 20 very good ones. I also don't believe that there will be much class imbalance due to the new system that you have to capture 2 tier 4 zones to begin the city siege. This means that the sieges will be even more rare than before.
Also I really don't think people will be burntout after a few months as the two remaining cities each have 12 Public qusts and other 100 normal quests. This will take even the most hardcore player a long while to get tired of, while this will probably be more than enough to keep the average joe thoroughly entertained until release.
In short I don't like the changes much but they are the lesser of two evils and they really wont harm the game that much.
Also I greatly respect the Mythic team for announcing this now very clearly, rather than waiting till loads of people have already bought a product that doesn't contain what was advertised, such as Funcom did with AoC.
Reply
Anesthesia said on 2:16PM 7-13-2008
I really think all this upset and worry is pointless. Seriously.
I wish this game could be released with all the classes and cities intact, sure. But I more wish that this game gets released. I ordered the CE, and I check my mail on the off chance that I have a beta invite... really it's the only real reason I check my mail at all right now, except to empty my inbox.
So there's only 2 cities. I hardly think the lack of racial pride in defending your own city will hurt the gameplay. Dwarfs and orcs can still fight each other. High Elves and Dark Elves can still be enemies. On average, I think that 1-5% of a game's community is really concerned at all with real RP. Crush your enemy in Altdorf or in Karaz-Eight-Peaks, it doesn't really change anything about the game you are playing other than the background. When the cities are put in, hurray! More places to go, dungeons to run. But as long as there's one set of cities to siege, works for me. Anyhow, there won't even be a siege till enough people get to the point where the RvR meters can be tipped to trigger it. Seems like most servers won't get to their 3rd or 4th siege for months. Maybe Mythic is underestimating how many people will try to rush to cap, but I doubt it. And there can't really even be any powerleveling at release, can there?
As to the cut classes, I still see no real big problem. If the one and only way you would ever touch the game is if you could be a choppa... maybe I can see your point. But there's still 20 freakin' classes to pick from! If you wanted to tank for order, make a tank. Go to the zones you wanted to quest in. Have fun. Beats leveling some class and realizing it's not really that fun. I'd prefer no choppa to lame choppa any day. If you're so attached to a class, don't you want it to rock?
Does anyone out there really think there's only one fun class to play as in this game? Or the only fun fights will be the sieges?
I think we all need to relax and enjoy the game when it comes out, try PvE, RvR, PQs, Scenarios, Keep sieges, Crafting, etc. If you really run out of things to do in a brand new MMO in a month or two... I don't know. I really don't.
Read a book or something to kill time till everything you NEED gets put back in.
Reply
Owen-Lars said on 5:34PM 7-13-2008
When i first read the announcement i was genuinely angry simply because i like the idea of Black Guard and my character will be a Disciple with the Dark Elves. So basically i wouldnt have a home, and i'd have to treat IC as my home until they add it in. Not good.
Class Cuts:
But thinking more about it, i dont think it's that bad. You always could get from one RvR tier to another easily and i think a lot of people would mix things up and travel a lot anyway. As such a expected everyone to be mixed up anyway. For this reason i dont think the class cuts mean that much. Although i would love them in, im happy to just play my primary and enjoy it knowing that one day i may be able to play a Black Guard and it be as fun as my Disciple.
City Cuts:
When i heard of this i really was shocked. In one gulp i thought "well thats like 2/3rds of the content gone right? Safe to say it didnt take long until i realised its not that big of a deal really. Whilst its 'only' the capital city part of the tiers i can live with waiting until they are all just as good as altdorf. The more i thought about it, the more i actually liked the change. Think about launch, when we are all nooblettes running around leveling up, we wont even be able to take part in any of the tier 4 stuff (cities and capture zones). When people do start hitting level 40 they will be learning their trade in PvP. After they learn their trade people will start to work on organisation and its this what would suffer if we have 6 cities. Launching without 6 cities is a great result really. The mass crowd will likely start hitting 40 a few months in, by that time we need to sort of funnel everyone together until everyone catches up. Having only 2 cities for a few months accomplishes this and i think it works.
I think a lot of people are just looking at what is lost rather than the impact of the cuts. We wouldnt be taking part in the tier 4 stuff at launch anyway. A couple of months after launch most people wont have even gotton to level 40 and those people who are need to be brought together until the masses arrive. Id hate to be around 40 and find out there are 3 tier 4 areas to choose from just diluting the RvR density.
Its a good idea to have only 2 cities. Not just because they were not as good as the Chaos and Empire cities but just because people need to be forced together at launch to work together.
This could work out really well. As soon as the masses hit 40 then add the other cities and expand the battlefronts so people can spread out more.
PS. No, the sky is not falling
Reply