WAR (Warhammer Online)

This article really hits the nail on the head about the game.

I played in closed beta and there was hardly anyone grinding scenarios, it was all spontaneous PQ's and lots of communication and grouping. 

Now it's a ghost town at lvl 20.  I refuse to play until the day i log into skull throne and find a group in the badlands, let alone more that 10 people in the zone.

I dont know how Mythic is going to fix this (NERF Scenario XP Gain) or make PvE gear rewards better than PvP, not just PQ's give all PvE content love.

NOt only that -- how about some Epic Quest lInes or HIdden Quests?  I haven't completed a quest line in the game that WASNT a PQ that gave me a blue or better.  How about class quests that lead to a great item instead of rewarding you with a potion and XP pat-on-the-back?

There needs to be a draw in the community to go after the PvE content.  I think in closed beta everyone did it because they knew there wasn't a point in leveling, as cap was at 20.

I either need to switch servers or cancel sub till this game gets everything worked out.  I would hate to see another TR, another game I followed closely and closed beta tested ( I hope I am not bad Luck).

Good article, thanks for posting it.

Being on a better populated server really does make a difference, but even then there still seems to be too many people that are just scenario grinding.

I think most of the required game elements are there, but as the article suggests many people either don't really notice or just go for the easy option of queuing for scenarios all the time.

It's still early days yet though & provided they don't take too long about it, there is still time for Mythic to find the right balance. Every other MMO I have played has changed a hell of a lot in the first six months after release, so I guess the old saying about "The best laid plans of Mice & Men" is true once again.

Not a very good artical really you can't really blame the players for the problems the games faceing, the players simply went where the most fun and rewards are which just happens to be scenario's pre T4.

I think you missed the point mate, theyre not blaming the players per se - they actually recognise thats its  game design flaw by not logically pointing the players to content that is being overlooked

Have to agree with it and OP's comments - im dreadfully bored already which really pains me as warhammer has been part of my life for so long i hate to think of it putting its name next to what ultimately is going to be a failure

I pretty much agree with the post.

I particularly like how the writer correctly identified the core issue - while players ARE playing wrongly, it is ultimately Mythic's fault in failing to show them clearly enough how to play correctly.

I've been shouted down many times on these boards that I'm blaming players for not playing the game as it should be played. I'm not saying that the game isn't to blame... just that with some more incentive and imaginativeness they could have much much more fun. (stop q-ing for that damn scenario, join a PQ group and suggest "hey lets take a few BOs and a keep for a change?" - when you take a few some enemies are bound to notice and start harassing your band... and voilla - there's your open RvR starting  to roll.)

Sadly a lot of people are not ready for that kind of taking things into their own hands and fully expect the game to lead them by their noses. I blame WoW for that - if WAR released 5 years ago we'd have no such problems whatsoever - mmos were played exactly for this open-endedness and freedom to do your own thing and take initiative. Today it's a different matter - most players fully expect to be led by the hand step by step through the game with easy-to-read signs on the way. If they don't see those signs flashing in bright neon they automatically assume that there is nothing there. If it's not advertised it simply doesn't exit for them.

It's even worse. It just takes one Realm on a server to completely screw it up.

On my EU server, Burlok, we on Order side WANT to do oRvR!

I can get a full WB together within my alliance in no time.

Problem is, that Destruction is hidden and doesn't come out.

They are just busy grinding Scenarios and sertain dungeons and don't give a toss about oRvR!

Our whole Tier3 maps have been blue for over 2 weeks now. It's sad!

I hardly login anymore lately because of this, as I've grown bored and tired of scenarios.

Cheers

I think there are some truths in it, but also a part the author didnt realize.

One of the biggest oddities you notice as a MMO vet when entering WAR is the almost complete and utter silence in the chat channels. Now you may tell me whatever you like about the reasons, but for me it indicates something is massively wrong in this game. Period.

One thing sure is the chat system isnt really well designed. You cant set region channels like guild and group, you always have to type /1 and it isnt really highlighted, so I am sure there are many MMO noobs who just dont know.

Second, I am still deeply convinced the overdid the "helping hands" idea. Open groups, PQ's, the entire lot of things which make it "easy" to find something to do totally takes away the need to cooperate, to talk, to go to a public channel and ask anything. WAR holds you hand - but way to firmly. People just dont feel motivated to really explore the wilderness or to communicate. Its a well managed entertainment park where you are meticiously led from entertainment highlight A to highlight B asf. With such a tigh hand holding ppl just have no sense for making things by themselves, taking the initiative.

There is no reason to roam free and no real reward for doing so. People are led. They meant well, but sometimes good intentions still lead to bad results.

I disagree with the whole concept that players are to blame for playing the game wrong.  The game is designed wrong to encourage this type of play.  It doesn't reward properly, it doesn't give proper tools to build community or team work, it discourages just about every aspect that builds proper team and community based play. 

Yes this game needs team play, lots of players working towards a realm goal and things of that nature.  However almost every mechanic in the games promotes individual solo based efforts and removes the need to communicate with other players.  The design of the game is flawed and players reactions to those designs in the result, not the cause.  The tools given to the players encourage exactly what needs to happen to make this a healthy game.   The community that is needed in the game never developed as a result of Mythics choice to not include important tools to allow players to build that community.  No zone chat, no forums, everything revolving around individual, no reason to defend and no real "ownership" of contested areas.

Would the game be more fun if people did the group based activities, maybe.  Does the games design encourage that type of play, no.   Almost every aspect of the game rewards based on individual contribution which often isn't gained by doing activites that benefit the team. 

Everything to me screams that people are not interacting with certain portions of the games as a result of the games designs or lack of fun factor and not because they are playing the game wrong.  Sure the game is intended to have a certain flow in concept, but if that flow doesn't work properly due to design flaws why blame the players.

For example this blogger points out that lairs are being ignored or some other nonsense.  Well he doesn't mention that many lairs are bugged and don't work.  Many lair bosses don't even have a loot table to reward people beating them.  On top of that they are pretty easy by most accounts of people rolling through many of them in under an hour or so.  Game design or players playing the game wrong?

At the end of the day if the game was fun people would be doing those activities.   If they aren't doing those things then something is wrong and maybe it isn't the players.

The problem I have with posts/articles like these is that for people who are in well orginized guilds, like myself, a lot of these claims are wrong. I can get a PQ, BO, Keep, Scen group anytime I need and there is plenty of chat in both guild and alliance chat. I also talk to many people over region chat depending on the situation especially if