Warhammer: Age of Reckoning Options

[Oddies da Nerfed]

With today's post of this tidbit. We have a release date of Sept 18th for WAR. As some are aware I was lucky enough to get in to closed beta about a month ago now. Keep watching this space as I am working on a massive writeup with lots of fancy screen shots and other goodies to post once the NDA is lifted. What I will say for now is that this is by far one of the best betas for an MMO I have been in and have loved every minute of it. If you like the PvP, this game is for you.

edit: based off info on pre-order stuff open beta is scheduled to start the 15th of this month.

Coming soon: Leet infos.

[Oddies da Nerfed]

1.7
Living Guilds

For those of you not familiar with our Living Guild feature, we’ve gone above and beyond standard features like guild vaults, cloaks, and guild merchants with our guild system to fulfill much more than just your run-of-the-mill communication and grouping needs. Guilds gain experience and ranks just like players do, and not just for bragging rights. At each guild rank, guilds gain rewards that benefit the individual guild members as well as the guild as a whole. Some of the rewards even enhance their roles in PvE and RvR.


1.7.1
Guild Standards

As a guild advances in rank, one of the important rewards they gain is the ability to carry
Standards, bearing their guild-specific Heraldry proudly into battle. These Standards will
not only put the fear of the gods into the hearts of your enemies when they see your
colors flying towards them, they will also provide your nearby realm-mates with Morale
boosts and Tactical advantages.

Guild Standards are equip-able items that take the place of your other weaponry. They
are only equip-able by members marked as “Standard Bearers” (of which the guild leader
is always one) within the guild. Standard Bearers can be assigned via the right click
context-sensitive menu inside the Guild Roster. With up to three Standards and seven
“Standard Bearer” guild titles ultimately being unlocked, guilds now have the power to
spread their fame (or infamy) across the realms.

Now, while the Standards themselves provide a morale generation bonus for the party,
additional area-wide bonuses can be applied to Standards through the use of guild
Tactics. Guild Tactics can be purchased using guild Tactic points, which are earned as the
guild reaches new guild ranks. A guild must also unlock Tactic slots on its Standards to
be able to slot its Tactics onto them, with up to three Tactic slots eventually becoming
available (per Standard). This provides each Guild with a variety of ways to customize
the bonuses on their Standards to best suit the needs and play styles of their Guild
members.

Standards are available for purchase at the Guild store located in the Realm’s capital city
and from Renown Merchants in Keeps. For testing purposes, guilds can purchase
Standards at any rank, and are available from the weapon merchants in Warcamps as
well. Standards can be carried to provide a party bonus, planted in the ground for an area-
wide bonus, or planted in the Standard attachment of a keep to claim that keep in the
name of your guild. Claiming a keep allows players within a much larger radius to benefit
from the Tactical effects on the Standard, as well as give a steady stream of guild
experience to the guild that claims it. And don't forget the prestige of flying your guild's
banners over the walls of a conquered keep!

Standards may be captured in RvR (Realm versus Realm) by opposing Realms by
interacting with a planted Standard. If the enemy Standard Bearer hasn’t planted his
Standard yet, killing him will plant it automatically and make it available for capture (or
retrieval by the Standard Bearer’s group or guild).

Here is a list of the Implemented Rewards (please only comment on implemented Rewards):

Rank 3
Guild Calendar

Rank 4
Entry to The Viper’s Pit/Sigmar’s Hammer Access
Alliances

Rank 5
Special Crafting Components – Components normally found only in PvE are available for purchase at the guild merchant

Rank 6
2 Standard Bearer Titles
Recruit’s/Warped Battle Standard
Tactic Slot 1
Tactic Point
Standard Post 1
Keep Claiming

Rank 8
Tactic Point

Rank 9
Custom Heraldry Reservation
Custom Heraldry Reveal: Base Pattern
Custom Heraldry Reveal: Base Color

Rank 10
Recruit’s/Warped Battle Standard Tactic Slot 2
Tactic Point

Rank 11
Special Crafting Containers

Rank 12
Tactic Point

Rank 13
Standard Ability: Slam

Rank 14
Recruit’s/Warped Battle Standard Tactic Slot 3
Tactic Point

Rank 16
Tactic Point

Rank 18
2 Standard Bearer Titles
Warrior’s/Bloodied Battle Standard
Tactic Slot 1
Tactic Point

Rank 19
Transit to The Viper’s Room/Sigmar’s Hammer

Rank 20
Tactic Point

Rank 21
Custom Heraldry Reveal: Emblem

Rank 22
Warrior’s/Bloodied Battle Standard Tactic Slot 2
Tactic Point

Rank 24
Standard Post 2
Tactic Point

Rank 25
Standard Ability: Rally

Rank 26
Warrior’s/Bloodied Battle Standard Tactic Slot 3
Tactic Point

Rank 28
Tactic Point

Rank 30
2 Standard Bearer Titles
Campaigner’s/Corruptor’s War Standard
Tactic Slot 1
Tactic Point

Rank 31
Coming Soon

Rank 32
Tactic Point

Rank 33
Custom Heraldry Reveal: Shape

Rank 34
Campaigner’s/Corruptor’s War Standard Tactic Slot 2
Tactic Point

Rank 36
Standard Post 3
Tactic Point

Rank 38
Campaigner’s/Corruptor’s War Standard Tactic Slot 3
Tactic Point

Rank 40
Tactic Point


1.7.2
Standards

As a guild advances in rank, one of the important rewards they gain is the ability to carry Standards, bearing their guild-specific Heraldry proudly into battle. These Standards will not only put the fear of the gods into the hearts of your enemies when they see your colors flying towards them, they will also provide your nearby realm-mates with Morale boosts and Tactical advantages.

- Carried by members of the guild set as Standard Bearers (up to 6 members plus the guild leader).
- They no longer require a party to activate
- Grant a party based run speed bonus.
- Grant a party based morale bonus on plant.
- Give an AoE run speed bonus around the Standard Bearer.
- Can have Tactics added which give AoE effects to enhance friendlies.
- Tactics have been changed. Now, there are 3 kinds of guild tactics – Offensive, Defensive, and Stat Enhancement. Each Standard may contain one of each type of Tactic.
- You will lose the Standard when it is captured in battle, and to summon a new one, you will need to purchase a new guild standard.
- Summoning them will only take 10 seconds and can be done on the move.
- They can be planted in the ground instantly when entering combat.
- Once planted, it takes 15 seconds of interaction time for enemy players (or the owners) to pick one up.
- It takes 10 seconds for the Standard Bearer to put it away and this can be done on the move as well.
- To help the Standard Bearer get to the spot he wants to plant the Standard, he will get a temporary invulnerability buff.
- You will get a steady flow of guild experience for maintaining control over your claimed keep.
- You get to fly your colors over the walls of your vanquished foes' keep.
- Possible Post and Pattern choices for your Standards have been increased.
- Available now only at Guild merchants in the Taverns and at Keep Renown merchants.
- Standards are now captured if you kill a Standard Bearer before he plants his Standard.
- Standard Bearers no longer need to bring their Standards out after saving them because the Standard Bearer now picks up his Standard activated.



1.7.3
Calendar

With the Calendar tab, your Guild can view, set up, and manage Guild and Alliance events. The Calendar makes things easy by providing features such as a sign-up list which allows Guild members to sign up for specific events, and provides an option to allow Guild members with the appropriate permissions to accept and decline sign-ups.

- The Calendar provides a unified interface to organize and participate in large and small activities and events.
- It allows players to quickly overview what’s happening with the guild and alliance to facilitate a more cohesive and active membership.
- It allows people to sign up for activities they want to participate in.
- It allows organizers to specify the requirements for participation as well as the ability to choose who will participate among the people who have shown interest.







1.8

Open Parties

We are proud to introduce a groundbreaking new feature in WAR – Open Parties. An "open" party is a party which can be joined without having to be invited by (or referred to) the party leader. Here are the details:

- By default, newly created parties are open.
- Group leaders can close a party if desired. This option is available in the party options menu.
- Using the open party UI, players can search zone-wide for existing open parties. They can view information on the party (names, careers, ranks, and area) and join immediately if desired.
- Using the open party UI, players can flag themselves as interested in forming an open party.
- Players not in a party or warband receive a brief notification when entering public quest areas and RvR lakes of nearby open parties and warbands.
- To access the Open Party interface, as a solo player, click on the “3 skull” icon beneath your player portrait on the upper left hand corner of the screen.




1.9

PvE stuff


1.9.1
Lairs

We also had a chance to take a peek at some of the lair areas that will be hidden throughout the game. These will be out-of-the-way areas where exceptionally powerful and rare foes hide out of plain sight and guard exceptionally powerful loot. We had a chance to see two such lairs; the first was hidden on the border of a competitive realm-versus-realm zone (where players from different factions can freely clash with each other) and was locked away behind a stone gate, outside of which were various shaped stones embedded into the earth just in front of the entrance. The door itself will be locked, and the flat, ground-level stones arranged in a ring around the entrance apparently represent a puzzle that you will need to solve to open the gate. Another lair was hidden in a remote corner of a misty river basin that seemed mostly deserted and was separated by a small set of foothills. However, persistent players who explore every inch of the area may discover the means to climb up the first set of foothills to discover that a set of fallen logs lead the way to a row of shattered tree stumps that can be crossed with well-placed jumps that lead to a final hidden path to the lair of a mighty and ancient foe who summons backup to defend its treasure. Yes, Warhammer Online will have a jumping puzzle.
However, none of the game's lairs will have any kind of duplicate content or puzzles, so there will be no one-size-fits-all solution to unlock all of them. Though Mythic was gracious enough to show the entrances to two of these lairs, the studio was understandably reluctant to comment about the number and location of them in the game. There will, however, be "more than 20" lairs hidden throughout the world, and in addition to offering the opportunity to fight a unique enemy and win an exceptionally powerful weapon or item, finding lair locations will unlock sections of your "tome of knowledge," Warhammer Online's in-game journal. Players who enjoy exploring will definitely be rewarded for their troubles when they discover lairs, but the hidden enemies that lurk within will generally be exceptionally strong, and a stout group of adventurers will usually be required to conquer them.

1.9.2
Mounts

Are you tired of running everywhere you go? Take a load off those aching feet and get to
where you want to go faster with your personal mount. Ride a ferocious wolf with your
Goblin, a powerful warhorse with your Priest of the Empire, or a personal Gyrocopter
with your Dwarf. In fact, each race gets its own special mount, with a few surprises
thrown into the mix.
• Can purchase Mounts at the City Stables at rank 20.
• Gain a significant speed increase.
• Cannot use in buildings, caves, or other interiors.
• Cannot use in deep water, or in some areas and zones.
• Look at all of the pretty saddles everyone is mounted on – Even most of the
NPC’s!
• Use the mount item (right click on the item in your backpack or left click from hot
bar) to summon the mount.
• Cannot use any abilities or enter into combat while mounted.
• You will be dismounted most of the time when you are attacked.


1.9.3
Crafting

Three gathering skills are available for this beta: Butchering, Scavenging, and
Cultivating. One crafting skill is available: Apothecary. Players can choose just one
gathering skill and one crafting skill.

1.9.3.1
Apothecary
This crafting skill allows players to create consumable items such as potions, lotions, and powders.
The Apothecary skill can be learned from crafting trainers. There are trainers throughout the game world, including in each Chapter Two and each city. Once a player has learned the Apothecary, he or she gets access to an Apothecary button in his or her crafting tab. This button can be dragged to the hotbar. Clicking on this button brings up the Apothecary interface.

Containers
A container is required for each Apothecary attempt. Merchants sell basic containers. They can be easily identified since they have “Apothecary – Container” in their tooltips. Better containers usually have some beneficial effect, like adding stability or “power”. Containers have four slots.
Containers have Apothecary skill-level requirements. A player will be able to use a container only if his or her Apothecary skill is sufficiently high. Each container’s skill-level requirement is shown in its
tooltip.


Main Ingredients
These items determine what type of “potion” will be made. They can be easily identified since they have “Apothecary – Main Ingredient” in their tooltips. Each tooltip contains flavor text that gives a basic explanation of what that main ingredient does. Main Ingredients have skill-level requirements, the higher the skill-level requirement, the more powerful the main ingredient is. A player can only use a main ingredient with a high skill-level requirement if his or her skill is sufficiently high. Main ingredients are very unstable.

Ingredients
These items determine the overall effects of the “potion”. They are easily identified since they have
“Apothecary – Ingredient” in their tooltips. Each Ingredient’s tooltip also contains flavor text that gives a basic explanation of what that ingredient does. Ingredients can have different properties. Some add stability; some make potions last longer, some increase the product yield. Ingredients have skill-level requirements, the higher the skill-level requirement, the more powerful the ingredient. A player can only use an ingredient with a high skill-level requirement if his or her skill is sufficiently high.

Creating a “Potion”
To begin creating a potion, a player must first drag a container into the Apothecary interface. Then the
player must add a Main Ingredient. This determines what kind of potion will be made. Once a Main
Ingredient has been added, the Un-Stabilityometer appears. This gauge gives information to the player
about whether the current mix of ingredients is stable enough.

Un-Stabilityometer
This gauge tells the player how stable the current concoction is. The Un-Stabilityometer has a pointer
that points to either the red (fail), green (success) or orange part of the gauge. If the pointer is in the red area, the potion will definitely fail – it’s not stable enough. If the pointer is in the green area, the potion will
definitely succeed. If the pointer is in the orange area, the potion “might” succeed – it’s either just stable enough (success), or slightly unstable (fail). It’s too close to call. When the pointer is in the orange area, the overall stability of the concoction can’t be definitively determined.
If a concoction is in the orange area, it “might succeed”. At this point, it’s usually a good idea to add an
ingredient that will increase stability. However, players can take a chance that the concoction is stable enough and hit “BREW”. Note that if a brew attempt fails when the concoction “might succeed”, retrying with the same ingredients will never result in a success. There’s no randomness associated with “might succeed”.

Adding Ingredients
Once a Main Ingredient has been added, players can add other ingredients to make the
concoction stable. Some ingredients can increase the duration of a potion’s effect; some
can increase how many potions are made; some increase the stability of the concoction.
Players can use different combinations of ingredients to create potions with different
effects. By experimenting with ingredients, players can “design” potions that suit their
play style.

Failure
If a concoction is unstable and the player presses BREW, the attempt will fail.
Ingredients are not usually destroyed during a failure. However, some containers and
ingredients (normally those bought from a merchant) can be destroyed during a failure.

Stability
The most important aspect of crafting potions is ensuring that the concoction is stable.
Players make concoctions stable by adding ingredients that add stability. You can tell if
an ingredient is a “stabilizer” by reading its flavor text.

There is a “water” family of “stabilizer” ingredients. Basic waters can be bought from
crafting merchants. Better waters can be found from humanoids, either from general loot
or by scavenging them. Better waters add more stability to a concoction. If a player is
experimenting with new and difficult ingredients, using better stabilizers will make a
brew attempt more likely to succeed.

When a player starts out in Apothecary, a good way to skill up is to make simple potions
using one main ingredient, two cloudy waters, and one other ingredient. You can get all
these items from crafting merchants.

1.9.4
Gathering Skills


1.9.4.1
Butchering

This is a gathering skill that allows players to extract resources from non-sentient
monsters throughout the world (Non-Sentient is a fancy way of saying dumb monsters).
Players can learn this skill from trainers throughout the world. There is a Butchering
trainer in every Chapter Two location.
The items you can get are meat, bones, blood, leather, etc. Most butchered items are
Apothecary ingredients.




1.9.4.2
Scavenging

This is a gathering skill very similar to Butchering except it lets players extract resources
from sentient monsters throughout the world (Sentient is a fancy way of saying 'monsters
that can think). Players can learn this skill from trainers throughout the world. There is a
Scavenging trainer in every Chapter Two location.

The items you can get are gold teeth, possessions, lucky charms, etc. It's also the way of
getting all the yucky stuff that might have attached itself to the monster, like leeches,
ticks, and fleas.


1.9.4.3
Cultivation

This is a gathering skill. Players can learn this skill from trainers throughout the world.
There is a Cultivating trainer in every Chapter Two location. Players with the cultivation
skill can grow their own weeds and fungi. Most weeds/fungi are Apothecary ingredients.


Switching Skills
You can switch your gathering skill by talking to a gathering trainer. If you switch
gathering skills, all progress in your previous gathering skill is lost.








2.0




2.1
Skirmish and Battlefield RvR

Skirmish RvR is the foundational system that all other RvR within WAR is built on.
Skirmish is simply the rules governing basic RvR fighting, including entry rules, combat
rules and rewards. Skirmish RvR offers open field battles between potentially unbalanced
forces within a well defined, yet open RvR space located persistently within the game
world.

Battlefield RvR is a mechanism used to define hotspots and target areas within Skirmish
RvR. These hotspots are areas that help to guide conflict within the Skirmish by giving
objectives with rewards granted to the side that completes them.

2.2
RvR Scenarios
Scenarios are timed score-based battles between opposing realms. Doing various things
within the Scenarios will give your Realm points. The Realm with the most points at the
end of the Scenario wins. Scenarios have a population cap. For this phase of beta, the
ranges are 12-on-12 to 18-on-18. Within the Scenarios, Realms are represented by colors.
Red is Destruction. Blue is order. White is neutral.

Completing Scenarios, win or lose, grants you Renown depending on your Score in the
Scenario. Winners also get Renown on top of the Renown granted from their Score.


2.3
Chicken
What is the chicken?

The Chicken is what happens if you are too high a Tier for the RvR area you are entering. Example, you are rank 40 and entiering T1 RvR, you turn into a chicken for your yellow cowardly attempt to pwn noobs who can't fight back, and instead you get pwnt. See below.

You deal 1 damage, and have 1 hitpoint. Pretty much in a chicken on chicken match the first chicken to peck kills the other chicken. In a rank 1 vs a rank 30 match, the chicken kicks the bucket. Pass the biscuits.

You get no armor, 1 hitpoint, no spells, no abilities, and no weapon but your burnt-off beak.

2.4
City Siege

Once the Fortress has fallen, the City is open for capture.

When the City goes into a contested state, it will become an instance. Players inside the
City when this occurs will be given a message asking them to either stay and fight, or go
to safe ground. Players that choose to stay are placed in the Warquarters of Altdorf.
Players that choose to go to safety are placed in Reikwald (the Fortress Zone). Players not
in the city enter the Contested version of Altdorf by going through the main gate or
alternate gates. Once inside, players are in a safe spawn location behind three gates. They
may right click the gate to be teleported to the other side and begin the assault or defense
of the City’s Warquarters.

Control over the City is determined by battling over seven objectives in the Warquarters
of Altdorf. Gaining control over these objectives will work via population disparity
mechanics. The more players in the area of a capture location, the faster the capture will
be.
Each Capture location will contribute points over time to a “Meta Pool”. The “Meta
Pool” tallies points from across all instances of the City. Population ratios are in place to
ensure that instances with possibly imbalanced numbers will contribute differently than
instance with even numbers.

Simply controlling over the seven objectives in your instance will not result in winning.
Players must maintain control and continue feeding the “Meta Pool” until it reaches the
predetermined amount of points. This results in winning control over the City.

The Zone Control Bar will display how well your Realm is doing as a race towards the
center of the Control Bar. If the forces of Order defend the City, the City will remain in
its Contested state for two hours before resetting back to the standard Altdorf. The
Campaign will then reset. If the forces of Destruction take the City, it will be open for
pillaging!


2.5
Siege Weapons

Keeps and surrounding areas will have several locations where Siege weapons can be
deployed and used by players. Some siege weapons will simply work by interacting with
them for a period of time to damage pre-determined targets (such as a door).

There are three types of Siege Weapons:
Rams are used against Keep Doors or other pre-selected targets.
Ballistae are used against individual players or other Siege Weapons doing single target
damage.
Cannons/Trebuchets are aimed to fire at a selected location, doing splash damage to
players or other Siege Weapons.

Players who have a high armor rating will be able to withstand Siege weapon attacks
better than players with little to no armor.

Siege Weapons must be built on Siege Pads found in the world or on Keeps. These are
the only locations players can create/deploy Siege Weapons. Furthermore, Siege
Weapons cannot be moved once placed, although they can rotate.

Siege weapons do not require a Trade-skill to build and can be deployed by anyone. They
are purchased from the War Camps or from an NPC inside the Keeps. Once purchased, a
siege weapon will take up a single inventory space. These items have no weight, and can
be carried and traded by anyone. Players can carry as many siege weapons as they want,
as long as they have space in their inventory. When a player deploys a siege weapon, the
item will disappear from the player’s inventory.

A siege weapon purchased in a higher Tier cannot be placed on a lower tier Siege Pad.
Only one Siege Weapon can be on a Siege Pad. Siege Weapons decay to 0 hitpoints after
10 minutes if not repaired, or until destroyed once they are deployed.

Siege “Pads”
Siege Pads are pre-set location on which Siege Weapons can be deployed. They are
physically represented in the world as large slabs of concrete, slate, or otherwise
engraved pads.

Keeps will have one Siege pad per destructible door for placing Rams (for the attackers)
and several pads for Ballistae and Cannons/Trebuchets on the Bastions (for the
defenders). The surrounding area of a keep will have several locations to place ranged weapons. The amount of Siege Pads placed will depend upon Game-play testing and
terrain.

To place a Siege Weapon on a Siege Pad, players simply right click on the pad to open an
interface window. The window will display the siege weapons available to the player to
be placed on the pad. Only one person can interact with the
Siege Pad at a time.
Only tier appropriate Siege Weapons can be deployed on Siege Pads. Tier One Siege Pads cannot house Tier Two, Three, or Four Siege Weapons.


Players have the ability to destroy and repair Siege Pads. Siege Pads can only be
destroyed by Ballista, Cannon/Catapult fire, or by beating on them with weapons and
spells. Siege Pads have very few hit points but respawn after five minutes.

Siege Weapon Control
Gaining control of a Siege Weapon is done by right clicking on the Siege Weapon once it
is built. Interacting with the Siege Weapon will give one player control of the Weapon.
Releasing control of a Siege Weapon is done by moving away from the weapon, or
simply closing the UI.

Rams
Rams are large siege engines used to batter down doors. Up to four players can be seated
on a Ram. When players control a Ram, they are seated on the Ram itself and no longer
have control of walking movement. To release control of the Ram a player may right
click on it or click the Release button on the UI. If a player right clicks on the Ram and it
has less than four players on it, the player will be put on the Ram. If the Ram already has
four people on it, the player will receive the message “This Ram is full and cannot be
operated by any more players”.

The number of players on the Ram determines the damage dealt by the Ram. It is broken
into 25% increments. If the Ram has one person, it does 25% of its maximum potential
damage. If it has three people, it will do 75% of its maximum potential damage.

Ballistae
(Direct Fire) Ballistae are large bolt throwers used to skewer an
enemy player or destroy Siege Weapons. They are mounted on rotating platforms on the Siege Pads to
allow for precise aiming and inflict massive amounts of damage to a single target.
When using the Ballista, players will go into a “sniper mode” screen that functions similar to a
riflescope. Moving the mouse controls where the reticule aims (note that camera controls on the Y
axis are inverted). When a legitimate target is available, the reticule will turn read and begin to draw inward. The closer the crosshairs are to the center, the more accurate (and more damage) the ballista shot will do. Moving the aiming reticule will cause the crosshairs to snap outward, reducing accuracy.


Catapults and Cannons
(Indirect fire) Catapults and Cannons are Siege Weapons use a very simple User Interface at this time for firing and aiming. One player controls the Siege Weapon and it is placed on a rotating platform so it can turn to face its relative target. Right clicking on a Catapult or Cannon will give the player control and bring up the User Interface to repair, fire, and aim. Clicking on the Fire button will bring up the AE fire mode which takes into account Wind (changes each time you fire) and velocity. Velocity is controlled by scrolling the mouse-wheel up or down. Yaw is handled by moving the mouse left or right. When you’re ready to fire, simply click the left mouse button.

[Alisha]

who cares about pvp hows the pve in this game compared to ffxi? pve is the only reason i play mmo's. pvp is ok for a temporary distraction but thats it.

[Crushinator]

who cares about pvp hows the pve in this game compared to ffxi? pve is the only reason i play mmo's. pvp is ok for a temporary distraction but thats it.

PvP is the focus of the game. Ignoring it is like saying "Fuck the fighting in Soul Calibur, I'm in it for the sound test!"