Warhammer improvements over the last year and then some
have been pretty solid and are probably the main reason for
so many returnees and recent good word of mouth.
There is a tremendous amount of patch information out there
from the last year plus, but here is what I think are some of
the most important:
(1)
New Open RvR, Skaven, and Flying Gryphons
Open RvR (team PvP called "Realm vs. Realm") mid-November
2010 received some major changes with Patch 1.4 (that also
coincided with the release of two RvR option packs). I was very
suspect at first but now I must say I like the direction it is taking.
The most important result for me is many more epic keep
battles, and the new skaven and grphyon bombers and troop
transport adds a fun new dimension.
See "Warhammer Patch 1.4!" in the sidebar for more detail.
(2)
Stun-till-you-die has been greatly lessened
If you get stunned now, or "staggered" as it is now often called,
the stagger is broken if you get some further damage.
In my opinion this renders the various versions of stunning a
reasonable offensive capability, not one that greatly unbalances
the battlefield and sucks the enjoyment right out of the game
like stun used to. I recognize there are a lot of definition issues
here .. stun, mez, stagger, etc., I hope this is a satisfactory
explanation.
(3)
AoE effects can't stack per class per square foot
The days of stacked pools of AoE over natural force constriction
points like keep ramps, keeps doors, bridges, cave entrances,
etc., are over. Such pools-of-death reduced game enjoyment
(except for the bw's and sorc's!) for many. For example, today
5 bw's casting AOE over the exact same radius will only do the
damage of one bw doing so.
(4)
AP regen reduction and lower maximum auto-attack
caps to slow non-stop melee dps killing
Melee dps were getting a bit much for many folks. This was
designed to attempt to keep this a little more under control.
(5)
Many finer efforts of class balancing
While the arguments over which classes are OP are still
going strong, it's anything but unanimous anymore. It's more of
a debate now. There are some commonly accepted beliefs about
some OP capabilities (sorc word of pain damage being leashed)
and UP (underpowered) issues (ex: SW's and WL's getting
improvements next patch), but nothing like the earlier class
imbalance issues. I would not be surprised if altogether
there were hundreds of class and category tweaks over time.
(6)
The giant forts not required for city sieges anymore
When the forts were changed from required sieges in order
to get to siege the enemy's city to just places to run through
on the way to other places, the number of city sieges increased
tremendously.
To be clear the keeps are still an integral part of the game, I'm
referring to the giant forts, some of which approach a substantial
portion of the size of the cities.
Not everyone approves of this change, some miss the fort battles.
To me it seems the limited number of peeps who could participate
in the fort's single battle instances, the fort supply lining issues,
etc., just put a pause on WAR for all those who didn't get there in
time. I prefer this new set-up.
(7)
Big scenario changes
For me this was a big, big change, I really like it.
First, there is a "quitters debuff" when you leave a scenario early
which disallows renown gain for 10mins. This virtually eliminated
scenario abandonment, surely ruining it for everyone else.
What scenarios you can play in which tier has changed greatly
and much for the better. I especially like that Nordenwatch is now
playable at every tier. I always liked Riekland Factory and it's back.
I like that Thunder Valley is out of the usual optionals as it often degraded
into a kind of BO people-mover tour of the outer edges of the scenario.
The less well liked scenarios only "visit" on occasion but are not in the
usual line-up. I miss Howling Gorge, though.
Another scenario change is the introduction of special emblem
awards from scenarios that can be redeemed for very nice weapons.
For those who focus on the RvR (PvP) this gives a much welcomed
new avenue to get excellent weapons without needing as much PvE.
Another benefit of this is the great LoTD weapon nerf. No longer can
some very lucky LoTD grinder find a 9999g weapon and suddenly
have the funds of multiple people who have been playing WAR for
years. Scenario weapon rewards have greatly lessened the demand
for lotd sandstorm weapons and how much people are willing to pay
for them. There is still good money to be made from the best of these
lucky roll weapons, but nowhere near past excesses.
(8)
New City Sieges
The late April 2010 patch (1.3.5) has brought completely reinvented
city sieges that everyone ah know thinks has been a huge improvement.
It is now like 24 man scenarios with particular tasks beyond just fighting
over battle objectives.
(9)
Renown Cap Removed and
T4 Scenarios made lvl40 only
Actually the cap was made so much higher per any exp level that for
all intents it was removed. This allows folks to hit T4 with much higher
renown and presumably thus better gear to boot, or at least much sooner
thereafter. This combined with T4 scenarios now limited to lvl40s has
greatly improved the end-game T4 scenario experience for everyone.
No more lower level folks with very low rr going head-to-head with the
best trained killers of both realms.
(10)
Combat animation and sound improvements
The improvements in combat animation fluidity and engie/sw
firing sounds especially have contributed to my immersion in the
game. Ka-pow! Ka-boom! Wooooosh! Sssshwap! Shick-Shick!
Okay, on that not really hugely important but fun upgrade I'll now
wait to see what others think are the most important improvements :).
If you have ideas for what you think are important changes
that I have not included, let me know! Mah contact info
can be found at the link "Contact Dwooid" on the sidebar
Best Regahds,
Dwooid of Caledor
Last Updated: November 22nd, 2010