WAR Postpones Combat and Career Changes

[Savanja]

One of the most controversial features of Warhammer Online's upcoming patch 1.3 was the combat and career changes that have had the community up in arms recently. These changes have been on public test and were intended to add a little balance in what some believe to be an unbalanced system.

Depending on what side of the fence you are on, the announcement that the combat and class changes have been pulled from patch 1.3 is either really good news or really bad news. WAR Producer Adam Gershowitz posts what is being pushed back and why.

Due to the complexity of the changes, it becomes very difficult to simply separate out specific items from the patch without altering other changes in unexpected ways. As a result of this, and to ensure the very best possible patch content, we have decided to split the Career balance changes out of our 1.3 patch. This will allow us to continue working with our Public Test community to further shape the upcoming career adjustments into a more stable, understandable, and fun experience for all.

Career balance changes will be removed from our PTS server starting in Phase 3 of version 1.3 testing, allowing players to focus on testing and feedback for our new Land of the Dead zone. We plan to re-open balance testing for career changes shortly after the release of our 1.3 patch so that we can continue working with the community on these changes and improvements to WAR.

Is pushing back a major gameplay change to focus on expansion content the right move? Let us know what you think!

[Cleron]

I gave up on War a long time ago, but i still check in now & then. I often wounder what the hell the development team are doing. Balance wise they just fix one issue by creating another.

I personally think it was a good move, simply because the new content looks pretty decent, while the balance changes are pretty typical of Mythic these days. They might get it right one day, but i wouldn't live in hope.

[Sammoth]

This does not suprise me at all. They have been avoiding the balance issues since release. Some of the fixes where good but, most of it was a terrible change. Maybe with this delay they will take there time and get it right. If they do I might re-sub. It's nice to hear they are taking 2nd looks at something before just putting a band aid on a much bigger problem.

[OneEyeRed]

Originally Posted by Savanja

One of the most controversial features of Warhammer Online's upcoming patch 1.3 was the combat and career changes that have had the community up in arms recently. These changes have been on public test and were intended to add a little balance in what some believe to be an unbalanced system.

Depending on what side of the fence you are on, the announcement that the combat and class changes have been pulled from patch 1.3 is either really good news or really bad news. WAR Producer Adam Gershowitz posts what is being pushed back and why.



Is pushing back a major gameplay change to focus on expansion content the right move? Let us know what you think!

Stupid move all the way. I was a very early tester for WAR due to being a six year active tester for DAOC. The game was in terrible shape before release and they even took the servers down for several months due to the stability issues. At that time, before the servers went down, we (testers) were playing the Choppa and Hammerer classes and they were fine. All in all the two classes just needed tweaking. Then when the servers went live again 3 months later we were then told they were scrapping these two classes. Two classes that were a major integral part of the release and many people were wanting to play.

From there it was all down hill and trying to even constructively debate a subject with MJ is a joke at best and he needs to come off his high horse. Someone on the main forum awhile back (cannot remember their name) made a statement about Paul being the best snake oil salesman alive. Well it's true, he could sell rotting flesh as fillet Mignon and people would buy it. Look at the publicity stunts he pulled at E3 for other EA related games.

I was thoroughly pissed off that WAR was dumb ed down, diluted, released too early and ruined. I was so hyped for the game especially being a long time DAOC player but I should have known better. When Mythic lost key people in DAOC it took a massive dive that killed the game.

The original concept for the WAR MMO that got canned long before Mythic picked it up was so much closer to the WAR universe. Not to mention, it was darker, gritter, and just plain better. I'll say it again, Mythic should have never scratched "Imperator". They could have changed the whole PVE centric idea and had a killer new world and game on their hands that I think would have far exceeded the pile of shit we now call WAR.

Ok, rant aside and off, sorry. To answer the question its just yet another dumb move they are trying to keep subs and have people return. Ohhh look at the pretty new zone and areas. Horseshit! Fix the fundamental core mechanics first and foremost. Mythic has never been able to properly balance classes and anyone familiar with DAOC cannot disagree with this. There are still issues from beta that are not fully fixed and yet they are more concerned about content?

They still have an opportunity to turn this pile of shit around and make it a game worth playing but it seems that Mythic prefers to continue to dig that hole deeper. A recent Gamasutra article talked about the top five developers in the industry and MJ was on there. How he stay at the top five is beyond me honestly...

[Mordan]

I'm not surprised, I cancelled about 2 weeks ago. My main was Shaman and everything I read and tested myself on PTS made it a weaker class. Sure I could go play the FOTM class but I kinda like developing one char as much as I can.
The changes to the classes are pretty extreme and almost change the game in too many ways. It really looks like they want everyone to die faster, which doesn't make much sense if you actually like your char or the game.
I keep hoping for a reason to resub but I'm just not seeing it yet.

[slothmonster]

None of this makes any sense to me. More content can never fix a broken and boring game. I can't imagine that many people are sticking around with this game. On my way out my guild was losing about 10 people a week to unsubbing. I check in every month or so to see if they have fixed the game but every time I'm disappointed.

I love how they start working on balance issues and then say, "oh gee, it turns out that this is a huge problem that's going to take a while to fix." Well, duh. This is why we've been complaining for so long. I refuse to pay for a game that is still riddled with beta bugs and consistently moves in the opposite direction of the fans' interests.

[Krind]

tbh i saw it comming but it still makes me angry to read it.

The class balance was a serious issue right from the start and the way Mythic tried to work on it screamed for trouble.
Nerfing some class while additionally buffing others imbalanced things even more than they started out with.

I had hopes for 1.3 but with this news i certainly wont wait for the 1.X class balancing patch. Guess its time to move on.