WAR (Warhammer Online)

Saw this over at tentonhammer, thought it made an interesting read!

http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/50025

Players assert contribution determined on random die roll.

One of the most bragged about features in Warhammer Online is the contribution system used to dole out loot in Public Quests and Keep captures. Supposedly a player's contribution is measured on various actions taken while in the public quest and the more someone contributes, the more likely they are to get loot. This is all calculated according to a secret formula that Mythic Entertainment has devised.

A group of players have now claimed that they've broken the code of that secret formula. Namely the secret is this they say - the formula doesn't exist. According to this theory, a random die roll is made when a player enters a zone. That is their contribution score, and will remain their score until they change zones. Which means, theoretically, that someone who was lucky enough to have a high roll could sit there and do nothing and win every loot until they either leave or someone with a higher roll comes along.

This theory is causing a lot of heat on both sides of the issue. Those that don't believe this is the case are upset that these players are "stirring the pot". Those that support the theory are calling it a betrayal by Mythic.

"Despite what their intentions were I am horribly disappointed in Mythic. Not that they failed to create this tool, but that they still used a roll system and named it contribution; made us believe that what we did actually mattered. Lied to. Deceived. I can think of no complimentary words for what they did. It’s another big feature that caused me to buy this game which isn’t implemented. They might have kept half the system if they would finish it at some later time, but I still can’t figure out why they would name it contribution. It makes no sense! The only word we have got about the system is the usual “working as intended”.

No word yet from Mythic about how correct or incorrect this might be. We are hoping to hear from them soon.

A full explanation of the theory behind contribution can be found here.
 

It is only a rumor at the moment but the link at the bottom here from the source makes an interesting read.

what do you think, is it important either way? looks pretty significant to me and makes sense about people winning loot all the time in a good way. Is it something that can be fixed easy or not?

I was reading up on WAR and I only played the first month and was thinking of getting further in to the big sieges and some videos whet my appetite.

Im not posting this to piss people off, it just seems a bit relevant from reading some of the posts here an on my guild forums.

LOL how do you "determine" it's random?

This applies only to keep taking contribution, and not to any of the other contribution systems (like pq's). I am of the camp that believes keep taking contribution IS currently messed up, and experience shows that it is based on a combination of a roll of the dice and some other value randomly determined when entering the zone. Resulting in a sort of double randomness. Though I think its pretty extremist to call the whole thing a betrayal.

For a while during beta, players complained that certain players that knew how to 'game' the system would always get top, and no one else would ever have a chance. Those of the highest level, with the most damage output, or the highest capacity for healing, would win, and everyone else was left in the dust. People could win under such a system not by being the most skilled, just by having the highest level and farmed equipment. It make participation pointless if you werent the highest you could be. So they made efforts to put in some randomization.

The bad thing of this dice rolling, obviously, is that people that work harder during a keep take dont necessary get the highest contribution. The good thing is, everyone has a chance to win if they do it enough, and there is no real way for someone to game the system.

How I would personally want it to be is that contribution is a factor but not the end all. It should provide a small bonus that increases your chances. This is how people thought it was supposed to work, but instead we got a more randomized system.

I think the system could be a lot worse, but I am not a big fan of the complete randomness.

Playing a BW i am always in top 3 damage dealers or contributors. However my winning is 1/10. The roll is just random, there is no such thing as contribution. If we go according to contribution, i would be winning gold, purple and blue bags every single PQ, which is not true.

Originally posted by Getalife

Playing a BW i am always in top 3 damage dealers or contributors. However my winning is 1/10. The roll is just random, there is no such thing as contribution. If we go according to contribution, i would be winning gold, purple and blue bags every single PQ, which is not true.

How would you fix it though? If it was all contribution wouldn't the damage dealers / contributors win out all the time causing more issues of unfairness? Maybe it's better to "put in what you want" and benefit from that, or is it more fair to split across the board on a number of circumstances?

To be honest I never got up high enough to give it a thorough look over, just trying to get head around it thats all. :)

Well it does work, to a degree that is.  Take a PQ for example:   Everyone that participates is racking up contribution points, which is fine.  Then the next step kicks in, the extra award for 1st, 2nd and third place contributors, that gets added to the contribution points.  Then the final step, the random roll.  This gets all added in and the end result is who gets what.

The problem is the random roll; it can vary to damn much!  I have literally walked into a PQ, whacked at the boss a couple times and ended up winning a bag, over many others that were there the whole time.  THis indicates the random range tha can be generated can actually exceed the top contributor with his 1st place extra.  Thats where the problem lies.

Originally posted by AmazingAvery

Originally posted by Getalife

Playing a BW i am always in top 3 damage dealers or contributors. However my winning is 1/10. The roll is just random, there is no such thing as contribution. If we go according to contribution, i would be winning gold, purple and blue bags every single PQ, which is not true.

 

How would you fix it though? If it was all contribution wouldn't the damage dealers / contributors win out all the time causing more issues of unfairness? Maybe it's better to "put in what you want" and benefit from that, or is it more fair to split across the board on a number of circumstances?

To be honest I never got up high enough to give it a thorough look over, just trying to get head around it thats all. :)

There can't be a proper fix for it because its very hard to balance roll when people who are not high damage dealers also need loot. However a small bonus just to increase your chances can be better. Maybe a system where everytime you make high contribution or damagae your chances keep improving over time. Random roll is not bad in PQ but it can be a great time sink if you want that SPECIAL gear from Keep lords.

considering that i often won the contribution meters on keep taking (repeat on keep taking) only by moving my char to follow others and not attacking or taking dmg, I support the theories floating around regarding the way contribution values are generated.

That's a bullshit claim because i've been in a zone and completed 2 full PQ's before leaving and had 2 seperate contribution rolls. Contribution is based off of damage output and healing.