Sorry about the lack of updates folks, and I’m afraid I can’t promise anything about the near future.
RL bit me with a vengeance recently and I started feeling the burnout on my Witch Hunter. Since returning, I’ve found my guild imploded and rerolled Destruction, along with several friends quitting.
/sadface
(Yes, that’s a little play on the name of my server for those of you who haven’t managed to stalk me down yet)
Let’s start today with a quote from the glorious new official, Mythic-generated guide to Witch Hunters!
“Witch Hunters don’t have big armour but it is possible to balance this weakness, at least a little bit, by increasing the ability with the weapons“
delayed post = mild MMO burnout
I don’t know about you guys, but that answered all my questions. OK, OK, I’ll stop; it could have been an EU player speaking outside their mother tongue and as a fairly well-educated linguist I know that English is arguably the hardest language to learn.
But then again, judging by the quality of text on the shiny new official Mythic forums, it wouldn’t surprise me if my ribbing is well-founded. But Mythic are being good sports about the whole deal: most posters have proven unable either to write or read, as evidenced by the majority of discussion being outside the guidelines requested. I’m still not certain why it was necessary to throw $$$ at official forums and not, say, developer salaries or server stability (or just more of them; WTB not sitting in a queue outside the Inevitable City while the other 23 members of my all-guild warband get phat lewt) BUT it does seem that some 1.2 changes are a direct product of Mythic reading and responding to feedback on their own forums, picking out valid topics of concern through rapidly expanding QQ cesspools, and for that I must commend them.
So with a quick nod to the title of this post and the wall of text it was threatening to become, thoughts on 1.2 now that everybody’s fairly well adjusted.
Copyright © 2009 Flintlocks R Fun; this Feed is for personal, non-commercial use only.
I wanted this post to be some play experience and anecdotes from 1.2a testing on the PTS, figuring out how the new WH matches up against other careers’ revisions. Unfortunately this was not to be; I logged in to a seemingly abandoned world only to be slaughtered mercilesslyhumorously when what I had mistaken for Destro NPCs were in fact all template-cloned Choppas. So by now I know pretty well how WH stacks up against the (still rather bugged) Choppa, but I’m waiting on decent encounters with the other 11 opponent careers.
...and the key to rock-paper-scissors is avoiding redundancy
While I’m on the subject of numbers, let’s add the Choppa and Slayer for a total of 24 unique careers in Warhammer. You can argue about the mirror paradigm and hack it down to 12, but I would call you a fool and point out that Shadow Warriors’ stance mechanic is on Marauders (not their mirror), pets are given to Squig Herders and White Lions (not mirrors), and my Witch Hunter plays very differently from a Witch Elf even though we share stealth.
That’s about double or even triple what most character class-based MMOs have had in their first few months. And while balance is a concern, of course, another valid worry is beginning to surface on the forums with the new twin MDPS coming.
/WALLOFTEXT ON
Role definition. Perhaps the first people to spot this were the White Lions and Marauders suddenly feeling outclassed by the powerful new careers sporting the same medium armor and similar – but arguably better – skillsets. Some back-line healers are also starting to wonder as their healing power, survivability, and throughput all seem lacking compared to their front-line counterparts; wasn’t there supposed to be a trade-off? And yes, obviously there needs to be flexibility within careers (i.e. mastery/specialization) for variety, fun, and flavor, but there also needs to be a difference between, say, a Salvation WP and Isha AM – aside from one being invincible and the other a wet paper bag.
I don’t do this often, but I think it’s time. Discussion time. If the Choppa isn’t supposed to obsolesce Marauders, if Warrior Priests aren’t supposed to outheal and outlive Archmages, what are the roles? I’ll take a stab:
HEALERS:
TANKS:
RDPS:
MDPS:
I’d say most careers are pretty close to this right now and could only use some sharpening to really hit the nail, but a couple would need overhauls to fit. Mostly I’m fond of the Slayer/Choppa being a sword-and-board tank killer (a lot of their abilities suggest this) because those guys need to fear something and it’s a shame to see the poor WLs/Maras become useless.
Copyright © 2009 Flintlocks R Fun; this Feed is for personal, non-commercial use only.
captions are for the weak
Well, after witnessing our first ever WH-specific Developer post (sorry for the sloppy linkage; it’s the best I could get but you still have to scroll down to the highlight) on the beta forums, it seems that 1.2(a) proves Mythic is starting to listen to us.
I say starting because presumably Burn Away Lies – soon to be virtually the only usable execution – and our offhand auto attacks seem to scale still off Ballistic Skill (say that ten times fast!). And of course there’s the melee/ranged crit disparity.
EDIT: Well you know, Witch Hunters have hats so we can eat them. See my hat? Mmm, hat. Yummy. Tastes like foot.
But oh my god, there’s somebody out there reading our shit!
Now all I need is a regular Lost Vale group…
Copyright © 2009 Flintlocks R Fun; this Feed is for personal, non-commercial use only.
I realize here that I might be giving away trade secrets and impeding my own success, but so be it. A well-played fight is much more enjoyable for me, and if people learn to counter the career effectively then perhaps we won’t have as many whine posts and ensuing nerfs from Mythic’s attempts to appease the ever-outraged forum crowd.
1. Notice the Opener. You just got jumped! Read your scrolling combat text, scan the debuff icon, create an Aura or other mod, or look at your character. Swirly barbs will encircle you in three pretty colors: red (anti-melee), blue (anti-spell), and green (anti-movement). Decide whether the sacrifice of action is worthwhile and act accordingly. If jumped with green swirlies and you think you can run to help or safety, that might be best but otherwise stand still and pivot to deny the WH your flank and keep him in your frontal parry/block cone. If jumped with red, play defensively unless you know the WH is particularly squishy and you feel confident about soaking the damage whilst eliminating the threat. If jumped with blue and you need to cast to defend yourself, use a morale ability if possible and make your decisions carefully e.g. as a DoK, try to heal via melee instead of spells.
2. Communicate! Stealth classes have always preyed on disorganization and lack of intelligence among their opponents. If you get jumped, make a macro to alert your teammates (not that anyone ever reads chat while fighting; I blame Mythic for making the spell animations too pretty) or speak up in Ventrilo. If you were ambushed on your way out of a warcamp or at a choke point, announce it in region chat; chances are a Witch Elf won’t be able to resist the opportunity to duel, or there might be a zerg passing by that could steamroll your aggressor. Conversely, keep an eye on your own rear lines in battle and be proactive if your teammates are uncommunicative.
3. Location, Location, Location. Don’t be alone if you can avoid it, don’t overextend yourself (I love punishing greedy tanks that outrange their healers), and as mentioned before don’t let a WH take potshots at your rear. Stay close to your tanks if you have a Guard, but also keep them between yourself and where you anticipate a WH’s entry. Use terrain to your advantage – stand with your back to the wall or in a difficult-to-reach spot. If knockback is one of your primary defenses, take a moment to plan where you’re going to send the hapless WH flying so you don’t simply send him 2 feet backward into an incline or obstacle.
Choose wisely, young grasshopper.
4. Know Your Class, Know Theirs. It’s amazing how many people will never detaunt or seem unaware that they can cleanse/remove a WH’s debuffs. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure; if you’re hit with a healing debuff like Punish the False (and can’t cure it), removing DOTs might end up being more damage prevention than trying to spam heal yourself. If I use Repel Blasphemy (and perhaps augment it with Riposte), don’t waste a Rend Soul or other melee ability with a long cooldown; DO turtle behind your shield, use attacks that are undefendable, and expect me to follow up with a Confess! If you are a caster and I just jumped you with Fanatical Zeal, popped Shroud of Magnus, and am slotting Vindication, spamming spells at me is tantamount to suicide. Read your combat log after a death to figure out what you could have done better.
5. CC is Your Friend. A WH has three goals: DPS, harass, and/or get out alive. He must accomplish all of these quickly; prolonged fights are his nightmare. A disarm shuts him down almost completely; snares and movement barbs too. And if you can counter his (very limited) escape options, remember that the WH is a cloth wearing class with typically low resists and will die very fast to focus fire. Unless I’ve been skirmishing for a while and acquired an Unstoppable buff, it generally only takes one form of (well-applied) CC to deny me a kill and lay me out for a beating. Look for a window of opportunity and abuse it.
(For the Order folks reading, a lot of that applies against Witch Elves as well, although they do have very different tactics and abilities despite being our mirror; do your research and don’t say I didn’t warn you!)
Copyright © 2009 Flintlocks R Fun; this Feed is for personal, non-commercial use only.
The PTS is up, the sky is falling, my character is copied and I’m here with what everbody’s been speculating madly about – numbers.
…OK, and a little commentary.
“Burn Armor: This ability has had its damage contribution from stats reduced.”
Blessed Bullets of Styrofoam, go!
“Sudden Accusation: This ability has had its damage contribution from stats reduced.”
“Fanatical Zeal: This ability has had its damage contribution from stats reduced.”
“Trial by Pain: This ability will deal slightly more damage, and activate Blessed Bullets twice if allowed to run the full duration.”
“Burn Away Lies: This ability will now deal more damage.”
I’ll not address the various bug fixes. If they’re accurately implemented, hurrah; if not, then nothing’s changed anyway.
The bullet nerf is unkind, to be sure, and does nothing to bridge the gap between WE kisses and our mechanic. If anything, it widens because the newly-possible bullet crits seem dependent on the ranged critical% (which no WH in their right mind stacks) and not melee. But the dual stat dependency dilemma is a huge issue in itself, and I won’t get started on that here. The stealth nerf – no longer being able to sneak away when under attack, even if you disrupt/parry/dodge everything – is salt on the wound for careers with already very limited survivability and escape mechanisms.
Overall we seem to have gotten hit by a lot of crossfire in the QQ-inspired Witch Elf nerfs. I won’t get on a soapbox yet or scream about the apocalypse as some would, but it doesn’t look pretty.
Copyright © 2009 Flintlocks R Fun; this Feed is for personal, non-commercial use only.
When you’re low renown rank, doing pretty much anything is awesomely rewarding. When you need ORvR influence for those frustratingly buggedlucrative item rewards, you kill two birds with one stone, reaping renown out in the lakes as well.
But the curve hits sharply. Let me take a moment to say that I’m not trying to toot my horn, wave my epeen, or boast about the glorious virtual existence I enjoy alongside real life unemployment (although I got called in to work yesterday, woohoo!). I’m not in the top 10 of anything for Witch Hunters on my server, nor do I particularly care to be.
Why? Because the “best” simply zerg.
Whatever that Ironbreaker was smoking, I want some.
After attaining a certain renown rank, killing other players rewards poorly; the only renown gains that don’t plummet sharply as you advance are ORvR captures: keeps and battlefield objectives. So rather than spend 15 minutes in a scenario watching both sides blindly rush the middle of the map despite the explanation on the loading screen moments before entering…
And pretty soon renown rank boils down to who has more playtime, not skill in RvR. I’ve seen some of the “best” get their faces pounded in by level 35s in quest reward gear.
So now my strategy is (although I don’t degroup and solo; perhaps I should): find the player on the enemy team worth the most and assassinate them at least once for more renown than the entire scenario or capture would be worth otherwise.
Which is actually pretty fun. I’m making a lot of enemies, naturally, but that only makes things more interesting. After all, if the top 10% of your players only stand to gain from slaughtering one another, it’ll weed out the keyboard turners eventually.
…I hope.
Copyright © 2009 Flintlocks R Fun; this Feed is for personal, non-commercial use only.
